User Reviews

In the fifth episode of the second season of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Jack Garrett and his team make their way to Bangladesh after two American entrepreneurs go missing on a business trip. On a clock to find them as soon as possible before their time runs out, Garrett and his team have only limited time in a country full of possible leads to find their clues and do what they can.

This episode was the first episode of Beyond Borders that I've watched in a rather long time. I hadn't really gone through much of the series, and forgot to follow it, but after watching this episode, it wasn't long before I fell back in love with the characters.

First of all, this episode was incredibly well respectful of Bangladeshi culture, and it always thrills me to see how well Beyond Borders treats the cultures of the countries they go to. They work hard, and obviously put in research and it shows well, and reflects well. This episode was absolutely no exception. It was a wonderful bit of a learning experience for me, at least. In Made In… the crew delved into the dark side of clothing factories in Bangladesh, showing just how dangerous they are and they really show the side of things that not many people see, and I thought this was absolutely fantastic of the show to do. However, one thing to note, is that the language and text used at the start of the screen was not able to be read by native Bangladeshi people, and they do have some concerns about that. However they have also noted that some facts shown in the episode are correct, and represent Bangladesh very well, so it's rather 50/50 on this aspect of the show. Personally, I think it did quite well, but of course, the voices of native Bangladeshi people about an episode set in Bangladesh, should be listened to.

The acting of everyone was absolutely superb. Everyone did really well with their roles and it's not hard to imagine the characters we see, especially Garrett, Jarvis and Garza as real life people, someone you might just bump into in the middle of the street. All the actors and actress do wonderful jobs with their work in Beyond Borders, and it was really shown in this episode. In particular, at the end with the unidentified subject, the actors and actress did absolutely amazing in their portrayals of their emotions. The actor who played the unidentified subject himself, Jeremiah Caleb, did such a stunning job, I ended up crying twice. The way he portrayed pain and anger left me speechless, and Caleb, I am sure, will go on to do amazing things in the world of acting, if he hasn't already.

The only problem I had with this episode is that it seemed incredibly rushed. Even with the good acting, I felt very breathless trying to keep up with how quickly the plot moved. Then again, I think this is a problem in most episodes, of both Beyond Borders and the original Criminal Minds. A lot of scripts are written hastily in order to keep up with the demand of the show, so filming can get underway and be done, ready for broadcast as soon as possible. Still, it would have been nice to see this a bit more laid back, rather than feeling like you're trying to run a marathon trying to keep up with the episode.

All in all, this is a solid six stars from me, and I would probably watch it again. I wouldn't put this episode on particularly, but if it was on the television when I was flicking through for something to watch, I'd definitely put this on to play.

On the most part, Season 2 was an improvement over the first. It did repeat a lot of the same mistakes that all the episodes in the first season did but there were aspects that did improve. That is not to say though that it was a good season, to me it wasn't particularly and even the best episodes, while certainly better than the least bad episodes of Season 1, were very flawed and the flaws sadly were quite big and very difficult to overlook.

"Made In" is generally one of the best episodes of Season 2 and of the whole of 'Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders'. Unlike most (well actually almost all) episodes of Season 1, there are good things and it is a lot more culturally respectful, though there are still inaccuracies and not enough done with the setting, than all of the episodes of Season 1 and than most of the episodes of the whole show. "Made In" also sadly could have been a lot better and a lot of the mistakes that were made in the previous episodes are made here too.

As said already, that it was not as culturally insensitive and not as stereotypical as the previous episodes of 'Beyond Borders' was appreciated. There were inaccuracies still sure, but there are far more offensive ones in other episodes. The cultural insensitivity and distaste was a general big strike against the show and this was one of many episodes from it that didn't suffer as badly. The unsub is one of the show's better and better developed ones and actually had menace and complexity in a show where most of unsubs are very vanilla.

Personally actually wasn't all that impressed with the acting (though it was worse in other episodes), but do agree that Jeremiah Caleb did a great job. The episode did start off very well.

Sadly, "Made In" has a number of drawbacks. The story is pretty derivative with no real original tropes and nothing fresh, and while other episodes did far worse at not making sense and being silly "Made In" is just as bad at not having enough tension or suspense. Do agree that it feels incredibly rushed and hastily put together, which is reflected in a script that is both limp and like the writers were racing against the clock to finish the script on time. The denouement felt anti-climactic. Only the unsub is interesting of the characters while the team seem disconnected still and underdeveloped.

Only Caleb gives a good performance here, for me everybody else sleepwalks or irritates. The production values look hastily put together, with the setting the episode is meant to be set in only really shown in poorly edited holiday snaps-like form, and quite sloppy and the music is forgettable at best.

In conclusion, one of the best episodes but still lacklustre. 4/10