Courtesy of NBC
This week on The Blacklist: Lizzie (Megan Boone) learns she has anger issues.
This is the opposite of surprising.
Let’s bitch it out…
Case of the week: The team investigates a scientist, the titular Dr. Linus Creel (David Costabile) who is recruiting individuals with the “warrior gene”, manipulating them with false allegations and Catfish identities in order to turn them into assassins. Initially the case is dull, but it takes a bit of a fun twist when Lizzie goes undercover and uses her real issues in order to get Aram (Amir Arison) access to Creel’s computer. Alas, this is passed over fairly quickly in favour of a rote Manchurian Candidate hostage stand-off, albeit one in which Creel positions himself as the murder victim in order to draw attention to his research.
Red Alert: Traditionally the best part of The Blacklist, the scenes involving Red (James Spader) and his ex-wife Naomi (Mary-Louise Parker) this week are beyond boring. You know it’s a slow episode when Red literally just hangs around trying to convince his ex-wife and her new husband Frank to abandon their old lives. His efforts are apparently part of his plan to find his missing daughter “Jennifer” who has gone MIA. Let the speculation begin whether Jennifer = Lizzie.
- Spin-Off Potential: Paul Reubens returns as Mr. Vargas and his angry diatribe against Frank’s mistress for abusing her dog are wonderfully absurd. I definitely wouldn’t mind Vargas turning into a recurring character who parachutes in to spice things up.
- Also: Red has had a hired marksman tracking Lizzie since Meera’s death last season and Lizzie has keys to a locked door in Red’s cabin. Still, these few tidbits fail to sustain an entire episode.
Lizzie’s Wig: Initially Lizzie’s hair is just the usual boring shoulder length. Her undercover hair is better: pigtails to discuss Sub Project 7 and professionally messy when she’s posing as “Angela”. All this to say that I miss S1 when the hair was more fun to mock, and I miss Alias even more because on that show the wigs and the hair were integral parts of the missions.
Agent Boring: Thankfully Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) just kind of hangs around in the background this week and we don’t have to listen to his maudlin whining.
Hot Assassin Husband: No sign of Tom Keen (Ryan Eggold) this week or his new, watered down replacement, Motel Guy (introduced last week).
Other Blacklist Business:
- Aram and Samar (Mozhan Marnò) continue to make flirty faces at each other, but neither is making a move.
- Lizzie totally has the angry gene, right? That’s why Samar lies to Aram about the results of Lizzie’s test?
Best Lines:
- Red (when Lizzie requests the removal of the marksman): “He just saved your life and now you want him fired?”
Your turn: is Lizzie Red’s absent daughter or is that too obvious? What’s behind Door #1? Is Lizzie not-so-secretly a total psychopath? Should Aram and Samar just hook-up already? And what should Mr. Vargas yell about next? Sound off below.
The Blacklist airs Mondays at 10pm EST on NBC
David Costabile might be the best actor on TV right now! He’s so good at just totally becoming his roles that for a guy whose face I recognize instantly, I never think “oh that’s David Costabile” I totally get lost in his character. He does Dr. Linus Creel in such a disturbing and convincing way, that alone was a highlight of this episode for me. My favorite role of his since Breaking Bad…
I also think Naomi has been great for this show, and it is really pushing forward the links between Red and Liz. I do wonder if maybe secretly Naomi knows where Jennifer is though and I loved the whole end scene where Red and Naomi are talking before she drives off. Last, love the fact that they used “Tide” by Junip during that end scene, that’s such a great mood-setting song.
He is indeed great, though I’d much rather see his talents put to better use than as a generic bad guy of the week.