History YMMV / CriminalMindsBeyondBorders

* 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. Very few people in or outside Pamplona know or care, however.[[/note]]

** "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 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.

*** 2016 was precisely the year when the ''sanfermines'' had its most notorious crime in years, a gang rape. Had they waited, they could have used this location for an [[RippedFromTheHeadlines Aileen Wuornos]] knock-off episode in a future season (although this one was already used in the Cuba episode).

** 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 (which itself reeks of ViewersAreMorons).

** "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 bulls (''cabestros'') and becoming 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.

*** 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 NIU that would intervene.

*** The guy that loosely inspired this episode robbed foreign ''[[MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome women]]'' in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago El Camino de Santiago]] and [[TheyLookLikeEveryoneElse disguised himself as a pilgrim]] when he (correctly) thought that the police was after him. Put that in the context of northern Spain's [[GhibliHills mountainous]], [[DontGoInTheWoods forested]] geography and the ongoing exodus of Spaniards from rural to urban areas, leaving more and more [[GhostTown abandoned villages]] behind, and you could easily upgrade him to a scarily prolific SerialKiller without resorting to TorosYFlamenco cliches.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Technically, there is nothing in the premise that forces [[StrictlyFormula every episode]] to be about [[CouldThisHappenToYou middle class American tourists]] [[UnfortunateImplications being victimized by foreign serial killers]], as even the [[Series/CriminalMinds mother series]] has non-serial killer episodes once in a while. The IRT could just as well assist in stand-alone crimes (such as the FBI did in the Amy Bradley and Natalee Holloway cases), cases where the ''serial killer'' is suspected to be American (as it happened in the Lisbon Ripper case) or in which no Americans are involved at all (as it was proposed in the Monster of Florence, Rostov Ripper and ''Mataviejitas'' cases, even though the FBI ultimately only intervened in the first and only to elaborate a profile). In fact, showing that the IRT's intervention is requested by the local police force rather than the local American embassy (and then worming itself into the local LE's investigation unwarranted) would eliminate a lot of the show's criticism.
** 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.

** 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.'')
** UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}, "the suicide capital of the world" (actually it's UsefulNotes/{{Guyana}}; Japan is only 17th).
** The unsub in the first episode is inspired to perform HumanSacrifice by a form of UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}...which forbids harm to ''any'' living being.
** 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".
** A cruise ship docked in UsefulNotes/{{Libya}} in [[UsefulNotes/TheArabSpring June 2014]]? Seriously?

* TheyJustDidntCare:
** In "Citizens of the World", Monty reveals a fear-inducing map of UsefulNotes/{{Morocco}} covered in black dots standing for kidnappings in the country in the past ten years... but the very first line about this episode in the post-episode section at the Creator/{{CBS}} website says that kidnapping is rare in Morocco and that there has hardly been any case at all in the country during that same timeframe.
** The sets are generally bad, but they reach their worst in "El Toro Bravo", where the image jumps from the sandy, unpaved roads and adobe buildings of "[[{{Spexico}} Old Mexico]]" to the cobbled streets and brick walls of Pamplona, sometimes pretending that they are in the exact same spot. The script also makes clear that the priest's church is not the Cathedral of Pamplona, but the episode uses [[EstablishingShot establishing shots]] of it for both places.

** "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 concern: 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 bulls (''cabestros'') and becoming unpredictable and dangerous to other people. Making the killers out to avenge someone who was injured/killed because of a foreigner's imprudence during the Running would be 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, the minute that Australians and Americans began to be murdered in town.

** "El Toro Bravo": The killers being a couple that "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 because of 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 makes himself likelier to get injured]], but also increases the risk of the bull getting separated from the herd, at which point it loses sight of the guide bulls (''cabestros'') and becomes both unpredictable and dangerous to other people. Making the killers out to avenge someone who was injured or killed because of a foreigner's imprudence during the Running would be 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 the minute that Australians and Americans began to be murdered in the town.

* DanBrowned: It would seem that most times the difference between an alright episode and a bad one is if you have been to the location first.

** In "Citizens of the World", Monty reveals a fear-inducing map of Morocco covered in black dots standing for kidnappings in the country in the past ten years... but the very first line about this episode in the post-episode section at the CBS website says that kidnapping is rare in Morocco and that there has hardly been any case at all in the country during that same timeframe.

** 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 killers 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").

** UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}, "the suicide capital of the world" (actually it's UsefulNotes/{{Guyana}}-Japan is only 17th).

** The portrayal of 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.'')
** Japan, "the suicide capital of the world" (actually it's Guyana-Japan is only 17th).

** The [[TheApartheidEra Apartheid-era]] South African 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".
** A cruise ship docked in Libya in [[UsefulNotes/TheArabSpring June 2014]]? Seriously?

* TheyJustDidntCare: In "Citizens of the World", Monty reveals a fear-inducing map of Morocco covered in black dots standing for kidnappings in the country in the past ten years... but the very first line about this episode in the post-episode section at the CBS website says that kidnapping is rare in Morocco and that there has hardly been any case at all in the country during that same timeframe.

** A cruise ship docked in Libya in June 2014? Seriously?

** A cruise ship docked in Libya in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Civil_War_(2014%E2%80%93present) June 2014]]? Seriously?

** Juan Carlos Cantu, who played a satellite Mexican character in "Machismo" (the first ''CM'' episode to take place outside the US and therefore a precedent to this spin-off), plays another satellite Mexican character here, ten years later.

** 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 killers running around. At least one foreign dub gets rid of it and just says "leave our borders".
*** 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 the boarder then out.

** Japan, "the suicide capital of the world".

** The [[TheApartheidEra Apartheid-era]] South African 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 polt of "Iqiniso".

** They're finally starting to level things out since the [=UnSub=] of "Iqiniso" was a Caucasian man [[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.