Fans may have expected the 15-season long show to bow out differently.
After 15 years of keeping its fans at the edge of their seats, throughout the course of its 300+ episodes, CBS‘ Criminal Minds finally decided to end. In a two-hour series finale, full of lots of cameos of ex-stars of the longstanding fan-favourite show, the BAU team cracked their final case and nabbed the UnSub. What was essentially quite a teary wrap-up, with many of the team members bidding goodbye and going their own ways, the finale still left fans disappointed. And, no, the grouse doesn’t seem to be about why did ‘Criminal Minds’ end. It’s about the finale itself. Let’s take a look.
Highlights —
- What happens in the finale?
- The reason fans were disappointed
What happens in the finale?
Some ‘Criminal Minds’ series finale reviews such as this one suggest that the show had an open ending, which didn’t seem satisfying given it’s been 15 whole years since the show has been on air. In the finale, the overarching theme is about catching Everett Lynch aka Chameleon. Reid suffers from an accident which causes an inter-cranial haemorrhage, leading to him hallucinating several previous members of the BAU team.
After the Chameleon is stopped, the episodes flash-forwards to a month later. Rossi is hosting a goodbye party, not for his retirement, but for Garcia, who plans to quit her job to work for a non-profit. Since they are not colleagues anymore, Luke asks her out. Mendoza and Prentiss are looking for a place to live-in together, and JJ is still deciding whether she wants to move to New Orleans or stay along with the team. By the looks of it, a neat-ish wrap up you might say! And yet, fans found ‘Criminal Minds’ finale disappointing. Just how so? Read on to know.
The reason fans were disappointed
Actually, there are many reasons the finale wasn’t that good. Derek doesn’t return, for one, nor is Reid shown with his girlfriend, so now we’ll never know if they’re together. Garcia also writes a note to the team before she leaves, the contents of which we are never shown. Considering this is the end, it doesn’t seem entirely fair! There’s also no clue given about what’s going on with old team members.
But, what is most irksome is that we don’t really get enough of BAU team moments. Rossi’s party, which comes towards the end, is the only short time that we’re given with the team together. Besides, ending it with dinner wasn’t a very innovative way to go. As this article says, fans were most disappointed at the rushed way the series ended. There wasn’t a proper, fitting goodbye given to the show, and that was upsetting.
