The Blacklist has been doing a great job at giving us Blacklisters who aren’t quite black and white. In the beginning, these villain of the week types were despicable and did horrible things. Now, it seems that some of these blacklisters have decent intentions but then get carried away.
This week, we had The Lindquist Concern. According to Red, finding this blacklister will get Kirk to give them Agnes. The Lindquist Concern is a man who essentially kills inventions. On the surface, it looks like he is killing the inventors and in turn their inventions, so the big corporations won’t have the competition. The first victim we see was a young man who had figured out a way to achieve desalination that was cheap and efficient.
When they finally catch up with The Lindquist Concern, Silas, he is barricaded in the server room at the patent office where he works. He took all of the workers hostage and starts to upload something on their servers. The task force realizes that he wants to open source all of the inventions that he supposedly killed. You see; Silas wasn’t trying to kill the inventions. He was trying to prevent the inventions from getting suppressed by corporate greed.
Naturally, that’s what happened to Silas when he had his first invention. As a young man, Silas had big dreams for his invention. When it was purchased, he couldn’t have been more thrilled. The company had a plan, until it wasn’t beneficial anymore. In the end, Silas’s invention was killed for the company’s bottom line.  This idea to open source the inventions doesn’t need a patent, and it could change the world. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t necessarily be for the better.
In the end, Aram figured out a way to take down Silas’s upload and save all of the hostages. Laurel Hitchin, former Cabal leader, came to the FBI to acquire the inventions to “keep them safe.†Considering she’s their boss’s boss’s boss, or whatever, they had no choice but to hand over Silas’s drive. Later, she met with Red to give him one of the inventions. Is this the invention that will make Kirk give them back Agnes?
This blacklister makes you think a little bit. Of course it’s easy to say that he was a bad guy. I mean, he killed people and stole their inventions. But, his intentions aren’t all that evil. He was really trying to make sure that these inventions were heard. I appreciate that The Blacklist is giving us some subtle gray areas. Obviously, Silas’s execution was flawed, but it does make you wonder how corporate greed dictates the world.
Meanwhile, Tom and Reddington are each using their leads to find Alexander Kirk and in turn Agnes. Reddington is still holding Kirk’s doctor hostage. Red finally gets the doctor to cave; he agrees to let Red come to their next meeting point. Kirk asks to meet in Geneva, Switzerland, so Red, Dembe, and Liz hop on a jet. When they get there, Reddington won’t let Liz anywhere near the operation. He actually uses armed guards to keep her away. Now, it’s just a matter of waiting for Kirk to arrive.
On the other hand, Tom went to Ressler to get any leads to help find Agnes. Realizing that the Kremlin hates Kirk just as much as they do, Tom decides to go to the Russian government for their information on Kirk. Tom blackmails a member of the Russian government and asks for their file on Kirk. The man hands it over for fear of his secrets being exposed, and Tom goes to Liz. Liz tells him about being in Geneva waiting for Kirk, but Tom’s intel shows that Kirk is in Russia. Liz realizes Reddington is in a trap and calls to warn him. Her call got there just in time to save his life, but now it seems that there may be a mole in Red’s inner circle.
Aram and Samar have had a tumultuous relationship these past few weeks. I’m guessing Samar’s transfer will be going through any day now, but until then, they keep playing nice. Aram’s girlfriend, Elise, is trying to plan a nice evening for him and immediately turns to Samar for advice. Samar begrudgingly gives her good advice to surprise Aram, and Ressler is seeing right through it. Samar claims that something must be off with Elise. Although Ressler doesn’t agree that anything is wrong with Elise, he doesn’t see it lasting. He even says that Samar has nothing to worry about. I’m not sure that Samar can admit her feelings yet, but they are clearly there.
