As everyone knows, the only rational way to watch Criminal Minds is to ignore everything but the interaction between Morgan and Garcia. (Okay, I suppose one might also wait for scenes in which Paget Brewster is wearing a t-shirt.) If I were going to admit to having ever watched an entire episode (which of course, I am not), it would be the second part of the mad-bomber-in-New-York episode; and if I were going to admit to having a favorite scene from that episode (which, again, I am not), it would be Morgan’s simultaneously sweet and jackholish phone call to Garcia when he’s driving the explosive-laden ambulance through the streets, because he thinks he’s about to die and wants her to be the last voice he hears.
Anyway…here’s the thread question. Would CM–or at least their corner of it–work if the two of them were an actual, romantic couple? Why or why not?
I’ve watched my fair share of CM episodes (I’ll watch anything with Mandy Patinkin in it and will occasionally watch the reruns on ION.
I am going to say that no, it wouldn’t work. What’s beautiful about their relationship is that it’s not romantic. It transcends romantic love and is more meaningful than a bf/gf relationship would be.
They can’t do it now because they’ve established that it’s far more of an agape relationship than an eros one. There’s an episode from a couple of seasons ago where Garcia is woken up by a call from JJ, bemoaning that she had a fight with her boyfriend, and he stormed out and she drank way too much wine, doesn’t remember the rest of the night and is completely hung over, and what is she going to- why is the shower running? There’s a knock at the door, and it’s her boyfriend. Who’s in the shower? Morgan emerges all glistening with a towel wrapped around his waist . . .
hmmmmmmmmm . . . oh, yeah . . .
Sorry! Happy place. Back now. Garcia assumes Morgan came over, and things happened, and panics. It takes Morgan a couple of minutes to calm her down, explaining that she called him crying, he came over, made popcorn, they watched a movie, she fell asleep, and he slept on the couch. Garcia then goes on at length about how relieved she is, as her friendship with Morgan is far, far more important than one night’s booty call. Morgan’s a bit bemused by the sturm und drang, and assures her that nothing interferes with his love for his baby girl.
So, no. There’s no way they could pull it off now without some major character derailment. You’d have to start over at the beginning.
I wouldn’t want it to be a romantic storyline in the sense of the viewers wondering will they or won’t they. More of them being a rock solid and happily established couple entirely oblivious to the incongruities of their relationship. I’d love to see someone asking Morgan why he wasn’t with a woman as beautiful as he is, and have him reply, “Because I’m a woman MORE beautiful than I am.”
Seeing as nearly every TV show has at least one married couple, apparently TV itself doesn’t work for you.
What you are saying is only applicable in a “Will they or won’t they” setup.
BTW, Charmed got better after the marriage. Then it got worse because an actress left. But the marriage only made the show better. I’m sure there are other examples.
Is the idea that two longtime close friends look at each other one day and decide they want to be closer all that outlandish? Of course not. I don’t think the show would actually pull the trigger on this at any point earlier than the series finale, but once it’s time for the show to take its murderin’, rapin’, kidnappin’, torturin’ final bow, why the heck not? I mean, assuming neither character has been killed off by that point, obviously.