Courtesy of NBC
The Blacklist tries to recover from its Super Bowl debacle (I & II) by focusing on the nuances of negotiation.
Let’s bitch it out…
Case of the Week: Freedom fighter Denislov (Faran Tahir), the leader of SRU, kidnaps Burke (Arian Moayed), a CIA agent posing as a priest in Uzbekistan (aka green screen-ville) in order to catch the FBI’s attention. It quickly becomes clear that Anneca Oil is the real culprit: a corporate entity that is doing dirty pipeline work in the country and poisoning its inhabitants. Naturally that can’t just be the end of the story, so there’s a man, Javin (Olek Krupa) – who specializes in self-flagellation (because of course) – who knows the truth about an earlier pipeline, one that the CIA is trying to keep quiet. Blah blah blah the company is blackmailed by Reddington (James Spader) to leave the country or the skeletons come out and then a new pipeline is announced because capitalism!
Red Alert: Reddington is clearly using the case to ingratiate himself to Lizzie (Megan Boone). Following the events of her hypnotherapy in ‘Luther Braxton’ she is…shall we say, less than receptive to his charms, preferring to keep their interactions strictly professional. He, naturally, considers their interplay a negotiation, using Denisov and a Russian tango to cozy up to her. Of course, this is all undone by the not-at-all surprising “twist” that he orchestrated an outcome from which he can profit, much to Keen’s shock and dismay. Honestly, it’s like she’s never met him or something!
Lizzie’s Wig: In other news, Wilcox (Michael Kostroff), a regular cop investigating the disappearance of missing DC harbour master, Lieutenant Eugene Ames (aka the guy that Tom killed) traces the crime back to Lizzie. At one point she confides to Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) that she’s in trouble, but there’s really very little here that we don’t already know. We’re essentially just waiting to see how desperate Keen will get. Now that Ames’ body has been discovered, let’s hope that the noose around her neck tightens quickly.
Other Task Force Business: Harold (Harry Lennix) makes a wrong move by confiding the location of the SRU compound in the CIA. When they execute a sneak attack on it it’s basically just confirmation that the task force is the only agency that isn’t corrupt / perverted. This kind of builds on the events of the last few weeks as the task force butts heads with other agencies, but it’s all pretty lightweight (ohhh a resolution by phone call? How tense)
Mythology: In other news, Aram (Amir Arison) is looking into some tech for Lizzie. I know I should care, but the fact that she wants to keep it hidden and keep it safe from Reddington just makes me want to tune out. I’m sure it’ll become important later. Wake me when it does…
Your turn: is there anything remotely memorable about the case of the week? Are you surprised that Lizzie is surprised by anything Red does? Is the task force overdue for some competing agency drama? Do you care about the tech that Aram and Lizzie are investigating? And how long before her drama from ‘The Decembrist’ comes back to bite her in the ass? Sound off below.
The Blacklist airs Thursdays at 9pm EST on NBC. Next week we’re back into crazy cult territory and one can only hope Ressler dies.