History YMMV / CriminalMindsBeyondBorders

* SpecialEffectsFailure: In the premiere, except for a couple scenes, the use of green screen is very obvious and the stock footage of streets clashes terribly with the sets the characters walk in. There is even a brief shot where a [[TheMountainsOfIllinois sandy, desert-like hill]] can be seen in the background of what's supposed to be humid, lush Thailand. It gets better in later episodes, but the car scenes are often a problem.
** A Season 2 episode features clearly CGI lion.

* AcceptableEthnicTargets: Anticipating obvious accussations of xenophobia and racism, the staff very clearly refrains from depicting non-white and/or non-culturally Christian unsubs as evil. The same applies to local police departments: The more removed a local cop is from the average American, the more likely they are to be depicted as sympathetic and professional (although often dealing with lack of means, if working for a Third World country department), instead of corrupt, hostile or incompetent. The worst of this attitude is seen in the show's portrayal of Hispanics, who seem to fall victim to a strange confluence of being both white-passing and sufficiently culturally removed from 'average' Americans - this results on the show shitting on their culture.

* CriticalResearchFailure: ''Beyond Borders'' was advertised as being highly researched to the point where viewers might think the episodes were filmed there. [[{{Understatement}} They fell a bit short.]]
** Some of the vehicles seen in places where RHD vehicles are mandated by law.
** "The Harmful One":
*** The portrayal of UsefulNotes/{{Thailand}} was definitely over-the-top. Sure, you might get strong-armed into a ping pong tournament. (Ironically, the only people there who make you feel unsafe at all are the drunk ''tourists.'')
*** The unsub in the first episode is inspired to perform HumanSacrifice by a form of UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}...which forbids harm to ''any'' living being.
** "Whispering Death": UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}, "the suicide capital of the world" (actually it's UsefulNotes/{{Guyana}}; Japan is only 17th).
** "Iqiniso":
*** The [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra Apartheid-era]] UsefulNotes/{{South Africa}}n secret police are identified as "the Office of State Security". They were the ''Bureau'' of State Security, commonly known as "[[PunnyName BOSS.]]" Also, those who gained amnesty did so openly-their identities are a matter of public record, thus negating the whole plot.
*** The Special Forces Brigade is under the South African Army. The police force either would deploy the Special Task Force or the National Intervention Unit. In this case for the episode, it would be the STF since closeups of the uniforms show STF insignia and patches.
** "Citizens of the World": A cruise ship docked in UsefulNotes/{{Libya}} in [[UsefulNotes/TheArabSpring June 2014]]? Seriously?
** "The Lonely Heart": No, you can't radiocarbon date a metal object. Radiocarbon dating only works with organic materials.
** "El Toro Bravo": A bullfight being held on a holiday doesn't mean that the bull is any more 'sacred' or 'worshipped' in reality than the goose is for being cooked on Christmas. In the past, when a bull killed a person it was traditional for bull breeders (the same guys said in the episode to be the ones who appreciate bulls the most) to slaughter both the bull and its entire bloodline. Despite the enduring myth, bullfighting is not, and has [[YouCantWin never]] been intended to be a fair contest between man and animal.
** The almost non-chalant treatment of suicide in "Denial." See TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot.

* CriticalResearchFailure:

* SpiritualAdaptation:
** For the same premise done on a theatrical budget, see 2007's ''Film/TheKingdom''.
** 2009's proposed show ''Washington Field'', about the international offices of the FBI and created by many of the people involved in developing the original ''Series/CriminalMinds'' and later ''Series/CrossingLines''. Unfortunately, the show wasn't picked up and only a TV movie/pilot episode was produced.
** The episode "Machismo" in the first season of parent series ''Criminal Minds'' has the original team going to a foreign country (Mexico) and dealing with many recurring issues in this spin-off.

** The voiceover at the beginning of each episode, saying how "68 million Americans leave the safety of our borders every year" as the map moves to this week's episode's location.
** The "safety of our borders" part is ironic and [[BlackComedy darkly hilarious,]] given that it's a spin-off of ''Series/CriminalMinds.'' Sure, America's totally safe with all those {{Serial Killer}}s running around. The Spaniard dub changes it to just "leave our borders" (and also "if danger strikes" to the less sensational "if an incident happens").

** A Season 2 episode features a lion that was blatantly obvious CGI.

** "El Toro Bravo": The killers "see bulls as superior" and target foreign runners that "disrespect" the bulls by touching them during the Running, taking selphies or waving a newspaper. The reason these are banned in reality is not because of some abstract sense of "respect" for the bulls, but pure security concerns: A runner that has [[TooDumbToLive one hand occupied]] while actively [[BullyingADragon bringing the attention of an already panicked bull to himself]] just makes himself likelier to get injured, and also increases the risk of the bull getting separated from the herd, losing sight of the guide oxen at the front and [[DisasterDominoes becoming both unpredictable]] and [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom dangerous to other people]]. Making the killers out to avenge someone who was hurt because of a foreigner's imprudence during the Running would be both more believable and also get rid of the ([[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]) PlotHole caused by the police not knocking on the door of the one local celebrity with a very obvious reason to hate Australians and Americans, one minute after Australians and Americans began to be murdered in town.

*** Said case involved an American woman on a spiritual journey/reawakening being victimized by a Spanish ''irreligious'' killer (he had been the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatting#Spain Anarchistic flavor of squatter]] in his youth, for example). The episode goes the cliched route instead and has the Spaniard as a Catholic zealot stereotype and his American victims as the ones [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy not concerned with religion]]. This is a lost chance to subvert expectations by having the killer be someone who targets religious people because of having a vendetta against them, maybe exploiting the victims expectations that he [[TorosYFlamenco must be religious because he is Spanish]] to gain their trust, even.

*** This could also be a good contrast to the episode "Whispering Death" that aired back to back with it, whose starting premise is the fact that suicide is [[DeliberateValuesDissonance considered honorable]] in Japanese culture and the police will close a case as suicide [[NeverSuicide without a second thought]].

* AcceptableEthnicTargets: Anticipating obvious accussations of xenophobia and racism, the staff very clearly refrains from depicting non-white and/or non-culturally Christian unsubs as evil. The same applies to local police departments: The more removed a local cop is from the average American, the more likely it is to be depicted as sympathetic and professional (although often dealing with lack of means, if working for a Third World country department), instead of corrupt, hostile or incompetent. The worst goes to Hispanics, who seem to fall just under perfect balance of being white enough and culturally removed enough to be okay shitting on their culture.

*** They're finally starting to level things out since the [=UnSub=] of "Iqiniso" was a white South African [[spoiler: seeking revenge for the murder of his sister by [[RevengeByProxy attacking her murderer's children]] twenty years later.]] The [=UnSub=] of "The Ballad of Nick and Nat" is suspected to be American.

* BeamMeUpScotty:
** In "Citizens of the World," Mae and Matt discuss the misattribution of "Play it again, Sam" to ''{{Film/Casablanca}}''.
** "El Toro Bravo" opens with the quote ''"Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be,"'' and attributes it to Creator/{{Miguel de Cervantes}}, author of ''Literature/DonQuixote''. It actually comes from the 1972 musical ''Film/ManOfLaMancha''.
** In "The Matchmaker," SmugSnake Marion Codwell makes the common mistake of attributing "The death of a person is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic" to UsefulNotes/JosephStalin.

* YouLookFamiliar: By way of SharedUniverse with ''Criminal Minds'':
** Anthony Azizi, who played Guantanamo prisoner Jamal Abaza in ''CM'', appears here as Egyptian deputy minister Arkem Sarkis.
** Anjali Bhimani, who played Doctor Rasgotra in ''CM'', plays Indian mob boss Hasina.
** Juan Carlos Cantu, who played the first suspect's uncle in "Machismo" (the first ''CM'' episode to take place outside the US, in a fictional Mexican town, and therefore a precedent to this spin-off), plays the unsub's former boss in "De Los Inocentes."

* SpiritualLicensee:

** While mostly averted, this turns up in "Iqiniso" when Arnold Voosloo, probably the most famous white South African actor alive, appears as the concerned father of the victims of the week. ''Of course'' he's playing a larger part in solving the crime than any other victim relative.
** Jim Beaver, known for "Supernatural" and a previous apparition in ''Series/CriminalMinds'', plays the unsub in "Blowback."

** In "Citizens of the World", Mae and Matt discuss the misattribution of "Play it again, Sam" to ''{{Film/Casablanca}}''.

** In "The Matchmaker", SmugSnake Marion Codwell makes the common mistake of attributing "The death of a person is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic" to UsefulNotes/JosephStalin.

*** The [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra Apartheid-era]] UsefulNotes/{{South Africa}}n secret police are identified as "the Office of State Security". They were the ''Bureau'' of State Security, commonly known as "[[PunnyName BOSS]]". Also, those who gained amnesty did so openly-their identities are a matter of public record, thus negating the whole plot.

** The almost non-chalant treatment of suicide in "Denial". See TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot.

*** When applied to real life the line is damn near laughably ignorant, as you are far more likely to come to harm from others inside your country' borders then out.

** Jim Beaver, known for "Supernatural" and a previous apparition in ''Series/CriminalMinds'', plays the unsub in "Blowback".

** Suicide is an extreme taboo in Muslim culture, to the point Muslim majority countries have the lowest suicide (or reported suicide) rates in the world - but you would never guess that from "Denial", whose premise is a seemingly Muslim Egyptian woman spree-killing men she blames for her husband's suicide, then killing herself when cornered. Compare the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EgyptAir_Flight_990 1999 EgyptAir crash]], where the American investigators found conclusive evidence that pilot Gameel al-Batouti had committed suicide by crashing the plane on purpose, but were forced to leave it as "undetermined" because their Egyptian colleagues and authorities (nevermind al-Batouti's family) would simply not admit that. It is also well documented that many Muslim suicide bombers are young, suicidal men who are convinced to "martyrize" themselves as [[ValuesDissonance an acceptable alternative]] to "pointless" suicide. The episode could have incorporated this by making the unsub be in ''denial'' about her husband's suicide and convincing herself that he had been murdered by the other guys, with her delusion being fueled by the police listing his death as an unsolved murder despite evidence of suicide. This way, the "Denial" title could have applied to the unsub [[DoubleMeaningTitle as well]] as the victim's mother who doesn't want to admit her son's homosexuality.

** Juan Carlos Cantu, who played the first suspect's uncle in "Machismo" (the first ''CM'' episode to take place outside the US, in a fictional Mexican town, and therefore a precedent to this spin-off), plays the unsub's former boss in "De Los Inocentes".

* TranslationCorrection: The Spanish dub of "El Toro Bravo" changes the name of the Pamplona cathedral from "Cathedral of Saint Francis Xavier" to its real name, ''Santa María la Real'' ("Royal Saint Mary"). They still left all references to Saint Firmin being Pamplona's patron saint untouched, however.[[note]]Saint Saturnin of Toulouse is the patron saint of Pamplona. Saint Firmin and Saint Francis Xavier are the patron saints of Navarre. Only very few people in or outside Pamplona know or care, though.[[/note]]
** In the same dub, Esposito gets promoted from "lead detective" to police commissioner, [[WeAllLiveInAmerica because there are no detectives in the Spanish police.]] Then he's [[SeriesContinuityError sometimes]] back at the equivalent rank, Inspector. And everyone now pronounces his name as ''Expósito'', not only him like in the original version.
** And showing that ''{{Series/Westworld}}'' fans are [[SeriousBusiness not alone]], Simon Alonso's mother's name is changed from Delores to the correct Spanish spelling, Dolores.

** "El Toro Bravo" opens with the quote ''"Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be,"'' and attributes it to Miguel de Cervantes, author of ''Literature/DonQuixote''. It actually comes from the 1972 musical ''Film/ManOfLaMancha''.

** "El Toro Bravo": The killers "see bulls as superior" and target foreign runners that "disrespect" the bulls by touching them during the Running, taking selphies or waving a newspaper. The reason these are banned in reality is not because of some abstract sense of "respect" for the bulls, but pure security concerns: A runner that has [[TooDumbToLive one hand occupied]] while actively [[BullyingADragon bringing the attention of an already panicked bull to himself]] [[CaptainObvious just makes himself likelier to get injured]], and also increases the risk of the bull getting separated from the herd, losing sight of the guide oxen at the front and [[DisasterDominoes becoming both unpredictable]] and [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom dangerous to other people]]. Making the killers out to avenge someone who was hurt because of a foreigner's imprudence during the Running would be both more believable and also get rid of the ([[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]) PlotHole caused by the police not knocking on the door of the one local celebrity with a very obvious reason to hate Australians and Americans, one minute after Australians and Americans began to be murdered in town.

** This could also be a good contrast to the episode "Whispering Death" that aired back to back with it, whose starting premise is the fact that suicide is [[DeliberateValuesDissonance considered honorable]] in Japanese culture and the police will close a case as suicide [[NeverSuicide without a second thought]].

** Suicide is an extreme taboo in Muslim culture, to the point Muslim majority countries have the lowest suicide (or reported suicide) rates in the world - but you would never guess that from "Denial", whose premise is a seemingly Muslim Egyptian woman spree-killing men she blames for her husband's suicide, then killing herself when cornered. Compare the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EgyptAir_Flight_990 1999 EgyptAir crash]], where the American investigators found conclusive evidence that pilot Gameel al-Batouti had committed suicide by crashing the plane on purpose, but were forced to leave it as "undetermined" because their Egyptian colleagues and authorities (nevermind al-Batouti's family) would simply not admit that. It is also well documented that many Muslim suicide bombers are young, suicidal men who are convinced to "martyrize" themselves as [[ValuesDissonance an acceptable alternative]] to "pointless" suicide. The episode could have incorporated this by making the unsub be in ''denial'' about her husband's suicide and convincing herself that he had been murdered by the other guys, with her delusion being fueled by the police listing his death as an unsolved murder despite evidence of suicide. This way, the "Denial" title could have applied to the unsub [[DoubleMeaningTitle as well]] as the victim's mother who doesn't want to admit her son's homosexuality. This could also be a good contrast to the episode "Whispering Death" that aired back to back with it, whose starting premise is the fact that suicide is [[DeliberateValuesDissonance considered honorable]] in Japanese culture.

** "Iqiniso": The [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra Apartheid-era]] UsefulNotes/{{South Africa}}n secret police are identified as "the Office of State Security". They were the ''Bureau'' of State Security, commonly known as "[[PunnyName BOSS]]". Also, those who gained amnesty did so openly-their identities are a matter of public record, thus negating the whole plot of "Iqiniso".
*** Also, the Special Forces Brigade is under the South African Army. The police force either would deploy the Special Task Force or the National Intervention Unit. In this case for the episode, it would be the STF since closeups of the uniforms show STF insignia and patches.

** "El Toro Bravo": The killers "see bulls as superior" and target foreign runners that "disrespect" the bulls by touching them during the Running, taking selphies or waving a newspaper. The reason these are banned in reality is not because of some abstract sense of "respect" for the bulls, but pure security concerns: A runner that has [[TooDumbToLive one hand occupied]] while actively [[BullyingADragon bringing the attention of an already panicked bull to himself]] [[CaptainObvious just makes himself likelier to get injured]], and also increases the risk of the bull getting separated from the herd, losing sight of the guide oxen at the front (''cabestros'') and [[DisasterDominoes becoming both unpredictable]] and [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom dangerous to other people]]. Making the killers out to avenge someone who was hurt because of a foreigner's imprudence during the Running would be both more believable and also get rid of the ([[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]) PlotHole caused by the police not knocking on the door of the one local celebrity with a very obvious reason to hate Australians and Americans, one minute after Australians and Americans began to be murdered in town.

* DanBrowned: It seems that to most viewers, the difference between an okay episode and a bad one is if they have been to the real location first.

* JerkassWoobie: Most of the [=UnSubs=] here are actually pretty {{Tragic Monster}}s to various degrees.
* MoralEventHorizon: Chief Inspector Silvia Ruiz in "De Los Inocentes" eventually crosses this in a LawfulEvil way. When confronted with the big possibility of the current suspects being WronglyAccused, how does she respond? By coldly revealing the IRT have only 24 hours before the '''''American''''' suspects are moved into the '''''Mexican''''' general population -- certain death for the suspects. And when the IRT invoke WhatTheHellHero, she just calls it potential LaserGuidedKarma -- for something she now knows the suspects could be innocent of. [[spoiler:Fittingly, she's currently the only local lead investigator to end up killed by the respective [=UnSub=].]]

** The "safety of our borders" part is ironic and [[BlackComedy darkly hilarious,]] given that it's a spin-off of ''CriminalMinds.'' Sure, America's totally safe with all those {{Serial Killer}}s running around. The Spaniard dub changes it to just "leave our borders" (and also "if danger strikes" to the less sensational "if an incident happens").