RoundTable Mondays: Aaron Hotchner
Jan. 9th, 2012 12:37 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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criminalxmindsAaron Hotchner grew up suffering physical abuse at the hands of his workaholic, lawyer father. (Season 1). It's strongly implied that his mother did little to stop the abuse. Hotch has a younger brother named Sean, who is a chef in NYC. Their father survived cancer, but later died of a heart-attack at 47, while Sean was still a child.
Hotch married his high school sweetheart, Haley Brooks, soon after high school, and he worked as a prosecutor for the District Attorney's office. The first case Hotch ever worked with the FBI involved the Boston Reaper, in 1998.
Hotch's son, Jack, was born in 2005. Haley begins to resent all the time Hotch spends at work as early as Season 1. Haley filed for divorce in Season 3. In early Season 4 Hotch suffered acute acoustic trauma and a shrapnel wound to his leg after being too near an explosion. At the end of Season 4, George Foyet (The Reaper) breaks into Hotch's apartment and stabs him 9 times before delivering him to a local hospital, and stealing Haley and Jack's address. Hotch's family is then put into protective custody.
However, in Season 5, The Reaper got to the US Marshall assigned to Hotch's family and tortured him, trying to get him to tell where Haley and Jack were located. He withstood everything that Foyet had, according to fellow agent, Spencer Reid, but The Reaper used the Marshall's cell phone to contact Haley. He posed as someone with Witness Protection and told her that Hotch had been killed and her location had been compromised. Unaware that Hotch was alive, and she was speaking with a killer, Haley lets Foyet in. She gets in contact with Hotch and they have a final conversation. Hotch is able to issue a code to Jack telling him to "work the case", and Jack was able to hide in the house. Haley was (possibly) shot and also stabbed.
Hotch arrived to find her body and fought Foyet to keep him from locating Jack. Hotch ends up beating Foyet to death to keep this from occurring. He takes custody of Jack, and Haley's sister, Jessica, takes care of Jack when Hotch is away on a case.
In Season 6, he is reluctant to allow Erin Strauss to promote fellow FBI teammate Jennifer Jareau, against JJ's will. Hotch promises he will work on getting her back. In her absence, Hotch takes over part of her job as media liaison, despite his busy schedule. When co-worker, Emily Prentiss is threatened by an international criminal, Hotch makes the decision to bring JJ in to help find Emily. When it's clear that she will not be safe, Hotch and JJ fake Emily's death and get her out of the country through covert exfiltration. Though he is quite serious, Hotch takes moments to talk to his team and make sure they are coping with the demands of the job, or to discuss a potentially dangerous moment on the field. He and Derek Morgan often discuss the importance of trust between the team, and encourages Morgan to trust the others on the team. He tells Penelope Garcia that he knows when she has to step out of her comfort zone, it's very difficult for her, but that he would not want her to change herself for the job. He makes sure Reid gets respect despite his young age, and reassures him that he does not have to give answers others want to hear, while he is grieving Emily's loss. He also helps Rossi cope with the loss of his first wife in Season 7.
Prior to Season 7, Hotch was working in Pakistan, but came back in time to reaveal to the team that Emily Prentiss is alive. He tells the team it was his decision and any "issues" should be directed at him, and not fellow conspiritor, JJ. Hotch has also been promoted to Section Chief, because the former (Erin Strauss) was dealing with alcoholism and needed to go into treatment after drinking on the job. In what little free time Hotch has, he goes to Jack's school conferences, tries to help him through issues of potential bullying. We learned recently that Hotch is also an athlete and has been training for a triathlon, during which he meets a woman named Beth. Hotch is concerned initially because he only lost Haley two years ago, and it may be too fast. But the episode ends with Hotch smiling.
What is your favorite Aaron Hotchner episode?
Is there a part of Aaron's life that you wish got more focus?
What is Hotch's most striking character trait?
What is your favorite Hotch scene?
What do you think makes Hotch an integral part of the BAU?
For writers, how do you portray Hotch? Are there aspects of his life that are not on the show that you incorporate into your fiction? Do you stick pretty close to what the show portrays with regard to his character?
For readers, how do you like your Hotch portrayed? Stoic and serious? A family man? Do you prefer him in danger or saving the day?
What do you think makes Hotch tick?
Feel free to add any other thoughts about Hotch's character in this post, but keep it respectful, please. Disagreement is part of life, but don't put another person down to make your point.
Hotch married his high school sweetheart, Haley Brooks, soon after high school, and he worked as a prosecutor for the District Attorney's office. The first case Hotch ever worked with the FBI involved the Boston Reaper, in 1998.
Hotch's son, Jack, was born in 2005. Haley begins to resent all the time Hotch spends at work as early as Season 1. Haley filed for divorce in Season 3. In early Season 4 Hotch suffered acute acoustic trauma and a shrapnel wound to his leg after being too near an explosion. At the end of Season 4, George Foyet (The Reaper) breaks into Hotch's apartment and stabs him 9 times before delivering him to a local hospital, and stealing Haley and Jack's address. Hotch's family is then put into protective custody.
However, in Season 5, The Reaper got to the US Marshall assigned to Hotch's family and tortured him, trying to get him to tell where Haley and Jack were located. He withstood everything that Foyet had, according to fellow agent, Spencer Reid, but The Reaper used the Marshall's cell phone to contact Haley. He posed as someone with Witness Protection and told her that Hotch had been killed and her location had been compromised. Unaware that Hotch was alive, and she was speaking with a killer, Haley lets Foyet in. She gets in contact with Hotch and they have a final conversation. Hotch is able to issue a code to Jack telling him to "work the case", and Jack was able to hide in the house. Haley was (possibly) shot and also stabbed.
Hotch arrived to find her body and fought Foyet to keep him from locating Jack. Hotch ends up beating Foyet to death to keep this from occurring. He takes custody of Jack, and Haley's sister, Jessica, takes care of Jack when Hotch is away on a case.
In Season 6, he is reluctant to allow Erin Strauss to promote fellow FBI teammate Jennifer Jareau, against JJ's will. Hotch promises he will work on getting her back. In her absence, Hotch takes over part of her job as media liaison, despite his busy schedule. When co-worker, Emily Prentiss is threatened by an international criminal, Hotch makes the decision to bring JJ in to help find Emily. When it's clear that she will not be safe, Hotch and JJ fake Emily's death and get her out of the country through covert exfiltration. Though he is quite serious, Hotch takes moments to talk to his team and make sure they are coping with the demands of the job, or to discuss a potentially dangerous moment on the field. He and Derek Morgan often discuss the importance of trust between the team, and encourages Morgan to trust the others on the team. He tells Penelope Garcia that he knows when she has to step out of her comfort zone, it's very difficult for her, but that he would not want her to change herself for the job. He makes sure Reid gets respect despite his young age, and reassures him that he does not have to give answers others want to hear, while he is grieving Emily's loss. He also helps Rossi cope with the loss of his first wife in Season 7.
Prior to Season 7, Hotch was working in Pakistan, but came back in time to reaveal to the team that Emily Prentiss is alive. He tells the team it was his decision and any "issues" should be directed at him, and not fellow conspiritor, JJ. Hotch has also been promoted to Section Chief, because the former (Erin Strauss) was dealing with alcoholism and needed to go into treatment after drinking on the job. In what little free time Hotch has, he goes to Jack's school conferences, tries to help him through issues of potential bullying. We learned recently that Hotch is also an athlete and has been training for a triathlon, during which he meets a woman named Beth. Hotch is concerned initially because he only lost Haley two years ago, and it may be too fast. But the episode ends with Hotch smiling.
What is your favorite Aaron Hotchner episode?
Is there a part of Aaron's life that you wish got more focus?
What is Hotch's most striking character trait?
What is your favorite Hotch scene?
What do you think makes Hotch an integral part of the BAU?
For writers, how do you portray Hotch? Are there aspects of his life that are not on the show that you incorporate into your fiction? Do you stick pretty close to what the show portrays with regard to his character?
For readers, how do you like your Hotch portrayed? Stoic and serious? A family man? Do you prefer him in danger or saving the day?
What do you think makes Hotch tick?
Feel free to add any other thoughts about Hotch's character in this post, but keep it respectful, please. Disagreement is part of life, but don't put another person down to make your point.
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Date: Jan. 9th, 2012 09:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 9th, 2012 11:12 pm (UTC)The episode is from Season 1, "Natural Born Killer".
Hotch has the sociopath Vince Perotta in the interview room. The team has figured out, based on his behavior, that he and his mother were abused by his father.
Hotch describes his (Perotta's)childhood to him in detail. How his father beat him - and his mother - every day, how Perotta learned to take the beatings but in the back of his mind thought "One day. One day when I'm big enough".
During the conversation, Perotta lets slip a bit of information that lets the troops find the FBI Agent he was holding hostage, still alive.
Now we come to the key part of the conversation:
Hotch says, "You were just responding to what you learned, Vincent. When you grow up in an environment like that, an extremely abusive, violent household... it's not surprising that some people grow up to become killers."
(Other agents come in and begin to unchain Vincent to take him to lockup)
Vincent says, "Some people?"
Hotch says, "What's that?"
Vincent says, "You said some people grow up to become killers.
Hotch just stares at him for a moment, then gives a little nod and says, "Some people grow up to catch them."
So, definitely suggested.
And while I'm at it, I want to say that that interview is one of the most powerful scenes ever filmed for CM. Scripted by Erica Messer and Debra Fisher, directed by Peter Ellis, the lighting sets the perfect background for Thomas Gibson and Patrick Kilpatrick working at the top of their form.
Jeeze, that sounds like a gushy review, doesn't it? Still, watch that scene again and see if you still wonder what's missing from the recent crop of episodes.
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Date: Jan. 9th, 2012 11:20 pm (UTC)I completely agree that it's one of the most powerful CM scenes. It is one of those scenes that really stood out for me, and one of the first that comes to mind when I think of Hotch.
I really want to see more emotionally charged scenes like that; I think that's why I LOVED the episode where Haley dies (even though I hated that she died). Although, maybe I just like to see Hotch in a challenging, character-defining/exposing situation xD