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!
Totally agree. Struggling to see how the spinoff will be strong/compelling enough. Good review
ReplyDeleteGreat review I like the premise of the spinoff being international and the cast they pick have nice chemistry and play well with the original cast I hope it will succeed but your not alone I love Suspect Behavior some TV shows I don't mind spinoff but why it has to be a fall show why not it be spring or summer show instead of having a bunch of reality shows
ReplyDeleteYour sentiments about the team are mine. Loved them working alongside the BAU, and I do think the cast is generally likeable (the only one I was familiar with out of the international team was Sinise-I've never seen any of the other actors' work. But I liked getting to see what they could do). But yeah, I'm going to need to see how they'd stand on their own before I decided to watch a new spinoff, if this one goes ahead. And I agree that maybe adding one or two more members might not hurt, either-flesh the team out a little more.
ReplyDeleteNot a bad introduction, though. I've only seen "Suspect Behavior" via the ION channel-I wasn't yet into this show at the time "Suspect Behavior" originally aired, so I've only just recently gotten to see it. It wasn't bad, but I think this premise seems a little stronger than that one, and I think this cast will click a little better than that one did. And I too loved their chemistry with the BAU team. I liked Garcia and Monty's interactions, and I agree that JJ and Simmons seemed to click quite nicely. And Rossi just seems to have a natural good rapport with everybody he meets, so...:D. I understand why they needed a couple of team members back at home, but it would've been fun to see Reid and Kate have more immediate interaction with the international team, too. Ah, well. Maybe someday, should the BAU ever guest star on the spinoff :).
As for the case, I mainly really liked seeing the family working together and fighting back. My stomach honestly sank when I saw their boat they'd tried to escape in drift away, but I loved seeing the ways in which they tried to distract the unsub or fight him. I completely understand why some victims on this show just try and remain as compliant as possible-sometimes that's the best thing to do in certain circumstances-but it's also great when the victim(s) can have a few moments of badassery against the unsub, too. But yeah, I don't care what the side of a van says, getting in a van on this show never, ever bodes well for anybody.
As for Hotch running, you know what I liked most about that? The reactions of the random passerby :p. I like it when the show acknowledges how strange and startling these chases or confrontations would look to your average person. All I can say is that I've never traveled outside the U.S., but this show has me wanting to be even more on guard if and when I ever do!
Glad you liked the episode overall-hopefully if this spinoff does go ahead it works out better (and the cast of the original is left alone this time! *Glares pointedly at CBS network heads*). Be interesting to see what happens from here on out with that! Nice review, as always.
Yeah I'm struggling too…like the new cast except the woman…she just didn't seem too fit in for me….everyone else was natural and seamless. Interesting to see how it progresses down the line. Has to be interesting if I'm going to devote any time to it.
ReplyDeleteI love Gary Sinise but this role is too similar to the one he played in CSI: New York. Since his character has a happier back-story than did Mac Taylor, maybe there will be some better separation between the two after the new series gets underway. But in this episode, he spent a lot of time scowling intensely like Mac Taylor did.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts :) You should check out Breaking Bad; it's one of those "must see" shows. :P Yeah, Joe and Rossi are very personable and approachable and they both are very good at making new friends (Which is so shocking, if you look back at Rossi's first episode, haha). I wonder if the spinoff picks up, how well it will do.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Glad to see I'm not alone!
ReplyDeleteI loved the episode, it was much better than "The Fight" the introducing episode for "Suspect Behavior".
ReplyDeleteI loved the new team and it surprises me that you don't know much about Daniel Henney and Tyler James Williams! They are both as great as Gary and Anna and they all did their jobs very well.
About the spinoff as a new show, I'm pretty sure it's gonna work. They have a lot of new and different stories to tell in an openwide world. :)
Regarding "Breaking Bad", so I've heard, yeah :D. It's on my "to watch" list, for sure.
ReplyDeleteLOL, that's a good point about comparing Rossi's openness now to how he was when he first joined :p! His time spent with the team has rubbed off on him, apparently :). But yeah, it seems like Joe Mantegna's got friends all over the place in Hollywood. That's good, though, sometimes those kinds of connections can prove quite fruitful.
I dunno. If some of the newer shows CBS tried to launch this season don't get renewed (and if the original "CSI" doesn't get renewed, either), that gives them a few new spots to possibly put the show (and they'd likely want to have it back to back with the original at first, at least). Given how many people like one or more of the cast members in this potential spin-off, I could see it having a decent chance. I don't know if I could see it outliving the original, though-I think whenever the original series' run ends, the spinoff probably wouldn't last too long beyond that, if not end at the same time.
But I'm no TV expert by any means, so I could well be very wrong, too :p.
I really enjoyed the episode. It opens the door for more different episodes than CM, not always dealing with a serial killer, but other types of crimes that befall US citizens when out of the country. And while I've only watched it once so far, did I see Hotch at the end taking aim from the helicopter with a high power rifle? Nice nod to his sharp shooter ability touched on in other episodes! Too bad his shot wasn't needed. I too am only familiar with Gary Sinise out of the new cast, but they all appear talented and worked well together. If the spinoff is approved, I'll watch.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite upset with CBS (what else is new, haha). Stalker and Battle Creek are my favourites and it doesn't look like they're going to get renewed. Ugh. :/
ReplyDeleteYeah, Joe's just a great person in general. :)
I completely agree about The Fight, I didn't like that episode at all. I preferred the actually spinoff episodes themselves.
ReplyDeleteI will have to seek out Daniel and Tyler; they seem very talented!
Oh, good point about Hotch's keen shot! :D
ReplyDeleteIt seems like it's just going to be less intriguing version of the show Crossing Lines.
ReplyDeleteAwwwww. I'm sorry. I've been there with shows I like in danger before, too, it's not fun. Hopefully at least one of them will get a surprise renewal, if not both, for you!
ReplyDeleteHe is :). He seems like a really cool guy.
I've never seen that show, but you could be right. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteI dunno I just didn't find this episode appealing at all. I felt like this could of been another BAU case and that the original team could of figured this out in half the time. There were certain parts too, where I felt like the original team were dumbed down to show the talents of the new team. To be honest I preferred Suspect Behaviour. I was gutted when they cancelled that.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I like this individual episode better than The Fight. However, I really enjoyed the Suspect Behaviour series on its own. So, we'll see what happens.
ReplyDeleteThat Dutch reference made no sense whatsoever. There are plenty of countries with blue in the flag, so all they had was a orange hat and a 'you're crazy' gesture that isn't even correct (it's done with only the index finger). Plus, you can barely see the actor who plays the unsub actually do that as it's so dark.
ReplyDeleteMysteriously, they do find him - 15-y.o. killed his family in a hotel room (where? The Netherlands?) - and go on saying he hated his American stepmom and sisters, but never confirm/specify his actual nationality. Which is weird, because there's is nothing Dutch about the name Jerry Tidwell. Was his father British or something? So we're to assume only his mother was Dutch? And he has lived with her long enough to learn that gesture? But then how did he end up living with his abusive British(?) father and indifferent American stepmom???