As has been said by me perhaps too many times, Season 11 has been mostly a weak and disappointing season with only three or four episodes being good, the rest being average at worst and poor at worst. By far the weakest season of 'Criminal Minds', a show that this reviewer never misses.
While there is worse in the season, such as "Till Death Do Us Part", "The Bond", "Awake" and from memory "Inner Beauty", "Internal Affairs" is a pretty poor episode in many ways. There are some good things here.
Production values are still very high and Richie Stevens sends shivers down the spine as a particularly irredeemably evil unsub. There are too two good scenes, the freaky scene between the unsub and Sarah and the sweet and touching ending scene with Hotch and Garcia which saw a refreshing change to Hotch's serious side.
However, "Internal Affairs" does suffer heavily from missing so much of what made the show such a pleasure at its best. There is too little of the BAU, who mostly in terms of solving the case and little character moments don't have enough to do, and too much of the unsub who is revealed too early which takes away from the tension and suspense, with only one scene standing out. At least the unsub is well played though and not easy to forget, unlike so many of the unsubs this season.
Reid's absence is immediately noted and deeply felt, leaving a huge hole in the team dynamic, while Tara is still stiff and disconnected as well as feeling dull and out of place within the team. Aisha Tyler's limited acting and flat line delivery doesn't help things. "Internal Affairs" also suffers from what doomed "Target Rich", the case is dull and by-the-numbers and some of the episode also feels rushed and like too much in one episode in so short a running time leaving many parts underdeveloped and confused.
Usually, this reviewer doesn't have a problem with the music but while there are some haunting parts the more melancholic parts feel intrusive. The writing is forgettable and lacks tightness, and the direction plods. The regulars do do what they can but don't have enough to do to make an impression, regarding the team's role in the episode only the ending scene with Hotch and Garcia stands out.
Overall, disappointing and pretty poor. 3/10 Bethany Cox
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