The Blacklist- The Invisible Hand (No. 63)

By starrymag | February 14, 2018

By: Robert Warren

 

 

It all begins in New York City, New York with Zeke (Jason Tam) walking into a classy old school dinner where he hosts. Tim Gorman (Noah Racey) sits at head of the table talking about the business he has of selling handguns. Quickly, the events speed up when Tim is hit in the head with a wineglass by Stephen Altman (Steven Boyer) and is gassed buried into the ground by the dinner guests.

The Invisible Hand (No. 63) begins with a knock on Elizabeth Keen’s (Megan Boone) door by Detective Singleton (Evan Parke) who is insistent on the thought that Keen killed Bobby Navarro (Happy Anderson.)  Keen keeps pretty quiet but isn`t intimidated by Singleton. The detective hands Keen some of Tom’s things and heads out.

Keen starts looking through the items and sees both a wallet and a key which leads to a small pause as she takes the key and unlocks a small safe with a handgun inside it. Keen notices a book with notes and sees a postcard for Oleander Hotel in Slovenia.

At the Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix) receives a call from Keen asking for his help (It isn`t too often a character as strong as Keen asks for help.) A reporter from AHZ3 is standing outside a gated fence of the New York town of Harington where a few teens hoped a fence and found a dead body with investigators searching for more information.

Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington (James Spader) is sitting at the dog groomers watching the newscast with a small puppy cuddled in his arms. Samar Navabi (Mozhan Marnò) is talking to Reddington about the newscast and asking about the puppy to see if it is Reddington’s or one of the customers. Laughing it off, without an answer, Reddington lets the puppy roam the room and walks up to Navabi telling her about Tim Gorman, the owner of Ballistic-Nine.

Ballistic-Nine, a controversial company, is selling guns at very cheap prices, but now Gorman is dead and Reddington believes that it is because of a murder by a group known as The Invisible Hand (Hence the title of the episode.) The group, The Invisible Hand, is choosing targets -selecting criminals that are not committing crimes by law. Everything is still perfectly legal.

Members of The Invisible Hand start talking about the uncovering that the news is working on to try to bring justice. They are trying not to worry and go through the facts that they did not have anything as far as traces of evidence that could lead back to them. Deciding to try to call a few sources to see what the police mag know, they end up agreeing to set up a meetup later at Zeke`s place.

Donald Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) is discussing The Invisible Hand with Navabi, Cooper and Aram Mojtaba (Amir Arison) looking for where more bodies may be located. While discussing Navabi brings up the point that Gorman`s body was found in a Superfund site in Brenford where there may be more bodies there as well. Mojtabai starts doing some digging up in regards to Brenford and notices the biggest employer in that area is the Atria Chemical Corporation which dumped so many toxins there that the Environmental Protection Agency set up site there.

Cooper starts taking the lead and sends out Navabi and Ressler to reach out to the investigating team to try to find out who the bodies are. Looking around both Ressler and Navabi are directed around the area getting directed to the gunman`s body. Having a look, the body was planted where there was a huge amount of chemicals making it very disturbing. As of now the investigators have found up to six bodies and are thinking they still may find more.

The State Policeman hands over to Ressler the EPA monitor that takes one photo a day at the site to monitor the territorial shifts that happen on the soil because of the toxins. Back to The Invisible Hand, they are discussing and they found information on their next target, Anna Hopkins (Patricia Kalember), who they plan to kill.

Rising in discovery, the investigative team has discovered nine bodies so far. Ressler and Navabi walking with a member of the investigative team they are informed that the bodies’ autopsies suggest that the bodies were killed by people buried alive and conscious. One of the bodies is Ralph Ellis who went missing two years ago and worked for Ace-Gen Pharmaceuticals, another a judge, another a lawyer. Ressler is handed a file that may be a lead.

Reddington is talking to Dembe Zuma (Hisham Tawfiq) about a man named Anthony Pagliaro that wants to talk to Reddington because he feels like someone is trying to kill him. This man works for a post office and is a drug runner feeling like he is under attack by a man named Big Willie Wilkins (Kevin Mambo) for taking a package. Reddington suggests they visit William and discuss this. Pagliaro is not a fan of this, as you may imagine but agrees.

Hopkins starts talking to Bobby (Patch Darragh) in her office and he makes a move to record the conversation. Meanwhile, Ressler and Navabi are talking to Mojtabai about how they caught a suspicious car photo out of the camera they were handed by the investigative team but it wasn`t nothing. However, Mojtabai saw something else, which he zoomed in on and it was a man without protective gear in the toxic chemical site.

In Brenford, New York, near the toxic site, Stephen Altman sits in a cabin in his undershirt eating and pulls out a tooth from his bloody mouth. Meanwhile, Cooper is talking to Keen in his office about information that shows Oleander as the name of the Russian operative active during the cold war. He warns Keen of the danger in the reach out to the man.

Keen, nevertheless, heads to a cabin as Dominic Wilkinson (Brian Dennehy) answers the door. She wishes to speak to him. Reddington heads into a room with Dembe and the postman to talk to Wilkins about the package. Reddington works out a deal.

Back to the FBI headquarters, they are looking at the bodies of some of the people that died including that of David Flynn and Judge Waybur who both had a connection to the chemical plant. This may be why The Invisible Hand may have wanted them dead. Waybur, being a judge, had a case dealing with Flynn but the file is sealed. The only other person who may know anything about the case is Stephen Altman whose picture matches that of the man in the woods in the EPA monitor picture.

Keen, back at the cabin, tells Wilkinson that she thinks that he is former Russian operative who went under the codename Oleander. Laughing at it, he agrees that yes, he went under that code name as he investigated the ghost town that now has the toxic chemicals.

Wanting to know more, Keen is straight with Wilkinson so maybe he will tell her more as he informers her that he was an analyst not an agent at that time. Asking about Katarina Rostova, Wilkinson’s eyes go big as he knew her quite well. Skipping back to Reddington talking to Wilkins there is a gun circle of Wilkins, Dembe and another. They stop as the lights change and men come in with guns.

Dembe and Reddington get ready for any situation that may come their way and the postman, Pagliaro, ends up getting shot. So, at the end of the gun firings, Dembe, and Reddington get on their way to take Pagliaro to the hospital. As an eagle takes to the air, Ressler and Navabi exit a car in gas masks at the toxic site to the cabin. Raiding the home with police Ressler sees surveillance gear as a man runs in the woods.

To the headquarters, the agents found out that something was being tracked back at the cabin by The Invisible Hand. Seeing the tracked thing may be on the seventeenth floor of a hotel. Keen still talking to Wilkinson starts going into Reddington but Wilkinson does not want to talk about him. Keen is wondering if Katrina is dead but knows she still may be alive. Wilkinson has no idea but thinks there may be some people trying to keep that a secret and will do anything to keep it that way.

Cooper starts a look for Hopkins for Ressler and Navabi as she may be in danger. Sure enough, there is someone outside her door who may be about to put her in danger. Sure enough, this is the same man as the one that was photographed in the woods.

Hopkins is tasered and the FBI quickly heads over to handle the scene. In a very dangerous gunfire Ressler and Navabi head over to try to handle the situation and the scene cuts to commercial. Back at the scene, Hopkins is taken by Altman in the back of the vehicle.

Ressler and Navabi try to investigate for more and get some leads. Reddington is talking to Wilkins because he wants more from him aside just what the postman wants. Reddington wants this man`s help on the Nash Syndicate of people. This man thinks that they are untouchable but of course, Reddington thinks otherwise but Wilkins feels this way because the Nash Syndicate is protected by the cops.

Finding the man they have been looking for, Ressler chases as Navabi looks for Hopkins quickly. Navabi quickly finds her and pushes the breaths back into her as Ressler continues his run.

Ressler starts interviewing the man trying to get him to confess to the murders that happened and the man does confess. Reddington is on the phone with Wilkinson who is telling him about Keen on the search for information in regards to Tom`s murder. Wilkinson mentions that he did not say anything to her, even though Keen is his granddaughter he did not say anything. Reddington rushes off the phone as Keen approaches him.

Samar is there to question Navarro. Reddington walks into the room to talk to him first, so he does telling him a long story about a man who though God saved him when science was somewhat on his side. Sitting next to his hospital bed, Reddington asks if he thinks that God is on his side today. Reddington is on a search for the toymaker and the man is surprised that Reddington know anything about the toymaker.

Reddington meets up with the toymaker with Keen on information on the glass eye made for Navarro. Reddington and Keen are forceful on it and the man admits to making that and more for Navarro. Keen talks to Cooper, about the possibility, that the man who killed Tom may have had some of the police by his side to help him. Keen asking for help again from Cooper is ended with an agreement as Ian Garvey talks on a suspicious small call and the episode comes to a close. The Blacklist leaves you hanging and it only leaves you wondering what, oh what, could happen next.