Soul Mates
The first thing I noticed about “Soul Mates” is that is seemed to have a different set up…at the onset, it focused on the suspect and centered on the family more than in other episodes. I liked it - maybe not as much as “Normal,” but pretty good. Oh, this was killing me all night: I knew I knew that actor! The guest star in the hot seat was Michael Boatman, who was in Spin City and Law & Order: SVU (to which I am now addicted). The other guest star, George Newbern, has been in ten thousand million shows, including CSI, CSI:NY, Ghost Whisperer, CSI:Miami, Grey’s Anatomy, Cold Case, Without a Trace - every CBS procedural, it looks like. He was the second half of the twisted duo, and he ends up taking Andrea Harris - just so he could see William again. And William leads the FBI to Steven so he could say goodbye (saving his daughter was secondary?). This was a weird relationship, wasn’t it?
Overall, I liked how the show was set-up, I liked the acting - Morgan was a prominent part of the episode. How’d you like “SoulMates” ?
Odds and Ends in the News:
This is from DetNews.com about the HBO after party for the Golden Globes. Among the beautiful guests:
A few feet away, Shemar Moore of CBS’ “Criminal Minds” bobbed his head to hip-hop beats and chatted up the likes of Los Angeles Laker Lamar Odom, Tristan Wilds of The CW’s “90210″ and Hill Harper of the Eye Network’s “CSI: NY.”
You can read the entire article here. Our guy certainly is busy, isn’t he?!
At the Party
The spin-off for NCIS is not a rumor anymore - it is a confirmed fact. CBS’s president of entertainment, Nina Tassler, confirmed that there will be a spin-off, and it will be introduced during the regular season of NCIS. The rumored spin-off for CM is off the front burner. It may be off the stove all together. We’ll see. NCIS has seen phenomenal ratings this season, gathering over 20 million in late december.
And for CSI fans, tonight is Grissom’s last night. Laurence Fishburn will take over. I actually like how they are transitioning him into the show. Tune in at nine on CBS for that.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
The goal of a TV episode, a movie or a novel is to surprise and move the reader/watcher. Perhaps a writer of a book doesn’t plan it page by page, but a TV episode is directly and totally designed that way. It is a formula that is very, very successful and that is why it is used. The reason we watch CM is because it surprises us and interests us with its premise, characters and story lines. It is designed to manipulate us; if it has done what it was supposed to do. Most people watch and become involved in shows and their characters because these fictional characters live differently than us and that is what becomes fascinating.
Soap Operas and The Real Housewives shows appeal to women, because while they may also be married and bored, most are not 100lbs, has had lots of plastic surgery and actually seduce the pool boy/delivery boy/phone installer and have sex with him/them, even if we see a cute one. The reality shows are watched because the person watching is safe in front of their TV saying ***They would never do anything so stupid to get attention*** Thus, CM takes us into a realm where very few of us have ever occupied, the world of the criminally insane, the criminally violent and the psychopath. Some episodes reach into the psyche of the viewer more or less deeply, ring true to a greater or lesser extent and become more or less liked/enjoyed/appreciated by the viewer.
“Normal” hit home because the crazy person appeared to be so ordinary and was normal before the seminal event of the death of a child. We can all understand that can be a trigger for unusual, uncommon behavior to manifest, even if it is as benign as crying in the check out line at the grocery store, seemingly for no reason or as violently crazy as the man in “Normal.” So the episode can hit its target with its air of almost understandability.
“Soul Mates” relates on many of the same level, I think all of us have met someone with whom it seems we have an immediate bond, understand their speech as if we were having a secret dialogue beyond the ken of perhaps anyone else in our lives. Granted, I think this happens more when we are young and searching for personal connection, but it can happen to anyone. The creep factor of this episode was how completely entwined the soul-mates became. They had more attachment to each other than their normal connections of spouse, child, job, community. Rape and murder are terrible crimes, but we can see them in just about every drama on TV, in the paper every day and on the news everyday. Two successful men leading a secret life that is not heroic like Indiana Jones or Jack Ryan from the Tom Clancy books and movies, is different and fascinating.
This episode completely creeped me out more than any other this season, perhaps because I have a daughter the age of the victims, had a father who lived a paranoid life or because I watched today, alone in the house. I thought this was a great episode and the acting was great too. The unsub played the psychopath perfectly; arrogant, sure of himself and to me, seemed very convincing until we see a memory of him doing the crime and for a moment, I thought that was more of a wish on Morgan’s part than the unsub actually being criminal.
Four stars for this episode in my opinion.
Lociloco
January 15th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Well said. If I thought I could compete, I’d suggest you get your own blog. You’re right: I definitely like this show because, like CSI and SVU, it is so far outside my normal experience (thank God). The different relationships and psyches are fascinating to me.
January 16th, 2009 at 1:29 am
Thank you for the compliment, but I am not a Blog candidate. I don’t even have a Live Journal or any of those contact places save for a fanfic site which is under a different nom-de-plume altogether and in another fandom. I really enjoy this blog; that’s why I comment here.
What I do know is that I would love to see a discussion about why one or another show attracts fanfic writing by the same person who has no interest in writing for another fandom although they love it and the characters just as much. What is the key fascination that makes someone want to write fandom fic? Since I am exactly that way; I write obsessively for a different fandom and am not at all interested in either writing or reading Criminal Minds fic. I am not sure exactly why I am this way, but I think it has something to do with how well placed and well used a character is by the TV-Originator.
I think the creators/originators of the actual character(s) often get distracted after a while with all the other pressures and concerns of making the show work and they feel forced to toss a well loved and possibly, an already well drawn character, to the wind to keep up with what they think the show is demanding. This is when I became interested in writing fanfic. I wanted to fix the character(s) after I felt the character(s) were betrayed or dumbed down or tossed aside by the creator.
I would love to know, other than the obvious need to create sexual escapades for the character(s), why someone writes story-based fic or in the case of Criminal Minds, fic as similar to episodes and cases as the show itself.
I have no idea what the Powers That Be regarding CM feel about fanfic. Some shows get support and some shows are very harsh about fanfic. In any case, as a long time fanfic writer, I am always interested in what happens “after the show” in a fan’s imagination and how that translates onto paper.
January 19th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
LociLoco: I didn’t mean for that to come across as sarcastic at all. I reread it and realized I sounded kind of snide, which was not what I meant at all. I was serious - I always love your comments. Thank you for taking the time to write.
June 12th, 2010 at 4:11 am
hangover remedy