The Blacklist - Recap: Baby, One More Time
Recap and review of The Blacklist - Episode 13 - The Cyprus Agency:
It was bound to happen, and I'm glad it did: The Blacklist tackled a one-off case that looped pretty seamlessly into its character-based story, so that plot advancement and character development went arm-in-arm. Granted, I've never really been that invested in the story of Liz (Megan Boone) and Tom (Ryan Eggold) attempting to adopt a child of their own, but the case this week -- centering on an adoption agency that basically serves as one man's vengeance against a world that rejected him -- furthers the story of the Keen's weakening marriage. "The Cyprus Agency" succeeds by marrying plot to character so that both progress simultaneously. Sure, the story can be a bit on the nose at times, but it largely works thanks to the interest of the case at its center, and the effect it has on Liz's marriage.
Credit: NBC
This week, Red (James Spader) hands Liz the case of The Cyprus Agency, a mysterious adoption agency that specializes less in finding homes for children than in stealing them from their homes. Although the kids find loving, new adopted parents, it doesn't change the fact that each child was swiped from his or her birth mother, making this a very personal case for Liz, as she and Tom are in the final stages of the adoption process themselves. Naturally, Liz recognizes the connection and theorizes that Red has ulterior motives in handing her this case, and soon enough, those motives come out: Red asks Liz if she doesn't perhaps have just one shred of doubt about Tom. Basically, he wants to stop her from going through with the adoption before it's too late, since he still believes Tom isn't who he says he is, and is hoping Liz realizes this too before she passes the "point of no return". Liz claims she has absolutely no doubts about Tom, but what she encounters throughout the episode, particularly as it concerns the motives of the villain, changes her mind about the adoption.
Credit: Virginia Sherwood/NBC
So about that villain: Owen Mallory is the head of an adoption agency that, from all appearances, seems to be on the up-and-up. That is, until Liz and Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) catch one of their lawyers, Ted Caldwell, in the act of brokering an illegal adoption. Caldwell freaks out the minute he's approached by Liz and Ressler, spouting off that he's as good as dead already. And he turns out to be right, although not for the reasons he might think: it isn't his employer who kills him, but a bus that strikes him after he stupidly runs out into the middle of the street. And like that, Liz and Ressler have lost a significant lead in the investigation. But the agents are able to salvage the investigation anyway, turning up evidence -- thanks to Red's suggestion -- that the victims of this crime syndicate are people incapable of going to the police. Liz initially thinks Red means criminals, but what the DNA database ends up revealing is that the victims in question are missing women, all in beautiful and genetically-sound. The pieces to the puzzle are there, but the solution doesn't become obvious until the body of the woman from the opening moments of the episode is found in the woods. Her atrophied body and prenatal vitamin-enriched blood reveals that not only has she been in a medically-induced coma for years, but she's also given birth multiple times. In essence, what Liz has discovered is a baby farming operation, as woman are abducted, placed in comas, and used as vessels to produce children that can be sold to the highest bidder.
Credit: Virginia Sherwood/NBC
Liz is understandably disgusted, but her curiosity wins out. As the investigation rolls on, she quickly discovers Owen Mallory's motives: he was once adopted by a well-off couple in the suburbs, the Lasseters. But he was a problem child, "damaged goods," as Mallory puts it. The Lasseters were ill-equipped to handle such a problematic young kid, since their marriage wasn't really on strong footing at the time. Ultimately, they realized they weren't prepared for parenthood, and the recommendation was made for the Lasseters to return Owen (known to them as "Michael") to foster care. And so he languished in the system until he came of age and took on a new identity, setting this entire terrible plan in motion, as he's revealed to be the father of all the children produced by the agency. Owen considers it his "legacy", as a piece of him will live on in every home that has one of his children -- kids who will all have the opportunity to start off with the undamaged, clean slate reputation he never had. In a way it's tragic, but really, it's mostly just sick. Thankfully, he's brought down by Liz, who storms The Cyprus Agency headquarters along with Ressler, and has a climactic fight with Owen himself (it's borderline comedic how they toss each other on top of all the comatose patients, with Owen even using one as an obstacle for Liz, but whatever. This show is more fun than it is substantive). She brings him in for the arrest, and the quicker Liz can put the case behind her, the better, since she has a lot to deal with at home.
Credit: Will Hart/NBC
In hearing Owen's story about his upbringing, and how the Lasseters ultimately failed him by going through with an adoption when they were unprepared, Liz rethinks her stance on adoption with Tom. It's an unexpectedly effective moment, as Liz tearfully reveals to Tom that she just can't do it. Not right now. As she explains to a mystified Tom, they just aren't ready. Liz insists that Tom must feel, at some level, that their marriage, in its current state, is "broken". Bringing a child into that would just be wrong, and so she's opting to back out before it's too late. Tom doesn't really want to hear any of this, and goes to meet up with Jolene, the shady woman from the baby shower last week. I'm not sure how invested viewers are going to be in Tom and Liz's marriage, but I find that, as a character story, it carries just enough weight to be worth the screentime, doubly so if it turns out Tom really is as untrustworthy as Red thinks he is.
Credit: NBC
Speaking of Red, his side of the episode helps resolve some lingering details about the whole pesky mole business. He interrogates Meera (Parminder Nagra) to ascertain the identity of the person on whose orders she carried out her mission. She doesn't know the person's identity, but resolves to find out by stealing Director Cooper's (Harry Lennix) access card to obtain classified documents that will expose the truth. She does so, and we come to learn that the person who set the plan in motion was Diane (Jane Alexander), the director of the FBI Counterterrorism Division. It's unknown why, exactly, she leaked the black site security intel to Anslo Garrick, but Red isn't really interested in the why. He's interested in retribution.
Spader really luxuriates in the closing scene, in which Red antagonizes Diane at gunpoint, slowly cluing her in to the fact that she's not as untouchable as she thinks. Indeed, he straight up shoots her after she makes a point that Red could never get away with harming her. A stunned Diane realizes there's no use bargaining for her life, so she turns to spite instead, telling Red that she could have told him the truth about what really happened to his family. Of course, Red smiles and declares, "If you know, Diane, then someone else knows too." Then he empties the chamber into her, making a terrible mess for Mr. Kaplan to clean up afterwards. Red seems to get over it pretty quickly, having avenged Luli, but he seems troubled by the knowledge that he's still no closer to finding out what happened to his family. I do like that we're getting Red's back story piece-by-piece, as each week seems to tell us something new about him, or hint to a larger story yet to come. It might be a more incremental kind of progress than I'd like, but I find it mostly works.
"The Cyprus Agency" is another fine installment of The Blacklist, benefiting from the decision to merge character and plot in a way that feels mostly organic. Could the show get away with this kind of character-driven episode every week? Probably not. But I'd like to see the show try.