Criminal Minds - Beyond Borders - Review: "Will You Sleep Peacefully After Watching This?"

It was a decent episode, a better one of the season. I like the new unit, I just have concerns about how they'll work out in their own spinoff. Speaking as one of the few people in the world who actually enjoyed the other spinoff, Suspect Behavior, this may seem odd. But, I always have concerns. I do seem some good chemistry between them, though. And the acting talent here was off the charts. Nonetheless, let's get to the review.

The opening scene takes place at the Barbados airport. A seemingly happy family are rearing to start their vacation. I must say that the daughter who was complaining about the lack of wifi is definitely how I am when I'm on a vacation. Waiting until we get to a hotel is not good enough for me. The dad is telling the family about how awesome their vacation is going to be and all of the many water slides that will accompany them. Sounds like fun. But they missed their shuttle bus. That's not good. They found a van that says "shuttle" on the side. I would not trust that van if I were them. But they were desperate, and it's a Criminal Minds episode, so they must go with flow. The water they gave them was full of drugs. And the mom realized something's wrong and they are not taking them to their hotel. Yikes. And next we have Jack Garrett, firing shots in the shooting range. I haven't seen too many of Gary Sinise's projects, but I am excited to see him here.

Ah, and a text message from none other than Section Chief Matt Cruz makes Jack stop shooting. It's so cool to see him in the BAU hallways. Jack says, "Here we go again", so we know his unit has dealt with this kind of thing before. Hotch and Rossi seem to know this fact too. Aw, this is almost a scene where instead of it just being Jack and David meeting, it's Joe and Gary re-meeting. That was really adorable. And hey, there's Anna Gunn! I loved her in Breaking Bad, and I can't tell you how excited I was to see her here. She is so lovely and talented. The name 'Lily Lambert' is very nice too. Anyway, now the BAU, along with Jack and Lily are being briefed on these cases. It's nice to see the mesh of these two teams. Rossi said, "The higher the risk, the lower his heart rate. True sociopath." That stuck out to me. Garcia already has some rapport with Monty, their tech analyst. And another cute moment was when Jack asked, "Out jet, or yours?" and Rossi replies with, "We'll flip for it." Theme song, play us out.

Opening Quote:
Spoken by Aaron Hotchner - "No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness is always there first." Terry Pratchett

That cute little banter between Morgan, JJ, Gary, Lily, and Simmons could've lead to JJ opening up about her pregnancy. It was honestly the perfect opportunity for it, but I guess not. JJ and Simmons look kind of cute together. Morgan and Lily seem cute too. Gary, Hotch, and Rossi already seem like good brotherly friends. Garcia and Monty do look really adorable together. Reid and Kate looked through the house in Florida together, ooh. Jack mentioned that the BAU are experts in family annihilators. It has been a while since we've had a good case like that. The Fox, the unsub from Safe Haven and Outfoxed come to mind. I wonder if this case will join those in the rankings. Jack and Rossi are the only ones left after the teams split up. "And then there were two...seems like you've got a great team there." "So do you." Cute. No we're with the unsub, he looks so young and innocent. Yet he's filming the terror and dread in his victims' eyes. That's messed up. He's projecting what his father did to him onto his victims. Oh no.

Well, as least Garcia and Monty are trying to restore balance with the parents of the family. I really like Monty so far. He seems like a genuine good guy, and Garcia already knows he's swell. He knows how to talk to these families and comfort them in their times of need. You know who else used to do that? JJ. (You knew that was coming.) Oh well. Let's keep going.
Garcia helping profile the guy as an "alpha male" is quite interesting. I love how 10 years of working with the BAU has rubbed off on her and she has learned some things about profiling. It's too bad that she's learning the bad stuff, though. Simmons also seems like a great character. And come on JJ, it's so hot outside and you're the only one wearing a blazer. Everyone else is in a t-shirt! Anyway, Hotch and Lily seems to be a great pair. She's telling him stories about how her brother is a victim, and Hotch offered to take a look at her case. Just as things seem really emotional, but nice, the shuttle van drives by right where they were standing. That's convenient. Hotch running was a great sight.

The fact that the unsub is operating on a boat reminded me of Big Sea (6x23). Another cute moment: "You guys eat like this wherever you go?", asks Rossi. "Pretty much.", replies Lily. "If you ever need another consultation, you know where to find me." I love the witty banter between these two teams. Back to the unsub, he's trying to simulate the perfect family fishing experience. It was right around this time where I realized that the unsub played another serial killer in the eighth season of Dexter. Creepy, this actor is really good at playing that role, all the while being very attractive too. Isn't that just the worst? Haha. The profile of this unsub screams Karl Arnold to me. The flashbacks add some depth to this creepy story. Reid and Kate are continuing to unfold this guy's psyche. Nice, the father got his tie off just in time to fight off the unsub. The rest of the family tries to get the smaller boat ready to go, but the unsub fires a gun letting them know he's in control. The boat sails away; that's so sad.

I see a motherly friendship between JJ and Lily, that's sweet. The unsub used rohypnol on the family, oh god. Finally, a cute moment between Morgan and Garcia happens. "Hey!" "Hey, baby girl." "Hey, handsome. I was just about to call you." "Ladies first." "And a gent, don't forget." "Oh that's right, my bad." I love these two characters so much. They're starting to piece together who the unsub might be. I like how they figured out that he's from The Netherlands. I still can't picture this guy as anyone else but the Brain Surgeon. He gets hold of the son and throws him into the water. Well, he hasn't really done much else to the family. Ooh, when the teams are riding on the boat it's so dark but it looks so cool! And how intense JJ got by telling the daughter to look at her was thrilling. The unsub was shot, and their son was lying in the boat that floated away. Amazing how he swam there so fast. I love how Rossi was telling Jack about his family. And how all these cases they've solved could make for another Rossi book in the future. And to top it all off, Lily Kershaw's new song plays us out, which is also where the title of this review comes from. What a sweet ending.

Closing Quote:
Spoken by Jack Garrett - "Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success." Henry Ford

Final Thoughts:
- I'm not sure how this would play out as a spinoff. When they've joined forces with the BAU, they seem like a great unit. But alone? I'm not sure how well they'd do. They seem better with the support of the BAU. Maybe they just need more members.
- The episode itself was interesting although we have seen most of this before. I'd give it a C+. The actor who played the unsub is very good at this role. And I do love the cast of the other team. Gary and Anna especially did a great job. I don't know too much about the other two actors, but I think I will seek them out now.
- Lily's new song was beautiful. I wonder if this means we won't get one in the finale? After 'Maybe' played out the worst scene of all time in Demons (9x24), I think I could do without another finale song.

What did you think of Beyond Borders? Do you think it could work as a spinoff? What did you think of the new team? Be sure to leave a comment down below!