★★★★★ 0/5

Criminal Minds

The fourth season premiere opens with a thrilling episode, "Mayhem", and certainly lives up to its title.

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I must admit I always preferred this series when Mandy Patinkin was leading this troupe. He just seemed so damned classy, and that lilting voice belied a commanding presence.

The FBI Behavioural Team may be facing grisly, dastardly serial killers, arsonists, murderers, sadomasochists and cannibals but they lead a glamorous life -flying from state to state in a lear jet.

For my money Silence of the Lambs turned a corner in serial killer storytelling. We love to know what makes them tick, watch how they can outsmart the good guys, and shrink when they commit the act. The Criminal Minds team are, like most procedural crime cops, a bunch who tend to finish each others’ sentences and all arrive at red herrings and solutions at the same time. It’s a storytelling device that essentially helps signpost the key plot points for the audience.

Together with doses of action and jeopardy it’s all tried and true stuff. Lately, it’s been generating stellar ratings too, even if it doesn’t particularly chart new waters.

The fourth season premiere of the show opens with a thrilling episode, “Mayhem”, and certainly lives up to its title.

A bomber has been attacking emergency workers in New York, and targets a member of the team by blowing up an SUV. With one of the team in a critical condition, it’s a desperate situation. Ambulance and policed won’t come anywhere near the team for fear of a secondary attack. Lives hang in the balance.

Back at FBI headquarters in Virginia, tecchie Penelope has seen the explosion via short circuit camera -and doesn’t know if anybody survived. As she struggles to cope, she is also pivotal in communications support.

And not surprisingly, danger is lurking nearby.

The opening sequences are the strongest of this series opener, isolating principal characters helpless in a case of life and death. Watching them rise to the challenge is the stuff of Jack Bauer. If, like me, you’re missing 24, this is a knockout substitute.

Criminal Minds airs 8:30pm Wednesday on Seven.

21 Responses

  4. lab_brat, it’s so annoying when they don’t have a gap between episodes. Sometimes I think it’s the same episode. And you know what really annoys me? If they show a douple episode of the same show, they don’t feel the need to show the guest stars for the second episode. It really p****s me off! This happened with both Ghost Whisperer and Supernatural. I was thinking “is that so-and-so” and I’m waiting for the names and nothing. Why do they do this? Do they not think that the people who appear in it deserve credit? Do they think Australian viewers will lap anything up and won’t care who’s in it?

    Zambora, I had heard that he didn’t like the direction the show was going. He felt that it was too dark and gritty and he didn’t like that. Of course some episodes are better than others but the basic premise of the show hasn’t changed. I think it was just an excuse to get out of it. He can’t seem to commit to a TV show. He left Chicago Hope, he didn’t leave Dead Like Me because it was cancelled before he had a chance but he won’t appear in the upcoming movie of it and now he’s left Criminal Minds. He loves the theatre as I’ve heard him mention many times before so I have a feeling his movie and TV appearances will become very scarce in the coming years.

  5. We loved first season, hated the majority of second season (went too melodramatic and we got tired of the team’s personal involvement in a few too many cases). So wasn’t surprised when Mandy left. But we think 3rd season has been a vast improvement, and are really enjoying it again.

  7. Have to agree Mandy Patinkin really fitted well into his role here.
    Very diverse actor.

    P.S. Anyone know real reason why he left, it was bit hushed at time.

  8. Agree with tv worker.. i’m sure both hotch and kate got into the car but obviously that can’t be the case. Anyone in that car would be killed instantly & burned beyond recognition.

  9. I love CM, but agree with others that it was better with Mandy. He was also great in Dead Like Me.

    I have to admit last nights eps confused me in the middle when we went from a new ep to a rerun in the space of a minute. I must have blinked and missed the transition… couldnt understand how we went from an explosion to everyone sitting around talking lol

  10. cant wait. so glad they’re fast tracking it. im clearly in the minority but i think the shows actually gotten a bit better since mandy pitinkin left. not saying i didnt like his character but i think the stories are a bit better, but hey maybe its just me.

    tv worker- they all got into seperate cars at the end so maybe he wasnt in that car but just nearby? i dont know but it will be interesting to see them explain how that explosion could leave him without any serious injuries if in fact he was in the car.
    also look at the bottom of the photo. there is a pair of hands/arms so someone i imagine is either dead or seriously hurt

  13. I used to LOVE watching Mandy as Geiger on Chicago Hope. I watched it as a kid and couldn’t get enough of his character. I loved hearing that he was going to be on a new show called Criminal Minds. It was a completely different showed but I loved seeing Mandy on TV again. When I hear he was leaving, I thought “it won’t be very good without him”. As it drew closer to his exit, I really thought about his character and the impact he had on the show and I finally came to the conclusion that he really didn’t play as big a part in the show as I first thought.

    The episodes after he left but before Joe came into were great. I thought without him, I’d notice a gap but I actually forgot all about him! I hate to say it because I really like Mandy but it often seemed at times he was bored and some episodes, he was barely in it. It’s obvious he was unhappy on the show and it was a shame to see him go but I hope to see him in something again soon. I doubt he’ll do another TV show. He did, after all, leave Chicago Hope too.

    I have always been a huge fan of Joe Mantegna so him as a replacement excited me. I instantly took to his character. I thought it was interesting how they made Hotch the leader, even though his name is now shown last in the credits. The first few episodes involving Rossi were great. There are two things I’m slightly disappointed with though. For one, I was expecting more friction between Rossi and the team, especially with Hotch. It sort of started off like that but didn’t last long. I think it would’ve been more interesting. Rossi retired and then came back. He was used to all the old methods while Hotch had been working the whole time Rossi was retired so he got used to the new methods fairly quickly and easily. The other things I’m a bit annoyed about is that in some episodes, Rossi is hardly in it. I’m not sure why they’re holding off on using him more. I hope this changes in season 4.

  14. not wanting to pull continuity here and i know TV is a fantasy world..geez don’t i know it…. but after watching last nights episode…how could anyone survive that explosion with waht looks like in that still shot…minor injuries???

  17. yes he must lighted some sort of gas in that area hehehe …anyway i went off this show but this season i have enjoyed it again…and i like Patinkin as well…

  18. I’m missing it as well thanks to House & S&S but caught last nights excellent finale thanks to S&S being a clip show. Mandy or no Mandy it’s still top notch tv and I can’t wait for the next ep. Thankfully House is a repeat next week!

  20. I agree David that the show’s become less interesting without Patinkin. Now it’s a ‘nice to watch if I’m home’ show rather than a ‘musn’t miss an episode even if I have to break the law see it’ show

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