Sure, it would have been a big ask for "Persuasion" to live up to, come close to or equal one of Season 9's best episodes "Gabby". Although Season 9 has been very hit and miss, personally really wasn't expecting such a big drop in quality.
After "Gabby" being so excellent and being one of the latter seasons' best episodes as well as one of the better episodes of the season, one was hoping that "Persuasion" would continue what felt like a return to form. While it does not reach the low-point depths of "200", which was a huge waste of a milestone episode, and from memory "The Black Queen", which made Garcia annoying, was contradictory and did very little with a type of story done to death, and "Route 66", with those rather glib flashbacks that really took over the case which barely registered, "Persuasion" definitely could have been much better.
There are good things here, even a bad episode of 'Criminal Minds', which is still a favourite regardless of how disappointing many of the recent episodes have been, has things that stop it from being completely unwatchable. Production values have always been very high, they are very high in "Persuasion" as well, with a dark, classy, stylish, gritty and audacious look throughout.
The music is haunting and melancholic when used, and the acting was fine considering the material. The leads are all very good, and while Blake took a lot to get used to at first generally her appearances have felt more settled in Season 9 than in Season 8. David Clennon comes very close to stealing the show, giving the right amount of mystery and gravitas. Michael Irby does very well in his role as well.
Less good is Ashton Holmes, who is rather bland as a character who is just not that interesting. The story is very slow-moving and the lack of suspense and at times pedestrian, though sometimes atmospheric in build-ups, direction further kills it, while the truth to me was so obvious early on that nothing was surprising or shocking. The writing is not as tight or as balanced as it should be, and tension and suspense is not enough.
JJ has far too much prominence here, and sadly she is not likable or interesting in the least here. She was out of character in Seasons 7-9 generally, but rarely has she been this bland or condescending. It also means that some of the rest of the team are underused, Hotch once again feeling invisible, and that the team dynamic while still adorable lacks balance. Plus the show seems to have forgotten that the relationship between Reid and his mother is very delicate and complex, instead portraying it here as idealistically happy.
In conclusion, not a bad episode and nowhere near one of the season's, or even the show's, worst, but after such a great preceding episode in "Gabby" it was a disappointment. 5/10 Bethany Cox
After "Gabby" being so excellent and being one of the latter seasons' best episodes as well as one of the better episodes of the season, one was hoping that "Persuasion" would continue what felt like a return to form. While it does not reach the low-point depths of "200", which was a huge waste of a milestone episode, and from memory "The Black Queen", which made Garcia annoying, was contradictory and did very little with a type of story done to death, and "Route 66", with those rather glib flashbacks that really took over the case which barely registered, "Persuasion" definitely could have been much better.
There are good things here, even a bad episode of 'Criminal Minds', which is still a favourite regardless of how disappointing many of the recent episodes have been, has things that stop it from being completely unwatchable. Production values have always been very high, they are very high in "Persuasion" as well, with a dark, classy, stylish, gritty and audacious look throughout.
The music is haunting and melancholic when used, and the acting was fine considering the material. The leads are all very good, and while Blake took a lot to get used to at first generally her appearances have felt more settled in Season 9 than in Season 8. David Clennon comes very close to stealing the show, giving the right amount of mystery and gravitas. Michael Irby does very well in his role as well.
Less good is Ashton Holmes, who is rather bland as a character who is just not that interesting. The story is very slow-moving and the lack of suspense and at times pedestrian, though sometimes atmospheric in build-ups, direction further kills it, while the truth to me was so obvious early on that nothing was surprising or shocking. The writing is not as tight or as balanced as it should be, and tension and suspense is not enough.
JJ has far too much prominence here, and sadly she is not likable or interesting in the least here. She was out of character in Seasons 7-9 generally, but rarely has she been this bland or condescending. It also means that some of the rest of the team are underused, Hotch once again feeling invisible, and that the team dynamic while still adorable lacks balance. Plus the show seems to have forgotten that the relationship between Reid and his mother is very delicate and complex, instead portraying it here as idealistically happy.
In conclusion, not a bad episode and nowhere near one of the season's, or even the show's, worst, but after such a great preceding episode in "Gabby" it was a disappointment. 5/10 Bethany Cox
