‘Criminal Minds’ season 11, episode 17 review: Did ‘The Sandman’ bring new Derek Morgan shocker?

On Wednesday night’s new episode of “Criminal Minds,” we had a story entitled “The Sandman” that proved, at least for the most part, to be a standard episode of the show. However, all of that changed in the closing seconds.

Just one week removed from seeing the Derek Morgan character fight for his life, we saw him tonight having to do so yet again as a gunshot was fired. We did not see his body fall, but we clearly know at this point that someone does want him dead, and this is something that could remain a storyline moving into the next episode.

If Shemar Moore’s character was to go right now, it’d be a very different thing to bear. He’s beloved, and we’ve already seen him suffer. Losing him now could be devastating, and unfortunately we cannot give you any real answers / solace one way or another at the moment.

As for the rest of the episode, it was certainly creepy / terrifying courtesy of seeing the child abductions. This is always something that is incredibly difficult to watch, and it was certainly no exception here. Of course, creatively the challenge that this does present is that thanks to the ending and the seemingly-happy time for Morgan that came up before that, it’s really hard to focus one way or another on what we actually ended up seeing in most of it. It was pretty familiar for the show by all accounts. Now, we’re embarking on a seven-day wait in which we shall be eternally stressed out. Episode Grade: B.

If you want to preview the next new episode of “Criminal Minds” right now, be sure to head over to the link here now! Also, sign up over here to secure some more TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)