"Future Perfect" is not quite one of the worst episodes of the mostly underwhelming Season 11, and of the three Reid-less episodes of the season it is the least bad. However, it is a case of good ideas gone to waste and gives Season 10's "If the Shoe Fits" a run for its money in the uncomfortably strange factor.
There are things that are good about "Future Perfect". With one exception, the acting is good. The regulars do what they can and do fine with what they have, though for some of the team they don't have work to work with. The support acting also makes an impression. Matt Burns is a creepy but also empathetic unsub and Vaughn Armstrong and especially Nancy Lineham Charles are incredibly touching as Ben and Eileen, you really relate to the couple and feel awful for them.
Most of the production values are top notch (apart from when Rossi and JJ appear at the crime scene when one expects Hotch and Morgan there from the previous scene, indicating a missing scene or something), with the episode being shot with a lot of style, atmosphere and class. While the role of the BAU is disappointing here, there are moments. Rossi has some very funny one-liners, that show off his sassy nature so well, that are like little bonbons within a script generally not worthy of them. His off-screen phone call with Reid that helps solve the case is also a great character moment, showing that while Reid is absent he hasn't been forgotten and unlike the other two Season 11 Reid-less episodes (especially "Awake") he is treated with respect rather than mocked. The ending is essentially a cliff-hanger, but an effective one in setting one up for the season's on-going story arc and is also a very nice scene between Hotch and Garcia.
However, a lot of the flaws that plagued most Season 11 episodes are present also in "Future Perfect". Didn't mind that the case was an unusual one, but did mind that things just got too weird in an uncomfortable way, that the episode lacked tension, suspense and often pedestrian in pace and that it all felt convoluted and half-baked due to that the content just wasn't explored enough. Like with many of the Season 11 episodes, the unsub (while more interesting and better played than most of the unsubs of that season) is revealed far too early which immediately diminish any suspense or intrigue and there is also too much of him and Ben and Eileen.
As a result, the role of the BAU in the story doesn't register anywhere near as strongly as it should do, only shining really with Rossi's one-liners and the ending with Hotch and Garcia. Hotch and Morgan do an unexplained and inexplicable vanishing act, while Tara Lewis continues to be stiff, dull and disconnected (as a character and within the team, the same applies with Aisha Tyler's acting) and Reid's absence once again is immediately noticed and deeply felt, showing how a character as well-developed and interesting as Reid can leave such a big hole in the team dynamic when not there. As a result of too much emphasis on the supporting characters, the BAU feel very underused and there is hardly any profiling.
One often feels like they are not watching a 'Criminal Minds' episode at all, while there are worse examples in the season and even the show this is once again another example of an episode, of a show with a lot of good to outstanding episodes, that loses sight or completely forgets many of the ingredients that makes the show as good as it is when good or more. Pacing and direction are pedestrian, the script is as convoluted and half-baked as the story (all the best lines come from Rossi) and the music is intrusive.
In conclusion, a strange episode and unfortunately for "Future Perfect" that is not a compliment. 3/10 Bethany Cox
There are things that are good about "Future Perfect". With one exception, the acting is good. The regulars do what they can and do fine with what they have, though for some of the team they don't have work to work with. The support acting also makes an impression. Matt Burns is a creepy but also empathetic unsub and Vaughn Armstrong and especially Nancy Lineham Charles are incredibly touching as Ben and Eileen, you really relate to the couple and feel awful for them.
Most of the production values are top notch (apart from when Rossi and JJ appear at the crime scene when one expects Hotch and Morgan there from the previous scene, indicating a missing scene or something), with the episode being shot with a lot of style, atmosphere and class. While the role of the BAU is disappointing here, there are moments. Rossi has some very funny one-liners, that show off his sassy nature so well, that are like little bonbons within a script generally not worthy of them. His off-screen phone call with Reid that helps solve the case is also a great character moment, showing that while Reid is absent he hasn't been forgotten and unlike the other two Season 11 Reid-less episodes (especially "Awake") he is treated with respect rather than mocked. The ending is essentially a cliff-hanger, but an effective one in setting one up for the season's on-going story arc and is also a very nice scene between Hotch and Garcia.
However, a lot of the flaws that plagued most Season 11 episodes are present also in "Future Perfect". Didn't mind that the case was an unusual one, but did mind that things just got too weird in an uncomfortable way, that the episode lacked tension, suspense and often pedestrian in pace and that it all felt convoluted and half-baked due to that the content just wasn't explored enough. Like with many of the Season 11 episodes, the unsub (while more interesting and better played than most of the unsubs of that season) is revealed far too early which immediately diminish any suspense or intrigue and there is also too much of him and Ben and Eileen.
As a result, the role of the BAU in the story doesn't register anywhere near as strongly as it should do, only shining really with Rossi's one-liners and the ending with Hotch and Garcia. Hotch and Morgan do an unexplained and inexplicable vanishing act, while Tara Lewis continues to be stiff, dull and disconnected (as a character and within the team, the same applies with Aisha Tyler's acting) and Reid's absence once again is immediately noticed and deeply felt, showing how a character as well-developed and interesting as Reid can leave such a big hole in the team dynamic when not there. As a result of too much emphasis on the supporting characters, the BAU feel very underused and there is hardly any profiling.
One often feels like they are not watching a 'Criminal Minds' episode at all, while there are worse examples in the season and even the show this is once again another example of an episode, of a show with a lot of good to outstanding episodes, that loses sight or completely forgets many of the ingredients that makes the show as good as it is when good or more. Pacing and direction are pedestrian, the script is as convoluted and half-baked as the story (all the best lines come from Rossi) and the music is intrusive.
In conclusion, a strange episode and unfortunately for "Future Perfect" that is not a compliment. 3/10 Bethany Cox
