Criminal Minds Review: In Bad Company

at .

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.

Morgan Comes Clean With Rossi

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.

The Company Review

Editor Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
  • 4.0 / 5.0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
User Rating:

Rating: 4.6 / 5.0 (163 Votes)
Show Comments
Tags: ,

Criminal Minds Season 7 Episode 20 Quotes

Agent Prentiss: So your cousin fled Chicago eight years ago because a coworker was stalking her?
Agent Morgan: Yeah a guy named John Hitchens. Cindy and Yvonne came to me and asked me if they should be worried. Her emails and phone log showed classic stalker behavior.
Dr. Reid: Multiple messages every hour. Gifts he sent which she later returned. That would enrage a stalker.
Agent Morgan: But until they become violent, they're smart enough to skirt the law.

Agent Morgan: Look, I need to come clean about something. I lied about someone being dead.
Agent Hotchner: What do you mean?
Last year, that fisherman UnSub who was dumping the bodies in the Atlantic claimed that my cousin was one of his victims.
Hotch: Falsely, you deduced that he'd never met her.
Morgan: I told my family it was him. Cindy had been missing for eight years and my aunt needed closure. And even though I kept looking, I lied because I wanted my family to move on. But now there's evidence she's alive.