'Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders' spoilers; Backdoor pilot shows promise
Fans of the hit series "Criminal Minds" will have something new to look forward to sometime next year. However, fans are a little bit apprehensive about the new show since the previous spin-off "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior" was a dismal failure and only lasted for 13 episodes, even if it had Academy Award-winning Hollywood actor Forest Whitaker leading the cast.
Showrunner Erica Messer spoke about the forthcoming spin-off and what she learned from the previous spin-off failure. "In a word, many. The most noticeable one is: How are you the same but different," she said. There are many different ways to go about it and that is what makes this spin-off so different from the last one.
This new spin-off, however, shows greater promise and unique potential as seen in the interesting and intriguing backdoor pilot that was aired on mother show Criminal Minds. In the episode aptly titled "Beyond Borders," the BAU team gets a hellish case involving a gullible family that gets kidnapped in Barbados. It requires them to seek the assistance of another powerful team that specifically deals with Americans who have international problems.
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The team has a powerhouse cast, which includes "CSI: NY" star Gary Sinise as Jack Garrett, the keen and responsible head of the international unit; "The Walking Dead" star Tyler James Williams as Monty, the team's zany and quirky technology expert; "Forever" star Alana de la Garza as Clara, the brainy and exuberant cultural anthropologist; "The Affair" star Annie Funke as Mae, the vivacious and brave medical examiner of the team; and actor Daniel Henney as Matt, the determined and solid special ops agent.
The new series will follow another elite team of agents who help American citizens in foreign countries. This series will not necessarily be all about serial killers, like its mother show and its predecessor, but will focus on a much broader range of problems that leaves it open to pretty much anything the writers can think of.
Fans will not know if the series will suffer the same fate as the last spin-off until the show premiers; however, based on the backdoor pilot alone, the series looks very promising.
