The Blacklist – The Travel Agency (No. 90)

By starrymag | November 8, 2017

By: Robert Warren

 

Early rising to a morning at seven, Calvin Dawson (Kevin J. O’Connor) sits at the dining room joined by his wife Eleanor Dawson (Johanna Day) at the table to watch the television newscast when he gets paged a “342.” Mr. Dawson heads off and goes to a post office box labeled 342 where he opens an envelope with the profile of a person for his assignment. The man pulls out of his car into a near empty ranch with a shotgun and begins to spread gunfire on a lumberjack in York County, Pennsylvania. The lumberjack throws his ax at the man as he limps from the shot, but misses and it sticks in a tree. Mr. Dawson pulls out his shotgun yet again and shoots the lumberjack to where he falls completely down. Mr. Dawson sticks the shotgun in his back pocket, grabs the ax from the tree and makes his way towards the lumberjack. The lumberjack pleads not to be stuck by the axe as nevertheless Mr. Dawson confidently swings the it back and proceeds to bring it down on the lumberjack.

“The Travel Agency” (No. 90) begins at a mini golf set where Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) comes to meet Raymond `Red’ Reddington (James Spader) who is preparing for a golf tournament with Dembe Zuma (Hisham Tawfiq). Reddington informs Elizabeth that Mitchell Dunning is about to be assassinated, as what Reddington calls “The Travel Agency” is after him and because of that Mr. Dunning is looking to disappear. The attack planned on Mr. Dunning I something Reddington describes was contracted through The Travel Agency, which is a murder-for-hire ring and Mr. Dunning is first on the list.

Elizabeth makes way to the FBI headquarters to give further information on the murder-for-hire group. Mitchell David Dunning is the concern for the agents as he is the next target and he lives in Dupont Circle. Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix) wants Samar Navabi (Mozhan Marnò) to find out why the murder-for-hires want him dead. As they begin work, Cooper pulls Donald Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) aside to put him in charge of the force as Cooper has some personal matters to attend.

Cooper leaves the FBI headquarters and enters an elongated hallway to knock on an apartment door. Through the peephole an eye is seen as Cooper mentions who he is looking for, Isaiah Hill. Pulling up in a slim black van, in a different sector of the town, are agents Keen and Navabi looking for Mitchell Dunning. They start approaching Mr. Dunning, but he claims that they must have him confused for a different person. As they try to get him to come with them as his life may be in danger two gunshots hit the man’s chest and the man takes off.

Back at FBI headquarters, they question who that man was. Meanwhile, Tom Keen (Ryan Eggold) is walking by the building of the Courthouse of the District of Columbia Records Division meeting Reddington inside a car to discuss a suitcase. The suitcase given to Tom by Mr. Kaplan is a concern to Reddington as it contains an identity that Reddington wants to remain a secret. Mr. Koral was killed after trying to identify the bones as Tom requested so Reddington is insistent that whosever’s bones they are must want them to be secret if people trying to identify them are being killed.

Reddington is pushing that he should be the one to end up with the suitcase so that he can peacefully rest the bones in a place that they never be identified. While Reddington wants this to be a thing just kept in the darkness and secret in intent, Tom wants the light shined on whatever secrets Reddington is hiding. Tom assures Reddington that Elizabeth is going to find out whatever secret Reddington is hiding.

In another area, a mysterious man (David Alford) wants Lena Mercer (Ana Nogueira) to pretend as though Pete McGee never existed. Who is Pete McGee exactly? We are yet to know.

Elizabeth and Navabi are talking to Landry Knobbs (Kate Middleton) about her father as Knobbs mentions he used to work for the Seawall Travel Agency, which catches their interest. The agency was eventually closed Knobbs mentions, but her dad owned it for years. Elizabeth and Navabi start digging through the things of Knobbs as they notice a picture with her and her husband. In the background of the picture is Mitchell Dunning. After some discussion Elizabeth and Navabi have an epiphany that the people in the agency were not killing people, but rather being killed themselves.

Cooper is sitting on the steps of a governmental building as Reddington and Dembe approach with a lead. Reddington laughs at Cooper`s decision to put Ressler in charge of the task force as Cooper tells Reddington about his only lead to the investigation, the dealer Castro. Cooper does not want to bust in Castro`s house though because he is the only lead that he has aside from what Reddington just gave him. Cooper takes Reddington’s lead Camus and heads out.

Cooper enters a drug house looking for Camus and whacks a gun to the person guarding the door. Cooper makes his way through with a gun in hand when someone fires at him. Dembe takes a fist to the man firing and Cooper makes his way out of the building seeing Reddingon on the other side. Cooper said he didn`t need help, but nevertheless Reddington and Dembe are there for him.

Back at the Dawson`s home Mr. Dawson gets a 342 again. Meanwhile, the FBI agents are at their headquarters they are thinking that Knobbs and Dunning are the two principals hiding their associations behind a bunch of loopholes. The FBI are thinking the Seawall agency was paying a bunch of murder-for-hires. The FBI is thinking that on the list may be Mr. Argon Wright (Brian D. Coats) who is still alive.

Cooper is with Reddington pressuring Wright to talk in regards to finding Isaiah Hill by threatening him with fentanyl, which with a small dose as three milligrams can kill an average sized male. They are threatening to overdose him if he does not tell them the whereabouts or lead to Hill. “Right now, I`m an off-duty cop,” Cooper says. “And as an off-duty cop, I`ll do whatever it takes to find that young man.”

When Wright still does not say anything Reddington taps the needle with a dosage of fentanyl and starts to proceed with half a milligram to get Wright to open up. Wright freaks when he realizes this is serious and says that Hill bought a gun from him.  This isn`t a location; however, so Reddington pressures Wright to say more. Wright tells Reddington and Cooper that his guy delivered the gun to Hill in Ivy City, going into the precise location. With that information, Cooper and Reddington let him off the hook and take off.

Tom enters the home of Mercer to find out information on Pete McGee, but earlier in the episode the mysterious man had pressured Mercer to not to talk on McGee. So, she is standing by that. Mercer keeps saying she does not want to talk about Pete as she is packing even though she told Tom she would help him earlier.  Tom tells her that there is no record of Pete ever being married. That startles Mercer a bit.

At a construction site, FBI Agents Ressler and Navabi get out of a van to see Wright who they claim may be in danger. When they are trying to get him to come with them he keeps questioning them when a shot comes out of nowhere and hits him in the arm. The attacker’s wheels screech and they take off nowhere to be seen.

Ressler and Navabi are interrogating Mr. Wright when they find out Wright paged, through the agency with the code 342 to another person referred to as No. 5. Wright claims to have no idea who No. 5 is, but mentions that the code 342 is in reference to a post office box in Seven Valleys where No. 5 was to pick up their assignment.

Elizabeth visits a mail carrier at the Seven Valleys post office where she gets a lead to the owner of the post office box 342. The mail carrier said that the box belongs to Calvin Dawson and gives Elizabeth the address of Mr. Dawson at Elm- Briar Oak to help her searches. Elizabeth heads out on her journeys.

Cooper and Reddington start interviewing Hill to see who he was shooting at. Hill mentions a club owner, Zeke Wilson. It was Wilson, Hill claims, that was the one who actually shot the guy. Therefore, it would make Hill not the shooter but the witness as Reddington pieces together. Cooper says, “You should`ve told me,” and now insists he is there to help if Hill will let him.

Tom Is on the phone with Mercer who is sneaking into an office to upload some files that Tom requested so they can discover more on Pete McGee since he conned them both. McGee killed the friend of Tom and sent someone to frame Mercer.

Elizabeth and Navabi enter a room looking for Mr. Dawson. They find out that Dawson can operate in the present, but anything happening not too long ago he can easy forget. Any long-term memories are still there still, but the short-term memories can easily be a thing forgotten. As far as Dawson is concerned, he he is still living in 1989. Dawson tunes out anything past that year.

Entering the house of the Dawsons while they are away Elizabeth and Navabi see a few repeated crosswords and hear the radio on from November 9, 1989. There is a bulletin board with all of the profiles of the people that had been targeted recently.

Eleanor is driving down the road in a car with Calvin Dawson. Meanwhile, Elizabeth talking to Navabi, is realizing that Calvin`s wife Eleanor had lead Calvin to believe he was working for an actual travel agency. Calvin didn’t realize he was in a work-for-hire murderous rink of deaths that he was actually participating in.  Eleanor was using code systems to master the works as though it were an actual travel agency. The more Eleanor learned the protocols involved with a travel agency more it played out and the more she was able to take advantage of his amnesia by running the murder-for-hires like an actual travel agency. She was tricking him by having him think it was still 1989 and these were just regular protocols being done.

Cooper is driving a car with Reddington in the passenger seat discussing Hill`s father who was shot six times by an officer. Hill watched his father being shot over nothing by that officer until he was murdered. “For him-for so many like him,” Cooper said. “It is the gospel truth that if you`re black in this country and you say the wrong word, you could be killed.”

Cooper is proud of all the cops he works with, but is upset with what the community may think of them. He is also upset over the cops that kill his other brothers that may not be held responsible. Reddington assures Cooper the justice system will protect Cooper no matter what he does to Zeke Wilson. Reddington is letting Cooper take this one on his own because Cooper’s conscious is there. Reddington is sending Dembe in with Cooper however.

Cooper and Dembe go in the club to find Zeke Wilson. Cooper makes his way to Wilson who is chilling on a couch in the club. After some smart-alecky talk from Wilson Cooper takes a fist to Wilsons face. Dembe is just watching from afar. Cooper grabs Wilson by the shirt collar and tells him that he is under arrest as he drags him out of the club.

Navabi is driving in the car with Elizabeth by her side looking for a black `86 Oldsmobile that contains Eleanor and Calvin Dawson. Eleanor stops the Oldsmobile with Calvin at a cemetery. They get out as she convinces Calvin that the reason they are at the cemetery is to see the children. She brings Calvin to a grave with their kids Samantha and Mia`s name engraved on it.  She tells him reasoning on why they are dead convincing Calvin that he took the girls with him to kill a man.  She stirs his mind as she holds a gun in her hand.

Eleanor tells Calvin that everyone in the agency is dead except for Wright, who the police got to. Sirens ring as the FBI pull up. Elizabeth gets out and starts talking to Eleanor directly. Eleanor is pointing a gun at Calvin now as Navabi and some more of the task force have guns pointed Eleanor’s way. Eleanor is trying to talk Elizabeth, the agents and cops out of the situation.

Elizabeth tries connecting to Eleanor by saying that she wants to understand because they are both mothers. Eleanor takes that in and says, “Oh good, then you`ll understand this,” and she proceeds to shoot Calvin multiple times. Back up forces shoot Eleanor. Both Calvin and Eleanor lay dead in the grass over the grave of their children.

Cooper is talking to Hill and telling him that he is going to be called to talk in court against Wilson. Then, after Hill speaks, they will decide what happens next. Cooper connects to Hill and says he will take Hill home. Hill says that he is willing to testify, but is going to need Cooper`s help as far as strength because it is hard to testify against Wilson in person. Cooper is willing to offer that.

On a bench outside, Tom hands Mercer an envelope that shows Mercer may have Pete`s passwords and Pete has hers. Tom explains Pete may be using those passwords of Mercer to open credit cards in her name. The reason they can`t find Pete? Well…he is using Mercer`s accounts. Tom says that is how they are going to find Pete now.

Dembe practices some mini golf with Reddington. Dembe is good, but Reddington isn`t doing so hot. Dembe assures Reddington that although he may not be so hot at mini golf he is good at many things like company. Elizabeth meanwhile is tearing up at the cemetery where the shots were all fired.

Elizabeth enters a governmental building running in with Tom. She insists in a simple plea that they sign the documents to get married because of everything she sees in a day of work. She needs to get married because Tom means so much to her and she does not want to lose him. He is important to her and she loves him. Tom looks into Elizabeth eyes and calmly without question says yes.

In a beautiful building the words are spoken, “That`s it, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” Elizabeth and Tom lean in to kiss with love and the episode ends in silence as the music picks up to let the credits roll.