Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders season 2 episode 8 review: Jack’s struggles at home

There are a couple of things about Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders season 2 episode 8 that proved interesting, but to us, arguably the most interesting part of it is what we saw both at the start and the end of the episode involving Jack’s son Ryan and where he is located.

We do understand that this, like Criminal Minds proper, is a procedural and with that, there are only going to be so many opportunities in order to tell longer stories every week. Yet, we certainly do wish that the show did choose to highlight this story a little bit more because it touches on so many interesting things, whether it be father / son bonds to what can happen when a protective father realizes that there is not much that they can do in order to keep their son away from their own mission.

Oh, and you also can rope in here the fact that Jack had to figure out the right way to loop in his wife, who obviously deserved to know everything going on given that she has an important stake in all of this, as well. There were several different interesting dynamics at play, and we enjoyed it for what little we had.

As for the case set in the episode in Greece, it had some freaky twists when it came to the corrupt family dynamic and some of the manipulation that went down. It’s tough enough for the team to take down one UnSub, but when this UnSub has found a way to brainwash another to do some of their bidding, that’s when things start to get a little bit crazy. We had both a violent shootout and a battle scene in the episode, but in the case of the latter, Matt Simmons didn’t have to pull the trigger. Instead, he took it upon himself to find the instinct to help.

The exploration into some traditions and family dynamics overseas proved fairly interesting, but as we noted, the real interesting part of the episode came courtesy of the family stuff at home with Jack. Sometimes, this is the frustration with a show that does adhere to such a format — you have one story that is excellent, and because you only get a tiny amount of time with it, it leads to you yearning to get more of it to the point where you’re distracted somewhat from the main case.

What did you think about this Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders episode? Share now in the comments below!

Meanwhile, head over here to preview further what is coming up next on the show. (Photo: CBS.)