I tried to watch the promo - wait what?

[a_blackpanther]

This is the discussion post for Episode 8x11 - "Perrenials". Watch out for SPOILERS in the comments.

Comments

[surreysmum.livejournal.com]

Saw this one yesterday on the Canadian channel, and was quite intrigued. Won't spoil all my American friends, but here's a warning - don't plan on eating anything while you're watching!

Morgan & Garcia fans will want to stick around for the ending. :)

I am trying to like the substitute-Prentiss, but after several episodes am still not convinced. There's an edge of over-acting, or something. Would be interested to know whether you agree.

[piperwest12.livejournal.com]

I do like her but I feel that the writers are making her take that place that Prentiss had with Reid. That special relationship they had where he could tell her things without her trying to fix them for him and coddle him.

[faith-manages03.livejournal.com]

I do agree, and I think the issue is that she's just sort of there. Rossi had his anger-management issues when he first showed up, Prentiss had her drama-plus-awkwardness issue, and Jordan had her not-cut-out-for-this-I-wanna-go-home, and as each character got better the audience slowly warmed up and got to sympathize (thought in the case of Jordan that sympathy was essentially wishing her well on her way out the door). With Seaver they went the other direction -- YOU WILL LIKE THIS TRAGIC WAIF OR ELSE -- and disastrously so. And with Tripplehorn's character they've went too far in the third direction of not even featuring her at all. She's just there, saying lines, doing her job. We have no indicators of her as a person -- there is no "deal" to ask "what's her deal?" about. Which. Is boring. :/

[diemme.livejournal.com]

That's exactly it!

Delenn icon!

[private----ryan.livejournal.com]

I also watched this yesterday, and I have to say, it's just adding to my growing love of season 8.

[diemme.livejournal.com]

Reid's pulled his look together for the first time this season.

[jsks.livejournal.com]

Not sure how I feel about Blake yet. Agree that this is Reid's best look this season.

[private----ryan.livejournal.com]

Can I just throw out there how much I hate it - hate, hate, hate it - when a procedural involves a serial killer with no set victimology, and while the team tries to stop them from the beginning, the second a child is at risk, it all kicks into high gear? Like, yes, those adults who died were tragic, but we have to save the twelve-year-old, this above all other things is what matters. It feels so emotionally manipulative and smacks of a double standard that Criminal Minds has worked through so well in episodes like "Legacy" and "To Hell/And Back".

[diemme.livejournal.com]

And it's a given that the kid will be saved.

[private----ryan.livejournal.com]

It would bother me a hell of a lot less if the kid isn't always saved, honestly. I mean, in this case, we didn't see what happened to the first victim - the young, black man living in what was presented as a low-income part of the deep South - which in and of itself was a little bit problematic to me, but I get that. The first victim we do see begs for her life and is murdered in her own sanctuary. To my knowledge, they don't indicate what happens to the pair of people the UnSub had tied up at "Ted's" house.

These are all characters who we know either died in a terrible way, or can assume died/were left for dead. But because a child is abducted last, it really strikes of the unfortunate implication that all those other terrible, disturbing murders were just building up to what we're really supposed to worry about, because who even cares about thirtysomething women or men?

[diemme.livejournal.com]

Hotch will send your soul into maggots, motherfrakker!

[honestjoh.livejournal.com]

♥

[blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Can't believe it was possible to top the maggot ick factor, but then they added the newborn baby. We waited until after the episode before eating my birthday cake.
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Liked the episode more once they figured out the unsub's victimology, but man was the acting in the beginning terrible. Between the Priestess death and Reid at the coroner you could pratically see the "I have to act now" thoughts going through everyone's head.
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Wished they parceled out Reid and Blake better though. I know Matthew was editing and recovering from directing, but it was so odd just having him drop off the face of the earth at the end.

[eiko82.livejournal.com]

Haha, enjoy life as a maggot, you jerk. Loved how his 'plan' was foiled at the last minute.