'Criminal Minds' fan recap: Danny Glover co-stars in Morgan's memory
Season 11 | Episode 16 | “Derek” | Aired Mar 2, 2016
Last week’s Criminal Minds ended on one hell of a cliffhanger. After a ho-hum case, Morgan found himself broken and battered outside a grocery store. With rumors of a leaving cast member swirling in the back of our minds, we had to wait one whole week for the conclusion. With a standout guest star and some heart-pounding action, episode 16 was one for the ages. It also means the Criminal Minds world may never be the same.
After the obligatory flashback from last week’s show, we open with Morgan’s attackers bringing a wooden box into a run-down room. When they unpack the box, we find Morgan tied to a portable cross. The bad guys are amazed at how calm he seems. It looks like Morgan is practicing disassociation, a survival technique designed to keep the mind focused on anything but the terror at hand. In short, he’s being a badass.
Inside Morgan’s mind, we see him coming home to Savanah and two kids. This is the life he wants. Stable job, little ones, and Danny Glover hanging out in the corner. Wait. What?
As Morgan is focusing on good thoughts, his captors are preparing for torture. The head baddie begins slamming Morgan in the stomach. With each hit, Morgan’s fantasy decays, until it’s just him and Danny Glover in a large field. And who is Mr. Lethal Weapon himself? Morgan’s dad, Hank!
The investigation
Meanwhile, things are frantic at the BAU. Savanah is in the office as Garcia searches cell phone signals around Morgan’s last known position. While the team first thinks this is related to the defeated DarkNet, Reid thinks it’s higher than that. The encryption tech used to protect their phones is advanced, even for cybercriminals.
As the team scrambles, Morgan’s lead captor prepares for the next torture phase. He smears a white substance (white phosphorus) on Morgan’s chest, heats up his knife, and cuts deep into Morgan, causing a brutal chemical burn.
As this is going down, Hank tells Morgan that he needs to apply his training to himself. Morgan needs to profile his own mental demons to stay alive. The first step is a flashback to the day of Hank’s death, when Morgan was in fifth grade. Via flashback, we watch Morgan witness the gunning down of his police officer dad while trying to prevent a robbery. Now we know where Morgan gets his drive for justice.
But just as Morgan deals with this memory, the pain from the chemical burn is starting to set in. On the edge of collapse, Morgan asks Hank if he’ll stick with him. Hank says he will. This gives Morgan enough strength to dip back into his disassociation. The bad guys are shocked.
Frustrated, the leader tells his henchmen to untie Morgan and strip him naked. When the time is right, Hank yells, “NOW!” into Morgan’s ear, and he springs to life. After a sharp gunfight, Morgan has taken out the entire room, Matrix-style. But the pain from the burn is still raging, causing Morgan to collapse.
The ramp-up
Still hunting for clues, Garcia discovers traces of CIA tracking in Savanah’s home network, which is a scary thought. Could the CIA be involved?
Back in the torture room, Morgan awakens. He stumbles about the room, notices a tattoo on one of his assailants, and snags a phone. Sadly, it has no signal, so he grabs a knife and crawls over to the lead captor, who’s still alive. The bad guy tells Morgan he’s a gun for hire. More are on their way, but he has no clue who called in the hit.
With the pain back in full force, Morgan leaves the bad guy to find something to kill the burn. He finds some copper sulfate and neutralizes the burn successfully. He then goes into another flashback, this time of a sexual abuse episode when he was 15. Hank consoles him, telling Morgan how proud he’s always been.
But there’s something missing. Morgan realizes he needs his team. On cue, Garcia appears in Morgan’s mind field and gives him a clue. The tattoo! Both Morgan (and at the same time, BAU) realize the tattoo is British SAS. This gets them closer to the kidnappers!
The closing in
Back in the room, Morgan discovers the lead captor on the phone. A phone! Morgan runs over, but the guy swallows the SIM card. Morgan grabs his knife, plunges it into his chest, and finds the card. Upon seeing that it requires a password to dial, Morgan begins to panic, but Hank is there again. Morgan flashes back to what it will be like if the BAU finds him dead. This grim premonition is enough to keep him going.
Refocused, Morgan clicks redial on the phone, which calls the head bad guy. Garcia finds this signal, IDs the owner as a dishonorably discharged military man named John Bradley, and determines a location. The BAU scream to the rescue.
But it may too late. The lead captor is on his way as well. Hank tells Morgan to focus on one last thing: his last conversation with Savanah. After working through the talk he didn’t want to have, it hits Morgan: She didn’t want a breakup. She’s pregnant!
Just then, the lead bad guy enters. Morgan tries to fight him, but the pain is too great. It looks hopeless for Morgan until Reid comes in and guns down the attacker.
The team rushes him to the hospital, but Morgan is flatlining. As they desperately try to resuscitate him, Morgan and Hank say their goodbyes. He reconnected with his long-lost dad and used this horrid experience to reconcile some old hurt. Just as Morgan slips away, Hank tells him, “Now it’s time to go be a dad.”
Three days later, Morgan wakes up in the hospital with Garcia and Savanah keeping vigil. Morgan reveals that he knows she’s pregnant, and asks her to marry him! It’s a sweet, adorable end, but what does that mean for the show? Is this Morgan’s swan song? Will he leave the BAU to become a dad and a husband? Morgan’s last line, “I’ll never be late for dinner again,” seems to be a clear indication that major changes are coming to the Criminal Minds family. We’ll have to wait and see.
Criminal Minds airs Wednesdays at 9/8C on CBS.
