The Blacklist - S4E4 - Gaia (No.81)

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Previously on The Blacklist, “Miles McGrath”

The Blacklist - S4E4 - “Gaia (No.81)”|Starring: James Spader, Megan Boone, Diego Klattenhoff, Harry Lennix, Hisham Tawfiq, Ryan Eggold, Amir Arison, Mozhan Marnó

Tension is high between everyone- the team at the Post Office, Liz and Red, Liz and Tom- and things go from awkward to worse when Kirk sends a link to a live feed of baby Agnes to Liz. Liz tells Tom she doesn’t want to trace the link for fear Kirk will find out and she doesn’t tell Red Kirk has contacted her. Tom, he ain’t havin’ it. He goes behind her back to set up a plan to get back his baby on his own terms. He meets up with a mercenary friend at the local laundromat, as you do, and has him run a digital trace on the feed Kirk is transmitting. Tom and his band of merry mercs locate where they think Kirk and Agnes are, but nope, it’s a house with a server room, with a camera so Kirk can not only see Tom and his crew, he can show Liz. He and Red have one thing in common; they both want Tom out of Liz’s life. What better way to do that than to have them to go against each other?

Navabi is still butthurt about Liz’s deception, but has added her jealousy towards Aram’s girlfriend to her list of reasons to leave the team. Her attitude toward Liz and Aram, throughout the case, is lost on no one and serves to make things more awkward than necessary. After he pulls her aside, she tells Ressler she wants the transfer not only because of Liz, but because she doesn’t know where she stands with anyone at the Post Office. Since when?

Kirk’s hematologist, Dr. Reifler, tells him his body is rejecting transfusions and he has only six months left to live. They’re exploring other cures, and even though the doctor and Kirk are firmly against it, Kirk’s lady friend wants to tap the baby. When Operation Save Agnes doesn’t go as planned, she insists Kirk get stem cells from the baby. Ugh, she needs to die.

Red tells Liz about Gaia, the Blacklister they need to go after next, since finding Gaia means finding Kirk.

The Blacklister

Gaia a domestic eco-terrorist who wants to protect Earth from humans and our destructive ways.  His real name is Owen Ayers. He is a former Navy officer who was poisoned by radiation in the Fukushima disaster, resulting in a rare blood disorder that passed to his son before he was born. In addition to the blood disorder, the son, Skyler, has facial deformity. Ayer disguises his eco-terrorism as accidents, so the public will get mad about the accident and push for change. Killing innocent people because of what happened to him. Disguises sabotage as accidents so people will get mad at the accident, not the terrorist. He kills a helicopter mechanic and field inspector for an energy company, to get to his next target: a nuclear facility on the Hudson.

The team looks into an incident connected to Gaia and Aram finds a suspect when he realizes all of the accident sites had surprise inspections. At the energy plant, Ressler and Navabi almost catch Gaia, but lose him in an almost thwarted car chase. Why they and the police who blocked Gaia would get out their cars to confront him when his getaway car wasn’t fully blocked, is a mystery. Of course he drives through the faux blockade and gets away. At least Ressler and Navabi didn’t get gripped up this time. After the team puts together Gaia’s—Ayers’ entire plan, Ressler and Navabi find him as he’s stealing a helicopter, intent on re-creating the incident at Fukushima. Ressler unsuccessfully tries to talk him down. At Cooper’s insistence, Aram hacks into the chopper’s system. Who knew he could do that? As Ayers rambles on about how the people who will end up dying because of him aren’t exactly innocent, Aram finds a way to override the chopper’s control. Because taking someone’s life is not what Aram is about, he hesitates on pushing the button. But it’s been established Cooper is about that life, so he hits the button with no hesitation, causing Ayers to crash.

With Glen’s help, Red finds Ayers’ ex-wife and son and asks her to hook him up with Skylar’s hematologist, Dr. Reifler. Dembe has the good doctor brought to Red where he’s told he’s going to help them get to Kirk.

Mr. Kaplan is nursed back to health by the creepy guy who saved her in the woods. He feeds her, talks to her inappropriately, and asks her strange questions about how she ended up there. Later, she wakes up to find her foot in a manacle, chained, and unable to escape. He’s obviously a serial rapist or killer.

Best line “They live in a delightful space, somewhere between dreams and reality. They taste color, hear shapes, see sounds. We should all have such special needs.” ~Red

Second best line “You did your job. And then I did mine.” ~ Cooper

Best exchange Dembe and Glen discussing bowling:

Dembe: “Your release point is off.”

Glen: “Yeah, but I’m a charming conversationalist, so the ladies don’t mind.”

Dembe: “Keep your elbows in.”