My two cents (or half cent or whatever its worth :D)
Seaver, for me (and a lot of fans) is a giant, flashing neon sign that represents everything that's going downhill with the show. She's a symptom, not the problem, but unfortunately she's a symptom that was pretty much forced on the audience at the worst possible time in the worst possible way. Forcing a character on an unwilling audience is unfair to the actress, the character and the audience. Forcing a poorly written character on the audience is just seven different types of unfair.
Seaver has no business in the BAU period. From the very first show they've told us the BAU is supposed to be an ELITE group of FBI agents and they only take the best of the best. When Prentiss showed up in his office Hotch's EXACT words to her were "Profiling is a specialty, we can't just let anyone who wants to give it a whirl." And Emily was a FULLY qualified agent with experience AND the proper paperwork and he STILL didn't want to let her on the team. But Seaver, whose only claim to fame is her time on the obstacle course and her childhood trauma gets accepted easy as pie? Sorry but that flies in the face of the show's history and the character's history. Look at how little trust he put in Jordan Todd and she was an accomplished agent. Hotch wouldn't want Seaver near his team, period, end of story. ESPECIALLY after how she screwed up in her first outing with the team. Exceptions are being made for her and they aren't showing WHY exceptions are being made for her.
Then there's the fact that she brings NOTHING to the table. Everyone on the team has a specialty. Rossi's is interrogation and negotiotion, Hotch has SWAT and tactile experience, Morgan's is bombs and obsessional crimes, Emily's is interrogation, Penny is the tech genius, Reid is their "expert on everything" but more specifically he rocks the geographical profile like nobody's business, Seaver...is just there. She serves no purpose at this point and that's the problem. We knew who everyone was and what they did from the word go(even JJ outlined her purpose when she introduced herself to Elle...heck we knew Elle's area of expertise was sex crimes five minutes after we met her!) And yeah, there HAS been enough time because we knew what Rossi and Prentiss were experts in by their second episode! It just feels like the writers don't know what direction to take Seaver in (she CAN'T replace JJ because she can't fill that emotional role for the team but she can't be what would be her "natural" role as the one they protect and are protective of because Reid's got that spot on lock, she's got no point and no place as of yet) and as a result I don't know how I'm supposed to see her and quite frankly, haven't been given a reason to invest in or be interested in her. Sorry if I offended any Seaver fans but that's how I feel.
Seaver is a symptom of a much bigger problem. Criminal Minds has gotten away from what made it awesome in the first place. Outside of The Reaper arc there has been very few shining moments recently. Core relationships between the characters have put on the backburner in favor of the UnSub of the Week type storytelling. There's almost no real bonding moments anymore (when was the last really good Reid/Hotch moment or Prentiss/Rossi?) yet they keep telling us how much of a "family" they are. If you came late to the CM party you'd never be able to tell. And the UnSubs themselves used to be more interesting...there hasn't been a truly interesting UnSub in FOREVER. Foyet is about the best they've had recently. It's like they're going for a gimmick of the week format one week its the "Natural Born Killers" couple, one week its Annie Wilkes from Misery...uh I mean a "motivational" speaker. Its eyeroll worthy.
I love CM, but the train has been sliding off the track for awhile now. Most of the problems are rooted in the writing and the direction they are choosing to take the show in (cheap, gimmick plots over character driven stories). Watch a couple of reruns then watch the newer episodes and its almost like watching two completely different shows. :(
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momijizukamori
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Date: Mar. 8th, 2011 02:50 am (UTC)Seaver, for me (and a lot of fans) is a giant, flashing neon sign that represents everything that's going downhill with the show. She's a symptom, not the problem, but unfortunately she's a symptom that was pretty much forced on the audience at the worst possible time in the worst possible way. Forcing a character on an unwilling audience is unfair to the actress, the character and the audience. Forcing a poorly written character on the audience is just seven different types of unfair.
Seaver has no business in the BAU period. From the very first show they've told us the BAU is supposed to be an ELITE group of FBI agents and they only take the best of the best. When Prentiss showed up in his office Hotch's EXACT words to her were "Profiling is a specialty, we can't just let anyone who wants to give it a whirl." And Emily was a FULLY qualified agent with experience AND the proper paperwork and he STILL didn't want to let her on the team. But Seaver, whose only claim to fame is her time on the obstacle course and her childhood trauma gets accepted easy as pie? Sorry but that flies in the face of the show's history and the character's history. Look at how little trust he put in Jordan Todd and she was an accomplished agent. Hotch wouldn't want Seaver near his team, period, end of story. ESPECIALLY after how she screwed up in her first outing with the team. Exceptions are being made for her and they aren't showing WHY exceptions are being made for her.
Then there's the fact that she brings NOTHING to the table. Everyone on the team has a specialty. Rossi's is interrogation and negotiotion, Hotch has SWAT and tactile experience, Morgan's is bombs and obsessional crimes, Emily's is interrogation, Penny is the tech genius, Reid is their "expert on everything" but more specifically he rocks the geographical profile like nobody's business, Seaver...is just there. She serves no purpose at this point and that's the problem. We knew who everyone was and what they did from the word go(even JJ outlined her purpose when she introduced herself to Elle...heck we knew Elle's area of expertise was sex crimes five minutes after we met her!) And yeah, there HAS been enough time because we knew what Rossi and Prentiss were experts in by their second episode! It just feels like the writers don't know what direction to take Seaver in (she CAN'T replace JJ because she can't fill that emotional role for the team but she can't be what would be her "natural" role as the one they protect and are protective of because Reid's got that spot on lock, she's got no point and no place as of yet) and as a result I don't know how I'm supposed to see her and quite frankly, haven't been given a reason to invest in or be interested in her. Sorry if I offended any Seaver fans but that's how I feel.
Seaver is a symptom of a much bigger problem. Criminal Minds has gotten away from what made it awesome in the first place. Outside of The Reaper arc there has been very few shining moments recently. Core relationships between the characters have put on the backburner in favor of the UnSub of the Week type storytelling. There's almost no real bonding moments anymore (when was the last really good Reid/Hotch moment or Prentiss/Rossi?) yet they keep telling us how much of a "family" they are. If you came late to the CM party you'd never be able to tell. And the UnSubs themselves used to be more interesting...there hasn't been a truly interesting UnSub in FOREVER. Foyet is about the best they've had recently. It's like they're going for a gimmick of the week format one week its the "Natural Born Killers" couple, one week its Annie Wilkes from Misery...uh I mean a "motivational" speaker. Its eyeroll worthy.
I love CM, but the train has been sliding off the track for awhile now. Most of the problems are rooted in the writing and the direction they are choosing to take the show in (cheap, gimmick plots over character driven stories). Watch a couple of reruns then watch the newer episodes and its almost like watching two completely different shows. :(