There was no good in last night's "goodbye" to much loved BAU Unit Chief, Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson). Last night's episode of Criminal Minds saw the dreaded final appearance of Aaron Hotchner, portrayed by Thomas Gibson. This comes after Gibson was fired from the show back in August after an on-set altercation with one of the show's writers and producers, Virgil Williams, during the filming of last nights episode (which Virgil also penned). Originally Gibson received a 2 episode suspension from the show but CBS and ABC Studios changed their minds a day later and fired him entirely which meant Gibson was no longer allowed on set, not even to film anymore scenes for episode 2 "Sick Day" and no final goodbye scenes/episode(s). The original suspension and later firing also meant Gibson lost his directing gig for episode 4. Gibson later released his side of the story a month later. "We were shooting a scene late one night when I went to Virgil and told him there was a line that I thought contradicted an earlier line," Gibson told People. "He said, 'Sorry, it's necessary, and I absolutely have to have it.' Frustrated, Gibson says he returned back to set and was sharing Williams’ response with some of his cast mates when Williams entered the room. "He came into that room and started coming towards me. As he brushed past me, my foot came up and tapped him on the leg," Gibson said. "If I hadn't moved, he would have run into me. We had some choice words, for which I apologized the next day, and that was it. It was over. We shot the scene, I went home - and I never got to go back." Gibson's last episode was JJ (A.J. Cook) centric. JJ was particularly affected by the Behavioral Analysis Unit’s latest case which involved the abduction and 'cremation'of young victims. This meant that Gibson's character didn't get much screen time and spent the most of the hour sitting around a conference room table and discussing the case. Gibson’s already limited amount of dialogue consisted of him asking for data from Penelope (Kirsten Vangsness) and telling J.J. to take a week off because she was traumatized by the killer’s final act. Gibson's last words on the show will forever remain “It’s not a request". That was Gibson’s last line on Criminal Minds. This was not the "goodbye" Aaron Hotchner deserved. Gibson's character, who had starred on the show for 12 years and also directed 6 episodes, did not get the goodbye he deserved. It's not about the actions of the actor that lead to his firing, it's about the character and the proper exit and farewell the character and fans deserve. Even Meta Golding (Jordan Todd) got a better goodbye and her character only appeared in 8 episodes of Season 4. Let's also not forget that even Mandy Patinkin (Jason Gideon), who left the show out of the blue and gave the cast and crew no reason why, got two whole episodes dedicated to his character's exit. Don't get me wrong, I love Mandy Patinkin and his character Jason Gideon (who also got another episode dedicated to him, just to see his character killed off). Gibson's character deserved at least ONE episode to wrap all his remaining storylines up and give the character a proper farewell to the fans. This isn't the first time a character's exit from the show had to be explained in the episode/season after the actor/actress had been fired from the show. Remember Rachel Nichols (Ashley Seaver)? This happened to her character too. Nichols, who replaced A.J. Cook (JJ) and joined the show in the middle of Season 6, was also fired at the end of Season 6 after her character received A LOT of hate and negativity. Her character's mysterious exit was explained in the opening episode of Season 7 "It Takes a Village". At some point before the events of It Takes a Village, she had transferred to Andi Swann's team, which JJ mentions to Prentiss. Now we wait for some lame excuse the writers will give us in the next episode to explain why the BAU's Unit Chief, Aaron Hotchner is no longer there. Originally before Gibson was fired, Hotch was assigned temporary duty elsewhere in episode 3, but now his character will no longer appear in the show, his exit remains a mystery. Will he resign, will his character be murdered by Mr. Scratch or will his character take a new job? But if there is any silver lining to this horrible situation, it's that Prentiss returns to the BAU (FULL TIME!) next week! Catch new episodes of Criminal Minds, Wednesdays at 9/8c on CBS.
2 Comments
E. A. Adoracion
9/1/2023 09:50:44 pm
I liked Criminal Minds and the BAU characters. But fact like this, where unfairness seems to be a normal thing, just because they are mighty, is a huge disappointments. I thought CBS & ABC were "good" companies, very disappointing to learn they are just as crooked as the others. And that Virgil Williams, too!
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ERIC
5/1/2024 08:05:43 pm
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