I hated it from start to end. It was very infuriating to watch. Directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá, the episode has one of the Behavioral Science Unit member, Elle Greenaway (Lola Glaudini) acting like a fool. While, this episode had a more realistic portrayal of how the Behavioral Sciences Unit actually works; with Elle on a train heading to a prison to interview a child murderer. The episode also had one of the most unprofessional, and unrealistic moment of a TV portrayal of a FBI agent. I really found it, very jarring for Elle to be reading, top secret, FBI- files in a public train. Who does that!? Anyways, a paranoid schizophrenic doctor (Chris Bauer) sees this, and mistake it for a government operation to take him down. He began to take hostages on a train, including Elle, when he stole a gun from a security guard. Now the rest of the Behavioral Science Unit members have to rescue Elle, before the worse could happen. Murders/Suicide. Without spoiling too much of the episode, I have to say, this episode derailed in the very first opening minutes. That's pretty bad, the more, I think about it. First off, the hostages are not likable at all. I don't really care, if they live or die. Each one of them, is very annoying, in how idiotic, they were. The worst has to be, Anil Raman as Josh Patel. Gees, his character was just frustrating to watch. I honestly, wanted him to die. That's how unlikeable, his character was. Second off, the writers gave the hostages, pointless cheesy flashbacks that wasn't really needed, since the further exposition would explain, their backstory more. It's like the writers thought, the audience wouldn't get their characters, if they only use the actor's body-language. So they had to write in a stupid flashback to make sure, that the audience would get, what each character is going through. It's very insulting. Another problem with the character vignettes, is how the story never resolved any of their problems. First off, we have Elaine Curtis (Alice Rietveld), a young woman dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. How has she decided to deal with it? Going to the big city for an abortion. While, she's wearing a crucifix; the episode never show if she went, through with it or not, because she's not the focus of the episode. Another character was a distraught businessman, Harry Anderson (Kevin Cristaldi) whose wife has left him. He's on his way to Dallas with a gun in his briefcase, although it's very unclear, if he's planning to kill his wife, her lover, or just kill himself. The episode never finish his story, as well. I felt like my time was wasted with these vignettes. Another thing, about this episode, was the fact, that it wasn't very suspense at all. There were hardly any mystery. We knew who the killer, was and Chris Bauer doesn't fit that mode. He doesn't really look or act, very menacing. He remind me of Curly from the Three Stooges with a twitch. I didn't find, his performance, believable at all. He didn't sound nor act like a physics teacher. The only good actor that came out from this episode, was Jeff Kober as Leo. He was brilliant. Still, they didn't explain, who Leo was supposed to be. This episode miss the train of thought with whole M-theory sub-plot. It's seem forced at the last second. I guess, the show was trying to rip-off, 2001's A Beautiful Mind, with the premise. The main cast was somewhat underused in this episode. Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) & Jennifer "JJ" Jareau (A.J Cook) wasn't much help. Kristen Vangsness as Penelope Garcia didn't add any smart remarks. Elle is the main character, focus here, but she doesn't really do much. She's pretty much useless. It's once-again, Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) & Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin) that gets time to shine. All, they did was buy time. I'm wondering why they didn't demand that they release one of the hostages in exchange for putting Reed on the train to take out the chip. It's seem wise. In the end, the team barely does anything useful. Was their profiling in any way helpful in solving the crime? No. It was totally irrelevant. One thing that they were able to do was travel fast. This time, it's the ability to travel from Northern Virginia to Southern Texas, in two hours, flat. Wow—I really need to know, what flight, they're taking. It's just seem a bit suspiciously too fast. The episode is also a bit confusing, when it comes to train logistic. Why was Elle taking a train to Dallas, rather than taking a flight, there? Wouldn't it, make more sense? Another thing that I really didn't like about this episode is the awful CGI effect. It felt a bit dated for 2008. In my opinion, the string-theory and angelic effects could had been better. Overall: This episode is the worst in Season 1. I recommended watching this one, last, or not watching it at all. It doesn't add anything to the later episodes so you can skip this train, if you want to.
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