The Criminal Minds Character That Fans Like The Least

TV audiences have loved Criminal Minds since it first came on the air in 2005. When the final episode aired in February of 2020, it was an emotional moment for many fans, who had grown to become attached to these characters over the course of 15 seasons, making it understandably sad to say goodbye to everyone's favorite FBI agents. 

Naturally, though, when you have a TV show with over 300 episodes, there are bound to be a few characters and storylines that rub fans the wrong way. While there was much to be sad about during the series finale, it seems as though there's one character who in particular fans won't miss quite as much.

Over on Reddit, a user named Jayyyrabbit recently conducted an online poll to determine who everyone else's least favorite character was. While most of the main cast received at least some votes, there was a decisive winner (or loser, depending on how you look at it), who was clearly in the lead. And so, based on this (very unofficial) poll, it seems like many fans didn't like Jennifer "JJ" Jareau (A.J. Cook) as much as everyone else: JJ earned 61 votes versus the runner-up, Rossi (Joe Mantegna), who received 40 votes. 

When you dig a little deeper, you see exactly why people didn't latch onto the character as much as the others. 

When reading through the Reddit thread regarding the poll, in order to assess why there was so much hate for JJ, it becomes clear that a lot of Criminal Minds fans just didn't like how she was seemingly perfect at everything she tried. Redditor mccabebabe pointed out how her character became insanely talented after a single season away from her colleagues, stating, "First and foremost, the leaving and coming back and suddenly after just one summer, she's just SuperNinjaBarbieProfiler, better at it than all the more seasoned ones. GMAFB. I'm all for her growth as a character and empowering, but not at the expense of everyone else." 

Redditor Greeneyedgal13 echoed these statements: "She's not as interesting to me as the other characters because she's so seemingly perfect. She's like this flawless person and it's kind of dry and dull. I much prefer Prentiss because she has way more personality and the girls got flaws."

Naturally, whether you like or dislike JJ's supposed skillset is a matter of personal opinion, and not everyone agreed with the naysayers. One user, coore_tik, wrote in the character's defense, "why does my good sis JJ have the most votes." Meanwhile, Redditor Jayyyrabbit came back later in the thread to defend JJ by declaring, "She was profiling with the others long before she took the test and she has field training like all of the other. I don't see why bad*** profiling barbie is a stretch?" 

To be fair, there is an in-universe explanation for JJ's sudden acumen in her field, but while some fans think that's enough, others seem to think her character could have used a bit more development. Regardless, with Criminal Minds in the rear-view mirror, it will be interesting to see what A.J. Cook (and the rest of the cast) end up doing next.