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THE BLACKLIST REVIEW: Liz Takes Cover From Assassins in “Arioch Cain”

BY The Screen Spy Team

Published 9 years ago

THE BLACKLIST REVIEW: Liz Takes Cover From Assassins in

By Kai Greenwell

Lizzie finds herself at taking cover from an assassin, the Wendigo, who concerns Reddington so much he seeks aid from Ressler and the team to keep Lizzie safe on this week's episode of The Blacklist. During the course of their investigation they find that the Wendigo did not have a contract to kill Lizzie, an open bounty had been placed on her head instead.

Meanwhile, Ressler heads to a presidential commission looking into his failure to capture Agent Keen and Reddington and also questioning why his department is not sharing key information with the CIA. His tries to explain that he is wary of handing information to the Director while there are allegations that he runs the Cabal. The director outperforms him resulting in Ressler being forced to work directly with the CIA.

The episode also saw Lizzie and Red attempting to make contact with Dembe during a brief reprieve. Reddington’s associate Vargas (who we know has betrayed him) shows up and takes them to an airport under the guise of regrouping with Dembe. They are ambushed by Mr Solomon and his team, who threatens to torture and kill Liz in order to properly grasp Red’s attention. These threats are cut short when a wounded Dembe comes to the rescue, catching Solomon’s team off guard and dispatching them swiftly.

And elsewhere we see Tom taking steps to strengthen his cover with Asher Sutton and locate the Russians who may be hiding Karakurt.

RIP LIZZIE

Lizzie’s albeit brief death impacted many of the characters. Harold Cooper is briefly shown looking concerned at the news, but elsewhere the impact was deeper.

Ressler began the episode wanting to apprehend Keen as a means to catch some criminals and is seemingly happy to use her as bait to do so. By the end his attitude had melted more than softened and he wants to bring her in so he can keep her safe from those that are after her. His efforts to better himself combined with this change in attitude do massive repairs to his relationship with Aram. Unfortunately the subsequent reveal that he has to work with the Director, whom he believes to be the leader of the Cabal, spells that Ressler will continue to be morally conflicted for some time yet.

The episode leaves us with Ressler in his office, obviously troubled as to whether he can bring Lizzie in anymore without her accidentally getting hurt and if she will remain safe even if he does so.

Tom’s closing monologue is actually a phone message left for Lizzie. We don’t see him learn the news of her ‘death’ but his redoubled need to make contact and reassure her that her actions are justified suggests he did. There’s a sense of apology in his message as he stands feet away from someone he just killed and tells her he will do anything to ensure she gets a second chance. He likely feels that the things he will have to do to see his mission through will put distance between him and Lizzie when she founds out the specifics.

The Blacklist continues Thursdays on NBC.

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