Confession Time: A New Series
I’ve been searching for a new series idea for the Rock ‘n’ Romance blog, and a post I read on Medium by my pal and heroine Rachael Herron inspired me. She wrote a super cool post about how her sparkly new boots gave her joy, and it got me thinking about something that’s given me joy lately.
Confession Time.
That’s right. Over the past several months during The Time That Shall Not Be Discussed (oh, it’s got all kinds of better names, I know. Give me a break.), I’ve been posting Confessions on Facebook and these posts have been some of the best opportunities to interact with folks and hear from you. Some of these posts have been about pop culture indulgences, some have been parenting related…many had to do with the lapse in fashion and hygiene that many of us have adopted. But all of these posts have received numerous comments that allowed me to learn more about you, my friends here in Romancelandia. So! That’s what we’re gonna do. Confess. We’re going to talk about allllllll the things that we think, “should I tell someone else this? Will they commit me if I do?” I’ll learn more about you, you’ll find out just how creepy I am, and all will be glorious!
Let’s start with a recent Confession:
My creepy-ass family is continuing their months-long Criminal Minds binge watch for Christmas Eve.
Of all the things we could’ve chosen to watch on what most people consider a religious/spiritual night, we watched families being ripped apart by violence, people being terrorized by monsters both familiar and not, and quirky characters brought together by tragedy. Bingo. That last bit is why I think during these dastardly dark times, my family chose to watch a cast of characters that have lived through hell and continue to do good with the limited powers they’ve been given.
It started with my husband, then the kids got sucked into it. I would wander into the room and watch for a few minutes, complaining about the “terrible writing,” as if I’m really qualified to judge. Honestly, if folks read some of my reviews they’d mention a pot and a kettle. But then I started to see the appeal. Yeah, I looked past Derek Morgan’s rippling abs and the combined hotness of Emily Prentiss and Jennifer Jareau. I witnessed the scowly sultriness of Agent Aaron Hotchner and tortured souls of Gideon and Rossi and appreciated their stable instability. And yeah, I recognized the brilliance behind writing in a character as brilliant and vulnerable as Dr. Spencer Reid, or as colorful and fragile as lovely flower Penelope Garcia. The characters make the show the stalwart powerhouse that’s lasted all these many years.
But I reached back—waaaaay back—to my days of studying abnormal psychology and the power behind cults (more on that later). And it’s true! People are drawn to shows like Criminal Minds because it allows them to dip their toes into the dark depths of evil and emerge unharmed. It allows them to explore how far a human being will go to work out their sick fantasies. And it allows them to see the good guys get the bad guys. It’s a way to be hopeful. Because even in the saddest episodes, the good guys are able to give peace of mind to someone. SPOILER ALERT: OMG tonight we watched one where an officer is killed in front of his daughter, who is then kidnapped by a terrifyingly terrible Tim Curry and it was awful…But then there was that monologue by Agent Jareau where her voice went over the Emergency Alert System to reach a serial killer. She attempted to empathize with his horrid past and then went full-blown Mom on him and told him to let go of his captive and turn himself in. “You have the power.”
Wow.
Power is what this show explores along with our deepest fears, but it gives us hope at the end that even when people experience their worst nightmares, they come out on the other side and carry on. And for those of you who know me, you know I’m all about hope. You’re probably sick of hearing me talk about it. I even write posts about it for Queeromance Ink. But hope’s a powerful emotion. Even Derek Morgan and his flex-a-licious forearms and built-like-sin biceps can’t deny the power of hope. And Dr. Reid pontificates about how believing in something gives it power, and hope is one of those emotions that makes things happen.
Damn. Okay, I take back what I said about terrible writing. I wonder if I might like a job writing for a show like Criminal Minds. More about that in the future. I know, I know. This confession has turned into a big tease. Enough about me. I want to hear what you like about Criminal Minds or other shows like it that suck you in. What’s attractive about it to you? And what’s your favorite Criminal Minds episode? Which character would you want to barge in and save you from a bad guy (uh, I want Prentiss, thank you very much. The way she eviscerated the dude who was kidnapping women and making them pretend to be his girlfriend and then…haha enough spoilers).
There will be plenty more Confessions coming your way. I might even rope some of my authory pals into sharing their deepest, darkest confessions with you. Won’t that be fun? And creepy?
The suspense is killing me.
Did I mention that I’m creepy? And pretty nerdy too. Stay Tuned for more Rock ‘n’ Romance Confessions…
