Red Reddington has a huge ego. This isn’t a unique observation, of course. I’m sure you’ve thought the same thing. The confidence, the swagger, the love of the fine food and wine and music, and the laughing, and the smiles. But he also has a big enough ego to actually think that a seemingly random accident or death was planned just to get to him. At one point tonight, even Liz questions his thinking by saying, “It sounds like an elaborate plan just to get to you.” I mean, who thinks that way all the time, that everything that happens is happening because of them? The funny thing is … he’s always right. That’s why the FBI has to listen to him. Like tonight’s opening death, an armored-car guard coughing and bleeding and eventually collapsing and dying inside of a bank. Another random death? Hardly. This is just the start of the epic plan that the series has hinted at all along. A doctor is infecting people with the most deadly virus in the world, making them do his bidding while promising to cure them (he’s the only one with the antidote, of course). But he’s not an ordinary extortionist. This is all part of the plan to get to Red. He’s working for the big bad, the one who is finally coming to get Red. We haven’t seen him yet (at least we don’t think we have, but really, who knows), though we now know his name: Berlin. All this time the FBI thought it was a place, but it actually refers to a person. Unless it’s the ’80s band. That would be an interesting twist (and the pop-song-heavy The Blacklist could play “Take My Breath Away” during a montage). Red takes Liz to see one of his old cohorts (Red always has an old cohort), Dr. Sanders, who is now a doctor at a mental institution. And by doctor I mean he’s a patient there. But he knows what’s going on, because he worked on the virus. He’s crazy, but he’s not stupid, and he might not even be that crazy, even with all of the “space alien” and “UD4126” talk. He eventually leads Liz to the doctor because she remembers something after seeing the I.D. badge of the people at the institution. It’s a Dr. Vogel who is infecting people, and he has infected five people (the Five Horsemen) to carry out his plan. Dr. Vogel is crazy too, and might be stupid, because he actually drinks the water that Liz gives him during his interrogation. Note to all scientists dealing with deadly viruses: Never drink liquids or eat food given to you by your enemies who happen to now be in control of that deadly virus. She wants the names of the five people he infected, who are going to infiltrate an airport. The FBI gets to the airport in time to stop the plane from landing. A jet is sent to shoot the plane down. Which it does. It crashes in flames. This was actually one of the better episodes of the series, because not only did it show people doing things and figuring things out that weren’t quick and/or aggressively stupid, we also finally see that every episode of the show has had a purpose. Every blacklist case has been connected to Berlin — a person, it turns out, and not a place — the person who is trying to get to Red. It’s always great when a TV show fills in the blanks for us and shows us a bit of what was going on in those episodes where we were all in the dark. It was actually pretty cool to see Liz explaining to the rest of the team how the cases were connected, showing them files and pictures of people we’ve seen earlier in the season (General Ludd, Wujing, Jolene Parker, the Alchemist, even Gina Zanetakos, whom we find out has escaped during a work furlough). So we know that all of this is connected somehow, but we don’t know exactly how. Infecting a bunch of people to get to Red? Yes, that’s elaborate, but there has to be a more logical, smaller reason than that (albeit one that is going to turn into an epic plot). There’s also the matter of how exactly Red is connected to Liz, who wants to resign because she’s sick of working with the man who killed her father. But after finding out how everything is connected, she goes to the park to warn him (even if she hasn’t forgiven him for killing her father or ruining her life), but he just tells Dembe to leave while he sits there talking to her. He wants to know about her change of heart about him, and he isn’t concerned about the FBI arresting him or someone killing him. He says, “None of it is worse than losing you.” He pulls a gun on her so the FBI doesn’t think they’re working together. The episode ends with the plane crashing near the park and Red on his knees ready to be arrested, his deal with the FBI revoked. He says to Liz: “Now it begins …” Random Notes: — So Berlin was on the plane that crashed? They showed someone in a hooded jacket pick up a key, and earlier they showed Berlin with a hooded jacket. If he doesn’t survive the crash, that’s going to be one big anticlimax. — One quick exchange I thought was intriguing: Liz tells Red that she needs him because she needs a lot of questions answered. He says he needs her for the same reason. — I was stunned that the FBI actually brought en entire team to Dr. Vogel’s house instead of just Liz and Ressler. This is something they should do more often! — It was also good to see tough, smart Liz back like in the pilot episode, instead of the confused/lame Liz we’ve had for many episodes. — Vogel says he’s going to cure these people if they do what he says, but he ends up having his men just shoot the people. He’s not only a bad doctor, he’s also a jerk. — Okay, why was Zanetakos on a work furlough? Wasn’t she sort of, you know, dangerous? — Having the dying guard call 911 to not only report his illness but also record a message to his wife because they record their calls was a nice touch. — I’m glad Liz finally told Ressler and the team what was going on with her marriage to Tom, even showing him that the house was still messy from their fight. At some point she should call Red’s cleaner lady. — Nice of the FBI to let Red finish his “I was once on an island” story to Liz before apprehending him. Quote of the Week: “That’s a great band name.” —Aram, on the Five Horsemen The Blacklist Recap: Now It Begins
In an interview on Today yesterday, James Spader told Al Roker that after this season’s finale, fans may think we know more than we actually do. And that’s probably a good explanation as to what happened in the episode. Sure, three or four questions were answered, but approximately 37 other new questions came to light. We found out that Sam wasn’t Liz’s real dad. Her real dad died in the fire — or did he? We found out who Berlin is, though it isn’t the guy we first thought he was. And most importantly, we found out that the best peaches are freestone, not clingstone. Freestone peaches pull away from the pit for easy consumption. This season finale pushed all of the right season finale buttons but still seemed slightly anti-climatic. Sure, we got deaths (Meera! Tom! Fake Berlin!) and things are set up for the second season rather nicely, but didn’t it seem rather predictable, as if the writers knew they had to bring the first season to a close in a particular way and set things up for next fall? If you really think about, we’re in the exact same spot we were earlier this season, only with fewer cast members and a new bad guy. So a plane crashes in New York City, in a scene eerily reminiscent of 9/11 (and even includes a cameo by Today’s Matt Lauer). Some of the guys are killed, but some survive and are captured. Some get away. The team thinks that Berlin got away too, and we’re led to believe this is the case as well because Tom brings the agent list to Fake Berlin. Not to sound all Tuesday Morning Quarterback, but wasn’t it obvious that guy wasn’t Berlin, that Berlin was actually the guard the team questioned in the hospital bed? His story was too dramatic, it was too convenient he was in bed talking freely, and we could all see someone under the beard well-known enough to say, “Yeah, I bet that’s Berlin and he’s going to escape at the end of the episode.” It was, and he did. And he wasn’t the only one who escaped. All that trouble to find and capture Red again, and then we have Agent Martin and Alan (I’m assuming) conspiring to let him escape in the transfer so he can figure out what’s going on and stop it. Good thing strangling that driver makes the car crash in a perfect, non-lethal way. The scene where Meera has her throat slit is certainly grisly and sad, but also irritating. While the scene is shocking in the sense that one of the team members actually died, the scene is also predictable the way it was shot and paced. It was also somewhat annoying because, let’s face it, was there any way that both Ressler and Meera were going to get out of that nightclub alive? The loud music, the lights, the crowds, the confusion, they were separated. Couldn’t they have gone to the club owners and told them to shut down the music and turn up the lights? I don’t think I have ever been in a night club like that, where I could hear myself think, let alone talk with a normal voice to someone else. Couldn’t they have gone up to the manager and said hey, we’re looking for bad guys, so turn off the damn lights and music? But killing a team member — and almost killing Cooper, the head of the team — certainly raises the stakes. Will the team be killed one by one until only Liz is left? This plot seems both big and small at the same time. We think it’s going to be something international and epic and important, but it all comes down to Berlin having a grudge against Red for some reason, and he wants to get the list of the agents so he can kill them all. That sounds like something he could have gotten months ago and taken care of earlier. Of course, we don’t know what the real reason Berlin has for doing this, and maybe it’s bigger and more important than we know. The episode — and the season — ends with Liz and Red talking on the steps about what happened during the season and what they’re going to do during the hiatus. Well, no, but the conversation could have been about that, because it was an obvious “let’s wrap up this season and use some dialogue to preview season two, which will start off on Monday nights as usual but then move to Thursdays at 9.” Liz: “That man, Berlin, he’s out there.” Red: “Yes, and we’re going to find him.” But this is okay, I guess. Season finales should be expository in some way, it just probably would have been better if it wasn’t so obvious. Of course, TV shows used to end their seasons without a cliff-hanger at all, and we liked it! Then again, this wasn’t really a cliffhanger in the classic sense. A big part of the first season’s plot was taken care of (we know who the bad guy is, Tom is dead, and Red and Liz are back together to solve more cases!). Now we just have to find out why Berlin is after Red, and why he has a picture of a girl in his pocket watch. The same exact picture Red has. Hmmmm…. The final shot is of Red, taking off his shirt. Hey, are those burn scars on his back? Yes. Yes they are. Random Notes: — Parminder Nagra is now off the show (unless we find out next season that she survived because she was wearing a fake neck and is now in hiding for some reason), and I can’t say I’m surprised. Her role has always seemed odd to me. She’s somewhat well-known but has always been a minor supporting character, brought on for a scene or two here and there to move the plot along. — How in God’s name is Cooper still alive? He’s strangled with wire in his car and his gun is also drawn in the fight. But he’s still alive and no one was there to rescue him? But he survives? — I almost liked Tom at the end. At least he paused a bit while holding the gun on Liz, and I actually believed him when he said he was sorry. Though I wonder why, if he had enough time to tell Liz “your father is still alive,” you’d think he could have just said, “Liz, your father is _________.” — So who was the guy eating the apple earlier this season? What was that all about? Did they ever explain that for certain? — Who do you think Liz’s dad is, Red or Berlin? Let us know in the comments. Quote of the Week: “That stuff you use in your hair … is that Brylcreem?” — Red, to Agent Martin The Blacklist Season 1 Finale Recap |
