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A Beautiful Disaster
Original Air Date: Mar 23, 2016
Caitlin- Senior Staff Writer
caitlin@thetwocentscorp.com
Given where we left off, I’ll be upfront: what happens tonight on Criminal Minds will change the look of the show from now on. What does that mean? Will the overwhelming emotions you will absolutely feel be good or bad? I guess you’ll just have to read on to find out.
One lesson to take away from last week’s cliffhanger- if you’re going to be shot anywhere, outside a hospital should probably top your list of choices. As Morgan carries Savannah into the emergency room, we know that she and the baby are at least alive- but don’t know for how long.
I missed a couple minutes to a weather alert in the beginning, but the most important details are these: the team is, of course, deeply concerned and starts investigating the moment they get the news. Morgan is tense and angry- emotions that increase tenfold when Hotch tells him he can’t help on the case. Given what happened between Hotch, his family, and George Foyet, the conversation goes as well as you’d expect it to. Suffice it to say Morgan will not stay out of the case.
Everything that has arced through this season, with the Dirty Dozen and Morgan’s last attack, seems to be linked to the Montollo crime family. Specifically a man named Chaz Montollo, whose son was poisoned in prison. When Reid is recruited to try and calm Morgan further, Morgan is instead able to pick up on this information- and the fact it was Montollo himself, and not an orderly as previously believed, who called Garcia to alert her to what happened.
As Tara checks in with Derek (Shocker: he’s still not doing well.), JJ finds a note left behind in the pay phone Montollo used. Against Hotch’s orders, and motivated by her own loss of a baby, she shows the note to Morgan. He claims not to know what it’s message- “I see red. Do you see red?” means, but it’s so clear he’s lying, I have no idea why any of them leave him alone. Sure enough, after sitting at Savannah’s bedside as she lies in a coma, he runs out of the hospital.
As soon as the others realize he’s gone, Hotch calls him- and, surprisingly, Derek picks up. But he tells his team not to follow him and, soon after, tosses his phone. He drives to a home he was renovating- one that has a red door. He walks in to a room full of surveillance cameras and soon finds a gun pointed at his head. The man holding it is Montollo, of course, and he believes Morgan killed his son. He wants to make him feel the same paid he went through.
Though Morgan repeatedly denies being responsible for the death of Montollo Jr., Montollo Sr. refuses to believe him. He taunts Derek with the idea that he has men inside the hospital and could kill everyone Morgan loves. On that note, I should add here that Savannah is still alive. And now awake. And going in for a C section. But it gets so much worse. Montollo forces Morgan to call the team and say goodbye as he plays a game of Russian Roulette. As everyone listens in horror, we hear a gunshot…
…But it was the sound of the gun going off as Morgan knocked it from Montollo’s hand. Now armed, he stands before his tormenter while the man mocks him. He could easily pull the trigger, but doesn’t, lowering the weapon just as his team arrives. And, back at the hospital, a recovering Savannah safely gives birth to a healthy, if tiny, baby boy. Everyone is alive and everything is joyous. But we still have fifteen minutes to go before the end of the episode- and we’re going to need them.
Why? Because they need all that time for Derek Morgan to say goodbye to his team. After ten and a half seasons, as speculated by countless people, Shemar Moore is leaving the show. And though I expected it, and even though it happened in a much happier way than I was expecting, the scenes are incredibly emotional and bittersweet. Like Morgan telling Reid his son’s middle name is Spencer. Like everything between him and Garcia. Like his final walk out of the BAU.
Derek Morgan has been on this show from day one. It is going to be incredibly strange and sad to see the show without him. But I am happy, because I know this was Shemar’s choice. And because he’s already saying he’ll return as a guest star if he ever gets the chance. And because this episode was amazing. Thank you for an amazing decade, Derek. We wish you and Savannah and little Hank Spencer Morgan well. We hope to see you all again soon.
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