This week’s episode of The Blacklist centers on The Courier, and not a courier that delivers fun packages. Also, Elizabeth learns a bit more about her husband’s mystery box, and we get to see some Ressler action. Ready to find out who the Courier is in The Blacklist? Check out Josh’s summary for this week, along with Violet and Josh’s thoughts on the episode after the jump!
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The Blacklist Episode 5 The Courier Recap Overview
Need a quick The Blacklist episode recap of episode 5 titled The Courier? Here is a summary of events for the episode. Each event is linked to the more detailed The Blacklist episode recap for The Courier if you need more information!
The Blacklist Episode Recap: The Courier, the Details
Keen Dreams, The Courier Buries
The episode opens with Keen asking her husband about Angel Station. She asks if he was involved in the murder at that building. Her husband goes nuts, demanding to know what she knows, and chokes her. Luckily it was a dream, and she snaps awake. In the morning, she is awakened by her husband, and he promises her a great day. We learn that they are getting a baby from a lady named Jenny, who seems to be giving up hers. Meanwhile, we see the cameras watching her house that were installed by the “apple man”.
The next scene has a man being dragged by a masked man. A breathing apparatus is put onto the captured man, and he is locked into a box and buried. Oddly, the Courier (we find out his name a little while later) is stabbed by the prisoner, and he is unfazed.
Reddington Uses the FBI For His Own Gain, But For a Good Cause
Next, we see Reddington, who is dealing with his own problem with the Courier, with which Reddington wants to get the FBI involved. Meanwhile, Ressler is talking with Keen about working with Reddington. Keen accuses Ressler of not trusting her, which is about right. Keen then gets a message it is time to pay a visit to Reddington.
Reddington briefs the FBI on his mission plan, which is the Courier. We learn the Courier is used to make transactions between criminals, and has a 20 million dollar delivery scheduled. Reddington knows the package is to be delivered to a Iranian spy, and where, and the time– in two hours and 45 minutes. Meanwhile, we see the Courier stitching up his wound from his previous stabbing.
FBI Catches the Courier
Keen and other agents are walking a farmers market looking for The Courier. They spot a suspicious character, who then makes contact with another person, who seems to flee. Shots are fired, killing the first suspect. The other man takes off in a blue SUV, and Keen and Malik borrow a car to give chase. The man pulls over and lays down some semi-automatic fire, then continues his fleeing. Keen’s truck is able to get an angle, and they ramp him with their truck. The Courier flees, but takes a seat. We see him unstitch his wound, and shove something into it, perhaps a SD card?
Ressler interrogates The Courier, demanding to know where the package is. Keen and Cooper talk with Reddington, as they believe Reddington isn’t telling them everything. Reddington confirms that he isn’t but they shouldn’t be surprised. Reddington then says they need a doctor, and we learn the Courier can’t feel physical pain, and he may have some stuff hidden around his body. The doctor is able to locate an object in the man’s chest, which is an SD card containing the video of the man he imprisoned earlier. We learn the Iranian spy was paying 20 million for this imprisoned guy.
Keen discovers who the imprisoned guy is. We learn he is a NSA agent. Keen visits Reddington, demanding more information. Reddington asks about the gun her husband has as a “trade”. Keen tells her what she knows about Angel Station and who she thinks the victim is. Reddington tells Keen that there is an opium dealer who supplied the Courier. They use him to get the Courier’s address.
The Courier Has a Brother and We Learn Who He is Dealing With
The Courier’s name is Tommy Phelps, or so they think when they find an ID in his house. We learn there is a woman who orchestrated the kidnapping of the NSA agent. We learn he has 5 objects in his body. The doctor is told to remove the objects. The Courier asks for a deal, in exchange for the buried NSA agent, but Cooper doesn’t go for it. Keen tries to play the family card with the Courier, threatening his brother. Keen meets with the brother, also in prison. From the brother, we learn Tommy had a rough life being forced to fight in dog fights since he could not feel pain. The brother insists his brother is broken.
Reddington identifies the woman seller of the chip as Dechambou, and we learn she owns a nightclub. Reddington says she is a waste of time. Keen disagrees though, and comes up with a plan, where the FBI has someone pretend to be the Courier, and call the deal off, and to have the man picked up where he was dropped off, so the FBI can follow her to the drop off point. Ressler volunteers for the job.
Ressler To Play the Part of The Courier
Tom, Keen’s husband, calls Elizabeth, and says there is something very important to talk about. Then we see what is bothering him so much–his secret box seems to be missing.
Ressler arrives at the club, and makes his point to get in by dropping the bouncer. He is picked up by a guard, and taken to the boss lady. Ressler makes his claim as the Courier, and she freaks out. Ressler says the Iranian spy is working with the FBI. Ressler then has to prove he doesn’t feel pain, as she isn’t buying his story. He uses a bottle to cut his arm to prove he doesn’t feel pain since The Courier is known to not feel pain, but she still doesn’t believe he is the Courier, as the Courier would kill her too.
After a brief tussle, the FBI brings her in, and they decide the next course of action is to use the Courier’s brother as leverage. The Courier has began his escape though, removing an object from his mouth to help with his escape from the cuffs, and escapes.
Reddington makes a suggestion, to let Dechambou go, and he will get her to talk in his own way. Cooper doesn’t want to at first, but eventually complies. Reddington pays her a visit after her release. She demands to know where the NSA agent is. Reddington promises her safety and an escort out of the country in exchange for the location of the imprisoned man. She decides to finally help. Ressler and Agent Malik head to her location, and are immediately attacked by the Courier. They find the Courier, who tries to flee, but stumbles and falls to the ground, dead.
The Search For the Missing NSA Agent
At headquarters, they try to figure out where Seth is. They find that he must be in the only area accessible by road, in the radius they determined he has to be in. Reddington is able to pick the NSA agent’s burial area out pretty quickly once they are there. They find Seth, who isn’t breathing, but he is revived.
Back at headquarters, Keen receives a delivery. It is a file from Reddington, providing the file on the man shot with her husband’s gun. From what we see, her husband killed a double agent that was going to defect. Back with Reddington, we learned he used his “one wish” with the NSA agent to help Keen get her answer regarding her husband. Keen pays Reddington a visit, likely to say thank you, but doesn’t say much.
She heads home, and the people spying on her are intent to see her conversation with her husband. Elizabeth says they need to talk, and he responds, “That’s funny, I was going to say the same thing to you”, and he shows her the hidden box.
Josh’s Thoughts: The Blacklist Episode 5: The Courier
I really am liking what I am seeing with The Blacklist. I thought this week’s story was really good. It had a bit of The Following vibe with the buried man, but I think it still fit in within the episode really well. And as usual, James Spader was really good this episode.
So it looks like we get some resolution to the mysterious Tom Keen situation. From what we see in the file, Tom stopped a would-be US defector from providing information to the other part of his double agent career. This has to put Elizabeth at some ease. Here is the question though–Who has moved the box, and what exactly is Tom so worked up about? Is something missing? Does he not think it’s his and that it belongs to Elizabeth? I can’t wait to see where this part goes, as it has been bugging me since the introduction of said mystery box.
When Reddington is talking to his assistant about why he used his NSA favor on Elizabeth, he says he is playing the “long game”. What “long game” is he playing exactly? Is he trying to butter up Elizabeth for some needed favors later on? It will be interesting to see how that plays out.
I think my favorite scene from the episode is Ressler’s interaction with Dechambou. He keeps his cool when “proving” he is the Courier, and when things go sideways, it was cool seeing him jump into action. I like Ressler despite him being hard on Elizabeth. I actually kind of see where Ressler and Cooper are coming from too. Reddington picks a brand new agent out of the blue? Would certainly seem like something is up. I have to say though, certainly has been entertaining every week so far.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 5 of The Blacklist: The Courier
I am liking The Blacklist a little more and a little more each week. Although we do have these one-off storylines of a different villain each episode, as is fitting with the title of the show, since each is on Reddington’s “Blacklist,” there is also this overarching storyline that we get a little more insight into each week. Finally, we are starting to get into the meat of that storyline, as we get a glimpse into who Elizabeth’s husband, Tom really is. At the beginning of the episode, when Elizabeth asks Tom about Angel Station, I was like, okay wow, that’s one way to do it, just come out and ask while you’re all vulnerable in bed, and it took me by surprise that the show spring it on us like that. Of course, it quickly became obvious that it was just a dream when Tom freaked out on her and began choking her. However, that’s about how I would imagine it would go if she ever brought it up to him, because I’ve been pretty suspicious of Tom being a bad guy.
I’m definitely liking James Spader as Red Reddington. He has these awesome quips that he’s so good at delivering. My favorite this episode was when Elizabeth says to him, “You’re not telling us everything,” and he replies, “Let me put your mind at ease. I’m never telling you everything.” And it’s totally true. I don’t know why they would expect that he would actually tell them everything.
Being a fan of the TV shows Prison Break and Heroes, I enjoyed seeing Robert Knepper play the Courier this episode. He does a great job at playing the villain, and his performance in The Blacklist was no different. He was a lot quieter than normal, though, and he seemed a tad easy to defeat.
In any case, I am excited about the next episode because I am really curious what will come of Elizabeth and Tom’s talk!
Scenes from The Blacklist, Episode 6, Gina Zanetakos
Here are scenes from next week’s The Blacklist episode titled Gina Zanetakos:
Scenes from The Blacklist, Season 1 Episode 6: Gina Zanetakos
What did you think of The Blacklist, Season 1 Episode 5: The Courier? Let us know in the comments below!
