I think that he is played by Mandy Patinkin, or that could just be me.

Me, it was Gideon I found irritating, not Mandy P. Once I found out how he left the show, I was annoyed at him, but that didn't affect my perspective on the character, only the character's sudden departure.

I don't know. Maybe, it just seemed like Gideon was written as being awesome, someone that even other good profilers held their breath around, and Patinkin played him without a shred of humility. Even when he was angsting about his mistakes and people who died, he always seemed self-involved to me. Like, "This was a terrible tragedy! See how badly it's affected me?!" He was so sensitive and emotionally fragile, but at the same time came off like a total narcissist. Just found him a very unlikeable character.

To me, that describes most of Patinkin's TV work.

Okay, fair point, I guess. I never have seen him in anything else on tv.

eta Whre all my words gop? Why I cannot typoe anymoer.

I'm with Zenkitty--since he was the big name in the original cast and the obvious lead, the writers really featured him in so many of the early S1 eps before they got a feel for the rest of the cast's strengths. That made him just overbearing for me, not just in his screen time, but he had that streak of narcissism. Bleh.

It took me a while to get to like Rossi, but tonight's A&E rerun of "Masquerade" made me see that he is the only real non-geek on the team (now), and the working-class profiler is a nice contrast to the rest of the group. I liked the hints of him feeling threatened in some small way by Reid's smarts--it's a good transitional moment for his character being viewing Reid as this exceedingly odd creature to appreciating his talents overall, as seen in "Uncanny Valley."

I did not see "Masquerade" tonight because I was watch the Emmys. Is it from the latest season? I haven't seen all of those. I didn't get hooked on the show until a couple of months ago.

eta: I've also never seen "Uncanny Valley".

I think Kathy means "Masterpiece" which is the S4 episode featuring Jason Alexander as the UnSub. Wonderful episode.

Oh, yes, I've seen that one a couple of times.

I came to CM thinking of Mandy as Inigo Montoya, so there was nothing but love.

Gone now.

I agree with the assessment of ZenKitty. He was just too good and too great and too aware of it all. And then the whole leaving thing just made it ten times worse.

Oops, yes, I meant "Masterpiece"--sorry about that! And quester, insent to your profile addy about Uncanny Valley.