The Blacklist - Recap: Teenage Dream

Okay, maybe that's a reach, but I still enjoyed "Ivan" for not only providing one of the more surprising villains/motives of the show so far, but also for finally bringing Liz (Megan Boone) over to Red's side in the whole "Tom is Evil" debate. Granted, nothing the show does with its storytelling is particularly novel, but I found myself thoroughly entertained just from the propulsive nature of both stories this week. It's not exactly an action movie or anything, but there's clearly a pace here that is a lot more urgent than in most weeks. In fact, I'd argue it's the urgency of the mission at hand that makes the inevitable reveal of the villain, and his motives, such a powerful moment. It might not be the most substantive hour the show has produced (save for a few moments towards the end), but "Ivan" is an episode that is as fun as anything The Blacklist has done this season. And that's pretty much a win, in my book.

The titular "Ivan" is a prolific Russian cyber terrorist who is reportedly responsible for the theft of a top secret piece of military hardware. Basically, a man named Nathan Platt turns up dead following a car accident, and among his possessions was a mysterious device known as the "Skeleton Key." However, it's gone now, and everyone from the FBI to Homeland Security is itching to get it back, since it's basically the cyber equivalent of a nuclear device, for how much damage it could do. As lead designer David Fisher explains, Project Skeleton Key "can cut through the world's most secure networks," basically giving its wielder unfettered access to any device, any database, and any hard drive at any time. It seems a bit of a rote storyline to pursue in the age of cyber privacy issues, but I actually think The Blacklist took a far more interesting approach by illustrating the folly of a society that is so desperately reliant upon technology for everyday life. When "Ivan" has possession of the Skeleton Key and uses it to plunge Washington D.C. into a city-wide blackout, the FBI is pretty much boned. In fact, had they not already had the identity of the perp, along with a potential motive to go off of, they might not have tracked him down. And there's something distressing there, in how even the most formidable organizations could be brought down a peg when their technology is compromised. That's partially why it's so surprising when we learn who's behind this all, and why.

Credit: NBC

Red (James Spader) tracks down Ivan (Mark Ivanir), only to discover that the cyber terrorist isn't actually the one behind this latest threat to Homeland Security. Apparently, someone has co-opted his digital signature and is committing all these crimes using the Skeleton Key in his name. Off of this lead, Liz and Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) track down an elderly woman whose grandson is the guy they've been looking for. Yes, "Ivan" is Harrison Lee (Will Denton), an introverted teenage whiz kid. And the only thing crazier than that reveal is his motive: he pretty much did it for a girl. Granted, it's not just any girl: it's Abby Fisher, the daughter of Skeleton Key lead designer David Fisher. Apparently, Abby had been upset for some time about her family's upcoming move to Colorado as a result of her father's work on the Skeleton Key, and so Harrison arranged for Platt's car crash so he could steal the device and suddenly eliminate any reason for why the Fishers would have to leave. It's so richly absurd that only a teenager who possesses every skill but social skills could have ever thought it would work. In a sense, the episode plays it as a sort of tragedy. Harrison didn't mean for Nathan Platt to die, nor did he intend for Abby to be as creeped out by all of this as she inevitably ends up being. Sure, Garry Marshall probably would have been able to spin the whole "Follow the Lampposts" gimmick into a grand romantic gesture, but this isn't a movie, it's TV, dammit! And so Harrison is our villain. A tragic, misguided villain. But a villain, nonetheless.

Credit: NBC

Case in point, Harrison lures Abby into meeting him late at night at a subway station by tricking her into thinking it's her friend, Jackie, which totally isn't creepy at all. Once there, Harrison confesses his love to her despite never having spoken more than a handful of words to her in his life (again, not creepy at all). When Abby doesn't respond well to his declaration, he tries to stop her from making her escape, accidentally injuring her in the process. Harrison freaks out and boards the subway train, intending to end it all before the police close in on him, and this all builds to a climax that works better in theory than in practice. In short, Liz must board the subway train that Harrison has hacked into, and they've basically in the danger zone now since Harrison has set the speed at Suicide levels. Thus, Liz is left to talk him out of suicide before he gets them both killed on this damn train, and she succeeds with her own "Wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend" pep talk. It's a solid feather in the cap for Liz's competency, and it also closes the chapter on one half of what seems to be the episode's main point: that love makes blind men of us all. Yeah, you could chalk up Harrison's lack of self-awareness to the slim amount of social experience that an introvert like him would have. But he just seemed so taken with the idea that his grand romantic gesture would work that he never really stopped to consider that Abby might not appreciate being tricked into meeting a guy she barely knew in a blacked-out subway station. Nor would she be thrilled to learn he's been hacking her emails, her MP3 playlists, and her text messages. And so it is with Liz, whose blinders are on where Tom (Ryan Eggold) is concerned. It isn't until the cold, bare facts are staring her in the face that she's able to see past her own affections.

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The stuff with Tom isn't nearly as in-depth, but it's still pretty good. Thanks to Mr. Kaplan (Susan Blommaert), Red discovers the bodies of Jolene and The Cowboy, and decides to call in a missing persons report in order to bring the mystery out into the open. As a result, Tom and Liz are paid a visit by detectives, and Tom is forced to pretend he doesn't know a thing about what happened. But Liz, persistent as ever, decides to investigate the matter on her own, and ends up at the doorstep of Tom's warehouse workstation. In one of the most tense scenes The Blacklist has yet done, Tom has to close up shop after getting a call from Liz that notifies him as to her presence in the area. Even though he's a villain, the "Hurry up!" nature of it all makes it feel as if the show wants us to root for Tom to escape, to keep that confrontation from happening, to prevent Liz from having her entire world upended in that moment. And yet, man, did I hope she would find him there. Of course, that doesn't really happen, as Tom just narrowly avoids Liz as they play a game of cat-and-mouse throughout the place. In a brazen act, Tom surprises Liz by slamming a door in her face and then punching her lights out while she's lying on the ground, giving him just enough time to make his escape, sight unseen. Beyond a select number of details (white guy, over six-feet, dark hair), she has no idea who attacked her. Worse, she's getting no help from Red, who simply opts not to answer Liz's questions about Jolene Parker/Lucy Brooks, prompting her to cut ties with him altogether.

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But it all builds into the conclusion. After Liz busts Ivan, she returns home to Tom, who is making her dinner. While Tom grabs a bottle of wine, Liz looks over evidence from the scene of the abandoned workstation. She doesn't appear to notice anything amiss until her eyes settle on an artifact discarded in a trashcan -- a toy she'd bought Tom for his classroom. From this image alone, Liz finally puts it together. Mortified, she goes to Red and admits he was right all along, at which point Red plays a tune from a music box he'd been putting back together -- a tune that recalls horrific memories of Liz's past: of a fire and of the terror it inspired. Liz tearfully realizes that Red knew she would discover the truth, and knew she would recognize the music box song, inspiring a flood of memories. It's as if he's conditioning her to remember her past, and, perhaps, how she and Red are connected. As Red assures her that everything will be alright (tellingly kissing the back of her head as he holds her), we're left to wonder how Red knew about Tom, and how he knew Liz would find out on this, of all nights. There's also the issue of just who Tom is working for (we still have nothing more to go on other than "Berlin"), and what their motives are in employing him to monitor Liz. Basically, it's mysteries all the way down. But hey, at least the mysteries are interesting.

Credit: NBC

"Ivan" is about as good as The Blacklist gets. It probably could have stood to be a bit more substantive, as the Ivan/Harrison Lee story took too much precedence over the ongoing story with Tom, but that was a minor quibble when set against how much fun I was having during the procedural arc this week. The Blacklist is slowly becoming a show I look forward to each week, even while I acknowledge that I might not agree with every choice the show makes in a given week. This is simply good, compulsively watchable television. Ain't nothin' wrong with that.