The Blacklist - S2E2 - Monarch Douglas Bank
Previously on The Blacklist, ‘Lord Baltimore’
While Red is cleaning up after his latest “interrogation” of men who may be able to lead him to Berlin (well, they’re not able to anymore since he questioned them to death), a crew of efficient bank robbers hit up Monarch Douglas Bank, a Warsaw, Poland bank known in criminal circles as the one to use for your dirty money needs. Red puts Liz and Ressler on the case.
Berlin isn’t happy that the bank has been compromised as he needs confirmation of a wire transfer he made 36 hours ago in order to pick up an important shipment. The bank manager, Mr. Stickland, offers to loan him the money (interest free) and apologizes for the “IT glitch.” Berlin’s so busy being pissed off about this that he doesn’t notice Red’s ex-wife has swiped a chicken bone off her plate and tucked it away for later. Wasn’t he rumored to have escaped prison by keeping and sharpening the bones of his daughter that were sent to him? Oh, and speaking of mailing body parts, he earlier sent Red one of his ex’s teeth. Nasty.
Liz and Ressler figure out that the five bank robbers were six when they left and that the extra person was a bank employee taken hostage, made to look like a robber. Thanks to Red’s intimate knowledge of local jelly doughnuts (don’t ask), they’re able to locate the robbers’ lair, but the woman tells them that they didn’t really rescue her. The bank robbery was her attempt to escape working for the bank.
Strickland flies to NYC to meet with Berlin and personally reassure him. He tells Berlin that his money will be fine thanks to The Formula. Turns out, The Formula is the female bank employee taken hostage. She has a photographic memory and is what the bank uses instead of keeping a paper trail of their clients’ activities.
Liz is attacked by a federal agent who is supposed to be on their side while Ressler questions The Formula, Kaja. They manage to escape with the help of the Israeli woman, Samar Navabi, who grabbed Red last episode (and had been watching Liz in this one). In the mayhem, a bullet fragment hits Kaja and Ressler tends to her wound in the backseat of a taxi while Liz chews him out for his slow reflexes at the safehouse.
With some help from Red and his contacts, Liz and Ressler get Kaja on a train where she admits she wasn’t always a prisoner of the bank. In the beginning, she accepted their money and gifts and looked the other way as they did their criminal activities. Before she can say much else, Red and his men arrive to forcibly take possession of Kaja. Red informs Liz and Ressler that he’s booked them first class passage home.
Meanwhile, Red’s ex uses her chicken bone weapon to get away, but doesn’t get far before Berlin grips her up. He’s about to cut something else off of her, but she’s saved when Red calls Berlin and says it’s time they met. They meet at a carnival, as two criminal masterminds do, and Red tells Berlin that they have a common enemy: the person who told him he killed Berlin’s daughter. Then he plays his trump card: The Formula. He used her to drain all of Berlin’s accounts. He’ll give the money back in exchange for his wife. Berlin throws Elizabeth in Red’s face. He knows Red cares for her and that will be his downfall, but he agrees to the swap.
Liz uses her knowledge of Red’s manicurist also being a surgeon to figure out where Red stashed Kaja. She had her give up what Red did with Berlin’s money and froze the accounts. She calls Red and tells him that she can’t let him give Berlin his money back, money that will be used to kill innocent people. Even though Red knows that he now can’t deliver his end of the bargain, he goes to meet Berlin anyway. The transaction goes through, somehow, and Red gets his ex (who’s blindfolded) back without her knowing that he ‘s responsible for saving her.
Back home, Liz says every person who dies at Berlin’s hands is on Red. He calls her out for knowing that Berlin’s money was in that bank to begin with. She has a source, but won’t reveal who it is. After providing Cooper with intel, Samar is now a member of the team, which is exactly what Red wanted when she checks in with him.
Thoughts & Questions:
- Liz tells Red that his daughter and Naomi were in protective custody, but seven years ago they lost track of the daughter and no one knows where she is.
- If Red didn’t kill Berlin’s daughter, where is she? Who is she? Is it Liz?
- Ressler holds a bottle of pills at the episode’s end. Is he done using? Nah. But it’s a good thing he had those on hand to give to Kaja after she was shot.
- Who is this common enemy Red referred to?
