Criminal Minds The Wheels on the Bus... (2005– ) Online

I've always been a fan of this show;heck it's probably one of my favourite shows,but this episode was used to get a younger audience enticed.Sure,this episode was "cool",but they had no real profiling and it was illogical.In almost every episode they talk about a wide variety of criminology; victimization, neurological,physiological,psychological, and even brain chemistry.This "cool" episode had none of that!Also,there were many flaws with the script. How did they afford the electric collars and all the other stuff if they spent 22 hours a day playing video games? How did they find that building? Why did nobody get suspicious when they were buying all of that weird pricey stuff? Also the episodes also stated things like "playing Violent video games will make you violent",and "If you parents are divorced you will be a killer"!

Please don't ever make an episode like that again!

The Writers of The Wheels on The Bus are brilliant!

This Review is to counter the previous Review that wasn't being thought-through. First and foremost, the expensive tools like Shock Collars: It is easy for teenagers these days to purchase those. Three words: Credit Card Fraud!

When they are that tech-savvy (EXACTLY as what the previous Reviewer pointed out: "spending their whole waking hours in front of computers"), it is only another game challenge for them to purchase the tools illegally, online.

So, second, as these tech-savvy teens' crime is crafted from their sociopath-borderline sick minds, it is only logical to have the BAU on the case.

Lastly, I would like to encourage every one of you to just sit and watch and wait for the final closing scenes where two of our most favorite characters (YOU GUESS!) will be having this conversation:

"I don't drink Scotch."

"You'll learn."

That's right. We learn.

This episode was amazing! I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. Definitely the best episode we've had in awhile, and it was especially surprising because the focus of the episode was on the hostages and the hostage takers, more than on the BAU team. They absolutely nailed the casting with the kids by making you actually care whether they live or die. That Billy kid was cute.

Two gamers kidnap a school bus and reconstruct their favourite killing game by making their hostages complete missions and kill each other? Brilliant! And at the end where the Billy kid just looks at the girl in disbelief that she actually killed their friend. I kind of thought that at the end there where they were being reunited with their parents, dead kid's parents should have been there going "where's my child?" The ending with Garcia/Rossi – LOL, how many phones does Garcia have?!

The premise for "The Wheels on the Bus" seemed intriguing and had the makings of a good episode if executed well. Unfortunately, it wasn't executed well and the episode ended up being one of the worst episodes of Season 8 along with "Magnificent Light" (the weakest), "Through the Looking Glass" and "The Replicator".

As always the production values are excellent, gritty, classy and stylish with an effective sense of claustrophobia and dread. The music conveys the right amount of moody atmosphere. The acting from the leads is very good, especially Joe Mantegna who bags all the best lines.

"The Wheels on the Bus" works best in the scenes with the BAU, and there are some lovely moments with them that one wishes there was more. The only let-downs being the underuse of Reid and the rather cold personality of Blake. Nicholas Brendan however makes a welcome return, and his chemistry with Garcia brings some heart though occasionally feeling forced and unnecessary. Also loved the exchange when it is realised that the unsubs are replicating a video game (though it did happen out of the blue and was for a while just a theory with no tangible proof) and the very sweet conversation between Rossi and Garcia about Scotch.

On the other hand, the case didn't do much for me. It could have been really creepy and suspenseful, but ended up being rather goofy and illogical with some of the actions of the hostages often being called into question even for the concept. This was not helped by the stupid decision-making and indifferent attitudes of some of the hostages, only from a couple was there a sense of terror and desperation for survival, or the rather half-hearted game set-up. Didn't find the unsubs particularly interesting or menacing and equally didn't buy their reason for the crimes (going against proved evidence), in fact they were pretty hammy with some cringe-worthy dialogue and the acting from both was nothing to write home about.

Storytelling is a bit slow and the transitions from the scenes with the team to the scenes with the unsubs very disjointed. Too much of the script, apart from some nice moments, is too much of a second draft, while there is too much unsub-and-scenes-with-victims heavy (another major problem with why the story didn't work) and with not enough of the BAU and the profiling, some of the case being solved through conclusion jumping.

All in all, nice BAU interaction but the case didn't do anything for me. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Umm, stupid, cringey episode. Why not shoot the collar off? Duh doy

Damn bro,, this is the cringiest episode of cm ive seen, do not watch this episode if you want to preserve your idea of the show, i dont know, it just seems they let a teenage white kid write the script ( "i guess i won") man, smh, embarrassing representation of what the show in totality is and embarrassing to what real gamers alike.

Too many portions of this episode are really puzzling. The boys were too obsessed with their game. They came from a family that is not well off. In fact, their parents divorced because they were each having two jobs just to make ends meet. I don't buy what the other reviewer assumed that the boys were tech savvy and probably committed credit card fraud. As I said, they are too obsessed with their game. When did they find the time to perfect that crime? Even the FBI did not mention that in the story. Furthermore, I agree, wouldn't they have been required to show IDs at least when buying those sophisticated collars, the guns, etc? Notwitstanding the money issue. Besides, when did they find the time and the savvy to research all the 10 kids?

This is the most awful episode I've seen. I actually skipped minutes because it was too awful to watch and makes me think the writers were thinking the viewers are too stupid to think while watching the episode. I just went back to find that portion about the parents and the divorce because I could not believe the fact of the money to buy everything and acquire the warehouse was never explained, much less the sophisticated technology they were using and had installed in the warehouse.