Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders season 2 episode 9 review: Battle within

In this Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders season 2 episode 9 review, let’s start off here by praising the writers for the variety here. So many episodes of this show understandably follow the same format — there’s an international incident involving an American overseas, and what we see as a result of that is the International Response Team working together in order to ensure that the job is done and justice is served.

This time around, though, the story was more about whether or not the IRT abused their power while out on a mission, and caused things to completely fall apart. This was a different structure, given that we flashed back here and there to the mission while Jack Garrett and the rest of the team were interrogated over their roles in what went down.

What specifically made this installment stand out even more was seeing how they were all at one point or another individually needled for their misgivings, even if they actually didn’t do anything wrong this time. Take, for example, Clara Seger being judged for taking leave years ago, or Mae Jarvis having to explain herself for a settlement that happened many years ago. Their entire past was unearthed, and that gave us such a great window into some of these characters and where they stand. This gave Alana de la Garza, Daniel Henney, and others chances to have some great performances in venues that they often don’t get to operate.

Ultimately, we did see Jack Garrett and the team emerge from the rubble here with mostly just a slap on the wrist and a warning to watch themselves after Jack figured out that it was someone else on the inside responsible for all the trouble. This wasn’t surprising, but it wasn’t meant to be. This was more a chance to tell a small character story with people in different situations, and a chance for the writers to focus more on dialogue and allow the actors to shine. This is why this is one of the better episodes of the season.

This is obviously something that they can’t do often, since the show doesn’t want to repeat itself and the rarity of these episodes is what makes them great. Yet, we do hope that the writers figure out some more ways to let out their creativity as they get further and further into the series. Grade: B+.

Where will the story go from here?

If you’re interested in getting some further news when it comes to what’s next on the series, be sure to head over to the link here right now! (Photo: CBS.)