The Blacklist - Smokey Putnum

The Blacklist returns with a quirky season premiere with Liz (Megan Boone) tagging along with Reddington (James Spader) on a road trip. Following the dismantlement of his criminal empire, Red has decided to live in a motel and become a bounty hunter while pressuring the FBI to help him rebuild that which Mr. Kaplan (Susan Blommaert) burned to the ground. It's an odd episode with no real stakes other than finding and transporting a fugitive (Michael Aronov). Despite his recent turmoil, and the knowledge that the corpse suitcase is still out there somewhere, there's a freedom to our master criminal we haven't seen in quite some time. Despite everything, he's decided to make the best of his situation. And, as always, there is an ulterior motive at work.

The episode's B-story involves the discovery of Laurel Hitchin's (Christine Lahti) corpse. Despite getting away with his crime, Ressler's (Diego Klattenhoff) reaction to events clues his cleaner (James Carpinello) into the FBI agent's real identity. He isn't the only one with hard decisions to make as the suitcase in question finds its way into Tom Keen's (Ryan Eggold) possession. Just whose remains are tucked away behind his sofa, and why did Kaplan believe the contents of the suitcase would be enough to destroy the connection between Lizzie and Red? I guess we'll have to wait and see.