Despite the high rating here and seeing fellow fans reviewing it favourably, the idea didn't overly excite me. By all means it was far from one that was doomed from the start, it was interesting but with it not being particularly original as an overall concept and a few story strands for procedural crime shows and even 'Criminal Minds' part of me did worry that it would be derivative and be indicative that the show had run out of ideas. Which was what was the case when it carried over as an arc, one that for me didn't entirely work, in the next season.
"Chameleon" for me was a great episode. To me it is a lot better than what has been said here, being in the top 3 episodes of Season 14 easily alongside "300" and "The Tall Man" and the best since the latter. My opinion of Rossi is very different too, personally love him myself and he was one of my main reasons (his sass never gets old and is always welcome) for still sticking with 'Criminal Minds' when it became variable over-time, another being Reid. "Chameleon" does a great job with him.
It was great to see a more serious side to him and see how the case affected him, apparent from his opening scene, and it did bring a lump to my throat actually. His side story works really well too, wasn't crazy about it when it was first introduced earlier in the season but it really grew overtime and "Chameleon" sees that growth. It brought a lot of heart to the episode and Krystall has turned out to be one of 'Criminal Minds' better "love interest" characters, loved how sympathetic she is, she's likeable and she has a personality.
The team work incredibly well together, not only do they cohesively, all serve a point to the story and they all play a role in solving the case their closeness and seeing each other as more than just colleagues also is lovely to see and hard to not be touched by. "Chameleon" is visually stylish and has a horror film-like vibe (a well made one). It is remarkably well directed by AJ Cook in her directing debut, who gives the atmosphere an unsettlement very reminiscent of a Matthew Gray Gubler-directed 'Criminal Minds' episode at its creepiest. The script is not too talky and provokes thought. The acting is fine, Joe Mantegna is restrained yet still authoritative and his conflict and pain is portrayed very movingly.
Admittedly the story didn't sound special on paper, interesting yes but there was the risk of it being ideas and structurally wise rather derivative of other episodes. The case starts off a little routinely but kicks into gear very quickly and while there aren't any innovations as such it is more than compensated by quite a few things and is always never less than intriguing. The atmosphere is very creepy, even more so than the previous episode "Hamelin" and that can't have been an easy feat. The unsub is the stuff of nightmares and the modus operandi does make one sick to the stomach, by latter episode 'Criminal Minds' standards this is brutal (without being too over-sadistic). There is also a big twist and to me it was an ingenious one, no other big twist this season floored me as much as the one here (not even that for "Flesh and Blood").
Very little to criticise about "Chameleon". It does start off on the routine side case wise but my only major problem (which people might feel is a nit-pick) is how fake looking the faces are, nobody buys that they are real for a minute which stops us from being more shocked than we are meant to. We still are though because it is a sight that one never forgets and never wants to ever see again, not to be seen when eating.
Overall, an extremely well crafted episode and a high point of Season 14. 9/10
"Chameleon" for me was a great episode. To me it is a lot better than what has been said here, being in the top 3 episodes of Season 14 easily alongside "300" and "The Tall Man" and the best since the latter. My opinion of Rossi is very different too, personally love him myself and he was one of my main reasons (his sass never gets old and is always welcome) for still sticking with 'Criminal Minds' when it became variable over-time, another being Reid. "Chameleon" does a great job with him.
It was great to see a more serious side to him and see how the case affected him, apparent from his opening scene, and it did bring a lump to my throat actually. His side story works really well too, wasn't crazy about it when it was first introduced earlier in the season but it really grew overtime and "Chameleon" sees that growth. It brought a lot of heart to the episode and Krystall has turned out to be one of 'Criminal Minds' better "love interest" characters, loved how sympathetic she is, she's likeable and she has a personality.
The team work incredibly well together, not only do they cohesively, all serve a point to the story and they all play a role in solving the case their closeness and seeing each other as more than just colleagues also is lovely to see and hard to not be touched by. "Chameleon" is visually stylish and has a horror film-like vibe (a well made one). It is remarkably well directed by AJ Cook in her directing debut, who gives the atmosphere an unsettlement very reminiscent of a Matthew Gray Gubler-directed 'Criminal Minds' episode at its creepiest. The script is not too talky and provokes thought. The acting is fine, Joe Mantegna is restrained yet still authoritative and his conflict and pain is portrayed very movingly.
Admittedly the story didn't sound special on paper, interesting yes but there was the risk of it being ideas and structurally wise rather derivative of other episodes. The case starts off a little routinely but kicks into gear very quickly and while there aren't any innovations as such it is more than compensated by quite a few things and is always never less than intriguing. The atmosphere is very creepy, even more so than the previous episode "Hamelin" and that can't have been an easy feat. The unsub is the stuff of nightmares and the modus operandi does make one sick to the stomach, by latter episode 'Criminal Minds' standards this is brutal (without being too over-sadistic). There is also a big twist and to me it was an ingenious one, no other big twist this season floored me as much as the one here (not even that for "Flesh and Blood").
Very little to criticise about "Chameleon". It does start off on the routine side case wise but my only major problem (which people might feel is a nit-pick) is how fake looking the faces are, nobody buys that they are real for a minute which stops us from being more shocked than we are meant to. We still are though because it is a sight that one never forgets and never wants to ever see again, not to be seen when eating.
Overall, an extremely well crafted episode and a high point of Season 14. 9/10