They gained at least as many points from having the young Gideon look so much like the old one as they lost from not getting the original actor to make an appearance.
This one got me thinking though, the reason Gideon's actor left the show was something in the way of it getting to be too violent or that it glorified the violence too much, right? Some time during the past few seasons I've noticed that I've started skipping the scenes where the unsub is horrible to his victims, so I'm starting to think I agree. Maybe that just means that the show isn't for me, but that feels unnecessary. What got me watching the series was the team constructing the profile. Now the criminal gets too much screen time and seeing what he does is not half way as interesting as watching the team figure it out on their own.
I was an uber-fan and one of the top contributors to the wiki
, but then my schedule got hectic and I stopped watching halfway through... I forget which season.
I bought the PC game years ago, and still haven't played it.
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Considering Patinkin was VERY vocal about not enjoying his time on the show, not surprising he never came back.
Heck, he wasn't even in Profiling 101 which was pretty much about covering the history of the BAU (Wish we'd had a scene of Rossi and Gideon!)
Still not sure how I feel about His death. I mean, on one hand it's been 7 years... On the other, feels like is sort of undermines his departure, that he was moving to find his own happy ending. Heck, his parting monolgue is LITERALLY about how he needs to believe happy endings exist again... And then he dies.
edited 29th Jan '15 7:26:55 PM by CobraPrime
I'm on two minds of this episode. It was good. The acting was incredible, but at the same time... besides underwhelming Gideon's departure (Really? He went back to investigate a case?) The criminal who killed him is so generic really, almost forgettable. And then there's the fact that not only we've rarely dwelved in Gideon's personal life that half the episode feels like it comes out of nowhere (Gideon's got a son? Gideon's into birding?).
Plus it feels like the end would've had more impact if we had seen Rossi and Gideon interact before.
Notice that this season's got a theme of Family? New Profiler is a single mom (And what little ongoing plot we get seems to involve that). Gideon had a son all along and called the BAU his family. Rossi meets the daughter he never knew he had. Hotch separates from the woman he's been raising his son with for the last few seasons...
Oh, and if they want to make a spinoff again: I'd watch the SHIT out of a Late 70s set Crime Procedural about Young Rossi and Young Gideon solving murder.
edited 29th Jan '15 10:16:26 PM by Ghilz
So, Mandy Patinkin's never coming back I take it?
I too can understand why Patinkin left the show. "Criminal Minds" is a bit creepier than most other crime drama shows. Most of the criminals are psychotic, and in many ways terrifying, and the show rarely invokes the Asshole Victim trope, so 99% of the victims on the show are innocent, and HORRIBLE things usually happen to them!
That said, Jeanne Tripplehorn commented that she thinks Patinkin left due to some falling out with the producers, not because of content, as she thinks Mandy's later series "Homeland" isn't much less violent.
Like creepy stories? Check out my book!I found this episode to be rather weak. The complete lack of Patinkin was really noticeable, along with the fact that Rossi of all people was the one associated to him - even if he succeeded him in the show. The killer wasn't well written either. Really, the only scenes that got me were the flashbacks and Rossi's smooth costume - not surprised that he got all the ladies, really.
And they brought up his thing with birds more than once too. But, I felt like if he survived Frank of all people, getting taken out about a garden variety Un Sub seems like a step down for him.
But Oh My God did I want to give Reid a hug. Poor baby the writers really love to kick him, don't they?
I'll support the idea of a prequel spin off. That'd be awesome. Especially set in the 70s where they would avoid the trappings of Garcia's Omniscient Database and modern convenience like DNA.
But yeah, the episode itself sort of sucked. I hate how it undid Gideon's ending completely. The focus on Rossi was weird too.
edited 30th Jan '15 12:31:24 PM by CobraPrime
Glad I'm not the only that found the "Rossi knew Gideon" thing a little odd. I'd have to give it a re-look, but in Rossi's very first episode, I do not remember there being any indication that Rossi ever knew Gideon. I know Hotch knew Rossi beforehand....
Like creepy stories? Check out my book!On that note, I gotta ask, anyone now if Mandy Patinkin and Joe Mantegna have ever actually met in real life?
Like creepy stories? Check out my book!I'd say any season that featured Paget Brewster, aka Prentiss. Not because of the actress (although she is good), that just seems to me the "golden" era of the series. Before Brewster came along (I think she came along just before Joe did) the show was still kinda slow-paced, and the "un-subs" were kinda one-dimensional (which is probably why Mandy didn't have much of an issue with the series until around season 2). Also, during those early periods, I always found most of the characters, except Gideon and Hotch kinda under-written. I didn't think any of them became really distinctive until Season 2.
After Paget left, the show has just been in kind of a rut, like it's losing steam. It's heading towards where "CSI" is now where it's just BARELY holding on, and everybody just seems to only still be a part of the show just for the paychecks.
Like creepy stories? Check out my book!Up to season 6 in my rewatching blitz. And we get to a plot point I always hated:
Why was Ian Doyle imprisoned in North Korea after being captured by Prentiss and Interpol? (Not only North Korea, but a camp for political prisonners in North Korea???) North Korea isn't a member of interpol to begin with, and for second, Interpol is a law enforcement agency, why would they capture a terrorist and then not have him tried by whatever country he's wanted by?
Like, of all the places on earth for him to be jailed at, the writers literally picked the one place it would make no sense. They might've just said Doyle broke out of the phantom zone! Hell, once he broke out of prison, how the fuck did he get OUT of North Korea? Got some help from the little known but powerful North Korean branch of the IRA did he?
There's plenty of countries with, ahem, liberal views towards prisoner treatments who ARE member of Interpol. (Like Russia, where Prentiss thought he was at!) There's literally no reason he'd be handed to North Korea.
And that's also assuming the UK and, well any country really, would trust North Korea to get intel for them.
edited 13th Feb '15 7:41:55 PM by Ghilz
Here's something I've often wondered.... why hasn't Lola Glaudini ( Elle from season 1) returned? I read somewhere she left the show because she wanted to move back with her family on the East Coast, but since then she's done more TV projects, I'd have thought the bus would have came back for her.
Like creepy stories? Check out my book!

Holy Jeebus! They killed Gideon! Shit, and it wasn't even a Back for the Dead type thing. It was more of a Bus Crash. I'm assuming they couldn't convince Patinkin to come back for even a couple of scenes.
Points for having Flashback!Gideon played by Cory from Boy Meets World XD
edited 28th Jan '15 8:48:55 PM by Sisi