This is the place to confess---er, express----opinions about Criminal Minds that you've found, in your experience, to be unpopular or just plain odd while merrily respecting everyone else's :) This thread is generally really enlightening and tons of fun, but please be gentle! Some random unpopular opinions that spring to mind:
1) Unlike most fellow fans, I don't see the changes in post-S6 JJ as all that radical a departure from her S1-S5 characterization (or, well, lack thereof). Thanks to a combination of indifferent writing, undefined characterization and (IMUO) amazingly flat, eyeroll-prone, too-cool-for-the-room acting from AJ Cook, I always found JJ cold, dull, vaguely self-superior and snotty even when she was supposedly 'the empathetic one.'
2) I do, however, see Hotch as changing rather radically post-S1, and IMO it wasn't for the better. Instead of coming off as the layered, intriguing and complex character I adored in S1, he seemed really lifeless and robotic to me for several seasons. I understand the reasons for it, but I feel like both TG's borderline zombie-like acting and the writing went too far in making him so grim and joyless, especially on a show that's already so dark by definition. This brings me to the even more unpopular opinion that...
3) ...I like Beth. I actually think it makes a ton of sense that Hotch would be drawn to someone so lighthearted, happy and seemingly uncomplicated for his first post-Haley relationship. And after so many seasons of watching Hotch's wooden, understandable-but-depressing joylessness, I find myself irrationally pleased to see him actually smiling around her. I like Beth far, far more than I ever liked Hailey.
4) I've come to genuinely love S7. *ducks* Not every episode, of course, but a whole lot more than I expected to. And the ones I do love, I love A LOT. I've just grown really emotionally attached to it, and it improves with every viewing for me.
5) I hate, hate, HATED Reid's drug addiction. I wish so much they'd taken the opportunity to explore post-traumatic anxiety, depression etc., rather than resorting to yet another poorly executed addiction story.
6) I've grown to freaking LOVE Rossi beyond the telling of it, but I think (when I'm in the mood to tolerate him!), that Gideon's flawed, layered character added more to the show than he's often given credit for.
7) I love both Elle and Emily and would have loved to see them BOTH on the team---preferable in lieu of JJ and Morgan :)
8) I can't stand Kevin. I loved Nicholas Brendan as Xander on Buffy, and in theory I'd be thrilled with a minor character who has a well-defined personality, but something about his character and his interactions with the increasingly vain, exaggeratedly 'quirky' Garcia drive me nuts.
9) Morgan often drives me nuts (as does Morgan/Garcia), and I'm not nearly as touched by his 'big brother' relationship with Reid---mostly because he comes across as supremely patronizing and condescending to me.
Edited June 7, 2014 by mstakenncG1vNJzZmien6fCrr%2BNqamipZWptq6x0WeaqKVfqbyxtcJob25xYmKws7XMoqWapF2itq%2Bw0masp6ifpcKtrdFmpqmhnp68r7%2BO