The Blacklist – Pattie Sue Edwards (No. 68)

By: Robert Warren

Sitting at a diner booth enjoying a nice cup of coffee with a notepad and pen, Pattie Sue Edwards (Liza J. Bennett) has a waitress named Phoebe (Jess Nahikian) come to check on her. Edward is just waiting for the check. Phoebe headed off to grab it, coughs heavier then more violently until she falls down coughing steadily. Getting dizzy and light headed it is clear that something is up with Phoebe as she coughs until people start checking up on her. Edwards, not very startled by the situation takes a whiff of her inhaler. Other diner guests that are checking up on Phoebe, the staff as well, start noticing intensive rashes on their bodies. A doctor (Margaret Reed) in the room rushes over insisting the CDC be called immediately. Soon, more and more guests start becoming covered in rashes up and down their bodies. Several of them are now coughing.

Quickly, CDC investigator Dr. Marcus Joffey (Jim O’Hare) enters the scene, placing the scene under quarantine. Ambulances wail off from the scene and Edwards leaves while taking in puffs from an inhaler. The episode Pattie Sue Edwards (No. 68) officially begins.

A helicopter aerial view of the city streets is shown as Raymond `Red’ Reddington (James Spader) sits with a gun at the edge of Detective Norman Singleton’s (Evan Parke) bed. Dembe Zuma (Hisham Tawfiq) stands to protect Reddington. Brought in to Harold Cooper`s (Harry Lennix) office, Singleton sits expressing strong agitation to how Reddington brought him here to talk. Cooper assures Singleton that this is the way Reddington works…with a flair for the dramatic. Keen (Megan Boone) explains that Reddington is just looking to be sure that Singleton has her back to looking for Tom`s killer.

Throwing out the name Damascus, Singleton brings up the fact Damascus tips off information that could be useful as a lead into Tom`s murder investigation—so Singleton is going to look for someone to ID Damascus in an investigation of his own. Talking about Bobby Navarro, an old dealer from the Nash syndicate that has gone missing, they think he may be able to be the one to ID Damascus. Cooper thinks this is good, the work that they just came up with but that in the future Reddington should try to stay away from scaring Singleton at his bed.

Earl Fagen (C. Thomas Howell) is conversing with Reddington, who as you would expect, is trying to cut another deal. Reddington got Fagen out of jail so Reddington only expects that since he did Fagen needs to cause yet another inferno. Fagen is reluctant, he does not want to get back into jail but this isn`t a question, this is an assignment. Reddington keeps his persistence, wanting the business Critter Cabin burned down because it is a liability to Reddington`s business.

Keen approaches Reddington to ask him to go easier on Singleton as Reddington has a case for Keen. After having the talk in Cooper`s office, Keen is adamant on the plan she and Singleton have, which if it works will ID Tom`s killer. Reddington isn`t too reassuring on Keens plan however as if it turns out to be a cop involved that it will be hard to prosecute them. The courtroom, Reddington warns Keen is not likely where this will end but rather the street, which Reddington wants her to be prepared for.

Going into the case, (which isn`t Tom`s murder) Reddington starts talking with Keen about the viral outbreak in New York City. Delivering the news, Keen is at the Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters talking to Harold Cooper, Donald Ressler, (Diego Klattenhoff) Aram Mojtabai (Amir Arison) and Samar Navabi (Mozhan Marnò.) Going into the digs, Reddington was approached nine months ago by Jumbal Mazi Okoro a South African black-market trader, who was looking for a pathogen with maximum contagion fixes. Reddington thinks Okoro`s would-be client may be responsible for the attacks in New York. Keen mentions that the client, while unidentified, may be active in the United States.

Doctor Hannah Moshay (Regina Taylor) form the CDC comes back with the news that it is viral pathogen airborne and replicating at a very fast pace. Originally with only 26 cases of the pathogen now there are 78 with another 12 in lockdown by the NYPD. Moshay mentions to Navabi and Ressler that there was a suspicious woman in the diner (remember from the start of the episode?) which managed to slip out before the virus was investigated. Ressler and Navabi are standing and looking at this woman in the video footage of the diner.

One of the things Navabi notices in the footage is the unidentified woman in the diner took an inhaler which they suspect may be filled with some anti-viral agent—there it is, Navabi and Ressler`s suspect. As the virus continues to evolve there are more fatalities that may even happen within the hour of them looking at the footage so these agents really need to get a jump on things. Quickly in a new scene, the suspect is seen (the one from the diner) placing a suitcase that is releasing something into the air and quickly exiting.

In a quick transition, there is a knock, in a new scene at Cooper`s office. Aram comes rushing into the office, informing Cooper that NYPD was just called from the New York General area and is responding to the call. Aram informs Cooper there may be more about to be infected. Ressler and Navabi are looking into this other outbreak. The area is being investigated. It is the same people who were infected that this other virus may be effecting again.

Oddly enough, it turns out not to be another virus being spread into the air but rather the cure. Ressler and Navabi stand puzzled for a moment. It turns out that, indeed, it was the same woman who infected them that put the cure into the air but who is this mystery woman?

At FBI headquarters, Aram has found identification being that of Captain Patricia Sue Edwards (Liza J. Bennett) who was previously a biochemist in the army. Meanwhile Joe ‘Smokey’ Putnum (Michael Aronov) is chatting with Reddington briefly. Reddington makes his way to Fagen to discuss the plans for his fire.

At Critter Cabin, Hershey Hepworth (Peter Benson) is approached by Reddington who is expressing disinterests about how his money is being spent by the cabin. However, Reddington is there for different reasons. He is there to make a deal in exchange for Hempworth`s services. Ian Garvey (Jonny Coyne) is talking with Singleton in the restroom as Singleton mentions Keen led him to Robert Navarro who is planning on telling everything he knows about Tom`s murder to the Feds. Singleton says the where and when of Navarro`s meet with the Feds.

In the CDC tent, there is a sample that was ran of Edward`s virus as Navabi and Ressler look on the computer gets a network alert which denies access. It seems the human virus somehow affected the computer network. At FBI headquarters, Cooper is trying to find out from Aram how this is even possible.

Aram is getting in an outfit ready to investigate the virus bound area and investigate what Edwards is doing in infecting the networks. Judson (Shane Patrick Kearns) is on the phone with Navarro in a separate scene, and both Keen and Singleton are working on intercepting the call. Ressler and Navabi are giving Aram instructions on the server he needs find. Aram finds it, searches it to see that Edwards is doing a search of the SPIRNet and the DoD classified databases, trolling it to look for a match with a DNA sample that matches the DNA.

So the virus outbreak, Aram is figuring out and telling Cooper in his office that she was using as a means to identify someone from DNA. Ressler comes by to inform Cooper who Edwards was looking for, Caleb James Cronin (Dennis Flanagan) because that is the person that killed her husband in self-defense. Edward arrives at Cronin`s house meanwhile, with a gun and inviting herself in.

Keen ends up finding an address to Tom`s murderer while Singleton is on the phone. The address is to the building with Singleton`s office. Singleton is irritated and pretty much promises to take care of the issue as there are other offices in the same building, one of them being that of Ian Garvey. Singleton quickly aware of who is the killer now, that of Ian Garvey is looking at his office when Garvey comes in. However Garvey is giving Singleton a warning that he has people, threatening to harm Singletons little girls, if anything were to be tried to happen to him. Singleton ticked, walks silently out the room.

Edwards frustrated over the death of her husband is interrogating Cronin who she already infected with the virus. She has him tied up as she sits and walks around him with an antidote along with a gun. She wants to know who helped him kill her husband when he breaks through the ties he has on and run towards her. Grabbing the gun he steps on the antidote that she had. Ressler and Navabi arrive to the scene quickly but they are gone. In the car, Cronin is driving with Edwards who are both infected now. They are headed to her house where they may have more of the antidotes cure.

The car of Cronin and Edwards arrives as Ressler and Navabi are there investigating. Ressler has the place surrounded by police with guns. First Ressler orders the gun be dropped held by Cronin. After he drops it Ressler pushes for the truth of Edwards husband`s death and the people involved otherwise he is not going anywhere near the cure. As Cronin is getting worse, barley being able to walk he starts talking and letting out names of others involved such as Oz Stone and Frank McGraw. When pushing to see who pulled the trigger Cronin owns up to it. After that, Ressler gives the go-ahead for the CDC to handle them before it is safe for the police to arrest—but once it is, Ressler gives orders to arrest them both.

Keen arrives at Singletons home but he isn’t answering the door or his calls. It is starting to worry Keen and Cooper who is on the phone. It may be nothing but Cooper has an address for Keen to head to. As the episode comes to a close Cronin`s husbands grave is given a proper honoring as it was wrongly accused before. Keen shows up to meet with Cooper who found Singleton. There is a body bag opened, which contains Singleton’s body stabbed several times and tries very hard to hold back tears. Cooper informs her that they said it was a robbery but as he speaks Keen hears a voice in the background of a man walking by. She turns her head and sees a man who she starts remembering from before she went into the come recognizing him. She starts having flashbacks of around the time of Tom`s murder. She turns to Cooper and tells him that is the man who killed her husband Tom. Ending on such an intensive note it will be thrilling to see what happens in the next episode.