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

[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.