- The task force must rescue an undercover CIA agent who was kidnapped by separatists in Uzbekistan; Red thinks they are up against a dangerous past associate known as Ruslan Denisov.
- Reddington, Liz and Ressler travel to Uzbekistan to investigate criminal Ruslan Denisov (Faran Tahir), who is holding multiple American hostages captive. Denisov, an old associate of Red's, is targeting members of a company that is refusing to replace a pipeline, whose leaking water is poisoning civilians. After unsuccessful attempts to negotiate with Denisov, Reddington works with him to capture a former Russian business associate (Olek Krupa) and use the company's history to blackmail them into repairing the pipeline. The CIA, however, have one of their agents in Denisov's custody and attempt to employ a Uzbek general (Shaun Toub) to eliminate Denisov. Cooper confronts the CIA handler and the mission is called off. Reddington captures the general, and assures Denisov that he has helped his country, and despite potential consequences, he will emerge a hero.—SP International
- "The Blacklist" - "Ruslan Denisov (No. 67)" - Feb. 12, 2015
We open in a church in Uzbekistan. Armed gunmen enter and abduct the priest. He claims he is a humble man of God but the leader who slaps him calls him a liar. He drops a satellite phone in front of him and tells him to call his god. The guy is American, named Burke, and some kind undercover agent.
We cut to a woman who is reporting her husband missing to a D.C. police detective. Before his disappearance he says he told her he ran into an FBI agent on a boat who pulled a gun and claimed was looking for fugitive. (Refresher: This guy died in the fight over Tom/Not Tom when Liz had him chained up on the boat.)
Liz asks Aram to look into the little box she found in the bunny.
Red goes to see Liz because she hasn't been taking his calls. She's not taking his BS anymore and wants only to talk about work. He shows her the paper story about the kidnapped "priest" in Uzbekistan. Red says the guy was a CIA agent. He says Ruslan Denisov was the abductor, an Uzbek separatist, who keeps his abductees in cages, he ransoms senior executive hostages to fuel his cause. We cut to him executing one of these guys because his company wouldn't pay the ransom. He's also a pain in Red's ass so win-win if they get him.
Aram, Ressler, Navabi, and Liz go over the list of the missing.
Cooper, the CIA director, and the FBI director meet and the CIA guy plays coy about whether the guy is his guy. She says they will keep him out if he's not straight with him. It's his guy, Liz and Ressler head to Uzbekistan. The Uzbek official who meets with them is grumpy about sharing the case, which is under his jurisdiction. Liz and Ressler notice they are also being watched.
Red is regaling some men with sexy war stories when Liz and Ressler walk in. Of course he's there. Ressler says it's not safe for him. Red points out that Uzbekistan has no extradition treaty with the U.S. He just wants to help.
They get into an elevator and Ressler asks what's happening between her and Red. She says she doesn't trust him. Just then the lights go out in the elevator, bags are placed over their heads, and they are abducted by Denisov.
They are being held in some decrepit underground tunnel. He explains he kidnapped them to get the U.S. government's attention finally. Liz notes they don't negotiate with terrorists. He notes one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
He shows them the cages and notes business is good. He doesn't want to ransom them. He's mad about an ancient, corrupt U.S. business deal for a chemical plant that is now killing and sickening the people of the land. He can't get any help for them from the U.S. or anyone else. He snagged the CIA agent to get attention. The U.S. claims the water around the plant is safe. He knows it is not and says he started a test of his own. He pulls a man out of a vat of water and he is covered in lesions and burns from the water. He says to show the U.S. the truth and the negotiations for the CIA agent will start tomorrow. The guy was a VP at the company that owned the chemical plant. The company never reported him missing.
At the hospital the man is treated and the doctor confirms that he was contaminated by oil development chemicals. Another exec from the company arrives and thanks Ressler for saving his life. He claims he just flew in but Ressler IDs him as the guy watching them at the airport. He admits he has been there 3 weeks trying to negotiate the guy's release but that Denisov's demands were too high and that they didn't involve the government because the man's family was scared. But Ressler knows it's the oil company that was scared.
The grumpy Uzbek official from before is mad that Denisov is talking to the FBI. Liz points out he contacted them. The official insists it's his case and that Liz and Ressler will stay under guard at the hotel and if they interfere he will throw them in jail.
Red and Ressler have a drink and Red says he's impressed by Denisov being a "man of the people." Ressler says that Denisov is a thug that doesn't even know what he wants. Red offer his help to attend their "meeting" with Denisov. But they know the secret way through the elevator. They tell Denisov the U.S. government and the oil company wants to make it right. Denisov says that's good since he's just a thug that doesn't even know what he wants, repeating Ressler's words back to him. Red arrives to negotiate on his behalf and pretends that he doesn't know Liz and Ressler. (But if he heard Ressler's words wouldn't he have heard Red's?)
Cooper catches up the CIA and FBI directors up on proceedings and that they know the agent is alive and where the compound is leaking. The CIA wants to raid and the FBI says to stay the course for now.
Red reassures Denisov that he's all set. Liz and Ressler are super-annoyed at Red and his BS. He proposes goign on a field trip.
They go to the contaminated village. It is in the air and water and food. They boil the water and it does not matter. They see many, many sick people. Red points out that the oil company and the government calculated that these lives were not as important as their pipeline. Liz says they should put pressure on the State Department to clean up this mess and Red says he will make sure the CIA agent is released.
While she is there she gets a call from the D.C. cop who asks about the dead harbormaster, who as far as he knows is just missing. She clams up and says the story she told the harbormaster was a cover and can't say more and wishes him luck.
Red reports to Liz that Denisov isn't interested in their offer on the State Department looking into it.
The CIA did an end-run and the director orders a hit on the compound and tells an agent on the ground that he wants deniability for the agency and that local authorities will be handling the investigation.
While Red and Liz watch a dance performance at the restaurant at the hotel,-- with him talking about how it is like negotiation--the attack is carried out at the compound. He looks askance and she asks what's wrong and he says everything.
Denisov shows up after the attack to discover all of his hostages are gone.
Liz and Ressler get the call about the attack the next morning from the Post Office gang. Cooper realizes it was Hayworth, the CIA guy, who gave up the address of the compound. Red yells at Cooper for trusting Hayworth and he says that Denisov is uncontrollable and that Denisov may not trust him and Red doesn't trust Cooper and them. Turns out that Red told Denisov to move the hostages before the attack so the CIA did not get them.
Red goes to where the hostages are being held. Denisov is livid shooting people. He almost shoots the CIA agent but Red talks him down saying he needs this agent for leverage and to keep the U.S. government off his back. He says he has to send a message but Red points out that Denisov needs to have a next move first and that he needs to figure out an endgame. Red asks the agent to be forthcoming about why he was embedded, illegally, there because he knows there's a secret about a man named Jobim.
Burke explains: He's an old school corrupt politician, very wealthy, possibly insane, very religious, a self-flagellator. He made the deal with the American oil company and got a lot of money as kickbacks. All the sick people are his fault. We see him flogging himself.
He then goes to church to confess. In the confessional Red busts him. Denisov drags him out and Red asks him all of the pertinent info about the oil rights. He tries to refuse. Densov waterboards him in holy water. He gives it up pretty quickly.
Liz goes to Ressler and tells him about the DC harbormaster and how Tom killed him and how the police are now looking for him. Ressler asks if there were any witnesses and we cut to her big Aaron Neville-esque guy Sam that she was using to watch Tom getting interrogated by the police. Sam tries to stonewall him and is nervous.
Red calls Liz and Ressler and says negotiations are back on. Red meets them and the guy from the oil company with Jobim, who has a ledger full of information about the oil company and the first pipeline they built four years before the contracts say, which killed even more people. Jobim was paid by the oil company to cover it up. The oil exec who says it's just the story of a crazy old man. Except he has the documents. The exec offers reparations and to fix it. Red says the Uzbek don't want reparations they want them to leave. The exec says that's crazy until Red says agents are on the way to one of the mass graves right now and they will expose them in 24 hours unless they have a deal. The guy asks for some water. Red offers him a jar full from the contaminated village.
We cut to the oily oil exec giving a press conference saying they are ceasing operation of their local pipeline. The CIA agent is being released.
Red and Dembe confront the grumpy Uzbek official.
Sam tells the cops that he can take them to the body of the dead harbormaster.
Liz and Ressler go to pick up the agent. The CIA has people waiting in the wood to kill Red at the exchange. Just as the CIA director Hayworth is about to give the order to shoot Cooper busts into his office and says he's in big trouble with the Justice Department. Hayworth tells his men to stand down.
Denisov asks Red to get him out of the country since the grumpy official is after him. Red says he can but he won't. He delivers the official to him in a box marked "U.S. Humanitarian Aid." Red tells him to start looking at the big picture and says he could run this country and be a hero. He pats him on the armor.
Liz overhears a news report that a new pipeline is being built by a French company. Liz realizes that Red helped orchestrate this. Red says the bad pipeline is shut down, the victims get restitution, and a new, state of the art pipeline is installed by the French. And, she points out, he gets a payday from the French. He thinks everybody wins. She knows this is classic, scummy Red.
Back in D.C. Aram reports back to Liz that the little box is an ancient recording device, from the 80s, but he doesn't know how it works. She tells him not to talk to Red about it.
Sam makes a deal with the police: no jail time if he tells the story of the dead harbormaster that he brought them to. He says they won't believe his story. The cop asks him to tell him about Elizabeth Keen.
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