Having been a big fan of 'Criminal Minds' for seven years now, being a show that airs regularly on SkyLiving, there are some great episodes, and a fair few masterful ones. But there are also misfires especially in the later seasons, and for me "Through the Looking Glass" is one of them.
Granted there are worse in the show, this reviewer is one of those who has an intense dislike for "200" and it isn't the waste-of-great-potential that "The Replicator" was (that could have been an enthralling end to potentially one of the show's better story arcs, but it fizzled out pretty badly), but "Through the Looking Glass" has a lot of the problems that the show has from time to time.
"Through the Looking Glass" is not all bad. With one exception, the lead acting is very good indeed, Joe Mantegna as Rossi and Matthew Gray Gubler as Reid have always been high points. There is an appropriate moody, gritty and dark, yet always slick and stylish, atmosphere in the visuals, and the place in which the family are held provide an effective sense of claustrophobia. The music is haunting and melancholic, and there is some decent enough directing if more in the visuals than anywhere else.
However, while the leads are fine, the supporting cast are not, with the exception of John Fleck, who does provide chills and eerie tension as Rykov even though most of the time he's unseen. This was a point in the show where Alex Blake had not fitted in yet and when it was difficult to warm to a character as cold as she was. She did get better later in the season to me and in Season 9, and generally she is one of the better Prentiss replacements (Kate was too bland, out of place and often forced and shoe-horned in in her earlier episodes), but it did take time to get used to her. Jeanne Tripplehorn does do her best considering. Beth is a total bore of a character, and Bellamy Young's acting is not enough to make one change their mind on the character.
It was also really difficult to relate to the family. Not only do almost all the actors overact, with Danielle Bisutti being particularly overwrought and annoying, but they are all uninteresting and continually frustrate with decision-making that stops anybody from relating to them (for example what sort of mother in their own mind would choose money over her own daughter?). The script is remote and not particularly tight, shining only in Rykov's chilling ultimatums threats. Alex's quip to Reid can go either way and those who do have Aspergers (although this reviewer has Aspergers, she was not sure what to make of it) might take offence, and sorry but Morgan and Penelope's flirtatious and over-familiar exchanges are getting increasingly unrealistic and annoying.
Regarding the story, there wasn't enough to engage with and because the supporting characters are so badly acted and frustrate the viewer so much one couldn't connect with it, which waste the claustrophobic setting somewhat. It isn't exciting or tense enough, and there is a lack of a plausible explanation (even the nicely done flashback didn't make that clear) for how Rykov knew which family to target, where they lived and how he knew so much about them, the most obvious way is through stalking them but this reviewer missed any explanation.
All in all, didn't do much for me. 4/10 Bethany Cox
