photo: cbs
Derek
Original Air Date: Mar 2, 2016
Caitlin- Senior Staff Writer
caitlin@thetwocentscorp.com
I will say this for tonight’s episode: the first minute, dedicated entirely to guys unpacking a wooden plank on which Morgan will be tortured, is ridiculously over the top. I will also say this: the rest of the episode was one of the most brutal, heart-wrenching, and brilliant I can recall.
We’re told right off the bat that Morgan has disassociated and fled into his mind to escape the pain his body will endure. At first, it’s…well, a bit weird, with him having kids with Savannah and then experiencing something like déjà vu. But then a man shows up in the room.
As we already know, this man is Morgan’s father- but the age he would have been now, not the age he was when he died. It takes a while for Morgan to understand who he is, but once he does, he learns he’s having these visions to help him survive. His father promises to stay with him every step of the way. Back at Quantico, everyone is panicking, especially Savannah, who will be placed under protective custody, and Garcia, who desperate tries to track Derek down.
Here’s where things get emotional: Morgan remembers the day his dad got shot and how it happened- he was trying to save a woman being robbed after Derek noticed the crime in progress. In reality, things are even worse. The gang of men paints some strange flammable substance on his chest- and then sets in on fire. It’s every bit as bad as it sounds. And just who are these guys, anyway? Apparently, they’re not the Dirty Dozen, but a corrupt band once associated with the CIA.
There are some happier memories to be found, like his dad reading him a bedtime story, but for the most part, Morgan sits and talks to his father in an open field. Still, the man isn’t just there to make nice- at the exact right moment, he encourages Morgan to turn on his attackers- and he does, freeing himself and shooting all of them. He then goes into the bathroom and pours bleach on his wound, as Reid once advised. It helps save his life, but causes him excruciating and near-disabling pain.
And then it gets even worse- both in reality, where Morgan finds one of them men still alive and tries to pry a cell phone battery out of his hand before the dude manages to swallow it (Seriously?!), and in the dream world, where he is forced to recall what Carl Buford did to him. Just as he is about to give up, Garcia shows up in a literal angel costume to help him work what is happening to him and why. The short answer: someone, somewhere, needed to make him disappear.
Why in the world someone would want to do this to Derek Morgan is pretty bewildering. Less surprising is that the group of bad guys were experts in “enhanced interrogation techniques”, AKA the fancy word for torture. And now they’re all dead, including the guy who swallowed the phone. And so Morgan CUTS HIM OPEN AND TAKES IT OUT OF HIS STOMACH. At this point, I need the same kind of therapy I usually reserve for How to Get Away with Murder.
What happens after that? You guessed it- it gets even worse. Morgan starts to give up hope. He imagines JJ and Reid coming in and finding him dead, and then the entire team standing solemnly before his tribute photo, including a grief-stricken Garcia. His father is angry at him for this. At his urging, Morgan hits redial on the cell-phone. This will help alert his team, but also goes straight to a “cleanup crew”- rather, yet another man who will show up and kill him.
He sits and waits, struggling just to survive his wounds. To distract him, his father asks him about his last meeting with Savannah. Derek realizes that she was going to tell him she’s pregnant, and that he wants to marry her. When the door opens again, the cleanup guy is there. Morgan is too weak to fight properly and the man- I highly suggest you look away from your screens for this bit- stabs him through the hand. And then, at last, his team shows up. Reid kills his second unsub in two episodes, and the day is saved.
Well…mostly. Because Morgan is still almost dead from everything that happened to him. When he wakes up, he is told by Garcia that he’s been in a coma for the past three days. Savannah has spent all of that time by his side. If you weren’t crying yet, there’s a good chance you will be as he tells her he knows she’s pregnant and asks her to marry him. It’s a wonderful payoff for all we had to endure, but I’m still very worried about what’s left to come this season.