Alright. Let’s do some catch-up! The last two weeks of The Blacklist have been intense. Once again, this is going to contain some spoilers, so fair warning to anyone who hasn’t seen the last two episodes and wants to be surprised.
Episode 19 of the Blacklist, “The Pavlovich Brothers,” is about a group of brothers who are basically kidnappers for hire. We’ve seen them before. Their first appearance was in the Pilot where they were hired to kidnap the General’s daughter. This time they’ve been hired to kidnap a Chinese scientist by the name of Xiaoping Li. Eventually she is recovered, once again through the help from Reddington, before she is sent back to China for treason.
Simultaneously, the breakdown of Tom and Elizabeth’s marriage takes place. There are a couple things I find interesting about this plot line. First, Tom asks about the music box. What’s interesting is that Elizabeth says, “My father gave it to me.” What is ironic here is that although she was lying to Tom, because Reddington gave her the music box, not her father, she may have actually been telling the truth. The fact is we the viewers still don’t know who Elizabeth’s biological father is, and Reddington is still a candidate.
My favourite part of this episode is the final confrontation between Elizabeth and Tom. After Tom leaves Elizabeth, Reddington finds him while she is working on the Pavlovich case with the FBI. She comes home to find him tied to a chair in her kitchen surrounded by the Pavlovich brothers (apparently hired by Reddington to acquire and deliver Tom) who abruptly leave.
This is the confrontation that the viewers have been waiting for. Tom finally admits his life with Elizabeth was a lie. Showing no remorse, Elizabeth tries to extract answers from him by breaking his thumb with a wrench. However, because of this damage Tom is able to free himself from his restraints while Liz is distracted and a fight ensues. This battle kind of irks me. Once again, Elizabeth Keen is a trained FBI agent; one who works for a black site and no doubt has used, or encountered persuasive means of information extraction. Would she really make such a simple mistake? I would assume not but the writers seemed to think so.
Regardless, Tom wins the fight and reaches Elizabeth’s gun first. Rather than killing her as emotionlessly as he did Jolene Parker (aka Lucy Brooks) he has her handcuff herself to the railing, states “I am not here to hurt you Liz. My job was never to hurt you. I’m one of the good guys. Reddingtion, he’s not what you think. I can prove it.” And then gives her instructions which lead her to what we discover are photos of Reddington in Episode 20.
This raises more questions about both Reddington and Tom. If Tom was simply a cold-blooded killer wouldn’t he have just done away with Elizabeth? At the same time why is he, and the organization he supposedly works for, so concerned with Reddington and his association with Elizabeth?
Moving on. Episode 20 leads us to the photos of Reddington. The photos were taken outside the hospital where Elizabeth Keen’s father died, on the very day he died. Keen sets out to verify if the photos are real.
Additionally, the FBI team goes after “The Kingmaker”; A man responsible for manipulating politicians into positions of power, as well as destroying others’ careers. The Kingmaker sets his sights on a young politician, Patrick Chandler, eager for a place on the senate. In the hopes of preparing him publically for an election the Kingmaker orchestrates an accident killing Chandler’s wife. Through leads given by Reddington and his associates, Chandler and the Kingmaker are finally apprehended.
As for Reddington, he is seeking help against his new enemy while Keen, with the help of Aram, eventually deduces that Reddington not only knew her father Sam, but was in his hospital room when he died and is responsible for his death.
Here is where the show becomes most interesting. Keen confronts Reddington about her father. Knowing she has the information already, Reddington confesses to killing Sam and tries to explain that it was because Sam was in a lot of pain due to his lung cancer and wanted it to end. Unfortunately for Reddington, Keen doesn’t believe him, and I’m not sure the audience should trust him either.
Earlier in the episode Reddington visits a friend, Nico, in whose home he is staying temporarily. While Nico swims during the discussion, Reddington tells a tale of his youth. “I was a lifeguard my junior year in high school. I had to give mouth to mouth to Mrs. Beerman. She belched up a lung full of corned beef and chlorine. I haven’t been in a pool since.” Nico then asks “I’m sorry weren’t you in the navy?” Red, completely dismissing the valid question simply changes the topic saying “Enough…to business.” As far as I’m concerned this doesn’t help his credibility with viewers and makes me question how much of what Reddington says is actually authentic and valid.
Finally, like I said before, I have a feeling Ressler and Keen are headed to a romance. Again, I hope I’m wrong but we’ll see. At the end of this episode Keen goes to Ressler’s apartment and when he answers the door she simply says “I didn’t know where else to go.” Nothing was implied here but clearly some type of relationship is being formed between the two. After all, both have lost the person they loved the most in some traumatic way or another.
As for questions, I only have one this week. What relevance did the exploding house have? They still haven’t addressed the house Reddington bought and then blew up mid-season and I want answers! I’m counting on the next two weeks to supply us with the answers you and I seek. See you guys next time!