The Blacklist - S3E22 - Alexander Kirk (No.14)

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Previously on The Blacklist, “Susan Hargrave”

Red wants Jacob far away from Scottie and the whole sordid “who killed Liz affair”, but Jacob won’t listen. He also doesn’t want Red’s offer of money or resources to help with Agnes. All he wants is to help find and deal with Kirk, so he offers Red an ultimatum: I’ll take your help if you take mine.

Under Red’s advisement, Cooper’s team reluctantly agrees to work with Scottie’s team to flush out Alexander Kirk. Navabi wants a piece of Rowan, Ressler wants to not work with bad guys, and Jacob wants to be anywhere but with his newborn baby.

Alexander Kirk proves himself a truly heinous bad guy, by killing hospital workers to get to Agnes. What that baby do to you, sir?

Obviously this was the setup of a spinoff, introducing the audience to Scottie’s team of antiheroes- okay, straight up evil henchmen who sometimes do good-a team which closely resembles the Post Office crew. There’s Dumond, the tech; Rowan, the badass with excellent hand-to-hand combat skills; Mr. Solomon, the… okay, there’s no one at the Post Office quite like him. But it works out, because Scottie doesn’t seem to have a dick like Ressler on her team. Jacob is none too happy about working with the people he holds responsible for Liz’s death—which he points out at every opportunity, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

Together, they devise a convoluted plan to get to Alexander Kirk via his money. They plan to steal money Kirk put into a Super PAC to support Senator Robert Diaz as the next POTUS. A bank robbery with minimal collateral damage and poisoning a money manager to get a retinal scan are all in a day’s work for Scottie’s crew.

Jacob is given so much to do in this episode. His intelligence and skill as a con man are highlighted well. He understands why they have to rob the bank, he has the in at the Turkish embassy where the money manager will be. This was a great look into why The Major considered Jacob one of his best. It’s too damn bad everything else in the plot suffers. He has his mask off 97.5% of the robbery and escape. How can he go about business as usual with his face out in the streets as a bank robber? This spinoff must take place in international locales. He over-poisons the money manager and needs Aram and Dumond to come up with a solution. The writers are trying so hard to be clever, to sell the audience on the premise for this new show, so much so, this plot fails miserably.

Finding a dead nurse, the FBI, and Agnes missing from the hospital, Jacob and his anger pay Scottie a visit. He’s upset that Agnes is missing and her insistence on playing cat-and-mouse games pushes him to nearly choking her out. But wonder of wonders, she seems turned on by this. The writers knew where this story was going and still created a situation rife with sexual tension. Can you say, “Eww”?

For all the screwy plot points and questionable motives, this was a decent episode up until Jacob tried to kill Mr. Solomon. Jacob isn’t as good as he thinks. The poison he used to knock out the money manager is keeping them from getting a good retinal scan. A phone call with Aram and Scottie’s version of Aram later, they take a detour to a pharmacy to get medicine to counteract the poison. Mr. Solomon gets the meds and a bullet to the abdomen. So dassit? He’s dead? Mr. Solomon, arguably the best villain in The Blacklist history—far more compelling than any other that’s come along or any of the team, save Red.

Jacob wants him dead because he blames him for Liz’s death? It would make more sense to turn the gun on Red.

The local cops get to the pharmacy to find a pool of blood, but no body, so maybe he’s not dead. I hope he’s not dead. To say I’m disappointed in this turn of events is putting it mildly. Mr. Solomon on the Scottie spinoff would make for an intriguing show. Jacob working with the people he holds responsible for killing his pseudo wife? C’mon, that’s gold. Then again, maybe it’s a good thing Mr. Solomon is gone; that “my wife is dead because of you” shit is gonna get old real quick. I get Jacob’s point, but I just don’t care. Shooting Mr. Solomon isn’t enough to satisfy Jacob’s need for revenge, so he heads to Scottie’s, unannounced, armed and ready to pop a cap in her ass. But Red stops him. How? By telling him that Scottie is his mother. Yep, he’s her long lost son that went missing 20-some-odd years ago, that she believes is dead. This is why Red didn’t want him involved. So now we’re to believe Red cares about Jacob? Pfftt…

The Blacklister: Alexander Kirk is the alias of a former Russian businessman, known for amassing wealth by buying up mining operations after the Soviet Union fell. He went into hiding when he fell out with The Kremlin. Now, he buys politicians.

Best line: “I must admit I’ve never liked you, Scottie. Looking at you makes my toes curl.” ~Red

Second best line: “You, all of you, have proven quite capable of parking your selective morality when the moment serves.”

Who wrote this line?: A gathering at Scottie’s home has her weakly introducing Senator Diaz.

“We take three types of contributions: big, dark, and anonymous. Which if he loses, also describes Senator Diaz.” ~ Scottie

Maybe it would have sounded better coming out the mouth of a person of color, but not really.