The Blacklist S1E9
WARNING: This review contains spoilers.
Lizzy comes to work on her day off and channels her inner badass.
The promos for the latest episode of The Blacklist suggest that the show is stepping up its game. So I tuned into "a very special Blacklist," expecting an unknown international turkey smuggler being the target. Because its Thanksgiving. What I got was much better.
It is fun and cathartic to watch the highest rated new show of the season. The characters are over-the-top, the plot makes absolutely no sense, and there is a big budget which translates into lots of stuff blowing up. A great release for those of us who watch prestige drama.
Reviewing The Blacklist is a lot of fun for me. I get to suspend all logic, witness incredible acting by Spader as the lead, and write snarky comments after an episode has run. All good fun.
But this episode, which could be described as a bottle episode on a show known for elaborate set pieces, takes a different tact. There's a Blacklister out there that is smarter and more cunning than Reddington. A Blacklister who wants to capture, torture, and kill Reddington for a past attempt by our favorite anti-hero for a botched shooting of said Blacklister, which results in a horrible face scar and partial facial paralysis. Said Blacklister is none other than Richie Coster (prestige drama fans will remember him as Renzo on the ill-fated HBO drama Luck).
Red is tricked by Ressler (now there's a twist) into coming back to the States because Lizzy is in danger. Lizzy has been Reddington's blind spot all season and is the only chink in his armor, so this twist is almost believable. Only Lizzy is not in danger, the FBI has intel on a scheduled attempt on Red's life. Of course, Reddington, once he removes his Lizzy blinders, understands immediately that he has been brought to the FBI's black site by the hands of unknown master villian Anslo Garrick. Garrick is planning to capture Red at the blacksite, so the FBI's incompetence is once again on display. The black site is breached easily by Garrick and his merry band of mercenaries, and its time for the sewage to hit the fan.
Lizzy comes in on her day off, gets trapped in an elevator, and decides that the audience needs to admire her bicep work, as she sleevelessly transforms into a sweaty two-eyed Snake Plissken. Who joins forces with supercomputer geek Aram (we now know his name!) as they dodge bad guys in route to the Reddington cube.
Reddington, always a step ahead of the writers, drags a badly injured Ressler into the Rubik's Cube that the FBI reserves for diabolical masterminds, and Garrick, despite his goofy threats and maniacal pleas for Reddington to come out and accept his fate of torture, can not figure out how to get to his prey. Lots of witty dialogue follows, with Red always the victor as the two enemies engage in high-brow "your mama" insults. Garrick appears to be a very knowledgeable fellow, able to break into a seemingly-impenetrable FBI fortress. But he obviously does not know that he is engaging a three-time Emmy winner in a "Wittier Than Thou" contest. Dude, you have to know the Emmy winner is going to get the wittier lines in the script.
Meanwhile, Ressler is dying from a gunshot wound to the leg. Not the typical Ressler injury, this wound looks fatal. But our man Red shows off his battlefield medical training, as he applies tourniquets and gives Ressler blood transfusions. Interestingly, Red and Ressler both have the same blood type, suggesting that Reddington has more kids around the world than Shawn Kemp.
Great scene between Reddington and Ressler, as our anti-hero explains to profusely-bleeding Ressler that the purpose of the blacklist is so Red can freely enjoy pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. We even get a tear out of Ressler. Good stuff!
Of course, Lizzy is ultimately captured and again becomes a damsel in distress. And Garrick executes Luli and possibly Dembe as he tries to get someone to open that damn Rubik's Cube. So he can rape, torture, and murder Reddington. Because that's what evil men do.
The audience gets to sit on pins and needles for a week, as this episode turns out to be the first of a two-parter. Kudos to the show, I enjoyed this episode and actually care what happens next.
Random Thoughts:
- Why is Lizzy so sweaty?
- Although it happens off-screen, Tom the Teacher has the house to himself as Lizzy goes to work on her day off, so I can only assume he is at home making a new wood box, filling it with passports, guns, and cash, and trying to find another loose floorboard.
- Harold stands his ground as Luli is executed, and does not give up the code to get Red out of the cube. Dude is one cold-hearted mofo.
- Great throwaway line by Red, while giving Ressler an impromptu blood transfusion. "Do you feel any smarter?"
- Please don't kill off Dembe! He and Red's Arabic prayer scene was awesome, as Dembe tries to rise to eye level with Red, but that bastard Garrick makes him get back on his knees. So Red gets on his knees to be eye level with Dembe as they recite stuff that I don't understand. Great scene!
- There's a mole in the henhouse. My money is on the CIA chick.
What did you think?
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