6.18 Lauren and 6.22 Out of the Light

The music for the ending of 'Lauren'.

Okay. That makes it even two times sadder than before.
Spencer crying for Emily. Matthew crying for Paget.
Augh.

Emily's tombstone. It shows: F-B-I.
Oh.
Yes.
That's what the title 'FBI' carries for every single member of our beloved BAU.

Still trying to figure out what they are both saying.
JJ seems to saying "She made it." Or "It's for the best." Or "I want Sergio."
Hotch: "I know."

Emily being 'Mama' to Declan was actually quite...adorable.

Hotch knows. There's that stare.

He always knows.

She's thinking, "I can't believe I have to do this to him. I'm sorry."

Beautiful angle on JJ/AJ Cook.

"Look at the fingernails."
Reid, your observation skills on Emily's fingernails is approaching
creepy levels.

"Let me dig out your earwax...by pulling your measly ear off."
At least, that looks like what Rossi was about to do.

Why do I think of 'marriage vow' when I see Rossi grab
Seaver's hand?

Almost like she is saying,
"God, Rossi! Get out of my face! You're adding spittle all over it! Isn't
blood enough?"

Loved it took Rossi like a few seconds before his old limbs
could move and he makes Seaver "Duck down!"

Very nice blowback spatter effect.

"Hey, hey! What's with the sexy cop, bad cop routine, huh?"

*sniff sniff* "Hoodrat."
Yes, we already know MGG's talent: he can smell a racist.

When Liam said, "The girl first...."
I wondered how many people jumped up and said "YES!" 

For a loudmouth expendable character, he sure needed two
shots to fall. Interesting to see the back-spatter from the
entering bullet here. Good detail.

"Lauren Reynolds is dead. Lauren Reynolds is DEAD!"

Was I the only one who laughed when Reid literally shouted this aloud and Hotch went "What?" - probably thinking for a moment that Reid just lost his marbles.

Thankfully, Reid makes that immediate connection with his astute mind. He really does notices Emily's fingernails a lot, huh? His attention to that detail does raise the question of creepiness factor...

"I beat you, Doyle!" (laughs) "Before you even
came out of North Korea. I beat you!"

Oh yes, Emily. Choke that guy silly. Show him no one pushes Prentiss into walls and cupboards after Minimal Loss and gets away with it.

On the other hand, Emily, technically you haven't won. You just told Doyle his son still's alive, and now Doyle's got away and out looking for Declan. There's no definite victory in that yet.

Now that the excitement from watching 'Lauren' has died down...

As exciting this Prentiss arc is, it does feel out of place in the show as a whole. The plot seems quite disjointed from the standard fare and, I admit, quite implausible at times. After 'Lauren' was done and over, I wondered to myself if I had just watched an episode of 'Criminal Minds' or a 44-minute version of 'Mission Impossible'.

At the same time, I am just left with this slightly hollow feeling that maybe I don't know much that is true about Emily's character at all. Which were the times was she only acting? Which were the moments was she genuinely herself? I do think that Demonology, and perhaps Minimal Loss were probably the only times that we saw glimpses of her true character.

Granted, she didn't get as much focus as Hotch or Reid does for the past seasons. But I had this perception of her as this secretly geeky, slightly awkward, sometimes overcompensating, hating politics and lies, kid-loving, intelligent, snarky sense of humour, strong, independent, and occasionally vulnerable women (sorry the extensive adjectives). Added to the fact that she is like Reid's big sister or young mother, sometimes like Rossi's adult daughter, Morgan's partner, Garcia and JJ's friend, and Hotch has come to respect her.

I'm trying to consolidate this with that of 'Lauren super-spy with secret life'. The characterization revealed of Emily throughout 'Sense Memory', 'Coda', 'Valhalla' and 'Lauren' is quite jarring. Although the writers didn't flesh out her character much in the past, I do agree this storyline doesn't actually give her much justice. Why all the guns blazing, spies running and secrets unraveling for a character's exit episode? The whole convoluted terrorist-spy-revenge-vendetta-undercover-big guns situation is quite unrealistic really...but hey, you could handwave off as 'just television' right? Right?

Maybe I'm just a little upset, and overanalyzing everything. Plus, with the high possibility of this storyline only shoved in this season.

I just wish that maybe, Emily's exit was done differently and more plausibly.

But what saved this episode and made it so heartrendingly awesome was the acting and the directing. It made me believe the emotions being portrayed on the screen, made the team's desire to save Emily so urgent and their subsequent loss of her so painful. On a much fairer note, the writing do have some high points in terms of showing how the characters were human with weaknesses (in the case of Doyle and Emily). I give kudos to the writers portraying Doyle as a realistic, motivated villain who is still a broken man, and not just a ruthless monster. Brewster really gave her best in this episode, and I really do wish more depth had been given to her character Emily in the past, as we had seen so briefly in only a few episodes.

Missing Emily already, actually.

EDIT: Was rewatching Fear and Loathing the other day, where Emily discovers Morgan was a fellow Vonnegut fan and were discussing a line from 'Mother Night': "You are who you pretend to be...so be careful who you pretend to be." Looking back, that line really fits into the entire context of Emily's situation.

Wait. They never explained how Doyle knew what the BAU were doing in 'Coda'. Or how Emily happened to have a submachine rifle and a flash grenade handy. Or who thought it was a wonderful idea to take a suspect to the rooftop to get sniped. Or who stuck their hand into the toilet bowl to get Emily's ring (I bet Rossi made Morgan do it.) Or the significance of Doyle's "Dr Reid".

Loose ends...loose ends...

More importantly...

What about Sergio?

In my opinion, I do think the last scene with JJ and Emily in Paris is unnecessary.

It would have been much more emotionally powerful had they ended it at the funeral scene. Leaving it ambiguous, with nothing more than Hotch's and JJ's furtive looks to clue us in. It would be maddening and sickeningly depressing, but it would have left a greater impact.

Oh well. I'm not going to continue to complain. They probably wanted it to end with a slightly positive (though bittersweet) note: Emily's alive and in one piece (can't say much about her fingernails though) and she's in Paris!

The way she said "Thank you." It was so quiet, small and distant. Almost like it belonged to someone else. Less like Emily's. It fits though. Lauren Reynolds is dead. Emily Prentiss is dead. She has a new identity now, to live on. To fight on.

Wonder if she's out there, hunting Doyle?

My heart aches, that's this would likely be the last time we see here - but yes, goodbye Emily.

Au revoir et bonne chance, Emily. Bien fait.

Their reactions. Fearing the worst.
For them, the worst happens.

Garcia saying "Nonono" while shaking her head.
She can't believe it.
"What happened to main character immunity to off-screen deaths?"
Reid can't believe it either.

On a more serious note:
That's the two saddest puppy faces I've ever seen.  

Emily Prentiss. The only TV character for a very long time to neither shriek, squeal or scream "NNOOOO!" nor bursting into flames or exploding into bloody gunks when given the wooden stake.

"Why run? We're her family."

We're her family. We're her family. And she had to leave them behind now. How god-awful this must be.
Okay, that line was cheesy - but for Reid to say out loud...you could see how he is struggling with the notion that Emily doesn't trust them with her troubles.  After all, Reid himself only has them (other than a schizophrenic Jane Lynch, an estranged father he hasn't shown to fully forgive and a dead uncle.)

Reid thinks they are one big family (and he's usually the one who explicitly says so), and he just lost a big sister. 

Seeing Hotch's smiling face on Emily's phone really makes my day.

Hey, isn't that the same pic on Hotch's ID? 

Funny. I don't recall that giant heart-shaped thing in her drawer for 'Valhalla'.

Reid looks like crap here. And the way he just seem to trudge along in this mechanical, halting shuffle with a disinterested expression...
It's almost as if he's barely functioning at all.
Are the headaches acting up again?

Initial Reaction on 6.18 'Lauren'

Over in all, awesome acting from Paget, brilliant directing from Matthew (loved his transition shots!) and wonderful performances from the rest of the cast and crew.

The story's okay, although with some holes and unexplained bits. I'll let most of it slide, because I did enjoy it. I wouldn't say it tops '100' or 'Revelations', but it is adequate, for Prentiss's swan song.

Brilliant music in this episode, a trend I've been noticing since 'Coda' and 'Valhalla'. I loved the way the sad cello tune stopped just as the bird-eye's view shot of the BAU team around the coffin came in, before the tempo eased into the slightly hopeful, still a little sombre and anticipatory tune of Emily still alive in France.

Hey, it's me. Hotch asked me to try all of your numbers, 

and I have this on my listing, and you probably don't 

even use it anymore...but if it is you, and you're out there...Come

home, please.

God Emily, what did you think? That we would let 

you just walk out of our lives? I'm so furious here right now! 

Then I think how scared you must be...in a dark place, all alone. 

But you are not alone, okay? You are not alone. 

We are in that dark place with you. We are waving flashlights 

and calling your name. So if you can see us, come home. But if 

you can't, then...you stay alive. 
Cause we're coming.

                                                                                                           - Garcia

(Except of course, Emily's not dead. But seeing this scene...was so emotionally wrenching.)

On a sidenote, what are they carrying inside the coffin? Bricks?

If you really want people to think you're dead, get cremated.

Oh...wait.