I'm writing a paper on the female characters of Criminal Minds!

[x-forgetromeo.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to get a survey going so that I can get a good idea on a direction for this paper, so can we have a discussion post on female characters? 

What I need for my paper:

• Your gender
• Your age (an age bracket is fine if you're not comfortable giving a solid number)
• Your views on Elle, JJ, Garcia, Prentiss, Seaver, and Haley Hotchner: Do you like/feel indifferent to/dislike/hate any of them? Why? 

Otherwise, let's just have a free-for-all discussion on female characters of the CM verse. :) 

(Also, my laptop monitor is dead, so I might be slow replying to people, but I really appreciate anyone who comments.)

Mods? I'm super hoping this is okay. I didn't see anything against it in the rules, and it's technically a discussion post?

Comments

[blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com]

Gender: F
Age: 30s

Elle: Varies. On initial watch, she's like the drop of water at the corner of my glasses. She's too, uhh....spicy? Abrasive? And the worst part is that she's spicy with no personality, and fairly self-isolating. The one who stands in the back, not because she's shy but because she just isn't naturally much of a team player. She also comes across as someone who relates better to men than women. While it's no big deal to see a Prentiss/Garcia scene, it kinda stood out watching Elle/Garcia together. Business, not friendship. On secondary watch, I like how she treated Reid as a big sister, and was always trying to learn her job while being *on* the job. No one ever had to stop the plot in order to explain anything to her (unlike for instance the Morgan/Seaver crowbar scene). Elle comes across as a good friend, one you can trust not to pour ice water on your back if she knows you wouldn't like it (unlike Morgan with the whistle to Reid). I never really *liked* her, but I did go from not liking her to thinking she was okay. I am happy she's gone though. I think Prentiss fits and flows better with the team.

In the end though, I didn't like how easily she went off the rails, particularly blaming Hotch for everything. I would have understood it more if she'd directed her anger at Gideon, who really was to blame - since he's the one who took the case to the media, against the unsub's orders. Hotch tried to help Elle, Gideon only went "she'll understand". I was very happy she didn't take her anger out on Reid, but also surprised no snarkiness went to Morgan, who basically ignored her - even though it seemed like they were friends prior, since they'd basically gone on vacation together.

JJ: Like. JJ to me always personified the Average Person. The one who reacted like a regular person off the street would when confronting the things they dealt with. I also thought her maternal quality was needed to "soften" the team. Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan are too harsh, and Reid is *too* soft at times (but mostly, he's clinically detached). Garcia is too over-the-top stick-fingers-in-her-ears. JJ in my opinion was just right.

Garcia: Like okay. I don't think I'd like her as a person in real-life, but I do like what her personality adds to the team. The person determined not to let it get to her. IMO, she makes the teams dynamics "pop". She's kinda like the purple scarf to the team's gray sweater. Can't say I like the sexual banter with Morgan (I don't think they have that kind of chemistry), but I do like the regular banter she does with everyone else. The one thing I do love about her is that her self-esteem is sky-rocket high, and that it's at a level that's appropriate to her skills.

Prentiss: Like a lot. I love her compartmentalism. She's the only one who stays on topic. That she bitches to Morgan about blowing out her eardrums after Morgan takes out an unsub with a machine gun is just too awesome. She's also the only one who stays back and "talks out" her thinking, which frequently allows the other team members to think outside the box (for instance, realize the unsub would be a woman when all other signs point to a man, etc).