MovieChat Forums > Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (2016) Discussion > I have mixed feelings about this show...

I have mixed feelings about this show...

posted 8 years ago by ScrystaLz
5 replies | jump to latest

I have mixed feelings about this show, but firstly I'll start with the things that I DO like about it:

1. I love the fact that each episode/case takes the characters to different countries (even though most of the scenes were probably filmed in America), I just love the diversity of the backdrop and locations, there are very few scripted dramas on TV that are set in so many different countries, so it's quite refreshing to see them going to a different country in each ep, I mainly enjoy watching the wide variety of different exotic sceneries and cultural locations.

2. I also like the casts, especially Gary Sinise, I've liked him since CSI:NY...I've also liked Alana De La Garza since I watched her in 'Forever', and I'm starting to warm up to the other 3 main actors too. Although I don't really see very much chemistry between the cast thus far, but the show's still only in its first season afterall, I think once these actors spend more time working together, they'd eventually improve their chemistry together, at least I hope they will.

Now onto the things that I do NOT like about this show:

1. I don't like how the show depicts the American team as the "smart" detectives who seemingly have "all the answers and all the capabilities" to solve these crimes, it makes the law enforcement in these other countries seem "incompetent" and "incapable" of solving crimes and "need the help of American FBI agents to do their job for them". I personally think that's insulting and offensive to these other countries, and apparently there seems to be a lot of other people who share the same opinion about this issue.

2. There are some cultural mistakes made on this show, I have been studying Japanese culture and pop culture for many years, I'm very familiar with the country and I've been to Japan myself numerous times before, and just from the Japanese episode alone I was able to notice a few mistakes that the writers have made about the Japanese culture. And even though I'm not familiar with the culture of the other countries featured on the show, I will not be surprised if the writers have made other cultural mistakes about the other countries too.

3. I also do not like how the show depicts America as a "safe" country and the rest of the world is "dangerous", that's a big misconception, America is in fact 1 of the most dangerous countries with 1 of the highest crime rates in the world. Some of the other countries featured on the show actually have lower crime rates than America (some even much lower than America). The fact is that every country has its own share of crimes (some more than others) and it can be dangerous literally ANYWHERE if you are not careful, so I don't like how the show depicts America as this "safe" country when it actually has 1 of the highest crime rates. While Japan has 1 of the lowest crime rates in the world. I cringe and roll my eyes every time I hear Gary's opening voice-over saying "over 68 million Americans leave the safety of our borders every year...". I feel much safer in Japan and in my own country than I was in America, and I've been to America a few times (NYC, Texas and LA).

Overall this show is decent, not as good as the original CM show, as you can see the negatives outweighs the positives for me...I'll still watch season 2, but there's no doubt this show has some real problems & flaws that I hope they will fix in the next season.

[–] LightbyGrace 7 years ago

I agree with your assessment. I am a big Gary Sinise fan and hope the issues improve...To be fair on the 'America is smarter' attitude critique, the same could be said about the original CM in relation to the PDs in the towns where they go to solve crimes. They come in and take over, like we're FBI and you are just the local yokels, stand back. Lol. So, it's more an FBI thing than an American thing.

[–] maryrosenkranz 7 years ago

Agree with what Lightbygrace said. I don't see them as saying hey we're smarter than you-afterall there's several episodes where they work with the police in the country. However, they are the FBI, they have access to more intel than the police, whether it be here in the U.S. or in another country.

As for when they say we're "safe"-I feel they are just trying to emphasize it being a different country. You know the saying "safe at home". They're talking about "Americans" going abroad. There will always be that sense of being out of one's element. If this was say a British series who went abroad, to say here in America, they probably would say the same thing-England being safe, America being dangerous.

Cultural mistakes-it's a fictional show. I know some people prefer more realism. But it 's a network show with a budget. No, it doesn't have loads of money, nor is it a movie where they can spend the time. There's a reason why we now have so many Canadian based series on tv-they cost less.

[–] Stratego (29290) 7 years ago

No, the OP is right. This is actually a very xenophobic show. A low budget is no excuse to insult a foreign country by portraying it as villainous and stereotypical and not even get its culture right.

The English would never make a show like this. Although some of their press is just as xenophobic and moronic as this show.

[–] sslssg (28214) 7 years ago

I don't know if it's been talked about to death on this board or not, but I think that Crossing Lines was such a better attempt at a show like this. It's just too bad that it didn't take off and they totally changed it for season 3. The first two seasons were what I had hoped for and didn't get with this show.

[–] Quasimodo (16388) 4 years ago

Great title for a show.