The Blacklist Episodes 3-4 Recaps: Wujing and The Stewmaker

With four episodes in, how are you feeling about "The Blacklist"? I'm still not sure. I didn't really like episode 3 but episode 4 was my most favorite to date. James Spader continues to chew up as much scenery as possible. Agent Keen is finally starting to grow on me (just a little) after her run-in with "The Stewmaker".  

The Stewmaker (ie Stanley Cornish) is a chemist who is hired by various criminals to torture people and make bodies disappear. He collects photos and other trophies from his victims. Red is able to find Stew Man by calling the company that tracks pet ID chips (he takes his dog with him everywhere). That was smart. I didn't see that coming.

Stew tortures Keen, she escapes into the woods but his doggie finds her. The whole episode wrapped up quickly after that. Red saves her and pushes Stew into his own vat of nasty chemicals.

I now understand one of the things that bothers me about this show. This could have been an excellent episode if more time would have been spent on fleshing out the main character's history and extended time between he and Liz. I also enjoyed his first scene when he was preparing (shaving, putting plastic up in the room, etc). More of that and less of everything else please.

At the end of the episode, Liz calls Red a monster and asks how he can live with himself. He says by saving her life. How many times are they going to let Red get away with killing someone though? And whose picture did he remove from the Stewmaker's photo album.

And do we care what's up with Tom? I think he's just there to handle and spy on her (similar to the "Orphan Black" setup). Is Red Liz's biological father? It seems too obvious at this point so I'm not sure.

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Episode 3 "Wujing" (Number 84):
From Wikipedia: Wujing (Chin Han), a high-profile Chinese criminal, has a CIA agent in Shanghai killed to intercept a message, only to fail in decrypting it. Wujing calls Red for help. He appoints Elizabeth to go undercover as a master decrypter with him to uncover the nature of the message, to under a radio station in American where Wujing is forting. With help from a CIA provided device, Elizabeth decrypts the message of Wujing's next target, Henry Cho, an architect and CIA asset currently located in D.C. As Red and Elizabeth join Wujing's gang to escape from the FBI, Ressler and Malik race to save Cho and his son from Wujing's assassins. Elizabeth manages to plant her tracker on Wujing's car, leading to his arrest. Red also answers Elizabeth's question on why he chose her: because of her father. Meanwhile, Elizabeth requests a ballistics report on the gun from Tom's box. The results are classified as it was involved with a high-profile homicide, and all future usage of intelligence resources by Elizabeth is flagged for review by her boss. An unknown party sets up surveillance in Elizabeth's house, monitoring audio/video feeds from across the street. 


Episode 4 "The Stewmaker" (Number 161):
From Wikipedia: While continuing her investigation into the truth about Tom, Liz testifies against drug lord Hector Lorca (Clinton Collins Jr). Later, another witness is abducted when he is forced to testify against the dangerous drug trafficker. Red's interest is piqued and he informs the team that the witness may have been taken by "The Stewmaker" (Tom Noonan), a man responsible for hundreds of missing and presumed dead individuals. Meanwhile, in an unlikely twist of events resulting Liz's capture, Red and Ressler must work together for the first time. Red saves Liz from The Stewmaker by killing the latter, while stealing a photo from a picture album. While recovering from her ordeal, Tom surprises Liz with a vacation trip, which she realizes is the location of her investigation. 

Grade: 3 1/2 Monsters (out of 5)., I gave episode 3 a "3" and episode 4 a "4" so that averages out to 3.5. I could still take it or leave it. Not sure if I will continue reviewing the show or not.



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