grav_ity | Criminal Minds Manifesto (Reply)

irony_rocks, this is not aimed at you. Well...mostly not. ;)

It took me a long time to fall in love with Criminal Minds.

I remember sitting down to see the pilot, getting about fifteen minutes in, thinking "Hey! It's Inigo Montoya!" and then deciding I didn't need another cop show. I also had night class on Wednesdays every year after that, so it wouldn't have worked out very well. In hindsight, the pilot lacks many of the elements that make Criminal Minds so great, but it got the job done.

The second time I tried watching Criminal Minds, I got very upset when a whole room full of police officers and FBI agents couldn't identify a human rib on sight. Because...they look exactly like you think they look, and...just...well, you know.

The third episode I watched was called "Scared to Death". And even though I sort of was, I knew I was hooked.

I kept trying to watch the show because I thought I should. I was trying to desensitize myself for the day when I would find myself standing over a mass grave, trowel in hand, and have to work through it. I thought that if I could just make it through all those shows that make me uncomfortable, it would make me a better forensic archaeologist. I have yet to test this theory, although the skeletons that I have excavated, who probably died because they were sick, inspired no horror in me.

Criminal Minds inspires horror. They make you look at the worst things people do, and they peel away all the excuses. They label the killers and rapists and torturers so clearly, put them into little boxes and rhyme off a list of probable character traits, and all you can really think is "Wait, there are enough of these people out there to have formed reliable statistics?", and then you feel sort of ill. On Criminal Minds, it doesn't matter if daddy hit you or if mummy drank.

Except when it does.

Because sometimes the show makes you feel so much pity for these people, the ones who can't control it, who beg to be stopped. And they always get stopped, one way or another, and then you get to see how empty closure really is.

And that's just the plot.

Another amazing thing about Criminal Minds is the writing. It could be a lot of technical garble, but it isn't. Instead it's crafted, every word important, leading you carefully through the episode to let you know what's going on. Sometimes the agents know things you don't. Sometimes you know things they don't. They mix it up enough to keep it interesting, compelling, and you can't help figure it out with them as they move through the story.

And the characters! You look at them, and you think "I've seen this before", but you haven't. And even when you have, there are stories behind them that make you realize that NO ONE is really the stereotype, and this TV show is talented enough to make it work, because the closer they get to playing their stereotype, the closer the shit gets to the fan (see: LDSK, Demonology, Profiler, Profiled, Penelope) Also, the female characters on this show are awesome, and there is a relatively wide representation of characters.

The characters relate to each other in such a terrifically close, horribly isolated sort of way. I often get the impression that if any of them were to feel just a little bit more, they'd just explode. That's part of what makes it so great, actually, because when they DO explode, it's messy and they can't always put the pieces back together again.

Some episodes are not good. Sometimes the good parts are buried so far into an episode, it's almost hard to find. Nothing is perfect. But this is close enough.

Episode Recs

1. L.D.S.K. By the time I saw this episode, I was well and truly hooked, having watched piecemeal episodes at my aunt's house when I lived with her in 2007. But in Korea, they showed all of the first three seasons, so I watched this one early on. And, dude. Hotch is not my favourite character, but he's sort of the reason I watch the show. I realize that makes no sense, but this episode is a testament to what these people endure for each other and for those around them, and that Reid is really not as dumb as everyone seems to think he is.

2. Riding the Lightning. If this episode were a movie, it would have won Oscars. Instead it's this powerful thing crammed into 42 minutes and superb acting, and it's just amazing. It includes one of the best performances in the entire series, a segment that's about 20 seconds long where the adopted father, tears in his eyes, thanks the agents for not telling his son who his real parents are. Because that was Sarah Jean's choice, and Gideon let her make it.

3. Empty Planet. I saw this one fairly early on as well, and it's DEFINITELY a Reid episode, but it also shows how well they put things together, how they function as a team, and how often they break the rules because they should.

4. The Last Word. This is the show in its purist form: all profile, all the time.

5. Lessons Learned. OMG. I can't even TELL YOU about how much this episode rocks. It's one of the few where I don't close my eyes and imagine David Rossi instead of Jason Gideon. It's also one of the best formatted episodes of the show, and one of the most tightly written. Emily Prentiss for the win.

6. Profiler, Profiled. On any other show, this would be the Very Special Episode, where we all learn about racism. Criminal Minds is not any other show.

7. Jones. (To be fair, you would benefit from the four episodes previous to this as well, but this one truly is the kicker). Current Events, season long arcs, profile extraordinaire.

8. Damaged. This is David Rossi's episode, and it is BEAUTIFUL TO BEHOLD. I met Joe Mantegna on Joan of Arcadia, and he takes everything that made Will Girardi so great and multiplies it a hundredfold for this episode. The way the team comes together around him is awesome, and the B-Plot of the story (involving Reid and Hotch) is just as well crafted.

9. The Crossing. I honestly have no recollection of the A-plot of this episode, but the B-plot almost destroyed me. The expression of Rossi's face when he figures it out...

10. Minimal Loss. I mentioned this one a bit in my own lj when I watched it the first time, but it speaks again to the way the show deals with gender roles and team dynamics. Again, the facial expressions of the guys listening on the phone is what does it, but Emily Prentiss...I want to be like her when I grow up!

11. Normal. I went into this episode knowing two things: 1. the name of the episode and 2. that it guest starred Mitch Pileggi. Episodes called "Normal" are never a good sign, and this certainly lived up to the hype. This episode is one of the VERY FEW that I didn't figure out before they did, and HOLY CRAP.

12. Demonology. This is Emily's episode. And...I can't even.

(honourable mention goes to "Tabula Rasa", for excellent flashbacks, "Penelope", because the Garcia/Morgan dynamic is one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen, and all the season finales. Yes, even that stupid one about the pigs.)

Links

Synecdochic's Manifesto
Matociquala's Manifesto
My Criminal Minds Tag