The Blacklist - Recap: Whac-A-Mole
Recap and review of The Blacklist - Episode 12 - The Alchemist:
One of the things The Blacklist is really nailing on a week-to-week basis is its worldbuilding via its villains. Truly, one of the most alluring things about the show is its unique rogues gallery, as each individual Blacklister provides a different set of skills that makes him/her a threat. With "The Alchemist", the show delivers one of the more intriguing one-off villains seen on a procedural this season. The titular Blacklister is a twisted Robin Hood of genetic manipulation: he's a scientist who steals life from the innocent and gives to the guilty, and while it doesn't sound like The Alchemist is all that threatening, what the episode does is build upon the idea that a sharp intellect is every bit as dangerous, if not more so, than the brute force and world-weary toughness of previous Blacklisters.
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The episode opens with Red (James Spader) filling Liz (Megan Boone) in on what makes The Alchemist (Ryan O'Nan) such a dangerous man, and it's this voiceover that is placed over a visual representation of The Alchemist doing what he does best: killing people and making them genetically appear to be someone else. Though it's never definitively explained how he does it (aside from Red's theories about red and white blood cells, and a hand-wave about The Alchemist's time as a scientist with the Human Genome Project), The Alchemist somehow alters the DNA of his victims to make them appear to be the criminals he's been tasked with making disappear. He essentially takes an innocent life so that a treacherous person can continue living in anonymity, free from the relentless pursuit of the law. And this is all established within the first five minutes, in a terrifically fleet sequence that culminates in The Alchemist's two victims waking up on a plane in mid-crash, while The Alchemist himself bails on the flight with his parachute (I guess if you're going to do The Dark Knight Rises opening, you might as well go whole hog on it). And like that, the tone is set for the rest of the episode, as we get an idea of just the kind of formidable person we're dealing with here.
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The case itself doesn't involve as many twists and turns as your standard Blacklist case, given that the agents figure out The Alchemist's process fairly quickly, what with his alteration of dental records and other surface details meant to fool coroners. The impetus in catching The Alchemist is twofold: on the one hand, they have the opportunity to bring a loathsome criminal to justice; but, more significantly, the FBI has the rare opportunity to bring possibly hundreds of even worse criminals to justice, assuming they can capture The Alchemist and obtain his client list. Yet, almost immediately, the episode attempts to humanize him, in a certain way. Under his real name, Eric Trettel, The Alchemist was once a promising scientist who showed a rigorous fascination in the field of genetics, and forged a Harvard diploma to get recognized as an authority on the subject. His expertise saw him called as an expert witness specializing in DNA evidence, yet his career came crashing down around him when he was discovered to be a fraud. Disgraced, Trettel went to work using his skills to help criminals disappear by assisting them in faking their own deaths via falsified DNA evidence. It's another exploration into the deleterious nature of genius, as Trettel may be intelligent, but he isn't necessarily all there, either. His ex-wife is terrified of him, as Liz learns that Trettel frequently visits her and tries to convince her they're still one big, happy family. Trettel is willfully blind to the plight of his emotionally-exhausted wife, and his diabetic, eight-year-old daughter, neither of whom feels any particular affection for the man. In essence, Trettel is a man who has no one, but just doesn't realize it yet.
Credit: NBC
While the investigation presses on, Trettel is busy planning his next crime, luring a would-be starlet to his lab and subjecting her to his twisted processes, and although the FBI is hot on his trail, they're too late to stop him, as not only has he taken the aspiring actress's body away, he's also cleared the lab of any incriminating evidence (aside from some medical records). When The Alchemist's wife and daughter turn up dead, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the victims aren't Trettel's real family, but rather the actress and another stand-in, the latest victims of The Alchemist's scheme. Recognizing that Trettel's wife and daughter are now the victims of an abduction, Liz, with the help of Red, figures out that Trettel can be tracked through his daughter's insulin pump. It's a tip that leads the cops right to the convenience store where the Trettel family is holed up, along with a bunch of other hostages Trettel has taken.
Credit: NBC
This storyline development probably isn't the most interesting place the narrative could have gone, since it ultimately becomes another "Frederick Barnes" case, where a Blacklister believes he's actually committing all these crimes for the good of his family. But even having said that, the climax is still pretty exciting: a gun fight breaks out between Trettel and a fellow patron, and although The Alchemist is able to kill the man, he fails to stop him from firing off a shot which, ultimately, hits Trettel's daughter in the abdomen, putting her life in danger. Faced with losing his daughter or going to prison (and possibly both), Trettel tries to negotiate with Liz when she arrives on the scene, attempting to get her to promise him full immunity and witness protection for his family if he turns over his client list. But Liz can't make that promise; she can only offer him the aid of a medic for his daughter. Unfortunately, that's not good enough for Trettel, who takes one of the hostages and prepares to put a bullet in her brain -- until Trettel's wife, fed up with his years of psychological abuse, and torn by grief over the situation he's put their daughter in, shoots her estranged husband in the back. A stunned Trettel turns to face his wife, and takes several more bullets to the body, collapsing to the ground and dying. It's a fairly succinct conclusion, but it works in the context of the rest of the episode, as I couldn't think of a more ignominious end for someone so intelligently complex than to go out with a whimper.
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But then things take a bit of a turn. In an approach that is as surprising as it is jarring, all interest the story has in Trettel pretty much dies the minute he does, as we never really learn whether Trettel's daughter pulls through or not, nor do we hear from his wife again. The only plot element that lingers once Trettel is gone is his client list, which Aram (Amir Arison) recovers from The Alchemist's personal files. Liz takes a copy of the list to Red, only to learn that the reason he actually told her about The Alchemist in the first place was to have the FBI track down Trettel and retrieve the list for him. With the client list in hand, Red can now complete the mission he's been pursuing the entire episode: the capture of the mole. And it's a pretty stunning reveal, even if there were only about two or three people it possibly could have been, anyway...
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I could probably go on about the other subplots this week, such as Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) getting back together with his ex, or Liz getting into yet another marital dispute with Tom (Ryan Eggold), culminating in him going out to an art exhibition with a substitute teacher friend, Jolene, a shady woman who has a personal file on him and an unexplained ulterior motive. But really, those stories are too embryonic to really get a hold on: is Tom's new friend the mysterious Lucy Brooks that Red carries a picture of everywhere he goes? Or is she another Blacklister, zeroing in on her next victim? It's hard to tell just from this week's episode alone (although I suppose if one could freeze frame on the Lucy Brooks photo, we'd know, one way or the other). But then, I'm not even sure she's meant to be all that important at this stage in the narrative, considering we've just learned that Meera Malik (Parminder Nagra) is the mole.
It's a reveal that, while not necessarily having come out of nowhere, was a complete stunner. It's a shame that this relatively surprising reveal runs the risk of being ignored amid accusations of racism, since it turns out the agent of Eastern descent is proven to be the terrorist traitor after all. But I have enough confidence in the direction that this won't end up being nearly as severe a storyline decision as it might appear. Even though she's the mole, there has to be much more to the story, as Meera seems particularly guilt-ridden when she confesses to Red. Of course, Red seems to have no qualms about killing Meera, which is a trait we know all too well from how he handled the many killings last week. But he hesitates for reasons that aren't entirely explained, since the episode ends on the cliffhanger of Meera's confession. And really, it's as good a place to end as any, as Red shows a grim determination to see his vengeance plot through, making his confrontation with Meera all the more chilling. It's a taut scenario from which to mine solid drama, aside from the obvious mystery of who Meera is, and why she did what she did, coupled with the question of just what Red's motives are. I'm genuinely excited to see where this all is headed.
Credit: NBC
But as for now, "The Alchemist" is a strong episode to enter into The Blacklist canon, as it balances Liz's hectic home life with her even more chaotic work life, creating this weird hybrid, serialized, procedural character study that absolutely shouldn't work, yet totally does. I'm continually impressed by The Blacklist, and this week was no different.