page_title: Derek Morgan (Criminal Minds)
section_title: Behavioral Analysis Unit
hierarchical_section_title: Derek Morgan (Criminal Minds) / Behavioral Analysis Unit
caption_attribution_description: Filming of the TV show Criminal Minds in Simi Valley, California.
context_page_description: Derek “Swat Man” Morgan is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, portrayed by Emmy Award winner Shemar Moore. Morgan specializes in fixations and obsessive behaviors. He is a Supervisory Special Agent of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, and has appeared from the series' pilot episode "Extreme Aggressor", which was originally broadcast on September 22, 2005. Before he left in season 11, he was one of only three main characters to appear since the first season as "starring", while also becoming the only character to appear in all episodes.
  Throughout the series, Morgan flirts with the team's technical analyst Penelope Garcia. However, the relationship is platonic. He also is shown to be confident and assertive, along with being very protective towards Spencer Reid, whom he helps to pick up girls. He is the muscle of the team, and usually storms in when a suspect requires physical apprehension.
context_section_description: Morgan is at one point a candidate to replace SSA Kate Joyner (Sienna Guillory) as Unit Chief of the New York FBI field office. Hotchner does not recommend him for the position, however, due to concerns that Morgan does not have enough trust in his coworkers. However, after Joyner is killed by an IED in the fourth-season premiere, Hotchner tells Morgan that the job is his if he wants it. Nevertheless, Morgan chooses not to take the position, and remained with the BAU.
  Because of his experiences as a teenager, Morgan seems to bear a lingering hostility towards organized religion, but he still prays, even going so far as to visit a church. He is very charming, and has been seen flirting with many women, even dancing with several at a time in a bar. Morgan once asked out Jordan Todd, only later realizing that she would be his coworker. However, as with most BAU agents, a long-term stable romantic relationship has eluded him, until Season 11, where he announces his marriage to his girlfriend, Savannah Hayes. They eventually had a son named Hank Spencer Morgan, naming him after Derek's father and Dr. Spencer Reid, a fellow BAU member and friend.
  Morgan is intensely devoted to his coworkers, especially Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia. They have a bantering, sweet, flirtatious relationship. Morgan often calls her "baby girl", "doll face" or "sweetness"—having first used the term when he did not know her name, he continued doing so when she seemed to like it. In the aftermath of the New York bombing that killed SSA Joyner, Morgan told Garcia that she was his "God-given solace" after jumping out of an ambulance which was about to blow up. Morgan's close relationship with Garcia was made especially clear after she was shot by a perpetrator of hero homicide; while taking her home from the hospital, Morgan said to Garcia: "I love you, you know that right?", and then insisted on staying with her to protect her, eventually saving her life, until the perpetrator was killed.
  Morgan has a close friendship with SSA Dr. Spencer Reid, akin to that of a protective older brother figure. Morgan frequently makes friendly banter with Reid, and attempts to help him with his love life. In the episode "Revelations," he is particularly distressed and prone to violent outbursts after he witnesses Reid's torture live while Reid is held prisoner by a serial killer. Even going as far as stating that he would put the unsub's "head on a stick". Morgan often calls him "Doc", "Kid", "Genius", or "Pretty Boy" and they frequently tease each other and exchange banter, even going as far as having a joke war in the episode "Painless". Morgan also gave Reid advice on how to pick up girls at a bar after he unsuccessfully tried to hand out flyers, and in conjunction with Emily Prentiss, he is one of two people who knew that Reid was experiencing extremely painful headaches that may or may not have been related to the possibility of schizophrenia.
  He also has a close friendship with Agent Emily Prentiss. After she joined the team in season 2, they immediately bonded due to their mutual love of Kurt Vonnegut books. Morgan is protective of Prentiss, but their relationship is never shown beyond the bureau. In the episode 6x17 "Valhalla", Morgan tells Prentiss that she can "trust him", and that he is there for her no matter what. In Prentiss's final episode as a series regular, 6x18 "Lauren", she disappears after walking out of the BAU to go and confront her nemesis, Ian Doyle. At the end of the episode after being stabbed in the abdomen by Doyle, Morgan rushes to her side to try to save her.  She tells him to let her go, and he responds by saying "No, no, I am not letting you go."  Then he says, "Listen to me, I know why you did all of this, and I know what you did for Declan.  I am so proud of you.  Do you understand that?  I am proud of you because you are my friend, and you are my partner,"  to which then, Emily starts to fade in and out of consciousness while Morgan is holding her hand. At the hospital, J.J. tells the team that Prentiss, "never made it off the ta
caption: Shemar Moore filming in 2010
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