Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders - Love Interrupted - Review

San Pedro, Belize

A couple on their honeymoon have disappeared. Thanks to their consistent online presence and a father who has been keeping in touch with his little girl, they've been missing less than 48 hours when the IRT is called in.

The investigation is fairly standard. They learn what they can about the couple discovering that the young bride, Mae, was planning a surprise for her husband, John. She was taking them out to the perfect spot for star gazing so that she could present him with a telescope and a star as wedding gifts. This leads the IRT to the couple’s crashed car. It allows them to confirm that the couple was attacked. They later find John's body.

Instead of a surly law enforcement officer, this week it's the manager of the hotel. (Did anyone else get the feeling that the woman playing the hotel manager isn't an actress but a woman who actually works at the hotel? If so, how cool for her!) The poor woman was just not up to the situation. Her reaction to the outdoor autopsy was priceless.

The condition of John’s body, and the fact that his hands, feet and heart are missing leads them to crucial profile related information that helps them theorize that there are other bodies in the bay. They find the remains of two other men. This information is put together with information Russ gathered from Interpol and they are able to identify two other couples that were abducted.

While the IRT investigates, Mae, who was made to watch her husband killed, fights to free herself. She's confused when she awakens to find that she’s no longer chained to a pole. She's wearing a wedding dress and allowed to move freely through most of the house despite the barred windows and chained doors. When she asks her captor what's going on and why she's wearing a wedding gown, he tells her it’s because they're about to be married. Of course. Freaky.

He introduces her to two other women. The fact that these women had been held captive so long that they seemed to accept their situation freaked me out a little. One woman has a 3 or 4 year old and the other is pregnant. I know it happens in the real world, but it is still really disturbing how easy it was for these women to disappear and no one to seem to know they were gone.

The IRT has enough information to determine that rental cars are the link between the cases and are able to get the name of the killer. When the killer realizes that the police are on their way, he decides to kill the women. He hands them all cups of poison a la Jim Jones. The IRT arrives in time to save them. The comment that the women with Stockholm's Syndrome will have a more difficult time recovering just made the case more tragic to me.

I was happy to find that the team is starting to feel like people who know each other. We also got more development of the entire team as people. It's the piece that I needed so that I could start really connecting with the show rather than simply following an interesting COTW.

Apologies for being so late in getting this review posted. I was forced to be away from my computer.

What did you guys think about the episode?

About the Author - Prpleight

Prpleight is a screenwriter and senior software engineer with solid geek cred. When not writing code, screenplays, or watching TV (sometimes she does all three at the same time), she uses her broadsword Bessie to battle evil. She's been a frequent contributor to the SpoilerTV discussion boards for several years now.

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