Shemar Moore, aka Derek Morgan, has left the Criminal Minds building.
After 11 seasons, Baby Girl Nation is heartbroken. His final scene with Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), wrenched at the, okay my, heartstrings “You will always be my original baby girl”. Not gonna lie, I welled up.
How did Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) – handle the change? Surprisingly very well. “I don’t want you to stay because I know why you’re leaving and I couldn’t be happier for you.” And that moment when Derek shared the birth announcement with Spencer… Hank Spencer Morgan. I think I maybe did drop a tear or two.
Quick recap of episode #251 ‘A Beautiful Disaster’. It is six months after Derek has been kidnapped, beaten and tortured. Savannah is very pregnant. While the two are standing outside the hospital, an unknown sniper shoots Savannah. Can she and the baby be saved? The BAU gang is alerted by the hospital, or is it? And so the beginning of the end begins. As they set up at the hospital, Hotch makes the call to take Derek off the case, because Derek is just too close to it. They have checked the security tapes and realized that the hospital is not who alerted them, but was in fact Chaz Montolo (Lance Henriksen), the father of Dirty Dozen hitman Giuseppe Montolo.
He details Spencer to try to jog Morgan’s memory but Spencer inadvertently? slips up, giving Derek a hint as to the identity of the unsub. JJ then shows Derek a slip of paper left in the payphone, which gives him all he needs to realize where Chaz is hiding out. Predictably, Derek goes off the rails (who wouldn’t?) and goes after Chaz, chucking his cell phone after telling Hodge he can’t come back. But big clue for Hotch here, Derek calls him Aaron, alerting Hotch that the hideout has a personal connection for him. Garcia works her magic, and sends the BAU to one of Morgan’s properties. Meanwhile, Montolo, who mistakenly believes that Derek killed his son Giuseppe, is playing a sadistic game of Roulette with him. Derek gets the upper hand and the gun, minutes before the BAU team burst through the door. Case solved, with Derek’s humanity left intact. He gets back to the hospital in time to be with Savannah for the birth of their baby boy. Derek has realized that his life and priorities have changed and so his story arc with the BAU comes to an end.
This episode was written by Erica Messer and Kirsten Vangsness, and directed by Matthew Gray Gubler. It was an amazing episode, and one that ended so well. Killing off long term characters in a TV series has become passe (are you listening Mr Martin?), and I for one am grateful that this was not only an “all’s well that ends well” ending, but also leaves sufficient room for Derek to pop in and out on a guest appearance basis.