EW - 27 Janvier 2012

‘CRIMINAL MINDS’  BOSS ON GIRLFRIENDS, GIRLS NIGHTS, AND MORE! 
 As I not so subtly teased in last week’s column, I hopped on the phone with Criminal Mindsshowrunner Erica Messer this week ahead of the 150th episode to get a status on our friends at the BAU. And in the process, she was also kind enough to take on a few of the many, many questions y’all sent in. (If you don’t see yours here, maybe I addressed it in the piece earlier this week, which you can read here.) Read on for more:

Hi, would love to know if Hotch love-interest Beth is here to stay? Love the character and I hope she is! Thanks! –  A Big Hotch Fan
In short, yes, she’ll be sticking around. To elaborate, Messer says she hopes that Hotch’s joy and excitement over this new relationship is as important to fans as it is to her. “There’s no win across the board,” she says. “Finding a girlfriend for him was never going to be an easy task, but I think just seeing that he’s happy and having fun outweighs anybody else’s take on it.”

When is the next girls’ night out coming up for Emily, J.J., and Garcia? — ZsaZsa
The timing of your question is impeccable, ZsaZsa! Because in just a few episodes, the trio will find themselves having a little bonding time — but off screen. “In four episodes, the girls have a girls’ night on the books, so it’s talked about,” says Messer. “Then we see the aftermath of that girls’ night, which is too much to drink.” But before girl fun can be had, the two sole members of the BAU’s parents club will find themselves dealing with familial issues — J.J. (A.J. Cook) must find a babysitter for Henry, and Hotch has a discussion with Beth about how they should explain to Jack who she is. “It’s both of the parents on our team having a little bit of a struggle with what do [it means] to be good parents and then the team as a whole has a really nice moment at the end of the episode,” she says.

 We know Garcia & Morgan get a bit “too friendly” in 7×13, any scoop on details? Perhaps this is Nicholas Brendan’s last episode, or will he be back later? Will the team find out about the drama? — KL 
All Messer could dish (in addition to what I call the Great Towel Tease of 2012) about the “tricky” situation was that despite her initial hesitations to address the long-held belief by some fan that these two team members are a match-made in crime-fighting heaven, she ultimately was pleased with how they chose to proceed. “I just thought, ‘Are we going too far down a road that we can’t come back?’” she says. But after getting input from actors Shemar Moore and Kirsten Vangness, Messer says they made sure the result was “a great tease.”

“[Some] might wonder, ‘What just happened? Was that a dream?’” she says.

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