- Title: The Blacklist – The Freelancer
- IMDB: link
While the upper management debate Raymond Reddington’s (James Spader) motives and decline to give him immunity in exchange for the information he can provide, Reddington correctly predicts yet another attack which he claims was an assassination committed by a killer (Daniel Sauli) unknown to the FBI who disguises his jobs as accidents and everyday tragedies accounting for thousands of civilian causalities over the years.
Despite being denied his deal, Reddington agrees to accompany Agent Keen (Megan Boone) to Montreal to meet his contact and help discern the next target (Isabella Rossellini) of the man known only as “The Freelancer.” However, he uses the opportunity to escape custody only to promptly turn himself back in with the promised intelligence.
In exchange for his cooperation in identifying the killer before the attack, Cooper’s (Harry Lennix) boss (Jane Alexander) finally relents to the deal which includes employing two of the man’s former associates (Hisham Tawfiq, Deborah S. Craig) as part of his team along with CIA Agent Malik (Parminder Nagra) who is assigned to try and keep the highly unusual arrangement from ending in disaster.
In a nice twist, the evening doesn’t go as planned as The Freelancer gets away. However Reddington’s true plan of unmasking the humanitarian as the unknown face behind the world’s largest human trafficking ring proves his value to both the FBI and to Keen who had no idea what one of her idols was involved in. Unsure still about both Reddington and her husbands’s hidden documents found in her home, Keen chooses the path of least resistance by riding out the storm and, like the audience, seeing where the true story may lead.
I had no idea that was Isabella Rossellini until I read this review. I was thinking, “Wow, this lady is pretty good, she should act more.” I guess she does!
Spader just chews up everything in his path with his ridiculous charisma and presence.
You say “the evening doesn’t go as planned as The Freelancer gets away” – however, I seem to recall they did capture him (after he broke his leg) then tortured him until he gave the name of his employer as “Reddington”. The FBI then surmised that Reddington used them put out the hit on the humanitarian (play by Rossellini). Turns out she was actually a human trafficker herself. Or did I get confused? Or did Reddington actually play *me*?
Nice catch. I kinda tuned out that part of the story once it was clear it was nothing more than an elaborate ruse (which I’m thinking might be a common occurrence on this show) to show she was the real trafficker.
I definitely liked this episode better than the Pilot.