Why Elle Is So Controversial Among Criminal Minds Fans
"Criminal Minds" is one of the most popular crime procedurals of the 21st century. With an aggregate user rating of 8.1/10 on IMDb and a staggering 15 seasons, the CBS drama remains one of the biggest success stories of modern broadcast television.
Though "Criminal Minds," concluded in 2020, the fandom lives on. As with any popular series with a devoted audience, there are some differences in opinion when it comes to certain storylines and characters. One person's favorite storyline could be another fan's most-skipped episode. Some characters and plots inspire more debate than others, however.
Such is the case with Special Supervisory Agent Elle Greenaway, portrayed by Lola Glaudini. The character only stuck around for the first two seasons of "Criminal Minds," after which point Greenaway left the BAU due to PTSD and, uhhh, murder. Though Greenaway's time on the show may have been brief, the occasionally problematic fan discussion surrounding her has been anything but.
Some fans think Elle was rude
On the "Criminal Minds" Subreddit, u/liamschindelka asked their fellow Redditors to share some unpopular opinions about the show.
U/Anotherperson6812 brought up the hate Elle Greenaway often gets from fans, admitting they like the character of Elle. The user elaborated, "I feel like I see a lot of ppl say that she's rly rude, but I don't actually remember her doing anything particularly mean? There was this one scene where she kind of rude and brushed off Gideon asking her if she was okay (completely forgot the context tho), but I feel like every other character has had a similar moment at some point."
Though many fans may dislike Elle, this "unpopular opinion" had many fellow Subredditors in agreement. U/azulamazing said they don't find the character rude either, but explained that a lot of the hate might be from the fandom's near-universal love for Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), and people dislike Elle because she was rude to Reid one time.
However, u/azulamazing shared that they don't particularly like Elle anyway, saying that the character's writing wasn't very strong.
When "Criminal Minds" ended after Season 15, it had evolved into a very different show than it had been when it first started airing episodes during the Bush administration. Though we never got to see the development of Elle, all the spirited fan discussion about her character has definitely added an element of depth that never made it into the show.