So I’m just going to come out and say it, last night’s The Blacklist, titled “The Architect”, was awesome. The episode returned to the style of season one and two, and hardly focused on any relationship drama whatsoever. Every character we’ve been wanting to see more of got a lot of screen time and were supported by a well thought out and entertaining plot that left me wanting more.
Let’s start off with the best part of last night… Aram. He got to kick some serious ass in this episode, and it was awesome to see him step up and take charge. Not only did he successfully infiltrate the hacking ring that they needed to catch the architect, and smuggled a computer memory stick out with him that he was able to use to call for backup, and stop the Architect from executing a major prison break, but he also blew up the Architect’s car with a missile launcher with him inside it when he was about to escape.
I mean, talk about rising to the occasion!
It was so refreshing to finally see someone do something in a situation like that, instead of saying “it’s too late” and letting them drive off. All the props to Aram for this episode. Honestly, I’m so proud of him!
My favorite humorous moment from “The Architect” came when Liz and Ressler needed to crack open a code box in order to get information they needed for Aram to infiltrate the hacking ring. Instead of trying to crack the code, Ressler just smashed the box and got what they needed from inside of it.
“How long did that take?”
I pretty much died laughing.
Why don’t people do that more often? It would sure save a lot of time.
But that wasn’t the only thing that Ressler got to do in the episode. He has a conversation with Cooper where he tells him that the FBI is dropping the investigation into the death of Reven Wright, the head of the justice division, who was murdered by the President’s national security adviser. Ressler knows she was murdered, and he is going to continue the investigation on his own, directly going against what Cooper told him to do.
It looks like this is going to be an ongoing story line for him, and I’m so happy to see him taking on a case of his own and fighting for what he knows is right, even if it does go against the rules.
Now the episode wasn’t all fun and games. At the end, Cooper absolutely tore into Red, which I thought was uncalled for. Yes, Red has been kind of a pain lately, but he was trying to ask Cooper about his sick daughter and offer him someone to talk to if he needed it, which I thought was really sweet. Unfortunately, Cooper was having none of it:
‘You want to know why those closest to you betray you? Why you’re alone and hunted? It’s because even when you try to do something good, you cannot seem to understand where your selfishness ends and other people’s lives begin. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going home to people who love me.”
I understand he’s upset, but maybe take it down a notch? Red has never said he’s a good person, he was just trying to be nice and offer Cooper some support, because he knows what it’s like to deal with sick loved one alone. I know I’ve been pretty hard on Red lately, but I really felt bad for him in this scene. He didn’t deserve that reaction from Cooper.
The confrontation between Red and Isabella Stone actually ended a lot better than I expected. It turns out that Red didn’t kill her husband, he actually helped him to escape in order to keep Isabella Stone and their daughter out of harms way. Once that miscommunication is straightened out, she tells Red the name of the bank, that the person who paid her to take down, Red was a member of. She didn’t have a name, but that was no problem for Red to figure out.
That’s when it got weird. It turns out that the money Isabella Stone was paid came from…
Red’s own bank account.
It looks like Red is in even more serious trouble than it seemed like he was before. Only someone close to him would be able to access his bank account, so who the hell is doing this? There’s a theory going around that it’s Ms. Kaplan taking her revenge, but that just doesn’t seem like something she would do. Despite it all, I don’t think she hates Red, so we’re in for a shock once they reveal who is really trying to destroy him.
It looks like Red’s problems are turning down a really bad path in the promo for the next episode. Someone poisoned him, and he’s on the verge of death, with Liz desperately trying to help him stay alive. So that’s going to be really fun.
Tom also made a little progress in finding out about his past. Someone paid the man who supposedly killed him as a child, and had him read a script making it sound like he had killed Tom as a baby. Now, Tom wants to figure out why someone would do that, which will lead right into the “Redemption” spinoff airing directly after the winter finale of the Blacklist next week, it’s a two hour Blacklist event.
Watch the trailer below for a preview of “The Apothecary“ and “Redemption” next Thursday. Strap in, because the finales are always intense, and this one promises to be a particularly wild ride.
The Blacklist airs Thursdays at 10/9c on NBC.