Season 1 of 'Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders', by far to me the worst of the 'Criminal Minds' shows, was not good at all. Most of it actually was dreck. As far as the previous Season 1 episodes go, none of them came over as good and were all weak at best. Most of them even being insultingly awful. "Love Interrupted" and "The Lonely Heart" were the only ones to me that didn't leave as much of a bitter after-taste and at least both had minor improvements.
Just like Season 1's last episode "Paper Orphans" did. While still not considering it particularly good at all, "Paper Orphans" for me is the best episode of the season and of the show up to this point. Or at least the least bad. Pretty much all the bad things that were so obvious and poorly done in the previous episodes are still here, but there was at least one nice bit of dialogue and for the first time an unsub that rose above vanilla which is a good thing.
That nice bit of dialogue was that truly beautiful moment where Garrett speaks to Josie regarding the extent to which he and her mother love and are so proud of her. That did strike a chord with me and reminded me of the time where my parents said similar to me when preparing for going off to music college, and can imagine other people in the same situation feeling the same too. The subplot may be cliched and slightly jarred with the case, but at least it had heart and gave some development to Garrett.
"Paper Orphans" also has by far the best unsub of the first season, being the only one to actually make an impression. The other unsubs of the season were too vanilla, lacked menace, were too sketchily developed and one couldn't feel anything for them. This unsub was the opposite.
Unfortunately, that is pretty much it when it comes to "Paper Orphans" good things. The production values are choppy and obvious and the music is overbearing and could have done with being used less, it is also at odds with everything. One never really feels like they are in the setting, so much the lack of authenticity. Really don't care for the team interaction, which still doesn't gel and is very stilted, little character moments are not there and the procedural element is just too conventional and could have been explored more. When it comes to the team, Garrett is the only one here that one gets to know being the only one to receive any kind of development. Pretty much everybody else is exactly like how they were in the previous episodes.
Anybody that has always intensely disliked Mae will not have their feelings changed in any way here. Speaking as one of those people, her stiff way she's acted, her lack of personality and her habitual rudeness have always rubbed me up the wrong way. The writing is poor. Very awkward, very leaden and still condescends to the viewer in a ham-fisted way. The story completely lacks tension and suspense and doesn't ever come to life. The acting is generally not good, though credit is due to Gary Sinise for giving by far his best performance of the season and perhaps of the whole show in general. The unsub's acting also fares well, at least there was some personality going on.
Concluding, weak but a couple of steps up from the insultingly awful episodes between post-"Love Interrupted" and pre-this episode. 3/10
Just like Season 1's last episode "Paper Orphans" did. While still not considering it particularly good at all, "Paper Orphans" for me is the best episode of the season and of the show up to this point. Or at least the least bad. Pretty much all the bad things that were so obvious and poorly done in the previous episodes are still here, but there was at least one nice bit of dialogue and for the first time an unsub that rose above vanilla which is a good thing.
That nice bit of dialogue was that truly beautiful moment where Garrett speaks to Josie regarding the extent to which he and her mother love and are so proud of her. That did strike a chord with me and reminded me of the time where my parents said similar to me when preparing for going off to music college, and can imagine other people in the same situation feeling the same too. The subplot may be cliched and slightly jarred with the case, but at least it had heart and gave some development to Garrett.
"Paper Orphans" also has by far the best unsub of the first season, being the only one to actually make an impression. The other unsubs of the season were too vanilla, lacked menace, were too sketchily developed and one couldn't feel anything for them. This unsub was the opposite.
Unfortunately, that is pretty much it when it comes to "Paper Orphans" good things. The production values are choppy and obvious and the music is overbearing and could have done with being used less, it is also at odds with everything. One never really feels like they are in the setting, so much the lack of authenticity. Really don't care for the team interaction, which still doesn't gel and is very stilted, little character moments are not there and the procedural element is just too conventional and could have been explored more. When it comes to the team, Garrett is the only one here that one gets to know being the only one to receive any kind of development. Pretty much everybody else is exactly like how they were in the previous episodes.
Anybody that has always intensely disliked Mae will not have their feelings changed in any way here. Speaking as one of those people, her stiff way she's acted, her lack of personality and her habitual rudeness have always rubbed me up the wrong way. The writing is poor. Very awkward, very leaden and still condescends to the viewer in a ham-fisted way. The story completely lacks tension and suspense and doesn't ever come to life. The acting is generally not good, though credit is due to Gary Sinise for giving by far his best performance of the season and perhaps of the whole show in general. The unsub's acting also fares well, at least there was some personality going on.
Concluding, weak but a couple of steps up from the insultingly awful episodes between post-"Love Interrupted" and pre-this episode. 3/10
