Series finale observation - question
I tried searching the subs series finale posts but I didn’t come across this in my searches.
I was wondering how everyone else felt about the rushed series finale Doctor Reid becomes - transforms into pilot Gideon when he accidentally causes the death of 6 fellow agents by explosion when he is the Agent who makes the call to send those 6 into the building which later explodes?
This may have been discussed many times over and of course throughout the last seasons they have other subtle hints of the agents transformations but of course I would always assume the Reid to Gideon would be a pretty important one to the writers and show runners. (Given the cast transitions over the years. This one connection remained the easiest one for the audience to see over the years.)
But I ask this because I thought it was a nice homage to the shows roots and even Gideon; that ended up kinda poorly executed.
Because it was rushed - glanced over when Reid passes out in his apartment. Because this happens to Reid so quickly we don’t get a chance to truly see him have any range of emotion over this call which it seemed they were trying to get across with Reid’s taking things so hard and Emily’s getting the call about whose decision it was.
Just wondering how others felt about this and all of the other subtle ways the characters transitioned - homaged the series early years.
Did others miss this or feel it was a nice concept that was ultimately poorly executed?
Edit- I also meant to mention that I found that this seemed as it was supposed to be important and noticeable to the audience with it’s significance being noticed because of its being mentioned as a total of 6 agents plus Roberta that died in the explosion. (They did seem to try to emphasize this a bit) As with Gideon it was 6 of his on the scene teams agents minus Morgan who we learn was “supposed to be there” but luckily wasn’t, Gideons call, and it lead to his “major depressive episode”. I was kinda disappointed that it didn’t seem to come across executed as well as I felt it really could’ve been.
Posted Sep 19, 2020, 9:25 AM UTC · edited
I think this is such a good observation. It was definitely glossed over, but I think it was sorta addressed in his coma dream. I believe it was with Strauss and he talked about how she symbolized his guilt at the 6 agents who died. And then he talks with Foyet and Maeve about how the team wasn't the same and how he was at a crossroads. As to his conversation about life and what he enjoys, I think that was his equivalent of Gideon having his "major depressive episode", and realizing even with the guilt of the 6 agents dead, he has more to do.
Yeah I mean I definitely thought they tried to make it an obvious homage to Gideon and I noticed all the same things. But when I watched I just thought it came across so rushed that I felt they could’ve executed it better and maybe it wasn’t as noticeable as it could’ve been. Especially given the longevity of the series audience. I still liked the nod to Reid’s transition though and the pulling in office the series roots.
I definitely agree. I honestly think most people would not remember since it was only barely addressed in the first few episodes of the series. And when they mentioned Gideon in the episode it was mainly about him leaving Reid.
Also I think the writing in general was poor for the finale. There was so much more potential. The writers were definitely rushed and I think in an interview Mgg even said it was rushed since they didn't bring Max in for the finale.
Yeah I agree. There was definitely a lot of potential and I think that made the series finale run kinda hard for me. We watched so many really well developed arcs over the years and the creators and show runners actually had the chance, which doesn’t always happen for long running series, to give us a great send off and I think they missed the mark.
Introducing Max and not truly bringing any resolution there was beyond disappointing too. I would’ve liked to see more of Rachel and Matthew on screen and I think that was a major opportunity wasted.
But it’s even more than that. I mean we all watched the Thomas Gibson drama unfold of course but I think they robbed the audience by not bringing him and Jack back for the finale. It also makes no sense that Shamar has popped in for every season except the series last.... which also serves as Garcia’s send off from the team. There’s just no logic with that one. I completely understand there being no return of Gideon, I personally think Mandy’s rationale falls on deaf ears when he talks about leaving CM over how women are treated only to move on to a series like Homeland which doesn’t exactly treat women like they’re all goddess. So although I loved the character I can’t blame them on that one.
But given the way they produced the finale it didn’t make sense. If you’re gonna opt for only dead characters to get around Hotch like bringing Foyet and Strauss back than you kinda needed Gideon. Especially given its was Reid’s character we were following as well. (I don’t think they should’ve brought Mandy back though. I mean this more as they should’ve just brought Thomas and Shamar back or developed the finales plot better, even if they just returned for the very last scene at Rossi’s. This would’ve made more sense to me than Foyet and Strauss ever will.)
I just felt we were robbed a bit with all of this Especially considering there’s been much larger series than this one who have had scandal that led to major gossip, studio losses, and the loss of major series fixtures like the entire production crew and major ensemble cast members to on set drama and still brought them back for a proper series send off. *Just as one well known primetime network tv drama series example: The West Wing’s Aaron Sorkin & Tommy Schlamme vs. Rob Lowe ultimately led to all 3 of them exiting at the season 4 finale in the middle of a 4 episode major cliff hanger arc that wasn’t completely written or filmed. This also led to legal drama, lasting Hollywood gossip, actual drug arrests and convictions. I mean this was and even still is to many serious scandal. Not to mention TWW was very heavily critically acclaimed at the time all of this was happening and the series was taking home awards every season over many truly fantastic series like ER, The Wire, and The Sopranos. The series was also unique in this scandal in that its one of the only that had a single screen writer set up, Aaron Sorkin wrote every script himself, and did not have a typical rotating writers table set up for scripts and screenplays. The writer and creator who they lost abruptly to this scandal.... Yet even though they all still had it out for one another, including the remaining casts resentment for the actor who caused the writer and co to leave, they all still returned for the series finale and filmed together.)
For the life of me I can’t understand why the producers, show runners, and the studio didn’t make sure something along the lines of this on screen resolution happened for a 15 year loyal audience with even just a quick pop in goodbye from Hotch and Morgan. I just think the loyalty of the CM audience really wasn’t considered enough with the finale run.
I also think it was tougher because we’ve watched so many very well developed arcs over the years and we really didn’t get anything close to those many in the last 2 seasons. So it was just one of those... “you knew they could’ve done much better for us” than they did situations too.
It’s not the worst send off I’ve ever seen. Not by a long shot. I think I was just disappointed because over the 15 seasons I’ve watched I’ve watched them provide us some truly incredible material and this wasn’t really close in my opinion. Plus I think egos or whatever drama clearly took priority over the audience with them not bringing back true fan favs we deserved to see in the end.