Quick Take review – The Blacklist 1×10: ‘Anslo Garrick, Part 2′

Courtesy of NBC

After reviewing the first half of The Blacklist‘s two parter, I felt compelled to come back and discuss the second.

Let’s bitch it out…

In many ways ‘Anslo Garrick, Part 2’ is a fitting end to the The Blacklist‘s first batch of episodes (the series returns Monday, January 13, 2014). I say fitting because in many ways this episode circles back to the elements introduced in the pilot, providing a little closure on some of the mythology pieces that have crept into this mostly procedural show but leaving a lot of questions on the table for the break. Here are some talking points to consider over the holiday break:

• Dembe didn’t die! Good job show
• Lizzie (Megan Boone) is not Red’s (James Spader) daughter: Or so he says. That was an awfully long pause Red took on the phone, was it not?
• There’s a FBI mole who alerted Anslo Garrick to Red’s location: My bet is Agent Meera (Parminder Nagra) who remains the most prominent member of the crew with no discernible character traits aside from her annoying tendency to mention her damn CIA contacts every.fricking.episode. If she’s revealed to be the mole, it’s no big loss to the team, but dramatic enough to matter because she’s argualy a “main” character
• The other “mole” candidate is Cooper (Harry Lennix): He was evil on Dollhouse after all. It doesn’t exactly gel with his character, though, and The Blacklist hasn’t given any indication of being able to pull off a twist like that.
• Anslo’s people (or the people he works for) are behind the bugs in Lizzie’s apartment: It’s unclear if this was done to gather intel on her, Red or something else since everyone on the Blacklist team is revealed to be under surveillance (including the old biddie who authorized the task force).
• Agent Ressler (Diego Klatenhoff) doesn’t lose his leg: No big shock there. Plus we meet the woman he left in the dust pursuing Red. Annnnd I still don’t care…
• Lizzie’s husband, Tom (Ryan Eggold) remains suspect: Red’s final warning to Lizzie before Hannibal Lecter-ing away into the night is that she watch Tom. It’s always been clear that there’s more to Tom than he’s letting on so this is just a reminder that after ten episodes we still can’t trust him.This seems obvious to me; how can we trust a man who is clearly just wearing geek glasses to disguise his CW model good looks?
• Finally, Alan Alda pops by as a new, unnamed character who vaguely threatens Red about vague things before vaguely authorizing Anslo to kill him. It’s all very…unhelpful. Clearly this “mysterious” character is meant to inspire all kinds of speculation, but I’m not too excited about a global conspiracy because a) these narratives never really pan out (see: The Event, FlashForward, Torchwood: Miracle Day) and b) frankly, more often than not conspiracies feel like a narrative cop-out. Love the Alda, but not loving this new character/direction

Your turn: thoughts on the fall finale? Where is Red disappearing to? Any new ideas about Tom? Who is the mole? Would anyone have cared if Ressler had lost his leg (or died in surgery)? Is there a more boring main character than Lizzie on TV right now? Hit the comments below

The Blacklist is off for the remainder of 2013. It returns Monday, January 13 at 10pm EST on NBC