The Blacklist’s seventh episode, “The Scimitar,†is the final episode before the fall finale. The episode opens with a beautiful woman picking up a man in a bar. Only moments after going up to his room with this woman, the man is seen plummeting to his death. Even though it is being regarded as a suicide, there are some who know better, including Raymond Reddington.
When Red calls in Lizzie and Samar, he reveals that the beautiful woman seen with the man, one of Iran’s top scientist, was actually Samar acting as a Mossad agent. Samar assassinated the man, and now, the Iranians are going to retaliate by going after one of the US’s top scientists.
It seems that for once, the task force is way ahead of the criminals. They find the man that the Iranians are targeting, a man named Jonathan Reese who works for Defense Security Services. When they find Reese, they get him out just before he is shot and killed by a sniper. During their escape, the Iranians take down Keen and Ressler’s SUV and kidnap Reese.
Keen wakes up in a hospital and is told that she and Ressler were taken to Bethesda to be treated. Ressler is still asleep, so Keen asks for a phone to call Cooper to let everyone know that they are okay. After speaking with Cooper, Keen notices that something is off about the hospital. Meanwhile, Aram notifies Cooper that Keen and Ressler were never sent to Bethesda, and there is no man named Jonathan Reese working for Defense Security Services.
Sadly, the task force played right into the hands of the criminals. Keen’s phone calls reveals the actual target, a woman named Collins, who is one of the top nuclear scientists. Using her contacts with Mossad, Samar and Red get a man named Ali to give them information on the fake hospital where Keen and Ressler are “recovering.†By doing this, Samar is putting her job with the Mossad in jeopardy, but she says that she needs to protect her partners for this relationship with the FBI to work.
After the FBI foils the Scimitar’s plans of kidnapping Collins, Reddington knows just where he will go to make his escape. Red captures him and leaves him for Samar. Samar found out that the Scimitar is responsible for her brother’s death. Although we don’t know exactly what went down between Samar and the Scimitar, he is found washed up on the shores of the Anacostia river with a shot to the head, an execution style hit.
Now that the Scimitar is essentially wrapped up, we move onto the matter of Zoe. Reddington is getting to know her, and we see him sharing a meal with her by her food truck. He talks about having a daughter, and she reveals that she only remembers that her father did things that are unforgivable. After she says that she hasn’t seen her father is a long, long time, she realizes that something is wrong. Red presumably drugged her so that he could take her.
At the end, Reddington has a face to face with Berlin where Red tells him that he did not kill his daughter. Not believing him, Berlin says that he’s going to kill Red’s daughter the same way that his was killed so that they are finally even. Reddington brings Zoe out of the car and reveals once and for all that she is Berlin’s daughter, thus proving that he did not kill her.
Last but certainly not least, Lizzie still doesn’t seem to know what to do with Tom. She used him to find information about Berlin, which Red uses to have a face to face with him. Red even suspects that Lizzie could be getting her information from Tom, granted she didn’t kill him like she said. Tom realizes that Lizzie never had any intentions of letting him live. He tells her, “Do me a favor; look me in the eyes when you do it.â€
The Verdict
The storyline with the Scimitar was creative, but it wrapped up very fast in order to leave room for the other story lines in the episode. Now that we know that Zoe is truly Berlin’s daughter, we still have to wonder where Red’s daughter is. We only have one more episode before The Blacklist goes on a hiatus. While The Blacklist is a strong show, it should not have to go on a long hiatus. I truly hope that it doesn’t lose any viewers who don’t know when there are new episodes.
+ Reveal of Zoe’s true identity
+ Great scenes with Liz and Tom
+ Ramping up for the fall finale
– So many story lines leave less time for each of them
