Nice interview with Erica.
Like I've said before, I would love for Tara to become a regular or at least stay. She fits in nicely.
I still would prefer that they keep Tara and don't bring in anyone else to replace Morgan, but I have a feeling that's not how it will be. Erica said in that article that they can't be an agent down. But I think if they keep Tara, they will be fine number wise. I guess if they had 6 in the field they would be evenly partnered off, but some of the tasks they do when they arrive at their location don't require two people to be present. There should be two agents who go to the crime scene, but you really only need one person to go to the morgue. I guess two is nice so they can bounce ideas off each other, but it's still possible to just have one person go see the body at the morgue. And then one to two agents can go to the police department to get settled in and start working with the local law enforcement. I don't know, I think five people out in the field with Garcia working at Quantico is fine. We've seen it work this season. I just think adding another person isn't necessary and it just means less time that can be focused on already established characters. One thing with the show in the past years is more focus on the unsubs, so we need as much time with our characters that we've grown to love. But if someone new does come on I'll give them a chance and see how they work with the team.
I liked what Erica said about Jack and Hotch and how Jack was processing what just happened in a way Hotch would, and that Hotch wouldn't be so sure if that's a good thing. Jack's older now at about 10/11 and will be a teenager soon. He's going to view things differently now and it's possible he isn't so happy all the time. It's like Erica said, he's a pre-teen and has a different view of his dad's job now. And also like Erica said, Jack's at the point now where a hug isn't going to make it all better.
The scene with Hotch and JJ definitely gave me a feeling of what it would be like with Hotch leaving. I was sort of getting that idea that he might leave but then I was like "No, I can't see Hotch leaving right now." I do see Hotch retiring in the series finale though. Like you said, believer, I can see the series finale having Hotch and Rossi retiring and either Reid or JJ taking over. I guess we could say that Antonia talking about JJ wanting to be the leader could be the clue that JJ will take over one day, but I can still see it being either Reid or JJ (or Morgan if he ever decided to come back). But I think it would be kind of nice to see Hotch and Rossi retiring in the series finale. Jack would be a teenager and Hotch would get to spend some more time with him and just settle down, and Rossi's already at/past retiring age, so it would make sense for him to step out as well.
Would love to see Jane Lynch come back!
And about Rossi and Hayden, Erica said that she thinks Rossi views Hayden as the one that got away. Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but in season 7 they made it seem like Carolyn (Rossi's first wife) was the most special of the group since she was the first. Not saying that Rossi didn't care about Hayden. Maybe it's just me and I took Prentiss telling Rossi there was something special about the first one as more and thinking Carolyn was the one that got away. I think ex-wife #3 was the only one Rossi wasn't super close or deeply attached/connected to, since they got married after a drunken night in Vegas and barely knew each other.
