Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (TV Series) Cinderella and the Dragon (2017) User Reviews

This is not Singapore

[joellow777 · 2/10 · 12 September 2017]

I am a Singaporean, so I am more than qualify to disqualify some of the wrong ideas in this episode regarding Singapore.

1. Singapore is the most advanced country in this region, so the 60s low-rise buildings with illegal hawkers in the street selling food is but only in the 60s and are almost all gone. The low-rise buildings are mainly reservation for tourist attraction purpose. Street hawkers have been totally eradicated.

2. The Arowana fish is not extinct. Those extracted species once have not been around for thousands if not millions of years. The young Arawana the episode mentioned is sold like S$25 for one, not a million dollars.

4. Singapore is a well-educated country and authorities do not speak often in Chinese especially not in an official situation. We do speak English well but we are mainly UK based type of English.

5. In the episode, we keep seeing only Chinese in public areas. Those who have really been in Singapore knows that you can see at least the main 3 races very often publicly.

6. The whole talk about the Ministry of Manpower dumping foreign workers into Geylang's dormitory is hilarious. Though Geylang prostitution is still pretty real, the gangsters have been gone for decades.

7. We are not a police state, our investigation officers or inspectors do wear plain clothes while conducting an investigation like the IRT agents.

8. Michael Faye was guilty of vandalism and thief. The same punishment is applicable for everyone, not just foreigners.

9. Chewing gum is not illegal but the possession of large quantity.

Please get your facts straight.

Was there any research done?

[snowyprecipice · 2/10 · 22 April 2017]

Criminal minds: beyond borders would be a good show if done well. They could really expand their popularity/reach if the episodes were done well. Unfortunately this episode came off as a badly researched, poorly portrayed stereotype of Asian culture.

First of all, Singapore ISN'T PART OF CHINA. The whole episode made Singapore seem like some seedy Chinatown. The actor playing the policeman they work with is from Hong Kong, and doesn't bother trying to use the Singaporean accent. And in what universe would a Singaporean policeman use mandarin to speak to his colleagues in front of the Americans??

Other plainly stupid portrayals I took umbrage with: 1) How did the stewardesses end up on the belt? In Singapore, all stewards and stewardesses have to wait for their luggage with the rest of the public (their bags come out first though). They have no access to the cargo otherwise.

2) The opening quote is not a Singaporean proverb. What?! It's a Greek proverb and doesn't mean what the show's owner thinks it is. The last time Singapore had pirates was practically in ancient times. Did the show writers just google "ancient Singapore" and find the first quote about pirates? Absurd.

3) Our legal system doesn't just presume guilt. Also, if anything, foreigners get more lenient sentences. Michael Fay didn't get caned for just a drunken disorderly; he was punished for vandalism of and stealing public property. And what's with "Singapore doesn't differentiate murder based on motivation"??? Singapore may not have first-third degree murders, but we have our own classification that does differentiate.

4) Of course, the infamous "chewing gum is illegal, in case you didn't know". That's outdated information. Just a simple google search could show the writers that. It's illegal to import it for retail (except nicotine or dental gum), but you can easily bring in your own gum to chew (bought from other countries) and you'll be fine.

5) what's with the dumb soundtrack? Again, it makes it sound like Singapore is part of China. What nonsense. Singapore has 3 other official races.

This was highly disappointing, especially as a huge fan of the original Criminal Minds. /: They could have dispelled all those stupid mistakes by just speaking to one Singaporean person. Or maybe their whole stupid plot would have fallen apart if they did that.

A viewer's fury

[TheLittleSongbird · 2/10 · 23 November 2020]

Despite not being a fan at all of 'Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders', but still watched it all the way through to the end of its run as someone that loves the original 'Criminal Minds' and had the hope that it would get better (it showed marginal improvement in Season 2), "Cinderella and the Dragon" actually sounded promising. The synopsis may not have been original but it intrigued and set in fascinating place with a fascinating culture.

Which "Cinderella and the Dragon" does a great disservice to. The viewer's anger is a good deal more firey than anything in the episode combined. After seeing some improvement in a few aspects in Season 2, it is regrettable that with "Cinderella and the Dragon" 'Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders' went back into the offensively bad territory that most of Season 1 was stuck in. There were worse episodes of the show but this is definitely among the worst of Season 2 and the show's worst episode since "El Toro Bravo".

Is there anything that was done halfway decent? Well, it started off promising.

"Cinderella and the Dragon" otherwise is a complete failure. It doesn't even look good visually, with too much of it having a cheap direct to video look and it lacks slickness and atmosphere. Singapore is a lot more beautiful than portrayed here where it is almost too seedy. The music is unmemorable at best and what can be remembered is an attempt to be over the top brooding but comes over as bland.

Absolutely agree with the other reviewers about the insulting portrayal of Singapore, and they are not to be dismissed for being nit-picky. Cultural insensitivity and outdated stereotyping were frequent problems throughout 'Beyond Borders' run, and while other episodes did these (even) worse the insensitivity, inaccuracies and stereotyping here showed a lack of respect and research. The writing is stilted and is back to the condescending writing style of Season 1. The profiling is underused and too conventional, but we still don't know the team enough as individuals and the chemistry just isn't there.

Neither is the acting from all involved, ranging to sleepwalking to annoying. The unsub is not menacing or well developed at all, just vanilla like most of the show's unsubs (with a couple of exceptions such as "Paper Orphans" and "Made In"). The story is ridiculous, dull and lacks suspense and again the ending feels rushed.

Concluding, very, very bad and while the insulting portrayal of Singapore plays a large part in its failure it is not the only big fault of the episode. 2/10

Disappointing at best

[SyoKennex · 3/10 · 11 October 2017]

This was an episode of Beyond Borders that I was really excited for. I patiently waited and then dived into the moment I had a chance to... only to be heavily disappointed.

First of all, why have they made Singapore look like a run down part of China? Chinese isn't the only race in Singapore, there's at least three others that I know about. The proverb at the beginning is Greek, not Singapore. You're allowed to bring your own chewing gum to chew - it's illegal to import anything other than nicotine and dental gum.

As a marine biologist, I was heavily shocked to find such inaccurate information concerning the fish species they showed. Not extinct at all, considered slightly endangered but that's it. They aren't that expensive to buy - considering you can buy them in tropical fish stores.

There was so much about this that I was ready to love but... it was just done horrifically. This could have just been cleaned up by talking to one Native Singapore person and done so much better. This had potential, but wasted it, and it's severely put me off watching any more of the second series of Beyond Borders. Extremely disappointing.