Criminal Minds

I was hoping to find some news about what the actors are up to in their off time from the show, but this wasn’t the kind of news I was hoping for. According to TMZ, Shemar Moore was arrested on Friday due to a suspicion of DUI. It occurred in L.A.

The details of the arrest report stated that officers pulled him over for speeding, and then arrested him after he “displayed signs of alcohol impairment”. He was taken in and booked after taking a breathalyser test.

He was eventually released on $5000 bail. His reps have not made any public statements yet.

I hope everything goes well!

(Arrest report here in PDF format. Photo source TMZ.)

Since there are no new episodes for the entire (long) summer, I like to go around the internet looking for interviews to read. This interview with Thomas Gibson about his role on Criminal Minds dates back to April, but it’s definitely a good read if you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet.

At one point he describes Hotchner’s straight-laced demeanor:

It’s partly Hotch’s mentor status that influences his austere demeanor. “We do have our moments of levity. Unfortunately, he has a very, very, probably-dusty-it’s-so-dry sense of humor. It’s pretty dark. It’s pretty bone dry. We all need a little levity, but I wouldn’t necessarily look for him to break into song and dance,” Gibson explained.

True, but wouldn’t it be great to actually see him do a song and dance number for just a second?

Although we don’t have much back story to his character beyond the very basics, the article quotes one episode that sums up the constant stress that Hotch feels in the pull between his work and his family.

Hotchner: I catch killers, I save lives, I’m a hero until my key hits my front door, and then I’m just the father and the husband who is never there.
Gideon: Yeah, I got that one.
Hotchner: Here’s the thing: when I’m home, I’m in this silent panic because I know that I have to be as good as I can, as fast as I can. Because any minute the phone is going to ring and my time is up.

It’s a great article about a great character (and equally awesome actor), and definitely worth perusing while you too wait for the hiatus to end.

(Photo courtesy CBS/Nigel Parry)

Heaven knows I love the show and Reid is a fantastic character, but one complaint I do have about the past season is the way they handled Reid’s post-”Revelations” drug addiction. Or rather, how they *didn’t* handle it.

When we saw Reid steal the drugs at the end of the episode, I was pretty excited. The drugs he was given are highly addictive and it wouldn’t have been realistic for him to have as much as he did without getting somewhat hooked. Add to that the mental stress of the ordeal he had been through and I was expecting a pretty serious look at how Reid’s addiction would battle with his logic, how he would seek help (or have help brought to him via the team), and how he would fight and win against his addiction.

So of course I as heavily disappointed that it was never really full-on addressed. We saw him in the following episode, staked out in a bathroom with his drugs before he was interrupted. After that there were moments where it was implied - both that he was still dealing with it and that the team knew what he was going through. But it was never fully addressed.

I know it’s a crime drama and not an after-school special, but I would have really liked to have seen a proper attempt to show how a character like Reid, someone who is highly intelligent, deals with logic, and wouldn’t normally be a drug user, would fight against a drug addiction.

(Photos source - buddytv.com)

For the longest time, fans - myself included! - have asked the big question: Yes, the chase to catch killers and rapists is awesome, but will JJ and Reid ever finally hook up?

There was once a mention of a date way back when, but then nothing ever came of it and everyone was left wondering if we’ll just have to deal with the cute tension between them without anything further. A.J. Cook, the wonderful actress who plays JJ is just as in the dark about it, as seen when she was asked about the relationship that never was:

I’d personally love to see it as long as it doesn’t override the main purpose of the show. And if it never happens, well we always have about eight thousand fanfics revolving around their relationship to make us feel better.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the season finale of Criminal Minds ever since it aired. What do they have in store for Emily Prentiss and Aaron Hotchner? It’s funny, you would think that a heart-stopping finale would include someone’s life hanging in the balance but apparently wondering what will happen to Hotch’s position can keep you up at night too (or maybe I just take my TV too seriously, that’s possible too).

Will Prentiss rat out any mistakes that Hotch makes in order to stay on the team? I have my doubts. I think she will probably keep quiet for awhile but then she’ll approach him to tell him what’s going on so that the team can figure out a way to save both their jobs. What would be the point of her becoming a full-fledged mole? If she does, the truth will inevitably come out and then she’ll have her job but she’ll be stuck on a team that hates her.

I’ve been watching closely for any hints of where Thomas Gibson’s contract is, but I haven’t heard anything that suggests he plans to leave by the end of next season so I’m really hoping that Hotch will not be leaving the BAU any time soon.

Any theories? I’d love to hear them!

(Photo source: Yahoo! TV)

Some of you may be aware that there was one episode missing from the 2006-2007 season for Criminal Minds. It was titled “Doubt” and it was pulled from its original air date because it was too close in similarity to the real life tragic shooting at Virginia Tech in April 2007.

TV.com has the following synopsis of the episode:

The team investigates a serial killer who is targeting women at a small midwestern college. The BAU shuts down the campus, creates a detailed profile of the unsub, and arrests a suspect. However, the team members begin to have doubts about themselves when the killings on campus continue.

In order to be sensitive to those affected by the V-Tech murders (and who wasn’t, really?), it was pulled with the intent of showing it later in the season but now it seems it will be held over until next season.

(Photo source - imdb.com)

When my favorite TV shows go off the air for the (looong) summer, I try to deal with the boredom by watching reruns, but thanks to YouTube, I can sometimes find fun stuff over there too to fill in the blanks of hiatus. One of my favorite things is when people make good fan videos. I can basically take a video with my camera and post it but I know essentially nothing about editing (editing was one of my least favorite things in film class, I just don’t have the patience for it) and making fan videos so I really appreciate the effort people put into them.

Here’s a nice one with scenes from “The Big Game” and “Revelations” set to a Nickelback song. It’s a bit dark of course, since a lot of the scenes happened at night and in darkened rooms, but it’s still great.

Happy Memorial Day to American readers!

Have you wondered what the actors do in the off season, after the show wraps for the last time until Fall?

Well, Kirsten Vangness is keeping busy with her play, “Fat Pig”. Though the title is somewhat shocking, the play explores weight and insecurity as well as debate over what is attractive when a good looking man (played by Scott Wolf) falls for a woman who is not stick thin. You can read more about the play here.

She also tries to remember to update her blog on CBS (how perfectly appropriate that they gave a blog to the actress who plays the one character who would likely keep one!) but she hasn’t updated since May 17th so hopefully she’ll post something there soon.

In the post she mentions that her play is going well, she’s done a magazine shoot, has spoken to the cast on the phone (though she hasn’t seen any of them since the wrap party), and that she has three weeks of Criminal Minds episodes on her DVR waiting for her whenever she gets the chance to watch them.

(Photo source.)

I have to say, even though reruns are never as much fun as brand new episodes, at least they can help tide us over throughout the dreaded hiatus season.

Next week on May 30th, they will re-air “Ashes and Dust”, an episode where a suspect breaks into middle class homes and sets fires with the intent to kill while families are sleeping. The first time I watched the episode, it really set my adrenaline through the roof. I’m eager to see whether it will still get my pulse racing the second time around - I think it will.

The following week, June 6th, they will re-air “The Big Game” which was one of the most anticipated two-parters ever - the one where a religious fanatic is trying to rid the area of those deemed unworthy. It’s also, of course the infamous episode where Reid goes missing, leading in to the second part (”Revelations”) which was possibly the best episode of the show, ever.

Also, if you’re like me and you’re a) Canadian and b) someone who watched the American Idol finale and the Lost finale last night, you missed the rerun of “Distress” but the Canadian network CTV runs episodes on Sundays, whew!

(Photo source)

It’s so hard to pick a favorite character on Criminal Minds. I love every single one of them for one reason or another and the actors have developed them so well.

However, if I was forced to pick just one character, I might be inclined to pick Penelope Garcia as my favorite. I love Kirsten Vangsness as an actress, and I love Garcia as a character and as a rle model. What makes Garcia such a role model?

She’s not a stick figure. If you look at the most common body shape in Hollywood, it’s a sea of skinny actresses. Kirsten Vangsness is certainly not what I would call a fat woman, but she’s definitely bigger than your average starlet. And you know what? I love it. She looks like a real person, and she’s beautiful - and she’s not going to contribute to young girls having eating disorders.

She’s bringing sexy back - sexy brains, that is. All the women on the show are intelligent, of course. One would hope there wouldn’t be any idiots working with the BAU, but Garcia is geeky smart. She can find anything on anyone if it exists, she can hack into computer systems, and she doesn’t apologize for her knowledge. She plays RPGs and knows about viral videos. She can probably hook up a network with her eyes closed. As someone who lives and dies by the world of blogging (well, sort of), I can appreciate geek intelligence.

She’s flirty with style. One of my favorite things in any given episode is the banter between Garcia and Morgan. The pet names - Sugar, Mon Amour, Baby - are ridiculously cute intervals in between the darker plot lines. The sparks of sexual tension - such as when she teased Morgan about having Photoshopped images of him wearing nothing but chaps - make you almost wish something would happen between them. The lustful drooling in “The Big Game” when Morgan was dancing - “He’s like a CAT” - is just one more aspect of realism that she brings to the show.

She’s funny. Nothing beats the way Garcia answers her phone calls. Who can forget one of my favorites:

Garcia: You’ve got a problem. Deadbolt’s the number one password crack-resistant software out there. You’re gonna have to get inside this guy’s head to get the password.
Morgan: I thought I was calling the office of Supreme Genius.
Garcia: Well, gorgeous, you’ve been re-routed to the office of Too Frickin’ Bad.

I only have one complaint about Garcia - compared to the rest of the team, she just doesn’t get enough screen time!

(Photo source)

Speacial Agent Jason Gideon is always the strong silent type, analyzing the scene and the suspects carefully before speaking. Apparently Mandy Patinkin, the actor behind the character, is the strong silent type too - except it seems he’s just a bit bashful. When asked about his opinion on the things that the critics say about the show, he only had this to say:

“Well, I’m not a critic, I’m just a worker. So, I’m always grateful for anything the critics say - good or bad”

Now really, who could say anything bad about the show anyway?!

(Source)

Welcome to this brand new Criminal Minds fan site. I am an avid (perhaps rabid) fan of the show and have become a little too obsessive about it - so what better than an opportunity to write here and update you as well?

I’m so disappointed that the season is already over. It was certainly a wild way to end it, and it left some huge questions for next season - will Hotch get booted out of the BAU even though we all know he is the only one who could lead the team as well as he does? Will Prentiss be a mole or will she trust in Hotch and tell him what’s going on? What is in store for this great team? Only time will tell.

In the meantime, thank goodness for syndication and summer reruns, it may be the only way I can survive the next several months without my favorite show!

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