In case you haven’t heard, NBC’s new hit show The Blacklist is doing so well that NBC has already ordered a full 22-episode season of the show! What do Violet and Josh think of the show so far? Violet recaps the second episode of The Blacklist, entitled The Freelancer (No. 145), and following the recap, Violet and Josh each share their thoughts on the episode.
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The Blacklist, Season 1 Episode 2: The Freelancer (No. 145) Recap Overview
Need a quick Blacklistepisode recap of episode 2 titled The Freelancer (No. 145)? Here is a summary of events for the episode. Each event is linked to the more detailed Blacklist episode recap for Freelancer (No. 145) if you need more information!
- Reddington informs the FBI about an upcoming “incident,” which turns out to be a train wreck
- Reddington reveals that the guy behind the train wreck is known as “The Freelancer,” who disguises his work as accidents.
- Elizabeth and Reddington go to Montreal so that Reddington can meet up with a contact who will tell him who The Freelancer‘s next victim is
- Although it looks like Reddington escaped and that his contact never showed, this is not the case, and he reveals that a human rights activist named Floriana Campo is the next victim. She has a fundraising event scheduled that night, but refuses to cancel.
- After the FBI decides to grant the terms of Reddington‘s deal, he agrees to help identify the Freelancer at the fundraising event
- Reddington points the Freelancer out, Ressler chases him, and Elizabeth hits him with a car. When they interrogate him, he reveals that Reddington hired him.
- It turns out Floriana is a human trafficker herself, and Reddington knows this. Her drink was poisoned, but Reddington has the antidote. All she has to do is admit she’s a fraud. Elizabeth stabs a pen into Floriana’s neck to help her breathe. Floriana nods her admission of being a fraud, and Elizabeth injects her with the antidote. But it’s too late.
- Reddington reveals that there was no antidote. He also offers advice to Elizabeth about what to do about the situation with her husband. Elizabeth puts the box back where she found it. Her husband comes home from the hospital and she seems to doubt him, until she finds a video of him talking about her to the adoption agency.
The Blacklist Episode Recap: The Freelancer (No. 145), the Details
The episode starts off with Elizabeth Keen and Red Reddington each being questioned while hooked up to a lie detector. Meanwhile, Cooper informs the Strategic Information and Operations Center at FBI Headquarters about Reddington’s Blacklist, and that Reddington is interested in getting immunity (which the FBI has no intention of giving). Reddington warns the FBI that there will be an “incident” at Decatur Industrial Park at 11 am, and to send ambulances. 11am comes and goes, to the frustration of Ressler, but all of a sudden, a passenger train derails and ends up in a fiery crash.
Later, Elizabeth sits at her unconscious husband’s bedside at the hospital, wanting to believe that Reddington planted the hidden box with the gun, money, and passports.
The FBI tries to question Reddington about the train wreck, in which 60 people died, but he says he didn’t know about the train, he just knew the time and place. All he’ll say is to look at the passenger list, which will include the name of an important counselwoman. Then just like last episode, he says he’ll only talk to Elizabeth Keen.
Elizabeth is brought in, and he tells her that the guy behind the train wreck, known as “The Freelancer,” has been responsible for several other tragedies disguised as accidents. Reddington says he has it on “good authority” that the man’s next contract will take him to New York. Reddington has met The Freelancer once, and that he works through an intermediary. He suggests that they set a meeting and that Elizabeth should come, that it should just be the two of them, without any wires, and that the FBI should trust him with his source. The meeting would be in Montreal.
When Elizabeth and Reddington are alone, she tells him she knows it was him who planted the hidden box. He acts like he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. When he asks, she admits she hasn’t told anyone. Reddington points out that it’s an impossible situation: she can’t go to the police because they’ll file charges, and she can’t confront her husband because he’ll deny everything and she’ll continue to doubt him . Meanwhile, Cooper orders Ressler to shadow Elizabeth and Reddington to Montreal.
When Reddington and Elizabeth show up at a restaurant in Montreal to get the name of the Freelancer’s next victim, Ressler and his crew are outside secretly keeping an eye on things from a van. Meanwhile, in the restaurant, Red is speaking French to everyone. He asks Elizabeth to profile him, and she reluctantly complies. He then tries to ask her personal questions, but she ignores them and asks questions of her own, such as whether he knew her parents. A waiter comes over and Reddington slips something in his hand as he speaks French to him. Reddington then says to Elizabeth, “What if I were to tell you that all the things you thought you’ve come to believe about yourself was a lie?” It seems that Red exchanges suspicious glances with everyone working in the restaurant. Suddenly, he excuses himself, gets up, and walks away. Elizabeth does not do anything to stop him. He wanders out through the kitchen and out a back entrance, and pulls the fire alarm, as Ressler and his team rush in to try to catch him. But they’re too late. When Ressler confronts the waiter, he finds that Reddington merely slipped the guy a $100 bill.
Ressler yells at Elizabeth for letting Reddington get away. However, they open up the van and find Reddington sitting inside. He reveals that he did in fact meet with his contact — it was the first person he talked to, the coat check guy, who slipped him a newspaper article featuring a picture of the Freelancer’s next victim, Floriana Campo, a human rights activist.
The next day, Ressler and Elizabeth meet with Floriana and tell her that she should cancel her fundraising event which will take place that night. However, she refuses, saying that she has her own security. Apparently, Elizabeth wrote her senior thesis about Floriana, who is a well known humanitarian fighting to end human and sex trafficking.
The FBI relocates the event in an attempt to thwart the Freelancer, but they realize that Reddington is the only one who will be able to recognize the Freelancer. However, he says he won’t help until they meet the terms of his deal. Against their better judgment, FBI grants Reddington the terms of the deal, which includes implantation of a special tracking device, plus private security detail handpicked by him. However, the FBI also brings in a CIA agent of its choosing.
Reddington insists on going to the party in order to identify the Freelancer. He stays by Elizabeth’s side for the most part. When Floriana gets up to speak, Reddington notices the Freelancer posing as a waiter, and points him out to Elizabeth, telling her to clear the area. Elizabeth shouts, “Stop, FBI!” and everyone tries to take cover as the Freelancer runs away. Ressler catches up to him and seems to have him cornered on a balcony, but the guy jumps off the balcony as Ressler shoots at him. Apparently, the balcony is low enough to safely jump from, as the Freelancer runs off, and Ressler follows. Elizabeth commandeers a taxi and ends up plowing into the Freelancer as he tries to run away.
They bring the Freelancer somewhere to interrogate him. He has a broken bone sticking out of his leg, and the CIA agent they hired uses his injuries to get him to talk. He finally reveals that Reddington hired him. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is with Floriana at her apartment, and tells her to stay there. As she enters the elevator, she answers the call from Ressler and finds out that it was Reddington who hired the guy, who was the coat check guy at the restaurant. We then see Reddington and Floriana alone together in her apartment. They seem to know each other, and they don’t like each other. He knows she is a fraud.
Elizabeth returns to the room, and Reddington tells her that Floriana is not the woman Elizabeth thinks she is, that Floriana is in fact involved in human trafficking. Elizabeth does not believe him, though. Floriana collapses to the floor, and Reddington reveals that “the assassin” poisoned her drink. Reddington has the antidote, but he won’t give it to her unless she admits the truth. Not wasting any time, Elizabeth stabs a pen into Floriana’s neck to help her breathe. She finally nods in admission, and Elizabeth injects the antidote into her.
The next day, as they sit on a park bench, Reddington reveals to Elizabeth that there was no antidote. We learn that Floriana was in fact the head of the Eberhardt Cartel. Based on information given by Reddington, the FBI was able to intercept a shipment and rescue the girls. Elizabeth thinks she should have known, but Reddington comments that we never really know anyone. In regards to Elizabeth’s husband, he tells her she has two options: turn him in or confront him. Then he hints at a third option.
Elizabeth goes home and places the hidden box back where she found it, and has the house re-carpeted. Then she brings her husband home from the hospital. Meanwhile, as Reddington is having drinks with some guys at a restaurant, the newspaper headline reads, “Humanitarian Exposed as Fraud, Commits Suicide,” just as Reddington predicted.
That night, Elizabeth lays awake in bed, wondering about her husband. She goes downstairs and goes through his bloody clothes the hospital sent home with him. In one of his pockets, she finds a small envelope labeled “Background Profile, Elizabeth Keen” and inside is a flash drive. She plugs it into the computer, and watches the video that’s on it. It’s a video of her husband at the adoption agency, saying how Elizabeth would make a great mother. She begins to cry, and the episode ends there.
Violet’s Thoughts on Episode 2 of The Blacklist, The Freelancer (No. 145)
I have to admit, I’m actually starting to get into this show. Last episode, I wasn’t so sure yet. But I think this episode has me leaning toward getting on board. There are still those odd conveniences that tend to bother me though. Like when Elizabeth just happened to run the “Freelancer” over with her car when she wasn’t even trying? And it’s starting to get to me just how Reddington gets all his information. As he so blatantly pointed out this episode, he doesn’t have email. Or a phone. So how does he always know when and where things are going to happen? And how is the FBI so incompetent that Reddington could have escaped so easily while in Montreal?
However, the show does a good job of planting seeds of mystery, making you want to keep watching so that you can solve that mystery. In this episode, all we got were tiny little tidbits about Elizabeth’s background, such as Elizabeth’s father having a criminal history (revealed during the line of questioning at the beginning of the episode), and the statement by Reddington that everything she believes about herself is a lie. But nothing more than that. Also interesting was when Reddington suggested she act as his daughter at the restaurant. I’m sure the conspiracy theorists read a lot into that. The other big mystery is the one surrounding the identity of Elizabeth’s husband. Is he a spy, or did Reddington have that stuff planted there? It looks like that’s something we’ll have to wonder about for awhile, since Elizabeth hid the box away. It appears that the adoption video may have convinced Elizabeth that he is legit. But I’m not so sure. Yes, he did seem sincere when he was talking about Elizabeth on the video. But even if he was, and even if he really does love her, that doesn’t mean he’s not also a spy, or at least started out as one. The video might have her convinced for awhile, but it seems like it’s in her nature to start questioning things again eventually, especially if more suspicious things come up. I’m curious to see her interactions with her husband once he’s all better.
Oh, and I can’t forget to mention Elizabeth’s hair. It looked just fine last episode. But this episode she changed her hairstyle to a deep side part with sideswept bangs and the look was just not very good on her. It looked like she was having a bad hair day the whole episode. Hopefully they fix it next time! Because, that’s right, I will be watching next week.
Josh’s Thoughts: The Blacklist Episode 2, The Freelancer (No. 145)
I still can’t help but think of Silence of the Lambs when I watch The Blacklist. The parallels are pretty apparent. While a bit over the top with Reddington’s demeanor, I am enjoying the show so far. Reddington’s know-it-all attitude does get a little tiresome, especially combined with the collective FBI’s utter lack of any intelligence on the people Reddington is pointing out. I still am having a hard time believing that Reddington’s knowledge is leaps and bounds above that of the FBI and CIA.
As for this week’s criminal, I have to admit, I did not see the twist coming with the women’s rights lady being the bad guy in the end. While this did surprise me, I didn’t feel it made much sense. Is it seriously possible for this lady to be able to sell dozens/hundreds of girls into the sex slavery, and no one is the wiser but Reddington? It seems a little too convenient for the show I feel like.
I am curious to learn about Elizabeth’s husband however. This dilemma of what Elizabeth is to do is still unanswered. But Reddington seems just as interested to see where that storyline goes as I am. Also, Reddington has made several comments and hints that Elizabeth’s life isn’t what it seems, even to herself. What does this mean? I am still waiting to find out who her father is. Is it Reddington? From what we know so far, it doesn’t make sense despite the show seemingly hinting at it. I would think that Elizabeth would recognize her father still.
I have one wacky theory about her father and Reddington though. Maybe Reddington is her blood father but she was adopted by her dead “father”? Perhaps when Reddington was disappearing, or even before, he felt he had to get rid of Elizabeth to protect her. I am curious to see this story play out further.
I am still getting used the acting of Megan Boone as Elizabeth. She seemed a little better this episode than last. Spader has done very well though as Reddington. His character, though over the top, is pretty fun to watch. So far, I am finding The Blacklist worth watching, and we will see what happens next episode!
Scenes from The Blacklist, Episode 3, Wujing
Here are scenes from next week’s Blacklist episode titled Wujing:
