Wednesday, April 30, 2014

The Blacklist - The Kingmaker


While sending the FBI after The Kingmaker (Linus Roache), the latest name on The Blacklist with an unique skill-set who offers select clients the ability to arrange their ascendance in public life by helping clear obstacles (often by murderous methods). Knowing the man has been working for Reddington's mysterious adversary, Red hopes the FBI's capture of The Kingmaker can give him a solid lead on his opposition. Reddington (James Spader) also attempts to enlist the help of Alan Fitch (Alan Alda) and his alliance for help in his quest to uncover and defeat a threat systematically attacking Red's organization from the shadows.

Failing to turn an enemy into a temporary ally, Reddington's luck will continue to go from bad to worse over the course of the episode. Lizzie and Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) are able to stop The Kingmaker (one of the most interesting names from The Blacklist so far) from helping a mid-level politician sacrifice both his wife and the life of a United States Senator to help improve his own political future, but to do so Ressler is forced to kill the man leaving Reddington has no one to question about the identity of his adversary.


Looking into Tom's (Ryan Eggold) safety-deposit box leads Lizzie to uncover Reddington's connection to her father's death, something which she (despite his rationale of offering a merciful death to a suffering old friend) can not forgive. As the episode comes to a close the slowly-deepening relationship of Lizzie and Red is shattered leaving the future of the FBI's agreement with a man, and any hope of Lizzie getting any real answers for Red's reasoning behind his actions, in serious jeopardy.

Lizzie's emotional journey over the course of the episode, especially given the recent events of discovering her entire relationship with her husband was all a lie, leads Mrs. Keen to seeking comfort from Ressler. But, given how quickly he killed The Kingmaker (with a near-point-blank head shot), is it a possibility that his interests concerning both Lizzie and Reddington might be more nefarious as well? I guess time will tell.

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