It started of good until the point where the family rebelled with the father fighting the captor. Instead of helping the Sullivan patriarch, the wife and kids chose to run away, being unsuccessful at that. It just didn't make sense to me.
8 Reviews
Disappointed in Beyond Borders
pjalstrand18 April 2016
From the minute I heard about the new Criminal Minds spin off and being a Gary Sinise fan I waited with baited breath for the show to start. And then the night finally came, popcorn and a glass of wine and by the time the first commercial break came around I was watching a Scorpion rerun. I am still an avid Gary Sinise fan and I tried at least 3 times to watch it and there is one person in the cast that makes it impossible to watch. So, when they kill off Annie Funke I will be back. And if anyone knows who told her she could act I think they should be put away. I thoroughly enjoyed the idea that the team would be traveling to different parts of the world, unlike the original show. So, back to CSI,NY reruns.
Excellent Episode--Introduction of new CBS series
Gracie9629 July 2015
Add Gary Sinese to any action TV show and you have a winner. The offshoot of Criminal Minds--entitled "Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders"--is supposed to premiere in January 2016 and I will be watching.
Criminal Minds itself has gotten boring, repetitive, and predictable in the past few years. This new infusion is a welcome change to network TV. With Gary Sinise in the lead roll, this show is sure to be a winner. Thank you, CBS, for bringing Sinise back to network TV in an action roll.
Unfortunately the lovely Anna Gunn will not remain in the series--our loss.
Criminal Minds itself has gotten boring, repetitive, and predictable in the past few years. This new infusion is a welcome change to network TV. With Gary Sinise in the lead roll, this show is sure to be a winner. Thank you, CBS, for bringing Sinise back to network TV in an action roll.
Unfortunately the lovely Anna Gunn will not remain in the series--our loss.
'Criminal Minds' meets 'Beyond Borders'
TheLittleSongbird28 February 2017
Like Season 5's "The Fight" introduced the 'Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior' team, "Beyond Borders" introduces the team for 'Criminal Minds' second spin-off 'Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders'. Just for the record, while a fan of 'Criminal Minds' (if more the earlier seasons), neither of the spin-offs do anything for me.
While it is still not particularly good, "Beyond Borders" is marginally better than "The Fight", unlike that episode there are a couple of bright spots in the cast and while that episode was one of the worst-looking episodes of the whole show (along with Season 6's "The Thirteenth Step") despite parts being choppily edited this one had two well shot scenes- Hotch's chase and the search for the boy.
It still makes the mistake of not feeling enough like 'Criminal Minds', and not having enough of what makes it so great when on form and at its best, being too much of the unsub show and also failing as a cross-over, the BAU mostly are underused and the episode doesn't do enough with the personalities, stories and roles of the 'Beyond Borders' team.
There are things that "Beyond Borders" does well. As said, there are two particularly well-shot scenes and the scenery is lovely and atmospheric. In terms of acting, Thomas Gibson and Anna Gunn are most successful, while the unsub is creepily played and one really roots for the family, rather than getting frustrated at overacting and frustrating decision making like other family abduction episodes (especially Season 8's "Through the Looking Glass").
The music is suitably haunting and melancholic. Of the partnerships, Hotch's and Lambert's is a sheer delight, there is real chemistry between the two and it is the partnership that feels the most organised.
However, the rest of the partnerships don't work. Rossi and Garrett's is the most disappointing, being the one that on paper should have worked the most, Rossi has lost his sass while Garrett looks wholly disinterested (not helped by the wooden and bored-out-of-his-mind acting of the normally good Gary Sinise) and there is no chemistry between them. Worst of all was Garcia and Monty, they just don't work well together with Monty being too perfect and like a pale and annoying imitation of "caricature-Garcia" (his actor Tyler James Williams plays him obnoxiously) and Garcia should have found more of a voice in communication, far too wimpy and with most people she would have been more out-spoken. The rest (particularly Reid and Kate) suffer from being criminally underused.
As said, "Beyond Borders" is too much of the unsub show, which already dilutes the suspense and robs the BAU and 'Beyond Borders' teams of scenes that were needed much more as well as profiling (at least there is some but there isn't anywhere near close to being enough). The suspense is further diluted by by-the-numbers writing, too many flashbacks, too many repetitive self-explanatory scenes with the unsub, too much gratuitous violence and a completely over-heated climax regardless of how well shot it is.
Overall, not quite a low point but a mediocre episode and one of the lesser ones of Season 10. 4/10 Bethany Cox
While it is still not particularly good, "Beyond Borders" is marginally better than "The Fight", unlike that episode there are a couple of bright spots in the cast and while that episode was one of the worst-looking episodes of the whole show (along with Season 6's "The Thirteenth Step") despite parts being choppily edited this one had two well shot scenes- Hotch's chase and the search for the boy.
It still makes the mistake of not feeling enough like 'Criminal Minds', and not having enough of what makes it so great when on form and at its best, being too much of the unsub show and also failing as a cross-over, the BAU mostly are underused and the episode doesn't do enough with the personalities, stories and roles of the 'Beyond Borders' team.
There are things that "Beyond Borders" does well. As said, there are two particularly well-shot scenes and the scenery is lovely and atmospheric. In terms of acting, Thomas Gibson and Anna Gunn are most successful, while the unsub is creepily played and one really roots for the family, rather than getting frustrated at overacting and frustrating decision making like other family abduction episodes (especially Season 8's "Through the Looking Glass").
The music is suitably haunting and melancholic. Of the partnerships, Hotch's and Lambert's is a sheer delight, there is real chemistry between the two and it is the partnership that feels the most organised.
However, the rest of the partnerships don't work. Rossi and Garrett's is the most disappointing, being the one that on paper should have worked the most, Rossi has lost his sass while Garrett looks wholly disinterested (not helped by the wooden and bored-out-of-his-mind acting of the normally good Gary Sinise) and there is no chemistry between them. Worst of all was Garcia and Monty, they just don't work well together with Monty being too perfect and like a pale and annoying imitation of "caricature-Garcia" (his actor Tyler James Williams plays him obnoxiously) and Garcia should have found more of a voice in communication, far too wimpy and with most people she would have been more out-spoken. The rest (particularly Reid and Kate) suffer from being criminally underused.
As said, "Beyond Borders" is too much of the unsub show, which already dilutes the suspense and robs the BAU and 'Beyond Borders' teams of scenes that were needed much more as well as profiling (at least there is some but there isn't anywhere near close to being enough). The suspense is further diluted by by-the-numbers writing, too many flashbacks, too many repetitive self-explanatory scenes with the unsub, too much gratuitous violence and a completely over-heated climax regardless of how well shot it is.
Overall, not quite a low point but a mediocre episode and one of the lesser ones of Season 10. 4/10 Bethany Cox
4 men vs 1 unsub, and you chose to run
mikesaffran-2067324 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Imagine being successful to escape from zip ties and fight your unsub then telling your other family members to help you so you would have a better chance of crippling the unsub. Yeah just imagine that because that didn't happen here because as usual the victims are so stupid. Lol.
Victims being victims
apd83 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
When the father cut off the zip tie, who in the right mind would drop the knife that he just used a second ago and try to attack the unsub with bare hands? Seriously!? At least a normal person would stab the unsub with that knife once before doing something else.
This happened in many many episodes. I'm getting tired of the way of writing "easy" victims.
Also, it seems like the writers completely forgot about adrenaline because whenever there was a life-threatening fight, victims were never be able to fight and remained "weak" as usual.
This happened in many many episodes. I'm getting tired of the way of writing "easy" victims.
Also, it seems like the writers completely forgot about adrenaline because whenever there was a life-threatening fight, victims were never be able to fight and remained "weak" as usual.
Meh BB pilot, though always good to see my fav crybaby!
dpasq-848-4509179 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Horrible introduction to beyond borders. So boring, it was like watching the paint dry. The worst part of this episode was the introduction to Matt Simmons. When it comes to a character's onscreen dynamic, this piece of garbage has nothing to offer. Every time he opens his mouth, I feel stupider. On the plus side, seeing Sterling K. Brown doing a guest appearance is always fun, you never know if he's going to break down and cry. Pretty proud that he was able to compose himself this episode although, when the team met him for the first time, his eyeballs were pretty bloodshot like he was bawling off camera. He probably read the script and reacted.
Incredible
oovag11 December 2020
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