THE BLACKLIST Episode (1×02) Review – “The Freelancer”

NBC’s The Blacklist Ensnares Viewers Deeper Into Its Web With “The Freelancer”

Last week on The Blacklist, Raymond “Red” Reddington surprised everyone by turning himself in to the FBI after years on the run. Why Red gave himself over to the authorities, and why he will only work with rookie profiler Elizabeth Keen were mysteries the viewers have yet to solve. This week on episode 102, “The Freelancer,” Agent Keen and Red go after an assassin who has a philanthropist in his sights. While the two offer protection for The Freelancer’s target, Elizabeth is trying to get to the bottom of why Reddington is so interested in her, and figure out what he knows about her husband’s secret life.

“My name is Liz, not Lizzie, and to you I’m Agent Keen.” After discovering a box full of cash, passports, and a gun underneath her living room floor, Elizabeth goes straight to the man who appears to have all the answers. In the premiere episode Red made a comment that Elizabeth’s husband’s stabbing might not be such a bad thing, insinuating there something about Elizabeth’s husband that she doesn’t know. Tom has seemed like the perfect husband, but the fake passports he’s been hiding suggests that maybe he’s a spy of some kind, and that their marriage could be a sham. I find this aspect of the show to very interesting. Red is extremely interested in who Elizabeth is and right now it’s not clear if Tom was sent by Red to spy on Liz for him, or if maybe he’s working with one of Red’s associates. Tom seems like a straight arrow, but in the premiere it appeared Zamani had visited the same place Tom planned to take his students on a field trip. Wondering if Tom could be working for the bad guys adds an additional layer to the mystery of Liz’s life. (More…)