Man On A Train (Blacklist Episode 7)

(RECAP AND REVIEW)

THE BLACKLIST

EPISODE 7 "FREDERICK BARNES (No. 47)"

NETWORK: NBC 

ORIGINAL AIR DATE: NOVEMBER 4TH 2013

SPECIAL GUESTS: Robert Sean Leonard as Frederick Barnes

SYNOPSIS: Liz and the FBI track the criminal responsible for a chemical attack on a subway. Elsewhere, Liz reluctantly reaches out to Red to help nab a brilliant scientist (Robert Sean Leonard).

 

RECAP AND REVIEW: WARNING *SPOILERS AHEAD*

A man is speaking to this youngish looking girl on the metro, about nothing in particular; but when the man gets off the metro he leaves his briefcase. The girl notices and tries to return it but, he’s already off the train and is seemingly uninterested in getting his property back. (Come on now, has she really not heard the warnings about people who leave their bags on public transportation) (There is no way I would have still been on board that train with that abandoned bag) The man pushes a button and gas starts coming from the briefcase (see we told you) everyone on that part of the metro dies including a little boy.

In the meantime, Lizzie is trying to redecorate her dining room, and trying extremely hard to make amends to Tom for doubting him and thinking that he is a monster. (Oh don’t worry Lizzie he is a monster… just you wait and see) Lizzie wants a fresh start and wants to think about moving, Tom says they should just give it time. There quiet morning is interrupted by Agent Ressler calling, and demanding that she turn on the television which is of course showing no stop reports of the deaths that occurred in the metro.

Lizzie gets dress and heads over to the metro where she meets Ressler, there are 35 dead and the attack happened on the red line. (Which I ride a lot by the way… creepy.)They scan the security tapes and find the guy who got on the metro with a briefcase and got off without one. They think they’ve got their man. (I would say so)  They head back to the black site, and Meena explains that she thinks the attack was from a domestic source and is not international terrorism.

  Reddington calls Lizzie, where he clearly states his irritation about her not taking his calls, and she tries to make him feel irrelevant. But of course that doesn’t work because Reddington claims he can identify the man with the briefcase.  (Be nice to him Lizzie, he might be the only guy firmly on your side) His name is Frederick Barnes and he is a chemist who can work wonders with toxins of all sorts. Reddington knows him because Frederick is often hired to perform mass killings using biochemical weapons. Lizzie tries to hurt Reddington by comparing him to Frederick, which he doesn’t like, but he also clarifies that he is extremely comfortable about who and what he is.  Reddington considers Frederick a very dangerous man due to him starting to use his own weapons for mass killings.

 At DC General Hospital, Lizzie and Ressler meet with a doctor who explains how all the people died. Apparently their arteries hardened and then exploded. The disease the Frederick created is rare and how the chemicals Frederick needed to create the gas are also rare and highly toxic. Reddington happens to know the chemical needed and the three people in the world who could obtain it in the quantities Frederick would need.

Doing his help the FBI bit, he sets a meeting with the guy he thinks is selling Frederick the chemical he needs, and then hops on a train to Cuba to meet him in person, but not before asking Lizzie to accompany him. (They need to fix their relationship, and by they I really just mean Lizzie) Lizzie says no and instead goes to talk to Frederick Barnes old research partner who happens to live in the DMV. Reddington tries to apologize to Lizzie but she’s not really hearing it, instead she cities the virtues of her husband to Reddington and then they both head off in separate cars. Before they split he warns her that if they can’t fix their relationship, he sees no point in sticking around and helping the FBI. Waiting in Reddington car is the sexy lady that seems to handles some of his affairs, Luli, she has good news about a property he wanted to acquire… apparently it’s on the market. (What type of property would Reddington to interested in?)

 Ann, Frederick’s research partner can’t help but talk about him without a smile on her face. Her husband explains that they worked all the time. She tells Lizzie and Agent Ressler that the last time she saw him was over five years ago.  Ann’s son, Ethan interrupts them talking, cuz he wants to go and play but Ann tells him to slow down and rest, Ressler notices that son has the same type of symptoms that the people who died in the metro did. It turns out Ethan has the same diease.  Ann admits that Ethan is Frederick’s son. Frederick had tried to get his research on the disease funded but he never succeeded in it.

Reddington arrives in the sunny Cuba, grabs some food and meets up with a man named Manny.  (Really, the best name they could come up with is Manny?) Reddington tries to make a buy of the same chemical Frederick is using but Manny is all out and needs a few weeks to get that much of the chemical, Reddington offers to cut Manny out and buy some from the guy who bought up all of Manny’s stash, but Manny isn’t really feeling that option. Reddington laughs as Manny tries to threaten him, and plants a bug underneath the table where they are talking.  Reddington offers to pay Manny an extra million for the product, all Manny has to do is call his previous buyer and buy the chemical back. Manny goes for it and as soon as Reddington leaves he makes a call. (No one ever said, Reddington was dumb, it would have taken months for the FBI to come up with that plan)

Reddington calls Lizzie and tells her that he’s known where to find Frederick. But it’s a little too late; Frederick is heading onto the Arlington District court, with another briefcase.  He walks to the front of the room and pretends that he is has jury service and wants to reschedule; he makes his excuses and leaves the courtroom claiming he forgot something, while leaving his briefcase inside. He locks the courtroom, pushes the button to make the gas leak start and then walks away. Right as he’s leaving Agent Ressler and Lizzie hit the fire alarms and tries to clear out the courthouse. Ressler find the room with the lock on it borrows a gas mask and oxygen tank from the firemen and tells them to evacuate the floor. (Does Ressler have a superhero complex or something? Why does he always feel like he needs to be the one to save the day?)

  Lizzie sees Burns heading down the stairs and gives chase. Frederick takes a hostage, and Lizzie decides to save that hostages life instead of killing Frederick.  Ressler enters the room and finds the sole survivor of the attack. Frederick ultimately escapes and Ressler is pissed at Lizzie for letting Frederick go in exchange for one Hostage.

Luli meets a woman at a modest looking house, and buys the house at double the asking price in cash. (With an offer like that, I would take the money and run) Ressler and Lizzie are back at the black site, where Meera states her own theory for Frederick’s motive; she believes that; Frederick is conducting an experiment with killing these people, trying to find someone who is immune to the diease so that he can try to make an antidote for his son. (in some weird way this is kind of sweet, crazy and evil for sure but also kind of sweet).Ressler rats Lizzie out to Harold, because of the hostage thing and Harold threatens administrative actions against her.  

The girl who survived the attack is in the hospital and is being watched carefully by the doctors.  After her real doctors leave Frederick enters and changes the women’s IV bag, whatever is in the new bag makes her head off to la la land.

Reddington calls Lizzie and asks about the status of the case, she tells him about how she let him get away and Reddington reminds her that if Frederick is all about killing he’s not going to want anyone who can identify him, so he might go after the women in the hospital. Lizzie takes his advice and heads straight there, but of course she is too late. Surprisingly the woman is still alive; Frederick simply stole some of her bone marrow.  (Seems like he’s trying to make a cure) Apparently the woman is immune to the disease and he wants to make an antidote with her marrow.

Lizzie calls Ann and tells her that Frederick is after her son, but of course he has beat Lizzie to the punch, he is already in Ann’s house.  Frederick tries to reason with Ann and when that doesn’t work he pushes her to get her out the way. Ethan watches all of this go down and like any sane kid runs when Frederick turns his sights on him. (I like that this kid actually ran instead of standing there like an idiot.) Frederick chloroforms Ethan, while Lizzie and Meera enter the house. Lizzie goes on the search for Ethan and Frederick and tries to stop him from giving the cure to his son.

Frederick doesn’t believe that she would stop him from saving his son and goes to inject him in the neck to cure him, but Liz ends up shooting Burns instantly. (OK I know we are all supposed to hate Frederick but what is the harm in letting him try and save his son, it might have been his sons only chance to live a full and healthy life. And I blame Lizzie for taking that away from him).

Frederick is dead and Reddington arrives at the crimes scene, he can understand why Frederick did what he did; because he wanted to burn the world in order to protect one person he cared about. Lizzie once against tries to censure Reddington, going so far as saying that she doesn’t need his protection. (Girl shut up!) But, she does realize that she may need him in order to do her job, that doesn’t meant that she want Reddington to be involved in her personal life. Reddington offers to drive away and disappear all together if that’s what she would prefer. Lizzie is dumbfounded and says nothing as Reddington hops in his car after saying he will see her tomorrow.

Lizzie heads home and Tom is chillin’ on the floor eating Chinese. They remember about old times and end up doing it on the dining room floor.  Dembe drives Reddington and Luli to the house he spent too much money on and Reddington gives Luli a tour. Reddington explains that this is the house where he raised his family, he removes a panel that has the heights of his daughter when she was growing up, and then there is a flashback of that little girl playing in the back yard. Dembe informs his boss that is time to go, and as they all pile back into the car the house blows up!

REVIEW: OK this episode was good, but I had some serious issues tonight with Lizzie and to some degree Reddington up in until the ending. There was lots of death and intrigue and a few misdirection’s that is truly the heart and soul of this series so that kept me interested, but I have to admit throughout most of the episode I just wanted to shake Lizzie… Hard. Her snide little comments in my opinion should have made Reddington not help her at all. While he was great at getting in little digs at Lizzie too, I wanted him to take control of the situation and say enough is enough. It was like watching Lizzie throw an hour long temper tantrum.  I also felt like Lizzie shooting Frederick was about proving something to Ressler rather than doing the right thing. I am not even sure Ressler would have made the same call, and saying that if Ethan dies than oh well, was especially harsh. Ressler looked at her like he didn’t recognize her or agree with her reasoning, which just makes me madder at her. Lizzie need to defend her husband is also getting old, we get it he’s perfect and he’s a saint on earth, but if you truly believed it you wouldn’t feel the need to shove it down everyone’s throats. All in all it was a good episode but it could have been better. I can’t wait for episode 8

  

SCENE STEALER AWARD GOES TO:

The little girl playing in the yard of Reddington's old house. It was nice to see the softer side of him, and the family  he seemed to have lost!

THE LINE THAT MADE US PAUSE AND REWIND OUR DVR’S: 

Reddington “ you know the problem with  drawing lines in the sand,  with a breath of air they disappear… you may not like me, you may not understand how or why I do what I do,  but I am here because you want answers to questions you haven’t even thought of yet. Now if that doesn’t matter to you, the solution is simple I get in this car and I disappear”  

Lizzie ”You have a deal with the government, you have a tracking device in your neck”

Reddington “You don’t believe that Raymond Reddington can’t disappear in 60 seconds? I offer that particular package to clients” (2^nd runner up)

RATING?

B+ (Liked it) I really liked Reddington telling off Lizzie

DID YOU CATCH THE BLACKLIST? WILL YOU BE WATCHING NEXT WEEK?