| The Blacklist | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
 Season 1 DVD cover | |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 23, 2013 – May 12, 2014 |
| Season chronology | |
The first season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. [1] 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 first season introduces Raymond Reddington (James Spader), Elizabeth "Liz" Keen (Megan Boone) and the members of the Task Force, a multi-agency law enforcement working group dedicated to hunting down Reddington. Reddington surrenders to the FBI and offers to identify and help capture the criminals he has worked with, whom he calls "The Blacklist", but only if he is allowed to work with Liz Keen, a rookie profiler at the FBI. He refuses to explain why Liz must be involved. The Reddington Task Force, led by Assistant Director Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix), becomes the lead law enforcement agency responsible for capturing or killing the members of the Blacklist at Reddington's behest (usually to Red's benefit), which causes conflicts, particularly for Special Agent Donald Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff), who was originally tasked with capturing Reddington. This is the only season for Meera Malik (Parminder Nagra), a CIA officer and member of the Task Force, who is killed in the season finale. The season also introduces series antagonist Milos Kirchoff (Peter Stormare), AKA Berlin, a former Russian KGB officer with a longstanding hatred of Reddington. A major subplot for the season is Elizabeth Keen's discovery that her husband Tom Keen (Ryan Eggold), a schoolteacher to all appearances, is actually a covert operative with an unknown agenda and Liz's efforts to discover who he actually is and who sent him. A second subplot involves the Cabal, a shadowy multinational group that holds positions of influence in government and business, and their interest in Reddington's activities. The Cabal is usually represented by Alan Fitch (Alan Alda), the Deputy Director of National Intelligence, who tries to maintain a civil relationship with Reddington despite the Cabal's misgivings while trying to determine what Reddington actually knows.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Blacklist guide | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | US viewers (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Pilot" | N/A | Joe Carnahan | Jon Bokenkamp | September 23, 2013 | 12.58 [1] | |
Wanted fugitive Raymond "Red" Reddington surrenders himself to the FBI at the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C. He offers Assistant Harold Cooper and Special Agent Donald Ressler information on Serbian terrorist Ranko Zamani, who plans on abducting a General's daughter. To catch Zamani, Cooper acquieses to Red's demand on speaking only to Elizabeth "Liz" Keen, a newly hired profiler. Liz gets to the girl first but loses her in an ambush by Zamani's forces. Zamani also attacks her husband, Tom, in their home, gravely wounding him. Red escapes custody to meet with Zamani, revealing that unbeknownst to the FBI, he masterminded the ploy, as well as the attack on Tom. Red places his tracking device on Zamani, which helps the FBI track down and kill Zamani. Liz finds the daughter with a bomb in her backpack, which is disarmed by an associate of Red's. He later offers to continue providing the FBI information on a number of the world's most elusive criminals who are on his "blacklist", in exchange for immunity from prosecution. At home, Liz discovers a hidden box of cash, passports, and a gun, all seemingly belonging to her husband. She confronts Red in his cell and he inquires about her discovery. | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | "The Freelancer" | No. 145 | Jace Alexander | Jon Bokenkamp | September 30, 2013 | 11.35 [2] | |
Red alerts the FBI about a location and time where an unknown terrorist action will occur. A train derailment occurs at the site, which Red believes to be the work of an assassin known as "The Freelancer", a brutally merciless killer whose assasinations have left thousands of dead as collateral damage. Red and Liz learn of the Freelancer's next target: Floriana Campo, a humanitarian working to end sex slavery by cartel gangs. The two attend one of Campo's charity events where Red identifies the Freelancer, whom Liz apprehends. The Freelancer confesses that he was hired by Red to poison Campo, who is revealed to be running a sex slavery ring herself and has been using the charity to deflect suspicion and eliminate competition. Meanwhile, as part of Red's immunity agreement, CIA Agent Meera Malik is assigned to his security detail, which also includes Red's underlings Dembe and Luli. Tom is released from the hospital, and Liz places the box back under the floorboards where she found it. She later views a recording of Tom speaking of his love for her during an adoption hearing. | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Wujing" | No. 84 | Michael Watkins | Lukas Reiter | October 7, 2013 | 11.18 [3] | |
Chinese spy Wujing asks Red for his help in decrypting a message retrieved from a murdered CIA agent in Shanghai. To prevent the deaths of more agents, Red appoints Liz to go undercover as a code breaker in his employ, and they arrive at Wujing's underground base in the States. With help from a CIA-provided device, Liz decrypts the message and both parties learn of Wujing's next target, Washington-based architect and CIA asset Henry Cho. Liz frames one of Wujing's men for the leak and Red executes him to prevent their exposure. As Red and Liz accompany Wujing's gang in escaping from the FBI, Ressler and Malik race to save Cho and his son from Wujing's assassins. Liz plants her tracker on Wujing's car, leading to his arrest. Red reveals to Liz that he chose her to work with him because of her father, but supplies no further details. Meanwhile, Liz requests a ballistics report on the gun from Tom's box. The results are classified as it was involved with a high-profile homicide, alerting both Resssler and Cooper. An unknown party sets up surveillance on Liz's house. Red opens the letter containing Wujing's payment, which is just a sheet of paper with the number 042983 on it. | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | "The Stewmaker" | No. 161 | Vince Misiano | Patrick Massett & John Zinman | October 14, 2013 | 10.93 [4] | |
The trial of drug lord Hector Lorca, who Liz previously arrested, is interrupted when a vital witness is kidnapped. Red believes the witness was taken to "The Stewmaker", a chemical expert who uses chemicals to dissolve his victims and is responsible for countless disappearances. Liz appeals to Lorca to help capture the Stewmaker, only to become the Stewmaker's captive. Red and Ressler are forced to work together to save her, with Ressler posing as an inside man for Red at the FBI when they meet with Lorca to exchange passage for Lorca out of the country in return for Lorca's contact information for the Stewmaker, whose real name is Stanley Kornish. Meanwhile, Liz is being tortured by Kornish by Lorca's demand. Red finds Kornish's hideout, saves Liz, and kills Kornish by pushing him into the chemical bath Kornish had prepared for Liz. Red also steals a photograph from the picture album containing all Kornish's victims. Liz discovers that the homicide perpetrated with her husband's hidden weapon occurred in Boston while she was there with Tom, who said he had a job interview at the hotel where the murder occurred. | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | "The Courier" | No. 85 | Nick Gomez | John C. Kelley | October 21, 2013 | 10.44 [5] | |
Running into a roadblock in her investigation into Tom, Liz is given a case by Red involving a criminal courier who is scheduled to deliver a valuable shipment to an Iranian spy. Following a car chase, Liz and Malik manage to arrest the Courier and they learn he was hired to deliver Seth Nelson, an NSA analyst. Nelson is entombed and only has a limited amount of air left. While the FBI searches for him, the Courier escapes. Red coerces the courier's contact, intelligence broker Laurence Dechambou, to help find him, and with that information Malik and Ressler eventually track the Courier and then kill him in self-defense. Liz and Red, meanwhile, find and save Seth. As an act of gratitude, Seth gives Red documents regarding the high-profile murder Liz suspects Tom was involved in, and Red sends them to her. At the same time at home, Tom discovers the box and confronts Liz about it as the men watching their home listen. | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Gina Zanetakos" | No. 152 | Adam Arkin | Wendy West | October 28, 2013 | 10.51 [6] | |
After Liz confronts him about the Boston murder, where the victim was a defecting Russian agent, Tom claims he is innocent and insists that they turn it in to the FBI so his name can be cleared. While Malik interrogates Tom, Red informs Liz that the next name on the Blacklist is a beautiful and deadly corporate terrorist, Gina Zanetakos, who he claims is Tom's lover. They uncover a plot by Zanetakos to set off a dirty bomb at the Port of Houston on behalf of a company who seeks to profit from the redirected shipping. Liz and Ressler locate the bomb and Ressler drives it into the water, containing the radiation. Soonafter, Liz realizes there is more than meets the eye when she discovers the passports containing Tom's face are forged, and he's possibly been set up. When Zanetakos says Red was behind the Boston incident, and Zanetakos has never seen Tom before, Liz angrily confronts Red for having seemingly set Tom up. After Tom is released, he and Liz return home. The men watching them say to one another that while they don't know whether Tom is innocent or not, they are "sure he doesn't work for Reddington". | ||||||||
| 7 | 7 | "Frederick Barnes" | No. 47 | Michael Watkins | J. R. Orci | November 4, 2013 | 10.34 [7] | |
After a chemical attack occurs on a subway, Liz reluctantly seeks Red's help in finding the next person on the blacklist, a brilliant scientist named Dr. Frederick Barnes. Barnes has weaponized a rare, but deadly disease both in order to spread it so that the pharmaceutical industry would find it significant enough to fund its research and so that he could find someone who is naturally immune, in order to produce an antidote for his son. Barnes succeeds in producing a potential antidote, but Liz kills him before he can inject the untested and potentially harmful cure into his son. Liz tells Red that while she is willing to work with him on the Blacklist, she wants nothing to do with Red outside of work and asks him to stop intruding into her personal life. Menanwhile, Red shows great interest in a house which is for sale. He buys it, tells his bodyguards that he raised his family in it, and in order to "forget what happened here", he blows it up. | ||||||||
| 8 | 8 | "General Ludd" | No. 109 | Stephen Surjik | Amanda Kate Shuman | November 11, 2013 | 10.69 [8] | |
The Task Force uncovers an elaborate plot to destroy the country's financial system when a new name on the blacklist, General Ludd, takes credit for a plane explosion. Red demands access to the FBI's ViCAP database in return for his help. Meanwhile, Tom informs Liz that her adoptive father, Sam, is in the hospital, his lung cancer having returned. All airplanes are grounded because of Ludd's attack, so Liz is unable to fly home to be with Sam. Red visits Sam in the hospital, and the two reminisce as old friends. Red tells Sam that he did a fantastic job raising Liz as his own, and that he will protect her just as he did. Sam tells Red that he wants Liz to know "the truth" before he dies. Red objects, stating that she must never know and then smothers Sam to death to end his suffering. Meanwhile, Ludd, whose real name is Nathaniel Wolff, steals a hard drive containing the blueprints for newly minted U.S. currency. However, Red finds Wolff and steals the hard drive before the FBI arrive and arrest Wolff. Liz finds out that her father has died. Red uses his new access to ViCAP to look up the number the Chinese gave him which is the file on a woman named Lucy Brooks. Red comforts Liz as she mourns her father. | ||||||||
| 9 | 9 | "Anslo Garrick" | No. 16 | Joe Carnahan | Story by : Joe Carnahan & Jason George Teleplay by : Joe Carnahan | November 25, 2013 | 10.96 [9] | |
Anslo Garrick, a terrorist who once worked with Red but was shot and disfigured after betraying him, initiates an attack on the Task Force's "Post Office" headquarters in an effort to assassinate Red. During the raid, Ressler is severely wounded from a shotgun blast to the leg. Red carries him to a bulletproof holding cell and the two remain locked inside, as Red attends to Ressler's wound, saving him with an impromptu blood transfusion. Garrick takes over the facility and captures its personnel except for Liz, who gets stuck in an elevator but frees herself, and technician Aram Mojtabai, who is tasked by Cooper to send a distress signal. The two work their way through the facility, taking out Garrick's men along the way, until one of them knocks Liz unconscious. Garrick requires a code to free Red from the cell and without it, Garrick starts killing people to force Cooper to give it up. After Cooper refuses to give it to Garrick, Red is forced to watch as Garrick kills Luli. He begs Cooper to open the cell in order to spare Dembe but to no avail. Dembe tells Red that he's not afraid to die and that they'll meet again. The two say goodbye to each other by reciting a verse from the Quran as a gunshot is heard. | ||||||||
| 10 | 10 | "Anslo Garrick Conclusion" | No. 16 | Michael Watkins | Lukas Reiter & J. R. Orci | December 2, 2013 | 11.67 [10] | |
Aram shoots Liz's attacker, providing a distraction that saves Dembe. They call in backup, but they are immediately captured afterwards by Garrick. In an effort to save Liz, Red threatens Ressler with a gun into giving up the password, and surrenders to Garrick. As the Post Office is retaking by FBI SWAT, Liz escapes captivity during Garrick's getaway and utilizes a contact Red named prior to her escape, a woman named "Mr. Kaplan", to locate him. A discovery made by Aram leads Liz to the surveillance team stationed in the building across the street from her place. Liz then learns of an unidentified party providing surveillance on everyone in the task force. Menawhile, Red endures torture in Garrick's captivity and is evasive when talking to a former colleague named Fitch, who hired Garrick to capture him. Fitch is displeased about Red's cooperation with the FBI and the threat that it poses to his group's secrecy. After Fitch leaves, Red manages to kill Garrick with a pair of surgical scissors and escapes before an FBI rescue team enters the scene. A hospitalized Ressler is visited by his former fiancee Audrey Bidwell while Red is wanted for capture by the task force. Red makes phone call to Liz, who asks Red if he is her real father, but Red denies it, and gives her another warning about Tom before disappearing. | ||||||||
| 11 | 11 | "The Good Samaritan" | No. 106 | Dan Lerner | Brandon Margolis & Brandon Sonnier | January 13, 2014 | 9.35 [11] | |
Red remains missing and conducts his own investigation to hunt down those who betrayed him during Garrick's attack. The entire FBI team is under investigation as internal affairs tries to find the mole. Aram is initially suspected, but Red is able to prove he was set up. Meanwhile, a serial killer from Liz's past, "The Good Samaritan", strikes again. Liz is allowed to join the hunt for the killer, as Cooper knows Red will likely realize how much this unsolved case means to Liz and reach out to help her. Liz soon discovers the victims are all linked through their abuse of a family member, and that the killer was likely an abuse victim himself. Though she finally kills the Good Samaritan, she gives the man's final near-victim a warning to treat his wife better or she'll make him regret hurting her. Red confronts a financier named Henry Krueger for setting Aram up and shoots him, forcing the wounded Kreuger to give up the name Newton Phillips, who is in fact Red's aide. Red later confronts Phillips for leaking his location to Garrick and kills him via suffocation, with Phillips having only betrayed him out of fear for his family's safety. Red then visits Liz to tell her that Phillips couldn't have pulled the whole thing off by himself and that there's another mole inside the unit. | ||||||||
| 12 | 12 | "The Alchemist" | No. 101 | Vince Misiano | Anthony Sparks | January 20, 2014 | 8.83 [12] | |
Red informs the team that "The Alchemist", a man who relies upon science to alter a person's DNA and their appearance into someone else's, has been contracted to protect a well-known mob informant and his wife. The Alchemist, whose real name is Eric Trettal, fakes the couple's death in a plane crash using two substitutes in their place, but soon kills the real couple afterwards. This causes the Task Force to deduce that Trettal is eliminating anyone connected to him, including his wife and daughter. Liz discovers that Trettal faked their deaths as well and is preparing to flee with them, leading to a showdown at a convenience store that leaves Trettal dead and his daughter wounded. Meanwhile, Liz and Tom find themselves at another bump in their relationship and Ressler debates whether or not he should give his ex-fiancee his blessing to marry another man. Red continues conducting more investigations of his own and discovers the identity of the FBI double agent: Malik. Also, Lucy Brooks, the woman Red was looking for in ViCAP, is shown with files about Liz and Tom, and she infiltrates the Keen's baby shower party, introducing herself as "Jolene Parker", a substitute teacher. She flirts with Tom and, in the end, they visit an art exhibit together because Liz is late home from work. Red pays Malik a visit at her house with a loaded gun to interrogate her, and she admits to being the mole. | ||||||||
| 13 | 13 | "The Cyprus Agency" | No. 64 | Michael Watkins | Lukas Reiter | January 27, 2014 | 10.17 [13] | |
Red brings Liz a case involving the Cyprus Agency, an illegal adoption organisation. More or less coincidentally, Liz and Tom are in the final stages of an adoption of their own which fuels Liz to take down the organization's CEO, Owen Mallory. Ultimately, the task force discovers the Cyprus Agency kidnaps young women and keeps them in captivity as breeders for the babies it puts up for adoption, and that Mallory is the father of all the children. Meanwhile, Malik willingly aids Red in his investigation for the mole. Covertly using Cooper's badge, Malik's intelligence leads Red to Assitant Attorney General Diane Fowler as the ringleader of the leak. Confronting Fowler at gunpoint in her home, she tells him that she knows about what happened to his family, hoping Red will spare her for information. But Red still kills her, responding that he wants to know what happened more than anything in the world, but he'll find someone else who knows. He then calls Mr. Kaplan to clean up. In the end, Liz finds herself unable to adopt a child as long as her marriage to Tom continues to suffer emotional strain. She is shown frustrated at home surrounded by babyshower gifts, while Tom goes to see Jolene. | ||||||||
| 14 | 14 | "Madeline Pratt" | No. 73 | Michael Zinberg | Jim Campolongo | February 24, 2014 | 11.18 [14] | |
Madeline Pratt, a professional theif and ex-lover of Red's, enlists his help in stealing a statue called the Effigy of Ashtart from the Syrian embassy. The statue secretly contains coordinates for Soviet nuclear bombs hidden in America, which has the interest of the Russian mob. Red enlists Liz's aid in the operation, only for the pair to be double-crossed by Pratt. Faking their capture, Red succeeds in getting the location of the Effigy and the coordinates from Pratt. The statue and the codes contained within are secured and one of Pratt's allies is arrested. Pratt is able to free herself and steals a valuable painting from Red in revenge. Meanwhile, Cooper investigates Fowler's disappearance but is effectively stonewalled by Special Agent Walter Gary Martin, who says the orders "came from the top". | ||||||||
| 15 | 15 | "The Judge" | No. 57 | Peter Werner | Jonathan Shapiro & Lukas Reiter | March 3, 2014 | 11.01 [15] | |
When a former Assistant U.S. Attorney is found bedraggled and walking the street after being missing for 12 years, Red suspects he was a victim of "The Judge", a vigilante that runs an underground operation dispensing "eye for an eye" justice against those in the justice system who have wrongly convicted people. Red gets Liz going on the case, then tackles his own agenda in finding out why Brooks has been following him. Brooks, as Jolene, seduces Tom at a teacher conference in Orlando. Liz discovers that the Judge (who is revealed to be a woman named Ruth Kipling), has taken on the case of Alan Ray Rifkin, a Taliban collaborator who is about to be executed for treason. It is discovered that Cooper is the Federal agent who put him away, which he wasonly able to do after beating a confession out of Rifkin under orders from prosecutor Tom Connolly. After Rifkin is executed, Cooper and Connolly become Kipling's captives and Cooper is nearly electrocuted, until Red arrives with proof that Rifkin really did commit the crimes for which he was executed. He pursuades Kipling to release Cooper and surrender. When Cooper suggests Red brought him this case to gain leverage on him, Red replies that "a war is coming", and he may need Cooper's help. Back in Orlando, Tom declines "Jolene's" offer of an affair. "Jolene" then gets Tom to admit that Liz isn't just his wife, but also his target. | ||||||||
| 16 | 16 | "Mako Tanida" | No. 83 | Michael Watkins | Story by : Joe Carnahan Teleplay by : John Eisendrath & Jon Bokenkamp & Patrick Massett & John Zinman | March 17, 2014 | 10.97 [16] | |
Yakuza boss Mako Tanida escapes from Abashiri Prison and kills FBI Special Agent Sam Raimo by forcing him to commit ritual seppuku, claiming revenge for "collateral damage" caused by the FBI when they were after Red. After another FBI agent, Pete McGuire, turns up dead in America, Ressler fears he may be next, as he was part of the team searching for Red back then. He grabs Audrey and attempts to take her somewhere safe, but they are attacked by Tanida. In the ensuing melee, Tanida shoots and kills Audrey. Ressler vows to take out Tanida, despite warnings from Cooper and Red to let other agents take it from here. Collaborating with an old FBI buddy and ex-FBI Special Agent Bobby Jonica, who was also on that task force, Ressler locates Tanida, but later learns that Bobby is the mysterious "Tensei" – the man who took over Tanida's criminal empire while he was in prison; by the time Mako was arrested by the FBI, Bobby murdered Mako's brother, Aiko, and covered his death to use his identity. Ressler attempts coercing Bobby into committing suicide via seppuku before being stopped by Liz, though Bobby ultimately does kill himself. Meanwhile, "Jolene" announces plans to move in next to Tom and Liz, but Tom later meets "Jolene" in a hideout and the two converse about mutual, though possibly conflicting, plans to get to Red in order to provide an unknown entity named "Berlin" with answers. Tom gets "Jolene" to call Liz and provide a cover story on why she has to leave before Tom kills both her and a bounty hunter sicked on her by Red. Later at home, Ressler receives a box containing Tanida's severed head, from Red who meanwhile enjoys a private ballet show of Swan Lake. | ||||||||
| 17 | 17 | "Ivan" | No. 88 | Randy Zisk | J.R. Orci & Amanda Kate Shuman | March 24, 2014 | 10.80 [17] | |
A programmer for the NSA is killed in a supposed car accident, but further inspection reveals that his car was hacked. While investigating the programmer's death, the task force learns that the NSA was working on a prototype device called the "Skeleton Key", capable of hacking into the entire American computer networks infrastructure. Red initially believes an elusive Russian hacker named Ivan is responsible for the theft, but a personal meeting with him has Ivan claiming that someone else has been masquerading as him. Further investigation into Ivan's claims leads the task force to high school student Harrison Lee, who was responsible for the theft of the Skeleton Key. Lee stole the key and is using it as part of his plan to enter a romantic relationship with the daughter of one of the Skeleton Key scientists. Liz manages to convince Lee, who is prepared to kill her and himself by derailing the hijacked train, to surrender himself to the FBI. Meanwhile, Liz investigates the disappearance of Lucy Brooks after being approached by Lucy's former parole officer. She discovers Tom's makeshift headquarters after Aram traces the origin of Lucy's last voice message, but Tom has just torn down and burned all photos of Red and Liz. He pounces at Liz and flees before she could recognize him. During the aftermath of the Skeleton Key crisis, Liz receives a photo of some trash taken in Tom's hideout, in which she sees an educational toy that she had given Tom the morning of the investigation. Finally understanding Red's repeated warnings about Tom and upset by the recent revelation, Liz turns to Red for emotional support. | ||||||||
| 18 | 18 | "Milton Bobbit" | No. 135 | Steven A. Adelson | Daniel Voll | March 31, 2014 | 11.39 [18] | |
A series of seemingly unconnected murder-suicides are attributed by Red to a life insurance claims adjuster named Milton Bobbit, who is able to convince terminally ill people to carry out the acts in exchange for financial rewards for their surviving family members. The targets of the murders are ultimately discovered to be part of a clinical drug trial for type 2 diabetes that caused people to die, and Bobbit himself was left with terminal illness. The team catches up with Bobbit before he himself takes out the next victim: the doctor who headed up the trial. They manage to arrest the doctor and let Bobbit commit suicide. Meanwhile, Tom convinces Liz to renew their vows in a ceremony officiated by his brother Craig. After Red gets DNA results on Tom, he determines that Craig (whose real name is Christopher) is not Tom's brother. Liz traps Christopher in his hotel room and tries to get answers with Red. Tom calls Christopher while Liz, Red and Dembe are in the room, and mentions "Berlin". Red demands to know about Berlin, but a frightened-looking Christopher says he cannot say anything. After Red threatens that he'll find a way to make him talk, Christopher hurls himself through the hotel room's window, falling to his death, after which Tom attempts to convince Liz that "Craig" had to fly home. | ||||||||
| 19 | 19 | "The Pavlovich Brothers" | Nos. 119-122 | Paul Edwards | Elizabeth Benjamin | April 21, 2014 | 11.24 [19] | |
Xiao Ping Li, a scientist involved in a biologic weapons project known as White Fog, is drugged at an immunization center in China and whisked to Washington, D.C. by CIA agents for interrogation. The Pavlovich brothers, who specialize in the abduction of high-value targets (including General Ryker's daughter from the first episode), are hired to bring Li back. Meanwhile, Tom discovers that Liz knows his secret, informs his superiors and flees. While the team tries to locate Li before she is smuggled out of the country, Red makes a deal with the Brothers to abduct and deliver Tom to Liz. She tries to torture Tom into revealing his bosses, but he quickly turns the tables and corners her. After explaining that his job never included hurting her, he claims to be "one of the good guys" and tells Liz that Red isn't at all who he seems to be. Before fleeing, Tom tells Liz about a safe deposit box, the key to which she already found in their lamp. The Task Force kill the Brothers in a shootout and rescue Li. With the Brothers neutralized and Tom in their view, Red instructs Dembe not to capture him again, but rather follow his tail. The next day, Liz opens the deposit box and is shocked when she looks at the photo inside. | ||||||||
| 20 | 20 | "The Kingmaker" | No. 42 | Karen Gaviola | J. R. Orci & Lukas Reiter | April 28, 2014 | 10.85 [20] | |
After a politician and ally of Red's in Prague is framed for a murder, Red suspects it's the work of the Kingmaker, a strategist behind the rise of some of the world's most powerful politicians. Red is told that the recent news of a siege on Red's interests is causing several key people to start distancing themselves from him. Liz views the photos that Tom had led her to, which show Red at the hospital where Sam had died. She confronts Red about it, but he steers her toward the more urgent matter of The Kingmaker being in the U.S. Liz and the team are able to uncover a plot by the Kingmaker to run the car of a freshman New York state assemblyman off a bridge, where he is hailed as a hero for rescueing his daughter while his wife dies. This puts him in the best position to win a special election for a Senate seat, which the Kingmaker vacates by killing the Senator holding it. Ressler and Liz enter the Senator's home, where the Kingmaker attacks Liz and applies a choke hold, before being fatally shot by Ressler. Red meets with Fitch, telling him his businesses are under attack and suggesting it's a mutual problem, one that he proposes they solve by cooperate against their common enemy. Fitch meets with members of his global alliance, then tells Red they have chosen not to ally themselves with him, despite Red's threats to expose them. Liz phones Red to inform him about the Kingmaker. Red says he wants 10 minutes with the man to find out who ordered the Prague incident, but Liz has to tell him that he is dead. Liz then visits Red and inquires about her adoptive father, with Red finally admitting he killed Sam. Liz calls Red a "monster", and says the two of them are done. | ||||||||
| 21 | 21 | "Berlin" | No. 8 | Michael Zinberg | John Eisendrath & Jon Bokenkamp | May 5, 2014 | 10.47 [21] | |
Liz tells Ressler and the FBI, her story about Tom. In the midst of a virus outbreak inside a bank, Liz refuses to work with Red and sends Cooper her resignation, informing him that Red killed her father. Red tries to explain to her that the outbreak is connected to Tom, and asks her to put aside her anger as lives are at risk. Liz agrees to work the case, but declares it her last. Red is certain that the Cullen virus is part of a plan to kill him, as well as being capable of creating a widespread epidemic. Red and Liz meet with Dr. Sanders, an expert on the virus, who is also a mental patient. The conversation gets loony when Sanders speaks of Space Agent UD-4126 and omens of the Cullen virus leading to the apocalypse. Liz storms out, accusing Red of using the visit as a diversion to change her mind about quitting. Meanwhile, Cooper is given an ultimatum by his superiors: if Liz walks, Red no longer has immunity and the task force is no more. Liz learns that Sanders had created an antidote for the virus and the team suspects that he was working with another doctor from outside the mental institution. Liz pays Sanders another visit and, noticing the nurse's ID badge number, identifies UD-4126 as the badge number of Dr. Nikolaus Vogel. Once he's arrested, he refuses to talk to Liz, except with the warning of Berlin's coming. Liz had laced his drinking water with the virus, and uses the antidote to blackmail him into talking. Using Tom's code book—which Red had given to her earlier as an "olive branch", Liz discovers connections among several members of Red's Blacklist, deciphering that Red has been using his relationship with the task force to systematically eliminate his enemies and draw Berlin out of hiding. Vogel gives up the names of 5 people involved in a prison plane transport, all airport employees infected with Cullen. Liz begins to have a change of heart about leaving, but Cooper tells her it's too late. She finds Red and warns him about the FBI's pursuit and his immunity. She begs him to run, but he refuses, wanting to know about her sudden change of heart. Liz goes on to tell Red that despite her wanting to kill him for ruining her life, she also needs answers from him. He tells her that he needs things from her also, and that nothing is worse than losing her. As Red surrenders himself, the prison transport plane flies overhead and crashes. | ||||||||
| 22 | 22 | "Berlin Conclusion" | No. 8 | Michael Watkins | Story by : Richard D'Ovidio Teleplay by : John Eisendrath & Jon Bokenkamp & Lukas Reiter & J. R. Orci | May 12, 2014 | 10.44 [22] | |
It is revealed that some passengers on the plane were killed in the crash, some are in the hospital, and a few are at large. The members of the task force start being targeted. Malik is killed and Cooper is strangled and placed into a coma. A guard that was severely injured in the crash is questioned in the hospital, and tells a story of a man in prison whose enemy sent him parts of his dead daughter, one by one, until he managed to escape. Fitch meets with Red, saying that his organization has finally agreed to join forces with Red against Berlin, and he arranges to give Red his immunity deal back and an opportunity to escape from FBI custody. Red meets with Liz and they continue toto hunt down Berlin. Red encounters a man believed to be Berlin and tortures him for information. Tom ambushes Liz in her car and drags her into the room where Red is with a gun pointed to her head. Red kills "Berlin" and Tom shoots Red in the shoulder, prompting Liz to break free. She and Tom scuffle and he is shot by her. With his dying breath, Tom whispers something to Liz. Red teels Liz that the man he had just tortured and killed was not Berlin, who is instead revealed to be the injured guard the FBI questioned in the hospital. As Cooper recovers under Ressler's watch, Liz and Ressler discover that Berlin escaped his room and is at large. When agents investigate the room where the bodies of Tom and the fake Berlin should be, Tom's body is gone. Liz meets with Red and says that Tom told her that her father is alive. Red assures Liz that her father definitely died in a fire. Berlin walks the streets carrying a pocket watch with the picture of a little girl, with Red concurrently carrying the same picture that he recovered from the Stewmaker. Red is shown removing his shirt to treat his bullet wound, revealing burn scars on his back. | ||||||||
The first season of The Blacklist received strong reviews from television critics. On Metacritic, the season has a score of 74 out of 100 based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [23] The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 82% approval score based on 57 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The consensus reads: "James Spader is riveting as a criminal-turned-informant, and his presence goes a long way toward making this twisty but occasionally implausible crime procedural compelling". [24]
David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle said about the pilot: "You think you know this situation and how it will turn out, but there are surprising, yet entirely credible, twists throughout Monday's episode". [25] Robert Bianco of USA Today said: "The Blacklist is a solid weekly crime show built around a genuine TV star. That's the kind of series the networks have to be able to pull off to survive. And with Spader in command, odds are NBC will". [26] Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter praised both Spader's performance and the procedural elements of the show: "There's an overarching element to the premise as well that makes it intriguing without making it overly complicated". [27]
| No. | Title | Air date | Time slot (EST) | Ratings/Share (18–49) | Viewers (millions) | Viewers Rank (Week) | DVR 18–49 | DVR Viewers (millions) | Total 18–49 | Total Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | September 23, 2013 | Mondays 10:00 pm | 3.8/10 [1] | 12.58 [1] | 11 [28] | 1.7 | 5.696 | 5.5 | 18.279 [29] |
| 2 | "The Freelancer (No. 145)" | September 30, 2013 | 3.3/9 [2] | 11.35 [2] | 15 [30] | 2.2 | 6.504 | 5.5 | 17.858 [31] | |
| 3 | "Wujing (No. 84)" | October 7, 2013 | 3.1/9 [3] | 11.18 [3] | 11 [32] | 1.9 | 5.720 | 5.0 | 16.904 [33] | |
| 4 | "The Stewmaker (No. 161)" | October 14, 2013 | 3.0/8 [4] | 10.93 [4] | 15 [34] | 2.0 | 5.524 | 5.0 | 16.452 [35] | |
| 5 | "The Courier (No. 85)" | October 21, 2013 | 3.0/8 [5] | 10.44 [5] | 19 [36] | 2.0 | 6.204 | 5.0 | 16.641 [37] | |
| 6 | "Gina Zanetakos (No. 152)" | October 28, 2013 | 3.1/8 [6] | 10.51 [6] | 15 [38] | 2.0 | 6.098 | 5.1 | 16.609 [39] | |
| 7 | "Frederick Barnes (No. 47)" | November 4, 2013 | 2.9/8 [7] | 10.34 [7] | 16 [40] | 2.3 | 6.589 | 5.2 | 16.925 [41] | |
| 8 | "General Ludd (No. 109)" | November 11, 2013 | 3.0/8 [8] | 10.69 [8] | 16 [42] | 2.1 | 6.326 | 5.1 | 17.014 [43] | |
| 9 | "Anslo Garrick (No. 16)" | November 25, 2013 | 3.0/8 [9] | 10.96 [9] | 13 [44] | 2.1 | 6.375 | 5.1 | 17.339 [45] | |
| 10 | "Anslo Garrick (No. 16) Conclusion" | December 2, 2013 | 3.2/9 [10] | 11.67 [10] | 9 [46] | 2.0 | 5.856 | 5.2 | 17.540 [47] | |
| 11 | "The Good Samaritan (No. 106)" | January 13, 2014 | 2.5/7 [11] | 9.35 [11] | 15 [48] | 2.0 | 6.060 | 4.5 | 15.407 [49] | |
| 12 | "The Alchemist (No. 101)" | January 20, 2014 | 2.3/6 [12] | 8.83 [12] | 18 [50] | 1.9 | 6.622 | 4.2 | 15.454 [51] | |
| 13 | "The Cyprus Agency (No. 64)" | January 27, 2014 | 2.5/7 [13] | 10.17 [13] | 16 [52] | 2.1 | 6.668 | 4.6 | 16.839 [53] | |
| 14 | "Madeline Pratt (No. 73)" | February 24, 2014 | 3.1/9 [14] | 11.18 [14] | 11 [54] | 1.9 | 6.353 | 5.0 | 17.532 [55] | |
| 15 | "The Judge (No. 57)" | March 3, 2014 | 2.7/8 [15] | 11.01 [15] | 10 [56] | 1.9 | 5.879 | 4.6 | 16.891 [57] | |
| 16 | "Mako Tanida (No. 83)" | March 17, 2014 | 2.7/8 [16] | 10.97 [16] | 7 [58] | 1.9 | 5.911 | 4.6 | 16.880 [59] | |
| 17 | "Ivan (No. 88)" | March 24, 2014 | 2.8/8 [17] | 10.80 [17] | 9 [60] | 2.2 | 6.519 | 5.0 | 17.318 [61] | |
| 18 | "Milton Bobbit (No. 135)" | March 31, 2014 | 2.8/8 [18] | 11.39 [18] | 11 [62] | 2.0 | 5.868 | 4.8 | 17.257 [63] | |
| 19 | "The Pavlovich Brothers (Nos. 119–122)" | April 21, 2014 | 2.8/8 [19] | 11.24 [19] | 4 [64] | 2.1 | 6.510 | 4.9 | 17.753 [65] | |
| 20 | "The Kingmaker (No. 42)" | April 28, 2014 | 2.7/8 [20] | 10.85 [20] | 9 [66] | 1.9 | 5.656 | 4.5 | 16.447 [67] | |
| 21 | "Berlin (No. 8)" | May 5, 2014 | 2.7/8 [21] | 10.47 [21] | 10 [68] | 1.7 | 5.696 | 4.4 | 16.162 [69] | |
| 22 | "Berlin (No. 8) Conclusion" | May 12, 2014 | 2.6/7 [22] | 10.44 [22] | 11 [70] | 2.0 | 5.853 | 4.6 | 16.297 [71] |
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards [72] | Top TV Series | Dave Porter | Won |
| Golden Globe Awards [73] | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | James Spader | Nominated | |
| People's Choice Awards [74] | Favorite New Television Drama | The Blacklist | Nominated | |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Miniseries, or Movie | The Blacklist | Won | |
| Saturn Awards | Best Network Television Series Release | The Blacklist | Nominated | |
| Best Actor in a Television Series | James Spader | Nominated | ||