The Blacklist - S3E5 - Arioch Cain (No. 50)

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Previously on The Blacklist, ‘The Djinn’

Someone put a bounty on Liz and boy is it large. Now she and Red not only have to worry about law enforcement, they have to watch out for hitmen around every corner.

Ressler hasn’t been in a sharing mood when it comes to information about the investigation into Liz. His mistrust of the CIA, and The Director in particular, gets him called to appear before a presidential commission, headed by the National Security Advisor. Anxious to help Liz, Aram searches for a way to get her off the wanted list. Navabi isn’t anxious to help as much as just doing her job.

Tom is making friends and influencing people, with his slick talk and winning personality. Oh yeah, and his marksmanship.

Everybody here wants her

Liz is a wanted woman, with a bounty of $7,000,000 dollars on her head. Who did she piss off? The wanted ad is deep on the dark net created by an unknown poster.

Blacklister

Wendigo, a nameless assassin known and vigilante takes out two of Red’s men, but somehow misses Liz. Aram gets the name of Wendigo’s gunsmith and Red knows a guy who can track down the gunsmith. Red and Liz find Wendigo, but things go way left. Bullets fly, there’s a merry chase across rooftops, and he jumps to another building, barely hanging on the edge. Red gets to him and old boy ends up on the pavement; but not before telling Red there will be others out for Liz.

Ressler, the confessor

During the commission, Ressler tries his best to be professional, but his feelings for The Director—he doesn’t trust him—and Liz—he thinks she’s innocent—bubble to the surface.

Blacklister

Zachary O’Toole aka Zed; a master gunsmith maker, responsible for making a gun Wendigo used in a past assassination. He gives up Wendigo’s location, but Red and Liz find out Zed spilled the tea so he could collect the bounty. Red asks who put Liz on the site and Zed gives up the site creator, Gavin Delgado.

Red’s best line

“I tried N.A. once, after an opium den in Kuala Lumpur got the best of me. Didn’t stick. I couldn’t get past the requirement to believe in a power greater than myself.”

She’s got a fast car

Dipping in and out of cars and alleys to avoid getting shot, Liz makes it to a nearby car and hot wires it. Slouched low in the passenger seat, she holds the rearview mirror she ripped off the windshield and uses it to guide herself out of the alleyway.

Blacklister

Arioch Cain put Liz up for bounty because she, like everyone else, believes Liz is responsible for the Orea bombing. It turns out Arioch Cain’s is a young girl named Blair whose mother was killed in the bombing. Sympathetic to her loss, Liz and Blair share a moment over the loss of their mothers. Moved, Blair takes Liz off the site and Liz promises to find the people who killed her mother.

These henchmen ain’t loyal

At the meet, Mr. Vargas tells Red that Dembe is dead; he had to leave him behind. His eyes and his wig look a little shifty. Red tells him to have the jet ready to get Liz out the city, but Mr. Vargas has Mr. Solomon and his men waiting in the hangar instead.

Red is so Red

He can’t just ask Ressler for help. No, he has to stick him up at an NA meeting and tell him about the assassin.

Doubting Tom

Cooper has doubts about Tom’s because Sutton didn’t fall for Tom’s fake name. Was he not listening when Tom laid out the plan? Sutton owes someone a lot of money and Tom knows how to use that to his advantage. Sutton’s affinity for hustlers has him inviting Tom…no, Mr. Wainwright…no, Matt Buckley to his engagement party.

Get a grip

No thanks to Mr. Vargas, Red and Liz are surrounded at the airfield and Mr. Solomon grips Liz up to prepare her flaying.

Where they do that at?

Meeting Red and Liz face-to-face, Mr. Solomon asks about their relationship. He’s heard it could be father-daughter or May-December, but he thinks it’s a bit of both. Eww.

The A-Team

With Ressler busy at the commission, Aram and Navabi work with Red to find out who nominated Liz for tribute. Delgado is brought in so he can remove Liz from the site. Navabi can’t seem to get through to, or understand Delgado, so Aram steps up. A few technical sentences later, Aram realizes Delgado can’t remove Liz’s name; only the person who nominated her can…Arioch Cain.

Dembe is that dude

Bleeding like a stuck pig and possibly in shock, Dembe shows up like the star of a John Woo film. He makes quick work of everyone in the hangar. Except that damn Mr. Solomon, who gets away and

Smooth Criminal

After chasing away the money collector, Tom convinces Sutton and his fiancée to tell him why he’s being shaken down, and then promises to take care of it. To Tom, “taking care of it” means putting two in the muscle who’s been collecting Sutton’s money; a move that freaks out Sutton and his fiancée, especially when they see the dead body in Tom’s trunk. He told them they didn’t want to look in there.

Fake it ‘til you make it

To get Liz’s name off the site, her death has to be faked—and they have to have proof. Delgado is coerced into entering his passkey and providing a few details, so that Arioch Cain will have proof and enter their key. Mr. Kaplan uses her expertise to help Red and Liz stage her death, take pictures, and get the info to the media.

Bad guys finish first

Despite Ressler’s show of loyalty and mistrust of The Director, or maybe in spite of the National Security Advisor tells him he and his team have to begin sharing intel with the CIA and the Director. And the Director is sitting up in Cooper’s office like he’s running the place.