- Title: The Blacklist – Wujing
- wiki: link
When a mythical Chinese spy known as Wujing (Chin Han) reaches out to Reddington (James Spader) after coming into possession of valuable CIA intelligence from dead operative, Reddington comes up with a plan to take Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) undercover as a cryptographer to decrypt the message and catch a legendary spy few believe is even real. Surprising everyone except Keen, the plan quickly runs into trouble and calls for an unexpected level of improvisation that nearly gets both of them killed.
After decrypting the file and discovering the target is a civilian CIA asset (Andrew Pang) in D.C., Keen and Reddington must get that same information to the FBI, while trying not to tip their hand to the professional spy killer and his small mercenary army. Despite a few hiccups, Reddington’s plan proves successful as they not only save the target but also capture the spy (thanks to some quick thinking by the young profiler). The tension of the unraveling plan works well, as does Keen’s reaction to the measures Reddington takes to save both of their lives.
The episode’s B-story involves Keen looking into the box of evidence found in her apartment after her husband’s (Ryan Eggold) shooting, including doing ballistics tests on a the gun which gives her a classified report and more questions than answers. The test sends up a red flag for Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) and Cooper (Harry Lennix) who will continue to keep a close eye on their young agent. We also see her home bugged by some group (government?, private?, or friends of Reddington?) that want to keep close tabs on Keen as well.
I am enjoying this show far too much. Though the whole shtick of Reddington making the FBI look incompetent is getting a bit old. I would rather he be smarter than smart people than just smarter than some incompetent idiots. It would just take a little more writing effort to make that happen.