#char crit

[obeymefess]

I genuinely despise Lucifer and if one more of his fans willfully misinterprets the reason I will affect the trout population drastically

₊˚✩彡

[maschotch]

JJ @ Hotch: You never lose it

Narrator: Hotch in fact did lose several times

whats wild to me is that jj is probably the person hotch is most vocally vulnerable around (other than gideon) and she STILL thinks he’s emotionless

[maschotch]

Season 1 and parts of season 2 are the only times I really have no negative feelings on JJ at all, mostly because I feel like they gave her next to no personality lol so there was nothing to really get annoyed over, she was kind of just there looking pretty and I appreciated it! One of my fav episodes is North Mammon in season 2 (I think) with the three soccer players and it’s also my favorite episode of JJ’s — I love the conversation she has with one of the survivors at the end when she’s trying to get her comfortable enough to tell them what happened, it makes me tear up llakaisksk but I feel like season 3 and beyond she completely loses me

north mammon is one of the only jj-centric episodes that i really like. tbh not really even for jj, i just like the epsiode

jj still manages to annoy me in the early seasons, but i think a lot of that is the way her behavior in the later seasons contextualizes a lot of her interactions. she’s meant to be the audience fill-in so the main chars can give their explanations, but they also try to not make her seem dumb. the result is that she comes off as uncaring, which rubs me the wrong way when she interacts with reid and “teases” him. she also just… doesnt seem very professional (“you might wanna rethink that tie”). but i cant hold much of that against her when it’s clearly shitty writing

by far one of my least favorite lines of hers in the entire fucking show happens during my favorite episode. “my friends call me jj. you can call me jennifer” akdhsjhc like thats such a deepfake girlboss moment… girl y did u introduce urself as jj if u didnt want him to call u that…

[maschotch]

I find this SO interesting, because there are several Reid fans who accuse the writers, other fans, and other characters of being ableist towards Reid. As always, you are a voice of reason in this fandom

ajsdgjkashl ty ty… just because he has trauma doesn’t mean he’s right about everything lol 

there’s a good line he says in another episode about “just because someone can’t dress themselves or organize their thoughts doesn’t make them dangerous” or something like that, which is something important to say—especially in a show where they do tend to demonize mental illnesses—but that’s not the end-all-be-all when it comes to actually accepting it. (i just want to give him a little credit before ripping him to pieces) 

that being said, reid has an extremely unhealthy view of mental illness that’s harmful to himself and others—particularly his mother. he grew up thinking he would find a cure for schizophrenia. he’s ashamed of others finding out that his mom’s institutionalized. i understand his fear, especially since we see him during the age schizophrenia usually develops. but i think his fear is conflated with disgust and that's so fucked up in so many ways. 

he’s absolutely adamant that there’s nothing wrong with him mentally, even though it’s not something to be ashamed about. first of all, the doctor was seemed to be referring to a temporary/situational issue that could be helped with lifestyle changes and therapy, but reid took it to the extreme, and then took it as an insult. as if it was a weakness. as if it made him less human. and i get that he’s scared, but he’s so terrified that he won’t even look at what it is he’s actually scared of. 

he’s so caught up in the idea of “fixing” his mom—with her schizophrenia and her alzheimers. but instead of helping her in ways she needs or wants, he digs into all these experimental medications that have no real chance of working just to make himself feel better. instead of spending time with her after her diagnosis—time where she would be more lucid than not—he does the same thing he’s done his whole life: he runs away.

now i’m not saying he’s unjustified in his fear. his mom has a severe case of schizophrenia, which he had to grow up with, and alzheimers is a type of dementia with a death sentence. it’s scary. but he never, not once in fifteen seasons, makes any attempt to accept this reality. it’s either something he wants to fix or something he wants to hide. like. no offense but he needs to grow the fuck up and actually BE there for his mom. diana, as far as we see, has no one else in her life. i know reid loves his mom—sending her letters every day is proof of that—but he needs to get his head out of his ass and accept that this is who she is instead of pitying her. diana just wants to be with her son and he cant even give her that

[maschotch]

I LOVE your takes on jj because as a woman of colour i totally agree. she is very much a white feminist who gets away with breaking protocol all the time. although I don’t believe she is a lesbian at all, she is very much straight. it’s been confirmed her and will will have some sexy scenes in the reboot.

what are your thoughts on what she did to will in 14x15 and how she hid it from him in the next episodes to come?

akdhakdh im glad SOMEONE agrees bc omg no one ever fucking talks ab her specific brand of white feminism. all her girl!boss moments are so targeted and do more to uphold gender stereotypes than anything, and the attitude she has towards people outside the realm of her own experience… oof. she acts like she knows it all but she’s from a teeny town surrounded by people with teeny minds and her worldview reflects that!! her stubborn personality means she refuses to admit she’s wrong or doesn’t know something (and if its clear she doesnt know something, she makes it seem like the other person is a weirdo for knowing it) so she never really grew outta that mindset. very white feminism. she can say “im not racist im not racist” all she wants, but the writers cant seem to break past that very limited view of feminism. its just icky to see :/ and its icky to see so many people obsess over her character without acknowledging any of that

lmaooo yeah in canon she’s very straight. i just like to interpret it as closeted lesbian behavior. the lashing out, settling down with the first man she can, resenting him from the start, etc. and her trying so hard to repress that to maintain the image of the conservative white woman would sorta explain why she hasnt tried to question any of the values she grew up with. if she’s scared, she’s not gonna stand up for herself or for others. it doesnt justify anything she does, it just explains it a little bit more. its slightly less infuriating than her just being racist/ableist for the hell of it

god honestly i try my best to pretend the whole jeid thing never happened lmao. the writers were really grasping at straws considering the way she treats him. and reid being “her first love” oh my godddd shut upppp. and super fucked up of them to leave will out of it entirely?? like itd be one thing if the writers forgot about him or were trying to brush him aside, but he’s literally there w their kids in the hospital hugging spencer. “oh she’d be glad you’re here” “she’d want to see you” like he’s so fuckin understanding and we just have to sit here and watch him get cucked

[maschotch]

JJ's "stop being you" to reid when he reaches out to her while she's being haunted by Tivon Askari vs emily's "thank you for being you" when he does the same while she's being haunted by doyle.

And then they say she's been in love with him this whole time of course.

im not even a reidgirl and this moment always has me foaming at the mouth w rage akdhskhc ESPECIALLY bc he goes out of his way to try again and again to help her bc he sees his friend hurting, even when she’s pushing him away… he’s the one they always say doesnt understand people, but he keeps trying and trying and gives jj exactly what she needs to get herself through this

i think what makes this part particularly infuriating is that, as much as she claims otherwise, reid knows exactly what jj is going through? reid struggled soooo much after tobias and he was also lashing out at people trying to help him, unwilling to receive help the same way jj does bc they both hate to be seen as weak. and jj, of all people, should understand that. bc jj had her own ptsd and survivor’s guilt from that moment and blames herself for what happened to him.

later when emily comes back from being “dead” and they talk ab how reid came crying to jj every night for x weeks and nearly relapsed, jj gets angry at him for being upset with her. despite reid being the one who felt betrayed by people he loved most, jj was the one in tears because he wouldnt immediately forgive her for it, even going so far as to say he was being childish and acting out. and i think its bc she doesnt understand why he’s not bothering to hide his resentment

i think more than anything this moment was about jj seeing her trauma as a weakness or as a deficiency of some kind. she thinks she should just suck it up and power through bc that’s how she defines strength. she lashes out at reid bc he’s noticing that she’s struggling and he’s paying attention to it instead of just ignoring it. he’s doing for her what he wishes people had done for him. but unlike the others who regret not being there for him after tobias, jj doesnt feel that way. she thinks she did him a favor by not pointing out how he was struggling, as if it’s something to be embarrassed about.

im not saying reid has the best perspective on mental health either, but for someone who’s supposed to be emotionally immature, he far surpasses jj in regards to empathy and respect for others’ hardships. he’s a little clumsy sometimes in his attempts to help, but morgan and emily and the others all think its endearing and are comforted by his consideration. jj is just ashamed to need help in the first place (and thinks its shameful for others to rely on others as well) and hates that he’s calling attention to it.

anyway ajdhakgs i feel like i got off on a tangent there but the point is that jj has such a simplistic view of strenght/weakness. and its not just something she applies to herself either, which is why i get so annoyed with her. bc really she’s just a scared little girl who’s frightened of anyone getting close enough to see how hurt she is, but she’s turned all that fear into anger and wields it as a weapon against people who love her—both by resenting them for trying to help her and belittling them when they need help themselves.

[maschotch]

I saw people online today complaining about how often people cut Reid off from his rambling and were talking about hotch and Rossi specifically and not Jj which is so bizarre to me. I might be super biased but hotch never cuts Reid off to be rude? I mean his rambling sometimes isn't beneficial to the case so he gently steers him back on track. The examples they used are of when Reid is rambling when Rossi first joins and hotch tells him to slow down because Rossi will be there for a while and when Reid is literally taking down those windchimes of human bone and is rambling about chocolate and hotch asks him to stop. It's just so funny that Reid stans paint hotch out to be the mean one on the team when he's just trying to keep the team on track because that is literally. His job lmfao. I don't think he's expressly rude about it ever, it feels more gentle and paternal most of the time than anything, and it's also not like it's on personal time lmfao they're literally in a government job, of course his boss is going to stop him from rambling when he needs him to work before more people literally are fucking murdered lmfao. But whenever hotch puts him back on track Reid fans are like "oh no Spencer poor bb :( no one ever listens to him :((( hotch is such a meanie :("

And Reid girls definitely have a point that people are mean to him. But then turn around and act like JJ is his best freind when she's the worst of them all lmfao. And Rossi and Derek definitely have their moments too, but I'd like to think most of the time it's meant playfully at least

But why does everyone get mad at hotch for literally doing his job??? Even in elephants memory people get mad at him for telling Reid to go back to the house so he stops yelling at police officers 🙄 like babe this is the equivalent of a timeout he's not being bullied he's being parented for the first time at the ripe age of 27

I can't stand that so much of the fandom both sexualizes and babies Reid, and when hotch actually treats him somewhat like an adult with a function job, he's the bad guy?

(I might be a little over protective of my middle aged emotionless man but it's fine)

i never understand why people will be upset w hotch before being upset w jj about this. the only times we see hotch cut reid or garcia off is when they’re going on tangents when there’s a time sensitive case they need to focus on. he won’t insult them or even poke fun at them, he’ll just remind them of what they were initially saying/changing the subject back to the case at hand.

meanwhile jj makes some snarky comment every time reid or penelope start rambling. she’ll roll her eyes or even make comments to others about how annoying they are when they start talking about things they’re interested in. my least favorite moment is sometime in the later seasons when matt is listening to reid’s rambling with genuine interest and jj passes by and tells matt he made a mistake by getting reid started.

rossi, morgan, and emily will also make fun of reid, but it seems less mean-spirited? rossi is just a grandpa and they just say whatever so it doesnt matter as much skfhkshd but even morgan/emily will make sure reid knows its a joke. i think the most important distinction is that morgan emily and hotch all have moments when they do listen to what reid says and let him ramble, even responding with their own knowledge or asking questions. they make fun of him, but they dont discourage him

[maschotch]

of course jj has to say the most transparent, condescending copaganda that they’ve ever had on this show