It's not a rough day until a serial killer tries to get you.

[a_blackpanther]

This is the discussion post for Episode 7x14 - "Closing Time". Watch out for SPOILERS in the comments.

Comments

[diemme.livejournal.com]

I don't hate that Hotch has a love life. I hate that it's so boring.

[lady-ami.livejournal.com]

I don't like it cause she comes off as creepy....

[beatrice_otter]

Awesome JJ!

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I LOVED that JJ kicked some ass in this one. That? Was EPIC.

I also loved the Hotch/Beth stuff because it was mostly adorable (although really, Hotch? Falling for the fake leg cramp thing?) and it was nice to see Hotch smiling and joking with Morgan again. And the scene with Hotch and Rossi in the elevator was SO VERY CUTE.

Other than that, though, wow. I can't remember another episode where I was so completely underwhelmed by the writing, editing, and acting. God, the acting was HORRIBLE in this ep. Every single person who was supposed to be crying was terrible at faking it. I don't think any of them even actually had tears in their eyes. The guy playing the unsub was especially awful. There were even parts when the main cast looked like they were just phoning it in.

Also, what the heck was UP with the pink lipstick on the guy working in the gym?? I was so distracted by that I could barely pay attention to the dialogue.

Thumbs down overall for me on this one, despite the amazingness that was JJ.

[diemme.livejournal.com]

She has a flat affect at times. I liked that lawyer friend of his from Tabula Rasa.

I also liked the doctor who worked with them and treated Reid when he was exposed to anthrax. Though, I suppose dating Reid would have violated medical ethics.

[diemme.livejournal.com]

We haven't had a really creepy and terrifying unsub for a long time. There were some in earlier seasons that had me double checking the house before I went to bed.

Maybe it's just his lips? One of my favourite footballers has a really pink mouth and sometimes looks like a 13 year old attacked him with bubblegum lipgloss.

[gsyh.livejournal.com]

It's not a rough day until a serial killer tries to get you.

My day was okay then.

*pries bear trap off foot*

[chreesko.livejournal.com]

But the last thing he promised her was that he would get on with his life and teach Jack the importance of love. So "spending his whole life making it up to her" = moving on and finding love.

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

Late to the party 'cause I had to wait till I got home from work to watch....

Unsub gave me the creeps until I realized that Hunter was his kid and not his underage boyfriend.

I like that Hotch has a girlfriend. I like seeing Hotch happy. I like seeing him actually SMILE for a change. They could have made a better choice for an actress, though. This one is not very exciting. I am, though, wondering what kind of event he took her to, because it was Valentine's Day and I'd think everything in the city would have been booked up already.

[limpycsiwombat.livejournal.com]

I loved how Reid was being all super worried about JJ at the end. So Reid. "I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job, but..."

SO CUTE!!!!

[abstract-helix.livejournal.com]

I thought sort of the same thing, but I thought Hunter was his underage rent boy who was using the money to get through college. Ended up being less creepy than I thought.

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

Where? L.A.?

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

I think that was an intentional misdirect. A little obvious, but it was maybe the one nice piece of dialogue all episode.

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

Just a few comments:

I'm not that crazy about Beth, but it's nice to see Hotch with a little more relaxed affect at work - "Wouldn't want her to be bored" LOL.

Jeeze, Hotch - you and Emily need to practice how to tell someone their fiance's been murdered. Interview her, THEN break the news? Cold much?

I know it was to set up the hand-to-hand, but surely JJ knows that you never, ever lay down your weapon. And you need to yell "FBI!" louder so your partners will hear you.

I knew they were going to give JJ a little action sequence, but it didn't make much sense to have her initiate it. It would have been much more in character for the unsub to attack her for some reason and her to lose her weapon and have to defend herself. The was it was done just seemed forced.

I'm trying to keep the thought at bay, but I keep getting the feeling that the Season 6 fuckery and its aftermath have permanently hobbled what was once a brilliant show.

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

...a sadistic unsub's hiding place for the victim (wasn't there a shorter term for this?)

Dungeon. *g* ;)

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

Could be worse - you could be prying a bear off your foot.

[annievh.livejournal.com]

oooh! I like your Hotch/Beth story better.

I do like Beth, but, yeah, yours if evil and angsty and I like it!!

[maskerad.livejournal.com]

I was also a bit confused when she just jumped on the unsub. I mean, they have dealt with unsubs like this before, and this is the first time a character has to go in a fight to get the weapon out of the killers hands. It would have been fun if he attacked her (and it would have made more sens too).
But I'm still happy she got to kick ass, it's the first time we see her take down an unsub like that.

[cammieluvr.livejournal.com]

Lol...I also think at one point it looked like MGG was wearing pink lipstick.

[cammieluvr.livejournal.com]

It seems like she just put down her weapon and like jumped on him, with no real sense of escalation of the situation. And yeah, there have been a handful of eps this season that have given me hope, but I think Season 6 definitely took its toll on this show :(

[djan31.livejournal.com]

Creepy sing-song voice always kills me.
See: Moriarty in BBC's Sherlock. Gives me the worst creeps every, I love it.

[lights.livejournal.com]

AGREED.

[scotchsour.livejournal.com]

boy, you really thought about it but it's coming off as a little jealous of a fictional woman.

However, that statement could become a fanfic?

Paget=Comedy.

[scotchsour.livejournal.com]

I think the problem with the last group of episodes and what I think they messed up later on in the years is the flip of unsub first and investigation last. Early, they used to tell stories where we didn't know the unsub and we would find out with the team but these days it's a formula: Crime committed, known unsub, team gets case and try to figure out what we already know. It's getting boring.

Edit: And making basic procedure mistakes that even us noobies wouldn't do without a little research. I am sorry but there is no way in hell you going to get me to like Garcia's episode, that was all kinds of procedural wrong.

[nwjarvis.livejournal.com]

You know, I think maybe that's a result of Erica M. running the show. It's like they decide what they want to see a character do, then they bend procedure to make that happen - like Garcia's episode, like JJ's fight scene. I could be wrong, but I think ex-cop Ed B. would never have gone along with such glaring out-of-policy happenings.

And it's not like it would be hard to fix. Would it be so difficult have put JJ in a situation where she was jumped at close quarters, lost her weapon, and had to take him hand-to-hand? It's been a while since I saw the Garcia ep, but couldn't someone in the writer's room have come up with a way to put er into a position where she had to do the negotiating?

When a character does something out of their normal 'character', the narrative needs to "corner" them into doing it; for example, Hotch didn't beat Foyet to death just because he could - the story forced him into a kill-or-be-killed situation.

If the narrative doesn't force the issue, the character just comes across as having acted foolishly; and IMO that's just lazy writing.