The latest episode of The Blacklist, “The Major,†was a pretty big departure from the typical formula for The Blacklist. This episode is a great way for people to get caught up on season one as well as the first part of season two. We got to see a few great montages of Lizzie’s time with Reddington and the FBI task force. Sadly, the situation for these recaps wasn’t quite as pleasant. Liz had to go over her entire career with the task force with a federal judge in hopes that he will quash the pending murder case of the harbor master Eugene.
Agent Keen is taken in front of a judge to describe the FBI task force for which she works as well as her involvement in the case with the harbor master. Harold Cooper has been subpoenaed to verify Liz’s recounting of her story. She claims that she was at the harbor on officially FBI business. In front of the Deputy Attorney General, Cooper is adamant that he will not perjure himself for Liz. The Deputy Attorney General believes that national security would be threatened if word gets out what the FBI task force is really doing.
In court, the judge decides to speak only with Liz in his chambers to get her story. When the judge starts, he asks Liz how long she has worked at this task force. She explains that she has been a profiler for 18 months. The judge even makes her reveal that her criminal informant is the elusive Raymond Reddington. After hearing this, the judge seems very interesting in Reddington. Back at the FBI, Reddington is on to the next Blacklist-er. At least he insists that it is to help Agent Keen.
This week’s Blacklist-er didn’t get a whole lot of screen time. We first meet The Major when he saves a teenager, Jacob, from getting caught after stealing something in New York in 1994. The Major offers Jacob an opportunity. We later learn from Reddington that the opportunity was to join his finishing school of sorts. Red explains that The Major preys on young people with very specific sociopathic tendencies.
Even though The Major didn’t get a lot of screen time, it was interesting how Reddington came to be sitting down with him. Reddington insisted that the FBI kidnap a Malaysian Deputy Minister to the UN. Even though it sounds completely insane, the task force will do just about anything to save one of their own. Red then uses blackmail to set up a meeting with The Major. He only asks one question of The Major: where is Tom Keen? Red believes that Tom is the only answer to freeing Liz from this indictment.
Meanwhile, Liz is essentially detailing the past 18 months of her life with the task force. She reveals all sorts of details about cases and criminals that were on The Blacklist. She tells him all about Berlin, and everything they did to being him to justice. She knows that Reddington is using the task force for his gain, but they are still catching dangerous criminals that they would never even know existed with Red.
Liz even goes as far as to tell the judge about The Fulcrum. I’m worried that this was a very bad idea. It took the judge entirely too long to even begin to ask about the harbor master. He seemed very interested to know that Red didn’t have The Fulcrum and that he believes that Liz is the key to finding The Fulcrum and getting the information from it that could tip the scales of the entire world. I know that he is a federal judge, but if the Blacklist has taught us anything, it’s not to trust anyone. I wonder if Liz thought twice before she revealed so much information to this judge. We will find out in the coming weeks if my suspicions have any merit.