It seems that successful TV series always must result in spin off series trying to capture the same genie in a bottle that the original did. It works on occasion, but then sometimes it doesn’t. CRIMINAL MINDS: SUSPECT BEHAVIOR kind of falls in the middle.
The series follows a special unit of the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) of the FBI, but not quite like the team in the original series. This team is called a Red Cell, a special group put together by the head of the FBI to be a rapid response team of agents and civilians alike that will try and solve crimes that have begun before they escalate into something more heinous.
The team is led by Special Agent Sam Cooper (Forest Whitaker), a dogged leader whose goal is to take out the bad guys at all costs but as peacefully as possible. Cooper is a genius when it comes to putting together the facts he sees, those his team gathers, and sifting through them to get to the clue needed to capture the unsub (unknown subject).
The team Cooper has pulled together comes from various sources, partly because of his penchant for not wanting to deal with bureaucrats and partly because (my guess) the network wanted to include as many diverse people as possible in this series. In some cases it works, in others not so much.
Cooper’s right hand is Beth Cooper (Janeane Garofalo), a much subdued agent with what appears to be a highly pessimistic attitude. Ex-British Special Forces agent Mick Rawson (Matt Ryan) is a weapons expert and the teams good looking guy to get women to watch. Jonathan Simms (Michael Kelly) is an ex-on trying to redeem himself by putting other criminals away. Gina LaSalle (Beau Garrett) is the heart of the team, the conscience if you will. And rounding out the team from home base is Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) of the original series doing the same here for this team as that one, finding info via computer to help them along.
As with the original series, this team targets criminals whose crimes are serial in nature but not always murder. Episodes range from kidnappers to murderers to bombers. In each case, the team uses their expertise to put together a profile of the killer, to delve into their mind and discover what it is that makes them tick in an effort to catch and stop them before others are harmed.
It would seem that this would make for a show that was worth adding to your DVR list if not outright owning given the popularity and excellence of the original show, right? But I’m not quite sure. Watching this initial season of the series, taking it all in, I can’t quite decide if I love it, hate it or am just indifferent to it. But then again it might just be due to growing pains that all shows have in their first season. Rare is the case when a series clicks from the first episode.
So what works? The stories. The idea that these criminals are out there and that a team has been comprised that will meet them on their own ground and do everything in their power to stop them.
What doesn’t? To begin with Whitaker needs to be let lose. He’s a fantastic actor but his character here is far too subdued. We need to know more about Cooper, to see him let lose more often. Garofalo just seems to drift through. Her character seems like her real life personality, that of someone dissatisfied with everything determined to bring down the rest of the party. Watching her all I can see here is the cartoon character Daria brought to real life.
But perhaps the one thing missing here that the original series has is that sense of family between the characters. Maybe that’s something that will develop as the series progresses. But if it doesn’t happen soon it may never get the chance to. In reading reviews online at IMDB it appears that most aren’t all that favorable. But I think in terms of viewers many are like me, sitting and waiting to see what happens.
As an initial season this one will hold your interest from start to finish. If you love the original series, you’ll want to compare the two, but do that keeping in mind this is not the same show. It’s different. It comes from a different angle. It may become something better than it’s beginnings show and maybe not. Only time will tell. Until then we’ll have an early start here that we’ll be able to compare it to one day. And more stories of unsubs on the lose and being caught.
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