a new discussion

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

someone's reply to my last post gave me this idea. antionettemason said that not all the victims on CM are portrayed as weak. that's very true.

which is your favorite victim, one who you thought was really awesome?

for me it was the girl who escaped in "Bloodline" because she remembered so much and helped them catch the unsubs. and the woman in Mexico who laughed at her rapist.

Comments

[cloudzrshibby.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna say Adam totally counts as a victim. So him.

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

yeah, Adam is my favorite one-time character ever. i totally ship him and Reid, but i'm a slashy.

[irishcookie.livejournal.com]

I am newer to the show but of what I saw...

Carrie from Children of the Dark (Season 3) - the fact that she was able to first identify the people that killed her family and then later face one of them so the team could get information out of him...and she was only a teenager.

My heart broke for her when she finally broke down after they took him out of the room.

[kissmecait17.livejournal.com]

I just need to say that your icon will be in my dreams tonight and I love you forever for using it.

[underhand-glory.livejournal.com]

THIS

I still kind of wish she'd come to live with Prentiss for a while.

[britmandelo.livejournal.com]

Another answer of an UNSUB that was also a victim: Tobias. The intricate damage he suffered and half-survived was gut-clenching, not to mention his sympathy for Reid and his (admittedly backwards) caretaking behavior. That episode cycle will stick with me forever. (Or, hell, Reid. Or Hotch. Or Morgan. Almost all of the team has survived an attack of some kind, if not repeated attacks. I still have my suspicions about what Emily may or may not have been through as a young woman. It's definitely true that the "victims" are strong, because arguably, most of our main character have been victims.)

[silver-chipmunk.livejournal.com]

I don't know the episode title, but inthe episode that had the two brothers catching people whose cars broke down and bow-hunting them in the woods. The woman who survived, who killed one brother and wounded the other. She sure wasn't weak.

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

you know, i almost felt bad for the cute brother. almost. i wondered if he had that sort of moment at the end where he realized how much pain they were inflicting because he was going through it and losing his brother. Gideon's sympathetic actions toward him were also quite striking.

but yeah, that woman was great. i was totally with her stabbing that guy. and then when she stepped out like come and get my you cowards, that was really badass.

[djan31.livejournal.com]

Oh, Gideon's comforting to him brought tears to my eyes. I never knew what to think of those two, because the way they were raised, it almost seemed like they didn't see what they were doing as wrong.

[silver-chipmunk.livejournal.com]

That's one of the things I'm coming to love about this show. The killers aren't always evil, depraved monsters. Sometimes they're almost as much victems as their own victems.

[woodchoc-magnum.livejournal.com]

The woman from Open Season always stands out in my mind.

There are others as well but when I think of victims who fought back, she's definitely top of the list for me.

[coffeeem.livejournal.com]

The woman in "Open Season," definitely. The woman in "Legacy," who ran the killer's maze in the abandoned meat packing plant and never stopped fighting him.

Oh, there are so many, because one of the messages of CM is that it's always better to put up a fight. If you don't fight, you can't win.

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

that is a good point. when i was in high school i had this ongoing arguement with a friend who said that if someone approaches you with a weapon you should just do what they say. a few years ago i was with some friends and a group of men pulled a gun on us. i ran away after telling my friends to run also and simultaneously dialing 911 on my cell. we were chased but ultimately alerted neighbors who let us in and the guys gave up and ran away. i don't know what they wanted, but there were rapes and murders locally committed by a group matching the description. when we got home a roomie was like, "i don't know if running away was the best thing, but at least you're okay."

in any situation the action that helps you get away safely is the right thing. there is no room for second guessing yourself, another theme of the show. if i hadn't run i don't know what would've happened. and i wasn't supposed to be there anyway. fighting back is generally a good idea. if you get killed at least you go down fighting.

re: approached by dude with weapon

[gsyh.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid, I was told by safety class that if someone pointed a gun at me and tell me to get into their car, I should scream and run.

I would do that today, because well, what's to stop them from killing you? In fact, if you run, they shoot you, they draw attention, and then the ambulance can come for you. You get into their car, go off to their territory, you never get seen again.


Reading Evil Intentions when I was in junior high convinced me that if anyone tried to rape me, I will almost always go for fight, go down maiming him to make it harder for him to victimize at least. I say almost always, because there are indeed different type of rapists and different type of scenario.

In this:
Evil Intentions: The Story of How an Act of Kindness Led to Senseless Murder [Hardcover]
Ronald J. Watkins
The account of Suzanne Rossetti's abduction, rape, and murder by Michael David Logan and Jesse James Gillies discusses the events leading up to the crime, the hunt for the killers, and their trial. 30,000 first printing. $25,000 ad/promo.

They didn't cover their faces, it was a carjacking that become robbing her home, and the raping her in it, and then they took her away from her home... Ask yourself, what's their plan? They didn't have one, they were amoral and vicious and acting on increasingly violent impulse, they weren't going to let her walk. Poor Susan didn't know, she grew up with "don't fight the rapist". But the moment they did't leave her tied up in her home, when they took her with them again, I think I would have felt for sure that it would end in murder, which it did.

Now if it was someone like the unsubs in Aftermath (http://criminalminds.wikia.com/wiki/Aftermath) or Machismo (http://criminalminds.wikia.com/wiki/Machismo), unless I'm sure I can take him down, I would choose to cooperate with his fantasy, maybe I'll try to negotiate, but I will NOT provoke him, and I'll just have to cross by fingers that I'll get to be that lady - the one who got called by her rapist afterwards asking for a date, she said yes, and her rapists showed up, the police arrested him.

Bernardo never killed before he met Homolka, he was the kinda creep who believed it was his right to rape women, and then life just goes on, and in fact, that's what he was doing long before the stranger rapes / blitz attacks, he was controlling towards the women he was involved with, and he raped a female peer. His sexual fantasy wasn't about the death, that's why it wasn't on film, he was obsessed with taking someone's virginity and leaving a lasting memory....Homolka was obsessed with death.

The point was, even with this infamous killer, during the early attacks, his fantasy was that he was in a relationship with the women, cooperation would actually minimize harm, the way it wouldn't with Jeffrey Dahmer...and the way it didn't later, because "what was their plan?" Early on, he blitz them, he rapes them on location, and then he leaves them there, alive. ...but once it moves to kidnapping, yeah, likely it will end in murder, and it did.

[antoinettemason.livejournal.com]

aww, thanks, it's neat to have inspired such a good topic!

i was impressed by the ones you mentioned, as well as carrie from "children of the dark" and the woman from "legacy." another one i liked was the woman who was kidnapped by the stalker (i forget the episode name). she was scared, but still managed to keep her cool and remember all the things emily and jj taught her about how to survive in the situation. i also really liked the kidnapped teen in "to hell/and back," again because even though she was scared, she kept her head and figured out a way to contact help. like i said in the other post, i think the way the victims are portrayed is part of what makes cm so successful. the stories play into some of our deepest fears, but they also show us that it's possible to escape from those situations if we don't let fear control us completely.

[bluerosefairy.livejournal.com]

The girl from "To Hell..." and "...And Back", who manipulated Lucas's disabilities to save her own life. I love that she sympathized with him and didn't want the FBI to hurt him, but she didn't want to just lay down and die, either.

[veenecks.livejournal.com]

I've always liked Tracy Belle. She survived two unsubs, Frank and the little Red head kid who was killing the other kids. I swear I could see her joining the BAU in the future. OOHHH FIC IDEA!

The little girl from Bloodline always kind of got to me because her ailment, epilepsy or seizure disorder, saved her life. Its heart warming to know that most Control Type Unsubs would never want to get me because I'm epileptic.

Oh and the woman from the Saw episode. I hope she got clean...

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

yeah, i really like to think she got clean too. and that she went home and took care of her kid.

[underspell102.livejournal.com]

The girl from Legacy. I love how she says, "I win." at the end.

[paksenarrion2.livejournal.com]

Everyone has mentioned my favorites-the girl from Open Season who killed the one brother (even though I felt a bit sorry for him) and almost killed the other one, the girl from Legacy who never gave up trying to escape and Tracey from The Boogeyman/The Evilution of Frank. Not once but twice she was the target of a serial killer and managed to get away. Granted, the second time was because of the team but the first time, she managed to run away on her own.

[hairy-flower.livejournal.com]

I liked Lindsay from "3rd life". She and her father are my favourite difficult-to-say-what-they-realy-are characters :)

[djan31.livejournal.com]

The girl who was being hunted by the two brothers. She was very strong, and she got hers.
I forget what the episode is.

[nostalgia788.livejournal.com]

The girl from To Hell... And Back, I forgot her name.

[silver-chipmunk.livejournal.com]

I just thought of another one. In the episode about the guy who's imprisoning couples in his motel, and raping and torturing the woman forcing the man to watch. the last couple... the man tried so hard to get free he actually tore the chair lose from where it was bolted to the floor and managed to fight back.

[ladymalchav.livejournal.com]

One of the things I really love about Criminal Minds is that you don't get many of those classic Horror Movie moments. The ones where you yell at the screen 'OMG DON'T RUN UP THE STAIRS!' or 'WHY ARE YOU JUST SITTING THERE, SMASH SOMETHING!!!' It's very gratifying and satisfying to see the 'victims' fight back, be smart and clever, and not give up.

I mean, I can think of a few times (In Name and Blood and The Slave of Duty come to mind), but then it wouldn't be interesting if they all got away.

[sapphirejoy.livejournal.com]

The girl who fought back and stabbed the UnSubs in "Open Season."

[80ssluvrgirl.livejournal.com]

Even though he was an unsub, I think my favorite victim was Johnny McHale from True Night. To quote JJ "sometimes what the unsub does actually makes sense" and while I believe that violence is not the answer, I could totally sympathize with him and see how the loss of his fiancee and unborn child would cause him to want revenge. Also, I think Frankie Muniz did a great job portraying the character.

[redblonde7.livejournal.com]

The woman from 'Legacy' is a big one, when I was watching that episode I was just thinking that she's got guts, she kept fighting even when bleeding, drugged and terrified. Plus the first thing she worried about after she was free was her child. Also the victim from 'Open Season' who used her head and managed to survive.
Morgan was also a victim and I love how he managed to put Buford away and help his current victim as well as caring for the first boy who died.

Very first episode, Extreme Aggressor

[gsyh.livejournal.com]

Lady was in a frickin cage, with a chain around the neck, and she kicked the unsub! You go girlfriend!

Then the young lady in "A Thousand Words", also chained around the neck, after one week, she kept it together, trying to talk the girlfriend into letting her go. Plus, instead of being broken into an accomplice like the girlfriend after one week of abuse, she remained a strong protector, towards the baby.

The girl who got away in "Open Season", so boss!


Haley Hotchner, she stayed so very very brave, and keep in mind that this is after she had been isolated and on the run for quite a while.


One of the victims in "Remembrance of Things Past", the unsub stabbed her to death, she was the one before the one who was rescued, but I admire her going down taunting him, refusing to make the message.

The Alpha male who tried to take down the unsub in "Compromising Positions" even though his hands was handcuffed behind his back. That's a guy you can feel safe with! He lost, but he tried and almost got it.


That poor fourteen year old boy in "Psychodrama", who refused to punch his mom harder and was shot for it. That little boy who was so tiny, but he refused to shoot his mom, and his mom who asked her little boy to shoot her because the unsub had a knife to his throat.

The Professor in "Empty Planet".

The sex worker who tried to avenge her friend at the end of "Sex, Birth, Death"



I could go on forever, I love this show.