Photo Courtesy Of NBC
Warning: Spoiler Alert
Raymond “Red” Reddington (James Spader) started the second season of the NBC series “The Blacklist,” in Cameroon, lying down in the back of a jeep as two vehicles filled with teenage soldiers (one with him in it) engaged in a firefight down a jungle road. Thankfully for red the youngsters in his vehicle blew up their rivals with a rocket launcher, taking him to the camp of a warlord with whom he shared a “bumpy past,” which we realize when he tells Red that he told him the next time he’d see him he’d kill him.
Reddington, ever the charmer told his host that he had actually found him, because he had a business proposition for him. He told his old mate that an operative known as Berlin’s doing his best to kill him. Berlin had one bounty hunter working for him in Tom Keen and Reddington knew there were more. He showed his host the box he brought with him contained three million dollars, the warlord had 30 seconds to accept the money to reveal the name of others working for Berlin. The man laughed and asked what would happen if he didn’t accept the offer in time and Red replied he’d make it rain fire around them. Once again the man started to laugh, but it got caught in his throat when an area about 500 yards away exploded. Raymond told his host he possessed three Hellfire missiles and unless the warlord gave him his phone they would come closer and closer. Seconds later the second missile hit and the man said the person went by a Royal title, such as Prince or Duke. Red realized that the person that Berlin sent after him was Lord Baltimore, whose talent’s finding people on the internet that don’t want their location discovered.
Meanwhile back in the states Liz Keen’s living life on the run, moving from hotel to motel, all under aliases trying to keep Berlin from tracking her whereabouts, as well as her former husband Tom, whom she may or may not have killed in a struggle in the first season finale. She meets Red in a park and he tells her that Lord Baltimore’s in town and after him. However when Liz discusses the case with her colleagues, their tech guy Aram Mojtabai, (Amir Arison) knows of Lord Baltimore as his feats of tracking people are legendary in tech circles, but he tracks people by their digital footprint, something Reddington’s made sure he’s never acquired. So Aram suspects that Lord Baltimore’s looking for somebody close to Red, such as any member of their task-force. Agent Meera Malik got killed by Berlin’s people last year and Task Force director Harold Cooper’s (Harry Lennix) still recovering from the attack on him.
Aram checks local data security companies in the area and finds an analyst for one of the firms had her account and her computer attacked on two separate occasions. Keen and Agent Don Kessler, (Diego Klattenhoff) go interview the analyst a young woman named Rowan Mills. Rowan and her company verify that she hadn’t hacked her account on either occasion, they in fact have proof the hack came from an outside computer. She tells the agents she has no idea why she’s being targeted. Kessler and Keen believe her and start exploring other possibilities.
Once again Aram gets closer to whom Lord Baltimore’s tracking, he tells Liz that it’s a woman with very specific traits including subscribing to the Wall Street Journal and Cat Fancy Magazine. Keen contacts Red and seconds later he tells Liz that the woman they’re looking for is Naomi Highland, when Keen asks how Reddington can know it’s her, he tells Liz that’s his former wife.
Keen and Kessler find that Rowan’s got a second apartment she’s been hiding from them, but the analyst says she’s never been to the apartment before. When they ask how could there be photographs of her on the walls, she informs them of her twin sister Nora, who supposedly got killed seven years earlier. With all these strange occurrences she questions whether Nora really died.
Nora got molested by their male cousin from about ages seven through twelve but although she confided in Rowan, her sister thought she was making it up. After a while she told her entire family but nobody believed her. The sisters had a falling out and Nora took a job out of the country and was reportedly killed, but her body was never recovered.
In a home in the suburbs three middle-aged couples are enjoying their evening together when one of the wives, Naomi Highland (Mary Louise Parker) realizes something’s terribly wrong as there are federal agents outside her house flashing their badges. She opens her door and the first words out of her mouth are “Is He Back?”
Liz interviews her and she’s indeed Raymond’s ex-wife whom he left when he left working for the Government and became an operative for hire. She tells Lizzie that the agencies thought she was lying about her lack of knowledge concerning her former husband for the longest time. When she finally convinced them she was innocent they moved her and their daughter into relocation with new identities. Her current husband has no idea about her former life.
Rowan’s at home when a vaguely familiar looking young man comes into her home and tells her he’s not there to hurt her, he just wants her to listen to something. He puts an LP on her stereo and an old song starts playing, at first Rowan’s confused and disoriented by the music, then suddenly turns into another person, her sister Nora. Nora never died, in fact she came back and killed Rowan and tried to take her places as the good and happy sister, however the trauma of killing her twin was too much for her mind to accept. So she had compartmentalized Nora and Rowan, with Nora being awaked by that song.
Nora’s an expert marksman and setup across the street from the Highland’s house she’s able to stun all the occupants with Tasers. Liz pulls the spikes out of her arm in time to capture Nora and her handler, but Berlin’s people kidnap Naomi. While incarcerated Liz connects with Nora after playing the song, but by the time they find the last location she knew Naomi was the trail got cold.
Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq) and Red are staying at a new hotel when Dembe answers the door and there’s a package for Raymond. He opens it and out drops a cellphone, he hits redial and he’s connected with Berlin (Peter Stormare.) His nemesis tells Reddington he’s going to send his wife to him just like Raymond sent Berlin’s daughter to him, one piece at a time. Red opens a box and the top third of Naomi’s index finger’s inside a box.
The Story Continues Next Monday Night On NBC.
