The Blacklist recap: A whale of a tale
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We open at a casino in Sydney, Australia. The floor is being run by Anika de Beer (Lucy Taylor), who is juggling blackmailing a rich adulterer into spending massive amounts of cash while also dealing with a casino official who wants to know why one of the whales coming in for a private game is using a fake name. De Beer pretends to be chastised just long enough to get him in an elevator, knock him down, and press a high heel onto his throat. She threatens him with a car bomb unless he decides to be "comfortable" with her poker game. He's incapable of speech at the moment, but I'm guessing: Game on!
Red (James Spader) is on a street food kick, meaning he and Cooper (Harry Lennix) are in line at Ali's Snout to Tail. Lunch includes pan-seared brain and plenty of catch up.
Topics include Siya Malik (Red's cool with her joining the Task Force); Red's lack of security (he says he's trying to keep a lighter footprint, I say Chuck couldn't keep a pan-seared brain safe in a room full of vegans); Agnes's schoolyard bully (Cooper says he and Charlene have it in hand); and finally — where in the world is Wujing (Chin Han)?
Lisbon! Monaco! Klerksdorp, South Africa! Wujing has been spotted in all these locales hanging around casinos and de Beer, our Blacklister known as the Whaler. Time to track her down.
Will Hart/NBC James Spader as Raymond "Red" Reddington
Back at Task Force HQ, Malik (Anya Banerjee) officially joins the team. Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq) greets her warmly, but Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) can't quite make the smile stick. No time to parse out Ressler's latest grimace, though, because it's time to infiltrate de Beer's private game in Australia.
The plan starts with getting an invite, in this case by showing off poker bona-fides at an underground game in NYC. It's hosted by a music promoter named Spencer Waters who is six-degreed to Red through Huey Lewis's manager. Remember when Lewis was part of the amazing tribute to the late, great Clark Middleton/Glen? If you don't, go back and relive the Wellstone Agency episode in its entire bittersweet glory.
Red meets up with Malik and Ressler to let them know that their fake player will be E.M. Lyons and a plus one. Malik mistakenly assumes she's the arm candy, but Red corrects her: Emelia Lyons is the high roller. Ressler doesn't think she's ready, but Red knows that Miya Malik's daughter is both capable and a less obvious tell. It also doesn't matter if she knows how to play, because Red's got a poker expert ready to teach her in one corner and a rack of designer gowns in another.
Predictably, Red isn't going to let Elizabeth's daughter suffer without intervention. He spies on a soccer field as Agnes and her bully end up in a pushing match. Frankly, I'm more worried for the bully.
Malik gets seated at the NYC game and sends Ressler off with the other arm-candies. She promptly loses her first hand to a millennial in a trucker hat with a smarminess confirmed when he calls her "girl."
Trucker Hat continues with his sexist-tinged table-talk right up until Malik takes down a pot with only a pair of fives off the river. He's livid, of course, but she points out that his posturing gave her perfect insight into his tells. That demonstration of skill is enough for de Beer (watching from a camera) to call with an invite to the big game.
Ressler's grimace lasts all the way to the land down under, a true feat when you consider they flew private. Malik protests she understands the gig and is not reckless, and that's when Ressler decides to go wayyyyyy too far to say, "Neither was your mother and look where it got her."
Will Hart/NBC Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler
Donald. Matthew. Ressler. You apologize this instant. (Note: I have no idea what Ressler's middle name is.)
Luckily, he does. The losses of Elizabeth and others has made him hypersensitive to dangers of the Blacklist, but Malik is ready. At the game, she notices two Chinese billionaire bankers at the same table, which seems a bit shifty.
In his own private jet, Red calls Cooper for a status update. He then brings up Agnes's bully by name, much to Cooper's horror, who commands Red to stand down. Red is mystified, asking himself out loud, "why am I always the bad guy?" Ha!
Back at the game, a mysterious lurker acts suspicious enough for Ressler to snap a (less than discreet) pic and send it to Dembe, who identifies him as former Chinese Special Forces. Ressler is barely off the phone when de Beer walks in with security guards.
In a hotel room, he's introduced to Nigel, who says that he's the real one in charge. Ressler tries to stall, but Nigel just takes off his suit jacket while a guard zip ties on our favorite FBI grump. This does not bode well. This bodes bad.
Meanwhile, Malik is still playing poker until de Beers escorts her to the elevator… the same one Wujing steps out of.
There's nothing she can do about that, unfortunately, what with the armed escort taking her to join Ressler in Nigel's beautiful torture suite. They put the pieces together quickly: The couch guy was recon for Wujing, who is playing at the table with the Chinese billionaires for reasons yet unknown. Nigel interrupts them and, despite Ressler pointing out that they are FBI/MI6 agents, begins to punch Ressler in the face, a lot.
Luckily, Malik has beautiful earrings that unscrew into a tiny tool she uses to slice through her restraints. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times — always tie your hostage's hands behind their backs, never in front. Sloppy work, henchmen.
Hands free, Malik breaks a lamp over Nigels head and starts a fun fistfight between all the parties. Ressler admits he might have been underestimating the MI6 agent. She agrees.
Adding to her argument, Malik also finds a room full of cameras monitoring the game and our pair realizes the Chinese billionaires are purposely losing. They call HQ to figure out why, and the light bulb hits Dembe first: Wujing's fortune in China is untouchable because of his fugitive status, so this is a very efficient way to get millions. Time to tell Red… who has just arrived at the game.
He's wearing a waistcoat, he's walking straight into a lion's den, and he's not even using an alias. I swoon. He trades a bag of diamonds for a seat at the table.
Red proposes a one-hand showdown and Wujing, who has been dealt an ace-king offsuit, goes along with the challenge. The dealer places an ace of clubs, a nine of spades, and a three of spades on the board. Red bets five million without looking at his hole cards, which seems like a bad idea but I have to admit looks incredibly cool.
Wujing calls, Red raises, Wujing calls again. They exchange barbs along with cards:
Wujing: "I know exactly what you are. And soon the rest of the world will see that, too."
Red: "You have no idea who I am. You don't even know how to really look."
The dealer reveals the turn. It's the ace of hearts, so we know Wujing has three of those now. He smirks and goes all in. Red calls. The river is the jack of spades. Well. Someone is definitely drowning in that river. The question is, who?
Not Red, who has two spades in his hand. The flush wins.
The police are on their way, so the showdown ends. Ressler and Malik watch as various bad guys are arrested, but it leads to a nice moment where Ressler thanks her for the earlier save and genuinely welcomes her to the team before adding, "But I'm still going to lose sleep over you."
That all seems wrapped up, so why isn't the episode over yet? Well, because Red isn't done meddling in Agnes's middle school drama. He is at the bully's father's workplace, efficiently bribing the owner into transferring the man (and, ostensibly, the entire family) to Florida.
De Beer is trying to get out of dodge, but Wujing catches up with her before she can get on a plane. He kills her and takes the diamonds Red bribed her with. R.I.P., Blacklister No. 165.
Cooper calls Red, who is watching a bully-free Agnes play soccer, to call him out on the meddling. Red claims he's stayed out of it, but Cooper knows that's nonsense, especially since he's also at soccer practice. The two men sit together and share their desire to keep Agnes safe and happy. But Cooper, who has raised kids before, knows that sometimes kids have to get a little bit hurt to grow.
Red ponders that advice as the credit roll.
The Back-list:
What a fun episode. The show is always at its best when Red is allowed to be clever, bold, and badass.
Go back and listen to James Spader say "Klerksdorp, South Africa" a few times. It's positively hypnotizing.
Red's best name drop of the episode: Steve Jones, guitarist of the Sex Pistols who calls him "Rotten Ray," much to the consternation of their friend John, aka Johnny Rotten.
The card that wins Red the game is the jack of spades, a nice reference to Jack of All Spades (and James Spader). There are a lot of meanings associated with the term, many of which neatly fit the lore of Raymond Reddington.
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