This was one of worst episodes of entire for me. But unlike with others e.g. "anti-terror squad" from earlier in season 12, where the writing was flat, this failed for me from an acting perspective.
With the exceptions of one or two scenes, like the ones between Reid and Prentiss, the main cast just felt completely out of sync with their characters and the characters with each other. I don't know why but the majority of the time something just felt off. Like a shirt you don't realize you've put on backwards.
The two main guest stars were even worse. Consistency is a thing and the actors playing Mark and especially Bill have clearly never heard of it. While I wanted to have sympathy for Bill, because in the context of the storyline he is a sympathetic character, every time the actor spoke more than three words I had to put the tv mute, rewind and put the captions on because I could not listen to him. At one I actually yelled out loud for him to pick an accent and stick with it. Every scene he flipped between standard American, Midwest, and Southern as well as jumping between a normal speech patter and an exaggerated pattern that is classed as "stereotypically homosexual."
This episode should have been showcase on how easy it is to be manipulated by abuser, but because these two men were just so bad it didn't take. This should have been an episode that resonated with people because it's relevant, but it didn't. And I put the "blame" for lack of a better word on the actors of Mark and Bill. Not only did they give poor performances but they had no chemistry together and seemed to suck it from the main cast like vampires.
My friend is a casting director and both these guys were what she likes to call 'butter face' actors. Meaning they can't act, but their faces will get them a pass.
As much as I wanted to like this episode, as much as the summary drew me in and intrigued me, as good writing was and relevant as the storyline is, this is one of those sad but growing moments in tv and film where the acting was off the mark and just dragged the whole thing down. From a technical standpoint it a solid episode, well written, good lighting, great music. However as much as good acting can make a technically flawed episode good and enjoyable to watch, a poorly acted episode can absolutely destroy one that's technically great and that's the case here for me.
With the exceptions of one or two scenes, like the ones between Reid and Prentiss, the main cast just felt completely out of sync with their characters and the characters with each other. I don't know why but the majority of the time something just felt off. Like a shirt you don't realize you've put on backwards.
The two main guest stars were even worse. Consistency is a thing and the actors playing Mark and especially Bill have clearly never heard of it. While I wanted to have sympathy for Bill, because in the context of the storyline he is a sympathetic character, every time the actor spoke more than three words I had to put the tv mute, rewind and put the captions on because I could not listen to him. At one I actually yelled out loud for him to pick an accent and stick with it. Every scene he flipped between standard American, Midwest, and Southern as well as jumping between a normal speech patter and an exaggerated pattern that is classed as "stereotypically homosexual."
This episode should have been showcase on how easy it is to be manipulated by abuser, but because these two men were just so bad it didn't take. This should have been an episode that resonated with people because it's relevant, but it didn't. And I put the "blame" for lack of a better word on the actors of Mark and Bill. Not only did they give poor performances but they had no chemistry together and seemed to suck it from the main cast like vampires.
My friend is a casting director and both these guys were what she likes to call 'butter face' actors. Meaning they can't act, but their faces will get them a pass.
As much as I wanted to like this episode, as much as the summary drew me in and intrigued me, as good writing was and relevant as the storyline is, this is one of those sad but growing moments in tv and film where the acting was off the mark and just dragged the whole thing down. From a technical standpoint it a solid episode, well written, good lighting, great music. However as much as good acting can make a technically flawed episode good and enjoyable to watch, a poorly acted episode can absolutely destroy one that's technically great and that's the case here for me.