Liz infiltrates the blacksite and disarms the signal jammers to call in backup but runs into trouble along the way. The fate of Ressler hangs in the balance as Red tries to bargain with Anslo Garrick. Meanwhile, Tom becomes increasingly worried about Liz' situation and the fate of Red is unknown.
Season 1 Episode 10 of The Blacklist was watched by 11,670,000 viewers, resulting in a 3.20 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
Is The Blacklist Renewed or Cancelled for Season 2?
For decades, ex-government agent Raymond "Red" Reddington has been one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives. Brokering shadowy deals for criminals across the globe, Red was known by many as "The Concierge of Crime". Now, he's mysteriously surrendered to the FBI with an explosive offer: He will help catch a long-thought-dead terrorist, Ranko Zamani, under the condition that he speaks only to Elizabeth Keen, an FBI profiler fresh out of Quantico. For Liz, it's going to be one hell of a first day on The Job. What follows is a twisting series of events as the race to stop a terrorist begins. What are Red's true intentions? Why has he chosen Liz, a woman with whom he seemingly has no connection? Does Liz have secrets of her own?
Zamani is only the first of many on a list that Red has compiled over the years: a "blacklist" of politicians, mobsters, spies and international terrorists. He will help catch them all... with the caveat that Liz continues to work as his partner. Red will teach Liz to think like a criminal and "see the bigger picture"... whether she wants to or not.
A scene from "The Blacklist"
NBC
Tonight's episode of "The Blacklist" is the final one we will get for… ummm… no one seems to know how long. NBC has not announced when the show will come back from the winter break it is about to take. It is probably gone until mid-January at least, but if NBC follows the pattern it took last year with "Revolution," the hiatus could last all the way until March.
Regardless, we have to resolve last week's thrilling cliffhanger where Anslo Garrick and his Wild Bunch band of mercenaries had taken control of the FBI blacksite in their desperate attempt to grab Red. Red is sealed inside his bullet-proof box and has the badly injured Agent Ressler with him. Outside, Garrick is slowly killing his hostages, starting with Red's closest associates. The episode ended with Garrick's gun pointed at the head of Red's bodyguard, Dembe, and a shot going off.
But, before we get to what happens next, I wanted to give another quick shout out to the amazing conversation going on each week in the comment section. Lots of speculation there about who the "mole" is who gave Garrick key info about the FBI blacksite. Some folks think it is Ressler [who hunted Red for years and resents now having to protect him], some think it could be agent Malick [who is a CIA agent working with the FBI on Red's cases], and some are suggesting it could be Tom Bond [Liz's husband]. Don't forget that Tom was taken to the blacksite a few episodes ago when he was questioned about his involvement in the Angel Station assassination, so he would have important intel about security there. And reader Fergy commented that Tom was urging Liz to get to work on time last week. Could Tom have wanted to ensure that Liz would be at the blacksite in time for her to get caught up in Garrick's attack? We all seem to agree that Tom is more than just a simple schoolteacher. His story is yet to fully unfold.
Well, enough backstory and theories, let's get to tonight's episode.
We start moments before Dembe's execution [or is it?]. The FBI technician, Aram, manages to get the jammers deactivated. He also kills one of Garrick's men [the gunshot we heard that we thought was Dembe's death]. But, Aram and Liz are quickly caught and Garrick puts Liz on her knees to execute her.
Her phone rings and Garrick picks it up. Tom is calling and Garrick tells him that he plans to kill Liz. Tom is alarmed [the theories that Tom was helping Garrick seem unfounded at this point]. Liz yells for him to contact the FBI, but Garrick hangs up.
In the box, Red puts a gun to Ressler's head and says that if Liz is killed, Ressler is worthless to Red. Ressler tells Red that the code to open the box is R-O-M-E-O. Red tells Garrick and the box is opened.
Garrick's Wild Bunch are drilling holes in concrete. Garrick's men lead Red away… and they bring Liz too. They could tell that Red cared about her. The Wild Bunch blows a hole in the floor and leaves with Liz and Red even as FBI agents storm the building and rescue everyone else. They put Red and Liz into a fake ambulance. We see Dembe running after them as fast as he can, but he has no chance.
In the ambulance, someone is trying to take the locator chip out of Red's neck. Red give's Liz a cryptic message, saying "The Emissary Hotel, Mr. Kaplan." I have no idea what that means.
Liz uses a defibrillator to get some of Garrick's men, but she is thrown from the ambulance. She pursues in a car but gets lost when Garrick gets the chip out of Red and uses it to lead Liz on a wild goose chase. Red and Garrick are gone.
Red is taken to an empty warehouse. His hands are bound and he is chained to the ceiling.
At the FBI blacksite, senior DOJ official Diane Fowler [played by award-winning actress Jane Alexander] is on the scene. She reluctantly signed off on Red's immunity deal at the start of the series. She's furious he has been lost and can tell there must be a mole in the FBI. She tells Dir. Cooper to disband the operation. As far as she is concerned, Red is now again a missing fugitive.
Liz approaches Aram and asks for his help. She wants security camera footage from the building from the hour before the attack began. She tells Aram to keep it quiet because anyone could be the mole. Liz then calls the Emissary Hotel and is told that Mr. Kaplan is unavailable at the moment. He will call her back. She still has no idea who Kaplan is.
Garrick is questioning Red. He wants to know why Red was willing to trade his life for Lizzie's. Red isn't talking about that, though he and Garrick discuss their past a bit. It ends with Garrick punching Red in the gut.
Liz goes home and Tom is glad she is safe. He urges her to give all of this dangerous stuff up. Just then, Liz gets a text from Mr. Kaplan asking her to call. Before she can respond, Aram calls her. He has found cell phone evidence of the mole. He can't tell who the mole is, but he can tell that the mole has been calling a specific house in DC every time Red arrived at the facility. The house is the one right across the street from Liz's home, where the man with the apple has been spying on Liz and Tom. Oooh, I did not see that coming!
Garrick has been beating on Red. He says he wants to kill Red, but someone else has paid him to extract information from Red instead. I bet Red's "Nemesis" is going to make an appearance in this episode!
Liz breaks into the house across the street. It has no furniture inside. She goes upstairs and finds the room with the surveillance cameras all showing the rooms in her house. An apple is sitting there. Just then, a man comes up behind her with a gun. Lizzie hears him and ends up shooting him. She calls Dir, Cooper but hangs up on him, calling Mr. Kaplan instead.
It turns out Mr. Kaplan is an old woman. She comes to the house that was watching Liz. She begins cleaning up the crime scene. Liz protests but Kaplan says she is here to protect Liz and find Red. She hands Liz keys from the dead man's pocket and says, "Find his car."
Garrick is still torturing Red, but Red isn't talking. The doctor helping Garrick can't explain how Red could be resisting the drugs designed to make him feel even more pain. Red shivers, but also laughs. He's tough!
Liz is searching the dead man's car. She gets a series of addresses from his GPS. She and Kaplan figure out one of the addresses is to a remote part of town. At that location, a team of Red's mercenaries storm the building as Dembe, Kaplan, and Liz watch. Red's men are good, taking out the men at the location. But, it turns out Red is not here.
At Red's location, a well-dressed man walks up. Garrick says, "He's ready for you, sir." The man steps out of the shadows. "Hello, Red," he says. "It's been what… 20 years?"
This new character is played by none other than one of the most famous actors on TV, Alan Alda. I've heard through the Hollywood grapevine that Alda will be playing a character named Crowley. Alda will be making multiple appearances on The Blacklist, so we should get used to see Crowley on the show.
Liz has summoned the FBI to the building Red's men stormed. It is a communications outpost of some sort. Dir. Cooper tells Fowler about what they found at the communications outpost – evidence of a long-term surveillance operation on the FBI. It is high tech surveillance even better than what the FBI uses. The surveillance even includes video of Fowler holding meetings. She's alarmed.
Alda [they still have not given him a name] begins talking to Red. He talks in secrets that the audience does not yet understand. He mentions some deal that was made with Red decades ago. Alda's people agreed not to kill Red and, in exchange, Red would not reveal some huge secret that he had on them. Alda says everything changed the moment red starting working with the FBI. Red says he has told the FBI nothing.
Alda stands up. He tells Red that they could have taken him that morning when he was walking in the park. Instead they staged a raid on a secure FBI base. Why? To prove to Red that no one, not even the FBI, can keep him safe if they decide to get him.
Back at FBI HQ, Liz has a conversation with Agent Malik. They comment that anyone could be the mole – except Ressler because Ressler's leg injury is so bad and it seems unlikely Garrick would almost kill his own mole. AS they talk, Liz notices the address for one of the FBI's other blacksites, one that is no longer in service, matches an address she saw on the GPS earlier. She's sure this is where Red is being held.
At Red's location, Alda is done talking to Red and is walking away. He wants Red left alive. Garrick doesn't like that. He wants Red dead. Garrick approaches Red and taunts him about Liz. Garrick looks forward to torturing and killing her. He mocks Red for having nothing to say back. Garrick gets close to Red, who seems spent and tired. But, Red moves quickly and grabs Garrick, burying a sharp object [looks like it might be a pen] into Garrick's neck. The bad guy is dead. Red is a bad @#^!^!
The FBI storms the site. Garrick's body is on the ground. Nothing else is there. No Red.
Liz and Tom have an impassioned conversation. He's angry at all they have been forced to go through, including having someone watching their bedroom. He wants them to get away from all this, permanently.
In the hospital, Ressler is recovering. A woman named Audrey visits him. They clearly used to be involved, though Audrey is now engaged.
At the FBI, Fowler tells Dir. Cooper that Red must know something about the Mole. She tells Cooper to get his team back together. They have a new mission – find Red!
Liz is at home. She seems torn. She looks at the burned bunny from her childhood and the strange scar on her hand. Her phone rings. It is Red. He tells her he is going away for a while but, if she ever needs him he will be there to help. Liz talks about how much she loved her adopted father. Then she asks him the question everyone has been wondering – "Are you my father."
"No," is Red's reply. He then says, "Be careful of your husband" and he hangs up. He was calling from a pay phone and he walks away, disappearing into a crowd.
And the episode is over!
Wow!! So much packed into one exciting hour of TV! I can barely process all that happened. After the show, NBC announces that The Blacklist will return on January 13, a much shorter hiatus than some had feared. Yippee!! I can't wait for it to come back!
But, just because "The Blacklist" is going on a break it does not mean we all should stop chatting about it. Head over to the comment section and tell us what you thought about this episode and where you think things are headed next. I'll see you there!
If you want to hear more of Jason Evans' thoughts on the world of movies and TV, follow him on Twitter @TVFilmTalk and be sure to check out Speakeasy every Monday and Wednesday for his recaps of "The Blacklist," "Almost Human," and "Arrow."