#cm lauren reynolds

[sevengoodusesofacadaver]

That scene in season 16 where Emily says “I’m giving him what he wants, Mommy” is all fun and games bc Prentiss calling herself mommy is just… so on the nose. But it’s also so much deeper than that.

When she was fairly new to the team, she was almost always the one they would use if someone had to seduce/attract an unsub. Even when she didn’t want to (in ‘52 Pickup’ when the boys all look at her expectantly and she says ‘oh, this is really gonna suck’). She didn’t want to do it but she knew their best chance of catching the guy was if she used herself as bait. She even puts herself in danger in that one bar scene in a different episode. Basically, the team expected her to use her looks and flirt with dangerous men.

Then, flashback to her days as Lauren Reynolds… I don’t even need to get into all of that because we all know how much that cost her mentally and psychologically. And then you have Derek essentially slutshaming her for it, even though the team expects that of her when it’s to their benefit.

Even if you want to take it further, when she was 15 she felt she had to sleep with someone to feel accepted, again using her body as a tool to please others. It’s something she’s been taught to do from a very young age, and was consistently reinforced throughout her career.

So yeah, I get why it felt like the natural next step during that interrogation. Without even thinking about it that hard she just starts unbuttoning her blouse and making herself more attractive to get information out of the suspect. I honestly think Douglas Bailey was the first man to ever tell her not to do it.

[ssaemilyhotchner]

Criminal Minds S6E16, Coda // author unknown // Hozier, from Hymn to Virgil // Criminal Minds S6E17, Valhalla // Theodule Ribot, Saint Sebastian, Martyr // Criminal Minds S6E18, Lauren // Virgil, from The Aeneid // Hozier, from Work Song // Kaveh Akbar, from Martyr! // Criminal Minds S7E01, It Takes A Village

Come near my team, and I will end you.

[hotch-girl]

PAGET BREWSTER as EMILY PRENTISS as LAUREN REYNOLDS

CRIMINAL MINDS (2005 — PRESENT)

[mccdreamys-writes]

criminal minds ship lauren and ian too!

[wereoz]

i think declan touching doyle’s hand and saying ‘i remember you…’ and doyle responding ‘i’m sorry’ was the perfect way to end the emily & doyle & declan arc. it’s the perfect way to show that in a horrible, dysfunctional way they were a family (forced to be!!) and even though emily and doyle wanted each other dead and declan lives without both of them, a little bit of each other will live in all of them forever. honestly including this in the same ep where it’s revealed declan was born through doyle keeping his mother captive to force her to give birth, and emily’s disgust at that really makes this arc more powerful and tragic. like - she had to live with that man and make loving him believable. she had to believe 100% she was in love for him for this to work, not to mention she was further trapped by actually caring for declan and wanting to know he was okay. it’s a painful, confusing situation with no good outcome. if it’s not believable, you die and compromise the operation. if you believe it, you compromise your morality and identity and when everything ends you feel as though you’ve destroyed your home, your family. emily was left feeling so empty. god <//3

[prent1ssjareau]

EMILY'S ABDUCTIONS AND INTERROGATIONS ALL THROUGH THE YEARS

Criminal Minds: Evolution 18.10 || Criminal Minds 4.3 'Minimal Loss' || Criminal Minds 6.18 "Lauren" || Criminal Minds 13.1 'Wheels Up'

[amateurvamp]

Rewatching "Lauren" is so heartbreaking. Everytime I rewatch the Doyle storyline, I act like it's my first time seeing it. Genuinely an insane few episodes, knocks me off my feet everytime

[kiwriteswords]

If anyone thinks Ian Doyle is hot, honestly, just come to Boston. He looks almost identical to most men who live here--just with a different accent.

[roseekara]

I really need Emily and Declan's reunion in S17 please 😩 They didn't give Emily a kid, so at least they owe us and HER that much 😩😩 She literally died for that kid, and it makes no sense if they don't have contact with each other after all that.

[blackbird-brewster]

This is random but you have any unpopular opinions regarding Emily's Lauren storyline in s6?

Oh man, don't get me started. I have so many thoughts/feels about Emily's time as Lauren Reynolds. I think my most 'unpopular' opinion is simply that Lauren really did love Ian Doyle in some regard.

I think after being under such deep cover for so long, the line between Emily and Lauren really blurred. And so while I don't think Emily loved him, I think the part of her that was Lauren did.

I talk about this more in depth in my Valhalla Arc meta essay.

[ssaemilyhotchner]

fun fact, i can be killed but it won’t last

[sevengoodusesofacadaver]

I need to sit down

[ssaemilyhotchner]

Criminal Minds S6E14, Sense Memory // Maya C. Popa, from Not the Wound but What the Wound Implies // Osmar Schindler, Ceres // Parker Phalen // Denis Sarazhin // Criminal Minds S6E18, Lauren // @empires, since our story is a crime itself // Jane Gilbert, from Living Death in Medieval French and English Literature

[imagining-in-the-margins]

New Beginnings CM Challenge 🌱

The following are prompts involving a new relationship, fresh start, etc.!

This event is over (Masterlist of Fics here), but you are welcome to use any of these prompts. If you would like to be added to the existing Masterlist of entries, please check out the Rules below!

🌧 Prompts 🌱

Describe Character's first day at the BAU

Character celebrates a milestone of sobriety

Characters are getting the hang of being new parents

Character goes overboard with New Year’s Resolutions

Character decides to try something new in the bedroom

Character is entering the dating scene after their divorce

Character changes career paths with a very different job

Character introduces their new partner to their kid

Character comes out as trans and introduces themselves

Character finally agrees to get set up with a date after a long dry spell

Character learns to navigate their everyday life after a traumatic event

Character escapes an abusive relationship and the recovery is harder than they thought

Character swears that this year they will definitely fulfill all their New Year's resolutions

Character just came out as LGB and goes on their first date with someone of the same sex

Character decides to cut off a member(s) of their family, and the team reminds them that they still have a whole lot of (found) family left

Character lost a partner and swore they would never love like that again... but that hasn't stopped them from falling in love in a different way

Character got a pet for the first time and they realize how much easier it is to take care of themselves when someone else is counting on them

Character had previously come out as something, but then realized they were something else... coming out is even more daunting the second time

More prompts below + Make your own!

🌤 Dialogue Prompts🌻

"The time will pass anyway." (Earl Nightingale)

"If you jump, I jump with you."

"I can't wait to see who you become."

"I love every possible iteration of you."

"To be brave, you must first be afraid." (Bear Grylls)

"You aren't alone in this. None of us are." (Baldur's Gate 3)

"Is it too late to go back?" "Don't you dare."

"This is all new to me." "What?" "Being happy."

"I don't know what I'm doing." "No one does. That's life."

"There are always a million reasons not to do something." (The Office)

🌒Character Specific Prompts🌲

Spencer's life after prison is nothing like before

Spencer decides to pursue his dream of being a cowboy/rancher

Spencer becomes dedicated to turning his life around after relapsing

Spencer doesn't think about Maeve on a special occasion for the first time

Hotch finally stops wearing his old wedding ring

Hotch embraces his role as a single dad

JJ's children are almost grown, and she struggles to reconnect with who she was before she was their mother

Penelope realizes she doesn’t like the person she’s become after leaving the BAU, so she decides to change

Lauren Reynolds died—it’s time Emily start acting like it

Rossi struggles with suddenly becoming a (grand)father

🍂Rules🍃

The fic can be a Reader insert, an Original Character, a character/character ship, a platonic ship, or a Gen fic. It can feature any Criminal Minds character. AUs and crossovers are more than welcome.

Tag me in the fic, or send the link to me in a Direct Message. It can be already written, or you can write it for the challenge - I’m collecting both! You can also tag it “#mentioningmargins” which is a tag I track.

The fic can be any genre, but ONLY send me smut if your bio states you are 18+. I DO NOT WANT smut written by minors. Ever. At all. I will check. Platonic ships and pure, fluffy fics are 100% allowed.

Please include Content Warnings and a one-sentence Summary of the fic in your post.

Have fun!

The Masterlist of fics will be posted around March 1. If you finish after that, no problem - just send me the fic once you’re done and I’ll add it after-the-fact!

Feel free to message me if you want help developing a plot, have any questions, or just want to gush about your fic. I’m happy to help, and I’m happy you’re here ❤️

Happy Writing!

[mccdreamys-writes]

yes.

- @kllingdaddy

[isagrimorie]

It’s always frustrating whenever the BAU tackles a case where either the victimology or UnSub has similarities to Prentiss’s background/upbringing but the writers rarely use it to give insights on Prentiss or have Prentiss���s background provide some insights into a case.

As an example, The Performer is an episode featuring Gavin Rossdale as a rockstar whose kayfabe was being a Vampire ala Lestat but fake.

The show could have dove a little into the goth community, a community Emily Prentiss used to be a part of. Did they do that? Unfortunately, no, they hung a lantern on it. The writers had Penelope tease Emily about how she used to dress Goth. Even though, Emily still dressed like one but corporate style.

In the episode, Pleasure is My Business. The UnSub grew up around wealth and privilege and then used sex work to lure her victims.

We discover in Lauren that Prentiss was in a similar enough situation re: Operation Valhalla.

Ala The Americans show, Prentiss used intimacy to get close to Ian Doyle.

Emily Prentiss became Lauren Reynolds because she matched Doyle’s type.

I know the writers had a vague idea of Prentiss’ past only that the writers had breadcrumbs pointing to a rich, mysterious past. They don’t have a crystal ball, but the privileged background could have been a jumping off point for a discussion, an insight to the UnSub’s thoughts.

In the season 16 episode, Orpheus Wrecks, the writers could have again used that case as a way to get more insight into Prentiss’ hidden personal life. As a Politician’s kid, and a somewhat savvy political operator herself, Prentiss would have been as familiar, if more, to the DC wonk space as Bailey was.

Prentiss would also be familiar with the Beltway Elite app even if she didn’t use it herself.

(As a former Spook, the idea of having an app like that in her phone would give Prentiss OpSec paranoia. She would not want her photo distributed everywhere. Being on Politico was enough of a headache for her tbh).

I know Prentiss’ whole thing is she wanted to distance herself from her mother’s political life but she would still have friends and would have known more people as she climbed up the ladder in the FBI.

Other shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Elementary, and Person of Interest almost always use a kernel of similarity/parallelism in their various cases of the week as a jumping-off point to tell a richer story about their characters.

Criminal Minds does but selectively.

This is what makes the show frustrating. You can always tell when the show could have threaded the Case/Monster of the Week and connected the case to one of the characters.

Morgan and JJ also needed more exploration. The only one the writers they consistently use this with is Reid.

To the writer’s credit they have vaguely gestured at Emily’s mysterious past— setting up Emily’s existential crisis about her morality in the face of what she’s done while she worked for CIA and JTF-12.

But then the show goes several episodes mentioning the problem, an arc villain, and it’s frustrating!

(I sometimes lowkey wish some Whedon trained writers joined Criminal Minds to establish a good character-to-case ratio. Like, Jane Espenson. Or someone from Person of Interest writers room joining the Evolution writers team. The idea of Denise Thé writing for the CM ladies makes me yearn because delicious character development + inventive messed up twists. Erica Messer does a good job showrunning— a different job altogether than just writing for the show. But also— I yearn! Think about a POI caliber writer in a CM writers room! It would be so good to have, IMO. Not that PoI was entirely perfect either, I have my frustrations too!)

——

Chris Mundy seemed interested in delving into the internal lives of the characters, especially Emily’s. Demonology was really important for our understanding of Emily Prentiss.

Her guilt, her low-key self-loathing— the way she runs from the people she loves because she thinks she’s not worth it. The way she can conform to be anyone to fit into a situation and not stand out.

Her casual regard for sex as a tool to help her get accepted. All things that were helpful for Prentiss when she became a spy.

As Michael Westen from Burn Notice said: “People with happy families don’t become spies. A bad childhood is the perfect background for covert ops.”

TLDR— It’s just frustrating because they’re always nearly at the cusp of a great character driven procedural but then almost always back off from giving us really good food.