This season has definitely earned the torture porn cred.
Do you guys remember back when an episode didn't have to have gore to be terrifying? "North Mammon" and "Lucky" have little to no gore, but they're two of the most unsettling and psychologically disturbing episodes of the series.
Part of what attracted me to the show originally was the dignity and respect with which they treated their victims, and the way that the crimes were never glamorized. They've completely lost sight of that. "The Thirteenth Step" embodies nearly all of the issues with this: Half of it was over-sexualizing Adrianne Palicki's character and half of it was the meaningless and "fun" slaughter of victims who went nameless.
Someone (Rossi, I think) mentioned back in "Limelight" that people remember the killers, but they don't remember the victims. The murderers have been glamorized enough in society--this show didn't have to go down that road. There were maybe one or two memorable victims this season who had actual agency and drive. Most of the ones this season were just stock victims who didn't even try to fight. They're nothing like the victims in the early season who actually fought back. (In any way they could--be it playing along like the woman in "Slave of Duty" or driving a car into a building or lake like in "A Higher Power" or "Charm and Harm".)
Even the differences between the characters (going back to season five) and their traumas. Look at "Revelations" and then look at "Nameless, Faceless". Most of the horror about what happened to Reid was psychological--there wasn't a huge, huge focus on his physical injuries, but more the psychological trauma. In "Nameless, Faceless", we get this huge, overtly sexualized, drawn out brutalization and metaphorical rape of Hotch.
Look at Elle's trauma compared to Prentiss's--when Elle was shot, they showed that the paramedics were pulling open her shirt to get to the wound, but it was implied: The camera focused on her face and not her chest. Whereas in "Lauren", we get a shot of Doyle opening Prentiss's shirt and a completely unnecessary and lingering shot of Prentiss's bra. They took the last remaining experienced female profiler on the team and degraded her on film for no damn reason. That could have been implied, they could have focused on her face, but no, they have a full screen shot for several seconds. That is bullshit.
This is really long comment, but basically, I have to agree with the first reviewer about the point that, this season, the show has delved into torture porn. It's upsetting, because the show had this reputation before this season, and it was wrong--they were so respectful to the victims and the victims' families, and they never really did much gore--and now I just can't really defend it as much.
I DON'T think the show is tired, though. I'm hoping that the writing staff stabilizes (and bring Chris Mundy back for the love of my sanity) and that they get their shit together. I think that they can pull this show back from this ledge, but they have got to stop sexualizing and glamorizing these crimes.
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Do you guys remember back when an episode didn't have to have gore to be terrifying? "North Mammon" and "Lucky" have little to no gore, but they're two of the most unsettling and psychologically disturbing episodes of the series.
Part of what attracted me to the show originally was the dignity and respect with which they treated their victims, and the way that the crimes were never glamorized. They've completely lost sight of that. "The Thirteenth Step" embodies nearly all of the issues with this: Half of it was over-sexualizing Adrianne Palicki's character and half of it was the meaningless and "fun" slaughter of victims who went nameless.
Someone (Rossi, I think) mentioned back in "Limelight" that people remember the killers, but they don't remember the victims. The murderers have been glamorized enough in society--this show didn't have to go down that road. There were maybe one or two memorable victims this season who had actual agency and drive. Most of the ones this season were just stock victims who didn't even try to fight. They're nothing like the victims in the early season who actually fought back. (In any way they could--be it playing along like the woman in "Slave of Duty" or driving a car into a building or lake like in "A Higher Power" or "Charm and Harm".)
Even the differences between the characters (going back to season five) and their traumas. Look at "Revelations" and then look at "Nameless, Faceless". Most of the horror about what happened to Reid was psychological--there wasn't a huge, huge focus on his physical injuries, but more the psychological trauma. In "Nameless, Faceless", we get this huge, overtly sexualized, drawn out brutalization and metaphorical rape of Hotch.
Look at Elle's trauma compared to Prentiss's--when Elle was shot, they showed that the paramedics were pulling open her shirt to get to the wound, but it was implied: The camera focused on her face and not her chest. Whereas in "Lauren", we get a shot of Doyle opening Prentiss's shirt and a completely unnecessary and lingering shot of Prentiss's bra. They took the last remaining experienced female profiler on the team and degraded her on film for no damn reason. That could have been implied, they could have focused on her face, but no, they have a full screen shot for several seconds. That is bullshit.
This is really long comment, but basically, I have to agree with the first reviewer about the point that, this season, the show has delved into torture porn. It's upsetting, because the show had this reputation before this season, and it was wrong--they were so respectful to the victims and the victims' families, and they never really did much gore--and now I just can't really defend it as much.
I DON'T think the show is tired, though. I'm hoping that the writing staff stabilizes (and bring Chris Mundy back for the love of my sanity) and that they get their shit together. I think that they can pull this show back from this ledge, but they have got to stop sexualizing and glamorizing these crimes.