Truly a great series worthy of praise. Many may say that this is a 'rip-off' of CSI but I've watched CSI and it caught me on for a bit, but after a while it just seemed to closed. Where CSI guides you through the story and gives a picture perfect ending and how you're supposed to perceive it, Criminal Minds lets you explore and judge for yourself. It doesn't preach too much and the stories are engaging and suspenseful! Excellent writing and great performances from the stars. It may begin cliché, but if you stay long enough it is a rewarding and entertaining view, and I don't feel it's going to let down any time soon. Give it a chance, or just watch episode 7 'The Fox'. It shows the best writing and acting in the show so far, in my opinion. Diving into minds of lunatics and psychopaths has never been more entertaining! Fantastic!

With 'Criminal Minds', some seasons are better than others and every season has a mixture of outstanding, great, very good, good, average, mediocre and bad episodes. This said, lesser episodes of Seasons 1-4 (with possible exception of "Machismo") are better than the lesser episodes of Season 6 onward. Season 9 generally is one of the weakest 'Criminal Minds' seasons, and due to a wider divide between the best and worst episodes one of the show's most inconsistent. There are some good/great episodes like "Gabby", "The Caller", "Angels"/"Demons", and also underwhelming ones such as "Mr and Mrs Anderson", "The Inspiration" (the show's worst season premiere)/"The Inspired" and two of the show's low-points "200" and "The Black Queen". "To Bear Witness" is something of an odd episode. It's neither one of Season 9's best or worst, up to this point in the season it's better than the season premiere but a let down after the very impressive "Final Shot" and on par with "The Inspired". It is though one of the season's most controversial, it is easy to see why some will like it as the profiling is back on track after underwhelming for too many episodes of Seasons 6-8 and the team dynamic generally is of a better balance but it is easy to see why some will dislike it as the case could have been much stronger and personally am one of those people who didn't care for the JJ/Cruz subplot. Getting the good things out of the way, the production values in "To Bear Witness" are without complaint. It's very well shot and lit and is overall stylish, gritty, classy and atmospheric. The music is moody in the haunting and melancholic sense and fits well, without either enhancing or distracting from the atmosphere. Love the team dynamic in general, with a go-to, patient and sympathetic Morgan and everybody feeling like they're in the roles they should be rather than trying too hard to be something they're not. Blake shares great chemistry with Reid, and proves to be much more effective with him than on her own, with him she is much more likable and shows a stronger personality and they are so endearing together. Much of the acting is very good. The profiling is fascinating, and it was great that there was any and actually lots of it. David Anders however plays his unsub as too much of a cartoon, didn't feel much menace coming from him and the character was not particularly interesting or one one feels much for. The unsub's motive is far too clichéd, being one of the oldest in the book, and the case on the whole suffers from a painfully plodding pace, elements that should have been creepy coming over as ridiculously far-fetched and a lack of tension and suspense. The climax also feels anaemic and anti-climactic. Just as big a problem is the rather juvenile-ly written subplot with JJ and Cruz. It just felt like the writers were trying too hard to create drama out of something that didn't need it or wasn't that much of an issue in the first place. It is hard to ignore when it features so much. In conclusion, an odd and mixed feelings episode. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Have been a big fan of 'Criminal Minds' for a long time now. It is nowhere near as good as it was pre-Season 6 admittedly this said. When 'Criminal Minds' was on form in Seasons 1-5 (which it was more often than it was not), and even better at its best, the episodes in question were some of my favourites for any show, seen in episodes such as "The Fox", "Riding the Lightning", "LDSK", "The Fisher King" episodes, "Elephant's Memory", "Lo-Fi", "Lucky", "The Big Wheel", "Zoe's Reprise", "Conflicted", "Minimal Loss", "The Instincts", "Memoriam", "100", "...A Thousand Words", with "Revelations", "North Mammon", "The Boogeyman" "Profiler Profiled", the "No Way Out" episodes, "Seven Seconds", "Omnivore", "The Uncanny Valley" and "Mosley Lane" coming close. Season 6 onwards has seen a number of good to great episodes, though not many classics ("Entropy", "Mr Scratch", "Foundation", "True Genius", "Gabby", "The Caller" and "Nelson's Sparrow" being the handful of classic latter season episodes). However, there have been even more average or less or bad (such as "200", "The Black Queen", "The Thirteenth Step", "Breath Play", "Till Death Do Us Part", "The Bond", "Awake" "If the Shoe Fits", "Inner Beauty", "Internal Affairs" and "Future Perfect") ones. Sure, Seasons 1-5 had some not so good episodes, like "Machismo", "Honor Among Thieves", "The Fight", "The Performer", "Parasite" and "Hopeless", but not to the extent of the worst episodes of the latter seasons. Talking about "Carbon Copy", as far as Season 8 episodes go it's somewhere in the middle rather than being one of the best or worst. It's not as good as "All That Remains", "The Lesson", "God Complex", "The Good Earth" and "Alchemy". But it is much better than the likes of "Magnificent Light", "Through the Looking Glass", "The Replicator", "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Magnum Opus". "Carbon Copy" has its faults. Despite being initially suspected as the re-curring serial killer/stalker of the season, it was too obvious early on that the suspect was not who they were looking for. "Carbon Copy's" biggest fault though is that, despite some lovely team interaction, character moments and chemistry, there are points where the team are shown as not just stupid but also negligent. This is especially true with not questioning (the obvious misgivings being practically ignored) Bidwell's culpability, leaving him alone when given a false pretences excuse that the viewer immediately sees through and the whole business with the medication which was just sloppy writing. Still too reliant on Garcia giving the answers all too conveniently. Blake and Strauss' chemistry may have resonated with me if the two characters did much for me, though their talking about the past exchange was nice. Blake grew on me in Season 9 and had her moments in Season 8 (especially with Reid), but there were too many times in Season 8 where she came over as disconnected and "just there". Rarely did care for Strauss even in the early seasons, just too cold and dictatorial and was never able to understand her unexplained problem with Hotch. The Replicator story arc was intriguing and had moments of creepiness (which makes it even sadder that it was wasted in the season finale), but to me other criminals posed more of a threat to the team, such as Frank Breitkopf and especially George Foyet, as well as in episodes like "Lucky"/"Penelope", "Lo-Fi" and "The Fisher King" episodes. On the other hand, the team interaction is delightful and there are some really well-done scenes and little moments (both big and subtle). The ending gave me epic chills as did the Hotch headshot on the body, while the arrest and interrogation scenes and the abduction of Shannon had some tension. A few fun parts such as Rossi and JJ's exchange, especially Rossi's sassy but truthful response, about being replaced, Rossi commenting to Rizzo about needing a hug and Strauss' stalking list (especially the line delivery of "flowers sent"). Visually, the production values are without complaint. It's very well shot and lit and is overall stylish, gritty, classy and atmospheric. The music is moody in the haunting and melancholic sense and fits well, without either enhancing or distracting from it. The direction keeps the momentum going but lets the case breathe and the script is one of the tightest and focused ones all season. On top of that, the story is intriguing with the right amount of suspense and tautness, with a creepy enough unsub. All the acting is very good, can't fault the regulars and Scott Grimes does a very good job in a creepier role than the usual put-down-upon loser one he's played. In summary, decent but unsatisfying at the same time. 6/10 Bethany Cox