The Blacklist – Raleigh Sinclair III (No. 51)

By: Robert Warren

Dressed for Manhattan cold weather, Brian Barrett (David Call) walks the street, arriving five minutes late to meet with Raleigh Sinclair III (John Noble) on a park bench. Being clear about being punctual, Sinclair is not happy with Barrett and makes his way off. Barrett runs to catch up, apologizing for the late arrival and promising to not do it again. Sinclair wants Barrett to walk him through what happened with Nicki, not what with what he saw, but rather what he felt – what he feels. Remembering the sex he had with Nicki, Barrett walks through the memory, not feeling betrayed, nor upset, but feeling rage. Sinclair wants Barrett to hold onto his feelings, that feeling he has right now, that anger/rage. Advising the malice that Barrett is feeling is more dependable than any contract killer, Sinclair wants to know if that malice Barrett is feeling can sustain him, and Barrett assures him that it can.

Handing over a piece of computer paper folded into fourths, Sinclair wants Barrett to gather items on the list and then he will contact Barrett when needed. He wants Barrett to rent an apartment in Washington Place, Manhattan. Sinclair offers up a perfect (so it seems) alibi for Barrett taking on the role of murdering his wife Barrett is ready.

We see an apartment with Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) walking up to Raymond `Red’ Reddington (James Spader) venting to him about Detective Norman Singleton (Evan Parke) who apparently went into her apartment without a warrant, just breaking in. Keen being suspicious that he may try to do something like this has pictures of Singleton walking around her house because she installed cameras. Frustrated, these pictures at least serve as proof that Singleton, a dirty detective investigating Tom Keen`s murder, was in her home.

Keen is soon to be getting ready for her fitness-for-duty evaluation to be reinstated into the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as Reddington, the person she is venting to, is informed that Samar Navabi (Mozhan Marnò) is ready to meet. Reddington makes a few final remarks to Keen and takes off with Dembe Zuma (Hisham Tawfiq) to meet with Navabi in an empty room. Reddington speaks to Navabi about the Innocence Project, which uses eyewitness testimony and DNA evidence to clear someone from fault after being wrongfully convicted. Sam Demarco, released by eyewitness testimony, was brought in for questioning and was released after being said to be four miles from the crime scene from four eyewitnesses. The witnesses, Reddington points out, were misled to reconstruct what they thought were their memories, like a jigsaw puzzle. They were manipulated, misdirected to provide a killer with an alibi. The prime suspect behind the manipulation of the eyewitnesses is a man known as the alibi.

At the FBI headquarters, Navabi pulls up three profiles of suspects that have unsolved crimes. Albert Gelfeld, a suspect in the death of his father along with Caroline McClean, is a person of interest in the disappearance a real estate empire and Bjorn Erikson who is last person to be seen with a Lebanese diplomat before his body turned up in a river. According to Navabi, apparently the alibi only works with people who want to commit some crime themselves. Then, he can get any eyewitness to swear to see any crime that they haven’t seen by exonerating them from any crime by the agreement. After very good explanations Navabi had from digging into research, Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix) starts making orders for Donald Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) and Navabi to find the witness saying she saw DeMarco at the time of the murder, to see if she actually made a mistake or knowingly lied.

Ressler and Navabi show up to interview the witness, a cashier (Chantal Maurice), but she is stubborn on providing information. She mentions a man that shows up every day and buys coffee, recently buying lottery tickets coming into the store. Ressler assertively asks the cashier to gain access to the camera footage for the store and when looking at it Navabi sees a man with a beanie and sunglasses that looks like DeMarco. Aram Mojtabai (Amir Arison), having found this match, mentions how this is only an 81 percent match with the facial recognition software and that this is likely a very convincing double rather than the actual DeMarco. Cooper calls for this photo to be released to the rest of the Bureau and the local police department so that maybe it will turn up a match. Cooper wants to know who this double is.

Meanwhile, Raleigh Sinclair III is working on a disguise for another man named Mr. Thompson who is being paid a lot of money to go on a jog and get a cup of coffee (not being told who he is doubling as.) Looking over at the counter of Raleigh Sinclair III, Thompson sees a name Brian Barrett, who Thompson asks if that is who he is doubling. Seeing the information and asking about it is more than Raleigh Sinclair III wanted, noting that this will not work with Mr. Thompson. So, Sinclair takes a gun to Thompson and shoots him dead.

In Cooper’s office, Reddington shows up with Dembe to talk about Reddington’s daughter Keen who Cooper knows Reddington is helping to look for Tom’s killer. Being that some of Reddington’s work with Keen has been somewhat sloppy Cooper wants it to end. Ressler soon walks in and Cooper starts talking about DeMarco, showing the convenience store photo along with DeMarco`s actual photo. Reddington soon picks up to the fact that DeMarco is using doubles. Cooper continues with information, telling Reddington, Ressler and Dembe that this double is a homeless man picked up as a double. The man`s name, the homeless man picked up for intoxication last month, is Kahil Shula (Rob Figueroa).

Cooper goes on to assure Reddington that they are going to work to find Tom`s killer, but that when Keen gets reinstated as an agent she will have to enforce the rules and go by them once again rather than breaking them. Keen is sitting facing a woman, a therapist named Dr. Sharon Fulton (Martha Plimpton) to do her fit-for-duty evaluation to be reinstated into the FBI in a window lit room.  Discussing how Keen is feeling and coming together after her husband Tom`s murder, the topic changes to something very interesting…Reddington. There is to be had a discussion on the relationship Keen has with Reddington as he is her father after all. The evaluation requires knowing everything so she can properly evaluate the situation here. Evaluating the situation, Fulton wants to make sure that Keen is numb to the pain and feelings over Tom`s murder. She wants to make sure that there is no pain that could cause risk to some of the situations Keen may encounter with the FBI. She wants to know more about her relationship with Reddington.

Meanwhile, at a soup kitchen Dembe walks with Reddington as Marion Stamps (Tamara Anderson) waves her way over. Reddington pulls out a photo to show Stamps, that of the homeless man Shula, who is in trouble (if he is serving as a double of course.) Putting on his jogging attire, Shula gets into his double body attire hearing from his phone the voice of Sinclair. The audio has very specific directions of what he is to do along his daily jog path. It requires he make sure to acknowledge the people along his very specific run and daily ritual. It requires that he keep it up to the dot, making specific stops, because it is part of a very specific ritual of behavior.

Shula is ready for his double for his wife`s murder. Reddington is riding backseat, speaking on the phone to Stamps as Dembe drives. Stamps informs Reddington about finding a person that may know how to reach the double that Reddington is looking for. Stamps furthers to offer to connect the line she is on with that of Reddington. Reddington starts conversation with Delores (Marcia DeBonis) as she informs him of the car the double suspect got in, a fold four door car with an E-Z Pass in the window. Reddington sets up a time to meet with Delores over food and she hesitantly agrees.

Reddington goes on to meet with Keen and she says she needs him as part of her reinstatement. He needs Reddington to take part with her therapy. Reddington is not fond of this, but Keen pushes the need. As her father, Reddington budges and tells Keen to just text Dembe the when and where. Singleton, the detective, sits in a car taking photos with a nice DSLR capturing a photo of Reddington making his way out of his meeting with Keen.

Singleton makes meeting with officers, telling suspicion of how Keen is working for Reddington, even telling Ian Garvey, (Jonny Coyne,) the man  killing Keen`s husband Tom. (Singleton is unaware Garvey killed Tom but nevertheless he is telling him information that could place Keen in a bad situation.) Garvey encourages that Singleton`s team keep following Keen and tell no one outside of the room. Reddington, with Keen in the car catches up with Dr. Fulton and Reddington asks her to come into the car so they can talk. Keen quickly apologizes as this is as close as Reddington will get to meeting for therapy. Reddington after being questioned by Fulton turns the conversation around and reminds Fulton that Keen is not to judge based off of Redington. Keen is separate from him in the way she acts.

Sitting inside a car, Raleigh Sinclair III spots a man named David Eckhart (Timothy Sekk) walking from a completed shift with a set of construction workers and notices that he looks like DeMarco. Thinking he may be a good use of a double, Sinclair approaches him to speak. Agreeing, Sinclair uses masks the man`s face.

At the FBI headquarters, Navabi is looking into the cars from toll roads that have an E-Z pass in the window. Even after the narrowing down; however, there are still 840 cars it could be. With 582 of them being licensed to men it narrows the search a bit more. Cooper wants the photos pulled so maybe Reddington can have his witness figure out who the person is. Paris Genet is at Reddington`s serving him, Dembe and Delores. Reddington works to figure out if Delores found the man that left with Kahil in the book of pictures. He wants the man to be identified. She points to Sinclair III.

Dembe walks into a room with a gun and Reddington looks around. It is clear they have Sinclair’s place. Ressler talks to Aram on the phone. Ressler is under the impression that the person hiring the doppelgangers might be killing them after they are done fulfilling the purpose he had for them. Ressler and Navabi look around see several facial masks in the room. Ressler informs Aram that they think they found the person that Sinclair may be after next. They see a facial mold.

While they have an idea, they are not perfectly sure who it is. Navabi notices that the man hiring the doppelgangers is keeping a dossier of each of the clients, which they see all of except for the next target. Navabi thinks that Reddington took the information, but he assures her otherwise over the phone as he puts his hand over a folder that has the info, that of, Brian Barrett. Meanwhile, Barrett is informed that Sinclair III found his double.

Keen is back to talking to her therapist as Cooper talks to Aram. Then it happens, Aram finds out who the mold is matching, that of Brian Barrett. Sinclair shows Barrett his body double and he is shocked. Cooper has an idea that they need to get to Barrett`s ex-wife to protect her.

The music in the episode quickly picks up as sirens wail. Barrett`s double is speaking to his ex-wife with a gun. He takes some shots to her and she runs while the actual Barrett is running the routine route that Sinclair planned for him on the daily jog that tricks people into thinking it is him. One is a peaceful routine of a walk and the other is trying to shoot his ex-wife. Which of them is the real Barrett is hard to tell. Ressler quickly arrives at the scene to try to protect Barrett`s ex-wife.

Soon finding out that nobody followed the double of Barrett on the run, Reddington is in the car with the both of them. Reddington advises that Barrett`s double leave so that he Can live to see another day and cover up. Reddington takes in Sinclair to talk to him. Planning to let him off the hook if he cooperates, Reddington does what Reddington does best and makes a deal.

Keen walking into her house, sees Singleton, ordering that he put up his hands. Singleton mentions that Keen isn`t the only one doing an investigation as he show her photos he got of Reddington. Deciding to let loose a little, Keen works to reach a compromise over what they both want. Singleton informs her of the Nash Syndicate and how people he is working with think that it is her behind it. They reach a deal as Singleton wants to help her, but Keen just needs to trust him.

Reddington shows up with a list of all the people that were murdered in the “doubles” situations, but the only problem is that Reddington let the man who hired all the men to commit the murders is now gone. Reddington explains however that he let the man go in exchange for the list. So the case is closed. Walking into the FBI headquarters, Singleton gets introduced to some of the people at the bureau as he now plans to help Keen. Singleton plans to help Keen find the man who killed Tom. Near the end, Keen asks to be reinstated from her therapist. She starts talking about Reddington, and while some people view him as such an awful person she sees him as a protector, a guide and a father.