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By: Baby Z
“The Courier” episode begins with the Keen’s having some, shall we say, sexy time in the bedroom, only Tom is all too aware that something’s up with Lizzie. So, as almost no man would do, he stops what he’s doing not only to ask her what’s going on, but when she gives the pretty much female-standard response of “Nothin” - - he completely stops trying to “get some” in order to talk, which should have been hint #1 about what’s to come.
By: Baby Z
Just when you think The Blacklist cannot possibly get any better, an episode like “The Stewmaker” comes along and calls you a silly bitch.
We begin the show with a guy checking into a hotel, followed by him unloading a few huge metal suitcases, then his teeth and hair! He jumps in the shower and proceeds to shave all his head and facial hair. When he’s done, he sprays room down with presumably some sort of sanitizer, then covers the entire room in plastic and it’s at that point that I get a little confused and wonder briefly if I accidentally loaded “Dexter” rather than “The Blacklist”??
Meanwhile, at an FBI Storage Facility, Lizzie signs in and is told that the guard has to run her through clearance. She says she’s in a hurry and could she just go in while he runs it and the guard agrees. OK - first of all - NOT. That wouldn’t happen. At the same time, Cooper is asking Ressler the latest about what she’s been up to regarding the case, and Ressler says the files have been redacted and that there’s no way she can find out about that case…. but back at the storage facility, we see Lizzie searching for the case number among the rows & rows of evidence and she comes to box marked “Case No 12-11579: Name Angel Station: Date June 23, 2012.” She attempts to grab the box when the guard starts heading in saying “Hey you’re not allowed in here, who’s your supervisor?” as she runs away. Um, doesn’t he have her name in order to do the clearance search?
Cooper tells Ressler they need to keep an eye on her and that she’s scheduled to testify in court today from her time in NY regarding Hector Lorca, a Mexican drug dealer, and adds that he wants Ressler there in the courtroom as well.
Back in her office, Lizzie jots down the name and date from the evidence box when Ressler comes in. She tells him she’s got court today and he asks if he can go with, says that nothing would make him happier than to see Lorca go down, to which she responds “Why do i get the feeling you’re less interested in watching Lorca than in watching me?” and so he asks her if she’s hiding something. Agent Malik interrupts this awkward exchange and informs Lizzie that RR wants to see her alone.
(By the way, anyone realize that Ressler was the guy Rachel McAdams was fooling around with in “Mean Girls”??? Look!)
Once again, Lizzie meets RR at a park (and again he is in a fantastic suit) and is accompanied by his black security guy. As Lizzie approaches, the security guy leans down and tells RR that he’s due in Port-au-Prince at noon if they’re going to make RR’s appointment, and RR tells him to bring the car around.
When Lizzie sits down, RR reads a newspaper headline that indicates it was due to her work as a profiler that Lorca was captured. She says “You’re aware then that I’m due in court in 3 hours.” and he informs her that her case is about to go sideways. He tells her that Lorca’s people have reached out to him and that normally he wouldn’t give them the time of day but that because it involves her, he wanted to forewarn her.
When Lizzie inquired as to what his people were asking for, RR responded that he wanted transportation out of the country, new identity, passport, bank account, credit cards as well as the proper introductions to reestablish his operations elsewhere, and he wanted it by tomorrow night. For whatever reason, RR tells her, Lorca is under the impression he’s about to be a free man. When Lizzie says she’s got a witness who’s got him cold and Lorca’s not going anywhere, RR simply responds that something IS going to happen, grabs his jacket & leaves.
Back at Creepy Dude Hotel, the guy from the beginning of the show is seen opening up one of those cloth medical tool organizers, and again I wonder if I’m watching “Dexter.” We also see one of his big metal suitcases is full of gas masks and a chemical, and he has one of the masks on.
At the Washington D.C. US District Court, we discover that Francesca Ravino was abducted from a school parking lot, Lisa Molinera was taken from a movie theater, Miguel Romera kissed his wife goodbye one day to go to his job. The prosecutor says there have been 109 victims over 6 years, members of US and Mexican law enforcement agencies, preparing cases against the criminal cartel run by Lorca. They were witnesses prepared to testify against him, and they are all presumed dead, none of them have ever been found. Then she refers to the father of one of the victims, who said his son (Pena) worked border patrol, and that he was taken. He said he saw who did it, he saw Lorca. And just as he yelled “I KNOW WHO KILLED MY SON” one of the juror members begins having what appears to be a heart attack. The judge orders the bailiffs to secure the prisoner, get the paramedics in there, and for the courtroom to be cleared.
Keen escorts the witness out of the courtroom and hands him over to 2 US Marshals. When the witness asks about his wife, Keen tells him she will go find her and bring her back there. She runs down the stairs, while the camera flashes back to the witness who is brought into a room where there is an ACTUAL US Marshal lying dead on the ground, and he realizes that the 2 men that have him are not his friends. One of them grabs Mr. Pena and injects him with something in the neck.
Meanwhile, at the ground floor of the courthouse, Keen is met by Ressler, who tells her that they have the witness secure and that according to the EMT, the juror’s heart attack was chemically induced, the juror was poisoned! (OK - - HOW did the EMT know this so quickly, it’s literally been maybe 2 minutes since the incident….) Ressler/Keen run back upstairs to the “secure” ‘room and all that’s there is the previous dead US Marshal. They run down the back stairs, outside and see nothing.
Over in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti RR is in the middle of a meeting with what appears to be a money counterfeiter, selling him what he calls a replica of the FIM-92 when his security guard receives a call from Lizzie who demands to speak with RR, who says “Sweetheart, not really the most convenient time for me.” Lizzie asks where he is and he tells her he’s in Haiti. You know, doing what he DOES. She tells him a man’s life is at stake, to which he responds that is always the case, and reminds her he didn’t sign on to help with run of the mill drug lords.
Lizzie attempts to guilt him into helping by telling him that the hundreds of families of Lorca’s victims deserve to know what happened to their loved ones, which prompts RR to ask, “Did you say hundreds?” Lizzie responds that no bodies were ever recovered, they never got to say goodbye, etc.., and, again, RR mentions that there are hundreds of people and not one has ever been found? Lizzie asks what he’s thinking and he responds that she should go home, her witness is most likely dead and that he’s pretty sure she knows this already.
Meanwhile, Dexter… er… I mean… creepy dude from the beginning is unzipping a body bag containing Mr. Pena, Lizzie’s witness. He takes a picture of him, puts on gas mask, drags him to the bathtub and pours some chemical into the tub.
Meanwhile at La Casa de Keen, Lizzie is looking through the Lorca file, shuts it in frustration and moves on to something much less upsetting - the bullet’s ballistics report & piece of paper she wrote down the name & date that were on the evidence box from earlier. She seems to be quite carefree when it comes to little details surrounding the mystery of her husband, with him being in the next room and all. But this doesn’t stop her from doing a Google search of “Angel Station” just as, of course, Tom comes into the kitchen asking how she’s holding up. While they’re talking, she manages to cross out “Angel Station” on the piece of paper. Lizzie responds that she’s fine, and Tom tells her he always knows when she’s lying, walks up to the table and says “What’s this?” about the piece of paper with now only the legible June 23, 2012 date on it. She “uhhhh’s” for a second and he continues “I mean…besides the best date ever….right?”
Even though it’s clear she’s not sure what he’s referring to, she agrees with him, and as he walks around the table to put his arm around her saying it makes sense that after such a bad day she’d want to come home and feel better by remembering better times, and at the same time she’s clicking on her laptop to a file named June 23, 2012, which contains pics of the two of them. Lizzie recalls that they were in Boston that weekend and that Tom had a job interview! She seems a bit relieved that they were together and in Boston on this date, like maybe this exonerates him from whatever heinous crime we will find out about at some point when her phone starts vibrating, so Tom grabs his coffee to return to the bedroom. He stops briefly and says that she’s an open book, and that it’s one of the things he loves about her is that he always knows what she’s thinking. Oooooo…. Hinty McHinterson, writers?
Her phone call informed her that they found out where they took Pena, and the next scene is her and Ressler at the Creepy Dude hotel that Dexter was at. A witness had seen a white van leaving courthouse, and that same white van was abandoned 10 blocks away, camera footage caught the license plates, and they were led to the hotel. The desk clerk told them she saw a large black duffel bag and I’m confused as to how the abandoned van led them to the hotel by running plates but……..ok…..
Malik comes out and says there was no sign of Pena. Forensics was going through the room but so far only found a hair & it didn’t appear to be human, and that the hotel clerk also confirmed there was a dog with Dexter. Malik said it appeared as though some sort of plastic sheeting was used, after all it was a HOTEL ROOM, there should be prints and whatnot all over the place but there was nothing.
As Keen enters the hotel room, she receives a phonecall from “Nick’s Pizza”, which - of course is RR who tells her he’s been thinking about her case, asking what they have so far. She tells him she’s at the crime scene and they don’t have much, so he asks if there’s tape residue on the walls which she confirms. He instructs her to look in the tub and run her fingers around the drain… then asks what she smells, to which she tells him she smelled chemicals. He pontificates that now he’s interested.
Back at the FBI offices, RR has returned from Haiti and is telling them “The Stewmaker” is a TRUE Blacklister. He says he’s the only fellow to engage when one has a particular disposal problem and that he’s a chemical expert who turns his victims into chemical stew, hence the name. He leaves nothing behind, no DNA, nothing.
But, RR continues, it’s much more than his proficiency that gets him on the list, he’s also a trophy collector, rememberances of his victims…. he tells Lizzie that they’ve lost their witness and the case but that The Stewmaker is the key to so much more. He says he’s served the needs of international syndicates, repressive regimes, anyone with a need and the means to pay. The Stewmaker knows where all the bodies are, he’s got the answers to hundreds of unsolved murders. He’s notoriously cautious, RR doesn’t even know who he is or where he bases his operation. He adds that he himself has even tried to find him to no avail. Lizzie realizes that Lorca must know something…if not his name he knows how to make contact. RR agrees and they pull Lorca in for questioning.
In the Interrogation Room Malik, Lizzie, Lorca and Lorca’s attorney are all present and Malik tells him they know about The Stewmaker. Lorca’s attorney says his client has no idea what she’s talking about and Malik counters that if he cooperates they can discuss a plea agreement, to which Lorca says THEY were responsible for Pena’s safety and that they have probably offered many others protection in exchange for info & testimony.
He then looks at Lizzie, tells her that Pena’s death is on them and that he had nothing to do with it. Lizzie turns off the camera, and the attorney closes his case file, assuming they’re done, when Malik says the government is dropping this case. She then adds that Homeland Security suspects Lorca of money laundering, to which his attorney responded that that was ridiculous and asked why would they think such a thing, to which Lizzie responds, “Because we told them he was.” HA!! Take THAT Lorca.
Malik continues that Homeland Security will stick him in a hole somewhere (good ol’ NDAA) while they investigate which, you know, could take quite a bit of time, or he could just give them The Stewmaker and they’ll set him up nicely. Lorca responds that he doesn’t think they understand who they’re dealing with and that The Stewmaker is much more dangerous than their agents, closing with the fact that he’d rather take his chances with Homeland (someone call Claire Danes, stat.)
Since he refused to help them, Lizzie is next seen escorting Lorca in prison garb and chains, to a helicopter and tells him that once she hands him over to Homeland, she can’t help him anymore. He pontificates that she thinks she KNOWS him, can profile him, when really she has NO idea… and just as she says this BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! Someone shoots a rocket from a launcher on a nearby building into the helicopter sending Lizzie and Lorca flying back and hitting the ground, hard. A vehicle pulls up shooting, Ressler takes cover, mayhem ensues and Lizzie hit her head against the ground hard enough that she’s disoriented, but sees someone grabbing Lorca, only to then have a bag thrown over her head and they throw her, too, into a black van & take off.
HOLY SHIT THIS SHOW ROCKS.
Back at the FBI Offices, Ressler, Cooper, and RR are watching the surveillance footage from the airport and Ressler tries to get tough with RR threatening that if he had anything to do with this so help him….. ..but Cooper interjects about why Lorca would kidnap Agent Keen, what’s his play here? RR informs them that he has a contract with Lorca to personally deliver a new identity. Ressler tells RR that’s never gonna happen and RR points out that their witness is dead, they lost Lorca, and that Lorca took Agent Keen.
Cooper wants time to set up a sting, to which RR points out that (FUCKING DUH) Lorca’s been evading capture for years & will be more on guard than ever, and that any change in plans and they’ll lose him. RR insists on meeting Lorca alone, but Ressler says with an FBI agent’s life at risk, there’s no bargaining here. He insists on going with RR, so RR makes it clear that he takes no responsibility for Ressler’s safety and that the FBI backs off, meaning no surveillance, no wires, or they can find what’s left of Keen themselves.
In the following scene, Ressler & RR are in the car and RR tells Ressler that he’s just going to have to trust him or Lorca’s going to walk. Of course, Ressler bites back that he will never trust RR… know why? In Reddington’s words, “Because after tracking me for years you’ve come up with one undeniable truth. I only do what’s good for me, and that is a person you can trust on.” BAM!! You just got verbally served Ress.
They arrive at Lorca’s location, a bar/restaurant, both get searched, are led through the kitchen to a back room where Lorca and a couple friends are dining. When RR and Ressler walk in, RR says “Mr. Lorca, I’m Raymond Reddington” and Lorca says he wasn’t expecting 2 people, to which RR tells him, quite frankly, “Oh this is Special Agent Donald Ressler of the FBI” and before Ressler (or anyone) has a chance to say anything, Ressler is hit from behind by a guy with a gun. He falls to his knees and Lorca says “Must be open season on the FBI, I like it.”
In Spanish Lorca tells his men to be ready to cut off Ressler’s head, and then asks Ressler why he shouldn’t and in one fell swoop Ressler does a cool flip move on the dude that was holding him, stands up and tells Lorca that he’s the one providing a new ID that will get him past any checks, passports etc.., he concludes that he’s not the guy Lorca KILLS, he’s the guy Lorca PAYS.
Once this lie is confirmed by RR (with a huge smile on his face) RR shows Lorca his new identity and says he’s arranged for transport to Venezuela but that he has to wait 12 hours, which of course Lorca dislikes very much. RR explains that he can’t leave immediately, that it would be bad for business and Lorca’s made a mess, abducting an FBI agent and says “I presume she’s dead?” To which Lorca says he doesn’t know.
Ressler chimes in that RRs right, the FBI has every surveillance camera, every resource looking for him. RR tells him to just sit tight and let him take care of his mess, and asks where the man is who’s holding the agent. Lorca wonders aloud if RR has a problem with him disposing of this bitch (his words, not mine!) and adds that Keen will soon disappear, the price for taking everything he has.
RR then demands the name/location of the man holding Keen, again is met with denial of such knowledge so RR calls his bluff by telling him “Good luck then!” Grabbing the case containing Lorca’s new identity and pretending to start to leave when Lorca says he has a contact.
At the FBI office next day, Cooper’s on phone with Ressler and Malik who are driving, Ressler said Lorca’s contact led them to a maibox rental place and that the name was an alias, a “Bill Conners.” They found his drivers license at the DMV and matched his fingerprints to chemical purchases in Maryland. The Stewmaker’s name is actually Stanley R. Cornish, and he runs a dental practice in Maryland. They are on their way to Maryland to check it out.
Meanwhile, RR is looking at the evidence board at the slip of paper regarding the K9 hair found at the hotel, he takes the paper and tells his security person it was time to go.
Next, from 1st person view we are driving a car, on a long road, then a dirt road, then thru a forrested type area, and we know we are in the middle of nowhere. The Stewmaker arrives, gets out and opens trunk where Lizzie’s tied up & blindfolded. As he’s walking her up the dirt driveway she’s telling him her name and that she’s a person and she has a husband, she says she wants him to know who she is.
Meanwhile, RR (also headed to Maryland) is in the backseat of a vehicle with the asian security chick that was on his list of approved security…
..when he asks the black security guy driving to please dial the Maryland State Office of Animal Control (which - the dude has on his SPEED DIAL apparently?) RR tells Animal Control that he’s Cornish, he’s lost his dog, and the cell phone with tracking code, and tells them that he needs the code and for them to reboot the application for THIS mobile device. He adds that the dog is an emotional support dog, and asks that they hurry because his heart is pounding and he’s having trouble breathing.
Cut back to The Stewmaker’s house, he’s got a creepy record playing and Lizzie’s in a wheelchair, still blindfolded. She keeps trying to get to know him (and him, her) on a personal level, either trying to buy time, or get him to change his mind about killer her, but whatever her motivation is behind her tactics, he’s cool as a cucumber and isn’t stopping his plans.
We then witness Ressler, Malik and other agents storming a house to an unsuspecting woman & child. They confirm the woman is Stanley Cornish’s wife and she doesn’t know where he is.
Back at The Stewmaker’s house, we learn he’s a father and has an 11 year old son. He asks Lizzie if she’s a mother, and she tells him she’s not. When he responds, “That’s good.” as viewers we can see just how scared she is. While all this conversation is going on, he is continuously moving about, getting everything ready, preparing tools, etc.., and then he tells her he was asked to make her suffer. He apologizes and says it’s his job, to which Lizzie responds that it’s her job to read people and he’s not a killer.
He informs her that there’s a nerve cluster just underneath the shoulder, and that the pain should be quite intense as he walks behind her with some sort of pointy medical tool. She’s crying and as the scene closes he’s inserting it into her shoulder!
Ressler and Malik find out from the wife that her husband is a dentist and would never do anything wrong. He asks the wife if she knows where he might be and she informs them of a cabin farther north, in the middle of nowhere, the roads don’t even have names, hell some of them are just dirt roads for God’s sake. Ressler orders a chopper and a team of people who know the area that their summer home is located.
Meanwhile, as RR and his security people are getting close, RR tells them to go to a store to get meat (for The Stewmaker’s dog, I assume).
Back at La Casa de Stewmaker, Lizzie asks him how the whole thing works, how he makes them disappear so perfectly. When he turns around he’s seemingly naked and has sores all over his chest/stomach/arms. He responds “It is perfect isn’t it? walks over and injects her with what turns out to be a sedative that will eventually cause paralysis but will maintain her sensitivity to pain. He wheels her over to a sink and after being asked why he’s doing this when he doesn’t take life, he cleans up death he tells her that everything changes, everything evolves and that this is HIS evolution. She tells him that she thinks idea of him vanishing people to aid nature is a lie, but actually he’s trying to solve something else, his past maybe? Whatever horrible thing that twisted him up inside, and just after saying this, she’s freed herself from the plastic ties, stands up and hits him, then stumbles outside… into the wooded area.
The FBI has a huge team assembled now to comb the area and Lizzie rolls down a hill and crawls behind a tree to hide.
She peeks around the tree and BAM! There’s his dog barking at her. The Stewmaker walks up, punches her knocking her out and drags her back to the house by her arm. He puts her back in the wheelchair, takes gas mask off, and takes her picture. Just before she passes out she tells him she was wrong about him, he’s not perfect and just as she loses consciousness, The Stewmaker turns around to a swift REDDINGTON PUNCH to the face knocking HIM out while the camera pans over to the dog, who’s feasting on a big chunk of meat.
RR carefully places Lizzie’s feet on the wheelchair holsters, she’s looking at him (barely) and he assures her that she’s going to be OK, the affects will wear off shortly, pats her on the head and wheels her into the next room. He turns back towards a now-conscious again Stewmaker and says "OK - are we ready to get started?”
He tells the story of a farmer, that, in all honesty I got so lost in Spader in this moment because the way he delivers the monologue is breathtaking, that the details of his farming analogy are irrelevant. At the end, it’s clear that RR is about to kill The Stewmaker when Lizzie chimes in “No, Red, he couldn’t help it.” RR isn’t buying it, and flips The Stewmaker into his own chemical concoction, and even though Lizzie didn’t witness it being in the next room and all, you can see on her face that she’s mortified. RR comes into the room she’s in and puts his hands behind his head as the FBI comes in. Ressler asks where Cornish is and RR says they’ve had a little incident and that Agent Keen needs medical attention.
RR walks over to shelving unit and grabs a photo book full of the people The Stewmaker has turned into stew. He pages thru it and removes one of the pictures. It’s not Keen as its in the middle of the book.
Ressler assists Keen out of the house and she turns to him and hugs him, sobbing.
While sitting on the edge of an ambulance, RR gives her the book of photos so that she can give peace of mind to the families, and she tells him that he is no better than The Stewmaker, and follows that up with calling him a monster, to which he agrees and she asks him how he can live with that? RR responds with a simple, “By saving your life.”
The ambulance doors close and pull away, leaving RR and Ressler. RR tells Ressler that he gave Lizzie the book of pictures, which should help put Lorca or many of his kind away, when Ressler informs him that Lorca got away. RR pontificates that that’s the cost of doing business, but Ressler counters that RR wasn’t just going to let him get away, that Lorca was offensive and RR didn’t like that. RR responds, “He IS on my jet…”
Back in DC we witness RR on a bridge, pulling out the picture of the mystery woman (see below) while back at Lizzie’s apartment she’s sitting on side of tub when Tom comes in with yet another “things have been…weird…between us lately” speech and tells her that he thinks they could really use getting out of town for a few days. He tells her he booked them a 3-day trip at the same place they went in 2012, and he pulled out the little pamphlet about the trip. They kiss, and then she opens the pamphlet, the inside of which contains a description for “Angel Station Hotel” and thus ends episode 4, adding another however many questions to this puzzle of a show.
Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for this week’s “KIck Ass Reddington Quotes” - - there’s some real GEMS from this episode!!
(Mystery woman’s picture:)
Have a tutti fuckin frutti day,
-BZ
Excellent observation ¬_¬
I am not the least bit afraid to admit how much I love James Spader. Or this show.
-BZ
By: Baby Z
Words cannot describe how glad I am that I added this show to my list. James Spader = brilliance. Recap for the first episode which aired on Monday night on NBC will be up by the weekend.
WATCH THIS SHOW!!!!! Trust me.
-BZ