The Blacklist - S4E2 - Mato (No.66)

Previously on The Blacklist, “Esteban (No. 79)”

With help from his crew, Tom, and the gang at the Post Office, Red continues his hunt for Kirk—er, Liz—er, Agnes. At this point, it’s unclear who he’s actually looking for. Betrayal is hard to get over and Red is a master at holding a grudge. But he really needs to learn how to get over it while searching for answers. He refuses to trust Mr. Kaplan enough to come up with a plan to find the missing Keens, but since he doesn’t know the Blacklister and she and Mato have a mutual acquaintance, he grudgingly lets her take lead.

A visit to Mr. Kaplan’s friend, Little Nikos, while he’s undergoing gastric bypass leads to more tension; between Red and Mr. Kaplan, then Tom and Mr. Kaplan, after he tortures Nikos for Mato’s location. Tom seems conflicted about what he did; not because he feels bad about hurting Nikos, but because it upset Mr. Kaplan. It’s hard to tell if he feels bad for how his actions affect her because she helped him or because he sees himself as a changed man. Pfft, this is Tom, so it can’t be the latter.

The gang catches up with Mato and everyone knows Red’s going to kill him, whether or not he gets answers, but pain and torture won’t be the incentive. Instead, Red threatens to put Mato’s body in a crypt after he’s dead, using his spiritual beliefs against him. Mato gives up the goods in short order and Red once again looks to Mr. Kaplan to clean up his mess. So he can still trust her to get rid of dead bodies, but with nothing else? Noted. Red , mean and vicious, is just as entertaining as Red regaling everyone with a story about African pelicans he surely made up. But going through all this for Liz? That’s questionable behavior. He continues to make bad decision after bad decision, sparking the question: what is his endgame?

Liz trusts Kirk about as far as she can throw him, which is to be expected since he kidnapped her, her baby, and tried to have her husband iced. Yet, somehow, Kirk is ever hopeful and believes he can sway her. All he has to do is show her the past. En route to the Summer Palace, his cottage in Nova Scotia, Kirk tries to convince Liz that Red is the real villain in her life story, but she’s not listening. She’s busy devising a ridiculous plan to take out the pilot of the plane, knowing she can’t land, let alone fly herself to safety. Why would this be an option in her mind? Kirk is injured, the plane is sinking, and Liz has no one to thank but herself. They’re saved by a passing fisherman, but Liz gets him shot, because she forgets Kirk can overhear her on that small boat and unlike her, he can actually speak Spanish. How is she an FBI agent, running around not knowing how to speak Spanish?

Kirk’s men get them to the Summer Palace and Liz learns a lot: Kirk hasn’t been there in years and he kept her room the same as it was when she was a little girl. So he is the father! She asks about the memory of her shooting her father and he says Red made lied to her. So, Red did some inception and gave her a fake memory? It doesn’t even matter; can they find some bad guys? An intrigued Liz looks around for clues from her childhood and the backyard beckons with a memory of her mom, burying a time capsule. Digging it up lets her know Kirk is telling the truth—about something, but before she can confront him, the FBI shows up. Kirk gets away and Agnes still doesn’t show. Where is that baby?

Liz, “rescued” from Kirk is taken to a makeshift apartment to be with Tom. Red locks them up with Baz guarding them. And by guard it looks like they’re not allowed to leave. Because he can’t trust her, Red takes Mr. Kaplan to the woods to look at the flowers. Only Kaplan is a “G” and makes him take his shot with her looking him in the eye. And take it he does. Clearly Red doesn’t like betrayal, but in the grand scheme of things, what Kaplan did wasn’t so bad. Shooting her seemed an unnecessary response to the situation. Liz is next right, since she betrayed him, too? On a brighter note, Kaplan’s hand moves, so the shot didn’t fully take.

The Blacklister

Mato: hitman, tracker, and son of a Shaman. Funny enough, Red had zero info on Mato; it’s Mr. Kaplan who makes the ID and knows how to find him.

Best line “Regret requires age or wisdom.” ~Red

Questions

Mr. Kaplan says Red asked her to protect Liz when she was a baby girl. So, he took her when she was a baby, not when she was a little girl? What is Red getting out of this? Why doesn’t he want Liz to find out the truth? Why is Kirk keeping Liz from Agnes for so long? Does he really want Agnes?