Criminal Minds Review: Derek
Director: Thomas Gibson
Writer: Breen Frazier
Starring: Joe Mantegna, Shemar Moore, Matthew Gray Gubler,
A.J. Cook, Kristen Vangsness, Thomas Gibson, Danny Glover, Rochelle Aytes,
Charles Mesure, Jonathan Cake
Synopsis: The BAU works against time to find Morgan after he
is kidnapped.
Review: Buckle up kids, this ride is bumpy, specially for
all the Derek Morgan fans out there. Things kick off where the previous episode
left off, Derek being kidnapped by unknown assailants. After being dropped off,
they are now in some place that looks like it could be a nice couples living
room, except we have Derek strapped to some sort of metal cross with his
kidnappers standing around him. Before the real torture can begin we are
introduced to what is going to be Derek’s coping mechanism, though we do not
know the importance of it right away.
The torture gets uncomfortable pretty quickly, the amount of pain that
is caused by white phosphorus is unimaginable. The fact that the phosphorus is
able to not only hurt him in reality but also in his alternate reality speaks
volumes of the amount of pain that he is going through at that moment, nasty
stuff for sure.
As Derek struggles to deal with the pain he is guided by his
father, Hank Morgan, played by Danny Glover to try to figure out what is going
on, where he is at and who is doing this. While some sappy stuff comes up to
help deal with things from Derek’s past, Hank sort of becomes a narrator to
help guild Derek so he can figure out a way to escape and notify his team of his
whereabouts. One of the best scenes in the whole episode is when the
assailants unstrap Morgan and he falls to his knees, you can hear Hanks voice telling him to wait
until the right moment to strike. Pure television gold I say!
Once Derek strikes though, none of them are safe. After taking most
of the assailants out he catches one using a satellite phone to contact the
clean up crew. If you couldn't tell before, at this point you can see just how bad Derek is, Hank starts to show in reality rather than in the alternate
reality that Derek had been retreating too. While Derek has to do some pretty
inhumane stuff to get the phone to work, Hank is the one that convinces him not
to give up. Thanks to Derek using that
phone, Baby Girl was able to send the Calvary to save the day. Almost like a
perfect bow to wrap up an amazing episode, Derek wakes up to his favorite two
ladies. Both Garcia and Savannah are there waiting for him.
Final Thoughts: It needs to be stated, this is probably one
of the best episodes of Criminal Minds and may possibly be my new favorite
episode of the series. Every aspect of this episode was on point from the
acting to the directing to the script. I have liked every episode that Thomas
Gibson has directed, but this one by far is his best. Also I believe Shemar
Moore needs a round of applause, his acting in this episode was award worthy,
the emotion and strength that needed to be displayed in this episode was
phenomenal. Now that I have complemented the faces we all know, it is time to
give acknowledgement to a face we don’t get to see, Breen Frazier. You sir,
wrote one hell of a script. Every moment flowed so beautifully in this episode,
from the parts with the men torturing Morgan, to Morgan having to deal with his
past with his father who wasn’t there to guild him through it when he was
younger. Kudos sir, for job well done, more of this please! Well not torturing
Morgan, but more episodes of this quality.
Click
here to listen or right click and choose "Save As..." to download.
Maskerpiece Theatre is sponsored by
MoviePass. See unlimited movies at a theater near you for a low monthly rate.
You can also support our show by using our Amazon banners or donating on our
Support Us page.
