Criminal Minds

If ever there was an episode of Criminal Minds that could be dissected for days, it was this one.

Luckily for us, it featured a whole lot of Derek Morgan, which is never a bad thing. Following closely on the heels of another powerful episode, "Foundation," after months of neglecting Shemar Moore, we've finally seen the needle move to the "Morgan-heavy" side of the spectrum, and I say it's about time.

First things first, though. We just had a deeper glimpse into the trauma Morgan suffered from his childhood abuse a few weeks ago. He was uncharacteristically vulnerable and open in order to help Angel, and it in turn gave him strength.

Now we again see Morgan putting himself out there, as he was forced to confess to lying about his cousin Cindi's "death." No one could blame him for wanting his aunt to have closure, but he had to know that the day would come when the truth would surface.

Still, watching his family react to his betrayal was sad, because we knew he had only the best of intentions. Luckily for Morgan, though, everyone around him - the BAU team included - sympathized with how he'd handled things. And it was nice to see Hotch circle the wagons right away.

Apart from the many bizarre sexual servitude references in "The Company" this week, I was struck by how many unnerving visuals we were shown (as is expected with these types of shows of course, but still...) Or maybe I'm just a sheltered because I'm not familiar with this lifestyle, who knows?

We saw the slavery contract, the head box and also the other Company wife's bedroom full of sex toys-slash-torture devices. Yikes. How'd you like to sleep down there every night? No thanks.

The idea of a victim protecting her captor is nothing new, but I did think that it took the team a while to figure out that Cindi might have a child. If Morgan hadn't suggested it as a justification of her actions, would they ever have stumbled up on it, since there was "no evidence of a child in the home"? Was the Spaghetti-O's the only message she was sending?

Don't ask me, ask the profilers, they're supposed to be the experts here. Speaking of which, that communal room of kids at the cabin just plain made me sad. I'm guessing I'm not alone in that.

I thought the scenes between Morgan's aunt and Cindi, and then the final scene with the three of them, were powerful and well done. Sure, I'd been waiting for his aunt to react more the first time she saw her daughter after presuming her dead for eight years, but then again there's no rule book on how to handle such situations.

Morgan's interactions with Garcia this week were fantastic as well. When she quoted "a black man" she knows and repeated his, "Baby girl you be trippin" advice to him I practically snorted. Asshat? Really? Garcia is my favorite, that sealed it. Way to go, Penelope. PS, take it easy on him though - it would've been really tough to not make it personal after Ford tried to push his buttons.

And who held their own best against Ford? JJ and Prentiss. When they tag teamed him in the interrogation room and JJ shushed him it was gold. Pure gold. The fiesty side of our agents came out this week, and I, for one, am a huge fan. I think if left to his own devices, Morgan would've pulled with Ford what Hotch did to the Reaper, so it's probably best that people intervened.

I'm not sure how his family is supposed to process everything that happened, but I suppose we're left thinking that they'll just find a new version of normal. With a grandson in the fold now, too.

So congrats to Uncle Derek, and welcome home Cindi. I'm glad they've given Morgan some more development, and that his sister came out of that crash in one piece. All is right in the BAU universe it seems. At least for now.