Season 4 is a very strong contender for the best season of 'Criminal Minds'. A season with so many classics (like "The Big Wheel", "Zoe's Reprise" and "Conflicted" to name a few), some of the best of the whole show, and one where even weaker episodes such as "Demonology" and "Catching Out" are still watchable and much better than the worst episodes of Seasons 6, 9 and 11.
"Paradise" is not the season or show at its best, but even with an idea that is not that original in concept (with eerie similarities to the likes of 'Psycho' and 'Vacancy') it does a very good job on the whole executing it. Maybe some of the pacing could have flowed a little better in places, with occasional draggy stretches towards the start and parts of the script slightly tighter, but actually other than lacking the extra something that makes the best 'Criminal Minds' episodes so good there is not really much to criticise "Paradise" for.
Visually the production values are without complaint. It's very well shot and lit and is overall stylish, gritty, classy and atmospheric. The music is moody in the haunting and melancholic sense and fits well, without either enhancing or distracting from it. The direction keeps the momentum going but lets the case breathe, and most of the pacing is breathe especially in the latter parts when the tension builds.
It's a mostly well-written episode too, thoughtful, solid in flow and well balanced between case and team dynamic. The story makes up for its lack of originality for its skin-crawling, unnervingly dark tension, especially in the climax, where one is really reminded of a horror. The profiling and detective work is great.
Love the team dynamic as always, like with Garcia's refreshing humour and Rossi's sympathetic and sassy air. Unlike one of the previous reviewers (and this is not the first time this criticism has been seen and stated), it was not a bad thing for a very intelligent human being like Hotch to not be perfect and make mistakes like we all do. One can see his mistake as a big one, but actually, while the viewer knows the truth before the team does, bear in mind that it is not the first time in the show's history, nor the last or worst, for the unsub to be clearer to the viewer before them and in those cases any fore-shadowing is much more obvious, to me the unsub was actually very believable as a normal innocent person (as any signs of them being the unsub happened after the meeting Hotch had no reason to suspect) and that was what made them easier to trust and what made them so creepy.
Acting is very good as ever. All the regulars are without fault, while Wil Weaton is frightfully eerie, even with minimal screen time he still makes Floyd a memorable character.
In conclusion, not a 'Criminal Minds' classic but a very good episode. 8/10 Bethany Cox
"Paradise" is not the season or show at its best, but even with an idea that is not that original in concept (with eerie similarities to the likes of 'Psycho' and 'Vacancy') it does a very good job on the whole executing it. Maybe some of the pacing could have flowed a little better in places, with occasional draggy stretches towards the start and parts of the script slightly tighter, but actually other than lacking the extra something that makes the best 'Criminal Minds' episodes so good there is not really much to criticise "Paradise" for.
Visually the production values are without complaint. It's very well shot and lit and is overall stylish, gritty, classy and atmospheric. The music is moody in the haunting and melancholic sense and fits well, without either enhancing or distracting from it. The direction keeps the momentum going but lets the case breathe, and most of the pacing is breathe especially in the latter parts when the tension builds.
It's a mostly well-written episode too, thoughtful, solid in flow and well balanced between case and team dynamic. The story makes up for its lack of originality for its skin-crawling, unnervingly dark tension, especially in the climax, where one is really reminded of a horror. The profiling and detective work is great.
Love the team dynamic as always, like with Garcia's refreshing humour and Rossi's sympathetic and sassy air. Unlike one of the previous reviewers (and this is not the first time this criticism has been seen and stated), it was not a bad thing for a very intelligent human being like Hotch to not be perfect and make mistakes like we all do. One can see his mistake as a big one, but actually, while the viewer knows the truth before the team does, bear in mind that it is not the first time in the show's history, nor the last or worst, for the unsub to be clearer to the viewer before them and in those cases any fore-shadowing is much more obvious, to me the unsub was actually very believable as a normal innocent person (as any signs of them being the unsub happened after the meeting Hotch had no reason to suspect) and that was what made them easier to trust and what made them so creepy.
Acting is very good as ever. All the regulars are without fault, while Wil Weaton is frightfully eerie, even with minimal screen time he still makes Floyd a memorable character.
In conclusion, not a 'Criminal Minds' classic but a very good episode. 8/10 Bethany Cox
