Chuck Todd interviews me about alternate histories
Showing posts with label A. J. Cook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A. J. Cook. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Criminal Minds: Evolution 18.3: Flowers from Hotch, Derek, and Spencer



It's been a while since I've seen an episode in any television series as emotionally effective -- as emotionally right -- as episode 18.3 of Criminal Minds: Evolution (actually, the third season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, which got the appendage Evolution in its title when Criminal Minds resumed on Paramount Plus in November 2022 after 16 powerful seasons on CBS, which concluded in February 2020).

[And there will be big spoilers ahead ... ]

The occasion was the funeral of Will, J. .J.'s husband, who died of sudden natural causes at the end of last week's episode 18.2.  Penelope and Emily are sitting together.  Penelope says the flowers are stunning.  Emily points to them and says those are from Hotch, those are from Derek, and those are from Spencer.

The mention of three major characters from Criminal Minds -- Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, and Spencer Reed -- for various reasons no longer on the show, but still alive (and that actually confirmed by this mention) -- was itself a classy move by the makers of this rebooted series.  All too often in television, especially broadcast TV where Criminal Minds spent its first 16 seasons, characters who leave the series are all too often out of sight out of mind, and never mentioned again.  So when I heard Hotch, Derek, and Spencer mentioned, I thought good for Criminal Minds: Evolution for growing up and becoming more like real life.   (I will say the Chicago shows and the Law & Order shows, both on NBC -- with the exception of Law & Order: Organized Crime, now on Peacock -- occasionally make references to characters no longer on the show.)

But the best was yet to come, when Spencer arrived at the funeral and joined his beloved colleagues/friends.  I've been wondering since Evolution began three years ago why Spencer was no longer on the BAU team, i.e., on the show.  I even said so in my reviews.  Whether this appearance was a one-time event, or the beginning of a re-integration of one of the best characters from the original series (the best, in the opinion of many) remains to be seen.  But his appearance at this funeral, what he said to J. J. -- "I'm always here for you guys" -- was a memorable moment, indeed.  In fact, I would say that moment, and the entire reappearance of Spencer, was one of the most memorable moments I've ever seen in a fictitious TV drama.

Matthew Gray Gubler played this moment as Spencer (Dr. Spencer Reid) just perfectly.  A. J. Cook as J. J. deserves an Emmy for her performance.  And the truth is all the acting was letter perfect in this remarkable episode.  Kudos to everyone involved, including Jeff Davis and the other writers, and Joe Mantegna who directed (who also plays Rossi, a major character).  This episode, entitled "Time to Say Goodbye," is the way television should be done.  It's definitely not time for Criminal Minds to say goodbye.

See also Criminal Minds: Evolution 17.1-17-.2 The Elusive Profile ... 17.3: "BAU Gate" ... 17.4: Progress ... 17.6: Gideon, Morgan, Hotch ... 17.7: Jill Gideon

And see also Criminal Minds: Evolution 16.1-16.4: Outstanding! ... 16.5: Assessment of What Could Have Happened at the End ... 16.6-16.8: Better Than Ever on Paramount Plus ... 16.9: Elias Voit and David Rossi ... 16.10: Gold Star

===

Some reviews of episodes from earlier seasons:





 

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Monday, December 12, 2022

Criminal Minds: Evolution 16.1-16.4; Outstanding!



So, I saw the first episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution aka Criminal Minds Season 16 on CBS and thought it was ok.  Last night I watched the next three episodes (16.2-16.4) and thought they were superb. So much so that I think this could be the best season of Criminal Minds in its long run.

Before I tell you why, let me give some personal history.  My wife and I were devoted fans of Criminal Minds for most of its run on CBS.  We stopped watching sometime in the 14th season.  We missed Hotch after his sudden departure at the beginning of the 13th season (since I have no direct knowledge of the incident that triggered his leaving, I won't comment on whether ABC/CBS were right to terminate Thomas Gibson's contract).  But, in addition to that, we were just getting tired of the series.

Now to season 16 [and there will be spoilers ahead ...]

As I said, we thought the first episode was ok.  Not good enough for us to rush over to Paramount+ and watch the second and ensuing episodes.  But I thought I'd give them a try last night, and ... wow -- I was glued to the screen for three hours.

Here are some of the reasons:

  • The idea of a master serial killer, who puts together a network of serial killers, so he can get his kicks vicariously, since he's stuck in his house with his family in the COVID lockdown, is brilliant.  This is probably the most creative integration of the pandemic and its effects into a ongoing television series that I've seen.  It's also good to see Zach Gilford from Friday Night Lights in the role -- he's perfect for the part of Elias Volt (a suitably electrifying name), a loving husband and father, who knows how to put together and run a digital network, and has a very dark and dangerous side..
  • On the subject of acting, the returning characters are all good to excellent.  A. J. Cook gets better and better as Jennifer every year, and she is outstanding in Evolution.  She and Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope are the only characters to have been on the show in one way or another every season, and Penelope is in fine form in this new season, too.  It was also good to Joe Mantegna back as Rossi.  I did miss Matthew Gray Gubler as Spencer, though, and I hope he makes a surprise reappearance before the end of this season.
  • The specific stories involving the master unsub and his network of killers are also very well done, including an episode in which the BAU thinks the killings are part of the unsub network, but are not. We had master nemeses who were recurring characters in prior seasons, but none as central and multi-tentacled as Elias Volt, seething with violence that is almost always just below the surface. And when it's not ... well, his use of a vicious dog to kill someone who looks like his jackass neighbor is a representative piece of work: he can't kill his neighbor, because Volt would be an instant suspect, so he vents his anger on some innocent guy who looks like his neighbor. And ever vigilant, he then kills the dog, too.
  • The quotes are as apt as ever, and the more realistic language is welcome, even if almost all of it comes from Rossi.
So we have something in Criminal Minds: Evolution somewhere between a reboot and a new season, and an altogether commanding piece of television.

===

Some reviews of episodes from earlier seasons:




 

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Criminal Minds 6.2: The Meaning of J. J. Leaving

A sad, beautiful Criminal Minds 6.2 tonight, with J. J. forced to leave the BAU to accept a promotion - forced to leave by superiors way over Hotch and even Strauss' heads.  At least she left alive, which leaves open the possibility of her return to the team at some point in the future.

As Samuel Taylor Coleridge noted in his Biographia Literaria almost two centuries ago, a "willing suspension of disbelief" is essential to the enjoyment of poetry.  The same applies to the enjoyment of television today - an acceptance in some part of your brain that the characters whose lives and adventures you are following on the screen are in some sense real.  And few things disrupt that pact made with your fiction as does a major character leaving a narrative because the actor or actress can no longer perform the part.   It's as if the really real world behind the television has reached out and punctured the pretended real world of the narrative you've been following so closely.

Sometimes it can't be helped, as when Jock Ewing left Dallas because actor Jim Davis died in 1981.   Other times this happens because the actor or actress decides to leave, as when Adam Cartright left Bonanza in 1965 because Pernell Roberts rode away in search of greener pastures.

In the case of J. J. leaving Criminal Minds, the fault seems to be with the powers that be somewhere in control of the series.   Actress A.J. Cook certainly didn't seem to want to leave, based on her public statements.   In a case of the storyline of tonight's show echoing what happened in really real television life,  A. J. was apparently obliged to leave for the same unsatisfying executive reasons as was J. J. on the show.

It was clear in tonight's episode that the rest of cast will certainly miss her.   The worst criminal part of the story at least had a happy ending - a Natalee Holloway kind of story in which the victim was found alive, due in the case of Criminal Minds to the sharp observations of J. J.

So the writers gave J. J. a fine send-off in these last two episodes - the first two episodes of a new season.  As I said in my review last week,  J. J. added a tender humanity, a lightness of being, to this often crushingly intense show, and, for that reason, she'll be difficult to replace, if she is at all.


5-min podcast review of Criminal Minds

See also Criminal Minds in Sixth Season Premiere and Criminal Minds 5.22 and the Dark Side of New New Media


                 Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, eHarmony, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle




The Plot to Save Socrates


"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book


Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
InfiniteRegress.tv