Have always loved detective/mystery shows and there are so many great ones out there, whether it's the slow-burns, , ones that mixed comedy and drama, anything Agatha Christie (namely 'Poirot'), the light-hearted ones or the gritty ones.
'Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour' was greatly anticipated despite being short-lived, being such a great fan of 'Criminal Minds', if more in the early seasons. Just because a show is short-lived that doesn't necessarily mean they are bad, while having flaws quite a number of them showed a lot of promise and were cancelled when they were still growing and before they were given a proper chance. 'Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour' unfortunately never seemed to get off the ground, a slow start would have been forgivable (most shows don't immediately settle) but to show little, if any, signs of improving even when halfway through was indication of a show that wasn't going to work and for me and many others its cancellation after 13 episodes was justified.
Hate to be the one with a different opinion here, but was expecting an improvement after being severely let down by "Two of a Kind". Sadly all of the flaws present in that first episode remain, the one improvement being that it is marginally easier to tell who is who.
Sure "Lonely Hearts" is again well-shot but never anything extraordinary, lacking the darker, grittier touch that the original 'Criminal Minds' show brought to its darker scenes. Also thought very little of the music, the background scoring sounds more generic than haunting or pulse-racing and the opening titles theme is so rushed that remembering it is impossible. The writing is all over the place, constantly not knowing what to do with itself and filled with poorly written lines delivered like wood. All of it just sounded rushed, on-the-surface with no development whatsoever and often over-the-top.
The story line for "Lonely Hearts" is even less attention-grabbing than "Two of a Kind", excepting the climax, feeling derivative of a standard serial killer story for the original 'Criminal Minds' but with none of the tension, suspense or the emotion. It was all just so dull and bland, parts were ridiculous and motivations are vague . While there is a much better sense of who is who, none of the characters are easy to engage with at all either, little if anything is learnt about them. The interaction between them is barely existent, how they work in solving the case shows little spark or interest, and quite awkward and there are no little character moments, which was a constant strength of 'Criminal Minds', even in several lesser episodes. The unsub, revealed too early and should have been used far less to make the mystery stronger (a weakness of latter season 'Criminal Minds') is again too vanilla, not creepy enough to be anywhere near as detestable as the best villains on the original and their development is at best sketchy to feel anything else for them.
Acting is still weak, with only Michael Kelly, with the one character that 'Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour' was trying to develop at this stage, showing any effort of the regulars.
Especially have a problem with Janeane Garofalo, who shows the emotions of a robot, if she was trying to be serious it comes at the expense of personality, and the character is annoying as a result. Forrest Whittaker continues to be terribly and shockingly inconsistent, at points he goes completely through the motions and at other points he tries too hard, the authoritative personality is not there enough and then any empathising or emotion is delivered with a face of stone and never natural. Kirsten Vangsness, a bright spot in the original, doesn't make a smooth transition here, Garcia again is pointless and just doesn't fit, like numerous episodes of the later seasons of 'Criminal Minds' her role is also too convenient and there to just provide the answers. Vangsness has lost her spark due to poor writing and being underused.
Summing up, another let down. 2/10 Bethany Cox
3 out of 5 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
