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Showing posts with label the blacklist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the blacklist. Show all posts
Feb 25, 2014
Jason Evans Counts Down the Blacklist
Feb 24, 2014
CRIME
‘The Blacklist,’ Season 1, Episode 14, ‘Madeline Pratt’: TV Recap
- Scene from “The Blacklist”
- NBC
I used to love the Olympics. Then, NBC decided to put “The Blacklist” on a three week hiatus to make room for the Olympics. I have been going through serious “Blacklist” withdrawal lately! Thank goodness we all get our weekly dose of Spader-ific acting tonight.
In case you forgot where things left off on The Blacklist, Liz decided that she just could not adopt a baby at this time in her life, which came as a huge shock to “is he a good guy or is he a bad guy?” husband Tom. Tom went off to cry about it in the arms of his new friend, Jolene (who sure appears to be Lucy Brooks, the woman Red has been searching for in recent episodes). Meanwhile, Red had cleaned up all the remaining messy leaks from his kidnapping by killing FBI Director/secret mole, Dianne Fowler with a few shots to the gut. She died slowly and painfully, but not before telling Red that she knew what had happened to his family.
So, with all that in mind, let’s see where our story moves tonight…
The episode begins in Turkey where a grieving widow is accessing her husband’s safety deposit box. “I’m sorry for your loss, Ms. Reddington,” the bank manager says. The woman smiles as she opens the box. Red, who is getting acupuncture, is told by an assistant that the box in Istanbul has been cleared out. The woman who took it left a note asking Red to meet her a the Windsor Lounge.
The woman and Red are old friends who joke about meetings in Macau and Florence. The document she stole from his box are worth over $10 million but she says she only took them to get his attention. The woman is Madeline Pratt.
At Liz and Tom’s house, Tom is still having trouble coming to grips with Liz not wanting to adopt. Tom says that a friend of theirs is pregnant and storms out, not wanting to talk to Liz any more.
Red and Liz meet at Red’s fabulous house (which actually belongs to a hedge fund manager who is on the run from the SEC). He tells Liz about Madeline Pratt, who is an expert in human communications. Red says she has asked him to help her in a heist.
They go to see Novak, who deals in the black market of rare and exotic antiques. Novak, by the way, is played by noted character actor Zach Grenier who you will recognize from dozens of films and TV appearances most notably his ongoing role as David Lee on the CBS’ The Good Wife. They ask Novak about some Syrian statue or effigy. Supposedly, a list of secret Russian agents from before the cold war ended are stored inside the effigy. Getting the list would be a huge intelligence coup.
Red is back at the FBI blacksite. Dir Cooper asks Red where Fowler is. He suspects Red had something to do with her disappearance. Yeah, like Red is going to tell him about that!
Red tells them about Pratt, who is a well-known socialite with relationships with powerful people. He tells them that Pratt wants to steal the effigy from the Syrian Embassy, which is where it is at the moment. Red says Liz should go undercover to help Pratt steal it, allowing the US to get the effigy and get Pratt at the same time. The danger though is that because she is going to be on Syrian soil, the FBI cannot rescue her if anything goes wrong.
Liz auditions for Pratt and does a good job, pickpocketing Pratt’s cell phone. She is hired to help steal the effigy. Pratt arranges for Liz to go to a party at the Syrian Embassy. Liz has to steal the effigy from a safe. There is a cool sequence where Liz displays her slippery fingers by stealing an ID badge from a Syrian official.
Tom is headed to a teacher’s conference in Orlando that weekend and wants Liz to come with him. She agrees.
It is the night of the theft and Red is Liz’s date for the Embassy party. He tells Liz that something is up because Pratt has not told them some key details of the heist, including the fact that she and her Syrian boyfriend are going to be at the party that night. They may be using Liz as a diversion so Pratt can steal the effigy herself. By going with Liz, Red can protect her.
At the blacksite, Cooper says he thinks Fowler is dead and that Red is the chief suspect. He wants Agent Malik to help him look into it.
Red and Liz are at the party. Pratt is there too. Red and Liz dance for a moment to help Liz calm her nerves. They create a distraction so Liz can go steal the effigy. Meanwhile, Red goes to dance with Pratt. He tells her they can get away right now. She only wants to know why Red disappeared last summer when they were in Florence.
Liz breaks into the Syrian safe, but it was all a trap. Alarms go off and embassy guards are everywhere. Pratt’s Russian/Syrian boyfriend grabs her and says, “I have to get you to the safe room.” Clearly, her plan was to be taken there so she could steal the effigy herself. Guards descend on Liz and Red goes off to figure out what he can do to help. Along the way, Red keeps on taking out Syrian guards. He’s cold and efficient. He manages to rescue Liz via a funny bit where he overpowers a guard after pretending to be a gay friend of Syria’s president. Meanwhile, Pratt uses all the distractions to steal the effigy.
Tom is getting ready to go to Orland with Liz but she calls him to say she is too busy at work. He’s angry and says they could use some time apart. He is going to Orlando without her.
The FBI figures out that a local man with ties to a Syrian warlord is connected to the effigy. After questioning him, they realize that the effigy does not contain the identity of 6 Russian agents, but actually 6 Russian nukes that are hidden inside the US.
Red finds Pratt and wants the coordinates of the Russian nukes. As they are talking about it, two men come up in a van and grab them. Pratt wakes up inside a prison. Nearby, a tortured Red lays on the floor. When the two of them are alone, Pratt tells Red that she already sold the effigy to the Russians. He responds by telling her a story from 20 years ago about how he ran out of gas on the way home to his family on Christmas eve. He got home late as a result and when he got there the whole house was covered in blood. It is a disturbing, but touching story about Red’s tortured life and his terrible loss. The story makes Pratt tear up and cry. He says the reason he did not show up in Florence last summer to meet Pratt was that he cannot suffer a loss like that again.
After Red finishes the story, the Syrians who grabbed them come in to take Red out for more torture. Pratt cannot bear it and tells them where the effigy is located in exchange for them not hurting Red any more. It turns out the whole thing was a setup. Red was never being tortured, he was doing all this to trick Pratt. She’s furious at him and asks if the story about his family was true. He doesn’t answer.
The FBI rushes to find the effigy, hoping that the Russian have not gotten there first. But, they have and there is a big shootout. The Russian bad guy fights with Ressler for a bit before being captured. When Ressler looks inside the effigy, nothing is in it except sand.
Dir Cooper tells Red that nothing about this went right. No list of missing briefcase nukes and the FBI was note even able to find Pratt, who seemed to have escape from Red’s capture. Cooper figure out that Red knows the locations of the bombs. Red is happy to trade the bombs for the effigy itself, though it is certainly not clear why he would want it seeing as it was empty.
Liz thinks Tom is going to leave her. She tells Ressler about it and he cancels his dinner plans with his new girlfriend (who is his ex fiancée) to listen to her story. At the teacher’s conference, Tom runs into Jolene/Lucy and smiles.
Cooper has a meeting with an FBI agent named Walter Gary Martin, who seems very mysterious. He says he knows that Cooper is looking into the disappearance of Fowler. He tells Cooper to stop. Now. He is very forceful and says the DC office is handling the case. “We’ll take it from here,” he says in a very menacing voice.
And the episode is over!
As Blacklist episodes go this was unusual. For the first time I can recall, the subject of the episode, Madeline Pratt, end up just fine – neither captured nor dead. She’s presumably back in Florence. Also, it is very unclear why Red wanted the effigy in the end. Some of what happened involving the hunt for the effigy by the FBI and the Russians doesn’t really make sense. I need to think about it a bit more, but this episode just felt “off” at times. It is clear that Liz and Tom’s relationship is headed downhill. I wonder if they can recover. It is clear that we are going to find out a lot more about Jolene/Lucy next week, which is a major part of the current mythology. I can’t wait for that!
So what did you think? It is your turn to share your thoughts and theories about the show by posting something in the comment section. As always, I’ll be highlighting the most thought-provoking posts in my recap next week. I’ll see you there!
If you want to read more of Jason Evans’ commentary on the Movie and TV industry, follow him on Twitter @TVFilmTalk and be sure to check our Speakeasy every Monday and Wednesday for his recaps of The Blacklist and Arrow.
from WSJ Speakeasy
from WSJ Speakeasy
Jan 28, 2014
Right--I Read Jason Evans, Then I Watch the Blacklist
Jan 27, 2014
TV
‘The Blacklist,’ Season 1, Episode 13, ‘The Cyprus Agency’: TV Recap
- James Spader in “The Blacklist.”
- Photo by NBC – 2014 NBCUniversal Media, LLC
“The Blacklist” is a puzzle wrapped in an enigma shrouded in mystery. My job is to help all of you unravel the mystery and one way to do that is to highlight the most thought-provoking posts of the week in the comment section.
Last week, a poster named Chris brought up a great idea when he said that Tom may have had his memory wiped. On the one hand, lots of nefarious folks seem to be focused on Tom, but Tom’s actions thus far have appeared to be anything but those of a secretive spy. Chris says the Lucy Brooks/Jolene character we met last week may be trying to trigger Tom’s old memories. Great idea, Chris! Keep ‘em coming! Plenty of posters are focused in on Lucy Brooks/Jolene. Many think she may be an older version of the young woman in the photo Red took from The Stewmaker’s book of victims. I am not so sure about that, as the Stewmaker seem to kill all his victims and Jolene is certainly still alive. Still, Red’s interest in Lucy Brooks is one of the main mysteries being explored on the show right now.
A quick reminder that last week’s episode left off with Red confronting Meera Malik because he had discovered she was the mole. I must admit, this revelation left me a little bit confused. What kind of mole is she supposed to be? Everyone knows she is a CIA agent who has been placed at the FBI to be a part of the team investigating Red’s Blacklist members. Is the implication that Malik is working for Fitch (Alan Alda)? I don’t really get what kind of mole she is supposed to be… but maybe she and Red will talk about it and make it more clear. Anyway, let’s see what is happening tonight on the show.
A woman who appears to be an escapee from a hospital, or a mental ward, is walking down the street. She is mumbling, “They took my baby.” A police officer approaches her just as a man comes up, claiming to be her husband. The “husband” has a thick mustache. The officers wants to figure out what is going on but mustache man shoots him. Handlebar then turns around and shoots the woman too.
Tom and Liz are looking at a 3D sonogram of their baby. They are a little freaked out but will soon be parents. Liz has decided she wants to take some time off from work to be with the baby when they get it. Quite a change from her attitude last week. I guess looking at the sonogram has changed her. Sorta sweet.
She meets with Red, who tells her about an evil organization known as the Cypress Adoption Agency. Liz doesn’t believe it is a coincidence that Red is asking her to investigate an adoption agency just as she is about to adopt. He tells her that Cypress offers the promise of perfection. The parents-to-be tells Cypress exactly what they want and Cypress actually abducts the child who perfectly fits the bill. The CEO is a man named Mallory. The agency’s lawyer is a man named Caldwell. Red gives Liz the identity of the child who will be abducted next.
She goes to visit the Rowlands, the couple who were going to adopt the baby. She gets them to work undercover and they go meet with the lawyer, Caldwell. The Rowlands ask too many questions and the lawyer gets nervous. He walks outside and Liz approaches him. He gets very agitated and mumbles, “I’m already dead.” He runs out in the street. As he is about to tell Liz something about The Cpress Agency, a bus slams into him and he is instantly killed. This is muuuch more than just a story about adoption.
Red goes to see Malik, who it appears he is holding in some warehouse. A man who interrogated her says she is clean and telling the truth. She tells Red that someone higher up authorized her to give up information on the blacksite, information that led to Red’s abduction at the hands of Anslo Garrick. She tells Red she wants to know who was behind it as much as he does. She offers to work with Red on the investigation.
At The Cypress Agency, the FBI is raiding everything. CEO Mallory is there and says he knows nothing about illegal adoptions. He seems like he is fully cooperating.
Meanwhile, Liz wants to talk to Dir. Cooper about taking some time off, but she gets the impression that he will not take kindly to it.
The FBI investigation is thus far turning up nothing. The FBI cannot verify any of the details of any of the adoptions by Cypress in the past year, but they cannot prove the adoptions were illegal either. Red gives Liz some advice – don’t just look at the DNA of the children, look into the parents. When the FBI does that, they find that 5 woman are the mothers of many of the Cypress babies… and all the women are listed as missing persons.
All the missing women are attractive, smart women who were students at top universities. The FBI figures out that Cypress is grabbing the women and then getting them pregnant. That’s sick!
Malik steals Dir. Cooper’s ID and uses it to hack into some secret FBI files and copy them.
The FBI figures out that a Georgetown student named Charlotte is Cypress’ next target to be kidapped and turned into a mommy. We see handlebar mustache man stalking her. Ressler and Liz arrive moments too late to stop handlebar from grabbing her, but they get his license plate.
Handlebar takes the woman to Mallory, who is upset. Mallory says the Agency was supposed to go silent. Mallory pulls a gun and kills handlebar.
Mallory goes to a fertility clinic called Galatea. He tells the doctor there to shut everything down.
The FBI finds the dead body of one of the women who tried to escape from Cypress. An autopsy reveals that she had been sedated for the past three years… but she has given birth multiple times in that time. Wow, Cypress doesn’t just farm babies from these women, it keeps the women unconscious the whole time. Super sick!
Malik gives Red the intel she got from Cooper’s computer. He examines it and says, “Our business is done, Agent Malik.” Red now knows who betrayed him. I am sure we will soon find out.
The FBI delves deeper into Mallory’s background. He came from the foster care system and had deep psychological problems. He had to take some strong drugs just to maintain his sanity. The FBI tracks Mallory to the Galatea fertility clinic by tracking the drug he takes. Ressler ends up having to shoot the lead doctor at the clinic. Liz chases Mallory and ends up finding all the sedated women who are pregnant. She and Mallory get into a fight but Ressler saves the day when he shoots Mallory in the arm.
One final cherry on top of the Cypress Agency sickness. Liz finds out that Mallory is the father of all the children the agency put up for adoption. He stole women, but he was the only father.
Liz goes home and tells Tom she just cannot go through with the adoption. She tells him she does not think they are ready for this. “Something’s not right,” she tells him. I think Red’s constant mantra that Tom is not who he claims to be has broken Liz’s trust in her husband.
Red goes to the home of FBI Director Dianne Fowler. It is nighttime and she is in her nightgown. He tells her he knows she is the one who betrayed him and gave up the plans for the blacksite. He pulls a gun on her. She starts talking about how Fitch (Alan Alda) will protect her. “Shut up,” Red says and he shots her in the belly. He tells her that he and Fitch have an agreement. They each go about their business and don’t get in each other’s way. “You and I don’t have an agreement,” he tells her. She tells Red that she knows the truth about “that night” and what happened to his family. She asks him if he wants to know the truth. He tells her he does, “But, if you know the truth then somebody else also does.” With that, he pumps several more bullets into her.
We see Tom being comforted about Liz’s decision not to adopt by his new friend, Jolene/Lucy. The episode closes with Red’s “clean up expert,” the old lady named Mr. Kaplan, cleaning up Dianne Fowler’s body.
And the episode is over!
Strong episode! The Cypress story was so creepy and sick that it held my attention more than the susual weekly blacklister does. And thank goodness Liz and Tom have decided not to adopt. Getting a child in the middle of all this would have been really messy! I think this allows the show to still turn Tom Bond into a bad guy, if they want, and not leave Liz stuck with a child she must care for. I love that Red got revenge on Fowler and that we learned at least a little tiny bit more about what Red wants (to know the fate of his family) as well as more talk about his relationship with Fitch.
Now it is your turn. Let all of us know your thoughts and theories about the show by posting something in the comment section. As always, I’ll be highlighting the most thought-provoking posts in my recap next week. It is worth noting that Blacklist Executive Producer Jon Bokenkamp told me when I interviewed him that he and his staff read this blog and the comment section to see what we all think and even to get ideas, so don’t be surprised if your crazy idea ends up actually happening on the show!
If you want to read more of Jason Evans’ commentary on the Movie and TV industry, follow him on Twitter @TVFilmTalk and be sure to check our Speakeasy every Monday and Wednesday for his recaps of The Blacklist and Arrow.
copied from wsj....speakeasy.....jason evans
So, Jason Evans comes out with his Blacklist update on Monday evening before the show--First, I read Jason, then I watch the show, then I read Jason and the comments.............I think Fitch is from outer space and wants to take over the world and Red was forced to work for him and Tom is in on it--clearly........what do you think?
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‘The Blacklist’ Recap: Season 2, Episode 8, ‘The Decembrist’
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NBC
THE BLACKLIST
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