Open Season

This is a great episode, but c'mon... as someone who lives here knows, you don't just hop from Spokane to the Boise National Forest. It's a full days drive, and there are plenty of areas on the Idaho side near Spokane where filming could have been done. Why make the impossible leap? It was distracting.

The writers need to double check their GPS... it's 8-9 hour drive from Spokane to Boise. You might be able to do it in 7.5 hours if you don't stop for anything. In this episode they make it sound like it's just across the border. Why didn't they use the Coeur d' Alene or St Joe to film or even just use their names as location? Even Spokane to Oldtown, ID would have made more sense. Overall, episode was pretty trippy. Having grown up in Idaho wilderness in a hunting family that shot archery, it's a very morbid concept to think of "hunting" humans. The mountains here are definitely capable of hiding in for long stretches of time without anybody finding you. So much of the area doesn't have any visitors due to the intense terrain and difficulty in hiking.

Not one of the best Season 2 episodes, being not quite as good as "The Fisher King Part II", "Revelations", "Profiler, Profiled", the "No Way Out" episodes, "North Mammon" and "The Boogeyman".

Better than "Honor Among Thieves" however? Absolutely. That episode was the one big disappointment of a generally solid season and in the top 10 worst of 'Criminal Minds' Seasons 1-5 episodes. "Aftermath", "The Perfect Storm", "Empty Planet", "The Big Game" and "Psychodrama" could have been a little better too, but they all managed to still be good episodes, whereas "Honor Among Thieves" was overall only average at best and parts even strained to be that.

"Open Season", going back on track, was a very good episode with signs of greatness. It is let down only by two things really. One is the acting of the victims, to me they seemed a little too indifferent in such a terrifying situation and rather too accepting of their fates. The other is that more could have been done with Prentiss knowing the woods so well, that was very strongly hinted at and given short shrift somewhat.

However, "Open Season" had a very tense and suspenseful case, helped by a genuinely frightening scenario and two intriguing and well-played unsubs. The team interaction is really enjoyable and they work well as a team, being caring about solving the case, being used well, well balanced in dynamic, serving a point and actually not acting clueless or slow on the uptake (it was the bungling of the team work and dynamic that was one of the biggest flaws of "Honor Among Thieves").

Two parts are especially great here. One is the opening bar scene, a very funny, hilarious even, and refreshing scene that sees some adorable bonding and brings some welcome humour to a tense case and a dark show. The other is Gideon's interaction with the dying youngest unsub, that was very touching and somewhat surprising too.

Visually, "Open Season" is still very stylish and atmospheric, with magnificent woodland scenery, the music haunting and melancholic and the direction taut but also accommodating. The script is nicely balanced and thought-provoking.

Apart from some patchy work from the victims, the acting is very good. Oh and that look that Morgan and Reid shared, reminding one of their brotherly and protective bond, is subtle and very sweet.

Concluding this review, a very good episode. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Brilliant episode from start to finish with the BAU team chasing hunters in the Idaho forest. However these hunters aren't hunting animals but instead capturing humans & using them as their game. Guns aren't their favorite choice of weaponry, these hunters are smart they use arrows which are a lot quieter than guns.

The unsubs are brothers who were trained and taught these wicked ways by their uncle when they were young.

This episode reminded me of the movies Hard Target & Surviving the game where the human is the main target.

It just goes to show when your in the wilderness its not just Grizzlies you have to watch out for. ..Mark Chapman