The latest episode of The Blacklist, Ruslan Denisov, ushered us back into the nitty-gritty of our favorite show, hunting down the fugitives on the FBI and Red’s blacklist. The previous two episodes were more of a cinematic event based on the show and were action packed from top to bottom. If you haven’t seen this one then know I will spoil some pretty important details from it should you continue reading before watching. The choice is yours.
An end game is a goal you work towards taking steps to build yourself in a way that will allow you to surpass this goal and whatever it requires. The actual end game is typically a battle with fireworks of one sort or another that promises great reward. Sometimes the reward is immediate while other times it is a grind of repetitive battle rewards that build up to something better than the big end game battle. Either way, an end game in sight and properly planned for should allow for much benefit after the fact.
This means, quite simply, you don’t plunge full-tilt-head-first into the abyss without imaging that darkness from every angle possible. You have to plan for it, look past it and make sure your battle plan lines up to lead you to the next step. That’s something Lizzie didn’t do when she took Tom captive. It was an emotional decision full of righteous indignation easily justified by the confines of her duty rather than a well thought out plan of attack. It was reactive, not a well executed tactical masterpiece.
This is where she needs Red the most. He’s experienced enough to think on the fly and, when that goes boom in his face, he has a team of experts at his disposal to clear away any mess he makes. She’s so defensive, however, she can’t see that. She has a lot to prove, to herself, and she’s hell bent on doing it her way. Which is how she came to give that Harbor Master her business card.
Not that that was her first mistake.
Ruslan Denisov has a talent for extracting people and holding them hostage to fund his team of mercenaries and whatever else he deems fitting. Red said he’s very much into politics and, apparently, is rather good at his game. His team captured an undercover CIA agent posing as a Priest. His price for this Priest wasn’t money but, instead, a way to save his people from more pain, suffering and death. He wanted a leaky pipeline that was dumping harmful chemicals into his countries water and land and the company who ran it out. Gone. Take-your-pipeline-and-go gone. He’d recently lost a brother to this chemical poisoning and decided enough was enough. He may be a mercenary but he has a heart and wanted to free his people from certain death.
Almost made him likable. If nothing else, he was certainly easy to identify with on some level.
Red brings this case to an angry Liz because, long story short, he wants the FBI to broker a deal to get this leaky pipeline and it’s company out of the way so he can profit off a deal that would bring a state of the art pipeline through the country. Red is many things but he seems to enjoy finding ways (to get the Feds) to help others while lining his pockets.
I missed the intensity and action of the Luther Braxton episodes but I enjoyed this one. It may not have been as griping but there were some BIG FAT HUGE points of interest.
The Fulcrum!
She did give it to Aram and he did give it back saying he couldn’t access the data. He thinks it’s an old recording device of which he has no knowledge. Where does she turn next then to find out what secrets it holds? Two sayings come to mind here, one being to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. The other? An enemy of my enemy is my friend. Right now she sees Red as untrustworthy, an ‘enemy’ if you will. She thinks this recording device holds power over Red. Who should she call on next?
How about Tom?
It sounds ludicrous, I know, but I can see it. She told Ressler that Tom killed the Harbor Master to protect her. If he’d kill to protect her and she thinks he and Red are enemies, why not call on him to help solve this puzzle? He may have an advantage she doesn’t given the breadth of his operative know-how. I don’t know if she has a way of contacting him but given that Red warned Tom to never go near Liz again, she’s about to be investigated for the death of the Harbor Master AND she’s not had any resolution to the whole Tom thing anyway (isn’t she still living in hotels?), the story is screaming for Tom to reappear. He can probably help her.
If she doesn’t get Tom on this then I have no idea. I don’t want her to turn it over unsuspectingly to anyone on or connected to that Cabal group. Please please PLEASE don’t’ let her do that! She has connections with people Red uses but I don’t see her trusting any of those to help in what she sees as working against Red. Tom just makes sense.
Also, the dude with the bone hook earring thing? Holy. That was another mistake, after taking Tom captive to begin with. Her giving the Harbor Master her business card was, really, just one more mistake in a long line of mistakes. She didn’t even try to envision her end game any more than Denisov because she was too busy reacting to the situation she’d found herself in. You can call it trying to take advantage of what happened but, honestly, she would have needed to call on Red for that. Can’t blame her for trying but this situation is going to bite her in the bum. Hard.
Which, I’m assuming, will allow Red to swoop in and save the day!
What did you guys think? Will we be seeing Tom soon? Will Liz trust him enough to help break into the Fulcrum? What about Fitch’s last words? I thought he was saying the Fulcrum was in that box in Spain (or wherever) but now I’m lost as to what he was talking about if this recording device is indeed the Fulcrum. Puzzles abound!