Dr. Linus Creel

Last updated

"Dr. Linus Creel"
The Blacklist episode
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 4
Directed by Michael Watkins
Written by Mike Ostrowski
Production code204
Original air dateOctober 13, 2014 (2014-10-13)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
 Previous
"Dr. James Covington"
Next 
"The Front"
The Blacklist season 2
List of episodes

"Dr. Linus Creel" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist . The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on October 13, 2014.

Contents

Plot

Reddington asks Naomi for information about Jennifer and makes preparations to relocate Naomi and her husband, Frank. After being rebuffed by Naomi, Reddington uses his double agent Mr. Vargas to steal a dog from Frank's mistress, and blackmails Frank into starting his life over with Naomi. Meanwhile, the Task Force is directed by Reddington into investigating a bank shooting in Reston. During the spike of apparent "random violent crimes", all of the listed suspects were civilians with no prior criminal records, having been manipulated to violently act out at their breaking point. Cooper directs the Task Force into investigating black operations budgets funding mind control projects. Utilizing a codebreaker suggested by Samar, Reddington and Liz bring a heavily redacted report given by Senator Sheridan for decoding. The decoding of the documents leads the Task Force into identifying social psychologist Dr. Linus Creel (David Costabile). Creel had been engineering the violent acts in order to publish his research regarding genetic screening, going far enough to martyr himself. The Task Force apprehends a college student attempting to kill Creel, only for Liz to be held hostage by Creel. During the stand-off, a sniper in Reddington's employment kills Creel, having been revealed as Liz's motel neighbor in the previous episode. Liz heads to the remote cabin where Naomi is staying and attempts to question her about her past with Reddington to no avail. It also becomes clear Naomi knows the connection between Liz and Reddington. Before leaving, Naomi reveals privately to Reddington that Jennifer left on her own accord. The episode ends in what appears to be an old warehouse with Liz contemplating a locked door with a ring of keys in her hand.

Reception

Ratings

"Dr. Linus Creel" premiered on NBC on October 13, 2014, in the 10–11 p.m. time slot. [1] The episode garnered a 2.8/8 Nielsen rating with 9.76 million viewers, making it the highest-rated show in its timeslot [2] and the fourteenth highest-rated television show of the week. [3]

Reviews

Jodi Walker of Entertainment Weekly gave a mixed review of the episode: "Tonight was a well-made and well-placed, if not totally frustrating, episode of The Blacklist. It raises 1,000 questions, sure; it doesn't answer any, alright, yes; and no one is really trying to deal with that cliffhanger of an ending, absolutely not". [4]

Ross Bonaime of Paste gave the episode a 7.9/10. [5] He wrote: "Already this second season has been a huge step above the first season. The characters have had some nice depth added to them, the weekly stories are much more fun (even if they are quite ridiculous), and the overall story feels like it's evolving—maybe at a glacial pace, but moving nonetheless. The Blacklist is at a high point; the biggest mistake it could make right now is to devolve back to the type of show it was before". [5]

Related Research Articles

The Blacklist is an American crime thriller television series created by Jon Bokenkamp and developed by John Eisendrath. It stars James Spader as Raymond Reddington, an international criminal and one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives who cooperates with the FBI in hunting down other criminals on his "Blacklist". The series also stars Megan Boone, Diego Klattenhoff, Ryan Eggold, Amir Arison, Hisham Tawfiq, and Harry Lennix.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 1 Season of television series

The first season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. The season was produced by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television, and Sony Pictures Television, and the executive producers are Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, and Joe Carnahan.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 2 Season of television series

The second season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on September 22, 2014, and concluded on May 14, 2015, and ran for 22 episodes. The season was produced by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television, and Sony Pictures Television, and the executive producers are Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, and Joe Carnahan.

"Luther Braxton" is the ninth episode of the second season of American crime drama The Blacklist, which aired on February 1, 2015 after NBC concluded coverage of Super Bowl XLIX. It is the first part of a two-part episode which concluded on February 5, 2015.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 3 Season of television series

The third season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on October 1, 2015 and concluded on May 19, 2016. The season consisted of 23 episodes. The season was produced by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television, and Sony Pictures Television, and the executive producers were Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, and Joe Carnahan.

"The Courier" is the fifth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on October 21, 2013.

"Frederick Barnes" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on November 4, 2013.

"Anslo Garrick Conclusion" is the tenth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on December 2, 2013.

"The Good Samaritan" is the eleventh episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on January 13, 2014.

"Ivan" is the seventeenth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on March 24, 2014.

"Milton Bobbit" is the eighteenth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on March 31, 2014.

"The Pavlovich Brothers" is the nineteenth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on April 21, 2014.

"The Kingmaker" is the twentieth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on April 28, 2014.

"Lord Baltimore" is the first episode of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on September 22, 2014.

"Dr. James Covington" is the third episode of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on October 6, 2014.

"The Front" is the fifth episode of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on October 20, 2014.

"Tom Connolly" is the twenty-second episode and season finale of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on May 14, 2015.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 4 Season of television series

The fourth season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on September 22, 2016. The season was produced by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television and Sony Pictures Television, and the executive producers are Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, and Joe Carnahan. The season contained 22 episodes and concluded on May 18, 2017.

The sixth season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on Thursday, January 3, 2019 at 10:00 PM, followed by its time slot premiere on Friday, January 4 at 9:00 PM. The season contained 22 episodes and concluded on May 17 the same year. Early episode reviews noted that the sixth season was more serialized than previous ones, focusing more on the stories of its main characters and the emotional fallout of recent events.

The seventh season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on Friday, October 4, 2019 at 8.00 p.m. The season was originally set to contain 22 episodes. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the show to shut down production; the season was cut to 19 episodes, with the season finale containing some animated sections to complete the episode.

References

  1. "Episode Title: (#204) "DR. LINUS CREEL"". The Futon Critic. October 13, 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  2. Bibel, Sara (October 14, 2014). "Monday Final Ratings: 'The Voice' & 'Dancing With the Stars' Adjusted Up; 'The Big Bang Theory' & 'Castle' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers . Tribune Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on October 15, 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  3. Kondology, Amanda (October 21, 2014). "TV Ratings Broadcast Top 25: 'Sunday Night Football' Tops Week 4 With Adults 18-49 & With Total Viewers". TV by the Numbers . Tribune Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on October 23, 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  4. Walker, Jodi (October 14, 2014). "The Blacklist recap: 'Dr. Linus Creel'". Entertainment Weekly . Time Inc. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Bonaime, Ross (October 14, 2014). "The Blacklist Review: "Dr. Linus Creel"". Paste . Paste Media Group . Retrieved June 6, 2015.