Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders Season 1 DVD Review

Criminal Minds is a sort of nostalgic kind of show for me. It brings back nicer memories of when I lived with my Oma (aka my grandma) and we used to sit down and watch TV together. Jeopardy was a daily favourite but we would also binge the crap out of Criminal Minds. I live for her commentary on basically everything but it’s especially great when it comes to Criminal Minds. As she says “It’s her faaaaaaavourite!” in her thick German accent.

It’s been a long time since I’ve sat down and watched Criminal Minds but I’ve seen the first 4-5 seasons in full so I was keen to check out what Beyond Borders was all about. To be fair, it’s pretty self explanatory: the regular Criminal Minds takes place in the USA as a FBI profiling team travels to solve tough cases that local law enforcement are having trouble with or need time sensitive help with. Beyond Borders takes that and applies it worldwide.

In the initial episode, you see some familiar faces at the home base in Quantico but from there on out, it’s a fresh team that you haven’t seen on the show before (or at least I haven’t seen before).

The Beyond Borders team are actors I haven’t really seen anywhere before with two exceptions: Gary Sinise and Alana De La Garza. I will be endeared to Alana De La Garza for my remaining days because of the 2014 TV series Forever which she co-starred in with Ioan Gruffudd (it was short-lived but hella delightful, in my opinion). She pops up in the show early on and joins the team for the remainder of their missions. She’s charismatic and intelligent and largely carries the show.

Gary Sinise is great, as per usual. He’s perfected the art of the prime time procedural and is far more fun to watch on screen than Horatio (I don’t ever remember what his real name is). If you’re a fan of CSI: New York, you can expect pretty much that sort of vibe from him here. He’s playing the same person more or less, just you know, in Criminal Minds now.

Related: I totally had to look up CSI: NY and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders to make sure that they weren’t ACTUALLY the same character and that the two shows had done some crazy crossover.

If Criminal Minds is your thing, then Beyond Borders will be up your alley. It switches up the setting of the show and brings you to beautiful places around the world. Mind you, you’re not there to admire the scenery so much as watch horrific crimes unfold and be solved, but hey, it’s something.

Special Features

• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel
• 3 Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes

Verdict:
I don’t think you necessarily need to own this on DVD. It’s one of those shows that’s perpetually on repeat somewhere but there are some special features here so if you’re a big fan, it may be something worthwhile for you. It also comes with a Digital Copy, which is a nice touch if you’re part of the group of folks who likes to watch things on the go.

This probably isn’t the best TV you’ll ever see in your life, but it’s a nice, fun something to put on in the background while I work and for others, just to mindlessly enjoy.