THE BLACKLIST REVIEW: Liz Takes Cover From Assassins in “Arioch Cain”

Compare and Contrast

The in medias ras opening this week seemed a little off kilter for The Blacklist, being a trope regularly used by more procedural shows to inject temporary drama into a relationship where there is usually no conflict. This trope suffers from viewer awareness; we as an audience have simply seen it used too many times and know that what we are seeing on screen is most likely the opposite of the actual situation, with this week’s scenes all but guaranteeing Lizzie’s safety by the end of the episode.

In contrast, this week’s blacklister had a very interesting concept. Similarly to how they flipped the power of social media on its head in the premiere, this week saw the concept of crowd-funding put to a sinister use. A contract for someone’s death is posted on the internet and anyone who wishes to can add to the contract via Bitcoin, tempting both a larger quantity and quality of assassins to finish the job. Fresh ideas like this are what make the episodic elements of The Blacklist stand tall compared to other shows.

Tom’s closing monologue worked well in combination with the music choice, firmly shifting away from his dark past and having a distinctly Ocean’s Eleven vibe. Tom’s chapter in this week’s episode felt, for now at least, like he was moving towards a separate, lighter story for the show to contrast the increasingly dark path Lizzie is taking. However, he did just kill a Russian thug in order to taunt his superiors, so maybe we’re getting optimistically naive.

Aram got to shine this episode, being able to step in and interrogate a suspect who was baffling Agent Navabi with techno jargon. There has seemed to be a rotational spotlight this season of The Blacklist, taking turn to give each supporting character a moment to shine. Hopefully it will continue as so far it has allowed the show’s growing cast to stay interesting without having to relegate anyone down to a recurring character.

In another example of clever juxtaposition we see brains versus brawn. Moments after we see Aram undo the suspect’s plan and stop a killing, we see Dembe storm on scene killing in order to stop Solomon’s plan. These scenes played off each other fantastically and the change in pace from talking to action really added emphasis to Dembe’s assault.

Lizzie definitely shrugged some morally grey actions this week, seeming startled but not judgmental when Red let a man fall to his death and was completely unfazed when he later shot two different men to death in front of her. Lizzie spoke to Agent Navabi this episode telling her she was willing to take responsibility for what she has done but not for what she has been framed for. Either this acknowledgement and acceptance of future judgement has allowed to her to cope better with the situation or she is just becoming desensitized to Red’s habit of dropping bodies.

NEXT: RIP LIZZIE