So while Elle's spanish isn't perfect, we have to remember that she isn't a constant spanish speaker. I live in an area of the US with a heavy Cuban population (Take your guess lol) and I can tell you guys that a child of 1 Cuban parent that was not raised in the city I live or any of the others would speak the language much like she did. User @kainaariz stated that Cubans use "usted" and that's not really true unless we talk about OLDER generations of Cubans. "Usted" is used as a formal version of "you" while "tu" is informal, however that has and continues to be lost in most Cubans unless they are speaking to someone with a title or important job or a stranger that is not as amicable. Also, Dia de Los Muertos may not be celebrated everywhere in Mexico, but certainly in most places. Biggest flaw in this ep is that all the Mexican characters spoke English, I can believe it from a couple cops and the attorney general but civilians? Not so much
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pilothfaywye20 December 2020
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moysant15 November 2006The team goes to Mexico to hunt down a possible serial killer who targets senior women. They have to contend with poor police resources and a bigwig who doesn't want to acknowledge it is a serial killer because it will scare off the tourists.
Going to Mexico and actually having conversations with the locals in their native tongue is a bit of a change, and revealing significant cultural attitudes adds a twist, but in the end it took the team and the local police ages to discover the clue that leads them to the killer. They had it before their eyes but they could not see! Elle's character plays a large role in this one (because she can speak Spanish fluently) but I find her so cold that I don't understand why the writers insist she be portrayed as the sympathetic female character left to interview female victims and the like. It just doesn't work. Gideon plays such a large role in the beginning of the show and then disappears near the end, and there is some family stuff concerning Hotchner but then he takes a back seat role. Just too many cooks in this show - they need to drop a couple of major characters.
I'm beginning to think Australian TV is cutting 5 minutes off this show - it doesn't run a full hour here, but 55 mins (with ads). This could account for some of the clunky plot lines if true. -
While another poster has made valid points about holes in the plot, when he or she states that "I believe that Cinco de Mayo is not widely celebrated in Mexico and it was therefore wrong of the producers to assume that this would be a normal thing to do", I had to wonder if that means the United States doesn't celebrate the 4th of July. Absurd comment.
Yes, Elle's Spanish is lacking. The character could certainly be of Cuban descent on her mother's side (we are not talking about Suzanne Somers here) and the use of "tu" instead of "usted" would be an example of a cultural difference. As far as speakers of foreign languages miraculously speaking in English (sometimes perfectly), whether they are supposed to be Spanish or Arabic or Chinese, that happens quite often, most likely out of expediency as translator characters are not always built into every scene of every episode of procedural programs (NCIS would be a perfect example, as well as JAG, Person of Interest, as well as Criminal Minds).
Now, to get to the meaty part of this review. I found it compelling and, as far as I know, reasonably realistic, again aside from some of the flawless English of certain characters. The episode, one scene of which, I am sure anyone who has seen it will know which, borrows a twist from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, is too politically incorrect to have been made today. The use of the word "homosexual", for example, which has fallen into almost complete disuse due to objections from the LGBTQ community.
The final scene, while satisfying, contains both a clear goof and an amazingly blatant reference. I will explain. The "goof", as far as I am concerned, is how the surviving female victims of a serial rapist and killer somehow knew before the BAU where the next killing was set to take place. That is never explained. The amazing part, which might or might not be possible in today's media world, is the fairly blatant reference to castration, illustrated by a knife being tossed down in front of the arriving police and BAU by the leader of the victims turned avengers. -
rachel-garber194711 August 2014I just saw this episode for the second time, and there were a couple of things that struck me as ironic. The attorney general, a female, wanted the case to go away, she believed if the murders were investigated as the work of a serial killer, it would effect tourism and she didn't believe there was a serial killer. It was the male police officer who contacted the BAU, and who insisted that the murders be investigated as a serial killer. It's always amusing to me that the countries that are so rooted in machismo, are so anti-woman. Women are allegedly revered, yet the woman are subjected to verbal and physical attacks, with no respect for their boundaries, up to an including rape. The episode was very interesting, well acted, with an interesting plot. I find this program the best of this genre. The program that gives the audience an insight into the stressors that precipitate the crimes. I recently saw an interview with Matthew Gray Gubler in which he disclosed that 60% of the stories area based on true stories.
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lottiemarshalllm1 August 2020Disclaimer:I am no expert reviewer, I just need a show to binge watch and I'm going to Write a review for every episode I watch.
Having read other reviews this episode seems to not go over well with the audience I believe this is because it's most likely culturally insensitive amongst other things.
I have no idea why the FBI would be allowed to have any law-enforcement power in Mexico. I know they try to give a loose explanation of why they were called in but it still doesn't make sense. In the end they end up being essentially pointless since the group of victims find and kill the attacker before anybody else. Which isn't necessarily a bad ending but it just makes the BAU unneeded.
Since I am not Mexican I can't say it was offensive to me but it didn't come off very well. It felt like it was trying to hard at something that the show didn't need to do at all which is leave the USA since they work for the federal government.
And also they never address the fact that hotch totally ditched his family. The Episode just ended with no repercussions for him so that sucked.
Overall I don't think the story was terrible I just think the writing and how certain things were approached were very insensitive and incorrect. -
ajmickshaw19 October 2020Just started watching this show, and whereas I'm not a jig fan of the theatrics, it's still a good show; interesting. But then, I came across this episode, and I have to say, I always ceinge when I see American's depictions of mexican culture. It's was very hard to watch, I can't say there's anything in this episode that's worth watching.
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TheLittleSongbird2 July 2016Actually "Machismo" is not an awful episode as such, but at the same there are more interesting and less bland 'Criminal Minds' episodes before and after.
The production values in "Machismo", as always with 'Criminal Minds' are very high quality, the Mexican locale is both strikingly beautiful and atmospheric and the episode is stylishly and slickly shot. The music when used is not intrusive, inappropriately jaunty or melodramatic, it may not be atmosphere-enhancing but it's not a distraction either. The theme tune is memorable.
"Machismo's" mystery itself is not too bad, and does have some tense, suspenseful and entertaining parts with some shocking murders, the procedural and detective aspects done decently. The acting from the leads is very good, particularly Mandy Patinkin. The one exception is Lola Glaudini, personally have never completely warmed to Elle as a character and find Glaudini too cold even when she's meant to be sympathetic.
On the other hand, the change of setting was a nice change and seeing the BAU solving a case in Mexico had potential to be a very interesting change of pace, but it didn't work entirely for me. It would have been interesting to see what "Machismo" could have done with any cultural or language divides, but that's wasted by numerous glaring cultural inaccuracies and the decision to have the locals speaking fluent English, making the constant beating-around-the-head explanations of Elle's ability to speak Spanish pointless and even more annoying.
Script-writing lacks its usual tightness and can sound awkward and heavy-handed. Tension, suspense and entertainment don't come consistently, and while the mystery is quite a good one it does take unusually far too long for the team to find the connection/clue to solve the case when it was so close to them the entire time and is also bogged down by too many side-plots that either take up too much time or are given short shrift, giving the episode an unusually draggy and bloated feel.
Characters-wise, "Machismo" does suffer from too much Elle and the rest of the team given too much of a back-seat. The locals are stereotypically and perhaps potentially offensively characterised, and was there anybody else underwhelmed with the unsub? To me, even with little screen time, he was explored very little and was blandly, almost anonymously played.
Overall, not awful but the low-point of Season 1 and among the weakest 'Criminal Minds' episodes. 4/10 Bethany Cox -
kainaariz12 June 2016I absolutely love the show, but the horrible Spanish, the cultural inaccuracies and the ignorant comments about Latin Culture absolutely ruined this episode. Elle's background story, about being half-Cuban, was very messy, due to her accent and many grammatical errors as well as the ignorant use of the Spanish "tu" in a country where "usted" is most commonly used. Her repetition of 'I speak Spanish' was unnecessary and untrue, she was rather unable to conduct a formal investigation in her broken Spanish and all people they spoke with miraculously switched to pretty fluent English straight after Elle got in her first Spanish line. I believe that Cinco de Mayo is not widely celebrated in Mexico and it was therefore wrong of the producers to assume that this would be a normal thing to do. Overall, I found this to be a very uninteresting episode filled with offensive inaccuracies and side stories that did not help the plot.
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wbaker222 April 2006Spellbinding from beginning to end. Molly Baker was fantastic as Jessica and I hope to see her cast in more episodes. Her character needs to be brought more into the show to expand the personal lives of the main characters. Adding more human interest about the investigators into the show would be a great idea. I can see where this show has expanded the science of forensics and profiling into not only an interesting fast paced series but makes the viewer think more about how everything we do or say can be directly linked to our personality by even those people who have never met us...can be somewhat scary to thing we can't really hide anymore. Love the show and hope the series continues. Good luck.
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hamzahik19 July 2017
- The episode starts with Hotch's family and introduces possible family issues for him but the episode never gets back to that.
- I did not understand how the FBI can assist in a murder investigation in Mexico especially that the local authorities is saying it isn't a big deal.
- Some scenes remind you that this is just a TV show and not a real story : the scene where the rape victim comes to the police station with 6 more victims was really bad and the scene where the criminal is caught is even worst, why were the women hidden in the bushes ? How come that the women knew who is the next victim ?
- There are many other incoherence problems in this episode.
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nebohr14 December 2021There is a 54,7% chance that monkeyface Gideon will display some kind of human emotion this episode,
There is a 100% chance that Derek will say something that he thinks is important.
Still imagining JJ as a furry. -
elbarto-0483129 December 2023This is the most inaccurate episode from S1, and perhaps from all seasons.
Simply because there's too many errors, from the poor Spanish spoke, the cultural references, the idea of a town like that had so many fluent English speakers, and other little things.
Plot wise, there are many mistakes too, biggest sin must be they didn't link the murders to the rape victims at the moment they get the first knowledge of they being rape, like c'mon guys, you've linked everything that isn't that obviously, yet you can't make "1+1", and then is the thing of the women getting justice by their hand, like how they know? And if they knew because of "1+1" why no women said something, I'm pretty sure someone would tell.
Anyways, this was so painful to see, not every episode has to be memorable, but being memorable for being cringe?... That's something, isn't it? -
cgdisawesome5 January 2020The FBI only has jurisdiction in the US so I don't know why they headed to Mexico. Otherwise great episode!
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martyup-949-839311 December 2021Seriously? The serial killer is killing the mothers of his rape victims in the same order of the rapes and no one notices until the very last murder attempt? I thought these were supposed to be brilliant FBI agents.