Criminal Minds (TV Series) Derailed (2005) User Reviews

Fun on a Texas Train, BAU style

[llala412 · 7/10 · 25 May 2007]

The bad news? Elle ends up on a train with a psych patient who loses touch with reality. The good news? The people on the train had a BAU member with them. Why? Because for some reason, instead of flying into Dallas, she flew 637 miles southwest of her destination, to El Paso, and backtracked on a train to Dallas. And - call me slightly obsessive, it's okay, I had to look it up - the train only leaves El Paso at 9am on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I couldn't find a flight that would get her in early enough to make the train. The cheapest flight I found? Connected in Dallas.

And the pregnant girl - you're telling me that there wasn't another clinic within 637 miles of El Paso other than Dallas?? I know Texas is conservative, but seriously... Terlinguia is 300 miles from El Paso, 585 miles from Dallas.

Round trip ticket to El Paso: $285, 6 hours.

Amtrak trip from El Paso to Dallas: $105, 29 hrs, 30 minutes.

Being on a train in the middle of Texas with a delusional psychotic: Priceless.

(actually, according to the audio commentary on the DVD, it was so Lola Glaudini could work with an actor she admired, so I guess that's what was priceless!)

This episode epioimizes the early series

[Jackbv123 · 7/10 · 29 August 2019]

While there were poor moments in this episode, there are two things that stand out to me that epitomize the early seasons of this series.

First, it contains one of the things that hooked me on this series - Reid at his best. I love Reid, maybe because I was always a little geeky myself and love geeky things. Reid proves that geeks have their moments. (I hate what has happened in later seasons with Reid becoming less of a presence.)

The other thing is the way Criminal Minds treat prominent women. Elle could have been a force in this episode. Other episodes prior to this one have featured most of the men and this one easily could have featured Elle, but it didn't. (Elle is the first character to leave in what becomes a revolving door of main characters. A few years later, they try to cut Prentiss and JJ, but the fans rebelled and they had to bring them back.)

I grow to love many main characters in my favorite shows. This series keeps bouncing them out. By season 14 they have exited (or reduced) every one of my favorite characters.

One of the best episodes to date

[moysant · 8/10 · 4 October 2006]

Elle is on her way to interview a prisoner when a psych patient, who is being taken to a conference by his psychiatrist, has a psychotic breakdown and takes the train carriage hostage. The team must come to the rescue by buying into his delusions in an effort to convince him to let everyone go.

Early on we are shown the back stories of the handful of hostages, with some top notch acting. The psychotic and his 'invisible' friend (who eggs him on to kill everyone) are completely convincing.

There's great interplay between the team members, especially Reid and Morgan, and Morgan and Garcia. Reid takes a central role (again) but is acted off the screen by Mandy Patinkin as Gideon. Gideon is having one of his bad stress days, which is something about this show I really like - we never know if we're going to get warm and fuzzy Gideon or brittle and tetchy Gideon.

Overall a tighter script and more action than other episodes to date, but yet again it is left up to a non-BAU team member to save the day. Some of the back stories presented at the beginning are never 'resolved', something this show does quite often, leaving it up to the watcher to worry about what happens next to minor characters. I just wanted to know if the guy who saves the day at the end goes off to kill his wife as he intended at the beginning. Guess I'll never know.

Heartstopping thriller

[rachel-garber1947 · 10/10 · 12 August 2014]

I am catching up with this excellent series, and have seen this episode a couple of times. The efforts of the BAU to keep the delusional man from killing the people on the train, as he is being goaded by the voice only he can hear had me on the edge of my seat. It does highlight the very real concern by some people that the government is monitoring every move by the average citizen. The young man, Josh Patel, fed into the delusion by adding his own fantastic beliefs along the same line, and added to the tension. I found myself wanting to yell at the TV to tell him to shut up. Dr. Reid's magic "trick" added to the drama and his quick thinking when the man demanded that the chip be "turned on" moved the drama along. I enjoy the developing relationship between Reid and Morgan. While Morgan teases Reid relentlessly, he also exhibits a big brother/protector persona to the younger agent. The former football player is exactly the type that tormented Reid when he was in high school and allows Reid to put his past behind him and begin to trust the person, not the "type" even if Morgan does exasperate Reid at times. This was a brand new program when this episode was aired, and I think little "three minute" fillers can be excused.

Derailed

[nebohr · 27 November 2021]

There is a 2.8% chance that monkeyface Gideon will show a human emotion this episode.

Hollywood cliche #288: when a female character rubs her belly she is pregnant.

So: out in the middle of nowhere Texas someone jumps in front of the train Elle is riding on, bringing it to an abrupt stop. The jumper is never mentioned again.

Some guy who has suddenly developed facial tics decides to start a gun collection. And hold a handful of passengers as hostages.

Snipers have the train surrounded yet are never given the order to fire. Clearly they have multiple chances to make this a ten minute long episode. And as far as the "it takes one bullet to shatter the window" premise: even if this was true an order for all snipers to fire in rapid sequence would solve this non-issue.

Gideon waits until the team has exited the SUV before saying: "don't look at the train".

Crazy dude tells Gideon that he want's "something" removed. The team mulls that one over. When they see all the scars on crazy dude's arm Reid finally volunteers some useful information and the team lets him run with it.

In the end it is Reid who saves the day.

One of the best of the season

[Egzan · 9/10 · 4 November 2019]

Pretty good episode with captivating story line and some nice twists.

Really not one of the show's best episodes, not a complete train-wreck either

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 13 September 2016]

"Derailed" has proved to be a very divisive episode of 'Criminal Minds'. Some really enjoy it, others dislike it intensely. Personally am somewhere in the middle.

It is not one of the best episodes of the show, and there are far stronger ones in Season 1. "The Fox", "Riding the Lightning" and "The Fisher King Part 1" are notable examples. But the worst episode of Season 1? No. One of the weaker ones, but by far the worst episode of the season is "Machismo", which also ranks down there towards the bottom.

Where "Derailed" mainly falls down is in the very flawed story execution. There are good things about the story here. There is tension and suspense, the episode showcases Reid's character wonderfully, the ending is poignant, Morgan and Garcia do shine when her initially chirpy demeanour changes drastically after hearing what has happened, Gideon is also interesting, the unsub is developed well and Morgan's developing chemistry with Reid is hard to resist.

On the other hand, "Derailed" is also slow and predictable, and also contrived in places. It can be lazy when it comes to logic, it is not easy to feel sympathy for Elle because she is pretty cold and egotistical here (considering that the episode centres mainly around her that is a big problem) and the other hostages are nowhere near as interesting as they should be with too many of their subplots unresolved and pretty wasted actually (in a way they were necessary but they were executed in a cheesy and underdeveloped fashion).

Supporting cast are very much inconsistent. Chris Bauer does an excellent job with a very old-hat kind of role, the paranoid schizophrenic is hardly original territory for 'Criminal Minds' or any crime-mystery show in general, but Bauer does bring tension and complexity to the role. Jeff Kober is indeed brilliant as Leo as well. Of the hostages, Susan Gibney comes off best and Kevin Cristaldi tries his best with an incompletely written and pretty nonsensical character if a little bland. However, Anil Raman is awful and incredibly irritating as a character that adds very little.

When it comes to the BAU, too many of the BAU are underused especially Morgan, Garcia and JJ (who barely does anything, at least Morgan and Garcia have that scene), and again Lola Glaudini does fail to inject much personality or warmth as Elle. However, Reid plays the most interesting character in the whole episode and Matthew Gray Gubler is truly exceptional. Mandy Patinkin also performs with authority and intensity. It can be admitted though that it is very clear how much the team care for one another, which is truly adorable and affecting.

The episode is also very well made and atmospherically scored. There is evidence of taut and suspenseful writing, though also instances of it being disjointed and incomplete.

All in all, not a train-wreck but there are definitely much better episodes in Season 1, let alone in 'Criminal Minds' history. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Okay

[lottiemarshalllm · 6/10 · 29 July 2020]

Disclaimer:I am no expert reviewer, I just need a show to binge watch and I'm going to Write a review for every episode I watch.

I feel like this episode has so much potential but it was overall just kind of boring. I thought giving back stories to all the passengers was weird and also I hate it all the passengers excluding Elle and the pregnant woman. But literally I didn't care of anybody else on that train died. The drunk college student was so annoying that I wish he had gotten shot which is so horrible but oh my God. The doctor was so selfish that she pulled a dangerous mentally unstable man out of the hospital for her own benefit. I can't get over the fact that the businessman had a gun the whole flipping time And didn't use it until the last second after Reid had basically already disarmed him.

And I can't help but feel that the BAU as much as I love them was completely useless in the situation except for Dr. Reid.

Honestly not a very good episode but it did have a few good moments and some good acting. Also liked that Spencer although afraid did what was best for his colleagues which I don't know if you could classify as character development because he previously wasn't scared to help his team but it's a good reflection of his character.

This whole episode is a train-wrecked.

[ivyleague929 · 6/10 · 1 July 2015]

I hated it from start to end. It was very infuriating to watch. Directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá, the episode has one of the Behavioral Science Unit member, Elle Greenaway (Lola Glaudini) acting like a fool. While, this episode had a more realistic portrayal of how the Behavioral Sciences Unit actually works; with Elle on a train heading to a prison to interview a child murderer. The episode also had one of the most unprofessional, and unrealistic moment of a TV portrayal of a FBI agent. I really found it, very jarring for Elle to be reading, top secret, FBI- files in a public train. Who does that!? Anyways, a paranoid schizophrenic doctor (Chris Bauer) sees this, and mistake it for a government operation to take him down. He began to take hostages on a train, including Elle, when he stole a gun from a security guard. Now the rest of the Behavioral Science Unit members have to rescue Elle, before the worse could happen. Murders/Suicide. Without spoiling too much of the episode, I have to say, this episode derailed in the very first opening minutes. That's pretty bad, the more, I think about it. First off, the hostages are not likable at all. I don't really care, if they live or die. Each one of them, is very annoying, in how idiotic, they were. The worst has to be, Anil Raman as Josh Patel. Gees, his character was just frustrating to watch. I honestly, wanted him to die. That's how unlikeable, his character was. Second off, the writers gave the hostages, pointless cheesy flashbacks that wasn't really needed, since the further exposition would explain, their backstory more. It's like the writers thought, the audience wouldn't get their characters, if they only use the actor's body-language. So they had to write in a stupid flashback to make sure, that the audience would get, what each character is going through. It's very insulting. Another problem with the character vignettes, is how the story never resolved any of their problems. First off, we have Elaine Curtis (Alice Rietveld), a young woman dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. How has she decided to deal with it? Going to the big city for an abortion. While, she's wearing a crucifix; the episode never show if she went, through with it or not, because she's not the focus of the episode. Another character was a distraught businessman, Harry Anderson (Kevin Cristaldi) whose wife has left him. He's on his way to Dallas with a gun in his briefcase, although it's very unclear, if he's planning to kill his wife, her lover, or just kill himself. The episode never finish his story, as well. I felt like my time was wasted with these vignettes. Another thing, about this episode, was the fact, that it wasn't very suspense at all. There were hardly any mystery. We knew who the killer, was and Chris Bauer doesn't fit that mode. He doesn't really look or act, very menacing. He remind me of Curly from the Three Stooges with a twitch. I didn't find, his performance, believable at all. He didn't sound nor act like a physics teacher. The only good actor that came out from this episode, was Jeff Kober as Leo. He was brilliant. Still, they didn't explain, who Leo was supposed to be. This episode miss the train of thought with whole M-theory sub-plot. It's seem forced at the last second. I guess, the show was trying to rip-off, 2001's A Beautiful Mind, with the premise. The main cast was somewhat underused in this episode. Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) & Jennifer "JJ" Jareau (A.J Cook) wasn't much help. Kristen Vangsness as Penelope Garcia didn't add any smart remarks. Elle is the main character, focus here, but she doesn't really do much. She's pretty much useless. It's once-again, Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) & Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin) that gets time to shine. All, they did was buy time. I'm wondering why they didn't demand that they release one of the hostages in exchange for putting Reed on the train to take out the chip. It's seem wise. In the end, the team barely does anything useful. Was their profiling in any way helpful in solving the crime? No. It was totally irrelevant. One thing that they were able to do was travel fast. This time, it's the ability to travel from Northern Virginia to Southern Texas, in two hours, flat. Wow—I really need to know, what flight, they're taking. It's just seem a bit suspiciously too fast. The episode is also a bit confusing, when it comes to train logistic. Why was Elle taking a train to Dallas, rather than taking a flight, there? Wouldn't it, make more sense? Another thing that I really didn't like about this episode is the awful CGI effect. It felt a bit dated for 2008. In my opinion, the string-theory and angelic effects could had been better. Overall: This episode is the worst in Season 1. I recommended watching this one, last, or not watching it at all. It doesn't add anything to the later episodes so you can skip this train, if you want to.

Story line completely departs from any ties with reality

[dnamro · 1/10 · 20 March 2016]

This has to be the most contrived criminal minds episode. I recently saw this in a rerun. The first time I watched this I missed the beginning so I did not know where they were going or even where the was supposed to be happening. Let me just list all the contrived story points:

There is no reason to fly into El Paso to get to Dallas. Dallas is a Major hub, El Paso is not. El was headed to Dallas, so going to El Paso does not make any sense whatsoever. Other major Airports would be much closer such as Austin, Houston, or even San Antonio. Even so, El would most likely have flown into Dallas to catch a connecting flight to most other airports in Texas. If she needed some time to study the flight, she would could have delayed her trip by a day.

There is no direct passenger train from El Paso to Dallas. Amtrack runs passenger service from El Paso to San Antonio, up to Austin and then to Dallas, but that takes almost 24 hours. So even if the story line had a justification for El going to El Paso, in the first place, there is no reason for her to take a train that takes 24 hours, when could just hop on a flight.

There is no reason for the other passengers to take a train from El Paso to Dallas either.

The Dr. would not have arrived in Dallas in time for her conference. There are abortion clinics for the young lady that are closer than Dallas.

There are direct bus routes that would be quicker.

Amtrack is not making enough on passenger service to provide a security guard. I doubt that there is even a security camera.

Too Many Unexplained Scenes Make This Not One Of The Better Episodes

[ccthemovieman-1 · 6/10 · 10 January 2007]

A delusional, paranoid mental case, prodded by his "buddy," takes five hostages on a train headed toward Dallas. One of the hostages in the train is "Elle" from the BAU of the FBI.

We hear a few quick profiles of some of the other passengers at the beginning of the show before the whack-job takes control. Since the show never followed up on this stories, what was the purpose that....to kill another three minutes of the show? Later, there were more unexplained actions by people, leaving this a bit disjointed.

Gideon and the BAU team must discover why this man of severe delusions wants to see "someone of higher authority" (someone of official government capacity, we find out) and why he "wants it removed" before he totally cracks and starts killing people. The BAU must find out what "it" means, too.

It's supposed to be a super-suspense story, but I didn't find it such. It was okay, but the first time so far in this series that I can safely say it's not an episode I wouldn't watch a second time. It wasn't one of the more intelligent episodes of the season.

Agent on the train should be fired!

[hillca10 · 3/10 · 8 September 2014]

Just started watching this and already thinking WTF?!?! Besides the already remarked issues with taking a train in the first place. WHY is an agent reading "Law Enforcement Sensitive," material which ALL FBI and police files are at their lowest rating, on a public train? She has graphic photos open on her lap, then raises the file folder to display to everyone that it is an FBI file? Okay, so, some FBI and other "agents" or wanna be secret squirrels like attention, but I cannot fathom the most egotistical agent doing this on a public train. Then the scenes of her "explaining" his behavior, horrible set up for it and crappy acting to boot...of course with a script like this and a director that let it slide, maybe the actress had no choice but to deliver lines even she thought were ridiculous. Other shows have done it better. In this case using the guy's paranoia that ALL people other than him were with the govt. and possibly having the FBI agent, who is facing him, and in an aisle seat, look up while on the phone, randomly looking in his direction could have been plenty of catalyst for that level of paranoia. When the train security guard came by and she asked a question (again, no file please) she could have DISCREETLY shown her badge to JUST the security guy and asked if she could be of any assistance. This exchange, with the security guard looking down the aisle, as he does do anyway, would have been enough to propel the paranoid person's already agitated mental state to one of action. It seems as if the writers, director and actor were just checking the boxes to get another episode "in the can."

So wrong but funny

[lindabellcrandall · 5/10 · 11 November 2018]

When Teddy tells Gideon that he is tired and it ends today. JJ asks what that means, Gideon says that Teddy is going to kill himself and then the hostages. Really not possible.