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I'll get to "The Blacklist" recap in a moment, but first we need to point out the highlights from the comment section last week.
First of all, a new nickname has been born. Everyone is so convinced that Liz's husband Tom is really a secret spy that he has been dubbed Tom Bond [James Bond's American cousin]. Poster whenever we see Red recalling his troubled past, it focuses on someone who appears to be his daughter and we never see or hear anything about his wife. Selinabln suspects that Red's wife may still be alive and...
"The Blacklist": Pictured: [l-r] Justin Kirk as Nathaniel Wolff, Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler.
David Giesbrecht/NBC
I'll get to "The Blacklist" recap in a moment, but first we need to point out the highlights from the comment section last week.
First of all, a new nickname has been born. Everyone is so convinced that Liz's husband Tom is really a secret spy that he has been dubbed Tom Bond [James Bond's American cousin]. Poster whenever we see Red recalling his troubled past, it focuses on someone who appears to be his daughter and we never see or hear anything about his wife. Selinabln suspects that Red's wife may still be alive and working with Red's "Adversary." There is a lot of speculation that Liz may be The Adversary's daughter and that Red may be using her to get revenge on his nemesis.
Speaking of The Adversary, TVGuide.com reported this week that Alan Alda would be joining the cast of "The Blacklist" as a man named Mr. Crawley and that Crawley would be an old enemy of Red's. Perhaps Hawkeye is The Adversary!
[UPDATE: An NBC representative confirmed to Speakeasy that Alda will be a guest on the show.]
We probably won't meet Crawley for a few more episodes. It is now time to see where the twists and turns of "The Blacklist" will take us tonight
It all begins with a man and his son playing football in the park. Suddenly, pieces of an airplane start falling out of the sky. It is a cargo plane, not a passenger jet.
Cut to scenes of protests across the globe. Some men in strange red masks record a message, "The storm has come. It will wash away the greedy and when it does you can thank General Ludd."
At Tom Bond and Liz's house, they are showering together. The man with the apple watches them on his monitor. After the shower, Liz gets a call from her dad [adopted father, of course Liz claims to have never met her biological father and the show keeps on hinting that Red is her real daddy]. The dad is played by famed character actor William Sadler who has been in dozens of movies and TV shows over the years from playing one of the prisoners in Shawshank Redemption to playing the President in Iron Man 3.
Daddy is in the hospital. Liz is worried but he says he is fine, even though they are testing him for cancer. The doctor scolds him for not telling Liz how serious his condition is.
At the FBI, Red is trying to get access to a government database. He offers to help the FBI catch the person who brought down the plane in exchange. He claims the plane was taken down by Gen. Ludd's people. We get a history of Ludd's terrorist acts against the rich and powerful. Red has promised the FBI he will help them catch a man named Nathaniel Wolfe, the founder of the group. The FBI figures out that a man named Arthur Denning got the chemicals. They look at pictures of him and figure out that one person is using various identities to collect dangerous materials.
We see Ludd's people making a bomb out of a laptop. The man who was in the pictures is going to take it somewhere and blow something up. He appears to be dressed like a pilot. Meanwhile, the FBI figures out that Wolfe and Denning are the same person, Wolfe just changed his face to take on a new identity. His father had been an airplane mechanic who's life was ruined when Wall Street destroyed the airline that had employed him. Now we know Wolfe's motivation for forming Gen. Ludd's army.
Red is hanging out with a couple of his employees, two women who are counterfeiting money for him. Liz goes to visit Red and Red turns the tables on her by talking about her father and his cancer. Liz can't tell how Red knows so much about her family. Red changes the topic again and tells Liz that a man named Dr. Maltz probably performed the surgery to change Wolfe's face.
In South Beach, Liz and Red go to visit Dr. Maltz. He is played by actor/comedian Andrew Dice Clay! I love the Diceman!! Red asks him how to find Nathaniel Wolfe. Maltz refuses until Liz reveals that she is a FBI agent and threatens to arrest Maltz. The Diceman tells them Wolfe's new name, Bradley Holland. Red covers for Liz [and himself] by pretending that this was all a test to see if Maltz could be trusted. It turns into a pretty funny scene. I can't wait for the Diceman to be back on the show again in the future!
The FBI figures out that Wolfe has used his fake ID to get a job as a pilot and he plans to wreck another plane. We see Wolfe at the airport, getting ready to board a passenger jet. He tricks a gate agent into putting his bags, including the exploding laptop on the plane.
Liz gets a call from Tom Bond. He says her father's cancer has spread to his liver. They need to go see him in Nebraska.
At the airport, the FBI thinks it has stopped the bombing by grounding planes, but the plane explodes while still on the ground.
Liz wants to visit her dad, but all flights have been grounded because of the threat from Gen. Ludd. The FBI has a lead though. They have tracked Wolfe's credit card to a storage facility in Brooklyn.
In Nebraska, Liz's father, Sam, has a visitor. Red is there is see him and they are clearly old friends. They laugh as they talk about people they knew many years ago. Red begins talking about his impressions of Liz. He says, "You gave her an incredible gift, Sam, taking her in and loving her as your own." Sam tells Red that he only has 6 weeks to live. He says, "I need to tell Lizzie." "I can't let you do that," says Red. We get no clue what Sam wants to tell his adopted daughter.
At the Brooklyn storage facility, the RBI discovers more of Wolfe's fake identities. It turns out the entire plan has been an elaborate scheme to steal money being shipped across country. Wolfe is trying to steal $500 million.
As Liz and Ressler race to catch Wolfe, she gets a call from her father who tells her about the cancer, but does not reveal anything about the secret he shares with Red. After Sam hangs up the phone, Red comes to his bedside and says he can only hope to love and protect Liz as well as Sam has. "You will always be her father," Red says to his old friend. Earlier, Sam joked about wanting to die quickly instead of suffering through cancer. Red pulls out a pillow and suffocates Sam to death. William Sadler we hardly knew ya!
Tom Bond is in Nebraska and finds out Sam is dead. He goes outside to have a cup of coffee and Red sits down next to him. They act like they have never seen each other before. Red clearly knows who Tom is, but Tom sure seems ignorant of Red's identity. They talk about losing loved ones and how heartbreaking it is. Tom laments the loss of his father-in-law and Red gives a speech about how Liz's father will always be watching and protecting her, watching those who get close to her to make sure they are honest. Tom Bond noticeably swallows nervously during Red's speech. Tom is hiding something!!
In New York, the FBI corners the truck with the money. Wolfe and his followers engage in a shootout with the feds. The Gen. Ludd terrorists eventually get the $500 mill off the truck and blow it up, sending bills flying into the air. Wolfe gets away in all the confusion.
The FBI figures out that Wolfe wasn't after the money. He was after plates for new $100 bills that were hidden in the truck. They think Wolfe is trying to get away by air. Liz calls Red to help figure out how Wolfe is going to fly with all the planes grounded. Red knows where Wolfe is leaving from and meets him there. He knows that Wolfe's real plan was to counterfeit billions of dollars of money and bankrupt the US economy. Red likes capitalism though so he stops Wolfe and turns Wolfe over to the FBI.
Liz calls Tom and finds out that her father is dead. The next scene is his burial with Liz putting flowers on the casket. Tom Bond comforts her.
We see Red looking at the FBI database he wanted access to at the beginning of the episode. He is looking up the criminal history of a young redheaded woman. Is this his daughter?
Liz goes to confront Red about his counterfeiting efforts but he deflects her by talking about her father. He urges Liz to preserve her father's memory by talking about her memories of him.
And the episode is over!
It feels like we got some interesting hints about Liz's history, but nothing definitive, of course. The show continues to give lots of hints that Red is Liz's father. I continue to think this is too obvious. Frankly, the side stories about the bad guys being caught each week are getting dull. We want to learn more about Tom and Liz and Red. But the show is giving that info out in very small doses.
Now, it is your turn. The comment section has been full of clever ideas and theories. Post your thoughts and join the conversation. I'll see you there!
If you want to hear more of Jason Evans' thoughts on the world of movies and TV, follow him on Twitter @TVFilmTalk and be sure to check out Speakeasy every Monday and Wednesday for his recaps of The Blacklist and Arrow.