There was absolutely no doubt in seeing "Innocence". 'Criminal Minds' was one of my favourite and most watched (and for the early seasons re-watched) shows for a long time. Also have a thing for good concepts, and that was something that "Innocence" had. Garcia is a character throughout the show's run that gave me mixed feelings, loved her many times in namely the early seasons but disliked her at other times later on, so was interested what the episode would do with her subplot.
"Innocence" is not one of the worst 'Criminal Minds' episodes. Nor is it one of the best. As far as Season 14 episodes go too (of which "Innocence" is its fourth episode of fifteen), it is neither among the best or worst. Somewhere in the middle more like. Really liked the concept for "Innocence", but this was another example of a promising idea executed problematically. Not a terrible episode, not a great one either. Look to the best of Seasons 1-5 for that distinction.
Of course there are things that "Innocence" does well. No issue can be had with the production values, which are as slick as ever and the atmosphere it has is never too drab and has a creepiness. The music is haunting without being too loud or constant, even if build ups to particularly tense events are a little obviously scored. All the acting is fine, Kirsten Vangsness does some quite poignant work and made Garcia the most rootable she's been in a long time.
Her subplot fares very well and actually preferred it over the case somewhat. Found it quite touching and really felt for what she was going through, cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for her, and her chemistry with Prentiss had a lot of heart. The only problem with the subplot for me was the slightly too tidy way it ended. Danny and the pastor are interesting character, as is their dynamic, loved how protective Danny was and the pastor was appropriately antagonistic.
Was underwhelmed a bit by the case sadly. It started off very intriguingly and did like the close and cohesive team-work. Mostly it was too routine and lacked tension, with the identity of the unsub, a sketchily developed one as was the motive, being suspectable and quickly obvious too early which took away from the tension significantly.
In my view too the final third was anti-climactic and needed more time to develop, needing more suspense than what was given. If the identity of the unsub was revealed later than it was or less telegraphed too soon that would have made things clearer quite drastically. To be honest, that it took so long for the team to even consider the person as a suspect beggared belief when their behaviour from the outset was off.
Moreover "Innocence's" case was also the sort of case that would have worked just as well without the BAU. Their presence was almost unnecessary and the motive for taking on the case was pretty thin, with things they were interested in at first given complete short shrift very quickly. The dialogue has moments where it provokes thought and moves but it didn't feel fully fleshed out.
All in all, intriguing initially but didn't reach full potential. 5/10
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