Mixed Signals (2018) User Reviews (5)

Mixed Signals

[bobcobb301 · 7/10 · 6 May 2018]

A different kind of unsub and even though he behaved in the same irrational way as all of the murderers on this show do, it felt different because he was chasing justice for another, not himself.

An interesting case, and one of my worst fears coming to life (a sound only I can hear) but not a classic by any stretch.

Murderous hearing

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 26 May 2018]

'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, the only one to be a low-point was "Annihilator" and "All You Can Eat" also disappointed. There aren't any classics though, but most of the episodes have ranged from decent to very good.

"Mixed Signals" for me was solid if not great. The case is one of the season's most different and interesting, it is very compelling and eerie with a a genuinely unnerving creepiness and at times a suitable strangeness (without things being too weird). 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 "Mixed Signals" didn't forget what made 'Criminal Minds' work so well in the first place. There are some nice twists. Liked Tara's assertiveness, really didn't her when she was first introduced in Season 11 (one of my biggest problems of the season actually) and while she is not the most interesting team member she seems more comfortable and fits within the team better. The character moments are lovely if not blowing the mind.

Everybody does a great job with the acting, all the regulars are strong as ever and the support is more than acceptable. The unsub is one that's both creepy and sympatheic.

Visually, "Mixed Signals" 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 poignancy. The direction has breathing space and momentum.

Not without problems. Would have liked the unsub (whose reveal was not one of the season's most shocking, that for "The Dance of Love" for example left me floored), though their methods and behaviour are not senseless or nonsensical (actually pretty creepy and intriguing) and their motivation not too ordinary, to be fleshed out a little more and a few more twists, not always enough of an unpredictable nature here.

For my tastes the climax was a little rushed and Reid's absence is immediately noted and very deeply felt.

Overall, solid. 7/10 Bethany Cox

No Spencer = 1/10 rating

[MissE7 · 1/10 · 17 July 2018]

I used to be such a big fan of Criminal Minds and although I still watch it, it's not the same. Sure, that's what happens when you introduce new characters. I don't mind the new ones that much, but it feels like they're trying to overcompensate for the characters who have left the series.

First Derek leaves, which was very sad, but clearly Shemar Moore wanted a bit of a change in his career. But when Hotchner left, the show's rankings already dropped in my books to an average of 5 to 6 out of 10. Then they brought Prentiss back who, somewhere along the line, lost her sense of humour and became more of a Hotchner wannabe. But now Spencer, my favourite character, is only in an episode every now and again. Consequently, whenever Spencer is not in an episode, I give it a 1 out of 10 rating.

If Spencer leaves, I'll be leaving too.

Inaccurate and laughable.

[Gustavo_Valadares · 4/10 · 10 August 2020]

Season 13 has a lot of great and intriguing cases in this show history but this episode went too far in being nonsensical.

We have a unsub who kills motivated by a hypothetical low frequency hum that only he himself and other few people claims to listen it making he evil, a condition that he gained by sponging it from a ex-partner after watching her being tortured by the same hum. Because of that, the unsub uses a drilling machine in the audition canal of the victims to deafen them but killing at the same time. How can a plot be more pathetic?

Sure, that are a few cases (and youtube videos) of people claiming to listen to a mysterious hum noise, often times associated with specific geography produced in a low frequency that only they are affected by it, often said to be product of secret military experiment, aliens or ghosts. There is absolutely zero cases registered of violence, much less, murders commited by the influence of the sound although there are people trying to make a geographical hum lociton link with serial killers, which means nothing. It's even ridiculous that Criminal Minds should touch in this subject as normal case. Watching this episode it's like watching the team investigating alien abductions kills or psychic killers,

To add more conspiracy theories to the whole "killer sound" nonsense Matt even cites the 'Dyatlov Pass incident' in Russia where 9 hikers where killed in the snowy mountains after fleding their campsites undressed for mysterious reasons. One of conspiracy theories was that infrasounds drove them crazy, a theory so baseless and made up that have no credibility in serious investigations and even if it had, this supposed sound wouldn't make a guy a rational evil killer like the unsub in this episode.

Another serious mistake they made in this episode it's how it handles misophonia as a psychological condition that often triggers anger bursts and can be very violent. Just to start, mysophonya it's not diagnosable as psychological deviation, a lot of common of people having it as a regular irritation to specific sounds, and it's very rare and uncommon that it would trigger violent attacks. This episodes addresses misophonia like it were a psychological disturbance.

There is also a scene where the unsub attacks a DEAF woman (without any reason that would match his profile) that tells Luke that she listened to the drilling sound of the drill machine and also the unsub saying that she was lucky to be deaf. Am I the only one who thinks that it's an absurd that Luke asked a deaf woman if she listened something and she did???

While I love the show and the direction that season 13 took, this episode it's a shame. I remember an episode in the early seasons of the show where the team discussed about the theory of a killer having "the evil gene" as something of debate in the psychology community but not as actual profile There is also an early episode where they discussed about "satanic scares" and "psychics leading successful investigations" as taboos but stating categorically that they shouldn't be taken seriously as they could harm an investigation.

The few positives that I can see here it's that Reid wasn't part of this stupid plot and that the unsub was creepy, all the rest, like the plot, BAU specific magical "what ifs" and so one were very forgetable.

Seriously, a drill?

[wallsclosingin · 18 October 2020]

Yup, 0 stars. I dislike this show on the best of days, but I made better garbage in jr high school. Seriously, this guys weapon is a cordless drill. I have trouble figuring these people could not disarm him and this would be a non-episode. Hard to believe the cast actually tried to keep serious with this one