The Blacklist - S4E5 - The Lindquist Concern (No. 105)

Previously on The Blacklist, “Gaia”

The Blacklist - S4E5 - “The Lindquist Concern (No. 105)� | Starring: James Spader, Megan Boone, Diego Klattenhoff, Harry Lennix, Hisham Tawfiq, Ryan Eggold, Amir Arison, Mozhan Marnó

Antsy and eager to find Agnes, and to get back on Liz’s good side, Tom turns to Ressler for something to do. Sympathetic to his plight, or maybe to get him out his face, Ressler gives him a lead; Vasily Komarov, a Russian cultural attaché running ops for the SVR. A stakeout and few snapshots later, Tom finds a way at Komarov, but he needs Ressler to fake evidence so he can use it as leverage to get info on Kirk. The Russians hate Kirk as much as anyone else having to deal with him, so Komarov gives up the goods with very little reluctance.

Thinking he has an idea of where Agnes is, Liz meets up with Red only for him to give her details about another Blacklister. Remember them, Liz? While he goes after Kirk, Red has the team go after The Lindquist Concern because he has something that will help them get Agnes.

The Blacklister

The Lindquist Concern, a group that works for various corporations, suppressing inventions before they can be brought to market. If the invention cannot be suppressed, The Lindquist Concern kills the inventor or scientist who created it, then steals their schematics. Posing as a patent attorney, The Lindquist Concern finds their victims at an inventors’ convention and convinces them to to make contact when they’re ready to get their work patented.

A freshly tortured and frightened Dr. Reifler tells Red what he wants to know: how often he meets with Kirk and when the next meeting is supposed to take place. No matter he doesn’t know where the meeting will take place, Red has him get the information when Kirk calls to relay it. Taking refuge in a church makes everyone but Red contemplative of their life choices; Dembe prays for forgiveness for not helping Mr. Kaplan, Liz ponders how Agnes is holding up with Kirk, and Dr. Reifler compares Kirk’s behavior to Red’s. He tells Liz Kirk is a good man doing bad things for a good reason and it gives her pause.

Liz isn’t in a good position. Everything Kirk has shown her is at odds with everything Red has been telling her for years. She feels trapped in the middle, between Red and Kirk, confused about all that’s happened, but she makes the mistake of telling Red. Seeing her hesitation where Kirk is concerned as an issue, Red leaves her behind when he and the rest of his team travel to Geneva to ambush Kirk. While talking to Tom, Liz learns Kirk is in Russia not Geneva, but her warning of a trap is ignored by Red. Again, Red is allowing his feelings guide him in the wrong direction. By not listening to Liz, he is almost killed and he loses several men. Worst yet, when Liz calls back to make sure everyone is okay, he all but accuses her of snitching to Kirk.

After finding two of The Lindquist Concern’s victims, the team uses the fake identity and cell number to find his real identity; U.S. patent office worker, Silas Gouldsberry. Nearly caught by Navabi and Ressler, Gouldsberry goes to the patent office, shoots a guard and his boss, and takes his co-workers hostage.  Navabi is at the patent office when it all goes down, but doesn’t immediately take down Gouldsberry even though she has him in her sights. He didn’t even know she was there; she could have ended him and the hostage situation with one bullet. Instead, she stalls and attempts to talk him down while he attempts to upload all the patents he’s killed for to the internet, making them available to one and all. As the Lindquist Concern, Gouldsberry wasn’t helping corporations, he was killing people and stealing their work so they wouldn’t fall victim to greed-all because his invention got tabled. So Red was wrong about him. At the Post Office, Laurel orders Cooper to send in HRT, but he refuses because he doesn’t want people to get killed. When did Cooper get soft? No worries; Aram finds a way to get Navabi into the server room, allowing her to finally take out Gouldsberry and stop the file transfer. They kept the inventions from getting into the wrong hands, but Cooper ends up giving the flash drive to Laurel. Of course, she gives one of the files to Red.

Reading the file Komarov gave him, Tom finds a DNA report that says Kirk is Liz’s father. Of course she flies off the handle, of course she confronts Red; accusing him of lying about everything.

Best line: “Per our agreement, no friends and family discount. Our compatriots on The Cabal pay full market value. My cut is 50%. That sounds greedy, 45%.�

Second best line: “Are you planning an extraction or a land war in Asia?� ~Liz, seeing the hardware Red’s men are getting together.

Best exchange: Red (to Dembe): “Fish him out of the tub. And while you’re at it, you should have him take a look at that mole.�

Dembe (affronted): “It’s a freckle.�

Questions

Red has known all this time about the Lindquist Concern and Gaia, killing innocent people, why did he wait stop them? Did they just come on his radar because of Kirk? If so, the show pulled another bait and switch because they’re not real Blacklisters.

Who is the asset Odette mentioned, the person keeping Kirk one step ahead of Red?