The Blacklist wrapped up last week with Berlin kidnapping Red’s ex-wife Naomi (Mary Louise Parker), and showing Red that his threat to send her back to him piece by piece was real, mailing him her finger.
This week, Red (James Spader) is first seen bringing Mr. Kaplan (Susan Blommaert) to his interrogation/ kill room, from which he’s been trying to learn the location of his wife. While he’s with Kaplan, he gets a call from Henrik who alerts him to a Warsaw bank robbery and that he knows what the attempted robbers were after. Seeming slightly off his game, Red notices that one of the men he thought he’d killed is stirring and shoots him dead.
Meanwhile, Naomi is still with Berlin (Peter Stormare), trying to ensure her safety by claiming that Red no longer cares enough about her to try and rescue her. Berlin, unconvinced, smarmily compliments Naomi’s mouth.
On a visit with Red, Liz (Megan Boone) asks about his daughter Jennifer, whom Red says disappeared from witness protection several years ago. Now, neither he nor anyone else knows where she is. Red moves the conversation towards the bank robbery in Warsaw. He explains to Liz that the bank’s ledger, which contained information on a number of illegal and questionable deals was taken. After Liz leaves, Red gets a parcel with a bloody tooth from Berlin.
Going off Red’s leads, Liz and Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) take off to Warsaw – under the watchful eye of Mossad agent Samar (Mozhan Marnò). Upon their arrival in Warsaw, they're briefed by local agent Salerno, who takes them to meet with a bank executive. The bank exec, Strickland, informs them that $400,000 in bearer bonds were stolen and later learns that The Formula is missing as well.
From security footage, it’s revealed that the handful of burglars came out with a sixth person – a woman. Their next clue is a jelly doughnut found with the getaway car. The doughnut clue leads Red to Warsaw, where he hits up a local bakery. As it turns out, the bakery doubles as a gun dealer and Red wants to know who the baker has been selling to. Meanwhile, Liz and Ressler find the woman in the security footage, a bank employee named Kaja, who claims she was actually trying to escape the bank.
Kaja is The Formula. Her memory allows her to remember all of the transactions without anything ever needing to be written down. While Kaja is explaining this to Ressler, Salerno tries to take Kaja, but Liz and Ressler flee with her with Samar’s help. Just when it looks like they’re about to be caught, Red creates a diversion that allows them to make an escape on a train.
Berlin, who had assets at the bank, threatens Strickland that if he messes up, he’ll soon meet a slow and painful end. Naomi makes a getaway attempt, stabbing one of the guards with a chicken bone. Unfortunately, she finds all of the doors and windows are locked and she’s eventually discovered by Berlin, who intends to torture her.
It looks like Kaja may very well die of a gunshot wound on the train when Red hops on and takes her away, promising to save her. Red is then seen meeting with Berlin in Coney Island. He warns him of the dangers of seeking revenge and claims that they have a common enemy in the man who told Berlin that Red killed his daughter. If Berlin releases Naomi, Red promises to give him his money.
After taking Kaja, Red was able to access Berlin’s accounts and transferred the money into a new private account. Unless Berlin complies with Red’s request, he’ll never get ahold of his fortune again. Berlin accepts the deal, but informs Red that he has a fatal flaw in his obsession with Elizabeth Keen.
In the meantime, Keen has tracked down Kaja and learns about Red’s plan to give Berlin back his money. She adamantly disagrees with Red allowing Berlin’s terrorist activity to remain funded just to save the life of one person, his ex-wife. Fortunately for Red, the millions of dollars do end up getting placed into Berlin’s account and he’s able to get Naomi back. Liz explains that the only reason why the deal was allowed to go through was because of his value as an asset.
Director Cooper (Harry Lennix) eventually becomes aware through Kaja that the Red operation is funded through FBI bank accounts kept at the Warsaw bank. He then meets with Samar, who hands him over a file in exchange for an undisclosed favor. Samar then phones Red, telling him she’s “in.”
The Blacklist airs Mondays on NBC at 10/9c.
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