Have always loved detective/mystery shows and there are so many great ones out there, whether it's the slow-burns, , ones that mixed comedy and drama, anything Agatha Christie (namely 'Poirot'), the light-hearted ones or the gritty ones.
'Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour' was greatly anticipated despite being short-lived, being such a great fan of 'Criminal Minds', if more in the early seasons. Just because a show is short-lived that doesn't necessarily mean they are bad, while having flaws quite a number of them showed a lot of promise and were cancelled when they were still growing and before they were given a proper chance. 'Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour' unfortunately never seemed to get off the ground, a slow start would have been forgivable (most shows don't immediately settle) but to show little, if any, signs of improving even when halfway through was indication of a show that wasn't going to work and for me and many others its cancellation after 13 episodes was justified.
Hate to be the one with a different opinion here, but the show continues to not improve four episodes in. "One Shot Kill" may be one of the marginally better episodes of the show but that's not an endorsement in my mind.
Matt Ryan (good here) and the development for Mick, which sadly was not an awful lot with few answers provided and it was rather surface level but at least we learn things about him, are the things that stop "One Shot Kill" from being worse.
Sure "One Shot Kill" is again well-shot but never anything extraordinary, lacking the darker, grittier touch that the original 'Criminal Minds' show brought to its darker scenes. Also thought very little of the music, the background scoring sounds more generic than haunting or pulse-racing and the opening titles theme is so rushed that remembering it is impossible. The writing is all over the place, constantly not knowing what to do with itself and filled with poorly written lines delivered like wood. All of it just sounded rushed, on-the-surface with no development whatsoever and often over-the-top. There was very little profiling and what there was added nothing to the case and once again everything is just too conventional.
The story line doesn't engage, it felt derivative of similar stories for the original 'Criminal Minds' but with none of the tension, suspense or the emotion. It was all just so dull and bland, parts were ridiculous and motivations and events are vague which meant that almost everything did not make sense and there were no surprises. Some of the back and forth lacked clarity too. Mick is the only character "One Shot Kill" attempts to develop, the others are nothing to write home about. The interaction between them is barely existent, how they work in solving the case shows little spark or interest, and quite awkward and there are no little character moments, which was a constant strength of 'Criminal Minds', even in several lesser episodes. The unsub, again revealed too early and should have been used far less to make the mystery stronger (a weakness of latter season 'Criminal Minds') is again too vanilla, not creepy enough to be anywhere near as detestable as the best villains on the original and their development is at best sketchy to feel anything else for them.
Acting is still weak, with only Matt Ryan (he and the slight development to Mick being the redeeming merits of the episode), giving some of his best acting to date in the role, shining of the regular cast.
Janeane Garofalo has always bothered me, she shows the emotions of a robot, if she was trying to be serious it comes at the expense of personality, and the character is annoying as a result. Forrest Whittaker is still inconsistent, in not a good way, at points he goes completely through the motions and at other points he tries too hard, the authoritative personality is not there enough and then any empathising or emotion is delivered with a face of stone and never natural. Kirsten Vangsness, a bright spot in the original, doesn't make a smooth transition here, Garcia again is pointless and just doesn't fit, like numerous episodes of the later seasons of 'Criminal Minds' her role is also too convenient and there to just provide the answers. Vangsness has lost her spark due to poor writing and being underused.
Summing up, can say very little good here and am actually feeling bad saying that, as someone who is usually and at least tries to be generous in their reviewing. 2/10 Bethany Cox
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