Serial Killers often get romanticized. They are often handsome, charming, charismatic or perhaps just daredevils. Their twisted minds are fascinating to us neurotypical schmucks, their lives are full of danger and adventure appealing to the animal instincts in all of us. Their behavior satisfies our desires for deviance and rebellion: we start to see the victims as they do, as symbols of society's corruption. We forget that they were human beings just like us. Sometimes the cops who catch them are even demonized or blamed for causing more problems, although the most loved ones commit suicide before they can be caught. The line between freedom fighter or soldier of God, and serial killer can get hazy. Some would say there is no line at all. Too often, Hollywood plays into this narrative about killers. This narrative that tells our boys that the way to solve their problems is with a gun or a knife. Noirs are often full of gray morality, with the detective often being little better than the criminal. Even worse: stories of murderous duos are made into romance stories or buddy stories. Like the classic Noir, Criminal Minds satisfies the audience's desire to examine the mind of a serial killer. Unlike a classic Noir, Criminal Minds does not glamorize the killer. It glamorizes the agents who take down the killer.
Now, the FBI that exists on the show is highly idealized even if still imperfect. It's response to racism, sexism and homophobia is what we would like to see from a governmental organization, but not what we actually see. What we actually have is an FBI that spends more time investigating the sex lives of kids who went to a nightclub rather than the life of the man who gunned them down. An agency that prefers to act as the morality police, while perpetrators get away thanks to corruption and local police incompetence or unpreparedness. The Behavioral Analysis Unit is real, but they're more likely to be reading this blog for signs of anarchist sympathies, than catching a terrorist or a murderer. The government we have is so far from understanding how real humans behave that they would seriously consider the possibility that terrorists used the general chat of a video game to communicate. A chat log that millions of people worldwide are reading in real time. In the age of Onion routers that seems highly implausible to say the least. Nevermind that reading these chat logs meant snooping on thousands of peoples' sexual lives, as well as other private business. All of that however is unimportant for the show. After all, the purpose of fiction is to imagine what is possible: what could be but isn't.
What could be, is an FBI who truly tries their hardest to protect the citizens of this nation. What could be, is a BAU that turns their brilliant minds to catching the sickest criminals in the world. What could be, is a government that leverages every resource to keep it's citizens safe and help them live better lives. What could be, is a team of heroic agents who put their lives on the line for each other and the potential victims of killers every day. If they were soldiers, they would be the most decorated in the world after what they've been through during the series. They've sacrificed other careers, marriage, and sometimes their physical or mental health. Although they live in America among all the comforts of ordinary society, they have more in common with people living in war zones. They are five people with totally different personalities, all motivated by a common purpose: to deliver justice. They all know that despite their impressive talents, they cannot always succeed. They are all complicated people who make mistakes: but there is no question that they are heroes. When push comes to shove, they choose good over evil every time. That is what separates them definitively from the people they hunt: whether those people are troubled kids, vengeful victims, or remorseless psychos. But the show is not about the killers or about their kills. It's not about the victims like Law & Order SVU, or the crime scenes like CSI. It's about the BAU agents themselves. The villains and victims are foils for the agents, designed to bring out their character traits: to challenge them and make them grow.
This is not a reality show, nor is it designed to feel like one. Of course all the science is researched and at least plausible if not 100% agreed upon. All the theories that the agents use to profile the suspects are regarded as at least plausible by scientists, and the forensics is beyond controversy. But, the suspects are carefully thought out. They are not for the most part actual killers, although all the episodes are likely based on actual cases. But both the killers and the agents are based on literary tropes, and the structure of the episodes is literary.
The show has a standard villain-of-the-week structure: with the killer generally being apprehended at the end of each episode, even if he is going to appear again later. This structure is used to drive home the show's point: the killers are actually less interesting than the people who catch them. The most common types of killer are presented as actually being common: the sexual sadist, the pure psychopath, the home invader, the vigilante. This makes them, for the audience, routine: a filler episode. The audience knows to expect that the bulk of the episode will be spent on interpersonal relationships, not on the daring escapades or gory details of the villain. There won't be anything particularly interesting about the villain: instead we'll likely be introduced to a great side character, and/or treated to some team drama. There are of course the memorable villains: the serial murderers with huge body counts, the avengers, stalkers, terrorists, psychotics with lurid delusions, the mentally ill or impaired who accidentally kill, the teams, the weird cults etc. Here, the viewer knows, the villain(s) will be chosen as a foil to one of the team's members or for the team as a whole. These episodes might take some twists and turns, and even become half-season story arcs. But at no time is there ever a season-long villain. This has to be done on purpose, in the era when television is straying more and more towards long arcs and away from it's episodic roots. The purpose is to keep the focus squarely on the heroes. It is to reinforce the idea that the purpose of the killers is to test the heroes, to make them grow. There are season-long arcs, and it is important to watch the episodes in order: but they are focused solely on the heroes, whether it's about one team member's personal growth or the growth of a relationship between two of the team members. This is a meditation on the darkest parts of humanity, and the evil at the heart of our society: it only masquerades as a detective thriller.
Now, the FBI that exists on the show is highly idealized even if still imperfect. It's response to racism, sexism and homophobia is what we would like to see from a governmental organization, but not what we actually see. What we actually have is an FBI that spends more time investigating the sex lives of kids who went to a nightclub rather than the life of the man who gunned them down. An agency that prefers to act as the morality police, while perpetrators get away thanks to corruption and local police incompetence or unpreparedness. The Behavioral Analysis Unit is real, but they're more likely to be reading this blog for signs of anarchist sympathies, than catching a terrorist or a murderer. The government we have is so far from understanding how real humans behave that they would seriously consider the possibility that terrorists used the general chat of a video game to communicate. A chat log that millions of people worldwide are reading in real time. In the age of Onion routers that seems highly implausible to say the least. Nevermind that reading these chat logs meant snooping on thousands of peoples' sexual lives, as well as other private business. All of that however is unimportant for the show. After all, the purpose of fiction is to imagine what is possible: what could be but isn't.
What could be, is an FBI who truly tries their hardest to protect the citizens of this nation. What could be, is a BAU that turns their brilliant minds to catching the sickest criminals in the world. What could be, is a government that leverages every resource to keep it's citizens safe and help them live better lives. What could be, is a team of heroic agents who put their lives on the line for each other and the potential victims of killers every day. If they were soldiers, they would be the most decorated in the world after what they've been through during the series. They've sacrificed other careers, marriage, and sometimes their physical or mental health. Although they live in America among all the comforts of ordinary society, they have more in common with people living in war zones. They are five people with totally different personalities, all motivated by a common purpose: to deliver justice. They all know that despite their impressive talents, they cannot always succeed. They are all complicated people who make mistakes: but there is no question that they are heroes. When push comes to shove, they choose good over evil every time. That is what separates them definitively from the people they hunt: whether those people are troubled kids, vengeful victims, or remorseless psychos. But the show is not about the killers or about their kills. It's not about the victims like Law & Order SVU, or the crime scenes like CSI. It's about the BAU agents themselves. The villains and victims are foils for the agents, designed to bring out their character traits: to challenge them and make them grow.
This is not a reality show, nor is it designed to feel like one. Of course all the science is researched and at least plausible if not 100% agreed upon. All the theories that the agents use to profile the suspects are regarded as at least plausible by scientists, and the forensics is beyond controversy. But, the suspects are carefully thought out. They are not for the most part actual killers, although all the episodes are likely based on actual cases. But both the killers and the agents are based on literary tropes, and the structure of the episodes is literary.
The show has a standard villain-of-the-week structure: with the killer generally being apprehended at the end of each episode, even if he is going to appear again later. This structure is used to drive home the show's point: the killers are actually less interesting than the people who catch them. The most common types of killer are presented as actually being common: the sexual sadist, the pure psychopath, the home invader, the vigilante. This makes them, for the audience, routine: a filler episode. The audience knows to expect that the bulk of the episode will be spent on interpersonal relationships, not on the daring escapades or gory details of the villain. There won't be anything particularly interesting about the villain: instead we'll likely be introduced to a great side character, and/or treated to some team drama. There are of course the memorable villains: the serial murderers with huge body counts, the avengers, stalkers, terrorists, psychotics with lurid delusions, the mentally ill or impaired who accidentally kill, the teams, the weird cults etc. Here, the viewer knows, the villain(s) will be chosen as a foil to one of the team's members or for the team as a whole. These episodes might take some twists and turns, and even become half-season story arcs. But at no time is there ever a season-long villain. This has to be done on purpose, in the era when television is straying more and more towards long arcs and away from it's episodic roots. The purpose is to keep the focus squarely on the heroes. It is to reinforce the idea that the purpose of the killers is to test the heroes, to make them grow. There are season-long arcs, and it is important to watch the episodes in order: but they are focused solely on the heroes, whether it's about one team member's personal growth or the growth of a relationship between two of the team members. This is a meditation on the darkest parts of humanity, and the evil at the heart of our society: it only masquerades as a detective thriller.
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