I’ve been celebrating the return of Criminal Minds, the 12th season (premieres September 28), by rewatching all 11 seasons for the two months. I do not recommend this if you live alone, unless you just love laying in bed horrified at every sound OR staying up till 4 a.m. watching endless episodes because there's no one to stop you.
But the day has finally come. I was twerking it to the theme song as "The Crimson King" aired last Wednesday. I am beyond excited to have Mr. Scratch back; the story lines stretching throughout the whole season are my favorite. Mr. Scratch's ability to get the team onto his trail immediately after leaving prison gives me the heebie jeebies. What is he planning? If everything in episode one was just the beginning, what else are we going to see? Due to the amount of information Mr. Scratch was able to demonstrate he had on the team (their social security numbers and whatnot), I hope that the characters' personal lives are extremely involved in this case and everything is an extreme drama fest (a la the Reaper).
As much as I love following the horrible footsteps of Mr. Scratch, it would be great to see some other unsubs from seasons past, especially those who have had personal issues with individual BAU agents.
As I rewatched all eleven previous seasons, it has been great seeing Gideon and Prentiss again and some other people who don’t matter in comparison. It was great to relive my last great moments with Hotch and Derek. In the last few seasons, I've really come to not care about Hotch; I forgot how great he used to be in the early days. I'm glad he's still in the beginning of season 12. It would have been too much if he just disappeared at the same time Derek left. The team won’t be the same without either of them, as Derek (Shemar Moore) is my perfect image of a big, bad FBI agent, and Hotch is just, well, Hotch. But I mean, Thomas Gibson did kick a writer. But hey, the good news is agent Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) is being brought back as a SEASON REGULAR! I can’t wait to see how they write out Hotch (rumor says it will be a boring reassignment) and how they bring back one of my favorite feminist icons.
But now there's this new guy, Luke Alvez. I think he really fulfills the macho role that Derek did, but, I'm interested to see how they make him different. The whole awkward relationship with Garcia is funny, and I hope it stays like that for sometime; if not for comedic value, then just to differentiate Alvez from Morgan. Also, does Garcia really have a Canadian boyfriend? And there was too much focus on Alvez's "Roxy". My bet is that his "girl" is either his daughter or a beloved pet.
Changes are astir, but one thing is for certain- we still can appreciate the majestic creature that is Matthew Gray Gubler. What did we ever do to deserve such a hero? Such an icon? Someone so pure?
