This week Josh provides the episode walkthrough for The Blacklist episode titled Frederick Barnes. Who is Frederick Barnes? Reddington calls him potentially the most dangerous man in the world. Frederick Barnes’s motivations may not be what they seem, however. As usual, Josh and Violet provide their thoughts on this week’s episode. Let’s get into the weekly episode recap of The Blacklist for Frederick Barnes!
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The Blacklist Episode 7 Frederick Barnes Recap Overview
Need a quick The Blacklist episode recap of episode 7 titled Frederick Barnes? Here is a summary of events for the episode. Each event is linked to the more detailed The Blacklist episode recap for Frederick Barnes if you need more information!
- Our next Blacklist-er releases a chemical weapon on a subway. Keen and the rest of the FBI show up and find all passengers on the train dead.
- Reddington tells Agent Cooper about Barnes’s radioactive material supplier. Keen heads out to meet Barnes’s science research partner.
- Keen is still angry with Reddington. Red heads to Cuba to visit the supplier. Keen learns that Barnes‘s research partner had a child with Barnes
- Reddington is able to identify the location of Barnes: a court room, in which he has another device go off. Barnes escapes due to Keen surrendering her weapon.
- Keen is reprimanded for letting Barnes go. Meanwhile, the attack had one survivor–who is visited by Barnes, who performs a bone marrow biopsy on her
- The FBI realizes that Barnes is looking for a cure to the disease his son is afflicted with. Keen stops Barnes before he can administer the cure.
The Blacklist Episode Recap: Frederick Barnes, the Details
Dirty Bomb on the Subway
Season 1 Episode 7 of The Blacklist begins with a man entering a train, and a woman questions his hat, and where he got it. The man then gets off the train. The man forgot his suitcase, and the woman tries to get it to him. He looks at her through the train doors, and then it happens–the suitcase releases a gas that begins killing the passengers of the train.
After the opening sequence, Elizabeth is remodeling the house, and Tom is asking why, but seems okay with it. They seem to be back to normal. Elizabeth is ready to move on, and admits to Tom her doubts of him for a while. Elizabeth then gets a call from Ressler, telling her to turn on the TV. She sees the news of the train gassing.
She heads to the scene, and all 37 people had died. They watch some CC footage, and they find the guy with the briefcase, and assume the case was the bomb. Meanwhile, Agent Malik has said she believes this was a domestic hit, not an international terrorist. Another agent tells Keen they have a tip coming in. The tipster turns out to be Reddington. Keen tries to blow him off, but he says he knows who the terrorist is, and arranges for a meeting with Keen. He identifies the man as Frederick Barnes, a Defense Scientist, a biochemist. Reddington explains he betrayed his country and became a freelancer. Reddington is not sure why he has become more involved in the use of his weapons.
Barnes has a Son
Ressler and Keen visit the hospital, and many of the victims’ condition cause them to be unrecognizable. Ressler and Keen discuss the virus that caused the death, and it is a very rare disease.
Reddington talks with Cooper, and seems to have a lead on the radioactive material supplier that helped Barnes. Reddington set up a meeting with this supplier, who is in Cuba, and heads out for his meeting. He tries to get Keen to come with, but she isn’t going. Reddington then still accuses Tom of his deceitful life. Reddington gets into his car, and Luli says that some item is available for purchase, which makes Reddington excited, although we do not learn what this item is.
Keen pays a visit to a research partner of Barnes. She describes him as obsessive with his work. Keen asks for some contact information from the woman, and we learn that her son is infected with the same disease that was used to weaponize the bomb on the train. She admits that the son is Barnes’s. Keen then feels that Barnes’s motive is to get Curr’s Disease more well known so that research to cure it will be pushed with the further outbreaks.
Barnes’ Next Target
Meanwhile, Reddington has made it to Cuba. He meets with Manny, the supplier. Reddington works on a deal on the radioactive material with Manny, but Manny says he is fresh out. Reddington tries to get him to convince the previous buyer to sell some back to him so that he can buy it. During the conversation, Reddington places a tracking device under the table. When Manny makes the call to Barnes, Reddington is able to track Barnes’s location, then reports it to Keen.
At a court house, Ressler and Keen have arrived, as has our villain Barnes–with a new suitcase. He is apparently meeting for jury duty. He makes an excuse to leave the building though, and leaves the suitcase behind. As he leaves, Barnes locks the door behind him, trapping the people in the court room. Keen and Ressler pull the fire alarm, and evacuations begin, but the locked door is stuck, and the bomb begins releasing its gas. Keen spots Barnes as he is leaving with the evacuation, and tries to stop him. Ressler in the meantime takes some firefighter’s equipment, and enters the court room, where most have died. Inside the court room, one lady has survived, it seems. Keen pulls her gun on Barnes outside the building, but he holds a security guard hostage, and makes his getaway.
There is One Survivor, and Barnes Is Interested in Her
Back at base, Malik tries to figure out what the targets are. Malik comes to the conclusion that Barnes may be conducting experiments on the population with the random attacks. Cooper pulls Keen aside, and tells her she will be under review for surrendering her fire arm during the hostage situation. Keen then approaches Ressler, and he admits to reporting the situation. Ressler explains that the security guard’s life was not worth the hundreds/thousands that may die.
The doctor runs tests on the girl that survived, to see if she is infected. Barnes seems to be visiting the hospital as well. He pretends to be a nurse, and swaps out her IV bag. He asks how she is feeling, and she says light headed. She seems to pass out.
Reddington then gets a call from Keen, but he is none too happy to help her now, and hangs up on her. Keen calls again, and admits it’s her fault that Barnes got away. Reddington gloats about her needing his help. Reddington then assumes the survivor could be in danger. Keen visits the victim, and the doctor says she has had a bone marrow biopsy. Malik and Keen then realize that he is trying to make a cure for the disease.
Barnes’s True Intentions Stopped Short
Keen calls Barnes’s previous lab partner warning her about Barnes. Barnes has already shown up though, and he tries to explain himself. The son sees Barnes, and runs. Keen arrives as the son is hiding, but Barnes finds him, and chloroforms him. Keen enters the house, and Barnes is about to inject his son. Keen says she will not allow it to happen, while he pleads for her to let him. He continues to try, but she shoots him dead.
We learn what Reddington was looking for: a new house. The woman working with Reddington, Luli, meets a real estate agent, who offers double the asking price, payable in cash.
Backup has shown up to the scene of Barnes’s death, and Reddington has come to pay a visit. Reddington seems to understand Barnes’s motives. Keen tries to call him out. She tells Reddington that their relationship is only work related. Reddington then offers to disappear–if that is what Elizabeth wants. Keen thinks about it, and Reddington takes her lack of response as a no.
Explosive Endings
Ressler and Keen discuss the results, and Ressler asks why she didn’t let him give the cure. She says she has to go through the proper channels. Ressler says it is probably too late for this kid, and Keen seems resolved that that is probably true.
At home, Tom has gotten rid of all of their furniture, and they reminisce about their first night in the house, in about the same condition. They have a romantic rest of the evening together.
Reddington, Luli, and Dembe come to the house they just bought. Reddington seems to have some memories of the house, as if he has lived there before. He then tells the Luli, this is where he raised his family. He has some flashbacks to raising his little girl. Reddington says that he has tried to forget every day what happened in that house. We learn he came by for one reason–to blow it up. That is exactly what he does.
Josh’s Thoughts: The Blacklist Episode 7 Frederick Barnes
The first thing I thought about this episode of The Blacklist is how dumb Elizabeth Keen is! I can’t believe that she would surrender her weapon to Barnes, allowing a chemical warfare expert with malicious intents. Then, in the same episode, she shoots him dead after learning he is trying to save his dying child. Why does she have to kill him? He had made no malicious threats, and even so, he only had the syringe, which she could have easily handled with just wounding Barnes.
The interesting implications of the episode are on the drug industry. Red makes a comment that the cure Barnes made will go to the highest bidder or something to that effect. Barnes’s effort to save his child unfortunately ended in tragedy for him.
As for Tom, their lives seem to magically transform into some awesome, perfect life. Elizabeth seems to just be willing to let everything go. Funny enough, Reddington seems so sure that the truth will come out, that there are more things to worry about than just that. Interestingly, Elizabeth seems to have a little twinkle of hope with Reddington, when she does agree for him to stay around to work together.
The final event of the episode I found interesting was the end, where Reddington blows up the house. I think the show is pushing it further and further that Reddington is Keen’s dad. It seems really obvious though, so I am wondering if it’s a red herring. I guess we will see next week!
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 7 of The Blacklist: Frederick Barnes
Ressler brought up something this episode that I have been wondering all along: why is Elizabeth a field agent? It seemed like she became one her first day on the job, despite her inexperience. Granted, these were extenuating circumstances, with Reddington specifically wanting to work with her, and no one else. But there have been several situations in which her presence was not specifically required. I thought she was supposed to be a “profiler” for the FBI, which sounds like it’s more of an investigative/analytical desk job than one that requires being involved in the danger and action. Okay, so Reddington only wants to tell Keen Barnes’s location. That’s fine, she can relay that information to the more experienced agents to take care of it, she doesn’t have to go too. Then I did a little research into the position of “FBI profiler” on the FBI’s website, and found the following information:
You first need to realize the FBI does not have a job called “Profiler.” The tasks commonly associated with “profiling” are performed by Supervisory Special Agents assigned to the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) at Quantico, Virginia…Special Agents are not eligible for positions at the NCAVC until they have three years of experience. Because the positions are so competitive, however, individuals selected usually possess eight to ten years of experience as a Special Agent. (Source: https://www.fbijobs.gov/114.asp)
So what this tells me is that Elizabeth is probably too young to have the job that she has, considering the 8-10 years of experience typical of someone with this job. Even if she was an exceptional case and only had 3 years of experience, she should therefore seem more experienced than she acts. To be honest, I’m not sure how she got her job in the first place, as she seems to lack common sense. On more than one occasion she has had to call Reddington for help with something that anyone could have figured out. I’m not sure why she needed Reddington to tell her that Barnes was going to go after the sole survivor of his attack. That seems so obvious, and I’m not sure why no one else in the FBI thought of that either. It angered me that Barnes was able to slip in and out so easily. I thought for sure the survivor would be much more closely monitored than she was! Anyway, Josh pretty much already covered my frustrations with Keen in this episode, especially regarding her killing Barnes at the end, which was completely unnecessary, so I’ll just stop there.
Frankly, the only reason I’m still watching this show is because of Reddington, because I want to know more about the mystery surrounding him. This episode just confirmed to me how dumb Elizabeth is. Oh, and I also keep watching because I’m waiting for the day when Elizabeth finally figures out who Tom really is, and is devastated because she’s supposed to be this super awesome FBI profiler, but her own husband fooled her. Okay, that sounds mean. But it will happen inevitably. Looking forward to getting more answers next episode.
Scenes from The Blacklist, Episode 8, General Ludd
Here are scenes from the next episode of The Blacklist, titled General Ludd:
Scenes from The Blacklist, Season 1 Episode 8: General Ludd
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