The Blacklist - Recap: Now It Begins

It's true that we treaded water a bit, as Red (James Spader) and Liz (Megan Boone) don't actually get around to having their big final confrontation, owing to the sudden presence of the FBI and a burning plane soaring overhead. But what we get is still a fantastically propulsive episode that reveals a subtle aspect of serialization that's been going on in the background throughout the season. This immediately makes The Blacklist feel more substantive as a series, the notion that everything has a purpose, and everything is connected. It also rewards close viewership, since I imagine it would be fairly simple for attentive viewers to have pieced together that all the Blacklist cases were connected from the bread crumbs the series has left us throughout the season. "Berlin" is only one half of a larger whole, which makes it difficult to judge, but if the second half is anywhere near as good, then this two-part finale would have to be considered a huge success, creatively.

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So right off the bat, the episode messes a bit with the status quo, as Liz wants off the task force due to the revelation last week that Red killed her father. However, Cooper (Harry Lennix) warns her that if she leaves, Red's deal is off the table. He'll no longer have immunity, and he'll be shipped to solitary confinement where he'll spend the rest of his days. Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) and Malik (Parminder Nagra) support whatever decision she decides to make, even though her choice to leave would mean the dissolution of the task force. But Liz remains in a precarious position. She may hate Red, but she needs him to provide her with answers, which don't come easily. She also needs him for help solving a case, as someone is poisoning civilians with a terminal Cullen Virus, and blackmailing them into doing his bidding by offering the antidote in exchange for their services. In researching the mysterious criminal, Liz is sent down a rabbit hole that prompts her to recognize, at long last, that the Blacklist cases are connected. Not all, necessarily. But enough to form a theory that Red went to the FBI in the first place for help in gathering resources and allies to help him fight whomever is after him. And the person after him? This mysterious "Berlin" who, as predicted, isn't a place, but a person.

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The Case of the Week aspect is interesting enough in isolation. We not only get the terrific John Glover starring as a mental patient who's been researching the cure for the Cullen Virus and spouting nonsensical rants about "The Five Horsemen," we also get Liz's most badass scene in the entire series. After tracking down the culprit, Dr. Nikolaus Vogel, and bringing him in, the Berlin agent brags about how he's gotten five people (the Horsemen) to do his bidding, telling her "That's how blackmail works, sweetheart." Liz then applauds Vogel for how smart he's been, and what a great plan he had -- a plan so great, in fact, that she decided to borrow it. With horror, Vogel realizes Liz has poisoned him with the Cullen Virus. In short order, she explains to him that if he wants the cure, he'll have to give up the names of the five people he's been blackmailing, because "That's how blackmail works, sweetheart." STONE COLD.

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But it gets better, as Vogel's plan has already been sprung into action, prompting the FBI to race against time to stop things before they get any more out of hand. Apparently, each of the five blackmail victims have been forced to allow agents of Berlin into an airport, and to clear Berlin's plane for landing. But the arrival of Ressler, Malik, and other FBI forces prompt the pilot to keep the plane moving as opposed to landing. With Berlin's plane back in the sky, the government authorizes a fighter jet to bring it down. The resulting missile strike damages the wing and sends it crashing down over Arlington, a plot point that intersects with our emotional climax, as it's looking like the end for Red and Liz.

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Liz has been tasked with bringing Red in, but she has a change of heart, recognizing that she still needs him, particularly since Tom (Ryan Eggold) has managed to lose Red's tail and stay one step ahead. It doesn't take long for Red to figure out that the FBI is forcing Liz to set him up, nor does it take him much longer to surmise that Liz has had a change of heart. And so, smug as always, Red wants to know what prompted this change of heart, what realization she's reached that has caused her to renege on her hatred. Liz tells him that she needs him for answers, and Red responds that he needs her for the exact same reason, since Red really has no idea who this Berlin is or why he's being targeted. Liz pleads with him to escape before the FBI arrives, but it's already too late. And this brings us to a powerful speech from Red, who declares that the worst thing that could possibly happen to him would be losing Liz. The FBI surrounds them as Red pulls out a gun, so Liz will be exonerated from suspicion that they're secretly in league with one another. He then hands Liz the gun, falls to his knees in the same position as when he first turned himself in, and allows the FBI to arrest him. At which point, the downed plane goes soaring over head, with Red forebodingly declaring, "Now it begins."

Credit: NBC

"Berlin (Part 1)" doesn't really give us the answers we might be seeking about who Berlin wants, what his mission is, or why Red has been targeted. But, as stated, this is only one half of a whole. If next week's conclusion sticks the landing, I'd be willing to call this one of the better first seasons for a procedural in a long time, as The Blacklist has managed to take what could have been a routine premise, and morphed it into something special.