There are so many great detective/mystery dramas/shows, out there. Having always been a fan of them. 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', in its prime that is (so Seasons 1-5, it became more hit and miss since), is one of my most frequently watched shows.
'Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour' was greatly anticipated despite being short-lived, being such a great fan of the original 'Criminal Minds'. As said more than once, 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. Felt that 'Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour' never got off the ground, a slow start would have been forgivable (most shows don't immediately settle). This show however showed 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 understandable.
Hate to again be the one with a different opinion here, but was expecting an improvement after being severely let down by the previous two episodes. The good news is that there is an improvement, "See No Evil" is the best of the three and is the one of the better 'Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour' episodes. The not so good news is that the improvement is not a bad one, fairly marginal as the flaws do remain and a few are worse than before.
Sure "See No Evil" 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 didn't see the reveal coming, that was actually a genuine shock and one of the few reveals of the show to be so, and there was an appreciated effort at giving a couple of red herrings. The unsub is one of the more interesting ones that poses more of a threat than most of the show's unsubs.
However, 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. Again, the writing is all over the place, constantly not knowing what to do with itself and filled with lines enough to make one cringe. All of it just sounded rushed, on-the-surface with no development whatsoever and often over-the-top, apart from some occasional nice banter which is the closest the episode comes to having any character moments.
The story line for "See No Evil" still doesn't completely grab the attention, excepting the reveal, again it's derivative of other stories for the original 'Criminal Minds' but with none of the tension, suspense or the emotion. It was all just so bland, parts were ridiculous and motivations are vague . While there is a much better sense of who is who, none of the characters are easy to engage with at all either, little if anything is learnt about them. 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 profiling is a little more than in the previous two episodes, but there's still not enough and what there is is far too obvious (some of the writing in this regard is just face-palming), too conventional, is far more reminiscent of conclusion-jumping and at times doesn't make sense.
"See No Evil's" unsub, while a little more interesting than the previous two episodes, is still not creepy enough to be anywhere near as detestable as the best villains on the original (excepting one very disturbing moment that won't be spoilt but that felt rather gratuitous) and their development is at best sketchy to feel anything else for them. Their motivation is very "they did what they did for that".
Acting is very patchy to put it lightly, with only Michael Kelly, with the one character that 'Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour' tried to develop at this stage, showing any effort of the regulars and the best performance coming from Justine Bateman.
Especially have always had a problem with Janeane Garofalo, who 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 continues to be terribly and shockingly inconsistent both in a bad way, at points he looks disengaged 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, transition is not a smooth one, 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.
In conclusion, one of the show's better episodes but still weak. 3/10 Bethany Cox
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