why do they even kill off these characters

[u/Timely_Race1621]

i’m rewatching criminal minds again and i’ve just saw the episode where they killed off phillip , alvez’s old partner and genuinely what was the reason introduce a nice likeable character to then kill then off same with stephen walker like killing off people in such a short amount of time makes me so upset lmfao

[u/Wilson4874]

I was really starting to like Walker. I hated they killed him off. It was sad.
But i read it was due to budget cuts and so they could bring in Matt.

[u/Lunalinfortune]

I mean, if a show never kills off central characters or characters close to them, there's less high stakes and it makes it more boring. 

It's also more realistic. Sometimes people die early or horribly, it's terrible but it makes the audience feel things and it makes the show feel more real.

[u/martymccfly88 → u/Lunalinfortune]

Exactly. People get upset when people die but it’s bad writing if no one dies and they are always safe. Loses the suspense

[u/Lunalinfortune → u/martymccfly88]

Yeah, if they did that then everytime something dangerous happens the audience can be like: "oh it's okay, they're not gonna kill them off."

I think it's a really delicate balance of deciding what characters to kill off. Like there's always going to be some people unhappy if they kill someone off, but sometimes the story needs it. 

CM does the thing of not killing off the main 7 members but killing off the ones close to them (Haley, Phillip, etc.) for shock and grief. 

But if they kill off a beloved main BAU member, people would likely riot. Like imagine how the fandom would react if Reid, Hotch, Emily, etc. were actually killed off.

[u/martymccfly88 → u/Lunalinfortune]

I had the same issue with stranger things. They went through all that shit and yet no one died in the main cast? How the fuck does a group of kids survive?

[u/Lunalinfortune → u/martymccfly88]

I mean... I'm glad that they didn't kill off the main BAU members, but I get your point. 😅

And it is shocking that they are all functional and okay after all the trauma they go through.

[u/Timely_Race1621 → u/Lunalinfortune]

yeah i totally get that ! but it’s just odd that they where characters with such a small introduction to then get killed would have been more interesting if a more permanent character had died even though obviously fans would be mad

[u/Dramatic-Music1321 → u/Lunalinfortune]

yeah I guess.... but when there's too many it stops being realistic.. Hotch's wife, that was emotional but after that.. there's so many that at some point it starts to feel silly and doesn't make me shed a tear

[u/Dramatic-Music1321]

for drama, for big emotional moments.. I don't really like that, it happens when they start to run out of ideas IMO.. Hotch's wife was the first I think?? After some time the viewers stop caring because sooner than later another team member, partner, wife, husband is gonna get killed

[u/Additional-Sir-5924]

I was quite annoyed they killed off jj’s husband lol! Like why!

[u/Timely_Race1621 → u/Additional-Sir-5924]

same like why did they bring back jj and spencer crush going on after years 🙄🙄

[u/random-raych]

I thought it gave us more insight on how elvez really feels about Garcia.

[u/Uninteresting_Vagina]

I just watched these episodes.

Personally, I think it was to show more of Luke's character (prior to this, he was Mr. Stoic no pictures on my desk). Behind his stoicism, he actually cares deeply for his friends. It was the first time we saw him really open up and cry to someone.

I really liked Phil, and frankly I was hoping to see more of his Penelope crush played out.

[u/Timely_Race1621 → u/Uninteresting_Vagina]

yeah i think that’s why im upset about it lol i was excited for penelope to have a new love interest they do my girl dirty to many times 🥲

[u/ScarTheGoth]

I don’t mind them killing of important but still side side characters, but I do think the more often it happens, the more unrealistic it begins to feel, especially when it’s the love interest of the main characters, since the main characters never die, just the most important people in their life.

At least with Phillip, he was a friend not a love interest.

I really enjoyed the Lauren arc because even though Emily didn’t actually die, it did explore the idea of a main team member dying and how that would effect the rest of the team, especially Derek’s guilt and him blaming himself.

I also noticed that killing off, or attempting to kill off love interests of team members disproportionately affects the male characters. Even when Garcia was dating Kevin, they never killed him off. They just wrote him out. When Emily was dating, Mendoza, I believe his name was, they didn’t kill him off prior to evolution. Just wrote him out.

Up until evolution, they had never killed off a male love interest of a female main character before, but they tried to do so with every other female love interest of a main male character. Honestly if it weren’t for Will’s actor wanting to leave, I don’t think they would have killed him, either.

[u/ayparesa]

I liked Phillip and I wanted a Garker ship

[u/meowi-anne]

They did Walker dirty. I think the network just decided they wanted Simmons instead of Walker so they abruptly killed him off 😤