I'm normally toli-a on tumblr, started watching Criminal Minds and delighting in Hotch/Morgan content, so it's here. I've only seen a few seasons, but feel free to send prompts!
i feel like enough people don't put stock into how intelligent morgan is and it really disturbs my soul. y'all know he literally graduated from a T10 law school right...
I'm watching The Lake House and imagining it as a Hotchgan AU. Morgan goes to DC in 2000 with the ATF as part of an undercover operation to source international ties to a local gun smuggler.
He renovates a house in the spare time he doesn't have, claims to be building in a secret basement when the cartel asks, but when he checks the mail, there's a letter from someone named "Hotch" who would like his mail forwarded. Derek looks around the house (no kitchen, no working plumbing, nothing), and writes back to find out if this Hotch is crazy or living in a derelict house. Hotch says it's 2002. Hotch says a lot of things, but none of them make any sense.
It's 2002 and Hotch has been separated from his wife for a year (living in a nicely renovated house that a bartender had handed him the keys to, said it was meant to be his) when the BAU gets involved--too late--in a joint FBI-ATF operation. An undercover agent's life is on the line. There's a mole, Gideon hunts him down through the files and Aaron speeds through the night to the waterfront to try to stop the disaster that's about to occur.
He fails. The agent dies saving Hotch's life, when Hotch was there to save his. He has the gall to look happy about it while Hotch is there trying to press the blood back into the man's chest.
He takes a leave from the BAU. He moves back in with Haley at her insistence, mostly because the hospital thinks he's married and she tells them he can recover from the injuries that didn't kill him at "home". He keeps going back to the house, though. He checks the mail and finds a letter from some man named Derek who insists that it's two years ago. (He falls in love.)
(So does Derek. It's why he smiles, at the end, when he saves Aaron's life.)
I am trying, trying to finish this stupid ghost!Aaron fic, and it would be so much easier if Aaron and Derek would stop talking to each other. Boys. Please. Let's just kill Foyet and end this, yes?
Sometimes, you try to write a story. And then you need a teenager to say something to a young Derek Morgan. And then you think about song lyrics the unnamed teenager might quote. And then you find yourself two hours into the roots of (east coast, because the Chicago scene is later, apparently) hip hop and (while you have learned a lot) none of the lyrics are useful for this random person to quote and have you written any of the story?
Watching 3x2 "In Name and Blood" again, because @dragonsdaughterxx mentioned the implication of Haley cheating on Hotch, then wound up watching the whole episode because I love it.
First of all, having just watched 4x1, where Hotch refuses to recommend Morgan and then says, "My opinion doesn't matter," it's hilarious to see the earlier version of that, where he says, "You'll get a new unit chief ... Maybe the next one won't be such a drill sergeant." (This one is much cattier, I love petty Hotch.)
But in both of these he's attempting to downplay his importance to Morgan, and in neither of them does Morgan allow it to stand.
Then there's the file! Why does Garcia give him the file? Supposedly because she thinks of it (because it clearly isn't JJ), but while it is like Garcia to prevent the transfers in the computer, a lure with a case file? That sounds more like Morgan. Especially because Morgan isn't surprised when Hotch has details about the case. (This is obviously a headcanon, but a fun one.)
Then the house phone rings, and no one says anything. Then Haley's phone rings. And rings. Such a good, tensely awkward moment where she's angry about the case file and he's now reevaluating what he's giving up versus the life he'd be getting. When he says "I'd have a 9 to 5 life," he sounds extremely disparaging, and like he's quoting her. (Then he calls Morgan! "Thanks man," Morgan says, like a goodbye, and Hotch asks something else to stay on the phone.)
This is how Morgan knows it's okay to beg him to come, I think. Hotch took the case file. Hotch called. Hotch stays on the phone. (Morgan checks the system before he calls, and the transfer isn't there.) And, choosing between doing what Morgan needs and what Haley needs, he chooses Morgan. ("I can't just switch off my loyalty," he tells her, and it's such a good part of the argument and a dig at her, because he knows now that--even if she has plans to fix their marriage if he transfers--she can switch off her loyalty for whoever was on the phone.)
Such a good episode! (Also, Hotch shakes Morgan's hand twice but that is insufficient physical contact so each time he also reaches up and touches Morgan's arm. "You're not gonna leave us?" Morgan asks, and this whole episode has been framed as the loss of Hotch's marriage, but the picture in that frame is that it's lost to Morgan.
Gideon's last words are that he's looking for the belief in happy endings, and you see Prentiss in her empty apartment staring at all the politics and Hotch in his empty home and Reid in the empty cabin and Gideon, lost and wandering, because of course they're showing you there are no happy endings in the BAU. But you know who you don't see? Morgan. Because Hotch stayed.)
Now I FINALLY have time to appreciate your posts and here I am.
Does he go there? No. No, he heads for the bomb site, and it's a thing of beauty.
I got to rewatch 4x01 properly after a long time, and that scene really is a thing of beauty. I already loved that tense, high-stakes scene where Morgan arrives and runs toward Hotch, but seeing it with your analysis let me appreciate it with ten times more detail.
Morgan--canonically famous for defusing tensions between local law enforcement and the FBI--shouts
I remember Morgan’s background as a former cop was used a few times as a device to ease the suspicion and pushback from local police. It was such a charming point. Morgan was so desperate that he rushed at the man in charge without caring about his surroundings.
I love these details you pointed out. Especially how you captured that short moment where he waits for Hotch's order, and the fact that he didn't even draw his gun despite being more than aware of the danger.
(More baffling that Capt. Warner doesn't report the unauthorized ambulance? Very confusing.) 😂 So true.
Familiar with it, which brings up the delightful idea that he's dealt with an unwell and unmanageable Hotchner before.
Absolutely he has! I remember a scene in the middle of 1x15 where Morgan and Hotch talk like real friends. It was a short conversation while searching a house, but they really felt like friends there. I think it’s a scene that lets us glimpse how they might have been before the pilot, back when Hotch wasn't the Unit Chief. A younger, non-boss Hotch would have been even more feisty and unmanageable than he is now, I think. Then it would have been Morgan who handled him! (And vice versa, of course.) I love this idea.
This is what they do. And the beauty of Hotchgan and several years pre-canon, is one can assume they've done something almost exactly like this before. I love it so much.
but clearly Morgan told the team he was going to the ambulance and equally clearly no one else thought they needed to go with him.
Huh, I couldn't deny it at all. If Morgan hadn't said anything, how would Reid have known that "he went to find the ambulance"?
(Both things can of course be true, though one can point out that Morgan was entrusting hundreds of New Yorkers' lives in Garcia's hands as he drove where he was told.)
Very good point. Honestly, I don't understand why Hotch says Morgan doesn't trust anyone. Of course, I might not be remembering the episodes correctly (which is likely) or my observation skills might not be that great, but still. (The only thing I remember about Morgan's trust issues is him questioning if Gideon was sane in early Season 1. But in that situation, it was weirder if no one was suspicious. I can't imagine someone being perfectly fine just six months after such a traumatic tragedy. Actually, I think it's even a bit strange that Hotch and Morgan seem so fine. Anyway Morgan's doubt was justified, and I think it's a much better attitude as an agent than just blindly thinking everything will be okay.)
He just needs to flutter a fan and say, "But what do I know? I'm only your boss," long accent on that 'o'.
Oh it sounds cute. I barely know about Southern belles and their tactics, but I love it when Hotch acts like that. I don't know exactly what to call it… elegant? Aristocratic? Proper? Anyway, it suits him well, especially since his voice is always so calm and soft; it really completes that whole vibe.
Morgan isn't having it. Perfect.
And… the lines that I didn't understand well. After reading your post, I truly understand the meaning and the subtext behind them now. (And I realized the subtitles on Disney+ are actually terrible.) Your guess on why Morgan didn't answer and why Hotch said "My life matters to me" resonates with me so much. It's such a brilliant analysis. And the end of this post is absolutely great. Like you said, this episode is the "Hotchgan Gospel" and your post is the Apostle of that Gospel. (It's better than wedding vows. I agree 100%.)
Thanks to your analysis, I was able to fully immerse myself in this episode and watch it in a much richer and more fun way than when I watched it alone—through Hotchgan lens. I know there are a few more posts I haven't read yet. I'll read all of them soon. I’m always grateful that you take the time to write these high-quality responses to my asks. I'm so busy lately, but your writing gives me some much-needed breathing room and makes me truly happy.
Nonnie, I've missed you! I was afraid I'd scared you off with my Lo-Fi/Mayhem saga. 😂 I'm so glad you enjoyed my thoughts! (And am very flattered to be an apostle to Hotchgan.)
I have two fun headcanon theories about Hotch's obsession with Morgan's "trust issues" and your mention of Morgan not trusting Gideon. (These aren't canon, but they're my canon.)
You're right, Morgan absolutely doesn't trust Gideon the first few episodes. We know from the pilot that Morgan wasn't in Boston but was supposed to be. We know he's got serious reservations about allowing Gideon back into the field. And we know, from a few episodes later, that he doesn't want to be in the field with Gideon and a bomb.
What that says to me? At some point after Boston, because Morgan wasn't there, Gideon told Morgan he should have been there. (To fix it, maybe. Looking for someone to blame. Gideon is, after all, going through a nervous breakdown and a lot of people are dead.) But what Morgan hears is that Gideon thinks he should pay for Gideon's mistakes. That he should be dead.
(Hotch asks what Morgan thinks about letting Gideon back in the field, in the pilot. He brushes Reid off when Reid asks about it, which implies that Reid's got very little to do with the decision and no real stake in the outcome. But he wants to hear what Morgan thinks. He's worried, I think, that maybe Gideon shouldn't be there. That Morgan won't be able to work with him either way. That implies something more specific about Morgan's eroded trust.)
2. When Hotch complains that Morgan doesn't trust anyone, what he seems to mean is that he doesn't know everything about Morgan all the time and he needs to. He doesn't do this with anyone else on the team! But he has a whole meltdown about Morgan's secrets in 2x12 and Gideon tells him he's being ridiculous. (Does he care about Reid's childhood? Prentiss's secrets? Rossi's reasons for coming back? Not really. Only when they work their way into the job. Does he get mad that he didn't already know JJ's sister committed suicide? No. He only gets mad at Morgan.)
Does Morgan not trust parts of himself to people? Oh yeah. But so does everyone else on the team, including Hotch. Hotch just doesn't like it when he feels like he doesn't have all of Morgan in any given situation. (It comes back to the end of 4x1 being a conversation about losing Morgan: to an explosion, to a promotion. Hotch doesn't want to lose Morgan. Hotch doesn't like any piece of Morgan being outside of his grasp.)
Also, it is adorable that you described Hotch's Southern belle tactics as cute. Most people who actually have to deal with such tactics find them incredibly annoying. However, Hotch is always cute, even when Morgan wants to strangle him. ("What does it matter what I think, I'm just -" I think at some point Morgan starts interrupting Hotch to shout, "Because I asked! It matters that you answer the question!") Sometimes Chicago and Virginia relationships suffer from regional differences. 😄
I am trying, trying to finish this stupid ghost!Aaron fic, and it would be so much easier if Aaron and Derek would stop talking to each other. Boys. Please. Let's just kill Foyet and end this, yes?
In the stunning conclusion of my long-winded reply to this ask, here are my thoughts on 4x01, "Mayhem." (From an extremely Hotchgan angle. For 3x20, see here and here.) (Other responses: x x x x x x)
First of all, Hotch's flashback as he's watching the aftermath of the bombing, reassuring Kate that they'll get the guy, fits in very much with the way his relationship with Kate has been framed so far. (He takes charge more than he claims to, he defends her, he steps in to save the day. And of course it's foreshadowing for how he's going to fail, but it's also interesting to think that this is the end of a season that began with his marriage falling apart, began when he rode out to save the day and never tried to at home.)
Second, of course Morgan showing up at the scene is where it gets interesting. He knows something's wrong, and he's headed back to Federal Plaza where he knows Reid and Rossi are, where he also knows it's the best place to regroup and plan. Does he go there? No. No, he heads for the bomb site, and it's a thing of beauty.
He's out of the car and already running, badge out and open, immediately looking for the man in charge. "I'm looking for Agent Hotchner. Aaron Hotchner." He doesn't, at this point, know that it's Hotch's car that blew up. But he's not looking for anyone else, and he's not taking no for an answer.
And it gets even better! He hears Hotch shouting, and for a moment he stops, listens, says, "Hotch," quietly. He's not talking to any of those men, not right then. He's locating exactly who he was looking for, a voice he can recognize over sirens, past a barricade in the dark.
He very nearly runs into someone's gun. Morgan--canonically famous for defusing tensions between local law enforcement and the FBI--shouts, "I don't care what your orders are!" at the man in charge in front of everyone within earshot.
Then he proceeds to profile him. He goes from "that's my boss" to "I'm not gonna let my man lay down there like that," and while it warms the Hotchgan heart to hear that, I assume he switched phrasing specifically to reference the "never leave a man behind."
And it works, though it seems to work partly because poor Warner's other option is to let his men shoot Morgan, who clearly isn't leaving.
Then Morgan sprints down the road shouting "Hotch!", because it's not enough to get there, no, he needs to answer Hotch's cry for help, he needs to let him know he's coming. And Morgan's not dumb. He knows what the orders were, and he knows why: he knows the area is still dangerous. But his gun isn't out and he isn't moving slowly enough to use it if it was, since he has to skid to a stop before he reaches Hotch and Kate.
He immediately defers to Hotch, despite the fact that Hotch is clearly in bad condition himself. Then Garcia calls and Morgan is half on his feet because he knows Hotch is going to send him after the bomber, but he still waits for the order. (Loyal. Semper Fi, Capt. Warner might have said, though he probably would have shaken his head as he did.)
(More baffling that Capt. Warner doesn't report the unauthorized ambulance? Very confusing.)
(Second side note: "Thank your partner, he did it all," is an amazing thing for a terrorist to say to the local head of the FBI when what he's doing is putting a giant bomb under a hospital. Love that. Hotch is definitely going to remember that line in his nightmares.)
Morgan strides into the hospital again, badge ready. (This badge he's used twice in a few hours to immediately direct everyone's attention to Hotch. This badge Foyet takes later in season four and uses to leave Hotch at a hospital. Imagine how Morgan feels, learning that.)
He doesn't ask about Kate (he already knows, as is made clear later). "How's Aaron Hotchner?" Then he hears Hotch being difficult and immediately heads toward the sound. Familiar with it, which brings up the delightful idea that he's dealt with an unwell and unmanageable Hotchner before. (You see it in 2x19, that one of the things Gideon and Morgan do is care for Hotch.)
Morgan deals with Hotch, "Stop, calm down," a hand out, and also tells the doctor to stand down, though his voice is softer, kinder when directs Hotch. Hotch immediately turns to Morgan with his questions. Morgan answers, and one suspects that he was the one who knew the clothes needed to be brought from the hotel post haste, because who else on the team would be worrying about Hotch's luggage?
He doesn't tell Hotch to stop thinking about the case, but it's clear from his short, calm answers, that he knows where Hotch is going with the questions: the profile is wrong. (This is what they do. And the beauty of Hotchgan and several years pre-canon, is one can assume they've done something almost exactly like this before.)
The team goes to the hospital, and Hotch is already dressed, tie on. Morgan stands back a little, but he's watching Hotch. He's right: one target. He keeps watching Hotch after he speaks, and Hotch looks back at him.
Also, somewhat hilariously, they realize the bomber is going to try to detonate the bomb manually and Hotch says, "Where's Morgan?" and Read says he went down to the ambulance. "Alone?" Hotch says, sounding shocked, but clearly Morgan told the team he was going to the ambulance and equally clearly no one else thought they needed to go with him. (And why would they? Morgan has been sent into absurdly dangerous situations alone the entire series.)
And then the end! I love the end. Hotch is outside with his all important duffel bag, and Morgan strides up going "uh uh uh uh." He's joking, playful. Canon doesn't explain why, so there are a few options: he knows Hotch is about to be irked that he's driving and he's trying to lighten the mood in advance. He knows Hotch is going to be irked and he's trying to make him more irritated just for fun. He knows they have a lot of air to clear and there's no point in starting out serious and angry? Could be anything.
"Don't you have something better to do?" Hotch asks, looking annoyed, though Morgan is perfectly honest that he's the one who had Agent Davis reassigned.
"Than annoy you for three hours?" Morgan replies, and there's the hint of a smile. "Hell no." And he arches his eyebrows just a little, waiting. "Give me the keys," Hotch says, and presumably this is what Morgan was waiting for, since there's absolutely no pause before he says no.
"Let's go," he says, gesturing Hotch forward, and Hotch goes.
Then he starts innocuous conversation about who the target was, but Hotch refuses to play nice. He shuts that down and instead says, "Quantico's requested that you transfer to run the New York office."
It's a challenge. It's a shove. And Morgan's response isn't to accept or deny: it's to bring up Kate. That she existed. That there should be respect for her absence.
Then, in a question it's hard to tell if both of them were expecting or not, "Don't I need your recommendation?" Hotch doesn't answer, and Morgan waits a moment before continuing, "You didn't give it, did you?" but--and this is crucial--he doesn't sound surprised. Makes it look like he brought up the recommendation specifically because he already knew or suspected that Hotch hadn't given it. (Makes you wonder if he already knew about the transfer request, too.)
Hotch claims Morgan still doesn't trust anyone, and Morgan replies that he did it for the team. (Both things can of course be true, though one can point out that Morgan was entrusting hundreds of New Yorkers' lives in Garcia's hands as he drove where he was told.)
"My opinion doesn't matter," Hotch says, turns away. I can only assume that Hotch learned this tactic from his Southern belle mother, because this is spot-on Southern belle. He just needs to flutter a fan and say, "But what do I know? I'm only your boss," long accent on that 'o'.
Morgan isn't having it. "Hotch," he says, sharper than he's said it all episode. "Your opinion matters to me." He emphasizes the "me" part, refuses to let Hotch hide behind "Quantico" or "we're at war," forces Hotch to turn and face him.
"My life matters to me," Hotch tells him, and it's honest, but it's also calculated. "And I have and always will entrust you with it." (It's the "always will" that kills me here. Hotch is like, "I'm going to refuse to recommend you for a promotion and try like hell to make you leave me on the side of the road here, but if someone shot at me after all this I would still assume you would stop them." It's better than wedding vows.) "Would you do the same for me?"
It makes Morgan pause. Work his jaw and look away, the way Hotch has been trying to look away. They both look at the SUV, the same make and model of the one that got Kate killed. "Still wanna drive?" Hotch asks, because again, he was honest but calculated, still trying to escape three honest hours in a car with Morgan.
It doesn't work. But it does leave the question of why Morgan doesn't answer. The implication is that he doesn't trust his life to Hotch, but anyone who's made it through three seasons knows that he trusts his life to Hotch all the time. Constantly. He has no problem deferring to Hotch's authority even when he already has his own ideas, and even in this episode, even after he openly questions Hotch's priorities, he still defers to Hotch and brings him information to let him make the calls.
(Except with the ambulance, but again, it's not like he sneaks off, and he only drives away when it's clear there's no time for anything else. The team is doing things like that all the time.)
Would you do the same for me? sounds like it must mean, "would you entrust me with your life?" but the answer is clearly yes. If that's the focus, one can only assume Morgan doesn't answer because he's spent years listening to Hotch complain about his trust issues and he knows that this is just how Hotch reacts whenever he's upset that Morgan almost died and also wants to make Morgan suffer, too. (This is totally an option. Morgan gets sick of it by season 7, but Hotch brings up Morgan's trust issues in season 2 and Morgan's lack of trust in Gideon is a hallmark of the first episodes, so one can only assume Hotch has been all about Morgan's trust issues since before episode one.)
But! Hotch could have just said, "I trust you with my life, could you say the same for me?" But he doesn't. He starts out with, "My life matters to me." And maybe that's what keeps Morgan quiet. Because that's a different conversation. That's a conversation that underlies Morgan's response of "I did it for the team."
The implication is that Morgan has no problem stepping up for the team. Dying for the team. The conversation might be about trust, but it might also be that Hotch has lost someone he thought he could protect and he almost lost Morgan and Morgan thought that was acceptable. (Morgan could go to New York and Hotch could lose him. Morgan could storm out of Federal Plaza--take a walk, now--and maybe Hotch would never see him again.) You don't trust me, Hotch implies, but underneath that he says does your life matter to you?
Morgan doesn't answer. But he doesn't leave. Because, of course, that's the third thing. Hotch has aimed every word since this conversation began at convincing Morgan to give him the keys and walk away. It's a conversation aimed at losing Morgan. It's a conversation about losing Morgan.
More on the ask about Lo-Fi/Mayem, I'm not even through 3x20. (Oops!)
I love Derek's conversation with Rossi at the bar. (Also love Derek holding any beverage.)
"There are no sides," Rossi says, but Derek's right that Aaron has been taking Kate's side over Derek's. (Rossi likes to say pithy things. It makes him a best-selling author.)
But the whole conversation is a great look into what Derek's thinking!
"Would you take the job?" Dave wants to know, and Derek stands there, caught, looking like a man who knows that an hour ago he'd have said no without even thinking about it, but now -
"I don't know," he answers, pensive. "It might be nice to finally be the one making the calls." That obviously speaks to how upset he is about the shooting and the shouting earlier, but also that he's tired. And Rossi's right about the politics not being Derek's thing, but Derek's a profiler, and his follow up -
"The BAU wears people out, man," he says, and that's the heart of it. Gideon ran, Hotch has faded into nothing but the job (and I love that Derek is keeping track both of Aaron's personal days and conversations with Jack, I like to pretend that he's the colleague that Aaron mentions in 4x13 who bought Jack a gift and asks Aaron if he liked it). Derek is right to be worried, and he knows it, because he's a good profiler.
(My little hotchgan heart also loves that he focuses on Aaron not smiling and on Rossi's failed marriages, because that makes the scene a few moments ago look exactly like an ongoing series of explosions in a relationship made more difficult by the job. If you add in his mention of Gideon running, it fits right in with Derek thinking about running to the job in NY)
The next scene in the office is fun to watch everyone's eye contact. Derek apologizes to Kate, mostly looks at her even when talking to Aaron who mostly looks at Dave. They have not quite made up yet.
All right, on to 4x01! (Though PS, the car doors and the explosion, fucking brilliant season end, especially given that this was the strike year so seasons got shortened. Three months waiting to find out who dies? Agonizing. I love it.)
(PPS: Forgot to mention that for Aaron acting like Derek's out of line, he's perfectly happy to direct all the people heading to briefings even though once again, she technically outranks him and it's her field office. However, Derek probably doesn't even notice, since he's so used to doing what Aaron asks.)
Continuing the ongoing extended reply to this ask, I'm now at:
If you don’t mind, I’d love to hear your opinions on the Season 3 finale and the Season 4 premiere. Specifically, the conversation between Hotch and Morgan at the end of 4x01. I’m thinking about Hotch’s line: "My life matters to me and I have and always will entrust you with it. Would you do the same for me?" To be honest, I never fully understood why that line came up at that specific moment.
So! The Lo-fi/Mayhem arc, the foundation of so many Hotchgan headcanons. (Please insert all the swooning and hearts here.)
This is 3x20, because I have a lot to say, but next post will be 4x01, but oh am I excited about getting to that line in 4x01! (This is absolutely the Hotchgan goggles version of 3x20/4x1, just so everyone knows.)
We begin with Aaron getting a call. He's already there late at night, and he sounds friendly, knows the person on the other end of the line. They get on the plane and Derek brings up Kate, "I heard she can be a little bit of a pain In the ass."
Everyone else seems surprised that Aaron knows her, but Derek doesn't, and he has a habit of trying to ascertain Aaron's feelings with challenges. I'd like to think Derek knows Aaron liased with Kate and he's trying to tug at the line of that to get a read on it by throwing out a challenging comment. (What does he learn? He learns that Aaron knows a lot about her and is willing to defend her, and he files that information away.)
Then we move to New York, where all three BAU women immediately place Kate as a romantic interest to Aaron. (JJ says she looks like Haley. Emily says they liaised.) She is, as Derek stated, a little bit of a pain in the ass.
When she asks to speak with Aaron in private, Derek keeps watching, still trying to tug at the line of their relationship to get a good read on it. She asks about Derek and Aaron gets his "excuse me?" look on his face, which he generally gets before he defends one of his agents to someone.
The next time we see the three of them together is after another murder. Kate asks the older NYPD detective about Son of Sam, so I like to think that either Rossi or Derek (who are the ones the detective tells about being a beat cop then) told Aaron to suggest it to her to smooth things over a little. Then Derek says they probably won't get much from the footage and she is publicly denigrating.
I love the conversation that follows! Derek asks and you can see Aaron think for a moment before answering, and pause another moment before admitting that Derek's at the top of the list to replace her. ("We don't lie," he tells Jordan in season four, but even more than that he knows he has to be careful with Derek's trust specifically, and Derek will accept that Aaron sometimes doesn't say things only if he does say them when it's needed. Watch Derek's eyes move back and forth, reading Aaron's face before he says anything.)
Then he asks why Derek is surprised, but Derek is surprised because he clearly hasn't heard any whisper of this and it's not an SAC job like most field offices but an assistant director job (NYC, DC, LA), so he'd be leapfrogging right over Aaron in promotions. If Aaron is surprised to hear it from Kate, of course Derek is surprised! (I also like to think that whenever there are whispers of promoting Derek, Aaron very carefully squashes them before they can reach the team.)
He also compliments Derek! Before all the glorious tension in the rest of this arc, he says, "you're good at your job. People notice that." And, in the way of them, he says it almost like a challenge. Derek doesn't answer it, but he does soften a little, redirects the conversation to Kate.
They walk back into the building together, Aaron holds the door for all of them and then he and Derek stay together all the way to watching the video.
Then Derek suggests hitting the streets, explains why when Kate doesn't like the idea. That's not unusual: the BAU frequently demands to be involved, they push hard to get their way even against FBI offices. (Derek learned it from Gideon. Aaron no doubt learned it from him and Rossi and Max Ryan.) He doesn't say they won't deliver the profile; he says they could hit the likely areas afterward and the profile could be passed along.
What's unusual is that Aaron intervenes. He almost never does with any of the team, and he's worked with Derek long enough to know that at no point at least in the show has Derek ever run roughshod over the local authorities (or even Gideon, despite thinking maybe he shouldn't have been there and arguing with him frequently). He doesn't need to intervene--and quite frankly, it takes away from Kate's authority as well--but he does. Derek subsides, but it makes Kate look like she needs protecting and Aaron look like he cares more about that than the case, since he doesn't even address why covering the subway stops with people trained to recognize killers might be handy.
(Brief aside. Derek isn't in the hotel lobby later, so it's not a Hotchgan moment, but Aaron's voice goes so high when he tells JJ she could have told him. He's so upset she didn't trust him with the news of her pregnancy. And maybe, my Hotchgan brain says, a little shaky because he knows he just cost himself some of Derek's respect.)
Aaron isn't at the profile the next morning, but Derek is. Derek starts it, Derek defuses the angry cops (traditional to his usual canon role as the cop go between), Derek looks mildly irritated at Kate interjecting since apparently the whole point of not putting them on the streets was that they specifically need to the deliver the profile.
Then there's the next shooting. And Derek was right! He does overreact and he should drop it, but quite frankly the show is constantly validating emotional overreactions from the team, so it's not like they're the epitome of professionalism. (By the end of season 3, the team has allowed JJ's emotions to bully them into more than one case.)
And again, it should be Derek and Kate. But Aaron steps in, and not in the way he normally does, where he's sympathetic and trying to move forward. He pushes back, he mimics Kate, "we're here to deliver the profile," (not do anything else, though the BAU has been left to actually convince the cops she's alienated to work with them), and then he says, "It's not your place to have this discussion."
He is lucky at this point that Derek does not have a drink to throw at him. Like, yes, Rossi is right that Derek got too emotionally involved, but, "My place?" is the nicest response Derek could have made. "What the fuck did you just say?" would also have been completely in line.
On top of getting louder and aggressive, which is unusual for Aaron, who normally meets emotional outbursts by modeling calm, it's an incredibly insulting thing to say. Aaron in season one hands the reins of the case to Derek several times, asks for his opinion, treats him repeatedly as a senior member of the team. Derek at the beginning of season three is leading the team (not officially) and unhappily coping with Strauss.
Furthermore, while I certainly don't think the show intends to make Aaron racist, telling a Black man it's not his place is. Bad. (Had he said that to one of the women the show would have had him getting yelled at and of course proven wrong by the woman in question. He would have been called a misogynist. But not a racist?) He could have easily said, "This is not the place for this," which would have been fine. True! They could have adjourned somewhere! He could have suggested another task! He could have asked Derek to go talk to Garcia! Clearly, the goal is to point out that Derek doesn't run the NYC field office, but not in any way well done. (Also, a good team leader doesn't put his team down in public, also contributing to the not the place concept. The "you need to back off" could have been a "let's table this for now," and again it's a fascinating look into Aaron's own upset that it isn't!)
Then it gets even tenser. Derek's upset. He's upset that he just watched a murder, he's more upset that he feels like they could have done something, he's now upset that Aaron just said whatever the fuck that was to him, and he says, "seven bodies, man."
Here's what's interesting! Normally, when the team is too emotional, Aaron does the good psychology angle. He hears them, he know, he understands, and then he redirects their attention to what they can be doing and what he wants them to do.
He doesn't do that here. It shows how off-kilter his own emotional regulation is at this point, that instead of handling Derek like he normally handles the team, he leans in and snaps, "Which is why we need to stay focused."
Derek's eyebrows go up. Derek, as far as he can tell, has been focused. But--and I love this!--Derek gets very quiet to respond with, "From where I'm standing, all your focus is on her."
At this point he's talking to Aaron. Not shouting at a local agent who isn't listening, not emotionally distraught at his boss. No. This is quiet. Personal.
And it hits. Kate rolls her eyes, but Aaron is livid. He gets quiet, too. Again, it's personal now. "Take a walk," he whispers, and it's quiet. It's angry. "Now."
Derek goes, but it doesn't end the tension. Aaron leans against the desk, looking like he's gotten the wind knocked out of him.
From this post where I made the comparison ("You couldn't have waited?") between 5x6 (Morgan saying it to Hotch) and 3x17 (Hotch saying it to Morgan), @masterwords has correctly (and with her beautifully screen-capped receipts!) pointed out that Prentiss is in both of them.
Again, this is clearly an intentional call back to 3x17. (Between 3x16 with Reid and 3x17 with Morgan, Hotch is having a very miserable week as SAC.) But! In 3x17, Hotch comes up to Morgan alone (he happens to be followed be the rest of the team, but he's certainly not inviting them into the conversation), and Morgan takes the blame even though it's not actually his choice. Prentiss does make a face, but nobody looks to her for that, and Morgan certainly doesn't make it flippant.
Why does Morgan take the blame? From Prentiss's face, it's because he thinks the Miami detective is hot. And Morgan is certainly flirty, but he's flirty a lot. (Early season 1 where he tells Reid he doesn't date women with guns, later that season with the CIA, etc.) Even when he's talking to her right before that, he lets her make assumptions and he doesn't set any concrete plans.
(We don't see a lot of it, but based on what both JJ and Savannah say in later seasons, I think that Morgan is king of the soft no. "Would have loved to, but the plane headed out, definitely keep me in mind next time." "Ooh, mama, that sounds amazing, but you know I don't mix business and pleasure." Which fits in well with my Hotchgan theory that both Hotch and Morgan play this game: Morgan smiles and leans in to Prentiss in 2x16 and Hotch appears with a hand at Morgan's back and a case. "You know Hotch keeps us running," Morgan says, bowing out of a date, and Hotch makes sure to have a list of emergencies just in case Morgan considers getting a girlfriend.)
At any rate, I think Morgan takes the blame because he knows Hotch. Hotch looks pissed, but he doesn't say anything, and I like to think it's because they both know Morgan is lying. And Morgan knows the "Hotch scale" of good and bad (like he tells Jordan in season 4), and the Miami detective very nearly got a lot of people (including Morgan) killed. That's not good on a regular scale and bad on a Hotch scale. Morgan can handle Hotch, but he knows if he's honest then Hotch is going to leave the Miami PD extremely unhappy.
At any rate, it's a fascinating parallel, because Morgan takes the blame in 3x17 for endangering people when it's not actually his fault, and in 5x6 Hotch goes after an unsub (though they all do that, so the writers could have made that one a little more out of the ordinary), and then he makes a face and invites Prentiss into it as opposed to running ahead (like in 3x17) and having a moment alone.
The parallel is their silence. Hotch scowls and storms off. Morgan looks as concerned as he has all of season five and doesn't say a word.
I absolutely agree that Morgan doesn't like playing games, but he does it anyway. The scene where Morgan clearly told Strauss that he had no intention of using Hotch's office was great. He was polite, calm, and graceful, but at the same time, incredibly firm. This attitude of Morgan's shows that he wasn't offered the position as chief of the New York field office for nothing; it proves that not liking political games doesn't mean he's not good at them. I'm pretty fond of the moments when Morgan's intelligent and diplomatic side shines through, so this scene was quite impressive to me.
And no, I didn’t notice it before reading your post. Was Hotch observing Morgan as part of his test that’s been going on since episode 5? Was he trying to see if Morgan would remain loyal to him under any circumstances? If that’s what you meant, then I really like that interpretation.
The scene where he was being flippant in front of Prentiss is what I found most interesting in this episode. It gave me the impression that, back when Hotch wasn’t the Unit Chief, he might have had moments where he could be playful (or bratty) like that. Even though the situation was bad in many ways and he had to step down from his position, it felt like he wasn’t taking it too hard or letting it hurt his pride too much, and was actually adapting to it fairly well.
But at the same time, I wondered if it was okay for him to act that way in the current situation. As you mentioned, team members were gossiping about the decision! He should have been more supportive of Morgan. I couldn't deny that was an asshole move. But when I interpret this as Hotch testing Morgan, it becomes somewhat understandable. It also makes perfect sense why Morgan just backed down without saying a word.
Still, it’s a bit of a shame. Morgan was extremely on edge about Hotch’s self-destructive behaviors following Foyet’s attack. I can’t help but think it would have led to a much more interesting storyline if he had been a bit more confrontational there.
I also enjoyed reading your analysis of the reversal of roles. In my opinion, the reason Hotch’s leadership changed after Season 1 was likely because he felt the need for a change in his own way after experiencing Gideon’s disappearance and the pressure from the top.
I agree that in a different context, they both would have enjoyed it. A leadership role reversal in a much lighter atmosphere would have been truly fun.
As I mentioned before, I’m completely obsessed with your character analysis of a manipulative Hotch. I love how this characterization fits perfectly into the show like puzzle pieces fitting together.
I'm glad you enjoyed the posts, I always love hearing your thoughts as well! I haven't had time to rewatch Lo-Fi/Mayhem, but it's on my list for this weekend. I can also happily elaborate on my Hotch's childhood headcanons from here.
I'm absolutely a Morgan fangirl, so yes, love seeing him competent and capable and in his element. He gets fewer chances to shine as the seasons go on, so having him showcase different skills is always nice. (It's also what I love about his role as JJ's mentor when it pops up in episodes.)
Honestly, I guess we don't know why Hotch is watching Morgan. (I mean, I like to think it's because he likes to stare at Morgan. Who wouldn't?) To some extent, Hotch has kept Morgan at arm's length since Foyet's attack. Canonically, Morgan forces Hotch to own up to what he's actually thinking or feeling, but Hotch doesn't generally shy away from this until season five. (A friend also pointed out that Hotch might be worried Morgan would profile the rape, because a) Morgan would know, and b) it was Hotch, after all, who figured it out in 2x12, so they know each other. They know the signs. Let me take this opportunity to recommend one of my favorite gen Hotch & Morgan fics, A Thing That Carries Itself. Such a good post-Foyet rape recovery series of moments.)
So he might be testing Morgan. He might be watching because Rossi's provocation about Morgan not wanting to step down worries him, though he does not look very worried. He might be worried about Morgan but not want to say it, especially because if he tells Morgan that privately then he will be alone with Morgan, who will force him to own up to things he doesn't want to admit.
It's interesting that you say he's more flippant there, and he is flippant, but this is in no way new ground with Morgan. (I can currently think of few examples, other than the "drill sergeant" callback with Morgan, the "could you find something to do in Vegas" also Morgan, The Tribe (pretty much the whole episode).) I think you're right that there was more of that pre-canon, but he still does it not infrequently in early seasons, mostly with Gideon and Morgan because they're the only ones who respond to it. I think the others are so focused on Hotch as important and boss (or the opposite in Rossi's case, where he's frequently telling Hotch how Hotch must feel), that when he does make a flippant comment they don't respond to it. There's no point in being a comedian if you don't have an audience!
The asshole part about it isn't really the comment, but the fact that he aims his expression at Prentiss: that it's not supposed to callback 3x17 where Hotch asked why Morgan didn't wait (private moment), or 4x1 (also just them), but that he's inviting Prentiss into it, to this moment of push back and comeuppance at Morgan now in the leadership role. (She realizes it, which is why she doesn't join in on the joke, because what it looks like to her is a testosterone feud that she's staying well away from.)
You're right, a lighter atmosphere would be interesting, but I do love the tension! (And oh, intentionally and unintentionally manipulative Hotch my beloved. But you will note that canonically Morgan has a "Hotch scale" (he mentions it to Jordan), so he's certainly got a handle on the man. ;) )
Continuing the special features portion of this ask, in regard to Hotch's childhood:
I don't think I've ever written anything that specifically addresses it, though I guess I'm always taking my headcanons on it into account.
I agree with @louisaland in the replies that Hotch's childhood was abusive. We don't have much from canon and what we do have isn't terribly consistent, but I'll review what we do have and then my take on it after the cut.
It starts with the famous 1x8 when Hotch is talking to Perotta and the conversation goes as follows:
"You were just responding to what you learned, Vincent. When you grow up in an environment like that an extremely abusive, violent household it's not surprising that some people grow up to become killers."... "And some people grow up to catch them."
Followed by the Jung quote, "the healthy man does not torture others.
Generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers."
We know from 1x16 that Aaron has a little brother named Sean, that their dad was a lawyer, and from "Sean, you've always wanted to be a lawyer. Just like dad, just like me," it sounds like their dad is why Aaron became a lawyer, though the "dad died of a heart attack at 47" is complicated in 2x19 with:
"My father, when I was in high school, everyone knew he had affairs. Even my mother--but nobody talked about it, so i decided to confront him. And I followed him: the lawyer's, the doctor's, the bank, the weight-loss, and it all came back. He had lung cancer."
Lastly, for Hotch's mother, we turn to 1x11, when he's driving the killer's mother:
"Where did you go to school?"
"High school, St. Catherine's hall. College, Sweet Briar."
"You were a Sweet Briar vixen?"
"You know Sweet Briar?"
"My mother went to Mary Baldwin."
"She's from Virginia?"
"Manassas." ...
"Gwathmey's an old tidewater family, isn't it? Old south. Old money. A lot of tradition there. A lot of reputation to protect. ... Mary, I don't think that you were protecting your son. I think you were protecting yourself."
My thoughts on all this below.
Hotch's speech to Perotta has convinced most of us that his childhood was bad. Extremely abusive and violent. "Tortured," as Jung says. (It also explains--though does not excuse--why he's such an absent parent for the first several years of Jack's life.) But when Sean visits, Hotch groups himself and their father together as people to look up to and emulate, so Sean clearly saw none of the abuse, since he "lost his father at a young age."
Hotch's dad also had affairs, though also apparently cancer, and a heart attack. But--and I think this is important--Hotch's mom knows about them and Hotch feels like he has to do something because no one else is.
Where I think it gets interesting (it's been depressing the whole time, I can't fix that), is with Hotch's mom. "Hotchner" isn't an FFV name. (First families of Virginia, the movers and shakers of high Virginia society for hundreds of years.) But Hotch knows all about the Tidewater families in 1x11. He knows what a Sweet Briar vixen is. He knows the surnames. He says, "a lot of reputation to protect." He suggests that the woman cares more for the family's reputation than her son.
So my personal headcanon is that Hotch's mother is Old South. Old money. ("Auction block money," Morgan mutters, when Hotch reluctantly introduces him to the town where he was raised, and Morgan is right.) But that money is gone by the 1950s. She has the lineage, but she needs a husband who can add nouveau riche wealth to reputation, and Hotch's father needs a family name that will take him places.
("You still have the fucking plantation house?" Morgan says as they go up the long drive, though the house was built in 1924. "Jesus fucking Christ, it's like a fucking Morrison novel up here." They do not stay long. Hotch doesn't want to step foot in the house it took him twelve years to escape, and Morgan keeps rubbing his arms and looking around like the ghost of a child lost will curl around his ankle and tug him toward the earth.)
I think that Hotch and Morgan make a fascinating dichotomy, because they both endured years of abuse, but in very different contexts. Morgan had people who loved him, but he couldn't tell them. Hotch implies that everyone in town knew about the affairs, which makes me think that they also knew about the abuse.
But--whatever surname Hotch's mother has--between her family's reputation and Hotchner, Sr.'s ability to mow anyone down in court and the Southern willingness not to see things that are there, no one stands up for Hotch. Not publicly. There's the librarian who lets him stay late. The teacher who suggests boarding school, has a list of schools she knows his mother will approve. But no one is going to report Mr. Hotchner, Esq. No one is going to go up against both sides of Hotch's family and lose.
So I think Hotch's mother allows for the affairs. The abuse. I think she protects herself and her family's reputation above her son.
And it explains a lot of how the differences in their childhood trauma affect their outlook on life. Morgan can accept and give love easily, because he's always had it, but he divorces it from emotional vulnerability and trust. Hotch leaves his suffering out in the open because he believes that no one cares enough to speak its name, the same way he could walk out the door with a broken jaw his mother said came from "falling out of an apple tree, you know he's a legacy baby," and no one looked at the bruise. Hotch wants to know he's loved enough that someone would topple everything else in their life for him, instead of standing quietly by (even though Morgan keeps telling him that maybe it would be sanest to find a middle ground between those extremes).
I'd love to hear anyone else's thoughts on this, or Hotch's childhood moments that I've missed! (PS: Found my old post on the idea that Hotch uses his mother's money to have Morgan renovate houses, and am still delighted by it.)
Okay, wait, apparently I'm not done with this. (This being 5x6 and Morgan being in charge of Hotch, though in a different context I think they'd both enjoy that very much. ;) )
Morgan is always ready to fight the system for Hotch. (5x5 when Hotch suggests stepping down, 3x2 when Hotch says he's transferring.) But he's also surprised that Hotch wants him to lead the team. In 3x20, he's surprised that they'd consider him for the New York Field Office.
And sure, the New York job is a leap up the chain. It's one of five major FBI centers in the US, and he should be running a smaller field office first. Not to mention Derek repeatedly indicates he doesn't enjoy the politics of dealing with higher ups. However, the BAU lead is not a leap.
So why is Derek surprised? I think in part because by season five, there's none of the rotating leadership by area of expertise that existed in early seasons. In 1x5, once they know it's a crime of obsession, it's passed over to Morgan, and he gets the reports at the end of it.
Someone might know exactly where it ends, but in early season three he's briefly in charge but they're not considering him for SAC (according to Hotch, "might get someone who's not such a drill sergeant,"), but by the end of the season they're considering him for a field office?
In season one, Hotch says, "Crime of obsession. Your specialty, your lead, Morgan," quickly, like he's said it before, and Morgan shrugs and starts making suggestions like he isn't surprised to take the lead. It's something they've done before, then, Morgan and Gideon and Hotch. But by season five he's hesitant. Out of practice. Hotch hasn't trusted anyone else with the lead in years.
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