The Blacklist S1E7
WARNING: This review contains spoilers.
The beauty of The Blacklist is that it is a satire of other popular TV dramas.
As Andy Greenwald describes it, television is cannibalizing itself. In this new era of Walking Dead Miami and Better Call Saul, The Blacklist stands out as a big-budget over-the-top hour of wickedly nonsensical badassery, driven by the riveting performance of James Spader as Raymond Reddington. As I have mentioned previously, the best way to view the show is to suspend logic until after the credits roll.
In this episode, Fringe is the target of ridicule. A very Fringe-ish #HourBad is killing random groups of people with a deadly, quick-acting biological weapon that turns out to be Kurz disease, an accelerated version of atherosclerosis. Or something like that. I recommend suspending logic. The #HourBad is Frederick Barnes (Robert Sean Leonard) that is a former U.S. Government researcher-turned-mercenary. The brilliant Dr. Barnes vanished from the grid five years ago, and only turns up when unknown international criminals (well, unknown to the authorities, apparently other unknown international criminals can get in touch with him) need a biological or radiological substance. Enter Raymond Reddington.
Reddington is trying to get back in Elizabeth Keen's (Megan Boone) good graces, after the whole "Your Husband is a Double Agent" scheme did not seem to work. Lizzy is still miffed (and wouldn't you be after you subjected your significant other to FBI/CIA waterboarding and you were wrong, "Sorry Honey, Love Ya") and apprehensive about teaming up with her benefactor/father. But she needs his knowledge of unknown international dealers of strongium-something, which is apparently some bad mojo. So Reddington jets down to Cuba to meet up with Manny (David Zayas) and work a deal where Manny contacts Frederick Barnes, and Reddington gets a GPS location for #HourBad.
The good Doctor Barnes is keeping busy, poisoning jury pools at the courthouse. Agent Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) is running around the courthouse, being ineffective, while Lizzy corners Barnes. Except Barnes grabs a security officer, has a gun, and makes Lizzy put down her gun. And escapes.
Barnes is poisoning people so that he can find someone with immunity to Kurz disease, and he can make an antidote. He finds an immune victim, draws blood, and goes to his son's house to give him the antidote when Lizzy shoots him. Personally, I would have shot him the first time and let him inject the kid with the cure the second time, but that's why I'm not a FBI profiler-hacker married to a 4th grade teacher who is likely an assassin for hire.
And Reddington is having issues with something in his past about his wife and daughter, so he buys the house they lived in and blows it up. You can't make this stuff up. Unless you are in the writing room of The Blacklist, then there are no barriers or obstacles of logic that cannot be crossed.
Let's talk about Agent Donald Ressler. We know his name is Donald, because Reddington referred to him as Donald, as Ressler and the audience both raised eyebrows. Agent Ressler is likely the dumbest law enforcement officer on television now, since Lt. Angel Batista. Agent Ressler does not have a personal life and seems to work all the time. He is always the first contact with Lizzy when something happens. He has driven atomic bomb cars into the water, he has been in several explosions, and he cut himself to show he was an undercover dumbass. And his vocabulary is approximately 1,500 words less than Reddington's. Luckily, in this episode he was not called on to doing something stupid to save the world. Why am I writing about Kessler, who did not play a major role this week? Because I can't put my finger on it, but there's simmering romantic tension between Ressler and Lizzy.
I continue to watch The Blacklist for the sheer entertainment of a show that unabashedly borrows from other popular shows. I would love to see a future Deadwood theme.
Random Thoughts:
- I have given up wondering why Reddington is not in custody.
- No "Harold in Kuwait" development this week.
- Tom gives me the creeps.
What did you think?
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