This year truly marks the end of an era. With Criminal Minds and Supernatural both ending, fans are saying goodbye to two shows that have been on the air since 2005. Think about it, that’s a decade and a half.
Tonight we bid adieu to the first of these, Criminal Minds.
As strange as it might be, Criminal Minds has been a source of comfort for me. I know that the subject matter: serial killers, murder, and general badness, may make you wonder if something is wrong with me, but I think it’s the same as the general true crime obsession. At least in Criminal Minds the killer is always caught eventually!
See, the show saw me through weekly episodes with my parents growing up, to late night background noise when I was studying in college. It was a constant in my changing life.
The team may have changed along the way, but the central mission statement remained the same, catch the bad guys and make the world a better place. Even when facing the very worst of humanity, good always prevailed.
Criminal Minds has given viewers 15 year of nightmare and gross outs. There are even a few episodes that I will ever be watching again (*cough* “Lucky”), but in general, I’ll be re-watching it the same way people watch Friends and The Office over and over again.
I’ve saved the best for last, the actual love of my life: Dr. Spencer Reid. I have watched 15 seasons of Spencer: getting tortured, becoming addicted to painkillers, losing his mom to both schizophrenia and Alzheimer, seeing his girlfriend murdered in front of him, and then being framed and sent to jail for a crime he didn’t commit, and through it all he has remained my favorite character.
I may miss Reid most of all.
My hope for the finale is that the characters get their happy endings. I hope that Prentiss takes the new job and JJ moves to New Orleans. I hope that Matt, Luke, Tara, Penelope, and Rossi keep on catching the bad guys.
I hope that nothing bad happens to Reid and that he and Max get a happy ending. I mean, how cute are they?
Seriously, please give Spencer a happy ending. It’s really all that I ask. Let him and Max be happy. He’s been through enough, I’ve been through enough.
Are you planning on watching the finale tonight?
