Criminal Minds thinky thoughts

[meg_tdj]

So, the whole Hotch thing. I've been saying this for years, and my opinion on it is only growing stronger with every episode, to the point where I don't even see how this can NOT happen without complete copping-outage - Hotch is going to go darkside. I'm actually 99% convinced that he'll even kill himself.

There have been subtle comments made by and about Hotch since season 1 that he understands how killers think. Not just on an intellectual level like the others, but he actually RELATES to them. It's just his strong sense of right and wrong that keeps him from being an unsub rather than the one who catches them, IMO, and that part of him seems to be slipping more and more lately. If I were writing this show, I would HAVE to follow through on that and give all those comments and foreshadowings a massive payoff. I love Hotch to itty bitty bits and pieces, but he HAS to break. It HAS to happen. If it doesn't, none of his storyline will seem to make sense in the end.

My personal theory - what happened in Haunted will start to happen more and more. Hotch will start "not being able" to save the unsub in more and more cases until the team finally realizes that he's actively causing their deaths. He can't kill Foyet, so he'll do the next best thing - kill everybody else who hurts innocent people. That way what's left of his conscience will be placated, but he'll also have an outlet for all the rage and trauma he keeps bottled up inside. Once he realizes this is what he's becoming, he'll take his own life. There's been plenty of foreshadowing about suicide around Hotch, including in this ep (the subtle pause after Hotch calmly said [not exact quotage], "He has nothing. So, why hasn't he killed himself yet?" before he explained about the conclusion-to-a-psychotic-break thing), and I really don't see that there'll be any way around it. They haven't actually killed off any of the main characters on this show yet, and pretty much every show feels they have to do it at some point, especially "realistic" shows like this one that like to pack a punch for the viewers. If they ever kill somebody off, I fully expect it to be Hotch.

As much as I would hate to see him go (he's one of my favourite characters of ALL TIME, and my #1 fave on this show), I just don't see where else they can go with his storyline. Not with all the foreshadowing. Either he continues to break until he finally snaps, or they somehow make it all better and give him a happy ending. And a happy ending wouldn't really suit this show, IMO.

Agree? Disagree?

Comments

[angstbunny.livejournal.com]

I agree that they've been setting this up for a long time. It's four seasons worth of build up. In my head, I've always called this show the Deconstruction of Aaron Hotchner. They've been gradually wearing him down. A break seems inevitable, and I agree that a break HAS to happen. You can't set-up something to NOT happen, you know?

But with that said, I can't see them going that route, because we've already seen the consequences, in Elle and in Gideon. Yeah, yeah, Gideon wandered off, la de da, but my personal canon is that he ate his gun, and I feel like the show has treated it that way even if they were restricted in actual presentation.

So I think Hotch is going to be about recovery. The whole show is about fighting the good fight. The evil is insurmountable. You catch one killer, there will be 100 more out there. But you can't give up the fight. You can't surrender. There is a choice, and you must always do your best to make the right one, the moral one. I think Hotch will break, but not in a way that prevents his return. That will make his story different, and more in jive with the heart of the show, and Hotch, to me, is the heart of the show. Even though right now they seem to be repeating the fact that Hotch has nothing to lose, with the undercurrent that maybe he will lose his moral compass, maybe he will risk his life and lose it, I think they're going to subvert that. He has nothing to lose, but everything to gain back.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Wow, very well said. I really hope you're right! If they really delve deep into it and make his journey of recovery believable, that would definitely be awesome to see. Something huge would have to happen first, though, you know? Just to make all the foreshadowing worth it.

[angstbunny.livejournal.com]

Oh I totally agree that something huge has to happen. There's been WAY too much dread and waiting. There has to be some kind of epic payoff. But the problem is that it can't be THAT bad, you know? Because Hotch can't recover from something outrageous like shooting a suspect (did it with Elle already, and that's a SERIOUS compromise of his ethics). Or just, you know, anything serious enough that'd bump him from the BAU. So. I don't know how it's gonna play out.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

I'd love for what happened in this ep to become a pattern that the rest of the team picks up on - he "can't stop" something from happening to an unsub when he actually totally could. I mean, they can't really fault him for anything he did in 5x02 - he got the kid out of the house, and he did TRY to get Call to stand down - but the unsub still died, whether Hotch actively killed him or not. Would he have died if Hotch hadn't stood the guy up and antagonized him, thereby making Call more stressed? Makes you wonder.

[angstbunny.livejournal.com]

It would definitely be a grey area to tread, *nodsnods* The whole scene was very reminiscent of "A Real Rain," where Hotch did take the shot. Yeah, he didn't REALLY do anything wrong... did he?

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

That's true, and in that ep he kind of hinted that he personally thought it would be better to kill the guy rather than risk letting him back out into society, didn't he? It's obviously been something he's struggled with all along, and now the thing with Foyet has probably heightened that. Ohhhh, I so hope that's where they're going with this.

[angstbunny.livejournal.com]

It's a delicious battle, yeah, because he doesn't approve of vigilante justice, he didn't approve of what Elle did, but at the same time, he's not above it all either. Hotch may not know what exactly happened with Elle, but I'm assuming he can guess that Elle flat out shot the dude, which is the small difference between killing an unarmed man versus taking the shot in a hostage situation. Hotch kinda lives in that wiggle room area. Sorta like, he isn't Mr. Political Games, but he does play it when he has to. It's why he's the unit chief. Why he's a GOOD unit chief. It'd be lovely to explore that part of his character for sure.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think his main problem with it is that it's against the law, rather than that it's wrong. He's had it drummed into his head his whole life, LAW LAW LAW, you have to follow the rules whether you like it or not, or the whole world will fall apart, but now that it's personal? He must be questioning that. I really hope they do explore it. That would be awesome material for TG to sink his teeth into.

[autumnsfire.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

I think Hotch would be the best character to have a story on recovery, rather than failing and going down a path he can't come back from.

[thelana.livejournal.com]

Naw, I think they are setting Emily up to save him, hence the suddenly increase in face time. Basically, Hotch will be tempted to go over the cliff metaphorically with the darkness, but somebody will bring him back. I'm just sad because I was hoping it would be the team/the love of his team and love for his team, but it seems to me that the distribution of scenes is making it quite obvious that it will likely be solo Emily (maybe with team backup) and not the team itself.

It's really a simple math question. They take a ton of things from Hotch, spell it out that he has nothing to live for, so something's gotta give and they have to give him *something*. And again, based on the latest screentime/facetime developments, I'm guessing that "something" will be Emily.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I don't really see that. At least not if you mean in a shippy way. I didn't see any sexual tension between them at all, she was just a friend and co-worker giving him a ride to and from work.

She, Rossi, and Morgan are all trying to make sure he's okay, just in completely different ways. Morgan is watching him for signs of a breakdown, ready to demand that he be taken out of the field in order to protect him. Rossi is trying to act as though nothing happened, thinking that will help him move past it. Emily is, like a typical girl, trying to get him to open up about it and showing him that he has friends who are willing to listen if and when he does. The others are concerned about him, but more from afar. I love that each of the characters has their own way of dealing with Hotch in the aftermath of it all, but they ARE all dealing with it, not just Emily. So I don't really see that that'll happen. I don't really see how one person could "save" him anyway, which was Hotch's point at the end of the ep. Yes, Call had Tommy... but nothing could erase the trauma he'd suffered. Nothing and no one. He'll always be alone inside his mind, and therefore he'll never truly be saved.

[lifexwithoutxme.livejournal.com]

I agree the Emily will play a major role in whatever happens to him. I don't see any sexual tension, but they have always had some kind of understanding, right back to that ordeal with Strauss. I don't think anyone one person will save him, he needs to save himself, but I think whatever happens to him, whether it's his breakdown or his ephiany, Emily will be the one to be there with him. Rossi will talk him down from whatever he's planning on doing a couple times, Derek will pull him out of danger, but when it's all over I think Emily will be there.

I also really hope that Hotch will get better, or at least retire/quit alive. But there have been so many times Hotch has made comments about how this job can change you and it's only a matter of time before it's irreversible and takes over, and that makes me think that this is the end for Hotch. And honestly, without Hotch, I probably wouldn't watch the show.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, for sure she'll play a role. If only to try her darnedest to save him and fail in the end, or to be on his side if everything falls apart.

I think I would still watch without Hotch, I just wouldn't enjoy it as much.

[autumnsfire.livejournal.com]

I can't agree with your last comment about Hotch losing his job/prison.

See my thoughts below as to why.

Hotch didn't do anything wrong and he did save the unsub - Darrin.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

I agree, none of them team (except recently Morgan) seems willing to poke around inside Hotch's head, probably because he's the glue that keeps the team together and figuring out what makes him tick could shake them all up something fierce. The conversation between Reid and Garcia in last night's ep kind of spoke to that - they were wondering what had happened, wondering how Hotch would react, not knowing how they should act around him. These are PROFILERS, but with Hotch they're clueless. And that's kind of sad. So, yeah, I think sooner or later something needs to stir them up and get them to examine how Hotch thinks. I really don't think they'll like what they find.

I think the whole "may involve him losing his job or going to prison" thing is why I think he'll kill himself. Because if he doesn't get his son back anytime soon and this starts to happen, I really think he would find death preferable to either of those options.

But yes, hopefully "Tommy" will bring him around. Goodness knows they'll try.

[autumnsfire.livejournal.com]

Okay, so...

I have my own thoughts on the episode, but Hotch was trying to help the unsub. But I also think he was slightly afraid to try and take the gun away - he does have PTSD.

But I didn't read it as to him not being able to save the unsub. He tried; but I think he was more worried about saving Darrin more than Darrin's father. And he did keep Darrin from being killed.

In a way, this is kind of back shadowing to the season finale, when they couldn't even save the "innocent" unsub (the retarded brother) - here, Darrin, not really responsible for his actions, was saved.

I do think the whole team is going to end up having something to do with helping Hotchner. It was interesting to see how they split up to discuss it - Reid/Garcia; Morgan/Rossi; Emily with Morgan and Rossi and trying to help Hotch by commenting that Darrin wasn't alone.

I have a feeling it MIGHT end up being Emily and Reid to be the ones to finally talk him down - why? It just makes the sense - Emily is the one with a good friendship with him, and Reid is one that Hotchner does really care about, whether he often shows it or not. (A lot of season 1 episodes had them working together, and you could see how it affected Hotch when Reid was put in a crap position.)

I'll probably do more when I think more on this, but I will link it to my lj, as to not hijack yours. :)

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

I do think that deep down he was trying to do his job right in last night's ep. He really really was. I just wonder if some part of him aggravated the situation on purpose. Why else did he get the guy to stand up? I just can't quite explain that away to myself, though I'm open to ideas. It just seemed as though he was moving him closer to Darrin, making him more threatening. I don't see how Darrin could have resisted the impulse to shoot after that.

And yet, when the police and FBI came in, it looked as though the dad had been seated the whole time, and Hotch gave no explanation on why he "couldn't stop him." I just wonder if that scenario will begin to escalate, and the unsubs' deaths will become more suspicious. That might not be where they're taking the storyline, but it's just how it came across to me.

I think Emily and Reid will definitely be the ones trying to talk him down. Emily has the most compassion for him (except for maybe Garcia, but she isn't as close to him as Emily is), and Reid is the one who can relate the most (being the only other member of the team, at least that we know of, who has been tortured). So, yeah. I agree with that. I hope they're successful!

[autumnsfire.livejournal.com]

I think that Hotch didn't explain not because he wanted Darrin to kill his father (though honestly? Who could blame him?) I think he saw it as YET another failure, even though he SAVED Darrin - he willingly put himself between Darrin and the Swat team.

I think in the end, Hotch had to make a choice. Save the guy who really wasn't responsible for what he did, or save the serial killer who had turned his son into the mess he was.

To me, Hotch made the right choice.

And I think we saw that with the small bit at the end with Tommy and Darrin.

AFAIK, The father did sit back down before he was shot, I do believe.

[a_blackpanther]

I think they will break Hotch. Just not that much. The ending with Foyet will be bittersweet not happy. This show doesn't really do happy.

The team will save Hotch, because Hotch is still mom, and while they can function without him, letting him fall apart will make them fall apart.

And really, i don't think i could watch this show without Hotch.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

I would love it to be bittersweet. Hotch is still damaged, but manages not to fall completely off the edge of insanity, the team rallies around him to get him help, he gets revenge somehow on Foyet without totally crossing the line... that would be awesome if written well.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Unless they wait for the end of the show or something. But yeah, I agree, the show without Hotch would just not be Criminal Minds. It scares me that they keep being all foreshadowy with the going-psychotic-and-committing-suicide thing!