beatriceeagle (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beatriceeagle) wrote2009-01-05 11:01 pm
beatriceeagle) wrote2009-01-05 11:01 pm
You won't get no sleep tonight.
Last night was not a great night for my sleep cycle. I went to bed at three am, and it was past four in the morning by the time I actually fell asleep.
Which is a long time to toss and turn. So to pass the time amusingly, I figured out ways that Criminal Minds would get rid of each character, should that actor try to leave. It's like counting sheep, only depressing!
Further disclaimer: all of these answers assume that CM is only going to get rid of one character at a time. If they want to get rid of two in one go, a lot of the answers--I think in particular Morgan and Garcia's--get a lot easier.
I only figured out really satisfactory answers for Reid, JJ, and Morgan. Garcia and Hotch have kind of half-answers.
Reid
Well, Reid's pretty obvious. I mean, you know MGG is going to want to act out going crazy. So Reid will have a psychotic break, and descend into schizophrenia. There might be a stressor of some kind, or maybe they'll just use one of the many, many ones already in existence.
Either way, MGG will revel in it, it'll be very sad, but we'll get awesome acting.
JJ
The easiest way to break JJ, honestly, is to kill Henry. She'd break responsibly, though. She'd hang in there, try her best to keep going, and when she eventually decided she couldn't, she'd request a transfer. She'd give everyone on the team at least a partial reason for her leaving, and she'd let them throw her a goodbye party.
Because I think JJ knows when to get out.
Morgan
Interestingly, I don't think they'd break Morgan to get rid of him. They could. Morgan's issue is trust. The way to break him would be to have him give his full trust to someone, and then have that person betray him. Badly. And since the only people he seems likely to give that trust to are on the team...it seems unlikely.
So I think Morgan wouldn't break. He'd move on. He'd get a post running a field office somewhere, or as a Unit Chief to some section of the FBI somewhere.
Hotch
You break Hotch the same way you break JJ. You kill his kid. Of course, Hotch responds to loss by throwing himself even deeper into his work, so I think in addition to that you need to have a highly traumatic case where a kid dies. In Hotch's arms. Having been killed by his own father. Or something.
What I am sure of is that, like JJ, Hotch would give his goodbyes, and leave responsibly.
Garcia
Garcia could just decide to leave. She wouldn't necessarily have to break; she could just realize that it's time to get out.
If they wanted to break her, though, the way would be to have something happen entirely without reason. Some utterly senseless tragedy. I don't know how you'd do that and make it look more senseless than all of the other tragedies we've seen, but I'm sure CM could do it.
After that are Rossi and Prentiss, and I just don't know enough about their backstories and their triggers to figure out how they'd break. Prentiss will leave if she thinks she's being used politically, but we've kind of already spent that plotline. Rossi...I don't know. Rossi could maybe get fired? Go vigilante? But Elle already did that.
And there you have it. My 4 am thoughts on Criminal Minds.
Which is a long time to toss and turn. So to pass the time amusingly, I figured out ways that Criminal Minds would get rid of each character, should that actor try to leave. It's like counting sheep, only depressing!
Further disclaimer: all of these answers assume that CM is only going to get rid of one character at a time. If they want to get rid of two in one go, a lot of the answers--I think in particular Morgan and Garcia's--get a lot easier.
I only figured out really satisfactory answers for Reid, JJ, and Morgan. Garcia and Hotch have kind of half-answers.
Reid
Well, Reid's pretty obvious. I mean, you know MGG is going to want to act out going crazy. So Reid will have a psychotic break, and descend into schizophrenia. There might be a stressor of some kind, or maybe they'll just use one of the many, many ones already in existence.
Either way, MGG will revel in it, it'll be very sad, but we'll get awesome acting.
JJ
The easiest way to break JJ, honestly, is to kill Henry. She'd break responsibly, though. She'd hang in there, try her best to keep going, and when she eventually decided she couldn't, she'd request a transfer. She'd give everyone on the team at least a partial reason for her leaving, and she'd let them throw her a goodbye party.
Because I think JJ knows when to get out.
Morgan
Interestingly, I don't think they'd break Morgan to get rid of him. They could. Morgan's issue is trust. The way to break him would be to have him give his full trust to someone, and then have that person betray him. Badly. And since the only people he seems likely to give that trust to are on the team...it seems unlikely.
So I think Morgan wouldn't break. He'd move on. He'd get a post running a field office somewhere, or as a Unit Chief to some section of the FBI somewhere.
Hotch
You break Hotch the same way you break JJ. You kill his kid. Of course, Hotch responds to loss by throwing himself even deeper into his work, so I think in addition to that you need to have a highly traumatic case where a kid dies. In Hotch's arms. Having been killed by his own father. Or something.
What I am sure of is that, like JJ, Hotch would give his goodbyes, and leave responsibly.
Garcia
Garcia could just decide to leave. She wouldn't necessarily have to break; she could just realize that it's time to get out.
If they wanted to break her, though, the way would be to have something happen entirely without reason. Some utterly senseless tragedy. I don't know how you'd do that and make it look more senseless than all of the other tragedies we've seen, but I'm sure CM could do it.
After that are Rossi and Prentiss, and I just don't know enough about their backstories and their triggers to figure out how they'd break. Prentiss will leave if she thinks she's being used politically, but we've kind of already spent that plotline. Rossi...I don't know. Rossi could maybe get fired? Go vigilante? But Elle already did that.
And there you have it. My 4 am thoughts on Criminal Minds.
no subject
Also, we already know what could drive Prentiss to leave. Politics.
no subject
Prentiss, I do love you.
no subject
Break Rossi by taking away any sense that he controls an outcome. And then make his attempt to get control back responsible for tragedy.
That's the closest, I think, you'd get.
(Rossi is like Gideon, only not. Because Gideon was capable of utterly sacrificing his pride and dignity, if it got the job done. And Rossi's not comfortable with going that far. Rossi gets angry, and doesn't like to be seen as unimportant.)
no subject
And of course, the thing about Rossi is that he came in jaded and worry-worn. Which makes him, in some ways, easier to set free.
no subject