Previously on The Blacklist, “Dr. Adrian Shaw”
The Blacklist – S4E8 – “Dr. Adrian Shaw (No. 98) Conclusion” | Starring: James Spader, Megan Boone, Diego Klattenhoff, Harry Lennix, Hisham Tawfiq, Ryan Eggold, Amir Arison, Mozhan Marnó
Liz is still in that damn hospital, more worried about confronting Kirk, who still believes Red doctored the DNA results, than leaving. While Cooper gets the doctors on the floor to go into lock down, Kirk’s team, already in place, seal the deal with smoke bombs in the ventilation system. Unable to get into the wing because of the lock down, Tom sees Kirk’s men begin their attack. Although Red warned Liz that Kirk’s rescuers would kill anyone who got in their way, a lot of their kills made no sense. Innocent hospital staff and patients killed, just to get him? On his way out, Kirk tells the men to grab Liz, too; someone had to get gripped up. Hot on their trail, Tom kills a couple guys and steals a car to follow their getaway ambulance. Driving the hell out of the Benz he stole and with a little help from Aram, he catches up to the ambulance in time for a quick shootut. Out of bullets and places to hide, he ends up trapped under the ambulance until Ressler and Navabi show up and save him. This action sequence made so much more sense than in the hospital, as there were fewer civilian casualties.
Images: NBC
With Kirk gripping up Liz, time is running out; once Kirk’s doctor confirms Liz isn’t his daughter, she’ll become expendable. Red has Dr. Shaw look for Lucille Bockes, the person she cured who had the same condition as Kirk. After finding her, Dr. Reifler is called, not only because he can get to Kirk, but also because he used to treat Lucille Bockes. To ensure Liz’s safety, Red calls Kirk to offer a trade: him for Liz. Dembe doesn’t want him to go, because he knows Shaw can save Kirk, so to make that happen, he and Tom kidnap Lucille Bockes. With no way to really help with Kirk, Ressler and Navabi search for Liz.
Kirk wastes no time on pleasantries with Red and pays no attention to his offer of a cure. He and his doctor torture Red with syringes of different toxins and drugs, to get answers. But answers to what? He hasn’t seemed very interested in even talking to Red since he came on the scene, yet he has questions. He wants to know why Red broke up his marriage and if Red is Liz’s father. Red admits to a relationship with Katarina, saying he was an assignment and Kirk likely was, too. It’s almost like Red wants to be tortured. The refusal to answer is confusing because it’s a simple question. Why not just answer it? As for being Liz’s pa, no answer; at least not until he’s threatened with another dose kicks, then he sorta kinda admits he’s her father. Dr. Reifler shows up with Lucille and Red makes him an offer he can’t refuse: he’ll have Shaw cure Kirk if he’s released. Except Kirk does refuse the offer and instead opts to kill Red. Talk about hating someone, sheesh. Kirk tells Red there’s nothing he can say to keep him from killing him. As he leans in for the final dose, Red pulls him close and whispers in his ear. Whatever he says shocks Kirk and keeps him from pushing the plunger. Red’s rescuers arrive too late, finding only his hat. Later, Red shows up to the makeshift apartment to see Liz, looking right as rain. He was just tortured for hours, pumped full of drugs meant to cause pain, was nearly killed, but he shows up so fresh and so clean. Mmmkay. He tells her Kirk is gone and it’s all over. And yet somehow, that’s not believable.
Out in the boonies, Mr. Kaplan’s fever breaks and Hunter wants to know if Raymond is who tried to kill her. Fevers are only good for one thing, making people ask too many questions about stuff you can’t remember when you come to. Kaplan refuses to answer so he thinks she’s trying to protect Dembe and Red. He can’t keep her there forever and he can’t let her go because he’s a squatter, so what’s a loner to do? He quips that she should have just died in the woods to make his life easier, and she takes it as a threat. When he returns, she threatens him with her spoon shiv, but he was just letting her loose and praying she wouldn’t turn him in. As an apology, she cooks him dinner and explains the Red situation, admitting her refusal to talk was to protect him because Red is a dangerous man. When he leaves again, she does, too and is picked up by someone on the side of the road. So that’s it?
Best line
“Suffocation. You talk too much.” ~ Kirk, when giving Red a choice of how to die
Second best line
“Well, Carlton is a bit goonish, but Matthew is quite erudite and world class chess player to boot.” ~Red
The Blacklist S4E8
-
Plot - 5/10
5/10
-
Dialogue - 6/10
6/10
-
Action - 6/10
6/10
-
Performances - 6/10
6/10
Summary
For a fall finale, this was pretty meh. In what should have been an episode that would bring many answers, all we got was more questions. Questions that don’t serve any purpose other than to frustrate viewers. We still don’t know who Liz’s father is. Red’s answer was not real and definitely coerced via torture. He even asked, “What do you want me to say?” as he confessed. It’s surprising that Liz thought Kirk could be her father for any moment, because he never once mentioned the argument between him and her mother when she was a child, nor being shot by her. So who did Liz shoot? If Red is her father, why lie to her about it? Should we read all his comments about her father being dead to mean who he used to be is dead? If so, why bother coming back into her life? While talking to Red about Katarina, Kirk admits he never believed she had killed herself, because she was so full of life; he doesn’t believe she’s dead. Is that what Red whispered in his ear; that she’s alive? Is she the woman who commissioned the painting of Liz? Will we ever see Hunter again? Since Red asked Dembe to forgive him for what he did to Kaplan, will he be okay that she’s alive? Does he know he didn’t kill her? Where is all this going? See, nothing but questions.
