'Criminal Minds' has always been one of my most-watched shows and was a personal favourite for a while. Seasons 1-5 was its best period, Season 4 was especially great. It did get hit and miss from Season 6 onwards, with a mix of good and more episodes and disappointing and less episodes. Season 11 was, apart from about 5 episodes, pretty weak. Season 12 was inconsistent but generally an improvement, its weakest episodes nowhere near as bad as the low-points of Seasons 6, 9 and especially 11.
Season 13 so far has not been too bad at all, pretty good even actually. It is already so much better than Season 11, which started off well actually but quickly went downhill, and has generally settled quicker than Season 12. As far as the previous Season 13 episodes go, only "Submerged" properly underwhelmed. There aren't any classics yet but also no low points, most episodes up to this point were decent to very good.
"Bad Moon on the Rise" is another very solid episode. What should have been a really cheesy and weird case, and it honestly sounded like it from the premise, turned out to be a compelling and incredibly creepy one. There are also enough nice and surprising turns to balance it all out. There is a good deal of suspense but also sympathetic emotion
The team work, the procedural aspects and how it's all solved evokes prime 'Criminal Minds', there is lots of each and it's all thought-provoking and delightful. It doesn't make the mistakes that many latter season episodes made (i.e. too much unsub, unsub revealed too early, problematically executed cases, too much reliance on convenience, lack of balance, too many soapy personal life subplots, team underuse and not enough procedural/delving into the criminal's mind). In fact, there is a sense that "Bad Moon on the Rise" didn't forget what made 'Criminal Minds' work so well in the first place. The twists keep coming and those towards the end are shocking. The climax avoids being clichéd and goes a different direction, and one that made just as much sense as what it could have been, to what is expected.
Plenty of room for little character moments within the team, one of my favourite things about 'Criminal Minds' and something that lifts even the lesser episodes. Matt has settled well, is a likeable character and gels very well with the team, much more so than most new team members who either took a while to settle or never did anything for me.
Everybody does a great job with the acting, all the regulars are strong as ever, the unsub is one that evokes chills but one feels genuinely sorry for them without being manipulated to and their back-story is another poignant and beautifully handled one.
Visually, "Bad Moon on the Rise" is stylish and atmospheric, while the music is haunting without being over-bearing while having presence still, the script is taut with a touch of sweetness and poignancy here and there and the direction is alert and accommodating.
On the other hand, the episode could have delved deeper into the unsub's persona when killing, how and why. That was a very potentially interesting element that didn't feel explored enough. Likewise the victimology was rather odd and its exploration flimsy.
Luke's subplot was fairly sweet and didn't take over too much. It would have resonated more though if Lisa was more interesting and that if it wasn't too familiar, reading of a slightly more interesting and less soapy variation of the relationship between Morgan and Savannah. Am not going to go into the technical advisors stuff, am not as big an expert on that and prefer to talk about other individual elements when reviewing.
In summary, pretty solid. 7/10 Bethany Cox
