The Blacklist recap: Mystery (finally) solved
The big mystery has finally been revealed — we know who killed Liz (Megan Boone) and why. Although it seemed like the obvious choice, with Marvin (Fisher Stevens) taking care of Red's (James Spader) business interests all these years, it's hard to believe one of Red's own would do something like that to him. Also, the great lengths he went through — killing his best friend, setting up Mr. Kaplan's return, and blackmailing Cooper — seems ridiculous if you really think about it. What was the purpose?!
Before I dive more into the end, let's begin the recap.
Will Hart /NBC James Spader as Raymond "Red" Reddington
Caelum Bank (No. 169)
The episode begins with criminals securing their finances with Harris Gramercy (Jim Piddock), the president of Caelum Bank, an institution that is constantly on the move via an airplane. While Red hasn't touched his account there in years, it was used for the assassinations of Reggie Cole and the LaCroixs. Red will need to get a hold of who last had access to that account, but Gramercy won't give that information up easily.
Red asks the Task Force to gain access to Caelum Bank. Because the bank is based in the skies, it's extremely difficult to hack. Gramercy himself has sworn to secrecy to protect his clients, but Red is sure that Gramercy will reveal the name once the plane has been grounded. Red meets with Gramercy in the sky and asks him for the name of the person who last accessed Red's account — it is his money. Gramercy tells him he can't provide the name, even though it's his own account. They must've had permission from Red.
The Task Force finds the coordinates of the plane, and Aram (Amir Arison) uses his FBI credentials to ground it. Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) boards the plane under the guise of an inspection for national security. He pretends to not know Red, but "recognizes" him as the infamous Raymond Reddington. The FBI arrests both Red and Gramercy. While in jail, Red tries to convince Gramercy that he could easily get them both out of there, but it would require Gramercy to provide the name of the person Red wants. Gramercy realizes that Red set him up and refuses to help him. Red pulls a gun on Gramercy and threatens to shoot. He calls his bluff, and Red shoots Gramercy in the stomach. While listening in, Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq) attempts to help Gramercy, but Ressler stops him because they're so close to finding out the name. Red refuses to get Gramercy help until he hears a name. Finally giving in, Gramercy calls his people and tells Red the name: Hedwig "Heddie" Hawkins (Aida Turturro).
Are you kidding me?! Sweet Heddie did not go through all that trouble of being threatened by the FBI to betray Red. Plus, I don't think she'd have the gall to go up against him. She's living the good life in Florida. Red — like most of us — is shocked to hear Heddie's name.
Will Hart /NBC Aida Turturro as Heddie Hawkins
As Red leaves the jail, Weecha (Diany Rodriguez) appears, and they drive towards Heddie's home in Florida. Dembe and Ressler call an ambulance for Gramercy, who does't make it. Ressler tells Dembe they must get to Heddie before Red does, because Red is probably going to kill her. Dembe attempts to contact Heddie, who is busy taking care of her beloved birds, to warn her. Just when you think Red has gotten to her, she gets Dembe's message and hides until Dembe and Ressler are able to reach her. Heddie has no idea what everyone is talking about or why Red is after her. Dembe receives a call from Red, who knows the Task Force has Heddie, and demands they give her to them. They get into a semi-deep conversation about their history, which is just a way for Red to distract Dembe and Ressler long enough to crash into them and take Heddie.
Over the phone, Marvin tells Red that rumors are spreading about his connection with Gramercy's death, and it's not looking good for the concierge of crime to murder the man in charge of the most notorious bank. Red says he'll handle it, but first he needs to handle Heddie.
Back at Red's warehouse, she pleads with Red, maintaining her innocence. Just then, Marvin brings in arms dealer Mickey Croft (Brian Dykstra), who reveals that Heddie came to him looking for a job a few years ago. Heddie tells Red that she felt unappreciated and wanted to find another job, but would never hurt Red. Red kisses Heddie on the cheek and tells Weecha to make it quick. Weecha takes Heddie to the back room and a gunshot is heard. Red turns to Marvin and wants to deal with the aftermath of Gramercy's death.
Meanwhile, while all of this is happening, Cooper sneaks into the transport vehicle containing the assassin who killed LaCroix's wife, Val Messick (Mu-Shaka Benson). Cooper threatens Val, but he doesn't know who hired him. He was supposed to go to the LaCroixs' home afterward and burn it to the ground. Park (Laura Sohn), now on desk duty due to her medical status, finds an unmarked CD among LaCroix's items. On it, they find the names of lawyers at the same law firm, Lawrence Knell and Angela Sherwood. Cooper and Aram bring them in for interrogation, and Knell and Sherwood want to give them information in exchange for immunity. They say the mastermind behind the blackmailing and fake lawsuits was a man named Claudius. The name means nothing to the Task Force, so they continue looking through LaCroix's stuff. Park finds something unexpected. While watching LaCroix's wedding video, we see a familiar face giving the best man speech: Marvin.
Will Hart /NBC Karina Arroyave as Mierce Xiu
While on the plane with Marvin getting ready to leave, Red receives a call from Cooper, who explains the connection between Marvin and LaCroix and warns him not to trust Marvin. After hanging up the phone, he reveals to Marvin that Heddie is still alive. Heddie's death was faked to allow Marvin to feel safe in his relationship with Red.
Knowing he's been caught, Marvin reveals the truth: he's always been loyal to Red, but not to Liz. He didn't think Liz was worthy of being Red's successor and everything he did was to protect Red's empire. He got rid of her because she would have destroyed everything they built. Even when Red was grieving those past two years away, Marvin kept things afloat in the business. But Red couldn't get over Liz's death and was determined to find the killer. Marvin had to take matters into his own hands and do all of that stuff — blackmail Cooper, kill his friends, and coordinate what seemed to be the return of Mr. Kaplan.
Red realized Marvin had something to do with it when he replayed Liz's final day over and over in his head. Liz had a headache in Marvin's office, he gave her some aspirin — only for the medication to be the tracking device. Red is seething with anger. It seems like Red had the upper hand, but Marvin says Red will let Marvin leave the plane alive. He shows Red a live stream video of Mierce with a sniper target pointed at her chest. If anything were to happen to him, Mierce would be killed. Weecha punches Marvin in the throat, but Heddie and Red hold her back to protect Mierce. Marvin tells Red that he's been watching Red's instructional videos and is ready to take him on.
Is anyone else kind of cheering Marvin on? Red has been so consumed with Liz that he really did forget his business. Even Heddie noticed that Red had always overlooked his employees, which includes Marvin. With only two more episodes left, I really hope Marvin survives this fight with Red, because he's a worthy adversary. The series got rid of Mr. Kaplan too soon, so I'm hoping they don't make the same mistake with Marvin. I wouldn't mind seeing a season of Marvin vs Red.
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