The Blacklist Declassified

🔴 Easy-Search Season 9 Scripts

 
Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-c3J
 

NBC’s series The Blacklist created by: Jon Bokenkamp

 
This is all one “page” meaning you can use your browser’s page search to find a quote you remember from Season 9 without knowing which episode it’s in. I use this a lot. Also includes full lyrics to main songs (at end of each episode). To find beginning of major songs, search for ♫.

⭕ For Season 1 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: http://wp.me/pDKwi-16b
⭕ For Season 2 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: http://wp.me/pDKwi-1m8
⭕ For Season 3 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: http://wp.me/pDKwi-1Tj
⭕ For Season 4 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: http://wp.me/pDKwi-3lZ
⭕ For Season 5 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: http://wp.me/pDKwi-5Ey
⭕ For Season 6 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: https://wp.me/pDKwi-8Mi
⭕ For Season 7 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: https://wp.me/pDKwi-9MZ
⭕ For Season 8 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: https://wp.me/pDKwi-awu
⭕ For Season 9 Easy-Search scripts, you are here—: https://wp.me/pDKwi-c3J

⭕ For For All Scripts listed individually, with added features (photos, music links and embedded videos, complete navigation, notes, etc), follow this link: https://wp.me/PDKwi-14P

 
You can use your browser’s navigation ~
or use the blue arrow ⬆ to return to the top of each episode
or use the blue double-arrow ⏫ to return to the very top. Enjoy!
 

🔴 Episode 9:1 – The Skinner  
🔴 Episode 9:2 – The Skinner Part 2
🔴 Episode 9:3 – The SPK
🔴 Episode 9:4 – The Avenging Angel
🔴 Episode 9:5 – Benjamin T Okara
🔴 Episode 9:6 – Dr Roberta Sand PhD
🔴 Episode 9:7 – Between Sleep and Awake
🔴 Episode 9:8 – Dr Razmik Maier
🔴 Episode 9:9 – Boukman Baptiste
🔴 Episode 9:10 – Arcane Wireless
🔴 Episode 9:11 – The Conglomerate
🔴 Episode 9:12 – The Chairman
🔴 Episode 9:13 – Genuine Models Inc
🔴 Episode 9:14 – Eva Mason
🔴 Episode 9:15 – Andrew Kennison
🔴 Episode 9:16 – Helen Maghi
🔴 Episode 9:17 – El Conejo
🔴 Episode 9:18 – Laszlo Jankowics
🔴 Episode 9:19 – The Bear Mask
🔴 Episode 9:20 – Caelum Bank
🔴 Episode 9:21 – Marvin Gerard Part 1
🔴 Episode 9:22 – Marvin Gerard Part 2
 
🔴 Skip to End of File

🔴 Script 9:1 The Skinner (№ 45)

 
Program air date: 10/21/2021 in the US
Script Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-cbA
TVLine Recap: https://bit.ly/3m4sXMB
 

Brief (Where we’re at): “After Elizabeth, there is nothing” – Red

Two years have passed …

⭕ Script 9:1 The Skinner (№ 45)

 
 
Cooper: Previously on “The Blacklist”:
⋘⋙
Cooper: [ To Liz ] If you took over for Reddington, inherited the Blacklist–
⋘⋙
Red: One task, then it’s done.
Liz: What could possibly be left for me to do?
Red: To take my life.
⋘⋙
[ Outside Red’s restaurant, Liz points her gun at Red but can’t pull the trigger ]
Liz: I can’t do it.
Red: It’s all right.
[ Gunshot 💥 ] [ Liz is hit by a bullet from behind. It was shot by Vandyke, one of Neville Townsend’s loyal henchmen, in retaliation for Red killing Townsend ]
[ Red takes in what has happened, shoots 💥💥💥 Vandyke, and returns to Liz, but she dies ]
[ Dembe tugs at Red ]
Dembe: Raymond, we must. I’m sorry.
[ Red lays Liz down, her head on his hat, and they leave ]
[ Ressler arrives, kneeling and leaning over Liz as a pool of blood spreads ]
⋘⋙
Liz’s Voice: How does it end?
Red’s Voice: You’ll find out.

 
[ Two years later ]
[ A large shipping dock ] [ Ship 🔊horn blares ]
[ Two workers wearing hard hats are talking. One is Dembe Zuma. The other is named Ken Laver ]
Dembe: Her name is Elizabeth?
Ken Laver: Do you believe in love at first sight? I didn’t. Not until she walked into that restaurant.
Dembe: I knew an Elizabeth.
Ken: You know, I’ve only known her for two weeks, but when you know, you know, am I right?
Dembe: I never did, but I’m glad you do.
Ken: So, tell me about her. Your Elizabeth.
Dembe: She wasn’t my Elizabeth. She was my friend. She died two years ago.
Ken: I’m sorry.
Dembe: Hey.
[ A black SUV pulls up ] [ A Beefy Merc gets out ]
Dembe:The truck’s loaded up. Wire the payment, and you’re good to go.
Beefy Merc: Yeah, listen. Uh, about that–
[ Another man gets out. He goes by the name Clayton Beck ]
Dembe: [ To the Beefy Merc ] The agreement was you come alone.
Clayton Beck: Agreements change. [ Chuckles ] My associate’s a trusting fellow. He sees nothing but possibility in stealing a truckload of precious microchips, especially when one of the eagerly corrupt port employees asks a lot of questions. So I asked some of my own.
[ Two more men get out of the SUV ]
Clayton: He’s a cop.
[ All three security men aim their guns at Ken ] [ Guns cock ]
Clayton: [ To Dembe ] What should I do about that?
Dembe: Make sure he’s never found.
[ Gun cocks ] [ Clayton hands his gun to Dembe ]
Clayton: Kill him. Go on. Your partner’s a cop. Show me you’re not one, too.
[ Dembe shoots Ken in the chest ] [ Gunshot 💥 ] [ Ken falls ]
Beefy Merc: See? I told you. Nothing to worry about.
Clayton: Hmm.
[ He walks over to Ken Laver and looks at the bullet hole ]
Clayton: There’s no blood.
[ Clayton shoots Ken in the leg ] [ Gunshot 💥 ]
[ Ken screams ]
Clayton: Like I said, he’s very trusting.
[ Ken groaning ]
Clayton: [ To Dembe ] Up.
[ Dembe raises his arms ] [ Ken screaming ]
[ Clayton frisks Dembe. He finds identification in Dembe’s pocket ]
Clayton: Ah. Looky here. Special Agent Dembe Zuma. FBI.
[ Clayton walks over to Ken and points his gun ]
Ken: No, no!
[ Clayton shoots 💥 Ken in the forehead ]
Clayton: See what the FBI knows first, then kill him and get rid of the bodies. You, get the truck. Go.
[ Clayton Beck gets back in the black SUV and it leaves ]
Dembe: There’s a diamond ring in his pocket.
Beefy Merc: Oh, I’m through trusting you.
Dembe: It’s two carats at least.
[ The Beefy Merc finds the ring ]
Beefy Merc: Well, well. What do you know?
[ With the Beefy Merc distracted and the the truck loaded with microprocessors driving off, Dembe goes for the other man’s gun, gets it and shoots him💥]
Beefy Merc: No! No, no, no! [ Dembe shoots the Beefy Merc 💥💥 ]
[ Dembe runs after the truck, shooting through the windshield. It slams into some several terminals marked “Marine Fuel” and explodes 💥🔥‼️🔥💥 ]
[ Dembe does not escape the flames ]

 
[ Aram Mojtabai sits at a conference table. There is a large display screen showing a news broadcast ]

TV Host: A shootout at a Los Angeles port left one FBI agent dead and another wounded, raising fears about disruption in the supply of vital microchips. With us to discuss the incident is former FBI deputy director Harold Cooper. So, what happened and why?
Cooper: The “why” is simple. The world runs on microchips. Our phones, our cars, the planes we fly in. The concern is that America manufactures only 12% of the world’s semiconductors. The most advanced chips are manufactured in Taiwan. 🔘 [See Note] If our ability to import them is threatened, then so is our economy.
TV Host: You say the attempted theft poses a national-security threat.
Cooper: Absolutely.

[ Aram’s colleague, Nick Faria, enters ]
Nick Faria: What are you watching?
Aram, My ex-boss.

Cooper: The target was a shipment transported from Asia. The Bureau assigned an undercover team to infiltrate and identify the perpetrators, which I’m told they were unable to do.
TV Host: In the past two years, this country has seen–

Nick: Come on. Why are we listening to this? You aren’t taking the meeting with Conroy seriously.
Aram: It’s okay. I’m prepared for it.

Cooper: –rise in crime–

Nick: No one’s prepared for Conroy. You endure Conroy. You suffer him. You supplicate yourself in the microscopically vain hope that he will agree to be an angel investor in our idea, which, to date, is notable only for costing us our life savings. So, you know–

Cooper: So when they–

[ Nick clicks the TV off 🔅]
Nick: I need you to focus on that, only that.
Aram: Okay. I got you, Nick.

 
[ In an auto shop, a man in jeans is working under a car ]
[ The same news broadcast is on ]

Cooper: Criminal empires are like authoritarian regimes. Most often ruled by a single, all-powerful leader. When that power becomes decentralized or fractured, it leads to a period of chaos and instability.

[ The man working under the car emerges. It’s Donald Ressler, but he doesn’t look the same. At one point code-named “crew cut” and seemingly never having a hair out of place, he’s now bearded with a tangled mess of orange hair on top. He watches the tv broadcast ]

Cooper: So when the leader of a criminal organization steps down or dies, there’s inevitably a rise in crime as others fight for control over what he left behind.

Ressler: [ Under his breath ] Reddington.

TV Host: Are you saying powerful crime bosses can actually make the world safer?
Cooper: There are a lot of criminals that we don’t know exist. The best of the crime bosses know them all and have the power to keep many of them in check. So, when they stop doing that, then, yes, the world is less safe as a result.

 
[ Dembe lies in a hospital bed with a Nurse working on him. He is obviously in pain ]
[ Dembe groaning ]
Nurse: I can boost your meds.
Dembe: [ Groans ] It’s fine.
[ Cooper enters ]
Cooper: My friend. I came as soon as I could. How is he?
Nurse: Stubborn. His flak jacket acted like a furnace. He’s got third-degree burns on his upper arms and torso and not enough pain meds in his system.
Dembe: Not until we talk.
Nurse: So you’re the reason. I’ll give you a few minutes. Please talk. So he can have some peace.
[ The Nurse leaves with her cart ] [ Wheels rolling ]
Dembe: I need to find him. The man who killed Laver. [ Groaning ] The passcode– I-S-H-Q. The first photo. Six months undercover, I don’t know the buyer. All I have is that.
[ Cooper uses Dembe’s phone to look at a photo of a tattoo ]
Dembe: Both mercs had it.
Cooper: Do you know what it means?
Dembe: No. Neither does anyone at the Bureau. But we both know who might.
Cooper: When was the last time you spoke?
Dembe: A year and a half. I can’t reach him. But you have Agnes, so I assume you can. What’s the protocol? How do we make contact?

 
[ Cooper walks along a sidewalk. Using chalk, he make a large white “X” on the side of a Post Office box ]
[ Cooper’s Cellphone chimes✨ ] [ A message comes up giving an address in — Cuba ]
Cooper: I’m getting too old for this.

 
[ Clayton Beck is talking with an older man, Vincent Duke, who is practicing his golf drive using a machine at a golf course ]
Vincent Duke: What were you thinking? Killing an FBI agent. You’re putting us at risk. Jeopardizing the brand.
[ Thunder rumbling in distance ]
Clayton Beck: You gave me this opportunity, so I come to you when you call and I listen to you blah-blah-blah about playing it so safe that if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were once the CEO of an insurance company. But I do know better. Certainly better than some old fool the world’s passed by. What you see as a problem I see as an opportunity.
Vincent: I doubt the buyer thinks his microchips getting incinerated is much of an opportunity.
Clayton: Plan “A” was to get the product. Plan “B” is to get to the secret to how the product is made. That way, the buyer can make the product themselves.
Vincent: There’s gonna be an investigation. Things could get exposed. If I were you, I’d let it go.
Clayton: You were me. And you gave it all up to play golf.
[ Clayton takes a golf iron from Vincent’s golf bag ]
Clayton: May I borrow this?
Vincent: You gonna hit some balls?
Clayton: Yeah. I might give ’em a whack.

 
[ Taipei, Taiwan ]
[ Kuo Pai-Han is shackled to a rail inside a warehouse. Clayton Beck toys with the golf iron ]
Kuo Pai-Han: It’s not my fault. I told you everything I knew about where the chips would be. How could I know the FBI was watching the port in Los Angeles?
Clayton Beck: That’s all in the past. Now the plans have changed. I need to know how to make them, the knowledge and the processing software. Luckily, the person who can give me both is your boss. Where does he live?
Kuo Pai-Han: I don’t know.
Clayton: You golf? Are the fingers supposed to be interlocked? Forget it. Heh. If I get it wrong, I’ll take a, uh– What do you call it?
Kuo Pai-Han: A mulligan?
Clayton: Yes. A mulligan. Thank you.
[ Clayton⚡️whacks⚡️Kuo Pai-Han on the head with the golf iron ]
[ Kuo Pai-Han groans ]

 
[ Havana, Cuba ]
[ Upbeat latin music plays ] [ ✨Bell jingles✨ ] [ Harold Cooper walks into a bar ]
Bartender: Perfect timing.
Cooper: I’m not here to drink.
Bartender: I know why you’re here. I’ve sent for the doctor.
Cooper: I came to see Reddington.
Bartender: Which is why I called the doctor. Like you, I follow protocol. Put a mark on a mailbox, I call the doctor. If Reddington wants you to find him, you will. If he doesn’t, you won’t. Sit.
[ He pushes a cocktail toward Cooper ]
Bartender: Drink. The doctor will be here soon.
[ He pushes a piece of paper toward him as well ]
Bartender: A list of sights to see in Havana. I highly recommend La Cabaña.
[ Cooper takes a sip ]
Cooper: I’m leaving. As soon as I speak with Reddington.
Bartender: I’m sure you will. But that won’t be for a few days. [ Echoing ] There was a flood in the Amazon.
Cooper: [ Wearily ] The Amazon? I thought he was in Cu– Cuba. [ Echoing ]
[ Cooper’s vision blurs ]
Bartender: He might be. Eventually.
Cooper: I can’t wait. This–
[ Door opens, bell ✨jingles✨ ] [ A man enters ]
Cooper: Why I came, it’s–urgent.
[ Cooper passes out, his head on the bar counter ]
Bartender: Once you finish your scan and his identify is verified, I’ll call the sisters.
[ The man peels back Cooper eyelid and does a retina scan ] [ Beeping ••• ••• ]

 
[ Cooper finds himself in a large darkened room, backlit with red light ]
[ A woman is chanting in Kaqchikel, an ancient Mayan language 🔘 [See Note] ] [ Her name is Mierce Xiu. Her sister, Weecha, stands on guard nearby ]
Mierce Xiu: Look at me. Come closer.
Cooper: I’m here to see Reddington.
[ She continues chanting in Kaqchikel while running an egg around Cooper’s face. She hands him the egg ]
Mierce: Crack it into the water.
[ He cracks the egg into a glass of water ]
Mierce: What do you see? The shape. Tell me.
Cooper: A cloudy orb.
Mierce: The sun breaking through the clouds.
Cooper: Is that good or bad?
Mierce: You may pass. Very few do. Go. I will watch over you.
⋘⋙
[ Cooper enters a room through a red-lit door. Red is seated inside, pouring water into a glass from a pitcher. His head is completely shaved. On the table lies a crumpled hat ]
[ Liquid pouring ] [ Pitcher thuds on table ]
Red: How is Agnes?
Cooper: She’s good. Thriving.
Red: I see you’ve met Weecha.
Cooper: And a bartender who drugged me, and a shaman who rubbed me with an egg.
Red: Hm. Weecha protects my body, Mierce my soul. I wouldn’t have survived the past two years if I hadn’t found them. What do you want, Harold?
Cooper: It’s about Dembe.
Red: How is Special Agent Zuma?
Cooper: In the hospital with third-degree burns. His partner was shot and killed. We don’t know anything about the assailants except for this tattoo.
Red: You don’t want to show me that.
Cooper: I do if it will help Dembe.
Red: During the past two years, I’ve learned what to hold onto and what to let go of. If I look at that, if I come back – even once – I fear all that work will be for nothing. There would be names to be taken, people would be held accountable. Down the line, things would get very dark.
Cooper: Then don’t come back. But tell me what I need to know.
[ Cooper holds up a photo Dembe had taken of the men’s tattoo ]
Cooper: The symbol. Do you know it?
Red: Yes.
Cooper: You know who we’re looking for?
Red: I do. A 700-year-old pirate.

 
[ Taipei, Taiwan ]
[ Chen Yu-Lan, with his wife Wei and his young daughter Shu, are waiting for a cab. Chen Yu-Lan’s assistant, Kuo Pai-Han, briefs him on his itinerary ]
[ Conversing in Mandarin ]
Kuo Pai-Han: It’s all here: Hotel address, plane tickets, rental car info.
Chen Yu-Lan: I’d be lost without you. Don’t look so worried. If the meetings go well, we could be building a new manufacturing plant in America by this time next year.”
Kuo Pai-Han: You’ll land in New York tomorrow. You’ll have a day the see the sights before flying to Washington DC for your meetings.
Wei (Chen Yu-Lan’s wife ): Please tell me you’re doing something fun while we’re away.
Chen Yu-Lan: Pai-Han’s idea of fun is trying to figure out what happened at that port. I’ve told him to leave it to the police, but he won’t let it go.
Kuo Pai-Han: If you need anything– If anything happens– call me.
Shu (Chen Yu-Lan’s daughter): You’re silly. What could happen?
Kuo Pai-Han: Nothing. Don’t listen to me. Go. Have fun.
[ The cab arrives and picks up the family ]
[ As soon as they are gone, Kuo Pai-Han places a call ] [ Cellphone unlocks, speed-dialing ]
Kuo Pai-Han: [ In English ] I’m sending you his itinerary. Chen is staying at the Fountain Grand with his wife and daughter.
Clayton Beck: [ On phone ] The more the merrier.

 
[ An FBI raid is in progress ] [ Agents break down the door of a house ]
— FBI! Open the door!
— Put your hands where we can see them!
— Put your hands where we can see them!
[ Agent Alina Park follows the other agents inside ]
Agent Park: You’re all dead! Well! That sucked! Perkins?
Perkins: We didn’t sweep every room.
Park: And the first rule after a breach?
Perkins: Sweep every room. Let’s run it again.
⋘⋙
[ Park leads the agents out of the house. She sees Cooper ]
Park: [ Chuckles ]
Cooper: Hello, Alina.
Park: I heard about Dembe. How is he?
Cooper: Not good. Which is why I came. We have a case.
Park: I’m not a field agent anymore.
Cooper: And I’m not with the Bureau. But Dembe asked me to do this. Now I’m asking you. Just this once.
Park: I trained Ken, and I want to help Dembe.
Cooper: Congratulations, by the way, on the wedding. I’m happy for you.
Park: It’s been great. And if I want to keep it that way, I can’t go back to the field. I promised Peter I wouldn’t go back.
Cooper: I didn’t know you trained Ken.
Park: He was in my first class. He was a good agent and a better man.
Cooper: I know the stress that field work can put on you. I do. And, still, I’m asking. That’s how important I think this is.

 
[ Aram is making a presentation to potential angel investor Henry Conroy ]
Aram: So, Flagify is a company that warns clients about security issues or red flags. It has multiple platforms, each designed to fulfill a different security need. Now, ShadowSee is piracy detection. It scans up to a million websites an hour to determine if a specific product is being used in violation to copyright restrictions. Now, Greylock uses key words to, um– [ Cellphone buzzing »»»» ] [ The sender is “Cooper” ]
Aram: I’m sorry. It’s, uh– Nothing. It’s nothing.
[ Cellphone buzzing »»»» ]
[ Click ✵ ]
Henry Conroy: You were talking about Greylock.
Aram: Yes. Greylock uses key words to determine sentiment analysis. This function has a forensic– [ Cellphone buzzing »»»» ]
Aram: Oh, dear. Uh, I think I should take this. I’m– I’m so sorry.
Conroy: I don’t invest in sorry. I invest in focus and concentration. In the people who have it. Not in the people who don’t.
[ Conroy gets up and leaves ]
Aram: Just– Um– Just– Um– Sir?
Nick: My parents took out a second mortgage for us. So tell whoever that is he just cost them their house.
Aram: One second. Nick, Nick.
[ Nick leaves ] [ Aram answers the call ]
Aram: Mr. Cooper.

 
[ Siren🚨wails. It’s night at the hospital ]
[ Red enters Dembe’s hospital room, accompanied by Weecha ]
[ Monitor beeping 🔅🔅🔅 ]
[ Dembe is sleeping. Red looks at him. Emotions play across his face ]

 
[ Cooper opens his front door. Aram is there ]
Cooper: I hope it wasn’t a bad time to bother you.
Aram: It wasn’t bad. It was a horribly bad time.
Cooper: There’s the Scotch.
[ Knock on door ✽ ] [ Park is there ]
Cooper: What did Peter say?
Park: What makes you think I told him?
[ Door closes ]
[ Park and Aram hug ]
Cooper: Thanks for coming. Let’s get started.
Aram: Uh, what about Ressler?

[ Flashback: ]
[ Ressler is at the garage, working on a car. Cooper enters ]
Cooper: Nice ride.
Ressler: The answer’s no.
Cooper: You don’t even know what I’m gonna ask.
Ressler: Well, I know you came all the way to Detroit to ask it. I saw you on the news talking about Reddington. At least it sounded like Reddington.
Cooper: I was just answering the question.
Ressler: Then, please, answer mine – Is Reddington involved?
Cooper: Not really.
Ressler: “Not really” isn’t “no.” Which is my answer.

Cooper: He still blames Reddington for what happened.
Aram: We all do. Well, uh, I guess the difference for me and– and maybe you guys, as well, is that I believe Mr. Reddington blames himself. Um, and I forgive him for it.
Cooper: The Silicon Shield. Tell me what you know about it.
Aram: Right. Um, it’s a term used to describe the protection Taiwan gets for being the sole manufacturer of next-gen microchips – protection from America, which might go to war to prevent the supply from being disrupted.
Cooper: Which means we’re talking about a tripwire, one the Skinner apparently wants to trip.
Park: “The Skinner”?
Cooper: Right. How to explain this. According to Reddington, highway robbery and plunder may not be the world’s second-oldest profession–

[ Flashback: ]
Red: –second-oldest profession, but it runs a close third. The Skinner practices a well documented version of brigandage. The dacoits in India. Gentlemen Reivers in Scotland. In Devonshire, the Gubbings. In America, Highwaymen. Different countries, different centuries. All outlaws. And in France.

Cooper: And in France. The ecorcheurs.
Aram: The flayers.
Cooper: Armed bands who rose up in opposition to Charles VII. They took what they wanted, and when people resisted, they burned their feet in fire.
[ Cooper shows Aram and Park the photo of the tattoo ]
Cooper: The mercs Dembe shot all had this. Fire, surrounding the letter “S,” for the “Skinners,” who burn people alive.
Park: So we know who they were. Who are they know?

[ Flashback: ]
Red: The original Skinner died quite suddenly in 1452. He had a fearsome reputation, and his followers worried that, without him, their days were numbered. So, as no one knew he had died, they elevated one of their own to take his place, beginning a line of succession that continues to this day. The Skinner is more myth than man, so the identity of the man personifying the myth has always been a carefully guarded secret.

Aram: And does Mr. Reddington know the secret?
Cooper: If he does, he’s not saying.
Aram: What? He’s not coming back? E– Come on. Even for Dembe? How– How is that possible?
Cooper: I don’t know. And he wouldn’t say. All I do know is it’s our job to find the current Skinner, whose goal it was to steal 800,000 of the world’s most advanced microchips. Dembe stopped him once. Unless we find him, I’m sure he’ll try again.
Aram: Before we do that– I know none of us expected to be here, and it’s– It’s hard. And it’s a little weird. But, um, if it’s okay with you, I’d, uh, like us to take a moment to, uh, to remember Liz. You know, uh, together. Think we can do that?
Cooper: I’m embarrassed I didn’t suggest it myself.
[ They join hands and close their eyes ]

 
[ Dog barking ]
[ Mierce chanting in Kaqchikel ] [ Candles burn and smoke rises from incense ]
[ In the ambient light, Red inspects Agnes’s drawings on the refrigerator in Cooper’s kitchen ]
[ Cooper appears ]
Red: I bet she’s happy here.
Cooper: She’s also asleep.
[ Chanting stops ]
Red: Mierce has powers, Harold. All for the good.
Cooper: Agnes is fine.
Red: What if I wanted to see her?
Cooper: I don’t think that’d be a good idea.
Red: [ Pause ] Right. I don’t know who the current Skinner is, but I do know his predecessor, and that’s where we’re gonna start.

 
[ Aram and Park and in one vehicle, Cooper is in another. They talk over comms ]
Park: He just showed up? In the middle of the night? With a witch?
Cooper: The more you think about it, the less sense it makes.
Aram: It makes as much sense as a Skinner living in a retirement community.
Cooper: Don’t let the salmon shirt fool you. Remember what Reddington told me about the old Skinner.

[ Flashback: ]
Red: His name is Vincent Duke. He ran the organization for almost 30 years. Built on its history of hijacking whatever commodity was most in demand. His predecessors commandeered guns from the Spanish Armada, gold from Russian tsars. Duke’s plunder was a little more contemporary, everything from intellectual property to uranium.
Cooper: If you know him, why do you need our help to make contact?
Red: We had a falling-out. Over a word.
Cooper: One word?
Red: [ Chuckles ] Yes. “Ex.” As in ex-wife. Apparently, she wasn’t.

Park: Here we go.
[ Vincent Duke walks out of a seaside house, acompanied by a body guards, They get into a vehicle ] [ Engine starts ]
Aram: Sir, are you ready for this?
Cooper: I’m not looking forward to it, if that’s what you mean.
Park: He’s leaving the country club, turning onto Saw Mill Road. He’s heading your way.
Cooper: I have a twenty.
[ Cooper pulls in front of the other car ]
[ Tires squealing ] [ 💥Crash💥 ]
Bodyguard: You all right, sir?
Vincent Duke: I’m fine. Go. Deal with it and get us out of here quickly.
[ Steam hissing ]
Cooper: What the hell happened?
Bodyguard: That’s my question. You slammed on the brakes!
Cooper: I don’t believe this! I just bought this car! It’s brand-new!
[ Siren 🚨wails ]
Bodyguard: You stopped short!
Cooper: I stop– Oh, so this is my fault? You hit me from behind!
[ Aram and Park step out of a police cruiser, wearing officer uniforms ]
Aram: Everybody! Step to the side of the road now! Who was driving?
Driver: I was. And this man. [ Indicating Cooper ]
[ Radio chatter ]
[ Park sees the gun the bodyguard is wearing ]
Park: Hands in the air!
Bodyguard: Whoa! Take it easy. I’m licensed to carry.
Park: Up against the car, now!
Bodyguard: We’re both armed security!
Aram: If that’s true, then there’s nothing to worry about, but we are gonna have to check it out.
[ Park takes the Bodyguard’s gun; Aram takes the Driver’s gun ]
[ Vincent Duke gets out of the car ]
Vincent Duke: What’s going on? Officer, this was an accident.
Aram: Sir, I’m gonna have to ask you to stay right there, please.
[ Aram and Park get the Bodyguard and Driver into the cruiser ]
Cooper: [ On comms ] Let’s wrap this up before anyone else can crash the party.
[ The cruiser leaves with the Bodyguard and Driver. Cooper also leaves ]
[ A large black SUV pulls up alongside Vincent ]
[ Horn honks ] [ The side window rolls down. Red is inside ]
Red: Vincent. Need a lift?

 
Vincent: That’s why you’ve kidnapped me. To ask me to betray my own organization.
Red: No. To urge you to save it.
Vincent: What makes you think it needs saving?
Red: Well, I know about the microchips and the dead FBI agent and the one in intensive care. I know port security has increased as a result, which certainly hurts my organization.
Vincent: Oh, so you’re not here to help me. You’re here to save yourself. Self-serving as always.
Red: How is Bianca?
Vincent: No idea. You’d have to ask the golf pro.
Red: The last thing you and I want is the American government on alert, adding billions to Homeland Security.
Vincent: Is that really gonna happen? Over a shipment of microchips?
Red: SCG microchips that, apparently, none of the brilliant minds in America know how to make. Any hint of a weak link in that supply chain will be viewed as a huge national-security threat.
Vincent: I don’t like what he did, but I have no influence on my successor. Believe me. I’ve tried to exert it.
Red: You picked an unworthy successor. That’s not a judgment. I failed spectacularly when I tried. But it’s true, and something needs to be done about it. I’m sorry about the golf pro, by the way.
Vincent: Don’t be. Before they ran off, he fixed my slice. All in all, a pretty fair exchange.
[ Red smiles ]

 
[ Children shouting playfully ] [ Red’s SUV is parked across the street from a girls’ soccer game ]
Red: [ On the phone ] Vincent, you’re certain? Beck? Thank you, Vincent. I’ll call you when it’s resolved.
[ Beep🔅]
[ Speed-dialing, line ringing✨]
Cooper: [ Answering ] Cooper.
Red: Harold. I have news. The Skinner is in New York at the Fountain Grand, under the name Clayton Beck.
Cooper: You trust Duke’s intel? That he’s willing to betray his successor?
Red: He understands that the legacy is more important than any one Skinner.
Cooper: Why New York? It can’t be the microchips. They’re not shipped to the East Coast.
Red: Perhaps he’s found another way to skin this cat. Listen. I have Edward standing by. If you want it, you can be wheels up as soon as you’re ready.
Cooper: That’s a generous offer, and I’ll take you up on it, but before I do, I wanted to circle back to Agnes, our conversation earlier.
Red: You were clear about boundaries.
Cooper: Yes, and I want to thank you for respecting them.
Red: Elizabeth made you Agnes’ guardian. She was confident that you’d do right by her. I have no doubt that you have and you will.
[ Beep🔅, phone closes ]
Mierce: When will you tell me? What she means to you?
Red: I can tell you now. She means everything to me.

 
[ An airport ] [ Plane engines rumbling ]
[ Park is inside Red’s plane, talking to her husband Peter on her cell phone ]
Park: I’m sorry, but something’s come up. I don’t know how late, but– Yes, as soon as possible. Mm-hmm. Love you, too.
[ Beep🔅]
Cooper: Take it from me – keeping secrets is not the secret to a happy marriage.
Park: I’m not keeping secrets. I’m – keeping the peace.
Cooper: Is it possible Peter will understand?
Park: How could he? I don’t. What am I doing in the field? I left for my mental health.
[ Ressler enters ]
Ressler: Yeah, well, you and me both.
Cooper: Well – Here’s a pleasant surprise.
Ressler: Aram called me about Dembe.
Cooper: I’m sure he’ll appreciate your concern.
Ressler: Well, I came out of concern and curiosity – about his health and, uh, how the hell he became an agent.
Park: You look a mess.
Cooper: Where’s Aram, anyway?
Ressler: Well, that’s another reason I’m here– to take his place. He called, said he had to bail. Something about everything he’s been working on for the past two years blowing up in his face and him needing to try to fix it.
Cooper: You were right, by the way. Reddington is involved. Sort of.
Ressler: Then for his sake, I hope we’re never in the same room together. But Aram tells me we’re going after some 700-year-old pirate?
Cooper: We don’t know his real name, but Dembe’s given us a description, and Reddington’s told us he’s on his way to a hotel in New York, and so are we.

 
[ Cooper, Park and Ressler get out of a cab at a park in New York City ]
Cooper: You’re sure this is right? The concierge said that Beck came here?
Park: Said he asked for directions about an hour ago. Why? He didn’t know.
Ressler: Well, I’d say it’s a safe bet it’s not to smell the flowers.
Cooper: Well, whatever the reason, we’re not gonna leave here until we find out what it was.

 
[ Aram stands at the front door of a stately home. He clears his throat ]
Aram: Okay. Deep breath.
[ Doorbell rings✨] [ Maggie Conroy answers the door ]
Maggie Conroy: Oh. You’re not Eric and Barbara.
Aram: No. Not Eric and Barbara. Or– Or Eric. Or Barbara.
Henry Conroy: Honey, is that Eric and Barbara?
Aram: Hello. [ Chuckles ]
Conroy: [ Angrily ] You’ve got to be kidding me!
Aram: I know. I am way out of line, uh, coming to your home like this, but I was hoping, uh, you’d give me just, uh, two minutes to explain.
Conroy: You had your two minutes.
Aram: Well, actually, uh, you walked out after about a minute or so, so, technically, I have unused time on the clock. At least, um– At least about, uh, say, 40 seconds?
Conroy: You should leave.
Maggie Conroy: Come on, Henry. He’s here. And he’s flop sweating.
[ Aram looks at his armpit ]
Maggie: The party can spare your sparkling conversation for 40 seconds.
⋘⋙
[ Aram follows Conroy into an elegant library ]
Conroy: You’ll get your 40 seconds once my guests all have drinks in their hands.
Aram: Okay, I used to be an FBI agent. The call, during the pitch, it was from my old boss.
Conroy: You’re wasting your 40 seconds telling me about what you used to do for a living?
Aram: He needed help on a case with national security implications. He’s actually working the case now without me because I am here, with you, flop sweating.
Conroy: I’ll be back. Don’t sit. Don’t touch.
Aram: Gotcha.

 
[ The park in New York. Cooper, Park and Ressler have spread out, but speak to one another over comms ]
Ressler: So, Dembe’s an FBI agent now, huh?
Park: I think it’s cool.
Ressler: [ Sarcastically ] Special agent for the FBI.
Park: It sounds like you have a problem with that.
Ressler: Well. Problems, questions. We started with a background check. Did the Bureau abolish them?
Park: Hang on. That’s him. Right side of the statue.
Cooper: Maintain your position. What’s he doing?
Park: Watching the concession stand. Looks like he’s on comms.
Ressler: Which means he’s got company. All right. I’ve got a second suspect. Near the Madison Avenue exit.
Cooper: Careful. We have to assume they’re armed.
Ressler: He’s surveilling somebody by the vendor. The family buying hot dogs.
Cooper: I see them.
Ressler: Who in the hell is that?
[ It’s the family from Taipei, Chen Yu-Lan and his wife Wei and daughter Shu ]
Wei: [ Laughing ]
[ The family walks by Ressler; he takes photos ] [ Camera shutter clicking ¤ ¤ ¤ ]

 
[ At the Conroy’s house, Aram’s cell phone rings✨]
Cooper: I’m sending you a photo.
Aram: Sir, I, I told Ressler–
Cooper: I know what you told him, but the Skinner’s tracking someone, and I need you to tell me who.
Aram: Uh, I’m not at my desk.
Cooper: Then sit at someone else’s. Aram, this is important.
Aram: Hang on. Okay.
[ Aram looks at the photo ]
Aram: Um, an Asian man. That’s– That’s it?
Cooper: The chips come from Taiwan.
Aram: Okay. Great. That helps.
Cooper: SCG microchips.
Aram: All right. That’s better. That helps narrow it down.
Cooper: All you need to do us to hack into the employee database.
Aram: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That’s not great or– or better. I can’t do that. I mean, sir, I can do that. I know how to, but I can’t. Not– Not from here.
Cooper: Call me back with a name. [ Beep🔅]
Aram: Sir. Sir, I don’t– Sir? Sir.
[ Aram goes over to a laptop in the room ]
[ Keystrokes clacking ]
Aram: Oh. Okay. [ Muttering ]
[ He gets into SCG’s employee database and scrolls down the photos until he finds a match: Chen Yu-Lan is the Chief Technology Officer ]
Aram: Yes! Boom. There you are.
[ Henry Conroy enters ]
Henry Conroy: What are you doing?
Aram: Nothing. Uh, not nothing. Uh, I needed to hack into a company’s website for just a second.
Conroy: [ Furious ] On my computer? In my house?!
Aram: I know. It looks really bad, doesn’t it? But my boss really needs this information.
⋘⋙
Park: Beck’s on the move.
⋘⋙
Conroy: I thought you weren’t working with the FBI.
Aram: I’m not. Technically. Bu– It’s complicated.
Conroy: No, it’s not. It’s simple, really. Get away from the computer, or I’ll have you arrested.
⋘⋙
[ Cooper makes a call ] [ Beep🔅, speed-dialing ••• ••• ]
⋘⋙
[ Aram’s cellphone rings✨]
Conroy: Do not answer that phone!
[ But Aram takes the call ] [ Phone unlocks, beeps🔅]
Aram: Sir, I have a name. Chen Yu-Lan. He’s SCG’s chief technology officer. Certainly someone who would have details to the company in question’s manufacturing process.
Cooper: He couldn’t steal the microchips, so he’s going after the man that made them. Great work, Aram.
[ Aram gets up and leaves, walking past Conroy who stands speechless ]
Aram: [ To Conroy ] All it takes is a little focus and concentration.

 
[ In the park ]
Ressler: All right. Beck’s following him out.
Cooper: Stop him! Move in, now!
[ A van pulls up ] [⚡️Tires screech⚡️]
[ Henchman grab Chen Yu-Lan and Wei ]
Henchman: Get in the van. Get in the van! Let’s go!
[ The couple is shoved into the van ]
[ Girl screaming ]
Henchman: Get in the van!
[ Clayton Beck grabs the daughter, Shu, and uses her as a shield ]
Park: Stop! FBI!
Clayton Beck: Tell J. Edgar Whoever-It-Is, the more you try to stop me, the more innocent people get hurt.
Wife: No!
[ Clayton shoves Shu into the van ]
[⚡️Tires squeal⚡️]

 
[ Monitor beeping🔅🔅🔅]
[ Red sits near Dembe’s bedside. Dembe’s eyes squint open. Through a haze he sees Red rise and step forward ]

 
[ It’s night. Red and Cooper ride in the black SUV ]
Cooper: Leave? You can’t leave. Not now.
Red: I did what I came to do, identified the Skinner.
Cooper: Who we now know has abducted a man capable of mass-producing the world’s most advanced microchips, as well as his wife and daughter.

 
[ One of the abductors, Portnoy, forces Chen Yu-Lan and his family ahead of him in a dark warehouse ]
Chen Yu-Lan: What’s happening? What are you doing?!
[ Portnoy⚡️slugs⚡️him ] [ Chen Yu-Lan grunts ]
[ Portnoy forces them to sit on the floor ]
Chen Yu-Lan: Why are you doing this?!
Portnoy: I’m doing this because I’m following orders. I was told to. If you’re smart, you’ll do the same.
[ Wei hugs Shu ] [ Breathing heavily ]

 
Red: I don’t know who his client is, but if I were the Skinner, I’d think big. The superpowers want to be self-sufficient. Who knows – it’s possible some government bankrolled this from the start.
Cooper: And you’re just gonna walk away?
Red: I recently spent time in a monastery above Boudhanath with sweeping views of Kathmandu, meditating alongside 36 Tibetan monks. I achieved an inner harmony there that was more mind-blowing than any psychedelic, and yet more fragile than, than– than an origami swan. That has to be cared for. If I stay here, it will be torn and crushed.
Cooper: Be honest – is this about inner peace or is this about my reluctance to reintroduce you into Agnes’ life – a reluctance I know you blatantly ignored?
Red: Yes. You have her watched. That was a pleasant surprise.
Cooper: Nothing will happen to that girl. Not while she’s in my care.
Red: She didn’t see me.
Cooper: We need your help. We can’t find the Skinner without it.
⋘⋙
[ They arrive at Cooper’s house. He gets out ]
[ Weecha removes the comms device from her ear ]
Weecha: [ To Cooper ] Keeping the girl from him is cruel. Is that what you want? To be cruel?
[ Weecha gets back into the SUV ] [ Door closes, engine revs ]

 
[ Monitor beeping 🔅🔅🔅 ] [ Knock ✽ on door ]
[ Cooper enters Dembe’s hospital room along with Ressler, Park and Aram ]
Cooper: I’m told you’re feeling better.
Dembe: Hm. I am. [ Chuckling ] Mostly because I’m wasted.
Aram: Yeah, I think you’re entitled.
Park: You look good.
Ressler: Sorry to hear about your partner.
Dembe: Thank you. Are you all right? You look a mess.
Ressler: Okay. Is it really that bad?
Aram: Yeah, it, uh– it’s not great.
Dembe: Was I hallucinating, or was Raymond here?
Cooper: He was, but he’s gone.
Aram: Gone as in, like– he’s gone gone?
Cooper: It seems so.
Park: Along with his resources. His contacts. His jet. And any hope of finding the Skinner and the family he took.
Cooper: I don’t know about that. We know his real name and have a list of known addresses. I brought you a dossier.
Ressler: Wait. A dossier that you copied on Agnes’ printer?
[ Chuckles ]
Ressler: The, uh, unicorn stationary. It’s a nice touch.
Cooper: Okay, yes. We are a bit ragtag. We’re up against a well-financed Blacklister with no budget.
Aram: Or access to any databases and no authorization.
Park: And you thought we were here to cheer you up.
Dembe: Every two hours, an ICU nurse debrides me. She snips off dead skin with tweezers.

[ Flashback: ]
[ Dembe groans and winces and the nurse treats him ]

Dembe: It’s slow and painful. And it’s the only way to heal. We all have dead skin. All of us.
And healing will be slow and painful. But seeing you here, I can’t think of a better way to start.
Aram: So, um, now what?
Cooper: We have a case to solve. And no time to solve it. Which means we start right away. I’ll stay and bring Dembe up to speed. If you have anything to rearrange in your own lives, rearrange it and meet back here in an hour.
[ Jose Gonzalez’s ♪ “Head On” plays ]

♪ Action, reaction ♪
♪ Stay with it– ♪

[ Aram arrives back to his start-up’s location, only to be greeted by an agitated Nick Faria ]
Aram: Okay, okay.
Nick: Are you insane?
Aram: You talked to Conroy.
Nick: You went to his house?
Aram: I’m so– I’m so sorry. If there’s any way I can make it up to you, Nick– Uh-huh.
Nick: You could– drop your pants.
Aram: Except, uh, maybe that?
Nick: Mnh-mnh. I’m serious. I need to see ’em. “Stones”– and I quote– “the size of Montana.”
Aram: What– Uh, what are you talking about?
Nick: Conroy. I don’t know what you did, but the guy was impressed.
Aram: He said that? He said that about my stones?
Nick: That’s not all he said.
Aram: Did he say he’s in?
Nick: He said he’s intrigued. And he wants to hear more. Like, now.
Aram: As in now?
Nick: Yeah. As in, our dreams are about to come true. Well, unless you have somewhere else you’d rather be.
Aram: No. No. Uh– Yeah. Uh, uh, I wanted to also talk to you about that–
⋘⋙
[ Alina Park is driving and talking to her husband ]
Park: Hey. No. Not yet. Yeah. Long day. But– Not at the office. I had a case. In the field. I know, I know. I should’ve told you. I’m sorry I didn’t. I know how you feel. I do. But a family was abducted. No. It’s not over. Not even for tonight.

♪ Update

 
[ Red sits in his plane, across from Mierce ]
Weecha: An agent is here. The bearded one.

♪ Head on

Ressler: [ Scoffs ] This is the last place I ever wanted to be.
Red: And yet here you are. Please, sit.
Ressler: Liz – she knew all about being where she didn’t want to be, doing what she didn’t want to do. Like running your empire. And all she wanted was a life with Agnes. But the Blacklist changed her mind, knowing the world would be safer with it than without it. I mean, that’s why she agreed to be your successor, why she gave up everything, including her life, to protect it, keep it running. And then she died. We all just walked away and left the Blacklist to die with her.
Red: A life with Agnes wasn’t all she wanted. She wanted a life with you.
Ressler: I know you don’t need this. I don’t, either. As painful as it was to walk away, it’s just as painful to come back. Maybe more. But the Blacklist was her calling, and if we loved her, it has to be ours. That’s why I came back, because as much as I hate you, I loved her more.
[ Ressler holds out the file on The Skinner. Red won’t take it ]
Ressler: His real name is Graeme Anderson. He was a foster kid, bounced around until he aged out. Two years unaccounted for, and then he does a year at Stanford, where he becomes obsessed with the French adventurer and smuggler Henry de Monfreid.
Red: Of course. A former Skinner. Why are you telling me all this?
Ressler: Graeme Anderson is the next name on the Blacklist. Your Blacklist, the one that Liz died for. And whether she died in vain is up to you.
[ Ressler gets up, drops the file on a plane seat, and leaves ]
⋘⋙
Mierce: I like him. He has a good soul.
Red: I believe he does. I’m less certain about mine.

 
⬆ go to start of 9:1 The Skinner
⏫ go to top
 
 

Episode Songs

♫ Head On
By José González

♪ Action
Reaction
Stay with it
Hang on
Engage
Disengage
Deal with it
Head on
Head on

♪ Inhale
Exhale
Wave coming
Undertow
Speed up
Go slow
Put on your new boots and deal with it
While marching on
Head on

♪ Speak up
Stand down
Pick your battles
Look around
Reflect
Update
Pause your intuitions and deal with it
Head on
Head on
Head on
Head on

♪ Rent seekers
Value extractors
Corrupt oligarchs
Power snatchers
Pervert incentives
Ludic loops
Nepotism
Tribal troops

♪ Deflate
Escalate
Hit the sweet spot
Ignore the hate
Forget your miracles
Forget your god
Join forces and deal with it
Head on
Head on
Head on
Head on
Head on

Lyrics and Credits: http://bit.ly/3m3N7X5
YouTube: https://youtu.be/4CyzpkgdIio

 
⬆ go to start of 9:1 The Skinner
⏫ go to top
 

❌❌❌ End 9:1 Skinner

🔴 Script 9:2 The Skinner – Conclusion (№ 45)

 
Program air date: 10/28/2021 in the US
Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-cd6
EntertainmentWeekly: Recap: https://bit.ly/3Buz80F
 

Brief (Where we’re at): It’s been two years since the death of Elizabeth Keen and the members of the Blacklist Task Force have scattered. Assistant Director Harold Cooper resigned (or retired) from the FBI and is now doing expert commentary on organized crime on tv (for NBC, of course!) Former Special Agent Donald Ressler has let his hair grow long and moved back home to an exurb of Detroit and is working as a car mechanic, possibly in his brother Robby’s garage. Computer whiz Aram Mojtabai has also left the FBI and has partnered with a man named Nick Faria in a computer security start-up named Greyscale looking for angel investors. Agent Alina Park is still in the FBI but is training new agents, having given up field work due to the stress. She is now married. A big surprise is that Red’s bodyguard and close friend, Dembe, is now FBI Special Agent Zuma, having acquired his position likely with help from Cooper who told him a couple of times that he’d “make a good cop.” (He likely was also able to scrub the record of his work in the criminal world with help from Red.)

And then there’s Red. None of the team has been in touch with him for at least a year and a half. But Cooper knows how to reach him. The reason: Liz left daughter Agnes in Cooper’s care. So when Dembe was severely burned on a case in which his partner, Ken Laver, was killed, and two dead perpetrators were found with the same mysterious tattoo on their arms, Dembe asked Cooper to find Red and see if he could identify the tattoo. So Cooper followed the agreed-upon protocol which meant a trip to Havana, Cuba, then to a bar where he was drugged and possibly transported to the Amazon, where Cooper finds him in the care of the mysterious Xiu sisters who speak Kaqchikel, an ancient Mayan language. Red’s head is clean-shaven, he’s put on weight, and has given up his three-piece suits and Scotch. He has somehow survived two years despite his terminal prognosis, crediting the two sisters. “Weecha guards my body, Mierce my soul.”

Despite Dembe’s request, Red is reluctant to become involved, fearing losing the inner peace he has managed to achieve. He also dreads his own darker impulses. But Cooper is able to get him to identify the tattoo – the letter “S” engulfed in flames – as belonging to “The Skinner,” an unbroken line of pirates dating back 700 years. The Skinner’s most recent target was a truckload of the world’s most valuable microchips, made by a Taiwanese company, SCG. Dembe was able to prevent the theft of the microprocessors, but the Skinner’s “Plan B” is to kidnap the Chief Technology Officer of the Company. So Cooper reassembled the task force members to prevent the abduction. However, they failed, as only Agent Park has a legal firearm and The Skinner used the daughter of the CTO as a human shield.

Without Red’s help, the reassembled task force will be stuck without the resources and intel they need to proceed. Red is in his plane about to go wheels up when Ressler shows up to implore Red not to abandon the effort, invoking Liz’s memory and hoping to revive The Blacklist. He leaves Red with a dossier on the current Skinner, compiled by Cooper with help from the tips from Red, which includes The Skinner’s real name and address and background information. After Ressler leaves, Mierce Xiu, Red’s spiritual advisor, approves of Ressler, saying “I like him. He has a good soul.” Red’s responds, “I believe he does. I’m less certain about mine.” Tbc.

⭕ Script 9:2 The Skinner Part 2 (№ 45)

 
 
[ Graeme Anderson, the current Skinner – the latest in a line of brigands stretching back 700 years – introduces his Client to his “treasure”: a man who holds the key to 80% of the world’s most valuable computer microprocessors. They are manufactured in Taiwan. Anderson first attempted to have his men hijack a truckload of the microchips themselves. When that plot failed, he came up with his “Plan B” and abducted the Chief Technology Officer of the company (SCG), Chen Yo-Lan, along with his wife Wei and daughter Shu. The family is huddled together on a cot in the corner of a warehouse ]
Graeme Anderson (The Skinner): Chen Yu-Lan, meet your future patron.
Client: (Alarmed) What the hell is this? This is nuts. Come here.
[ The Client pulls Anderson aside ]
Client: This isn’t about microchips anymore. This is kidnapping. In what stretch of reality would kidnapping become part of the plan?
Anderson: The plan failed, so I came up with a better plan. SCG segregates each department so no one person knows the secret of how to make its precious chip. No one except dear Mr. Chen.
Wei: (To the Client) Please help us. Please, sir, please.
Client: Oh, my God. This is just insanity.
Anderson: Not at all. SCG makes a critical supply of the world’s most advanced microchip.
Client: We don’t want to corner the market.
Anderson: Many of the cars your employers make aren’t running because they can’t acquire enough chips to make them run. I’m offering them an endless supply.
Client: You know what? We don’t want anything to do with this.
Anderson: (Losing patience) Good. A state actor, then? A superpower with the vision that you clearly lack.
Client: And what about Mr. Chen and his family?
Anderson: Well, they’re no longer your concern.
[ Graeme Anderson shoots the Client 💥 ]
[ All screaming ‼️ ]
— No!
[ Screams ‼️ ]
Anderson: I think we know the moral to that story.
[ All whimpering ]
Anderson: Do as I say so I won’t have to do as I do. Understood? ⋘⋙ [ To Chen ] Yes, no? ⋘⋙ Plan “B.” You’re gonna die when you hear it.

 
[ Dembe, formerly Red’s bodyguard but now an FBI agent, is driving. Ressler, no longer an agent, sits alongside him. They are arguing about protocol ]
Dembe: It’s the only way this works.
Ressler: Then it’s not gonna work.
Dembe: I can’t go in.
Ressler: Why? ‘Cause you’re still wounded?
Dembe: Because we don’t have a warrant yet. I can’t enter without one.
Ressler: Oh, but, so, you can’t, but I can?
Dembe: I’m an FBI agent. You’re not.
Ressler: Look, Anderson abducted a family, a husband, a wife, an 11-year-old daughter. We have probable cause to enter his home.
Dembe: And I will, as soon as Park gets the warrant. Otherwise, anything I find that proves his guilt will get tossed out of court.
Ressler: Hey, I know the rules of evidence. But I’m not just gonna sit there waiting.
Dembe: Then don’t. We’re legally on thin ice anyway. You’re arguably acting as an agent of the Bureau.
Ressler: So, you’re the Good Cop and I’m the Bad Guy now? [ Laughs ] Oh, this just gets better and better.
⋘⋙
[ Ressler breaks into the apartment at the address listed in the dossier Cooper assembled on Graeme Anderson. Finding nothing, he returns ]
⋘⋙
Dembe: You said the place was upscale, but not lived in. Raymond has places like that. Why? Because he can. Because he has resources, which means The Skinner does, too. Resources we can’t match.
Ressler: So, why’d you become an agent? I mean, Reddington always has some secret agenda. What’s yours?
Dembe: What you found is that we’re outmatched, that unless we get help, we’ll never find the hostages or avenge the death of my partner, not that you care much. Third degree burns, and the biggest pain I’ve got is you. [ Sighs ]
[ Ressler places a call ] [ Cellphone keys beeping 🔅🔅🔅 and dialing ••• ] [ Line ringing ✨]
Ressler: Yeah, it’s me. I think you need to reach out to the senator.

 
[ The Halls of Congress ] [ People chattering indistinctly ]
[ Harold Cooper catches up with Cynthia Panabaker. Panabaker oversaw the Reddington task force from various positions in the CIA and then as National Security Advisor ]
Cooper: Cynthia.
Cynthia Panabaker: That’s “Senator Cynthia” to you. To what do I owe the displeasure?
Cooper: And I thought absence made the heart grow fonder.
Panabaker: I am fond of you when you’re absent. Up close, I vacillate between fear and loathing.
Cooper: Your briefing with the Secretary has to wait.
Panabaker: Aren’t you a talking head now? Chitchatting about crime and terrorism till you’re booted for the segment on how to make the perfect hot wing?
[ She is referring to Cooper’s recent appearances on tv as an expert commentator on organized crime, intelligence and all things FBI ]
Cooper: This is important, Senator.
Panabaker: I’m sure it is, Harold. That’s what I’m afraid of.

 
[ Cooper and Senator Panabaker have moved to a conference room ]
Cooper: I’m sure you know about the attempted theft of the SCG microchips. What you may not know is that Dembe Zuma is the reason they weren’t taken.
Panabaker: I heard he was with the Bureau. I can only imagine what heartstring you had to pull to make that happen.
Cooper: He’s been badly hurt, his partner killed. For his troubles, he’s been benched pending an investigation.
Panabaker: So, he turned to you.
Cooper: And I got the band back together.
Panabaker: What band? There is no band. I disbanded the band. Voided Reddington’s immunity agreement.
Cooper: He’s given us a lead.
Panabaker: A lead on what?
Cooper: The microchips weren’t taken, but the engineer, Chen Yu-Lan, who knows how to make them, was. Imagine that information in the hands of our enemies. Technology that powers your phone, your car, the Internet. And once they have it, imagine them cutting us off from getting it.
Panabaker: I haven’t heard about any abduction. Is anyone claiming responsibility?
Cooper: Yes, a 700-year-old pirate.
Panabaker: Does Reddington know any run-of-the-mill criminals?
Cooper: The Skinner is the latest in a long line of brigands, a nom de guerre passed from one generation to the next. The current Skinner is Graeme Anderson. He abducted the engineer and his family. We can’t solve this case without your help.
Panabaker: [ Sighs lightly ] If, hypothetically speaking, I was to help, what would you need?

 
[ A clanking cargo elevator door opens. Cooper, Alina Park, Aram Mojtabai and Donald Ressler cautiously step out into their old digs, a dark site located in the bowels of the old post office. It is ghostlike now. Dust and debris have settled on the vinyl sheeting covering all of the furniture. The place appears not to have been used since the task force disbanded two years ago following Liz’s death ]
Cooper: Panabaker sliced us a small piece of black ops funding and a promise for tactical assistance if needed.
Aram: What about access to CODIS [ the “Combined DNA Index System” ] and Bureau databases?
Cooper: They’re ours as soon as you and Agent Park access the system.
[ Park’s cellphone ringing ✨~ The call is from her husband Peter ]
Cooper: Agent Park. We’re on a clock.
Park: Right. Sorry. [ Cellphone beeps🔅 ]

 
[ Ressler enters the office he once shared with Liz. Red is sitting there; Weecha Xiu, who provides his protection, stands nearby ]
Ressler: What are you doing?
Red: Perseverating. About what you said. About honoring Elizabeth.
Ressler: [ Agitated ] I mean, what are you doing here in her office?
Red: I believe I already answered that question, Donald.
⋘⋙
[ Cooper enters switches the lights on ] [ Electricity⚡️buzzes ]
Cooper: You’re back.
Red: For the moment.
Cooper: Let me bring you up to speed.
Red: How about we do that in your office?
[ Cooper turns and leaves ]
[ Red addresses Ressler, who still seems agitated ]
Red: Just go slowly. It’ll come.
Ressler: What’ll come?
Red: I don’t know. Whatever it is. Tomorrow, I suppose.

 
[ Birds chirping ] [ Graeme Anderson (The Skinner) and Chen Yo-Lan drive by a medium-sized commercial building belonging to the Taiwanese microprocessor company SCG, Chen’s employer ]
Chen Yo-Lan: This is just a satellite office. Please. Your plan will not work.
Skinner: It has to work. I have bidders lined up for the processing software and the man who can run it. You’re the man, and now you’re gonna get me that software.
Chen: The program you want is only kept in Taiwan.
Anderson: I’m not an idiot, Mr. Chen. There’s computers in that building that can access the SCG mainframe in Taipei. Am I wrong?
Chen: There are security protocols.
Anderson: Well, you’re the CTO. If anyone can bypass them, I’m betting you can.
Chen: And when I do, you will let my family go?
Anderson: Whatever happens to them is entirely in your hands. You have until 5:00. Oh, and, Mr. Chen, I have someone on the inside. Everything you say or do, I’ll know.
[ Chen gets out ]
⋘⋙
[ Car door closes ]
Anderson: [ To the driver ] You hungry? I want a omelet from Tempo. The fluffy kind that makes you feel like you’re eating a cloud. Or we could rob a convenience store, or take candy from a baby. Something to pass the time, hmm? Chen’s got a nice family. I hope he gets what I need.

 
[ Cooper’s office ] [ Cooper and Red sit down. Aram stands ]
Cooper: We know The Skinner abducted Chen and his family. We don’t know if anyone hired him to do it.
Aram: There’s nothing from State or Langley to suggest The Skinner is working for Russia, China, or North, um– I’m, I’m sorry, but, uh, what happened to your hair?
[ Aram is referring to Red’s clean-shaven head ]
Red: Oh. [ Chuckles ] Straight razor. Weecha does my face and my head in one fell swoop. We don’t have enough electricity where we live to waste any on clippers or other electronics. Just the fridge and the CD player. But I can tell you, one of life’s great simple pleasures is seeing a woman, naked, out on the porch, with a bowl of hot water shaving her legs with a straight razor. It’s captivating.
[ Aram looks at Weecha ]
[ Drawer closes ]
Cooper: Bastards took my Scotch.
Red: I’ve been drinking a lot of rum. Slow-aged in the mountains. Rich and delicious. We get barrels of the stuff from Weecha and Mierce’s family.
Aram: Cool. Uh, there’s nothing in the Bureau’s database about Chen’s disappearance, and SCG hasn’t reported him missing.
Cooper: That’s all we have. I know not to ask you how you can help us, but I know you can, and I hope your being here means you will.
Red: ⋘⋙ Donald paid me a visit recently. He reminded me that Elizabeth only agreed to take over my affairs because she– [ Inhales deeply and scoffs ] –felt duty-bound to continue the Blacklist. That’s why she was there that night. Doing her duty. I’m not here just to help you, Harold. I’m here because it’s what she would want. [ Breathes sharply ] I’ll bring you a case of that rum. It’s a swift kick to the head, and no headache.

 
[ Downstairs from the landing where Cooper’s office is located, Dembe encounters Weecha ]
Dembe: If you ever want to talk about what he likes or dislikes–
Weecha: I know what he likes and dislikes.
[ Red sees Dembe ]
Red: Dembe, I’m glad you’re feeling better. Agent Park, congratulations on your marriage. Not so much on your recent freelance work.
Park: How do you know about that?
Red: I pay attention. Or pay people to pay attention for me. Nasty bit of business. But your Peter seems like a ray of sunshine.
[ Elevator door clanks ]

 
Park: [ To Cooper ] I found Chen. He’s here in DC, at work. The company has a satellite office across the river. Chen showed up for his meetings this morning like nothing ever happened.
Cooped: Aram, Agent Park, get to that office. If Chen’s okay, then maybe his family is, too. If they’re not, then he’s pretending. I want to know why.

 
[ At the CSG satellite site, Chen Yo-Lan sites down at a workstation and attempts to access the software and manufacturing instructions Graeme Anderson has demanded in exchange for the safety of his family. But he needs help from someone physically located at the company headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan. He calls his assistant, Kuo Pai-Han. Kuo is the person Graham Anderson previously beat with a golf iron to get information on Chen’s travel schedule and hotel, information Anderson used to kidnap Chen and his family ]
[ Cellphone keys beeping🔅🔅🔅and dialing ✨ ] [ Ringing✨ ] [ Cellphone beeps🔅 ]
[ Both speaking Mandarin (with subtitles) ]
Kuo Pai-Han (Chen’s Assistant): Mr Chen.
Chen Yo-Lan (CSG’s CTO): I need you to access my files. On my hard drive. Do it now!
Kuo: Okay. What’s going on? What’s wrong?
[ Keys clacking ]
Chen: There’s a program on the desktop. The file name is just a series of numbers, ending in 6-3-2-9. The program will put the network in diagnostic mode, suspend its tracking capability–
[ Keys clacking ]
Kuo: You’re over-riding its security protocols.
Chen: Yes. I need to download the programming files. If the network is in diagnostic mods, tge system won’t trigger an alarm. I don’t have time to explain. I’m sorry to involve you. But there’s a man — he’s holding Wei and Shu. If I don’t do as he says, they will surely be killed.
Kuo: Yes.
Chen: What do you mean, “Yes”? Pai-Han, what are you saying? [ Angrily ] What did you do?!
Kuo: I’m the one who involved you.
Chen: What?
Kuo: [ Emotionally ] You have to do what he says!
Chen: Then for the sake of our families, run the program!
[ Kuo’s finger hovers over his mouse ]

 
[ Red and former Skinner Vincent Duke are talking in a parked vehicle ]
Vincent Duke: You said you’d take care of it. I told you where to find him. I teed him up, and you shanked it. Now you’ve come to my club and put me off my game.
Red: I was once struck by lightning on a golf course while playing in Tripoli. Gaddafi was dead, and to honor the small part I played in his unceremonious demise, the leader of the NTC invited me to play a round on the dictator’s private course. One minute, I’m standing on the 12th green, the next, I’m in a desert encampment with a lovely raven-haired freedom fighter who’s administering to my burns with the touch of a lover’s stroke.
Vincent: I’m not calling him.
Red: This Skinner is your successor. You hand-picked him to take over when you retired. Now he’s killed an FBI agent, abducted the CTO of the world’s largest microchip manufacturer, and he’s threatening to create an international incident that will ruin your historic reputation.
Vincent: Why do you care about our reputation?
Red: Anderson is the 22nd Skinner – twenty-two generations of torch-passing. I couldn’t do it once. I admire what you all have built. I don’t want to see it ruined.
Vincent: I’m retired, not senile. What aren’t you telling me?
Red: I’ll tell you after you talk him off the ledge.
Vincent: I’m the president of my condo association. Garbage pick-up. Grounds management. That’s what I do now, argue about yard signs with snowbirds, not try and talk sense to a lunatic.
Red: The charter, then. I know you have the power to invoke it.
Vincent: Even if I wanted to, and I’m not saying I do, because I don’t, I couldn’t do it without my predecessor.
Red: The Captain. Is it true that she had affairs during the Paris Peace Talks with both Kissinger and Le Duc Tho?
Vincent: The charter’s never been invoked. Not once in 700 years.
Red: Then it’ll be a bolt out of the blue. I lived to tell about my rather gentle lightning strike. If we do this right, Anderson won’t be so lucky.

 
[ Back in Taipei, Kuo Pai-Han clicks “Enter” to begin the computer download ]
[ Computer beeps🔅⚠️🔅 A warning comes up ]
[ Both speaking Mandarin ]

[ Computer beeping🔅🔅🔅 ]
Kuo Pai-Han: No. No. No. No.
Chen Yo-Lan: What’s wrong?
Kuo: There’s new software o; the network. It must be because of the robbery at the post, the investigation.
Chen: It won’t execute.
Kuo: It will — but the alarm will be triggered.
Chen: Then it’s impossible.
Kuo: No. You’d be able to download the program undetected. The alarm would lead here.
Chen: To you?
Kuo: Yes.
[ Kuo presses “Enter” ] [ 🚨 Blaring ‼️ 🚨 Blaring ‼️ 🚨 Blaring ‼️ 🚨 ]
Kuo: It’s done.
Chen: Thank you.

 
[ Aram and Park walk outside of the satellite office of SCG in Washington DC ]
Park: What am I missing? Why would The Skinner abduct Chen only to release him a day later?
Aram: Maybe he escaped, but if he did, why go to work and not the police?
[ A small red car pulls out. Chen is driving ]
Aram: Check it out. That’s him.
Park: Shoot. [ mild oath ]
[ They get into their car. Park drives. They chase Chen’s car, swerving in and out of traffic as Chen tries to get away. Chen glances nervously at the computer hard drive with the downloaded software ]
[ Siren 🚨wailing ]
[ Cellphone ringing ✨ It’s Peter ]
Park: [ To Aram ] You’re not here. We’re not doing this.
Aram: Uh, but, uh, we are. I’m pretty sure Pete deserves to know.
Park: [ Sighs ] [ Cellphone beeps🔅 ] Hi, sweetie.
Peter: [ On phone ] Hey. Any chance we could have lunch? Talk things over?
Park: I wish. But I’m kind of in the middle of something right now.
[ Wailing 🚨continues ]
Peter: The case.
Park: Pete, I’m not a field agent. I’m doing a friend a favor. One.
Peter: One?
Park: One, and not a risky one.
[ Park swerves to avoid a crash ] [ Aram groans ]
Park: I promise. A walk in the park. But we’ll talk about it tonight, okay? I have to go.
Peter: Okay. Be safe.
[ Siren 🚨 wailing ]
Aram: Um, okay, uh, the street, it’s down there. Oh, Alina! Car! Car! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Oh!
[ ⚡️Tires screech⚡️ ] [ Horn honks 🔊 ]
Aram: Okay.
[ Wailing 🚨 continues ]
[ Park chases Chen’s car until shs is able to pull directly in front of him, forcing him to stop ]
[ ⚡️Tires screech⚡️ ]
Aram: [ Grunts ] Oh, okay. Phew! I’m driving next time.
[ Seat belts unlock ]
Aram: Seriously.
Park: Ah.
[ They get out, draw their weapons and go over the Chen’s car ]
Aram: FBI! Hands on the wheel, now.
[ Chen complies ]
Aram: [ To Park ] “Just a walk in the park.”
[ Agent Park smirks ]

 
[ Interrogation ]
Park: You don’t know the address, but can you describe the building? What part of the city it–
Chen: I was blindfolded. In and out. All I have is a number.
Aram: To a burner phone, which is untraceable.
Chen: Which is why you have to let me go, so I can call and free my family.
Park: That’s it, then, you give him this [ the hard drive ], and he lets you and your family go.
Chen: My family, yes.
Aram: Your family, but not you. That’s it, isn’t it? You’re trading your life for theirs.
Chen: I don’t care what happens to me. My wife and my daughter– They’re all that matter.

 
[ Vincent Duke and Red arrive at the Solomon Bay retirement home where Vincent is known as Norman Beauregard ]
Ernesto: Good to see you, Mr. Beauregard. It’s been a while.
Vincent Duke: Good to see you, too, Ernesto. I’ve been in California, on trial in the Central District. Quite the drama.
Ernesto: Yeah, well, this client of yours is no stranger to drama, either.
Vincent: Alberta?
Ernesto: She’s been in a state all morning.
Vincent: Well, what’s the trouble?
[ They enter the building. An elderly but attractive woman sits there ]
Alberta: [ Angrily, loudly ] I’ll tell you the trouble. One of these bastards stole my phone!
Vincent: Your cellphone?
Alberta: Yeah, that’s right. [ To other residents, loudly ] Look away! [ To Vincent ] I am not crazy. I had it right here, and now it’s gone.
Vincent: Easy, dear. How do you feel?
Alberta: Like beating to death anybody who asks me how I feel.
Vincent: [ Sighs ]
Alberta: [ Seductively ] Who’s this?
Red: [ Chuckles ] Ms. Gilbert, or Alberta. May I call you Alberta?
Margaret Collins: [ To Vincent ] Oh, thank goodness I caught you. Mr. Beauregard?
Vincent: Hmm?
Margaret Collins: Margaret Collins. I’m the new Director of Resident Relations.
Vincent: You look concerned, dear. Not to worry. Nobody’s having relations with the residents.
[ Both laugh ]
Collins: But if I could just have a word with you privately?
[ They step aside ]
Collins: I know you called ahead to say you’d like to take Alberta out for the afternoon.
Vincent: Same as always.
Collins: Well, unfortunately, things aren’t quite the same as always. I’m sorry to say, Alberta’s had a small setback.
Vincent: What kind of setback?
Collins: We’re not sure yet. I can’t share medical information, but as you’re her attorney, I feel comfortable saying her dementia appears to be progressing. I’m afraid her nephew Douglas has left strict instructions that Alberta is not to leave the grounds under any circumstances. He’s been trying to reach a specialist about evaluating her condition. If–
Red: [ Stammers ] I’m sorry. I’m Walter Brenneman. Or Dr. Brenneman, but, please, call me Walter.
Collins: Oh, uh, you’re a doctor?
Red: I am. I couldn’t help but overhear. In fact, I’m the very specialist you were just referring to. Uh, Norm here and I are old golfing buddies, and he asked if I’d come and spend some time with Alberta. I’m a neuroscientist, first and foremost. Normally, of course, I wouldn’t be available to take on new patients. My research at Mayo is–
Collins: The Mayo Clinic?
Red: Yes.
Collins: Wow, Wow. That is wonderful.
[ Both chuckle ]
Collins: So, you knew about Alberta’s setback?
Vincent: I did. Uh, Douglas and I spoke. He sounded distraught, so I promised to pull a few strings. [ Cellphone beeps 🔅and dials✨ ] Let me get Doug on the phone. [ On phone ] Yeah, hi, Norman Beauregard. Is he available? Oh, darn. Yeah, I see. Well, have him call me right away. [ Phone beeps 🔅 ]
Vincent: [ To Margaret Collins ] He’s in off-site meetings all afternoon.
Red: Ouch. [ Inhales sharply ] I mean, I could try and come back another day. Oh, no, I’m in Brussels next week for a conference.
Collins: No, no, we appreciate you taking the time. I’m sure it would be fine under Mr. Beauregard’s supervision. [ To Vincent ] And since you spoke with Douglas–
Vincent: Hmm. Yes? Wonderful.
Red: Okeydoke.

 
[ Outside of the building, Red and Vincent walk with Alberta ]
Alberta: Where are we going?
Vincent: I want to invoke the charter to remove Anderson. I can’t do that without you.
Alberta: What’s wrong with Anderson?
Red: He’s noticeable. Your legacy survives because it isn’t.
Alberta: Who the hell is this guy?
Vincent: That’s Raymond Reddington.
Alberta: [ Surprise and disbelief ] No. [ To Red ] You. Come closer. I’ll be damned. Give me a kiss. A good one.
Red: We’re in a bit of a rush.
Alberta: You want my help, it’s the cost of doing business. Open-mouth.
Red: We’re parked in a fire lane.
Alberta: No tongue, no invoking the charter.
[ Red gives Alberta a kiss. A good one ] [ … ]
Alberta: Let’s blow this Popsicle stand.
 
[ The Post Office war room ] [ Aram gives background on computer chips to Cooper, Dembe, Park and Ressler ]
Aram: Microchips are like coated wafers. The idea is to cram on the microscopic subatomic features that are the basis of the chip’s performance. Now, this software is a guide for manipulating atoms one-tenth the size of a human hair or less.
Cooper: And Chen knows how to operate it.
Ressler: Meaning The Skinner has two key ingredients for making the chips.
Aram: SCG chips. The most advanced in the world. So advanced that – and this is one of those impossible but true factoids – no one in Silicon Valley or Zhongguancun or anywhere else on Earth knows how to make them.
Park: So, an already vulnerable market susceptible to catastrophic disruptions in the supply chain can be controlled by whoever has Chen and the software?
Ressler: Which, at the moment, is us.
Dembe: We don’t control anything.
Ressler: We don’t, but America could.
Dembe: Only if we got Chen to cooperate and give the government a hard drive that doesn’t belong to us.
Ressler: We’re talking about technology that makes the world go ’round.
Dembe: Which is why we shouldn’t steal it.
Ressler: When you and Reddington took something, it was stealing.
Aram: When America does it, it’s manifest destiny.
Cooper: The only people whose destiny I’m concerned with right now are Chen’s wife and daughter.
Park: Chen was supposed to call The Skinner when he gets the software.
Cooper: Then that’s exactly what he’s going to do.

 
[ Chen calls Graeme Anderson ]
Chen Yo-Lan: I have it, the software.
Graeme Anderson: Do you? I wonder.
Chen: I can bring it to you. I just need to talk to my wife first.
Anderson: I haven’t heard from my inside man. Why is that?
Chen: I just need to talk to Wei.
[ Anderson beckons for Wei to come over ]
Wei: [ Breathes sharply ] [ Voice breaking ] Yu-Lan.
Chen: Wei!
[ Chen and Wei speak Mandarin ]
Chen: Are you okay? Is Shu okay?
Wei: [ Crying ] Yes. We’re both okay.
[ Anderson takes the phone ]
Anderson: One hour. 2440 Junior Terrace.
[ Cellphone beeps🔅and clicks✵ shut ] [ Line beeps🔅 ]
⋘⋙
Chen: What do we do now?
Aram: Get your family back.

 
[ Aram and Park prepare Chen Yo-Lan for the op ]
Chen: I’m not giving him the program?
Aram: Not the real one, no.
Chen: I have to give it to him!
Park: We can’t risk the real one falling into enemy hands.
Chen: And I can’t risk him killing my family!
Aram: Of course not, which is why we’ve only made a few modifications, imperceptible changes in millions of lines of code. Only a handful of experts in the entire world would have any clue that it’s not the genuine article.
Park: We know what we’re doing. I know it’s hard, but, please, trust us.
Chen: Tell me again.
Aram: The meeting point is likely a pick-up. Wherever they take you, we will track you with these.
[ Aram takes out a pair of glasses ]
Aram: Totally undetectable. The listening components are baked into the frame. We’re gonna be with you the entire time, and when he releases your family, the SWAT team will hit the building, save you, and arrest the others.

 
[ Cooper’s office ] [ Cooper meets with Senator Panabaker ]
Cooper: We have the engineer.
Panabaker: The one who knows how to make the microchips as well as the processing software he needs to make them?
Cooper: The proprietary software, yes.
Panabaker: Look around, Harold. What do you see? What you see is me out on a limb calling in favors to get you this office, to put this God-forsaken task force back in business. What you see is a senator you should thank while giving me the program this country needs to make its own high-end semiconducting chips without relying on a foreign power.
Cooper: So we should steal it? How does that make us any better than Graeme Anderson?!
Panabaker: Anderson’s a criminal looking to turn a profit. We’re patriots with an obligation to safeguard this nation. Where is it now?
Cooper: I won’t answer that.
Panabaker: We’re talking international politics, Harold. Spycraft, war. It’s more complicated than right and wrong.
Cooper: Not to me, it isn’t.
[ Panabaker turns and leaves ] [ Door closes ✽ ]

 
[ Ressler walks into the darkened office he used to share with Liz. He fingers a small box of pills. (He’s had problems with addiction in his past.) Cooper walks up behind him ]
Cooper: Maybe I was wrong. For reaching out to you in Detroit. Maybe it’s too much being here. If it is–
Ressler: But- it’s not.
Cooper: If it is, we’d all understand.
[ Footsteps approaching ]
Dembe: It’s time to meet.
Ressler: All right, let’s do it. Look, I’m good.
Cooper: Then roll out.

 
[ Chen walks along a sidewalk. A car pulls up ] [⚡️Brakes squeal⚡️]
Portnoy: Show me the drive.
[ Chen shows him the drive. He gets into the car ]
[ Dembe, Ressler and Park follow the car ] [ Gearshift clicks❅ ]
Ressler: Hey, Aram, are you seeing this?
Aram: [ Over comms from Post Office ] All over it. The building looks like some kind of shipping warehouse. Public records show just over 58,000 square feet for the complex, owned by a shell company called Goldenshore Industries.
Dembe: We can’t cover that kind of space with just us.
Cooper: Way ahead of you. SWAT units have been dispatched to that location.
⋘⋙
[ Chen is escorted into the warehouse by Portnoy ]
Graeme Anderson: Tell me you got it.
[ Portnoy hands him the hard drive ]
Anderson: I knew you could do it. Now that it’s done, I can tell you all these guys bet against you but me. Total confidence.
⋘⋙
[ The task force listens in via the audio surveillance embedded in Chen’s glasses ]
Dembe: That’s Anderson.
Cooper: We sit tight until he releases Chen’s wife and daughter.
⋘⋙
Chen: My family, where are they?
Anderson: Comfortable. Having sodas and snacks down the hall.
Chen: You said you’d let them go.
Anderson: No, Yu-Lan, that’s not what I said. I think you’re forgetting an “if.” I’m pretty sure I said I’d let them go if you did what I asked.
Chen: I got you the program. Well,
Anderson: I know you say you got me the program, but how the hell would I know? I mean, I’m a sharp guy, but I don’t know a damn thing about software code. Which is why I went and kidnapped an expert.
⋘⋙
Aram: We’re fine. I mean, there are maybe five people on the planet who have the skill to assess that code in under three days —
⋘⋙
Anderson: This is Mr. Sato Akimasa, professor in the field of information technology.
⋘⋙
Aram: — And he’s one of them.
⋘⋙
[ Anderson hands the hard drive to Sato Akimasa who inserts it into a computer ]
Anderson: You okay, Mr. Chen? You don’t look so good.
⋘⋙
Park: He’s cracking. I’m telling you, he won’t hold up.
⋘⋙
[ Chen panics and reveals the op ]
Chen: It wasn’t my idea. I wanted to give you the program, but they refused!
Anderson: What wasn’t your idea? Who refused?
Chen: The FBI. They’re outside now. They’re listening.
[ Chen gives the surveillance glasses to Anderson who ✽ crunches ✽ them with his foot ]
⋘⋙
[ ⚡️Static crackles⚡️ ]
Dembe: We’re going in.
[ Dembe, Park and Ressler jump out of the SUV ] [ Vehicle doors close ] [ They run toward the warehouse ]
⋘⋙
Aram: Sir, there’s only three of them. They cannot go in blind. We do not know how many of them they’re up against.

 
[ Ressler, Dembe and Park enter the warehouse, guns drawn ]
Park: This place is massive. Where the hell are they?
Ressler: Aram, we’re gonna need some help here.
Aram: Working on it, I’m trying to access any blueprints on file with the city.
Ressler: Now, Chen’s family may not have that kind of time.
Park: Dembe took the east side of the building. We can’t stay here. We have to keep moving.
⋘⋙
[ Gun cocks ]
Anderson: What did you do? I warned you what would happen.
Chen Yo-Lan: No! I didn’t go to them!
Anderson: [ Shouting ] Bring ’em out, let’s go. Apparently, we have some company!
⋘⋙
Dembe: I hear Anderson. Southeast corner.
⋘⋙
Anderson: [ Continues shouting ] It’s time to greet our guests!
⋘⋙
Ressler: All right. On our way.
[ Ressler, Park and Dembe move to the southeast corner of the warehouse. They can see Anderson and his men and the hostage family but they remain hidden ]
⋘⋙
Anderson: [ Continues shouting ] Olly Olly Oxen Free! ⋘⋙ Nobody wants to play? ⋘⋙ Well, perhaps I can provide motivation to participate.
[ Gun fires 💥] [ ‼️ Screaming ‼️ ] [ Wei falls ]
Chen: Wei! Wei!
Cooper: Who’s firing? Report.
Dembe: [ Low voice, to Cooper ] He just shot Chen’s wife in the leg.
[ Shouting and crying ]
Anderson: [ Shouting ] I can’t kill Chen. He’s the golden goose! But the others are entirely up for grabs. Show yourselves. Show yourselves!
Dembe: I believe he’ll kill them.
Ressler: So do I. Cooper, how do you want to play this?
Cooper: Don’t give up your weapons. Hold your position.
Anderson: Still no takers?
Chen: [ Pleading ] Come out! I told them you’re here! Agent Zuma!
Anderson: [ Loudly ] Agent Zuma.
[ Anderson pulled Dembe’s ID from his pocket the day he also shot and killed Dembe’s partner, Ken Laver ]
Anderson: Well, look at that. You found me. I’d say I’m about to find you.
[ Anderson grabs Shu, Chen’s daughter ]
— No! No! No!
Anderson: The next one–
— No!
Anderson: –goes in the girl.
— No! No!
Ressler: He’s gonna kill her.
Cooper: Ressler, stay where you are.
Shu: [ Crying ] Please!
[ Gun fires 💥💥 ] [ Anderson shoots into the ceiling ]
[ Shouts ] [ Bullets casings clatter ]
Shu: Please!
Ressler: All right, all right! I’m coming out. All right, just hold your fire.
Shu: [ Breathing quickly ]
Anderson: That’s one. [ Shouting ] Agent Zuma. You and whoever’s with you has about three seconds before things end badly.
[ Anderson holds his gun to Shu’s head ]
Chen: No!
Wei: No! Wait, no!
Shu: [ Begging ] Please, please, please! Please!
Dembe: [ Low voice over comms ] I’m sorry, Harold.
Shu: No!
Dembe: The only move now is to buy time. Get backup here as soon as you can.
Shu: Please! [ Sobbing ] No, no! Please. No.
[ Dembe steps out, followed by Park ]
Anderson: I warned you not to pursue this.
Dembe: FBI SWAT’s on their way.
Anderson: Great, thanks for the heads-up. We’ll be sure to kill you quickly.
Park: That won’t change anything. The Bureau knows who you are.
Anderson: I’ll take my chances. Take Chen and the family out of here. I’ll deal with them later.
Shu: No! No!
⋘⋙
[ Portnoy steps forward ]
Portnoy: Sir, we got a situation at the front entrance.
Anderson: Hold them off.
Portnoy: It’s not the FBI.
Red: Mr. Anderson!
[ Weapons cock ]
Anderson: What the hell is this?
Red: We haven’t met. Y-You’re familiar, of course, with Vincent Duke and The Captain.
[ Vincent Duke, the prior Skinner, and “The Captain” (aka Alberta Gilbert), the Skinner before Duke, have come with Red ]
Anderson: You’re Raymond Reddington.
Red: Imagine, the three of you in one room. Somebody get a cat. Let’s see how many Skinners it takes to–
[ Anderson points his gun at Red ]
Red: Not in the mood for jokes? Fair enough. It has been a long day all around.
Anderson: What are you doing here? How’d you find me?
Vincent Duke: We issued a Code Red, which, if you’d bothered to read the bylaws, gives former Skinners access to when, where, and what their successor is doing.
Alberta: Or, in this case, doing badly. I don’t mind ruthless. In fact, I’m quite aroused by it. It’s stupidity that dries me like the Sahara. And killing a federal agent and snatching an innocent family, that’s about as stupid as you can get.
Anderson: I already told you, it’s not your brand anymore.
Red: Unfortunately for you, it’s not yours, either.
Anderson: [ Chuckles ] What are you talking about?
Red: You’re a caretaker. A steward. A trustee in a long line of trustees, and if you violate that trust, there is a charter that details how you can be removed.
Vincent Duke: By us. If two former leaders vote to remove the current Skinner, he’s out, effective immediately.
Anderson: [ Laughs ] You can’t be serious.
Vincent: I vote you out.
Alberta: I agree. Out you go.
Anderson: This isn’t student government. You can’t remove me because I decided not to serve ice cream in the cafeteria.
Red: You didn’t serve ice cream? Oh, my gosh, if they’d known. Forget about it.
Anderson: Shoot them. Shoot them all. Did you hear me? That was an order.
Portnoy: Sir –
Anderson: Fine. I’ll do it myself.
[ Weapons cock. The Skinner organization’s soldiers all point their guns at Anderson ]
Portnoy: Sir, drop your weapon, or I will fire.
Anderson: What are you talking about? You’re listening to them? You work for me.
Portnoy: No, we work for the organization. The organization has rules. We follow them. And so do they.
Anderson: Yeah? Well, sometimes rules are meant to be broke– [ 💥 Portnoy shoots Anderson ]
[ Body thuds ]
Red: We should go before the cavalry arrives.
Vincent: Make sure the family’s safe. Once we’re gone, let everyone go.
Portnoy: It’s good to have you back, sir.

 
[ Vincent, Alberta and Red walk away from the scene ]
Vincent: Once he was off the ledge, you said you’d explain your interest in our organization.
So, explain it.
Red: The line of succession.
Vincent: I hadn’t thought about it coming back to me. Taking over again.
Alberta: I can’t think of anything that sounds worse. It’s like meeting the First Lady after you’ve slept with the President.
Red: [ Laughs ] Do you want to run things, Vincent?
Vincent: The only thing I want to run is my condo association.
Red: In that case, I have a suggestion.
Vincent: Ah, that’s it. You want to pick my successor.
Red: The Skinners are legendary. With the right person in charge, I don’t think there’s a limit to their reach and power. And as luck would have it, I think I know who the right person would be.

 
[ Red is with Mierce and Weecha, parked in their SUV, again watching Agnes’s team playing soccer ]
[ Children shouting playfully ]
Mierce; You did what you came for. There is nothing here but heartbreak.
Red: I don’t believe that. I can’t believe it. One more stop. If I don’t get the answer I’m looking for, we’ll go.

 
[ Lock disengages ] [ Light switch clicks❅ ] [ Keys jingling✨] [ Door closes ]
Cynthia Panabaker: [ Inhales sharply ] What are you doing here?
[ Red is sitting in a comfortable overstuffed chair ]
Red: Thinking about that beautiful, sad Wyeth painting you have in the next room. I didn’t know you were so melancholy, with all your little colloquialisms and snappy repartee.
Panabaker: What do you want?
Red: Something you can’t give me. But which I can’t get without your help. So, I thought perhaps we might help each other.

 
[ Cooper sits across a table from Chen Yo-Lan ]
Cooper: We’re just relieved you and your family are safe.
Chen: And Kuo Pai-Han? My associate in Taiwan?
Cooper: We spoke to the authorities in Taipei. He’s being released. Both he and his family will be fine.
[ Cooper gives Chen the hard drive containing SCG’s intellectual property for building its valuable microchips ]
Cooper: I believe this belongs to you.
Chen: You’re giving it back? Your government doesn’t insist on keeping it?
Cooper: Oh, they do, but our objective was to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, including ours.
Chen: [ Scoffs lightly in disbelief ] Thank you.
Cooper: Your daughter’s with your wife at the hospital. Agents are waiting to take you there.
Agent: Mr. Chen, I’m Agent Soto.
[ Agent Soto escorts Chen onto the Post Office elevator ]
⋘⋙
Park: Okay, that was so fun.
Aram: Which part?–
[ Elevator door closes ]
Aram: –Rescuing Chen and nearly dying, or driving down a one-way street into oncoming traffic and nearly dying?
Park: It was purposeful. We did something. Something good. That’s what’s cool about it.
Aram: You really miss it, don’t you?
Park: Don’t you?
Aram: I was positive I didn’t. And now– Now I’m not so sure.
Park: Pete would kill me if he heard me say it, but [ Sighs ] I wish we were back full time.
⋘⋙
[ Footsteps approaching ]
Cooper: Everyone? You did a good job. More than that, you reminded me of all the good we did. I don’t know about you, but I needed that.
Dembe: I never got to see the task force from the inside. Thank you for doing this for my partner and for me.
⋘⋙
[ Elevator door opening ] [ Red steps out with Weecha, lugging a large wooden carton of the Xiu family rum between them ]
Red: [ Chuckles ] Good Lord. If this is how you look in victory, I’d hate to see what you look like in defeat.
Ressler: Thought you said you were going?
Red: I also promised to bring Harold a case of Weecha’s hooch.
Aram: [ To Weecha ] You could probably drink me under the table, couldn’t you?
[ Weecha tips her head ]
Red: Harold, if I might have a word? Oh, by the way, my immunity deal has been reinstated.
Park: What? By who?
Red: Senator Panabaker agreed to wave her magic wand. She’s offering to reconstitute the task force and to let Harold, Donald, and Aram return to the FBI fold.
Ressler: Now, why would she want to do that?
Red: I imagine she likes the work we do.
Cooper: Do or did?
Red: Mmm, both. And if you do, as well, you’re welcome to hop back on the merry-go-round. If not, a bientot. Harold?
[ Red and Cooper walk off ]
Ressler: Did he just say what I think he just said?
Park: I don’t know, what’s ”a bientot” mean?
Aram: “See you soon.” Which means, be careful what you wish for.

 
[ Again, Ressler faces the prospect of returning to the office he shared with Liz. He stands at the threshold, staring into the darkened room ] [ Haunting ♪ music plays ]
[ Ruelle’s ♪ “Rival” plays ]

♪ The tide is high
It’s sink or swim
My only rival is within
Giants calling round the bend
My only rival– ♪

[ Ressler sits at his desk. Dembe walks in ]
Dembe: You asked why I became an agent.

♪ Is within ♪

Dembe: The answer is you. That’s my secret. One of them, anyway.
Ressler: Care to share any of the others?
Dembe: Raymond admires you. Not because of what you do, but because of who you are.
Ressler: [ Sighs ]
Dembe: If there’s any way I can help you through any of this, I want to try. ⋘⋙

♪ Kingdoms rise and kingdoms end
My only rival– ♪

Dembe: Perhaps in time.

♪ Is within
This is where it all begins ♪

 
[ In his office, Cooper pours some of the Xiu-brand rum into glasses for Red and himself ]
Cooper: Swift kick to the head.

♪ My only rival– ♪

Cooper: No headache.

♪ Is within ♪

Red: Like reading Homer in Greek.
Cooper: I know you have your own reasons for continuing. I know Agnes is one, and you know how I feel about that. What’s another?
Red: Unfinished business.
Cooper: Why do I think they’re connected?
Red: Take the win, Harold. It’s the first of many.

♪ The tide is high ♪

[ Cooper sips the rum ]
Cooper: That is surprisingly good.

♪ It’s sink or swim ♪

Red: I love surprises.

♪ My only rival– ♪

Red: Not all surprises, of course, but, you know, happy accidents.

♪ Is within ♪

Red: Finding forgotten money in a pocket. Making unexpected friendships.

[ Flashforward: ] Portnoy leads Red through a small group of observers to a large recliner.

Red: I have a feeling the next part of this journey of ours will be filled with new surprises.
Cooper: It’s good to be back, old friend.
Red: Old.

[ Flashforward (cont.): ] An antique latch case is opened. Inside are archaic-looking instruments.

Red: I’ll let you in on a little secret, Harold. The world doesn’t belong to the young. The world belongs to anyone with the strength to reach out and take it.

[ Flashforward (cont.): ] A mechanism that looks like a press is applied to Red’s calf. When it is removed, there is the tattoo of The Skinner: the letter “S” engulfed in flames.

Red: And for the first time in a long while, I’m feeling stronger than ever.

[ Flashforward (cont.): ]
[ ♪ Vocalizing ♪ ]

Red rises and nods first to Vincent and then to Alberta.

[ ♪ Vocalizing ♪ continues ♪ ♪ ♪ ]

 
⬆ go to start of 9:2 The Skinner Pt 2
⏫ go to top
 
 

Episode Songs

♫ Rival
By Ruelle

♪ The tide is high, it’s sink or swim
My only rival is within
Giants calling round the bend
My only rival is within

♪ I won’t let my demons win
My only rival is within
I will fight through thick and thin
My only rival is within

♪ Kingdoms rise and kingdoms end
My only rival is within
This is where it all begins
My only rival is within

♪ The tide is high, it’s sink or swim
My only rival is within

Lyrics and Credits: http://bit.ly/3mpqwV9
YouTube: https://youtu.be/o87vay63FZ0

 
⬆ go to start of 9:2 The Skinner Pt 2
⏫ go to top
 

❌❌❌ End 9:2 Skinner Pt 2

🔴 Script 9:3 The SPK (№ 178)

 
Program air date: 11/4/2021 in the US
Script Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-cn8
EntertainmentWeekly Recap: https://bit.ly/3mGCp97
 

Brief (Where we’re at): Red is the new Skinner, latest in the line of pirates dating back 700 years. It was a deal sealed with a kiss, “a good one,” as requested by Alberta Gilbert, a 90-ish hottie also known as “The Captain,” who preceded the acting Skinner by two generations. Dembe’s partner had been killed by Graeme Anderson who is the current Skinner when the episode begins. Dembe, now an FBI Special Agent, had reached out to Cooper, retired from the FBI, who tracked down Red (in Cuba? the Amazon? Guatemala? ~ hard to tell) to identify the unusual tattoo on the arms of two operatives killed in Dembe’s undercover operation. Though reluctant to be summoned back into the fray two years after Elizabeth Keen’s death, Red did recognize the Skinner’s imprimatur ~ an “S” engulfed in flames. Intrigued and in hope of reconnecting with Liz’s daughter Agnes, Red returned to D.C. Cooper reached out to Cynthia Panabaker, now a Senator, to get support for tracking down Graeme Anderson and his men who, having failed to hijack a truckload of the world’s most advanced microchips, instead kidnapped Chen Yo-Lan, the Chief Technology Officer of SCG, the Taiwanese company that produced them, along with Chen’s wife and daughter.

Red looked up the former Skinner, Vincent Duke, to convince him that Graeme Anderson was out of control and a threat to the 700-year legacy of The Skinners. But they needed the buy-in of two former Skinners. Alberta Gilbert’s price for going along was the kiss from Red. Meanwhile, the hastily re-assembled task force intercepted Chen and compelled him to provide an inoperable copy of the microchip files to Graeme Anderson. But Anderson unexpectedly had an expert on hand to test the software code. Chen cracked under the pressure and confessed that the FBI was onto them. Having tracked Chen to a warehouse, the team (Donald Ressler, Alina Park and Dembe Zuma) were forced the give themselves up when Anderson shot Chen’s wife in the leg and threatened to kill her and her daughter. That’s when Red arrived with the two previous Skinners who “invoked the charter” to remove Graeme Anderson from his position. When Anderson refused to comply and threatened to shoot, he was killed by his own right hand man. Leaving the scene, Red’s plan was unveiled as the two former Skinners both said they had no interest in re-assuming the Skinner role. Fast-forward to Red having The Skinner tattoo applied to his calf, to the applause of the members of The Skinner organization and in the presence of the Vincent and The Captain.

Red also paid a visit to Cynthia Panabaker in his signature way of simply being there in the dark when she arrived home. So magically, Red’s immunity agreement was renewed and the Task Force recommissioned. This may be problematic for Ressler who seems to be experiencing PTSD from having to confront the memories associated with the office he shared with Liz, who had become his lover in the months before she died. Red, Cooper and Dembe have all tried the reach out to him, but he has become suspicious and distant, even hostile at times. Agent Park will have to deal with her the fact she has promised her husband she would not be doing work in the field. She also has some side hustle going on that Red made clear to her he disapproves of. Aram has been in the process of launching a cyber security company with a partner, Nick Faria, and they may have just landed an angel investor. Cooper, who was made Agnes’s guardian by Liz, has clarified to Red that he doesn’t want Red in Agnes’s life, a directive Red is regularly testing. Mierce Xiu, Red’s Kaqchikel spiritual guide, is also not happy with the prospect of staying and sees “only heartbreak here.” Other than these few complications, things are looking up, with help from signature rum provided by the case from the Xiu family’s stock, which provides “A swift kick to the head ~ and no headache.”

⭕ Script 9:3 The (№ 178)

 
[ Santa Maria de Prato Cathedral in Italy ]
[ Dialogue in Italian ]
[ The Mayor approaches the altar where the Bishop stands. The Mayor crosses himself and genuflects ]
Mayor: Forgive my delay, Your Grace. I had to push through a crowd outside.
Bishop: The Sacra Cintola is a treasure. On the rare days we put it on display, everyone wants a peek.
[ A Security Guard opens a side door ] [ Men enter. Gun cocks ✽ ]
Colfax: Has the Mayor arrived?
Security Guard: [ English, Italian accent ] In the chapel. With the bishop. No shooting, right? That was our deal.
Colfax: [ English ] That’s our deal.
[ Colfax stabs the Security Guard ]
⋘⋙
Bishop: When the ever Virgin Mother was called to Heaven, she handed her Holy Belt to Saint Thomas as proof of her Divine Ascension. We’ve protected it ever since.
[ The Bishop unlocks and opens the case with the relic inside ]
Mayor: [ In reverence ] It is holy.
[ The Bishop lifts the case containing the artifact and kisses it three times ]
[ Suddenly, armed men burst in, dressed in nuns’ habits but wearing Guy Fawkes-like masks ]
Colfax (the leader): Give it to me! The relic! Now!
Bishop: [ Accented English ] Please, this is not what God wants for your lives.
Colfax: Idolators know nothing of what God wants.
[ Gun fires 💥 ] [ A guard falls ]
[ Colfax takes the artifact ]
Bishop: You can’t! It’s sacred!
Colfax: It is sacred, which is why it needs to be destroyed!
[ The men leave with the relic ]

 
[ Aram Mojtabai’s parents’ home, the breakfast table ]
Hashem Mojtabai: The investor will come through. Do not worry.
Aram: I’m not worried.
Hashem: I know how these money men work. If he didn’t say no, it means yes. Soon he will hand you a big check, and everyone will buy your fancy new security system.
Aram: It’s a security software suite.
Hashem: Whatever. Everyone will buy it. Soon you can forget about all these lost years of your life. The FBI can find a new desk clerk.
Naamah Mojtabai: Hush, Hashem. Aram can’t talk about his work. But I’m sure it’s important, even if it does wash out his complexion. How do you like being back at work, motek? [ tr. from Hebrew: “sweetheart” ]
Aram: It’s weird. I, uh– I thought I’d closed the door on this part of my life, but, um, it’s great to see the team, and, uh, a paycheck doesn’t hurt.
Hashem: Paychecks are the shackles of the common man. Remember that. Just wait till you’re running your own company.
Naamah: Ooooo! Maybe you’ll be on Shark Tank!
[ Getting up ]
Aram: I gotta go. Um– [ Clears throat ] Thank you, uh, for breakfast. I will call you guys. [ Kisses Naamah ] Talk to you soon.
Hashem: Do not worry. The money, it will come!
Aram: Not worried!

 
[ Red sits at Cooper’s dining room table ]
Cooper: Have you thought about this? She’s 11. You’re a fugitive.
Red: Yes, but she doesn’t know that. She wouldn’t see that. Children see behavior, good or bad, kind or cruel. I’m confident Agnes will see me.
Cooper: I won’t lie to her.
Red: Do you let her believe in Santa Claus?
Cooper: I let her believe in myths.
Red: Well, if the shoe fits. I want to be in her life.
Cooper: I know it’s hard and that you mean well. Let me talk to Charlene. I’ll see what she says.
Red: What do you know about the Supremo Priori Knighthood?
Cooper: Never heard of ’em.
Red: I’m not surprised. For generations, they’ve been a rather toothless group of religious extremists.
Cooper: And you’re telling me about them because that’s no longer the case.
Red: They recently killed an innocent man during the armed robbery of the Sacra Cintola .
Cooper: Mary’s Holy Belt?
Red: Another in a growing list of stolen iconography that they’ve put on the illicit auction block. The belt will soon be available to the highest bidder.
Cooper: When and where is the auction?
Red: Mmm. Let me worry about that. I suggest you do some homework on the SPK, be prepared for whatever comes.

 
[ The Post Office. Cooper briefs the task force ]
Cooper: Mohammed’s footprint from Istanbul. The Buddha’s tooth from Sri Lanka. In Cologne, Germany, bones belonging to the Three Wise Men. All stolen by the SPK then, according to Reddington, sold on the black market.
Park: No way. I mean, those things aren’t real, right?
Dembe: Authenticity is irrelevant. Belief makes them real, and holy.
Cooper: Initially, the SPK operated like thieves in the night, but they’ve turned violent. Two days ago, they killed a security guard inside a cathedral in Prato, Italy, during the armed robbery of a 2,000-year-old belt worn by the Virgin Mary.
Park: Allegedly.
Ressler: So, did Reddington say what turned a secret society into armed robbers?
Cooper: Not what, but who. A new leader known only as Giovanni.
⋘⋙
[ In a ceremony, the Sacra Cintola is handed to an man who places the relic into a fire while a group of men men watch, including those who stole it from the Bishop at the cathedral ]
⋘⋙
Aram: If these are true believers, I’d think they’d want to possess the relics, not auction them off.
Ressler: As usual, two plus two equals five. What’s Reddington not telling us?
Dembe: I don’t know.
Ressler: Don’t know or won’t say?
Cooper: Agent Ressler, that’ll be enough.
Ressler: No, I’m sorry, but Dembe didn’t just work for Reddington. He was his sworn protector, his closest friend. And now we’re supposed to just, what, accept him as one of ours?
Cooper: Until he gives us a reason not to, yes. Agent Zuma, you and Agent Mojtabi will go to the cathedral in Prato. Vatican authorities have agreed to share what they’ve found at the crime scene. [ To Aram and Ressler ] You two be careful out there. Your FBI reinstatements won’t be official until Health Services administers a drug test. I took mine last week. I’ll have them arrange yours next.
Aram: On, uh, that note, you should know that I met with an angel investor about my company, and, well, uh, shockingly, he– he might be interested.
Ressler: So you’re leaving us for the private sector again.
Cooper: Appreciate you mentioning it. If it happens, I’ll support whatever decision you make. Until then, let’s take down the SPK.

 
[ The cathedral in Prato, Italy ]
Inspector General: This is where the thieves entered and stabbed the guard. Antonio was found dead here.
Dembe: No CCTV cameras.
Inspector: I have stills from the crime scene.
Aram: Is this door keyed on the outside?
Inspector: No. It can only be opened from inside. We’re operating on a theory that a member of their crew was already in the building.
Dembe: [ Looking at photo ] I believe you’re right, and that crew member was your own guard. His weapon is still holstered. If he felt threatened, it wouldn’t be.
Inspector: If our guard was helping the intruders, why would they kill him?
Dembe: Hard to say. Things go wrong.
Aram: If your guard was the inside man, there may be a money trail we can follow back to the SPK. I’ll see what I can find in his financial records.

 
[ Ressler and Park follow up on a link in the money trail ]
Park: Remember, you’re not an agent. In case something happens, leave the fun stuff to me.
Ressler: You got a weird definition of fun.
⋘⋙
[ Park and Ressler approach a man working in his yard with a shovel ]
Park: David Kangas?
Kangas: That’s right.
Park: Agent Park, FBI. I’d like to speak to you about a financial transaction you made wiring 50,000 euros to a man in Italy.
Kangas: I’m a business manager. My firm moves all kinds of money. I don’t remember each transaction, but if you’d like to visit my office–
Ressler: Well, maybe we can prompt your memory. Antonio Lucchese was a guard for the Santa Maria de Prato Cathedral. We have reason to believe the money you transferred was payment for his role in an armed robbery.
Kangas: Well, I can guarantee I have no knowledge of any criminal activity.
Ressler: We’re not suggesting you do, but maybe one of your clients does. Have you ever heard of an organization called the SPK?
Kangas: [ Grunts ] [ Kangas suddenly throws the shovel at Ressler and Park and runs, locking himself inside a small shed on the property ]
Kangas: Whoa!
Ressler: Stop! Stop!
Park: Kangas! Get out here!
Kangas: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain! I am worthy!
[ 💨Smoke💨 seeps out from under the door of the shed ] [ Park pulls on the locked door, uselessly ]
Ressler: [ Impatiently, to Park ] Geez. Are you having fun yet?
[ Ressler⚡️kicks down⚡️the shed door. Kangas runs out, his 🔥 clothing on fire 🔥 ]
Kangas: Honor and glory are mine! Mine! [ Screaming ]
[ Ressler leaps on Kangas to extinguish the flames ]

 
[ Red attends an auction of unusual items ]
Trevor Prince (Auctioneer): Do I hear 650? Last chance to own your own ZPU-2 twin-barrel antiaircraft gun. No one can run, or fly from you when you are sitting in this bad boy. Shock and awe your friends and enemies alike.
[ A woman holds up her paddle ]
Trevor: Going once? Twice? Sold to the lady in red for $600,000! May your revenge be as daring as your neckline.
[ ⚡️Switches click⚡️Lights dim ] [ Gasps ]
Trevor: And now, a Galilean fashion accessory once worn by the O.G. Madonna herself. I give you the Sacra Cintola . Nothing says heavenly style like a camel-hair belt encased in gold, silver, and rock crystal. The bidding commences at $2 million. I have two.
[ Red holds up his paddle ]
Trevor: I have three. Thank you, sir. Four? Can I get four? I have four. Do I hear five? The Virgin Mary was riding a tractor beam up to God when she dropped this beauty. It is a bargain at $4 million. How about 4.5?
Red: Five if you close the bidding now.
Trevor: Sold to the gentleman! [ All applauding ]

 
[ The auction office ] [ Computer beeps🔅]
Trevor Prince: Your funds cleared. Congratulations. You are now the proud owner of biblical history.
Red: Actually, Mother Mary’s chastity belt is of no interest to me. I only bought the heirloom to gain access to something that is. The name of the client who entrusted you with the Sacra Cintola .
Trevor: I’m sure you can appreciate the need for complete confidentiality.
Red: I can, which is why I brought this, uh, bauble for your auction.
Trevor: Is this–
Red: One of the seven. Selling it would offset my latest expenditure. More to the point, your cut of the sale would be, mmm, well, low seven figures.
Trevor: If I give you the name.
Red: Well, and arrange for a meeting between us.
Trevor: That’s not how I conduct business.
Red: Mmm. Trevor, I’m not leaving here without the meeting. You can either profit from giving it to me, or get hurt then give it to me.

 
[ Ressler and Park stand with David Kangas’s wife, Joanie, outside the hospital room where Kangas is being treated for his burns ]
Joanie Kangas: David was a wonderful husband, a kind father. He was very – normal.
Ressler: So what happened to him?
Joanie: The Supremo Priori Knighthood. David said they’re a fraternity, like the Shriners. I thought it would be good for him, fellowship with Christian men. How could I know it was a cult?
Ressler: A cult. What do you mean?
Joanie I mean a religious devotion to a manipulative leader who turned my husband into a martyr.
Park: Did he tell you where they met?
Joanie: No, but when his behavior changed, I started tracking his cellphone. I’d do anything to catch the madman who did this to my husband.

 
[ A meeting of the Supremo Priori Knighthood ]
Giovanni: Wake up! Wake up! Biblical prophecies are unfolding before our very eyes. Oceans rising, rivers receding, the whole damn Earth’s on fire. Yet we await a Second Coming that has not come. Why? Because people are too busy worshipping the past to see what’s happening right now. Only through the destruction of their ancient idols are we able to open their eyes so they may see their way to the kingdom of heaven.
All: Amen.
Giovanni: Amen. But in order to do that, we must be welcome. The senseless murder of that poor security guard in Italy set our cause back immeasurably. And he was one of us. He contributed to the furtherance of our cause. And you killed him.
[ Giovanni looks at Colfax, the member who directed the murder and theft. Giovanni’s face comes into focus for the first time: “Giovanni” is none other than Robert Vesco, Blacklister #9, a world class con man and mentor to Red ~ that is before he conned Red out of $50M in gold (Episode 6:13) ]
Giovanni/Vesco: [ To Colfax ] Shame on you. Death and violence are not the way to righteous change.
Colfax: Then what is the way, Giovanni? We keep destroying their relics, and they just keep covering it up.
Thomas: Be patient, Brother Colfax. Our message will get out eventually.
Colfax: It’s out right now. The press is finally talking about us. It’s time to make a real move.
Thomas: Like what?
Colfax: Let’s not steal from another church. Let’s take down a church.
[ All applauding ]
Giovanni/Vesco: That’s enough! There will be no more violence. Do you understand? We must all aspire to be more like John the Baptist, who peacefully paved the way for the return of the Messiah. And that is why, as an inspiration, I have chosen as our next target ~ the head of John the Baptist. It is to be venerated at the Old Holy Cross Church tomorrow afternoon.
[ Vesco’s cellphone buzzes »»» »»» ]
Giovanni/Vesco: Now I think it’s time for all of us to take a moment or two of reflection. Everyone take a breather, stretch your legs, and when I return, I’ll share with you how I plan to steal that head.
⋘⋙
Vesco: Yeah. How much did we get for this one?
Trevor Prince: [ On phone ] Double the appraisal price. Which is why I’m sending my colleague to transfer your funds in person. Can you meet him tomorrow for lunch?
Vesco: Can you assure me of his discretion?
Trevor: I promise. The man I’m sending won’t speak of this to anyone.

 
[ Red enters a private dining room in a restaurant ]
Red: [ To the waitress ] Thank you.
[ Red sees Robert Vesco ]
Red: Well, didn’t this just get way more interesting. The meek and scheming Robert Vesco, masquerading as the great and powerful Giovanni. [ Chuckles ] [ To Waiter: ] Excuse me.
Waiter: Yes, sir.
Red: What is your most expensive wine?
Waiter: We have a Chateau le Pin Pomeral 2001, which is $5,800.
Red: Yes. We’ll take two. On his tab. Which is $50 million in arrears. So, the scam. Tell me about it.

 
[ Ressler is innocently reading an article on his phone: “5 Ways Employees Can Cheat Drug Tests” including:
“1. Diluting their samples” and “2. Adding chemicals to their samples” ]
[ Park knocks ✽ ✽ on Ressler’s door ]
Park: Hey. Ready to brief the team?
Ressler: Yeah, soon as I give Health Services what they’re here for.
Park: Shouldn’t be hard. You drank half the Potomac.
Ressler: Well, I did a little research. I think I found where Kangas goes at night.
[ Ressler takes a swig from a bottle of water. Park stares at him ]
Ressler: What? I like to hydrate. You know, gingers tend to wrinkle.

 
Robert Vesco: Oh. You have no idea how hard it is to manage a decent heist crew. The bickering, the squabbling–
Red: The fragile egos, the safe-cracker who feels like he’s worth more than the gadget guy.
Vesco: Who thinks he’s much smarter than the mastermind.
Red: Who just wants to go back to the salad days of being a driver.
Vesco: Hmm.
Red: But you, Robert, instead of teaching criminals to be brothers, you turned a fraternity of brothers into criminals.
Vesco: Hmm. Hmm.
Red: How did you con them into stealing for you? Profit sharing?
Vesco: No. Storytelling. They want the end of the world. I simply pour fuel on their fantasies. Train them to connect holy relics with idolatry. They believe that what we steal is burned at the altar.
Red: But you perform a little sleight of hand.
Vesco: Ah, foot, actually, which preserves the relics, and then I sell them at auction.
⋘⋙
[ It’s shown how Vesco has been able to step on a foot pedal which opens a trap door that the icons fall through, while it looks to those watching that they’ve been incinerated ]
⋘⋙
Red: Your own secret society. Where can I get one? You must teach me the secret handshake.
Vesco: Hmm. Well, I won’t deny it has been comically lucrative. But it hasn’t been all fun and games.
Red: The security guard at the cathedral.
Vesco: Yes, I know, I know. That poor man. I’ve never used violence in pursuit of illicit gain. But I should’ve been there to keep my boys in check. But to tell you the truth, at my age, after a long flight, my ankles tend to swell up like balloons, and I’m useless.
Red: I would suggest compression socks. I’d also suggest you shut down this con, Robert, while you still can.
Vesco: Ooh, I’m way ahead of you, Raymond. I’ve already decided to cut bait, right after they steal that head.
Red: And if another body drops?
Vesco: Not to worry. I’ve laid down the law. I’ve got my boys under control.

 
Max: [ To Colfax ] Each IED contains a main charge, an arming switch, and a battery pack connected to an RC receiver.
[ Thomas enters ]
Thomas: What’s going on here? You heard Giovanni. He doesn’t want this.
Colfax: Giovanni doesn’t seem to know what he wants.
Thomas: When do you plan to detonate these?
Max: At the end of mass today. When the bishop raises the head of John the Baptist, we’ll blast open the gates of heaven for all the world to see.
Thomas: You’re gonna blow these with people in the church?
Colfax: The Bible’s full of judgment and bloodshed. Everyone who dies will die for a cause.
Thomas: Giovanni needs to know about this.
[ Thomas turns to leave ]
Colfax: Wait.
[ Colfax grabs a crowbar from Max’s workbench and hits Thomas on the head with it, until Thomas lies on the floor, unconscious ]

 
Vesco: Well, I’ve enjoyed catching up, Raymond, but now I must really go and tend to my flock.
Red: Your flock can wait. We have unfinished business.
Vesco: Are you talking about that little De La Cruz job a few years back?
Red: “Little De La Cruz job”? That was 100 million in Spanish gold, and you blew town like a Texas twister with all of it.
Vesco: Is this where you tell me about honor among thieves?
Red: No, it’s where I tell you that you’re going to pay your debt.
Vesco: Well, in order to do that, I would have to go to my bank in Malta, and, well, to approve a transfer of that size–
Red: Perfect. While I don’t have a secret society, I do have a jet. We’re going to Malta.
Vesco: You didn’t even know I’d be here.
Red: You’re right. I have changed. I used to think that I had to create my own fate. Now I believe in karma. Even if it is a bitch.

 
[ Aram and Ressler go to provide urine samples for drug testing ] [ An authoritative Black woman gives instructions ]
Collector: Remove any outer garments that might conceal items that could tamper your urine sample. Anything else in your pants pockets goes in the bowl.
Aram: Uh, I know you’re just doing your job, but, uh, FYI, we’ve both been agents. We’re not gonna cheat.
Collector: Void directly into the container. Do not flush afterwards. You have four minutes.
[ Ressler and Aram go into adjoining stalls. Ressler removes an eye-dropper size vial from under his arm ]
Aram: [ Nervously ] Okay. Here we go. It’s funny.
[ Containers rattle ] [ Ressler shakes the contents of the vial into the collection container ]
Aram: This is awkward. Knew I should’ve had, uh, more to drink today. I just, I feel like I’ve been retaining a lot of water lately. Feeling, um, bloated.
[ Ressler puts the vial back under his arm ]
[ Aram’s cellphone goes off, playing Rupert Pope/Giles Palmer’s ♪ “Money, Money” ]

♪ Money, money (Just can’t get enough) ♪

Aram: Okay. Uh, that’s my phone.

♪ Money, money (Just can’t get enough) ♪

Aram: Um, I know the, uh, the ringtone is embarrassing, but at this moment, uh, what isn’t? Uh, uh, I need to answer it.

♪ Money, money (Just can’t get enough) ♪

Collector: No personal items in the stall.
Aram: It’s kind of important. Uh, can you–

♪ Money, money (Just can’t get enough) ♪

Aram: Can you just pick it up, please, and put it on speaker? I can’t miss this call.
[ Ringtone stops and phone beeps🔅 ]
Nick: [ On Speaker 🔉] We did it!
Aram: [ Loudly ] No way. He said yes? The money came through?
Nick: We’ve got a company, baby!
Aram: [ To himself ] Oh, my– Oh, my God. Oh.
Nick: Whatever you’re doing right now, drop it.
Aram: Trust me. I would if I could.

 
[ Back in the Post Office war room ]
Ressler: The angel investor said yes. Aram’s on his way to tech fame and fortune.
Cooper: That’s great news. Congratulations.
Aram: There are still I’s to be dotted and T’s to be crossed, but, yeah, it is, uh, kind of, kind of exciting. But I am not going anywhere just yet.
Cooper: Well, later, we’ll celebrate and figure out a way to help you spend your money. Now we need to focus. Where are we on SPK?
Park: The burn victim’s wife couldn’t give us anything concrete, but she was worried enough about her husband’s behavior to start tracking his phone when he went out at night. He always parked in the same public lot, then he’d turn off his phone.
⋘⋙
Ressler: Generic buildings. No conspicuous occupants, at least not now.
[ Ressler displays current and archival views of the area ]
Ressler: This is the same block in 1868, the same year that the SPK was founded. One of these three buildings remains. And what it was, and still is, an American Legion Hall.

 
[ The American Legion Hall ]
Ressler: So, do you have any groups that, uh, meet here on a regular basis?
Old Veteran: Uh, yeah, you mean The– The Arthritics. A senior heavy-metal band. I don’t– I don’t care much for their, uh, sounds, but, um– I’ll let you boys look around. Okay.
Ressler: Sure doesn’t look like the home base for some heavily armed religious extremists.
Dembe: Maybe they are hiding in plain sight.
Ressler: Hmm. Something you know a little about, huh?
Dembe: This mirror is a reproduction of the Porta Magica. A monument built in 1680 in Piazza Vittorio.
Ressler: So?
Dembe: So, the “Magic Portal” isn’t a mirror. It’s a door. They say alchemists used it to vanish from our world.
[ Dembe presses the emblem over the door. The door opens ]
Ressler: Reddington teach you that trick?
Dembe: Yes. He showed me the real Porta Magica in Rome and told me the story.
Ressler: Well, he taught you well. I wish I knew if he was still teaching you.
Dembe: And I wish I knew when you’ll believe me when I say he’s not.

 
[ They investigate the room behind the door. Ressler turns on a projector ]
[ A photo of the icon of John the Baptist is displayed ]
Ressler: The SPK’s next target?
Dembe: Blueprints for IEDs. And a floor plan. Old Holy Cross Church.
[ Man groaning ] [ Behind a podium, they find Thomas ]
Ressler: Call an ambulance.

 
[ In Old Holy Cross Church, Colfax plants an IED (improvised explosive device) under a pew ]
[ On his way out of the Church, Colfax passes a priest ]
Priest: Peace be with you.
Colfax: And also with you, Father.

 
[ In Red’s airplane ]
Vesco: I’ll tell you what, Raymond. If we skip Malta, I’ll deal you in on a little plan I’ve hatched worth 10 times as much.
[ Cellphone ringing✨ ]
Red: You deal from the bottom of the deck, Robert.
Vesco: I do.
[ Weecha hands the phone to Red ]
Weecha: Señor Cooper.
Red: [ To Weecha ] Thank you. [ To Cooper ] Harold. So you’ve spoken with Charlene.
Cooper: I have, and I got her to agree to let you see Agnes.
Red: Wonderful.
Cooper: As long as I’m present.
Red: “Present.” Present how?
Cooper: She won’t agree to let you and Agnes be alone together. She wants the visits to be supervised.
Red: I’m not an abusive husband or father.
Cooper: No, you’re a cold-hearted murderer. I know what Agnes means to you, and I’m trying here, but this is the best I can do.
Red: I appreciate it, Harold, and I’ll consider it. I have news about the Sacra Cintola .
Cooper: For once, I’m ahead of you. Savoring the moment will have to wait. We know what the SPK’s next move is.
⋘⋙
[ Red returns to his seat across from Vesco ]
Red: You said you had your flock under control.
Vesco: I do.
Red: They’re about to blow up a church on live TV.
Vesco: I don’t believe it.
Red: Well, belief is your problem, Robert. Or the lack of it. It’s why you didn’t see this coming.
Vesco: [ Sighs ] Well, in my defense, it’s very difficult to maintain good judgment when your followers think you’re channeling God. What am I going to do, Raymond? I’ve never lost control of a con before.
Red: Stay calm. Happens to the best of us. Or so I’m told.
Vesco: A church full of innocent people. No, I can’t bear to have that stain on my soul.
Red: What do you know of the plan? Is there a staging area?
Vesco: Yes, I scouted one for them.
Red: Well, then that’s where we’re going.

 
[ Outside Old Holy Cross Church, a police officer talks to Dembe, Aram and Ressler. A priest stands next to him ]
Officer: The church is full of people. The service was already under way when you called. We’ve initiated a lockdown but held off on emergency evac.
Dembe: Good. The bombers are watching a live broadcast. We don’t want to alert them that we’re here.
Officer: Why don’t we just cut the feed?
Dembe: The moment we do that, they’ll blow the church. According to their notes, we have until the bishop raises John the Baptist’s head to save these people.

[ Inside the church ]
Bishop: Give to the king thy judgment, O God, and to the king’s son thy justice–

[ Aram quietly enters the church and walks quietly along a side aisle ]
Aram: [ Voiceover ] I looked over the schematics from the SPK base, and it looks like they’ve rigged IEDs with RF triggers and hidden them under the pews. Now, if I can get a close look at one and determine its frequency, I should be able to jam the remote signal.

Bishop –upon the fleece as showers falling gently upon the earth. In his days shall justice spring up an abundance of peace until the moon be taken away. And he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the Earth.

 
[ At the Post Office, Park runs the fingerprints gathered from the SPK meeting place against a database ] [ Beeping 🔅🔅🔅] [ The prints match those of Robert Vesco ]
Park: Son of a bitch.
[ Beeps🔅 and rings✨]
Park: Hey, Ressler, you’re never gonna believe what I just found.

 
[ Outside the church ]
Aram: [ To Dembe ] So, I saw one of the IEDs, but I can’t get close enough to determine its RF output without creating a scene. There’s just, too many live TV cameras.
[ Ressler walks up ]
Ressler: Robert Vesco. The, uh, wanted fugitive who faked his own death in Cuba. He was one of Reddington’s friends, wasn’t he?
Dembe: He was. Why?
Ressler: Because, based on all the fingerprints all over the SPK altar, that’s who Giovanni is. But you already knew that, didn’t you?
Dembe: Vesco is a con man, not a killer.
Ressler: Reddington once sent us to find Vesco, remember? And once we did, you and your boss helped him get away with a fortune in gold.
Dembe: Yes. Raymond did con you, but then Vesco conned him.
Ressler: [ Scoffs ]
Dembe: Maybe that’s why he gave us this case. As payback.
Ressler: Or maybe he gave it to us to help his old pal again.
Aram: Yeah, but if we have his prints, so does everyone in law enforcement. How can that possibly help him?
Ressler: I don’t know. I was hoping you could answer that.
Dembe: I can’t, and I don’t have time to make you believe me. Aram, I can get you a closer look at those IEDs. Follow me.

 
[ Red’s airplane ]
Red: Just go in there and talk them down.
Vesco: I really think this is more your area than mine. Can’t you just–
Red: Shoot them for you? No. I can’t. There’s a bomb, Robert! If I walk in, they’ll set it off.
Vesco: What if they won’t listen to me?
[ Red leans forward, speaking slowly and deliberately ]
Red: You are Robert Vesco, king of the con. A swindling, cheating, double-crossing, beautiful confidence man.
Vesco: Well–
[ Vesco tries to turn away, but Red reaches over, takes Vesco’s face in his hands and gives him a big smooch ]
Red: So put your game face on and get your damn marks under control.
Vesco: Thank you, Raymond. I needed that.
Red: You’re welcome. Uh, Robert–
Vesco: Mmm?
Red: –if you try to run out on me again, I’ll put you down like a three-legged mule.
[ Vesco stares at Red, eyes wide open ]

 
[ The fringe group (of the fringe group) led by Colfax watches the Mass on live video ]

[ Inside the church, the Bishop holds up the Chalice (a vessel containing wine) and the Host (wafers or bread) for all to see. At this point, Catholics believe, the wine and bread have been transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ (Transubstantiation) ]
Bishop: This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. [ John 1:29 ]

Colfax: Get ready, boys. Any minute now.
[ Robert Vesco enters ]
Vesco: What’s going on in here?
Colfax: Giovanni. You’re just in time for the fireworks.
Vesco: You directly disobeyed my orders!
Colfax: On the contrary. We’re doing what you taught us. We’re paving the way for the Second Coming.
Vesco: Our goal was to prepare believers by turning them away from material objects, to open their hearts and minds to our spiritual nature. How does mass murder accomplish that?
Colfax: Fear accomplishes that.
Vesco: Then you should be down on your knees for fear of me, son. Now give me that detonator.
Colfax: No. You’re gonna see we’re right, Giovanni. We’re gonna show you.
Vesco: Well, if you do, I’ll just go to the police.
[ Max, who has been monitoring the airwaves, takes off his earphones and gets up, pointing a gun at Vesco ]
Max: Really? Because I just heard an APB on a police scanner. Giovanni isn’t Giovanni. His real name is Robert Vesco, a fugitive wanted by the FBI.

 
[ In the vestibule of the church, Dembe and Aram are pleading with the Priest ]
Priest: We’re running out of time.
Dembe: Which is why we need it.
Priest: An offering bag? There’s a bomb in the church, and you want an offering bag.
Dembe: Trust us. Please.
[ Another church official comes out with a long-handled basket for collecting offerings ]
Dembe: This should work.
Aram: There’s only one way to find out.
Dembe: Thank you.

 
[ Cellphone rings✨ ] [ Beeps🔅]
Cooper: Harold Cooper.
Red: [ On phone ] Harold, I’ve been thinking about your proposal regarding Agnes.
Cooper: Now’s not a good time for this.
Red: Because of the church bombing? That’s being taken care of.
Cooper: Not at the church it’s not. The pews are full. The bombs are live, and we haven’t diffused them.
Red: The detonator’s at an off-site location. I’ve spoken to Giovanni. He’s there now working to resolve the situation.
Cooper: I know Giovanni is Vesco, so forgive me for not taking solace in knowing he’s on the case.
Red: You and who else?
Cooper: Know about Vesco? Everyone. His prints were found. We put out an APB.
[ Cellphone beeps 🔅 and closes ✽ ]
[ ♪ “Holy, Holy, Holy” plays (Trad.; Durham Cathedral) ] ]

♪ Lord God almighty
Early in the morning ♪

Colfax: They’ll bring out the head next, right after the offering.
Vesco: Please. Call this off. You’re doing it all for nothing. Can’t you see that? You were just marks in a con.
Colfax: What con? If all your talk about the End Times was just talk, if you don’t believe worshipping the past is killing the future, then why were we stealing relics for you to destroy?
[ Red walks in ]
Red: Because he doesn’t destroy them. He sells your precious antiquities for a fortune on the black market.
Colfax: Who are you?
Red: Hmm. I’m many things to many people. To Robert here, I’m a creditor, who very much needs him alive. To a man of the cloth such as yourself, I’m Yama, god of death.
⋘⋙
[ Inside the church, Dembe uses the collection basket to reach under the pews using his phone to capture video for Aram to analyze ]
Aram: Okay. This is the aisle. The IED I saw should be about four feet from where you’re standing. I don’t see it, but I know it’s there. You gotta be close. Stop, stop! Right there. I see it. [ Beeps 🔅🔅🔅 ] [ Aram gets a photo of the bar code ]
⋘⋙
Colfax: Whoever you are, you’re wrong. We burn the relics. We destroy them.
[ Red has brought the Sacra Cintola. He opens the case to show the relic was not destroyed ]
Red: His judgment will come. [ Referring to Vesco ] But [ To Colfax: ] today is your judgment day. I’m not an End Timer by nature, and my idea of rapture is, of late, a bit more solipsistic. But no matter what floats one’s funereal boat, you will be judged by what you do in the next 60 seconds.
 

Bishop: Now for the blessing of the holy relic of Saint John the Baptist!

Ressler: We’re out of time.
Aram: Okay. I got a pic of the RC receiver. I just need to match its markings to its frequency.
⋘⋙
Colfax: [ To Red ] If you are the god of death, our guns shouldn’t be able to hurt you.
Red: There’s only one way to find out.
[ Guns firing 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 ] [ Several cult members are cut down by Weecha ~ but not Colfax, who still holds the detonator and is protected by the podium ]
Colfax: Not yet. You can take me after. Not before.

Bishop: May Almighty God bless this relic.

Aram: Okay. There. I found the frequency. I found it.
[ Beeping 🔅🔅🔅~ Display reads “Frequency Jamming” ]
⋘⋙
[ Colfax is about to press the detonator but Vesco lunges and grabs his arm, pulling Colfax into range of Weecha who shoots him💥 But the detonator has spun free. Max tries to grab it but it also shot 💥 by Weecha ]

Bishop: In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[ Beeps🔅~ Display reads “Frequency Blocked” ]

 
Vesco: [ Sighs ] Raymond. You saved me.
Red: You’re way past saving. I preserved you. An act of pure selfishness. Come. If we leave now, we’ll be in Malta before sunup.
Vesco: Still stuck on Malta? I’m telling you, Raymond, we’ll find much bigger action with the Salton Sea!
⋘⋙
Aram: Somebody’s prayers were answered. Or wasn’t. Uh, depending on what you do or don’t believe. Personally, I-I lean towards the idea that –
Ressler: Wujing – You remember him?
Aram: Of course. That– That was my first case.
Ressler: I remember thinking, “Who is this weird guy and why does he talk so much?”
Aram: Oh, that’s a– that’s a nervous tic, actually. I’ve been doing it as long as I can remember. I just start going, you know, and, uh–
Ressler: You know, I was trying to work my way up to a compliment.
Aram: Oh. Sorry. You forgot what it was, didn’t you? I do that all the time. If I think of something and I don’t say it right away, it’s, uh– [ Pops ] It’s gone. I– Oh. Dang. Um, sorry. Again.
Ressler: It’s okay. ‘Cause whatever this is, this whole Aram-a-palooza thing, I’m gonna miss it.

 
[ Red and Vesco board Red’s plane, followed by Weecha ]
Red: Lithium?
Vesco: Yes, lithium. And the Salton Sea’s full of it. With all these electric cars, there simply isn’t enough of it. Until now.
[ Dembe steps out from the front of the plane ]
Dembe: Robert Vesco. I’m Special Agent Dembe Zuma, FBI. You’re under arrest.
[ Red pulls Dembe aside ]
Red: I understand. You’re new on the job. You want to impress. But there are other factors at play.
Dembe: Fifty million factors, as I recall.
Red: And the SPK members that he helped me to secure. They’re in a warehouse near the church. It’s a bit messy inside, but in fairness, they did pull their weapons first, so–
Dembe: I knew you’d help him escape. So he could get you your money.
Red: Naturally. I get my money, the FBI saves a church full of people. I’ll even throw in the Sacra Cintola to sweeten the deal. It’s good business for all. And if Vesco slips away? Oh, well. Nobody in the FBI will be any the wiser.
Dembe: I’m the FBI.
Red: Yes. You’re an FBI agent. But loyalty, that’s something else entirely.
Dembe: It is. And mine is constantly being questioned.
Red: Because your feet are planted in two different worlds.
Dembe: They’re not. But I’m having a hard time convincing anyone of that.
Red: And arresting Robert will convince them?
Vesco: Mmm. Arresting me? I’m a small fish compared to this shark.
Red: [ Sighs ] I’m sorry, Robert.
[ Handcuffs clinking ]
Dembe: [ To Red ] You’re my friend. This, what I’m doing here, I consider an act of friendship. You don’t see it now. I hope someday that you will.

 
[ Aram sits alone in the church ]

 
[ The Post Office ]
[ Elevator door thuds open ] [ Dembe gets off with Vesco and turns him over to another agent ]
Ressler: So, is it true? Heard you took him off Reddington’s jet.
Dembe: If we offer him a deal, he’ll identify SPK members and those who bought the stolen relics.
Ressler: But is it true?
Dembe: I’m not auditioning for your approval or your trust.

 
[ Insects chirping ]
[ Aram is parked outside of his parents’ home. Nick Faria, his business start-up partner, is inside ]
[ Aram’s cellphone goes off, playing Rupert Pope/Giles Palmer’s ♪ “Money, Money” ]

♪ Money, money I just can’t get enough
Money, money I just can’t ge– ♪

[ Cellphone clicks ✵ ]
Aram: Hey.
Nick Faria: Where the heck are you?
Aram: I’m, um, stuck at work.
Hashem Mojtabai: I told you the investor would come through. Didn’t I tell you?
Aram: Yeah, Baba, you told me.
Naamah Mojtabai: Nick showed us the check! I didn’t know a check could fit so many zeroes!
Hashem: I know these money men. He didn’t say no. He was going to say yes.
Nick: Welcome to the one percent, pal.
Hashem: Your days as a desk clerk are officially over.

 
[ The Post Office ]
Park: Did Cooper find you?
[ Door closes ]
Ressler: What does he want?
Park: Your drug test came back. A diluted negative.
Ressler: What does that mean?
Park: We both know the answer to that.
Ressler: Did I pass or not?
Park: Neither. So you have to retake it, under even closer supervision, which means you can’t use this.
[ Park takes out the vial Ressler snuck into the stall ]
Ressler: You don’t know what you’re talking about.
Park: Unfortunately for you, I know exactly what I’m talking about. I’m a child of an addict. I know the tricks of the trade, how eye drops can throw off a urine sample, how sucking down water can render the results meaningless.
Ressler: Did you tell Cooper?
Park: I didn’t. Because I think you need this job. You’re good at it, and it keeps you on the straight and narrow.
I want you to have your badge back. But now I have the power to make sure that never happens, and I’ll use it unless you clean up.

 
[ The Post Office ] [ Cooper waits at the elevator ]
[ Cooper’s cellphone buzzes. It’s “Nick’s Pizza” (Red) ]
[ The elevator door clangs open. Aram is inside ]
Cooper: Aram. I thought you’d be out celebrating.
Aram: I, um, I saw my parents, and my, uh, my business partner, Nick.
Cooper: They must be so happy and proud of you.
Aram: We did good work today. At the church. We saved a lot of people.
Cooper: Yes. It was a good day.
Aram: We’ve got a lot of those. Days where we help people.
Cooper: Why are you here? It’s late. Everyone’s gone home. Your ship has come in, and yet here you are.
Aram: I had my business partner buy me out. It, um, wasn’t much. Uh, enough for a new kitchen. Mom’s been wanting one. And I made Nick create a camp scholarship in my name. Space Camp. I was 12. It, um, It changed my life.
Cooper: There won’t always be good days.
Aram: I know. And, uh, on those, I may regret my choice, but– Not much. And on the good days, I, uh– I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be.
Cooper: That sounds like a reason to celebrate. Come on. I’ll buy you a drink.
Aram: Thanks, but if it’s okay, I think I’d like to just hang out here.
Cooper: Of course.

 
[ Cooper’s kitchen ] [ Cooper looks at the Sacra Cintola, brought by Red ]
Cooper: The belt worn by the Virgin Mary. I’m speechless.
Red: [ Chuckles ] If you weren’t, you would be if I told you what the damn thing cost me.
Cooper: Aren’t you the least bit awestruck?
Red: I appreciate the object’s place in history but not the reverence for it. In that, I agree with Giovanni. Getting lost in the past distracts us from the work of the present.
Cooper: I still have a hard time believing you didn’t know Vesco was Giovanni.
Red: Lucky coincidence. Or unlucky, seeing as he’s going to prison and taking a fortune of mine with him.
Cooper: He had a long run.
Red: I doubt we’ve heard the last of Robert Vesco. Who knows? If I get bored, maybe I’ll break him out. I’d love to best him one last time.
Cooper: And you wonder why Charlene insists on supervised visitation.
Red: [ Chuckles ]
Cooper: Have you decided whether you can abide by our visitation terms?
Red: As a matter of survival, I make it a point to only enter spaces whose borders I define. But if spending time with Agnes requires submitting to borders defined by you and Charlene, so be it. I don’t like it, but the alternative is far worse.
Cooper: Agreed. I’ll go get her.
Red: Now? Go get Agnes right now?
Cooper: Why not? You’ve waited two years. There’s no point in keeping you waiting any longer.
[ Cooper leaves. Nervously, Red tries to see his reflection in a window ]
Weecha: You look fine.
[ Cooper enter with Agnes ]
Cooper: You met him a long time ago. He was a close friend of your mother’s, and he’s very excited to see you.
Agnes: Hi.
Red: [ Chuckles ] Hi. You probably don’t remember me.
Agnes: I remember you. We sailed boats together in Central Park. And we got fruit pops.
Red: [ Chuckles ] Yes! That’s right.
Agnes: That was the day before the day my mother died.
[ Red nods slightly ]
Agnes: You’re Pinky.
Red: Yes. [ He nods ] I’m Pinky.

 
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⏫ go to top
 
 

Episode Songs

♫ Money, Money
By Rupert Pope/Giles Palmer

♪ (lyrics unavailable as of 11/6/2021)

Lyrics and Credits: [ Unavailable ]
YouTube: https://youtu.be/6IQ89gApiJk

♫ Holy, Holy, Holy
By (Trad.); Durham Cathedral

♪ Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed trinity!

♪ Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.

♪ Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye of sinfulness thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.

♪ Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea.
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed trinity!

Lyrics and Credits: http://bit.ly/3o245EV
YouTube: https://youtu.be/suEmKJtKv8k

 
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❌❌❌ End 9:3 SPK

🔴 Script 9:4 The Avenging Angel (№ 49)

 
Program air date: 11/11/2021 in the US
Script Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-ctL
EntertainmentWeekly Recap: https://bit.ly/3F6XD6l
 

Brief (Where we’re at): Harold Cooper and his wife Charlene agreed to allow Red to meet with Agnes, who Liz left in their care, as long as the visits are supervised, so Red got to meet her for the first time since Liz’s death two years ago. Agnes, now eleven, remembers Red from the day before Liz’s death when Red and Agnes sailed miniature sailboats in Central Park (and had fruit pops). It was the same day that Liz agreed to Red’s plan for her to kill him in order to establish herself in the criminal world so she could credibly take over his empire. But the plan went awry. Liz could not bring herself to shoot Red. As she hesitated, Liz herself was shot by Elias Vandyke, a devoted henchman of Neville Townsend, who had been killed by Red (incinerated in a bunker in Latvia). Agnes now has long brown hair like Liz, seems clever and pleasant, and bears a striking facial resemblance to Red, which would be consistent with the notion that Red is her grandparent, as was hinted in Episode 8:22 Nachalo (Russian for “The Beginning”). Agnes even remembers that she gave Red the nickname of “Pinkie.”

Dembe has emerged as a foil for Red’s criminal plans, in an effort to 1) prove he is now loyal to the FBI, and/or 2) save Red’s soul. After Red and the task force in parallel efforts foiled a plot to blow up a church by a group of religious extremists conned by Red’s former mentor Robert Vesco (Blacklister #9), long wanted by the FBI. Dembe guessed that Red would try to help Vesco escape because Vesco had conned Red out of $50M in gold in the eponymous Episode 6:13 and Red would hold onto him until he could collect the money. But Dembe showed up in Red’s plane and arrested Vesco, much to the Red and Vesco’s surprise and dismay.

Aram’s startup company landed an angel investor, but Aram decided to stay with the FBI and had his partner buy him out. Ressler cheated on his drug test and it came back as a “diluted negative” (from being neutralized with eye drops that he snuck into the bathroom stall). So he’ll have to take it again under “closer supervision.” Park, whose mother was a heroin addict, figured out what Ressler was up to and has given him an ultimatum to “clean up” or risk having her tell Cooper about his drug use.

⭕ Script 9:4 The Avenging Angel (№ 49)

 
Adam McHenry: [ On phone ] Trip, please tell me this is the last time we’re gonna hear from that pissant. I can’t waste any more time in court bickering about patent law or intellectual infringement.
Trip: Listen, as soon as the star witness took an unscheduled vacation, Freeson’s case was dead in the water.
McHenry: Well, that’s the best justice money can buy.
Trip: You are now in sole control of Genocyte. It’s time for you to celebrate!
McHenry: Oh. I’m way ahead of you, esquire.
[ Beep🔅]

♪ I hardly ever sleep
Still a dream chaser
Remember it was small
Now the team major– ♪

[ McHenry notices a screw lying on the floor in front of a vent. As he reaches for it, vapor begins pouring out of a vent ]
[ Whirring ] [ Hissing ]
McHenry: [ Coughing ]
[ McHenry collapses. The last things he sees sees is a black boot by his face and a man standing above him wearing a gas mask ]

♪ Yeah They threw me in the mix
Now I’m the game changer
One false move– ♪
[ Music slowing ]
[ Music fades ]

 
[ Adam McHenry sits in a chair. A middle-aged woman stands before him. She speaks in Italian-accented English. She goes by the name “Michael” ]
Michael: There’s a special place in hell for people like you, the rich and powerful who play with others’ lives just because you can. The world thinks that you’re in your castle celebrating, but you’re not. In fact, you’re haunted.
[ A man, Gabriel, men holds up a prompt card reading: “My name is Adam McHenry. And this is my confession” ]
Michael: Read these.
Adam McHenry: No.

[ Gabriel holds a gun to McHenry’s temple ]
Michael: [ Chuckles ] I understand. You’re used to giving orders, not taking them, feeling empowered, so I-I give you some power. You choose to read these, or we kill you.
[ The recording session proceeds ] [ Beep🔅]
McHenry: [ Reading prompt cards ] My name is Adam McHenry. And this is my confession. I’m a liar and a thief. ••• And to my best friend, Andrew Freeson, I’m so sorry.
Michael: You did well.
[ Beep🔅]
Michael: Just one more thing. You have a date with gravity, I’m afraid.
[ Gabriel grabs McHenry, holding a knife to his throat ]
McHenry: Wait. No. I read what you wanted. You said that you wouldn’t kill me!
Michael: Yes. Right. What I meant was people will not think that I killed you. They will hear your confession and think that you killed yourself.
McHenry: No. Wait! Please!
Michael: Like I said, you’re haunted!
McHenry: No! No! Please! Wai–
[ Gabriel drags McHenry onto a balcony, high above the street ] [ 🔊Horns 🔊 drown out ⚡️‼️Scream ‼️⚡️ ]

 
[ Harold Cooper wakes up in his car. Disoriented, he looks around. His service weapon lies on the floor. He picks it up ]
[ Cell phone buzzing »»» »»» ] [ The caller is “Nick’s Pizza” i.e. Red ]

 
[ Cooper’s kitchen ]
Charlene Cooper: A parking garage? You woke up in a parking garage?
Cooper: Near Dupont Circle. I can’t remember how I got there.
Charlene: You said you were going to a retirement party.
Cooper: Yeah, for Jim Ritter over at Justice.
Charlene: Right.
Cooper: I had one drink, maybe two.
Charlene: Honey, you don’t sleep in the car after one or two drinks.
Cooper: Maybe it was more. I can’t remember.
Charlene: Harold, you scared the hell out of me.
Cooper: If it makes you feel any better, I scared the hell out of myself.
Charlene: Not hearing from you, not knowing where you were. I waited by the phone all night.
And then when the phone did ring, it was from my friend Beth, and the way she sounded–
She asked me if I had heard what had happened, and I thought she was talking about you.
Cooper: I’m sorry I scared you.
Charlene: [ Sighs ]
[ They hug ]
Cooper: I’m fine.
Charlene: I know. And it means everything. Honey, there’s something else.
Cooper: Yeah. Beth said something happened. Who was she talking about?
Charlene: Doug Koster.

[ Flashback: (Episode 3:8 Kings of the Highway)
Cooper: What are you doing with a key to our neighbor’s cabin?
Charlene: [ Exhales sharply ] It happened before you got sick. We were in such a different place. You were working all the time. I was lonely.

Charlene: Beth kept in touch with him.
Cooper: What happened to him?
Charlene: He was shot and killed last night.
⋘⋙
[ Later, Cooper sits alone in the kitchen. He removes the ammunition clip from his pistol. One bullet has been expended ]
Cooper: Where in the hell–

 
[ A vintage metal-sided camper trailer is parked in the woods ]
[ Inside, Mierce Xiu serves a drink to Red’s accountant, Heddie Hawkins ]
Heddie: How do you like the place?
Mierce: It’s– It’s nice.
Red: It’s our own little hideaway in the woods, just like at home.
Mierce: Like at home. But not home.
Red: No, not even close. But thank you for finding it for us, Heddie.
Heddie: Mmm! This is delicious. What is it?
Mierce: A maté infusion, from the yerba maté plant.
Red: We grow them in our garden.
[ Red puts his arm around Mierce ]
Red: Mierce has two green thumbs and an extraordinary knowledge of everything that’s good for you, and everything else that isn’t, including people. Speaking of, tell me about the operations we still have running with Oleg Nikovich.
Heddie: Oh, he’s provided us with contacts to move minerals out of Afghanistan, for which he’s been well paid. We moved $100 million worth last year, taking 19% off the top.
Red: So not exactly an arrangement we want to upend.
Heddie: Not if you like making 19% of $100 million. Why do you ask?
Red: Because Oleg has always been a loyal partner and friend, and yet, I need to take something off his hands.
Heddie: That’s $19 million annually. Don’t piss him off, Raymond.
Red: I don’t intend to, but what I need is locked away in that monstrosity of a penthouse he keeps as a tax shelter. The man’s there one week out of the year at most. He’ll never even know it’s gone.
Heddie: Where’s the building?
Red: A toothpick of a place on 57th Street in Manhattan. You should call Rogelio. He’ll know the super.
[ Dembe enters ]
Heddie: Ah! Dembe. [ Laughs ] Not seeing you, I was beginning to wonder.
Red: Thank you for coming, Heddie.
Heddie: Oh, uh, I’m gonna take this to go.
Mierce: It’s fine. Take the gourd.
Red: Let me know what Rogelio says. [ To Dembe ] Please, sit. Would you like anything to drink?
Dembe: No. Thank you.
Red: [ Pause ] Well, this is uncomfortable.
Dembe: Because I arrested Vesco?
Red: Vesco was a disappointment. Brasilia was a tragedy.
Dembe: We should talk about it.
Red: Your burns, are they healing?
Dembe: They are. I never thanked you for coming back after I was injured.
Red: I came back for Agnes.
Dembe: You came back for me. You stayed for Agnes.
Red: I have a case.
Dembe: So we’re not going to talk about Brasilia.
Red: Two tech partners have a falling-out. One accuses the other of stealing his intellectual property. He sues. He loses. [ Pushes newspaper to Dembe ] And what does the winner do? Mr. McHenry goes home and performs a reverse pike off of his balcony.
Dembe: After filming a suicide note admitting his guilt.
Red: Mm. I hear rumors that the suicide note and Mr. McHenry’s untimely demise were the work of the Avenging Angel.
Dembe: Michael. From Amsterdam.
Red: Bruges. Her insistent effort to restore wartime plunder to its rightful owners, among her other avid pursuits, is often nasty business.
Dembe: Which I recall you agreed with.
Red: [ Pause ] What the hell happened to us?

 
[ The Post Office war room ] [ Dembe briefs the task force ]
Ressler: Michael? As in the archangel? The one that God sent to fight the devil?
Dembe: A job she does with an almost heavenly zeal, stealing from those who have stolen, returning what was unjustly taken.
Park: Sounds angelic to me.
Dembe: According to Raymond, she rights these wrongs through murder, extortion, random acts of violence.
[ Aram pulls up case files and clippings ]
Aram: When a Japanese court acquitted executives of responsibility for the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, she committed a ransomware attack, extracting millions for displaced victims. Over the course of a decade, she committed so many acts of terror against a small Florida town that local officials eventually agreed to her demands and gave back land to the descendants of Black families who had been run off their property in the 1920s.
Ressler: And yesterday, she murders the CEO of Genocyte and makes it look likes a guilt-ridden suicide.
Dembe: Complete with a taped confession.
[ Keyboard clacking ] [ Aram pulls up video from McHenry’s tape ]

McHenry: I leave my shares of Genocyte to the person they rightfully belong to – Andrew Freeson. Please forgive me, Andy.

Park: Does Reddington have any idea who her next target is?
Dembe: He doesn’t know her target, whether she acts alone, or is a hired gun.
Cooper: [ Via video link ] If someone did hire her to kill Adam McHenry, chances are it’s the man who thinks McHenry made a fortune after stealing his I.P.
Dembe: Andrew Freeson sued for his fair share and lost. Now McHenry’s dead and Freeson owns the company.
Cooper: I think that merits a sit-down. Park, Dembe, bring him in.
Ressler: It’s all right. I’ll go with her.
[ Ressler and Park walk off ]
Aram: Are you coming in today, sir?
Cooper: Should be. I just have to check on a friend of Charlene’s.
[ Beep🔅]

 
[ Police radio chatter ] [ Cooper is parked utside Doug Koster’s house. A body in a body bag is rolled out on a gurney ]
[ An officer raps ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ on Cooper’s side window. Cooper rolls it down ]
Detective Marcus Heber: Detective Heber, Homicide. May I ask why you’re stopped here?
Cooper: Just wanted to see what all the commotion was about.
Heber: It’s a crime scene, sir. Not a roadside attraction.
Cooper: Right. I’m leaving.
[ Engine starts ] [ Cooper drives off ]
Heber: [ Sniffs ]
[ Heber takes a photo of Cooper’s license plate ] [ Camera shutter clicks ¤ ]

 
Ressler: You were right, this job does keep me on the straight and narrow.
Park: Telling me I’m right isn’t the reason you bumped Dembe off the assignment. What am I missing?
Ressler: My second drug test is later today, and if I don’t pass, even if I come up inconclusive, I’m out. And because I came up inconclusive the last time, well, this time, they’re coming into the stall with me.
Park: That’s cozy.
Ressler: Look, the point is, I need a clean sample, and I’m not sure I have one to give. But, uh, you do.
Park: Yeah, and I’m not giving it to you. I can’t believe you’re asking me to help cheat the test.
Ressler: Look, I’m not using. I’m just not sure if I’ve been off long enough. You know I need this job, and this is the only way that I can keep it.
Park: The answer’s no.
Ressler: If you don’t do this, I’m off the task force. I’m out of the Bureau.
Park: If I do it and we’re caught, then we’re both out.
[ They get into the yellow freight elevator ]
Ressler: You know what? Forget it.
Park: It’s not a risk I’m willing to take.
Ressler: I said forget it, all right? It’s my problem. I never should have tried to make it yours. Really. It’s– It’s all good.

 
[ Park and Ressler interrogate Andrew Freeson ]
Ressler: So you and McHenry were partners?
Andrew Freeson: Yes. We founded Genocyte in my parents’ garage. He was my oldest friend.
Park: Who you accused of making a fortune by stealing your intellectual property.
Freeson: You asked how well I knew him, not what I thought of him.
Park: What did you think of him?
Freeson: That he was a liar and a cheat.

 
[ Cooper steps off the yellow elevator ]
Cooper: [ On phone ] ADA Morehouse’s office, please. Bill. Harold. A homicide report should be filed later today on a Doug Koster. I need you to send me a copy. My eyes only. ⋘⋙ I owe you, pal.
[ Cooper walks over to the war room ]
Cooper: What have I missed?
Dembe: They’re in with Freeson.
⋘⋙
Park: Do you think he was suicidal?
Andrew Freeson: No.
Ressler: Do you think he was murdered?
Freeson: I don’t know what to think, or feel. I’m just numb.
Ressler: Well, you’re also very rich now.
Park: McHenry taped a confession. He admitted to cheating you and gave you his share of the company.
Freeson: A confession? That’s the first I’m hearing of that.
Ressler: Well, you spent years in court trying to get what you say you deserved. Now, you lost, but now – McHenry winds up dead and you get everything after all.
Freeson: Are you suggesting I had something to do with his death? That I killed my best friend?
Park: You mean the liar and the cheat?
Freeson: Sure, that’s who he was, but he was also my oldest friend.
Ressler: Where were you last night?
Freeson: I had lost in court, so I was at home, drinking, blogging my troubles. I work in tech, okay? Screaming into that void is the only thing that helps. Wait. Do you really think I was at Adam’s place killing him?
Ressler: Were you?
Freeson: This conversation’s over. I want my lawyer.

 
Aram: Okay, so, Freeson said that thing about blogging, so I looked up his online footprint, and the guy’s got profiles everywhere. And then– And then I found this. This is Thread-Net. It’s an online discussion platform sort of like Reddit, and it looks like Freeson found a deep subcategory and vented about the court case, McHenry, his betrayal.
Cooper: A category about what?
Aram: It is a prayer group. It’s people pouring out their pain and problems for divine intervention. And the profile that is hosting this thread? [ Keyboard clacking ] AvengingAngel1317.
Cooper: She’s answering prayers. That’s how she’s picking her crimes.
Aram: It’s kind of perfect, actually. Host an anonymous worldwide platform and let the injustices roll in.
Cooper: We have her profile. We run it down. We find our angel.
[ Cooper begins to walk away ]
Aram: Oh, uh, sir? Is everything okay with Charlene’s friend?
Cooper: At the moment, it’s a mystery.
Aram: Uh, is there anything I can do?
Cooper: No. Thanks. I’m doing everything I can to figure out what happened.

 
[ The Superintendent of the Park Avenue building where Oleg Nikovich owns an apartment ]
[ Elevator bell dings✨ ]
Superintendent: One click will get you in. Return the gizmo on your way out.
Red: I can’t thank you enough, Felix.
Superintendent: Thank Rogelio. He helped get my daughter into Princeton this fall.
Red: How wonderful for her! Go, Tigers! Easy in, easy out. And there’s excellent pastrami right around the corner.
[ Beeping 🔅 ] [ Door opens. Red enters with Heddie and Weecha ] [ A party is in progress ] [ Dance music thumping ] [ Indistinct conversations ]
[ Oleg Nikovich’s son Alexei recognizes Red and greets him ]
Alexei Nikovich: Raymond? How is it, bro?
Red: Alexei! What a surprise! I was stopping by to see if your father was in town.
Alexei: Ah, he’s not, but come on in. I’m having a little get-together. Vodka’s cold, and the girls are hot.
Red: What do you have that’s room temperature?
Alexei: [ Chuckles ]

 
[ An office at the Post Office ]
Ressler: Hey. Aram ran down that angel profile. Log-ins from different routers in a dozen countries. Aram and Dembe are gonna take the local half. The out-of-towners are ours.
Park: Top drawer. Open it.
[ Ressler opens the drawer. Inside is a urine sample provided by Park ]
Park: Freeson was betrayed by McHenry. He was hurt by him, but in the end, he loved him.
[ Drawer closes ]
Ressler: Thank you.
Park: I hope it works, ’cause I’m not as nice as Freeson. Screw this up, and I won’t sue you– I’ll kill you.
[ Park leaves. Ressler sits down and places a call ]
[ Keypad speed-dialing ✵✵✵ ✵✵✵✵ ]
Ressler: Got the clean sample you’re looking for. Look. You ready to work your magic? All right. Name your time and place.

 
[ Dembe and Aram walk up to a house ]
Dembe: You read that online prayer group?
Aram: A bunch of it, yeah.
Dembe: What were they posting on there?
Aram: Tragedy, grief, confession. Our blacklister waded through a lot of anguish to find her needles in the haystack.
[ Knocking ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ]
Dembe: She takes advantage of people searching for peace.
[ Knocking ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ]
Neighbor: Hey! Any chance you’re city inspectors?
Aram: No. We’re FBI. Why do you ask?
Neighbor: Because I’ve been calling.
Aram: Calling about what?
Neighbor: This house. It’s been empty for two years. Last few months, all I hear day and night, noise like you wouldn’t believe.
Dembe: Seen anyone today?
Neighbor: No. But someone’s squatting.
⋘⋙
[ Aram and Dembe enter, weapons drawn. Dembe finds a room with a decorative artwork of large colorful angel wings on the wall ]
Dembe: In here. She was here recently. This is her staging area.
[ The place is cluttered. There is a wall covered with photos, newspaper clippings, typed pages ]

 
[ A large chauffeured black car driving billionaire Derek Huntley turns onto a street with a traffic stop marked with flares.
Huntley: What the hell?
People dressed as workmen signal for the car to stop. Another car pulls directly in front of it ]
[⚡️Tires screech⚡️]
Huntley: Oh, my God!
[ The “workmen” pull guns and shoot the driver and escort, leaving Huntley alive. Michael and Gabriel get out of the other car.
⋘⋙
[ At the house that has been serving as Michael’s staging area ]
Dembe: Aram, take a look at this.
Aram: What’d you find?
[ Dembe shows Aram a box containing a hospital identification band ]
Dembe: A link to the past. Rosary beads.
⋘⋙
[ The men force Huntley into a car trunk ]
Huntley: [ Grunts ]
Michael: Don’t have a heart attack, not until I give you one.

 
[ Derek Huntley is cuffed behind his back and sitting in a chair ]
Michael: [ Italian accent ] William Green. Name ring any bells?
[ Michael opens Huntley’s shirt to show a heart surgery scar ]
Huntley: What are you doing?
Michael: Hmm? William Green. Anything?
Huntley: I’ve never heard of him.
Michael: I didn’t think so. But in a few hours, trust me, he’ll be unforgettable.

 
[ The Post Office ] [ The artwork of the angel wings is displayed above ]
Aram: It’s kind of beautiful.
Dembe: The heart of an artist.
Park: And the mind of a killer. What did you track down?
Aram: Okay, so, I ran the hospital bracelet that we found on-site. No baby name, but the year was ’83. Sant’Agata Hospital, outside Rome. The mother was a Michaela Bellucci. No father’s name listed.
Park: Michaela to Michael. Pretty close if this is our angel.
Dembe: Is this a hospital photo?
Aram: No. So, Dembe also found a rosary at the scene, and the cross was inscribed with the name of a local convent right near that hospital. The convent was listed as Michaela’s place of residence at the time of the birth.
Park: Don’t tell me our Avenging Angel is a former nun.
Aram: It’s deeper than that. Turns out, Michaela was a young, unwed mother, practically a deadly sin to some back then. Her parents all but disowned her. The convent took in hundreds of similar cases like this at that time. There have been investigations into places like this all over Europe. She would have been kept like a prisoner for the length of her pregnancy, and when she finally gave birth, she would have been forced to give the baby up for adoption.
Park: They took her baby.
Aram: And now our angel steals back for those who have had precious things stolen.
Park: While carrying around a hospital bracelet and an old rosary. She never let go of her past.
Aram: Michaela Bellucci barely has a past. She disappears off all public records shortly after the birth.
[ Cooper walks over ]
Cooper: Do you have an update?
Dembe: We have Michael’s real name. I’ll send out a BOLO.
Cooper: MPD is sending evidence collected from that house you found. When it arrives, I want it picked clean.
[ The group disperses, but Aram calls out to Cooper. He hands Cooper an envelope ]
Aram: Sir. From the DA’s office via Hoover. Your eyes only.
Cooper: It’s the information on Charlene’s friend.
Aram: Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?
Cooper: I’ll handle it on my own for now. If I need anything, I’ll let you know.

 
[ Cooper’s office ] [ Cooper plugs in a drive ] [ Beeping 🔅🔅🔅 ]
[ It’s the case report on Doug Koster. Cooper pulls up the ballistics report. It indicates the gun that fired the bullet is not on file ]

 
[ The apartment on Park Avenue ]
[ Dance music thumping ] [ Indistinct conversations ]
[ Red and Heddie sit on a couch. Alexei Nikovich walks over with two shots of vodka ]
Alexei: Za zdorovie!
Red: Cin-cin.
[ Red and Alexei drink ]
Red: [ Sighs ] Mmm. Oh. So are you living here now, Alexei? Or is this just an impromptu get-together?
Alexei: I’m just crashing here for a few weeks.
Red: If I remember correctly, you have quite a place. W-Where is it? Uh, Dalmatian Coast, Croatia, or–
Alexei: Eh, I had to sell that property. An unforeseen cash-flow problem.
Red: “Cash flow”?
Alexei: Yeah, it’s nothing. I was betting oil futures. It was stupid. I just need time to get back on my feet.
Red: Shame to sell the villa, though. There’s nothing that retains its value like a good piece of real estate– Or a good piece of art.
Alexei: What the hell do I know about art, huh?
Red: [ Laughter ] Well, I mean, take that painting, for example. Your father’s had it for years. It’s a perfect representation of the style. Clean lines, geometric use of the space. What an investment. That’s someone’s retirement hanging on that wall.
Alexei: How much we talking?
Red: Oh, my goodness. Look, I could have a row of buyers lined up by lunch. You could name a price.
[ Red gets up to admire the painting ]
Red: Beautiful. Eh. But you’d never. It means too much to your father.
Alexei: But he’s– He’s never here. He can’t love it that much. These, uh– These buyers– What could you get from them?
Red: Oh, please. I can’t put a price on perfection.
Alexei: Pretend like you can.
Red: [ Sighs ] I mean, I’d be guessing, but I think I know a collector who’d offer $500,000 just to get your attention.
Heddie: That would help with some cash flow.
Red: It would. [ Chuckles ] But, you know, it’s Alexei’s call.
Alexei: Think I could try for a million?

 
[ Elevator bell dings ]
Heddie: Is that painting really worth $1 million?
Red: This?
[ Red is carrying the painting ]
Heddie: Yeah.
Red: Oleg stole this off the wall of a Four Seasons in Maui. But it makes for lovely camouflage. Dembe and I were in Bruges a while back. We heard rumors of an Avenging Angel, someone dedicated to putting her thumb on the scales of injustice.
[ Red pries a second painting from the back of the first ]
Red: She was on the hunt for this.
Heddie: [ Gasps ]
Red: Van Gogh’s “The Painter on the Road to Tarascon.” Stolen from its rightful owner by the Nazis and thought to have been incinerated when the Allies bombed Magdeburg.
Heddie: And how did you know Nikovich had it?
Red: He showed it to me years ago. Oleg’s always very proud of his newest shiny toy. He hid it for obvious reasons and lost interest. But I never did.
Heddie: And now you’re gonna use it as bait to catch the Avenging Angel.
Red: That’s my job, yes. Yours is to contact the rightful owner.
Heddie: Is he still alive?
Red: His daughter is. She’s the lead singer in a death-metal band.
Heddie: How old is she?
Red: Mm, 90-something.

 
[ Ressler meets with a sports medicine doctor named Dr Francis ]
Ressler: Okay, no. No way.
Dr. Francis: The collector’s gonna be standing with you, watching.
Ressler: Yeah, I’m aware, but–
Dr. Francis: The only way you’re gonna pee out clean urine is if I put clean urine in you, and the only way I can do that is by running the sample you brought from this catheter through your penis into your bladder.
Ressler: Is that even possible?
Dr. Francis: I spent a decade as a team doctor for pro athletes. Believe me, when you’re playing for your next contract, anything’s possible. Those guys want it so badly, they’re willing to do anything. Are you?
Ressler: [ Sighs ]

 
[ The Post Office ]
Aram: We’ve gone through the evidence files we got from MPD, and these three men were in multiple surveillance photos.
Cooper: That’s Derek Huntley.
Park: Should I know who that is?
Aram: 72nd-richest American. One of the many sad facts I know from my time hunting for an angel investor.
Dembe: And the others?
Aram: The second is Walter Conrad, an administrator at St. Damian’s Hospital. And the third is a local steelworker named William Green. No idea what they have in common.
Park: Except that our archangel was watching all three.
Cooper: Bring them all in for questioning.
⋘⋙
Ressler: Hey. Sorry I was late. I had personal issues to deal with.
Cooper: A lot of that going around.

 
[ A sack is pulled from the head of Walter Conrad, the administrator at St. Damian’s Hospital. Next to him is sitting Derek Huntley, the billionaire. Next to him sits William Green ]
William Green: What do you want? Why am I here?
Michael: Mr. Conrad, would you care to enlighten our guest of honor? [ She refers to Derek Huntley ] No? Mr. Conrad is what we call in Italian, pulisci il culo, an asswipe. Huntley is the person who gets wiped. And you [ To Green ] are the refuse, the human garbage they flush away every day.
Huntley: I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Green: Makes two of us.
Michael: Well, then, allow me to shed some light on things.
[ Michael slides back doors to reveal a surgical suite ]

 
[ A parking garage ] [ Cooper sits in his car, fingering his firearm ]

[ Flashback: (Episode 3:8 Kings of the Highway) ]
Charlene: I mean, how many times do I have to tell you? It wasn’t about sex.
Cooper: If it wasn’t about the sex, then why’d you have sex? Why not invite him to join your book club?
Charlene: Because I hate my book club, and the only reason I joined that book club is because you were never home. Doug was just, you know, uh, company.

[ Vehicle approaches ]
[ Cooper’s friend Lew Sloan pulls up and rolls down his window ]
Lew: Coop. Yo, Coop.
Cooper: Lew. Thanks for coming.
Lew: What’s with the cloak and dagger?
Cooper: I need you to run a ballistics test for me.
Lew: Okay. And why can’t you do that?
Cooper: Because the test is for my service weapon. I woke up this morning, and there was a round missing. I think my weapon was recently fired.
Lew: Well, if you think a round’s been fired and it’s your gun, shouldn’t you know?
Cooper: Ballistics, Lew. Can you do it?
Lew: How much trouble are you in?
Cooper: I don’t know. That’s what I’m trusting you to find out.

 
[ The Post Office ]
Aram: Sir, the three men from the photos, Huntley, Green, and Conrad, they are all missing.
Dembe: Huntley was ambushed in traffic. The security detail was gunned down in broad daylight.
Aram: Conrad lived alone, but we brought in Green’s wife to see what she knows.
Cooper: Coordinate with MPD. If they have any leads, I want to know about it. I’ll be in my office.

 
[ Surgeons prepare for surgery ]
⋘⋙
Michael: You took something that does not belong to you, something that rightfully belongs to Mr. Green.
Huntley: You’re crazy. I’ve never met this man before.
Michael: Mm. But you’ve met Mr. Conrad. He’s here to explain to Mr. Green what you stole and how you used your power and influence to steal it.
⋘⋙
[ William Green’s wife, Janelle, is being questioned ]
Janelle Green: William went to the pharmacy. It’s around the corner. When he didn’t come back in an hour, I went, and I was told he never showed up.
Park: Do you know who this woman is?
[ Park slides a photo of Michaela Bellucci (“Michael”) ]
Janelle: No. Who is she? Why would she want to do something to my husband?
⋘⋙
Michael: [ To William Green ] I don’t want to do something to you. I want to give something to you.
⋘⋙
Ressler: Why was your husband going to the pharmacy?
Janelle Green: He had a pacemaker installed. He was going to pick up his heart meds, blood thinners. He can’t survive without them. He has congestive heart failure.
⋘⋙
Michael: [ To William Green ] I want to give you a heart, specifically his heart.
Derek Huntley: Come on. You can’t do that.
William Green: I don’t want you to hurt him.
Michael: Why not? He didn’t care that he hurt you. Mr. Conrad, if you will. How did you do it?
⋘⋙
Janelle Green: My husband worked for a steel company for 20 years. When his heart got bad, they helped him get on the national transplant list.
⋘⋙
Walter Conrad: When an organ becomes available, it’s first offered to people near the donor’s hospital, based on their placement on a wait list.
⋘⋙
Janelle Green: It took almost a year, but e-eventually, William got to the top of the list.
⋘⋙
Michael: And in this case, the hospital was St. Damian’s. Is that your hospital?
Walter Conrad: Yes.
⋘⋙
Janelle: We were so excited. The next heart was going to be his.
⋘⋙
Michael: William Green lives in the donation radius of St. Damian’s. Derek Huntley lives on the other side of the state. Can you explain that?
Huntley: There are thousands of people on donor lists all across the country. I’m sorry that this man did not get a heart, but that is not my fault.
Michael: But it is his fault, wasn’t it?
Conrad: Derek offered to fully pay for our new pediatric wing if I could ensure the first heart available was his.
⋘⋙
Ressler: So if your husband was on the top of the list, why didn’t he receive a transplant?
Janelle: He was at the top. He’s not anymore.
Ressler: Why not?
Janelle: He failed a test. A-A blood test. They were pretty vague about it. After that, William kept getting bumped down the list.
⋘⋙
Michael: So Mr. Huntley bribed his way to the front of the line, effectively sentencing Mr. Green to death.
⋘⋙
Janelle: He doesn’t have much time. [ Voice breaking ] I just wanted the last couple months– I want him to be at peace. And now I don’t understand why this happened. Why would someone want to do this to him?
Park: One more thing, Mrs. Green. Have you ever posted on any discussion groups online, maybe a prayer group, asking for your husband to find a new heart?
Janelle: How did you know that?
⋘⋙
Derek Huntley: I didn’t do anything to this man. I did something for myself. That’s the way the world works.
Michael: I know. That’s why I’m so busy. [ To the guards ] Shall we?
[ Two guards grab Huntley by the armpits ]
Huntley: Wait. Wait. Wait.

 
Cooper: You’re guessing.
Ressler: Yeah, but it’s an educated guess.
Park: Look at the facts. Two months ago, William Green was number one on the donor list for a new heart. He’s near a hospital. He’s ready to go. But suddenly, he gets a series of disqualifying test results that bump him down the list. Around the same time, a new pediatric wing at St. Damian’s is named in honor of Derek Huntley.
[ Elevator clangs open ]
Cooper: It’s time for your drug test.
Ressler: If you need me, it can wait.
Cooper: What we need is you to be reinstated. Good luck.
Ressler: Thank you.

 
[ Monitor beeping 🔅🔅🔅 ]
Huntley: You can’t do this!
Michael: Why not? You behave like you’re heartless. Now you will be.
[ Huntley resists as he is forced onto a surgical cot and his face is covered with an anesthesia mask ]
Huntley: [ Grunting ]

 
[ Cooper’s office ]
Park: You’re right. It was a guess. So I contacted the hospital. A week after Green was disqualified, Huntley got a new heart, while Mr. Green got a pacemaker and six months to live.
Cooper: Did Huntley get the heart Green should have gotten?
Park: All that matters is that Michael thinks so.
Dembe: Which means she’ll want to give it back to Green by taking it from Huntley.
Cooper: If that is what she’s doing, do you have any idea where she’s doing it?
Park: Not yet.
Aram: If Mr. Green has a pacemaker, though, it may be Bluetooth compatible for sending diagnostics remotely to his doctors.
Cooper: Find out as fast as you can.

 
[ Michael exits the surgical suite. Gabriel holds up his phone showing the Van Gogh painting ]
Gabriel: You won’t believe this. The trail that went cold in Bruges? It just got warm.
Michael: Who sent this?
Gabriel: A fence in Baltimore. Jericho.
Michael: After all these years.
Gabriel: He has a well-heeled client list. We need to act quickly.
Michael: Whatever the asking price, double it.
Gabriel: I know what to do about the painting. What about the owner?
Michael: Tell Mr. Jericho the price comes on one condition. I want a sit-down with the owner to find out what he knows about the provenance of the painting. For his sake, I hope it’s not much.

 
Ressler: You need to see my birthday suit? I just had it tailored.
Health Services Coordinator: That won’t be necessary. Arms up, palms toward me.
Ressler: [ Grunts ] Is that necessary?
Coordinator: Just following protocol. First test is inconclusive, we don’t take any chances on number two.
[ He hands Ressler a collection jar and peers into the open stall ]
Coordinator: No pressure, but I got a 4:15 with the Joint Chiefs.

 
[ Red waits with Weecha as wooden door opens and Heddie enter with an elderly woman, Ada Rosenberg ]
Red: Hello, Ada. Welcome. Hope you had a comfortable trip.
Ada Rosenberg: Oh, yes. Heddie was a dear.
Red: I hear you’re on tour.
Ada: I am. Dialysis permitting. I have a show tonight, but this nice lady says you have a-a pleasant surprise for me. At my age, most surprises aren’t, so here I am.
Red: [ Chuckles ] So, please, come sit.
[ Weecha offers help but Ada declines ]
Ada: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. It’s all right. It’s okay. I can manage. I am old, not, uh–
[ As soon as she is seated, Ada sees Van Gogh’s “The Painter on the Road to Tarascon” on an easel in front of her chair. She rises and stares ]
Ada: ⋘⋙ [ Emotionally ] They took it– On a Thursday. On Friday, they took the rest of us. I only survived because they heard me sing. I am alive – Because I sang for the people who killed my family. However did you find it?
Red: In the case of history repeating itself, I stole it.
Ada: Hm!
Red: From the current owner’s apartment.
Ada: [ Chuckles ]
Red: I realize it’s no recompense, but maybe after all these years, it’s– Sentimental reparation.
Ada: Who are you?
Red: [ Chuckling ] Oh, that’s– That’s a longer story–
[ Cell phone rings✨]
Red: –Which I’ll tell you right after this. Excuse me. Jericho. Yes, double the price is good. Wanting to meet me is even better. Twenty minutes. All I need is an address. Yes. [ Phone beeps🔅 ] I’m terribly sorry, Ada, but something unavoidable has come up.
Ada: So it’s really mine to keep?
Red: It was always yours. It’s just been in the wrong hands for the past 81 years.
[ Cell phone rings✨]
Red: Ah. This constant ringing. I feel like Quasimodo.
Ada: [ Chuckles ]
Red: Harold. I was going to call you. Perfect timing.
Cooper: It’s not perfect for Derek Huntley. Apparently, he cut in line for a transplant and got the heart that was supposed to go to someone else. Our angel is about to balance the scales, which means she’ll murder Huntley, and we don’t know where.
Red: Derek Huntley the billionaire?
Cooper: I think you’re missing the point.
Red: Good talk, Harold. [ Beep🔅]
Cooper: Reddington, are you–
[ Aram enters ]
Aram: Sir, the pacemaker has Bluetooth.
Cooper: Is it still active?
Aram: No, but the last known GPS ping came from the warehouse district north of the city.
Cooper: It’s a pretty big district.
Aram: And we were right about the transplant surgery.
Cooper: How do you know?
Aram: The same way I know they’re in the warehouse on 14th and Roosevelt. It is the only one that had surgical equipment delivered to it in the past month.
Cooper: Relay that to the tac team. Have them standing by.

 
[ Outside the surgical suite ] [ Clock ticking ]
[ Weecha and Red enter ]
Gabriel: Hi. Let’s see what you got.
[ He and another guard frisk Red and Weecha, taking their weapons ]
Gabriel: [ To Weecha ] Aren’t you a little spitfire.
Red: I think you’re forgetting something.
Gabriel: What’s that?
Red: Her hands.
[ Weecha expertly takes down the men ] [ Men grunting ]
⋘⋙
[ Grunting heard in distance ] [ Monitor beeping 🔅🔅🔅 ] [ Red enters ]
Red: Knife down. Back up.
Michael: This is none of your concern. You’re here about the painting.
Red: I have the painting, yes, but that’s not why I’m here. I’m here about this particular game of hearts you’re playing, and it’s your turn to discard.
Michael: You don’t know what you’re talking about. If you knew what you were talking about, you would not call this a game.
Red: A psychopathology, then. My guess would be that you had something important taken from you. More important than anything else. So now you right wrongs and avenge others who’ve had something taken from them.
Michael: If you know that’s what I’m doing, why would you stop it?
Red: Order. Harmony. Balancing the scales. So good is rewarded and evil is punished. Most of us want that. I know I certainly do. And if that’s what you were doing here, I wouldn’t interrupt.
Michael: Do you know who this man is? Do you know what Huntley did to this man?
Red: Yes, and it’s abhorrent. But I also know what else he’s done.
Michael: He as much as murdered this man.
Red: Perhaps. But he also paid for a pediatric clinic that’s in the business of saving children’s lives. He’s contributed to research that has eliminated certain deadly childhood diseases that have afflicted poor children around the world.
Michael: That man is no saint.
Red: No, he’s not. He’s a sinner. But you think that’s all he is. In your binary world, that’s all you see, so when you do your math, the answer you come to is that he deserves to die. My math is different.
Michael: You and everyone else, taking the side of the rich over the poor.
Red: That’s not what I’m doing.
Michael: That is exactly what you are doing. By stopping this, William Green will die. The decent, honest steelworker will be sacrificed for the rapacious hedge-fund manager.
Red: Who said anything about letting him die? What’s his blood type?
Surgeon: O-negative.
Michael: He needs a heart.
Red: And he’s going to get one. Just not Huntley’s.
[ He takes a gun from Weecha ]
Red: What’s your blood type?
Michael: O-negative.
Red: [ Chuckles ] Boy, that’s lucky. And you’re about the same size. Not perfect, but this is how my math works out.
[ Red points his gun at Michael’s head ] [ Gun cocks ]
Michael: There is an avenging angel for all of us. This will not keep you from yours.
Red: I certainly hope not.
[ Gunshot 💥 ]

 
[ 🚨 Sirens wailing 🚨]
[ Agents raid the Avenging Angel’s suite ] [ Dembe finds the surgical suite ]
Dembe: Get on the comms and tell Cooper.
Park: Tell him what?
Dembe: That Mr. Green is alive and breathing with a new heart. But for Michael, we were too late.
[ Monitor beeping 🔅🔅🔅 ]

 
[ Cooper’s office ]
Cooper: The Blacklister is dead. Her heart transplanted to William Green, but I suspect you know all of this.
Red: [ On phone ] Sometimes even an avenging angel needs an avenging angel.
Cooper: You found the Blacklister on your own and killed her. Why bring us the case at all?
Red: If you’re asking if I had an angle to play, I didn’t. Until you told me about Derek Huntley.
Cooper: How did that change the equation?
Red: It gave me the opportunity to make a powerful acquaintance. In my experience, you can’t have too many of those in your debt.
Cooper: What’s the difference between what you do and what Michael did? She fancied herself judge, jury and executioner. How are you any different?
Red: Oh, my goodness. We couldn’t be more different. She judged people based on their worst day, by the most terrible sin they committed.
Cooper: Shouldn’t we be judged by that?
Red: I don’t think so. If that were the standard, we’d all be found wanting.
Cooper: Then by what standard should we be judged, if not by the worst day of our life?
Red: By every other day. We all have the devil in us, Harold, but the best of us have angels, too. [ Red’s phone beeps🔅]
⋘⋙
[ Cooper’s phone beeps🔅]
[ Aram enters ]
Aram: Sir. From a Special Agent Sloan.
Cooper: Thank you.
Aram: Uh, sir. You know, whatever you need, uh, you know I’m here for you.

 
[ Death metal music playing ] [ Red and Heddie are seated. Ada walks over ]
Ada: You made it.
Heddie: Are you kidding? I love death metal. I’m a total Cadaver Rising groupie.
Red: [ Chuckles ] I must say, I’m something of a virgin. Excited but a bit apprehensive.
Ada: I do it to reach young people so they will never forget. My voice kept me alive. Now I use it to remind the world that good triumphs over evil. What can I say? Apres moi le deluge.
[ Ada appears onstage ] [ Applause ] [ Drumsticks tapping ]

[ Spoken word: ]
Skies alive with fire.
There was a holocaust!

I survived.
So many did not.

 
William Green: It was, uh, horrifying.
Janelle: Right now all I care about is that you’re here and you’re going to be fine.

 
[ Park enters Ressler’s office ]
Park: So?
[ Paper crinkling ]
Ressler: Alina.
Park: Did I pass?
Ressler: No. No, you didn’t.
Park: What are you talking about?
Ressler: The drug test came back negative. I’ve been reinstated, but, um–
Park: But what?
Ressler: The hormonal levels in my readings, they were irregular. That sometimes happens when someone has abnormal tissues or tumors. The results indicate that–
[ Ressler gives Park the results ]
Park: [ Reading ] “You may have cancer.”
Ressler: Yeah, but since they actually tested you and not me–
Park: I’m the one who’s sick.

 
[ Cooper sits in his car. He opens the ballistics report. It shows a match between his gun and the bullet that killed Doug Koster, Charlene’s former lover ]
[ Cell phone ringing✨] [ Beep🔅]
Cooper: Hey.
Charlene: Honey, it’s late. What time you coming home?
Cooper: Soon. I’ll be home soon.
Charlene: I’m sorry about this morning. Doug Koster’s a name from the past. Nothing more. I was just caught off guard about what happened.
Cooper: You don’t owe me an apology. It was a shock. For both of us.
Charlene: Did you hear anything? I mean, about the case? Do you have any idea what happened?
Cooper: They don’t, but I do.
[ Cooper is parked outside the Metropolitan Police Department ]

 
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Episode Songs

The character of Ada Rosenberg may be based in part on the life of Inge Ginsberg who died on July 20, 2021 at the age of 99:

NYT: Inge Ginsberg, Holocaust Survivor With a Heavy Metal Coda, Dies at 99 http://nyti.ms/3wPJcRl
// 8/26/2021; Her rich life, spanning three continents and 11 decades, entailed wartime espionage, volumes of poetry, songwriting and a late-career turn as a rock band’s frontwoman.

She was the frontwoman for the band Inge and the TritoneKings, which competed on television in “Switzerland’s Got Talent,” entered the Eurovision Song Contest and made music videos. Whatever the venue, Ms. Ginsberg would typically appear in long gowns and pearls and flash the two-fingered hand signal for “rock on” as she sang about the Holocaust, climate change, mental health and other issues.

♫ Bonus Song: I’m Still Here
By Grandma Holocaust Survivor Inge Ginsberg & the TritoneKings

♪ [ Spoken ]

YouTube: https://youtu.be/rqVx0_v54Ng

 
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❌❌❌ End 9:4 Avenging Angel

🔴 Script 9:5 Benjamin T Okara (№ 183)

 
Program air date: 11/18/2021 in the US
Script Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-cwd
EntertainmentWeekly Recap: https://bit.ly/3Hu0QPv
 

Brief (Where we’re at): ● A bullet fired from Cooper’s gun was involved in the murder of Doug Koster, the neighbor with whom Cooper’s wife Charlene had an affair several years ago. ● Park may have cancer ~ she provided the clean urine sample for Ressler to use for a drug test required for him to be reinstated in the FBI. (He says he’s no longer using but told Park he wasn’t sure he’d been off drugs long enough for the test to be negative.) The test came back clean for drug use but with abnormal hormone levels. ● And Dembe and Red’s relationship has become as chilly as Red’s and Mierce’s appears to be cozy. Whatever went wrong between Dembe and Red has something to do with “Brasília” which Red says was “a tragedy” ~ likely referring to something that happened there (though “Berlin” turned out to be a person, so you never know).

Cooper woke up in his car to find his gun on the car floor. When he later checked the ammunition clip, he saw that a bullet had been fired, so he turned it over to a friend to have it analyzed and there was a match to the bullet used in the murder. Cooper had gone to a retirement party and has no recollection of what happened after having only a couple of drinks. So far he has not mentioned the ballistics test to Charlene, but clearly she will be a suspect in this whodunit in addition to Cooper himself.

Red was able to track down the Blacklister “The Avenging Angel” (Blacklister #49) whose activities had been on his radar for years. Going by the name “Michael” for “Michael the Archangel” who “God sent to fight the devil,” Michaela Bellucci had been a young unwed mother in Italy, placed in a convent by her family for the duration of her pregnancy and forced to give up her baby for adoption. So she devoted her life to restoring precious things to people who has been cheated out of them. She used an online prayer site to find injustices to make right and employed criminal means whenever necessary to right them. Red guessed she was involved when a partner in a firm who had just won a court case giving him sole possession of the firm died in a fall from a high rise after filming a suicide message apologizing to the friend he had cheated.

Red knew Michaela/Michael was looking for a lost Van Gogh painting that he knew was in the possession of an associate, hidden behind a “meh” piece a abstract art that he was able to buy from the associate’s son by convincing him it was worth $1M. He dangled the painting to Michael via a broker. He arrived just in time to prevent Michael from overseeing the transplant of a heart from a billionaire who had jumped the line to the dying “everyman” who had been bumped. Red executed Michael who herself became the heart donor. Red then restored the Van Gogh to its rightful owner, a Holocaust survivor from whose family the painting had been stolen by the Nazis. Now in her 90s, Ada Rosenberg is the lead singer in a Death Metal band, singing about the Holocaust and “to remind the world that good triumphs over evil.”

⭕ Script 9:5 Benjamin T Okara (№ 183)

 
 
[ Stan Rodgers is driving his car down a highway while talking on the phone to Olivia Rodriguez, a work colleague. She is in a motel room ]
Olivia Rodriguez: Stan, you need to get here as fast as you can. I’m worried about you.
Stan Rodgers: Look, for all we know, CID already has him in custody.
Olivia: Yeah? Then why haven’t we heard from Nitesh or Maryanne?
Stan: I don’t know, but I’m sure there’s a logical explanation.
⋘⋙
[ On the side of the road, Benjamin Okara stands next to a blue van. He is holding an electronic device. A blue dot 🔵 moves across the screen ]
⋘⋙
Olivia: There were ambulances at the CID safehouse!
Stan: Just sit tight. I’ll be at the motel soon. We’ll talk to–
⋘⋙
[ Okara manipulates the device ] [ ¤ ¤ ¤ Clicking ¤ ¤ ¤ ]
⋘⋙
Stan: [ Winces ] –Hans.
⋘⋙
[ Okara amps up the device ] [ Beeping 🔅🔅🔅 ] [ Pulsing 🌀🌀🌀🌀 ]
⋘⋙
[ Stan’s car makes a turn and the blue van comes into view. He sees Okara ]
Stan: [ Groans ] No. [ Grunts in pain ] [ Strained ] It can’t be.
Olivia: Can’t be what, Stan? It can’t be what?
Stan: Him. He’s here.
Olivia: Oh, my God. Stan, you have to get out of there.
⋘⋙
[ Pulsing 🌀🌀🌀🌀 ]
⋘⋙
Stan: [ Groans ]
[ Stan tries to back up ] [ ⚡️Tires screech⚡️]
Olivia: Stan? Are you there?
Stan: [ Groans ]
Olivia: Stan?
⋘⋙
[ Pulsing ‼️ 🌀🌀🌀🌀‼️ ]
⋘⋙
Stan: [ Screams ]
[ The car races backwards and⚡️screeches⚡️ to a halt on the side of the road ]
Olivia: Stan? Stan?!
⋘⋙
[ Okara limps over to Stan’s car. Stan sits motionless, his eyelids half shut. Okara uses Stan’s phone to check the location of his last call: Oak Leaf Motel ]

 
[ Agent Alina Park is in a car being driven by her husband, Peter ]
Peter: I’m just saying, I don’t understand.
Park: That may be what you’re saying, but the way you’re saying it sounds like you don’t trust me.
Peter: Then let me start over. I love you, and whatever this is–
Park: This is cancer.
Peter: Maybe. That’s why you got the blood test, to get a second opinion. What I don’t understand is why the Bureau wouldn’t let you give the oncologist the drug test.
Park: I don’t know.
Peter: I know you’re an amazing instructor, but would our national security really be at risk if someone else trained the cadets?
Park: What can I say? I’m that good. [ Smiles ]
Peter: [ Chuckles ]
[ The car pulls over ] [ Seatbelt clicks ✵ ] [ Gearshift clicks ✽ ]
Peter: When you stopped being a field agent, I thought you were safe. Now this? I wish I could protect you.
Park: You do. In every way that matters. [ Kiss ]
[ Park gets out. Peter leans over to talk through the open car window ]
Peter: Hey. I do trust you.

 
[ Inside the large antique metal-sided camper in the woods where Red is staying with the sisters Mierce and Weecha Xiu ]
[ Door creaks open ] [ Dembe enters ]
Dembe: I’m here to see Raymond.
[ Door creaks shut ]
Dembe: He said it was urgent.
[ Dembe sits on the couch across from the small table. Mierce Xiu is sitting at the table. She leans forward ]
Mierce: Raymond is troubled. Some man and his airfields.
Dembe: Jovan Lovic?
Mierce: Raymond wanted to meet. The man refused because of you.
Dembe: Me? I didn’t do this to hurt him.
⋘⋙
[ Red enters from a front room ]
Red: Dembe. The Havana Syndrome – What do you know about it?
Dembe: It’s a series of ailments – Headaches, fatigue, vertigo, blurred vision. First reported by American diplomats in Cuba, and later by U.S. personnel in embassies around the world.
Red: Mysterious ailments caused by a mysterious weapon. A directed-energy weapon. Mmm. Mierce, those are delicious. You are a wonder. I can’t imagine a life without either of them.
[ Dishes clatter lightly ]
Dembe: Mystery weapon. Do you know how to locate one?
Red: I know that one has recently gone missing, one that this country and this country’s enemies would dearly love to get their hands on.
Dembe: I thought the weapons were made by our enemies.
Red: [ Chuckles ] Yes, well, in the Yankee Doodle spirit of “any way you can kill, I can kill better,” the Americans transformed Cuba’s pea-shooter model into a particularly fearsome iteration that has the potential to usher in a brutal new form of guerrilla warfare.
Dembe: About Jovan Lovic–
Red: Lovic is my problem. The problem you should focus on is finding this weapon.

 
[ The Post Office ] [ Dembe briefs the task force ]
Dembe: These weapons can disable people by sending highly powered energy waves through walls, floors, ceilings without detection. According to Raymond, the Pentagon responded to the energy weapon attacks by tasking DARPA to design one of their own, which they did, only for the chief engineer to disappear along with the prototype.
Cooper: The chief engineer– What do we know about him?
Aram: His name is Dr. Benjamin Okara. He immigrated to the U.S. from Lagos when he was ten.
[ Park walks in ]
Cooper: Agent Park, welcome to the party.
Park: Sorry. I got in my car and ended up at the academy. Habit, I guess.
Aram: Okara has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from MIT, where he won the somewhat unusual distinction of being the only summa cum laude graduate to have been suspended four times. Apparently, the last one was for assembling a Zamboni in the faculty dining hall.
Ressler: [ Reading from the overhead ] AI-enabled target processing, hypersonic missile defense. Okara has quite the resume. But did Reddington say why he went rogue?
Dembe: Only that the weapon can fetch a fortune on the black market, but it’s equally possible he’s been turned. We just don’t know.
Cooper: We may not know his motives, but we can certainly find out about the weapon he stole. Park, Ressler, get over to DARPA. We need to know what this thing is capable of.

 
[ Ressler walks with Park ]
Park: [ Sighs ]
Ressler: What are you doing here?
Park: You sound like Peter.
Ressler: Oh, so you told him? Good.
Park: Of course I told him. And then I proceeded to lie to him about how I found out and why I couldn’t give the oncologist my drug test.
Ressler: Well, because it was my test using your urine. Which, if you hadn’t given me, you wouldn’t have known something was wrong, so, uh – you’re welcome.

 
[ At DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ]
Alison (DARPA Aide): Agents Ressler and Park are here.
Director Reiss: Please, come in. Your office called to say you were on your way over.
Ressler: Then you know why we’re here.
Reiss: I do. And as I told the gentleman I spoke with, I can’t comment on classified projects.
Park: We know about the directed-energy weapon, that Okara supervised its development, that he’s taken the prototype and gone who knows where.
Ressler: We were kind of hoping you were the “who” who knows.
Reiss: I am sorry, but I can’t confirm or deny even the existence of classified projects.
Park: What about the scientists who work on them? Can you tell us who else worked on the project you can’t tell us about? Or if the military has at least begun an investigation?
Reiss: I wish I could, but as I’m sure you can appreciate, I can’t even speculate about personnel or investigations that may or may not be connected to classified projects that may or may not exist.
Ressler: You know what isn’t speculative? That a powerful weapon is missing, that in the wrong hands, it could do incredible damage, and that you’re too busy covering your own ass to help us prevent that from happening.
Reiss: I’m late for a meeting. Alison will show you out.
[ Director Reiss leaves ]
⋘⋙
[ Once Reiss is out of sight, Alison volunteers information ]
Alison: [ Low voice ] DARPA is investigating.
Ressler: I’m sorry?
Alison: The project’s secret, and they don’t want any leaks, but Director Reiss has been on the phone with investigators every day for the last week. There were five scientists on Okara’s team.
Park: Were?
Alison: Stan Rogers was killed in a car crash yesterday morning.
Ressler: What about the other scientists?
Alison: No one knows. It’s like they all disappeared.
Park: The whole team is missing? We need their names – Everyone on the team. Can you do that?

 
[ The motel room where Olivia Martinez is staying. She has hung a cluster of looping wires from the ceiling ]
[ Cellphone rings✨] [ Cellphone beeps🔅]
Olivia: Hans! Listen, Stan’s missing.
Hans Fielder: Desert. Ash. Beware.
[ Olivia scribbles words on a notepad ] [ Paper rustles ]
⋘⋙
[ Benjamin Okara uses his device to direct microwave energy into Olivia’s motel room ]
⋘⋙
[ The wires hanging from the ceiling begin to glow ]
Olivia: Oh, my God.
⋘⋙
Device: [ Beeps 🔅🔅🔅 ] [ Pulsing 🌀🌀🌀🌀 ]
⋘⋙
Olivia: [ Gasps ] [ Groans ]
[ Olivia’s nose bleeds ]
⋘⋙
[ The screen on Okara’s device shows 🌀🌀🌀🌀 pulses of energy 🌀🌀🌀🌀 emanating from a blue dot 🔵 ]
[ Beeping 🔅🔅🔅 ] [ Clicking ✽ ✽ ✽ ]
⋘⋙
Olivia: [ Screaming ] [ Crying ]
[ She collapses ]
⋘⋙
[ Beeping 🔅🔅🔅] [ Clicking ✽ ✽ ✽ ]
⋘⋙
Olivia: [ Gasping ]
⋘⋙
[ Beeps🔅🔅 ]
[ Okara walks away from the Oak Leaf Motel ]

 
[ Cooper’s office ]
[ On the phone, Harold Cooper and his wife Charlene discuss the murder of their former neighbor, Doug Koster. Cooper woke in his car the morning after the incident, his mind blank. His gun was on the floor of the car with one bullet missing from the magazine clip. He got a friend to run a ballistics report ]
Cooper: The ballistics match the ones from the homicide report and from my service weapon.
Charlene: [ On phone ] Honey, it doesn’t mean that you did it.
Cooper: The bullet that shot Doug Koster came from my gun.
Charlene: It’s been over eight years. He’s in our past. What – One night, you get drunk and you kill him?
Cooper: I went to the precinct. I was gonna confess. But I can’t remember what happened.
Charlene: I wish you had.
Cooper: Turned myself in?
Charlene: Told the truth. If you don’t and they find the ballistics, no one’s gonna believe that you’re innocent.
⋘⋙
[ Knock on door ✽ ✽ ] [ Ressler enters ]
Ressler: Oh, sorry. We, uh, have an update on the scientists.
Cooper: I’ll be right down.
[ Ressler leaves ]
⋘⋙
Cooper: I sent a blood sample to the lab to find out if I was drugged.
Charlene: When will you get the results?
Cooper: A week. Maybe more. Until then, I’m not admitting to anything.
Charlene: If the police find out, I just–
Cooper: A friend ran the ballistics on my weapon. No one else knows, and no one’s gonna know. We have a lot of things to worry about, but the police finding out about my involvement isn’t one of them. I’ll talk to you later.
[ Cellphone beeps🔅 ]

 
[ The Post Office war room ]
Park: First, the scientists. Olivia Martinez, Nitesh Shah, Maryanne Sims, Hans Fielder, and Stan Rogers. All of them worked for Okara, and as of yesterday, all are missing.
[ A photo of Stan Rodgers is shown ]
Dembe: Next, cause of death. The radiologist who examined Rogers says that his brain damage is worse than what he suffered in the crash.
Park: Meaning Okara may have used the prototype on Rogers.
Cooper: Why would Okara do that? Use it on one of his colleagues? If his goal was to sell it, that makes no sense.
Park: These scientists are the only other people who know how the device works. If he gets rid of them, he secures exclusive access to the technology for his buyer.
Dembe: And provides a demonstration of the technology’s capabilities.
Aram: Okay, guys, I just hung up with Olivia Martinez’s husband, and he spoke to her last night, and she was scared. All she’d say is that she was at a motel waiting to meet one of her colleagues, so I back-tracked the call, and her burner pinged a tower in South East that covers 30 square blocks with two motels. One is closed for renovations, and the other is the Oak Leaf on Rhode Island and 6th.
⋘⋙
[ Okara enters Olivia Martinez’s motel room ]

 
[ Red meets with Jovan Lovic who is guarded by two men, Sima and Vasco ]
Red: Jovan, this is an easy deal to make. You have my old airfields. I have business that requires access to them. Now, I’m told you have some concerns, so let me assure you, this sudden conversion of a former colleague of mine will absolutely not interfere with an otherwise profitable collaboration.
Jovan Lovic: He converted to a federal agent.
Red: Yes, and as a result, has been entirely cut off from my operations, my accounts, my whereabouts, and all the people I do business with.
Sima: So you say. But how can we be sure you’re still not in contact?
Red: I am still in contact. Believe me, having him at an arm’s length is better than having him sneak up behind me. He will not be a problem.
Vasco: We need to be sure. Killing him would be sure.
Red: Killing an FBI agent, under any circumstances, is proof of only one thing – Stupidity. Killing an agent who was a former associate is both stupid and bad business. They’d only assign even more than the usual number of buzzcuts to find me, which might very well jeopardize our collaboration. So, unless there are any other helpful suggestions–
Vasco: Are you calling me stupid?
Red: [ Speaking other language ] More or Less [ In English ] Though I’m not sure the idiom translates. So, yes.
[ Vasco and Sima make a move, but Weecha is faster, with both guns ] [ ❅✵ Weapons cock ❅✵ ]
Red: Cute as a button, isn’t she? You should see what she does with a chicken. Wrings it, bleeds it, and plucks it before it ever knows it was dead.
[ Jovan Lovic signals to his men to lower their guns. Weecha does, too, but protects Red with one gun resting over his heart ]
Jovan Lovic: Do you have a proposal?
Red: In exchange for access to the airfields, I’ll settle your dispute with Jilal, guarantee safe passage for your product through Panama, and secure a place for your granddaughter in Brearley’s kindergarten class. Run the numbers. I think you’ll find your organization’s profits will soar, to say nothing of Desanka’s block-building skills.
Jovan Lovic: I will consider it.
Red: [ Leaning forward ] While you do, consider this – Dembe Zuma is my responsibility. If anything is to be done, good or bad, I will be the one doing it.

 
[ Ressler sits in the passenger seat as Park drives ]
Ressler: You know I lied about my drug test to hide an addiction that I’m trying to break? I’m not proud of it, but there is a certain amount of twisted internal logic. But what you’re doing – There’s no logic to it at all. You tell Peter about the diagnosis, but not the job. You tell Cooper about the job, but not the diagnosis. Except for me, you’re hiding something from everyone.
Park: What makes you think I’m not hiding something from you?
Ressler: Because there’s only so many deceptions you can squeeze into one day.
Park: I’m not deceiving you. I’m just – holding back.
Ressler: What?
Park: The flood gates.
Ressler: What do you mean, like tears?
Park: Men. Honestly.

 
[ Benjamin Okara walks into the motel room where Olivia Martinez lies on the floor. He takes a note from her hand. It says: “///Desert.Ash.Beware” ]
[ Knocks on door ✽✽✽ ]
Park: FBI! Olivia, can you hear me? Are you in there?
[ Okara flees ] [ Moments later, Park and Ressler enter. They find Olivia. Park feels for a pulse ]
Park: She’s dead.
[ Cellphone dialing ••• ]
Operator: 911 operator.
Park: This is Agent Park with the FBI. I need local police to respond to my location.
[ Cellphone beeps🔅] [ Ressler examines the hanging coils. He finds the notepad that Olivia wrote the code on. Indentations on the paper from the writing are evident ]

 
[ Cooper’s office ] [ Aram appears at the door ]
Aram: Sir, you’ve got a call on one. Patched through from Hoover.
Cooper: Anything from the motel?
Aram: We were too late. Olivia Martinez is dead, the desk manager is badly injured, and Okara is gone.
Cooper: I want to see Park and Ressler as soon as they get back.
[ Telephone ☎️ rings ] [ Beeps 🔅 ]
Cooper: Harold Cooper.
Detective Heber: Yeah, hi. This is Detective Marcus Heber, MPD.
Cooper: Detective, how can I help you?
Heber: I was hoping I could ask you a few questions.
Cooper: Oh? What about?
Heber: The murder of Doug Koster.

 
[ Post Office war room ]
Ressler: There’s one dead and four injured. Martinez in room 29 and the guests in room 28 and 30, plus the manager.
Park: We don’t have a cause of death, but the victim’s symptoms are consistent with what we know about directed energy.
Ressler: Okara must have aimed at Martinez and the others suffered peripheral damage. Significant, but not fatal.
Aram: We’re pulling CCTV. Once we get it, we’ll compare it to what we have from the area where Okara’s first victim was found.
Dembe: Still no cooperation from DARPA?
Park: None. The Pentagon locked down the scene, sent in CID investigators.
Ressler: There was a notepad in the room. The top page was blank, but it had markings, so we traced them and came up with some kind of a code, something Martinez may have written down. There’s three words. “Desert,” “ash,” “beware.” Now, the forward slashes made us think that it was a website, but all we got were a list of movies to beware of watching on a desert island.
Aram: It’s not a website. It’s an app.
Dembe: Do you know what it means?
[ Keyboard clacking »»» »»» ]
Aram: Not yet, but the app is called WordWorld3, and it is a way to communicate locations by converting GPS coordinates into three-word addresses.
Ressler: “Desert, ash, beware” is a place.
Aram: The app divides the world into 57 trillion 9-meter squares, that is trillion with a “T.”
[ Keys click »»» »»» ]
Aram: And this one is at 4453 Wentworth Ave. Olivia Martinez’s husband said she was scared and looking for a place to hide. She didn’t get there, but, uh, maybe some of her colleagues did.
[ Two men get off the elevator ]
Park: Sir?
Cooper: Right. Uh, Wentworth Avenue. Park, Agent Zuma, see what you can find. Detective, thanks for coming. Let’s talk in my office.

 
[ Red sits on a park bench, filling out a crossword puzzle ]
Red: [ Muttering softly ] [ Laughs ] That’s gonna be good. A– [ Speaking indistinctly ]
[ Jovan Lovic’s man Vasco approaches from a distance slowly. Weecha comes up behind him ]
Weecha: That’s a gun in your back.
[ Weecha takes Vasco’s gun and drops it in a trash receptacle]
⋘⋙
[ Vesco sits on the bench a meter or so from Red ]
Red: In case you’re wondering, on the off chance you’re capable of wonder, I have eyes in the back of my head. I don’t draw a breath without knowing my perimeter is secure. It’s why I’m still alive, and it’s why we made you about an hour ago. So, why are you here? Is it Dembe, or does Jovan think I’m angling for his used-to-be-mine airfields? Or is this about me calling you stupid, which under the circumstances, I think you’ll agree was [ Chuckles ] a gross understatement.
Vesco: Go to hell.
Red: Someday. Weecha, it’s time to feed the armadillo. ⋘⋙ After you.

 
[ Cooper’s office ] [ Pen clicks ]
Detective Marcus Heber: We’ve actually met before. Outside Koster’s house.
Cooper: Yes. The morning after.
Detective Heber: You said that you were there to see what the commotion was about. Seemed to me like there was a little more to that story, so I, uh, jotted down your plate number. Imagine my surprise to learn that you’re FBI, and someone I gotta sign an NDA just to get in to see. You’re obviously doing something important here, so I don’t want to take up too much of your time.
Cooper: Doug was my neighbor for many years. When I heard he’d been killed, I- I couldn’t believe it, so I drove by to see what was going on.
Heber: You and Mr. Koster were close?
Cooper: Not particularly. Doug and my wife had an affair years ago. Though I suspect you already know that.
Heber: Mr. Koster’s body was found in the doorway. No sign of forced entry. Seemed like he knew the person that shot him.
Cooper: I wasn’t fond of the man. I also wasn’t anywhere near his house the night he died. I was at a retirement party at the Tap Room on U Street.
Heber: ME’s report has time of death between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. That’s pretty late for a retirement party.
Cooper: I left around 11:00 and went straight home.
Heber: Was anyone there? At home?
Cooper: It’s not an alibi. It’s the truth.
Heber: I’m sure it is. But you know how this works.
Cooper: I was with my wife.

 
[ Benjamin Okara is parked in the blue van. He is breathing unsteadily and his hands shake uncontrollably ]
[ The SUV with Park and Dembe inside drives by ]
⋘⋙
[ Dembe and Park enter the building Aram identified. Hans Fielder is looking at maps at a makeshift desk. A coil of metal wire hangs over his head, similar to Olivia’s. He hears footsteps approaching and picks up a gun ]
Hans: Olivia?
[ Chair scrapes lightly ] [ He stands up ]
Hans: Olivia, is that you?
[ Hans’s gun cocks ✽ ] [ Park’s and Dembe’s guns cock ✽ ✽ ]
Park: Drop the gun!
Dembe: Put the gun down!
Park: Drop the gun!
Dembe: Put it down!
[ Hans obeys ] [ Dembe takes his gun ]
Dembe: We’re FBI agents. Hans, right? Hans Fielder?
Hans: How did you find me?
Dembe: “Desert, ash, beware.” We found a message in Olivia’s motel room.
Hans: You saw her? Is she all right?
Dembe: Olivia is dead. Please, we’re here to help.

 
[ Aram walks alongside Cooper at the Post Office ]
Aram: I’m sorry, but, uh, is everything all right?
Cooper: It’s fine.
Aram: Good, because, I mean, I didn’t know if the officer was here about Charlene’s friends.
Cooper: The footage. Tell me.
Aram: Right, okay. So, a blue van was in both. The plates are bogus, and the registration is to a P.O. box.
Cooper: Pull the financials on the box, put out an APB on the van. If we find it, we find Okara.

 
[ Inside the warehouse at the WordWorld3 coordinates of “Desert, ash, beware,” Dembe and Park talk to Hans Fielder ]
Hans: Ben was our friend. He knew more than anyone why this weapon should never be used. It was used against him in Cuba.
Park: He worked in the Havana embassy?
Hans: He was sent there to study the effects of the weapon. When he got back, he had them, too. Tremors, light sensitivity, headaches.
Park: So, he comes back to DARPA to build an even more powerful weapon, steals it, and then turns it on his colleagues you say he cares about?
Hans: He did more than steal it. He wiped our research from the database.
⋘⋙
[ Outside the warehouse, Benjamin Okara activates the direct energy weapon ]
[ Beeping 🔅🔅🔅 ]
⋘⋙
Hans: Even if DARPA wanted to rebuild it, they wouldn’t know how.
Dembe: And the wire? We also found this in Olivia’s motel room.
Hans: We thought metal would absorb the energy and act as an early warning system. When it glows, we’d know an attack was about to begin.
[ Cellphone rings ✨ ]
Dembe: It’s Aram. I’ll take it outside.
[ Dembe leaves ]
Park: Here’s what’s gonna happen – We’re gonna take you in, keep you safe.
Hans: Not until I find the others. I won’t leave Nitesh and Maryanne. He found Stan and Olivia. I can’t let him find them.
Park: To prevent that, you need to help us, and that starts by letting us take you in. It’s not safe here.
Hans: Okay. Can I grab my phone?
⋘⋙
[ Outside ]
Dembe: We found Hans Fielder. He needs protection, a safehouse until this is over.
Aram: I’ll make the arrangements. Here’s what we know.
⋘⋙
[ Hans goes to the desk ]
Hans: All right. I’m ready.
[ Park turns to lead the way out. Hans grabs a bottle and⚡️smashes⚡️it on Park’s head ]
Park: [ Grunts, groans ]
[ Hans runs ]
⋘⋙
[ Benjamin Okara watches the blue dot 🔵 identifying Hans move rapidly across his device’s screen ]
[ 🔅🔅🔅 Beeping 🔅🔅🔅 ]
⋘⋙
Park: [ Groans ] Dembe!
[ Park gets to her feet and stumbles after Hans ]
⋘⋙
[ Hans is hit by the first⚡️bolt⚡️of directed energy ]
Hans: Oh! [ Groans ]
[ Park runs after him, panting lightly ]
⋘⋙
Device: [ Beeping 🔅🔅🔅 ] [ Pulsing ‼️🌀🌀🌀🌀‼️ ]
⋘⋙
Hans: [ Groans ]
[ Hans falls, blood seeps from his ears ]
⋘⋙
Device: [ Clicking ✽✽✽ ]
⋘⋙
[ Park is caught in the periphery of the weapon’s radius. She falls, her head snapping wildly back and forth ]
Park: [ Groaning ]
[ ~~~~~~~ A shrill sound fills the air ~~~~~~~ ]
Hans: [ Groans ]
Park: [ Groans ]
⋘⋙
[ Dembe is still on the phone ]
Dembe: A blue van at both scenes.
[⚡️Tires screech⚡️] [ Okara’s blue van drives by ] [ Dembe’s gun cocks ✽ but the van is gone ]
Dembe: Alina!
Park: [ Groans ]
Dembe: Alina, don’t move.
Park: [ Gasping ]
[ Dembe’s cellphone beeps 🔅, dials ••• •••• ] [ Line rings✨, clicks ❅ ]
Dembe: This is Dembe Zuma. I need a level-two activation in Madison, Virginia. Code echo-Charlie-one.
Herbert: That code’s no longer valid.
Dembe: Herbert, you know me.
Herbert: I need a valid code.
Dembe: Damn it, Herbert, send the helicopter now!
Herbert: Chopper inbound, ten minutes.
[ Cellphone beeps 🔅 ]

 
[ Teddy and Edna Brimley’s son Geoffrey wheels in a tank full of lobsters. Red fills Weecha in on what’s going on. Teddy (and sometimes Edna) are Red’s go-to torturemeisters and obese Geoffrey is their struggling apprentice ]
[ Geoffrey is on the phone ]
Geoffrey Brimley: [ On phone ] I told you, I wrote it all down.
Red: [ To Weecha ] Teddy’s recovering from a valve replacement in Rochester. Edna’s with him there, so she asked if their son Geoffrey could fill in.
Geoffrey: [ On phone ] I’ll remember the nipples. I swear! No, don’t get Dad. It’s okay.
[ Geoffrey hands the phone to Red ]
Red: Edna? It’s Raymond. [ Chuckles ] Yes. Uh, listen, uh, Geoffrey will be fine, so, please, wish Teddy a refuah shlema [ “Get well soon” ] and leave the boy alone. Thank you, Edna.
[ Cellphone beeps 🔅 ]
Weecha: Why no armadillo?
Geoffrey: Dad says I’m not ready for mammals.
Red: Well, I’m sure the shellfish will suffice. Can we get you anything else?
Geoffrey: I forgot the cracks and picks.
Red: Easy peasy.
[ Cellphone ringing ✨ ] [ Paper shuffling ]
Geoffrey: And maybe some bibs and butter, to be safe?
Red: Lemon squeezy. He’s in the back.
[ Cellphone beeps🔅 ]
Red: Yes? [ Seriously ] Say that again.

 
[ Dembe is at the hospital, outside Park’s room ]
[ Dembe’s cellphone ringing✨ ] [ Door opens; doctor enters ] [ Cellphone beeps 🔅 ] [ Door closes ]
Dembe: Raymond.
Red: [ Agitated ] You’re in or you’re out. You can’t be both. It’s one or the other.
Dembe: Emergency transport was too far.
Red: In or out.
Dembe: If I had not called Herbert–
Red: Herbert has been let go.
Dembe: Because he helped me give Alina a chance? We still don’t know the extent of the damage.
Red: I understand, and I hope Agent Park makes a full recovery, but perhaps I didn’t explain the extent of the problem you joining the FBI has caused. [ Angrily ] My association with the FBI has always been difficult to conceal, but you being an agent makes it nearly impossible unless you and I strictly adhere to the rules. If I do anything to assist you in a way that involves other people from my world, it could be fatal to me. Despite our recent unpleasantness, I would hope that would be sufficient enough to stay your hand.
[ Dembe’s cellphone beeps🔅] [ Line beeps 🔅]
⋘⋙
[ Red’s cellphone rings✨, beeps🔅]
Red: [ Loudly, still agitated ] Harold.
Cooper: Agent Park owes you her life.
Red: [ Loudly ] So I’m told.
Cooper: We traced the registration on a P.O. box Okara uses to an offshore account. In the days since he stole the prototype, Okara has used the account to make multiple payments to a Constantine’s Meats and Cheeses.
Red: Ah! Sherwin.
Cooper: Sherwin?
Red: Sherwin Ellis. He’s Constantine.
Cooper: He is? A man named Sherwin?
Red: He’s in the safe haven business– [ Cooper’s landline ☎️ ringing ] –rental spaces that are off the books and under the radar. Eh, yours, but certainly not mine.
[ Cellphone beeps 🔅 ]
⋘⋙
Cooper: [ To Charlene ] I’m sorry. I was in the middle of something.
Charlene: He called me. The detective.
Cooper: I know. I left you a message he would.
Charlene: I told you to tell the truth. I said if you didn’t and the police found out, they’re not gonna believe you.
Cooper: I know. Maybe I should have.
Charlene: Maybe? You’re a cop.
Cooper: Yeah, and maybe that’s why I didn’t. I know how cops think. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, why look any further?
Charlene: Well, now they’re looking at me to confirm your alibi, which we both know is a lie. [ Voice breaking ] Harold, I love you. You’re the most honest man that I know, but you need to tell me if that’s what you want – For me to lie to the police. Is that what you want?
Cooper: Yes. It is.

 
[ Weecha escorts in a man wearing a cowboy hat ]
Red: Sherwin! Thank you for coming.
Sherwin Ellis: My pleasure, Red.
Red: [ To Weecha ] Crackers, picks, butter, and bib?
Weecha: [ Holding up paper bag ] Yep.
Red: Great. [ to Sherwin ] Please have a seat. [ Sits ] Ah. I understand business is good. I asked you here because I want to make it even better.
Sherwin: I didn’t know you were in a position to do that.
Red: You mean my sabbatical? That’s over for the time being. I’m back and looking to find a client of yours. I have his offshore account. You can use it to trace his name. You give me his whereabouts, and I’ll give – Well, we should discuss what I give you.
Sherwin: Well, I appreciate that, and if this was two years ago, I wouldn’t hesitate, but in our business, people don’t really come back from sabbaticals – Not with any clout, anyway.
Red: Perhaps this will convince you otherwise.
[ Red rolls up his pant leg to reveal the Skinner tattoo ]
Sherwin: You work with the Skinner?
Red: No. I am the Skinner. A venture which will require the use of facilities around the globe, perhaps your facilities. All I need from you is an address.

 
[ The Post Office war room ]
Cooper: Reddington got an address on Okara to a facility he’s been renting, a machine shop in Newport News. 2804 Hazelton Road.
Aram: I’ll reach out, get a tac team to meet us on site.
[ Aram leaves ]
Cooper: Any update on Agent Park?
Ressler: Well, she’s conscious, but it’s still not clear whether there’s gonna be any lasting effects. Seems like she was out of the direct line of fire, though.
Cooper: Thank God. I want you to monitor her progress. Did you speak to her husband?
Ressler: I told him there had been an accident. He’s on his way to the hospital now, but, uh, as far as he knows, Park still works at Quantico.
Cooper: I tried telling her. Secrets aren’t healthy and won’t keep, but it’s easy to give advice. It’s a lot harder to take it.

 
[ Outside the torture room ] [ Door opens ]
Geoffrey: He talked. Turns out his sweet spot was right between the toes. If you don’t mind, I told Mom I’d call as soon as we were done, so–
Red: His assignment – What was it?
Geoffrey: His boss wants to know what to make of you and Dembe.
Red: Well, I don’t care what he makes of me. What does he make of Dembe?
Geoffrey: He thinks that he’s a fed, that he knows too much.
Red: So Jovan has ordered a hit?
Geoffrey: He knows it’s happening, but he didn’t know when or where. I used Mom’s go-to just to make sure.
[ He makes a squeezing motion in front of his balls ]
Red: Well, thank you, Geoffrey. I’m sure your parents will be very proud.
Geoffrey: [ Chuckles lightly ]
⋘⋙
[ Weecha and Red are alone ]
Weecha: You said there are rules.
Red: I know.
Weecha: And that if you veer from them–
Red: I know what I said.
Weecha: If you tried to assist Dembe, it could be fatal to you.
Red: It could be, but if I don’t, it will be fatal to Dembe.
Weecha: My job is to protect you. I can’t do that if you won’t protect yourself. You can’t sacrifice yourself for him. In the past, yes, but not today. He was in. ⋘⋙ Now he’s out. This is the consequence, and you have to accept it.
[ Red suddenly, almost defiantly, gets up and walks away ]

 
[ 🚨 Siren wailing 🚨]
Aram: There’s the van. The van!
[⚡️Tires screech⚡️]
[ Aram, Dembe and Ressler jump out of the SUV and approach the van ]
Ressler: Hands! Hands! Show me your hands. Keep your hands where I can see them, all right? I’m gonna open the door, okay? That’s it. Just the door.
[ Benjamin Okara is holding a detonator in his hand ]
Okara: I suggest you get your people to the other side of the building.
Dembe: You don’t want to do this.
Okara: No. I don’t. But I have to. I make weapons. I know how they work. The blast radius. I am very precise. You need to get back.
[ They begin to back away ]

 
[ Detective Heber is with Charlene Cooper ]
Heber: I understand this is a sensitive topic.
Charlene: [ Sighs ] You want to know if I think my husband murdered my ex-lover? Yes, Detective, I’d say it’s quite sensitive.
Heber: How did your husband find out that, uh, you and Mr. Koster were involved?
Charlene: I told him. The affair had been over for a while, but, uh, I couldn’t keep it a secret any longer.
Heber: And did he express anger towards Mr. Koster?
Charlene: Of course he did. Wouldn’t you?
Heber: On the night of the 24th, your husband said that he was at a retirement party.
Charlene: That’s right.
Heber: What time did he come home?
Charlene: I love my husband, but I won’t lie for him. He knows that.

 
[ Okara is standing in front of the van ]
Ressler: We did what you asked. Now get out of the van.
[ Okara gets out ]
Ressler: Good. This is good. Thank you. How can we help you? What do you need? How can we resolve this without anyone else getting hurt?
Okara: I don’t want to hurt anyone.
Aram: What about Hans? Olivia? Stan?
Okara: You don’t understand.
Ressler: No, we don’t, so help us. Why are you killing your colleagues? Why would you do that?
Okara: They knew how to build it.
Ressler: You wanted to be the only one who could? So you could sell this weapon and your ability to build it?
Okara: Sell it? Is that what you think I want? You really don’t understand.
Dembe: Is it in the van? The device?
Okara: You want to see it, don’t you? ‘Cause it’s like a magic trick. A weapon that goes through walls. A tool of repression so powerful that, with the push of a button, thousands of protestors wouldn’t be able to remember how to tie their shoes, let alone what they’d been protesting. And like any good trick, you don’t just want to see it. You want to know how it works so you can do it yourself. So this country can build a thousand just like it, a weapon not of mass destruction, but of mass– [ Voice breaking ] –suffering. And I can’t let that happen.
Aram: You want to destroy it.
Okara: The magic trick and the six people who know how to build it.
Aram: Six?
Okara: I killed five people I loved to protect thousands I don’t.
Ressler: And you’re the sixth.
Aram: Someone else is gonna figure it out, how to make what you did. You know you can’t stop that from happening.
Okara: It’s more than you can see, the pain. [ Gasps lightly ] [ Voice breaking ] It’s in my head, my joints, my eyes. [ Sniffling ] No, I can’t stop it from being rebuilt, but if I bought the world a year or two or five, that’s something. It’s up to you to do the rest.
[ Okara walks backwards toward the van, holding up the detonator in both hands. Aram, Dembe and Ressler move for cover ]
[ Detonator beeps 🔅 ] [ Rumbling ] [ 💥🔥💥‼️💥🔥💥 ]

 
Jovan Lovic: [ On phone ] There has been no contact? Nothing between Reddington and Zuma?
Vasco: He hasn’t been out of my sight.
[ Weecha is holding the phone in front of Vasco. Red sits across from him ]
Jovan: Then he and I can do business.
Red: [ Mouthing silently ]
Vasco: What about Zuma?
Jovan: I called in a few favors, found where he lives.
Vasco: What happens when Reddington finds out?
Jovan: He will thank me for doing what he knows he should have.
[ Call ends ]
Red: [ To Vasco ] Thank you. You did well.
[ Weecha puts a plastic bag over Vasco’s head and tightens it ]
Vasco: [ Gasping ] [ Choking ]

 
[ Lock disengages ] [ Keys jingle✨]
[ Dembe enters his home ]
[ Creak⚡️in distance ] [ Dembe draws his gun ]
[ Jovan Lovic’s man Sima lies on the floor, shot in the forehead. Red sits on the sofa ]
Red: I didn’t adhere to our rules. I violated them for you. Now I need you to violate them again for me.

 
[ Ressler enters the Office of Director Reiss of DARPA ] [ He drops some remnants of the directed energy device on Reiss’s desk ]
Ressler: There. From the weapon you won’t confirm or deny. A weapon that was used to kill two scientists before we even spoke, but that, thanks to your cover-up, was used to kill four more.
Director Reiss: It’s okay. It’s fine. Whatever this is, it’s beyond your purview.
Ressler: Six people are dead.
Director Reiss: This country is in a constant state of war, Agent Ressler. It may not be declared, but it’s being fought, by the Pentagon, not the FBI.
Ressler: Six people are dead, and my partner’s in the ICU.
Reiss: I’m sorry to hear that.
Ressler: Not as sorry as you are to lose the technology that built that.
Reiss: True story – Calculus was discovered independently by Newton and Leibniz. A great leap forward imagined simultaneously. In my experience, great leaps forward usually are.
Ressler: There’s someone else. You have another team. You’ve got another team working on directed energy. So, Okara was Newton, but Leibniz– He’s still working on it. All that, everything Okara did – You’re not gonna miss a beat, are you?
Reiss: [ Robotlike ] I cannot confirm or deny even the existence of classified projects.

 
Red: [ To Dembe ] Sakiya and Fudo are on their way. [ Sighs ] Jovan came for you because you’re a federal agent. He’ll come for me because I protected you.
Dembe: How will he know?
Red: One dead, he may misread. Two dead, the tea leaves will clearly indicate that you and I are still in cahoots.
[ Red notices that the package he gave to Dembe to open after their relationship ended is still on a shelf unopened ]
Red: Ah. Maybe we actually are.
Dembe: I almost opened it after Brasilia. I don’t know why I didn’t. Our past, I suppose.
Red: Not our future —
Dembe: [ Breathes deeply ] You said you wanted something in return. You did this for me.
What do you expect me to do for you?
Red: No more, no less. An eye for an eye.
Dembe: Jovan.
Red: He knows about us, or he’s about to find out. I killed Sima to protect you. I want you to kill Jovan to protect me.
Dembe: I can’t do that.
Red: So, you’re in when it suits you and you’re out when it doesn’t?
Dembe: Why does it have to be one way or the other? Why can’t it just be?
Red: My old friend knew the answer to that.

 
[ Ressler visits Park in her hospital room. Her husband Peter is there ]
[ Knocks ✽ ✽ on door ]
Ressler: Hey.
Park: Hey.
Ressler: How ya feeling?
Park: Like a sledgehammer’s taken up residence in my cerebral cortex.
Ressler: Donald Ressler.
[ Ressler reaches out his hand to Peter for a handshake. Peter declines ]
Ressler: We spoke on the phone.
Peter: Yeah. We did.
Ressler: [ To Park ] So you told him?
Peter: Yeah, she told me.
Ressler: Well, I’m glad.
Peter: Great. That’s great.
Park: [ Sternly ] Peter.
Ressler: I’ll be outside. It was good to meet you.
[ A doctor enters ]
Park: Hey, Doc. Been checking your DSM on how to treat wounds from a directed-energy weapon?
[ Door closes ]
Doctor: You do pose something of a challenge, but we’ll get to that. We have other things to discuss, like your blood test.

 
[ Cooper’s office ]
Heber: [ On phone ] I spoke to your wife. She backed up your alibi.
Cooper: As I said, it’s not an alibi. It’s the truth.
Heber: Well, whatever it is, she backed you up, so we’re good. No hard feelings?
Cooper: None. You were just doing your job. Take care.
[ Cellphone beeps🔅]

 
Park: My blood test? My GP sent it over?
Doctor: She did. I just got the results. Elevated levels of HCG were detected, which explains why you weren’t feeling well.
Park: So, it is cancer?
Doctor: Elevated HCG can indicate testicular cancer in men, but–
Peter: So, you’re saying she doesn’t have cancer?
Doctor: No. She most definitely does not. What it means is, you were pregnant.
Peter: Oh, my God. [ Happily ] What, pregnant? Honey.
Park: You said “were”?
Doctor: Yes. I did.
[ Seratones’ ♫ “Dark Matter” plays ]

♪ Nosebleed ♪

Peter: [ Sighs, disappointedly ]

♪ Woke up in a Black dream ♪

 
[ Charlene Cooper sits at the kitchen table ]
[ Door opens ] [ Harold Cooper enters ]

♪ Flying at warp speed In my mind ♪
♪ Oh, my ♪
♪ Who’s she ♪
♪ Naked in the sweetgrass? ♪

Cooper: Thank you.
[ He gives Charlene a brief hug, but she looks dejected, pulls away and leaves ]

♪ Got the dust in my sheets ♪
♪ Who am I? ♪
♪ Who are we living for? ♪
♪ Who are we living for? ♪

 
[ Dembe kneels on a prayer rug ]:
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah. [ “May the peace and mercy of Allah be with you” ]
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah. [ “May the peace and mercy of Allah be with you” ]

 
[ Jovan Lovic sits at his desk. He hears something )
Jovan: Vasko?

♪ Shake me to the core ♪

Jovan: [ Speaking foreign language: ] We need to leave!

♪ Who are we living for? ♪
♪ Who are we living for? ♪

Jovan: Milos?

♪ Tell me who holds the key ♪

[ Jovan opens his office door ]
[ Silenced gunshots (💥💥) ]
[ Jovan groans, falls ]

♪ Nobody seems to know ♪

[ Red’s cellphone vibrates, beeps 🔅 ]
Red: Yeah?
Weecha: It’s done.

♪ Who are we living for? ♪

Red: Come home, Weecha.

♪ Who are we living for? ♪

[ Cellphones beep 🔅🔅 ]
 

♪ Driving me crazy ♪
♪ Shake me to the core ♪
♪ Who are we living for? ♪
♪ Who are we living for? ♪

 
[ Tearfully, Dembe holds the wrapped box Red gave hims years earlier. He remembers the day: ]

[ Flashback: ]
Red: I want you to keep that box, and on the day you decide to leave–
Dembe: I’m not going to leave.
Red: [ Kindly ] But you can.

 
♪ Nobody seems to know ♪
♪ Who are we living for? ♪

 
Red: At any point of your own choosing, I’ll insist that you do. No questions asked, no debts accrued. Whether that’s today or tomorrow or ten years from now, that’s when you open the box.

 
♪ Nobody seems to know ♪
♪ Why we’re lost Inside dark matter ♪
♪ Dark matter ♪
♪ Mm-mm-mm ♪
♪ Lost inside dark matter ♪

 
[ Dembe opens the box and peers inside, tears streaming ]

 
[ First the doctor, then Peter leave Park’s hospital bedside ] [ Door closes ]

♪ Lost inside dark matter ♪

[ Ressler has been waiting to see Park. He enters the room ]

[ Up-tempo: ]
♪ Pink matter, grey matter Purple sky ♪
♪ Love matter, you matter You and I ♪
♪ Dark matter, green matter Get me high ♪
♪ Daydream about the future ♪
♪ Brighter than Black diamonds ♪

Ressler: Hey.

♪ In the sky ♪

Park: You want to know what the logic is?

♪ Who are we living for? ♪

Park: Why I keep secrets?

♪ Who are we living for? ♪

Park: I do it because I’m terrified.
Ressler: Of what?

♪ Tell me who holds the key ♪

Park: The flood gates. And, no, they’re not tears.

♪ Nobody seems to know ♪
♪ Why we’re lost Inside dark matter ♪

Park: I’m afraid of losing control. Of what happens to me when I do. So I just– hold everything in– until I can’t–
[ Voice breaking ] Until I can’t hold it anymore [ Crying ]
Ressler: [ Softly ] It’s okay. It’s okay. Let it out.
Park: [ Sobbing ]

 
[ Red sits at the end of a double bed in the camper. His brow is deeply furrowed ]
Red: We were so happy ~ you and I and Weecha.
Mierce: Raymond, come to bed.
[ There are tears in Red’s eyes ]
Red: [ Whisper ] I should never have come back.
[ Mierce wraps her arms around Red’s neck from behind, her hair falling on his shoulders. He places his hand over hers ]

 
⬆ go to start of 9:5 Benjamin T Okara
⏫ go to top
 
 

Episode Songs

♫ Dark Matter
By Seratones

[Verse 1]
♪ Nosebleed
Woke up in a Black dream
Flying at warp speed in my mind
Oh my
Who’s she, naked in the sweetgrass?
Got the dust in my sheets
Who am I?

[Chorus]
♪ Who are we living for?
Who are we living for?
Calling me crazy
Shake me to the core
Who are we living for?
Who are we living for?
Tell me who holds the key
Nobody seems to know
Why we’re lost inside dark matter (Dark matter, dark matter)
Lost inside dark matter (Dark matter, dark matter)

[Verse 2]
♪ No sleep
Can you see me floating over my body, looking out
Hold me
I wish someone would hold me
Tell me that it’s alright
Lеt it out

[Chorus]
♪ Who are we living for?
Who are wе living for?
Driving me crazy
Shake me to the core
Who are we living for?
Who are we living for?
Tell me who holds the key
Nobody seems to know
Why we’re lost inside dark matter (Dark matter)
Lost inside dark matter
(Lost inside dark matter)

[Bridge]
♪ Pink matter, grey matter, purple sky
Love matter you matter, you and I
Dark matter, green matter get me high
Daydream about the a future
Brighter than Black diamonds in the sky

[Chorus]
♪ Who are we living for?
Who are we living for?
Tell me who holds the key
Nobody seems to know
Why we’re lost inside dark matter (Dark matter)
Lost inside dark matter
(Dark matter, dark matter, dark matter, dark matter)

Lyrics and Credits: http://bit.ly/3p0gbz5
YouTube: https://youtu.be/_w-bRoQ1bMc

 
⬆ go to start of 9:5 Benjamin T Okara
⏫ go to top
 

❌❌❌ End 9:5 Benjamin Okara

🔴 Script 9:6 Dr Roberta Sand PhD (№ 153)

 
Program air date: 12/9/2021 in the US
Script Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-cGL
EntertainmentWeekly Recap: https://bit.ly/3DAVONT
 

Brief (Where we’re at): Red faces a critical turning point: what to do about Dembe. Now an FBI agent, Dembe called in a helicopter of Red’s in order to save the life of Agent Alina Park after she was zapped by a directed energy weapon used by Benjamin Okara (Blacklister #183). Dembe believed only Red’s air resources were closeby enough, but he and Red had made an agreement that Dembe’s leaving Red’s employ and joining the FBI would only work if their “two worlds” were never allowed to touch. But then, after roundly upbraiding Dembe over crossing that line, Red was confronted with the choice of crossing it himself when he discovered that the man who had commandeered his airfields in his absense, Jovan Lovic, had discovered Dembe was now with the FBI and had ordered a hit on him. Ignoring Weecha’s advice (Weecha Xiu is his new bodyguard), Red intervened and killed the hitman. In return for saving Dembe’s life, Red asked a favor in return: for Dembe to kill Jovan Lovic who was now certain to try to kill Red. Dembe knew this was forbidden by the FBI and refused. So Weecha killed Lovic instead. Losing Dembe’s allegiance even after saving his life left Red distraught, with only the love of his spiritual guide and apparent paramour Mierce Xiu to succor him.

Alina Park is recovering in a hospital from the effects of the directed energy attack (like that which causes Havana syndrome), meaning it is no longer possible to hide from her husband Peter the fact that she is not training recruits at Quantico but is once again working in the field with the Reddington task force. Worse, the directed energy attack caused her to lose her pregnancy, a pregnancy neither she nor Peter had been aware of. She had thought she had cancer because she had provided the urine sample Ressler used to cheat on his drug test to get reinstated in the FBI. The results came back (to Ressler) negative for drugs but indicating “You may have cancer” because of elevated HCG (Human Chorianic Gonadotropin) which can mean cancer in males but for females, it indicates pregnancy. So Peter went from elated to devastated in a moment, learning his wife had been pregnant and no longer was. And all because of being injured working at a job they had agreed she wouldn’t return to.

Cooper lied to the Metro PD detective who came to ask him about the murder of Doug Koster, a neighbor who had an affair with Cooper’s wife Charlene years earlier. Cooper told the detective that at the time of the murder he was home with his wife. He wasn’t. He had gone to a retirement party. The next thing he knew it was morning and he was waking up in his car. Worse, he found that a single bullet was missing from the clip in his service weapon. He asked a friend, Lew Sloan, to run a ballistics test on the gun. The test showed Cooper’s gun had fired the bullet that killed Koster. Cooper shared all of this with Charlene. He asked her to back up his alibi while he waits for the results from another test to see if he had been drugged. Whether she did or not remains unclear.

⭕ Script 9:6 Dr Roberta Sand PhD (№ 153)

 
[ Randall Beasley is in a psychotherapy session with Dr Roberta Sand ]
Randall Beasley: [ Clears throat ] I’ve lost the will. Performing at my level, there’s absolutely no room for error. It’s just a lot of pressure, you know? Too much.
Dr Roberta Sand: We’ve talked about the adverse ways that pressure has manifested in your life, but we’ve also discovered helpful ways. Remember, behind every shadow, there is a light. Your next performance is this afternoon?
Beasley: Oh, my God. I-I don’t think I can.
Dr Sand: Randall, look at me. Randall. The time has come for you to tell yourself a different story. Embrace the shadow, and you will find the light. Now, close your eyes and visualize.

[ Flashforward: ]
[ A small crowd of people are gathered for a political rally ] [ A banner says “Welcome Congressman” ] [ Indistinct conversations ] [ A string ensemble warms up ]

Beasley: [ Exhales ]
[ The string ensemble plays ♪ “Brahms String Quartet No. 1” ]
Dr Sand: You’re on the way to the venue. You feel the music. Take a moment and let it center you. It reminds you that you, too, are a virtuoso. And, as you have 100 times before, you take out your instrument – and find the light.

[ Flashforward: ]
[ On a rooftop, Beasley assembles a long range sniper rifle with a large scope, long barrel and a silencer. He mounts the rifle on a stand and aims into the far-away crowd ] [ Gunshot 💥 ]
[ A woman falls to the pavement, shot in the chest. Her open eyes stare blankly ]
[ People gasping ]

 
[ Cooper’s dining room at home ]
[ Cooper’s work friend Lew Sloan sits at the table while Cooper paces. Both are dressed for work ]
Cooper: They know.
Lew Sloan: Heber’s just covering his ass.
[ Marcus Heber is the Metropolitan Police detective investigating the murder of the Cooper’s former neighbor Doug Koster ]
Cooper: Charlene vouched for me. She lied to give me an alibi. Clearly, he doesn’t believe her.
Lew: You’re a cop. Heber’s a cop. Alright, he just doesn’t wanna seem like he’s playing favorites. That’s all this is. He doesn’t suspect you.
Cooper: He will when the ballistics come back. Or haven’t you been listening? Heber was here an hour ago, with a warrant to test my service weapon. When he does, he’s gonna know it was my gun that was used to kill Doug Koster.
Lew: Harold, it’s going to be fine.
Cooper: My wife had an affair with Koster. Day after he’s killed, Heber sees me at the crime scene. My gun’s the murder weapon. In what world does that add up to “fine”?
[ Elizabeth Keen’s 11 year old daughter, who is being cared for by the Coopers since Liz’s death, is heard ]
Agnes’s voice: [ From another room ] Is Pinky still coming over?
[ “Pinky” is Agnes’s nickname for Red ]
Cooper: He sure is.
Lew: Alright, look, I should get going. We’ll talk later. Stop worrying.
[ Lew leaves ] [ Agnes walks in ]
Cooper: Well, hello, you. But when Pinky comes over, we’re gonna have to talk for a couple minutes, then he’s all yours.
Agnes: What’re you gonna talk about?
Cooper: That’s the thing about Pinky. He always keeps you guessing.

 
[ Red plops a newspaper down on the dining room table in front of Cooper and points to an article ]
Red: I assume this is on your radar.
Cooper: It is. Everyone’s looking for the congressman’s would-be assassin.
Red: Mm. Naturally. But everyone is wrong. The congressman wasn’t the target. The victim was. Mary Parrot.
Cooper: An assassin’s bullet narrowly misses a controversial politician because it was actually aimed at a beloved philanthropist?
Red: Her philanthropy was beloved. Her zeal for historical preservation – not so much. She single-handedly spiked dozens of construction projects that she believed would blight her fair city, denying powerful people fortunes large and even larger, including Vito DeCanio.
Cooper: You think the DeCanio Crime Syndicate had Mary Parrot killed?
Red: I do.
Cooper: So you’re putting them on the Blacklist. Criminals we already know exist.
Red: What you know about the DeCanios is that they were weak, and now they’re strong. What you don’t know is why – or who is responsible for their dramatic resurgence.
Cooper: It’s not the old man?
Red: His therapist, actually. Dr Roberta Sand. Everyone in the organization sees her. Vito’s orders.
Cooper: A therapist. To the mob. Who makes the mob more effective.
Red: Self-actualized.
Cooper: The shrink helps them fully realize their potential as criminals.
Red: Listen, I’m a criminal, and however realized I may be is due in large part to shrinks and shamans, rabbis and monks. They hold me together like a psychological bandage, without which my sufferings would be – insufferable.
Cooper: You told me that if you came back, names would be taken, a price would be paid. But you didn’t tell me what names or why.
Red: I don’t know the names, and without them, I don’t know the why.
[ Agnes walks in ]
Agnes: Are you done talking yet?
Cooper: We are. Which means it’s time for me to get to the office and for you two to have fun. Mooms is upstairs. If you or Pinky get hungry, she can make you something.
[ Cooper kisses Agnes on the forehead and leaves ]

 
Red: [ Chuckles ] Oh, now. What’s that? I’ll play anything but gin again. At least until I read up on it a little. You’re too good, and I was hopeless.
Agnes: It’s not gin. It’s a memory game. Matching U.S. states and their capitals.
Red: [ Chuckles ] Oh, my. Okay. Let’s do it. I’m ready. Although, I don’t think I’ll fare any better than I did in gin.
Agnes: Well, at least this time, you have an excuse.
Red: What? I’m fine. My memory is fine. Sort of. I’m older, not ancient.
Agnes: Well, I didn’t mean that. I mean you won’t know the capitals because you’re not from here. I wouldn’t know the capitals of Russia. Okay. Here’s how you play.

 
[ The Post Office. ]
Cooper: Vito DeCanio was a relic of the past. A lion in winter. Until, according to Reddington, he hired a therapist who goes by Dr Roberta Sand. He’s convinced the DeCanio family’s recent rise is her doing.
Dembe: That won’t last long. A witness is in federal custody who’s going to testify tomorrow that DeCanio himself ordered three separate hits on his rivals.
Aram: I’ve been to therapy since I was 10. I’ve never heard of a shrink who tries to help people get worse.
Dembe: 10.
Aram: I was, um, having a hard time with differential calculus.
Dembe: You learned calculus at 10?
Aram: Well, I learned it at 8. I taught it at 10. Or, uh, tried to. My parents just couldn’t grasp the concepts. It was an incredibly frustrating time for everyone.
Cooper: I’m not sure I believe a therapist should be held responsible for DeCanio’s upswing, but according to Reddington, DeCanio thinks she is. That makes her very valuable to us.
⋘⋙
[ Three young mobsters are sitting with Dr Roberta Sand ]
Dr Sand: Vito tells me he has a project for you. He says it requires teamwork and cooperation. But he says you’d rather piss on each other and say that it’s raining. So, any thoughts?
Mikey: [ Belches loudly, intentionally ]
⋘⋙
Aram: Do we know anything about her?
Cooper: Nothing. No photos, no prints, and a search on her alias went nowhere.
Dembe: If we have no leads, where should we start?
Cooper: Mary Parrot. Reddington says she isn’t the unfortunate victim of a bullet meant for a politician. He says that she was a preservationist who sidetracked a number of lucrative developments DeCanio stood to benefit from.
Dembe: So, he had her killed.
Cooper: Maybe. And maybe her killer was under the good doctor’s care. Find him, and maybe we find her.
[ Elevator door bangs. Agent Alina Park’s husband, Peter Simpson, steps out ]
Cooper: Park asked if he could come.
Dembe: How’re they doing?
Cooper: Not great. She thought him seeing where she works might help.
Dembe: You want me to bring him to her?
Cooper: No, I’ll do it. We’re a little short-handed since Ressler’s taking a personal day. You two stay focused on finding Mary Parrot’s killer.

 
[ On the landing overlooking the war room, Park is lying down on a bench. Peter walks up the metal staircase ]
Park: Hey. I’m glad you’re here.
Peter: Are the episodes getting any better?
Park: If by better, you mean it feels like I’m being stabbed in the eyes with a fork instead of a knife, then sure. The quiet helps. And caffeine. Anyway, uh, it’s all passed now. Come on. Lemme give you a tour.
Peter: I don’t need a tour. [ Sighs ] You wanting me to come is enough.
Park: What I do is secret. That I do it shouldn’t be. Not from you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.
Peter: I’ve been reading medical journals, researching everything I can to find out what happened.
Park: Whether we lost the baby because of my job, the directed-energy weapon – I know you want to know the reason. I’m sorry you don’t. Man, I just keep saying sorry, don’t I?
Peter: It’s fine. I mean, if I’m being honest, you kind of have a lot to apologize for. But so do I. I don’t want to believe I married someone who can hide everything, but I think I did, and that’s what I’m sorriest about – that I married someone I just don’t know – if I know.

 
[ Park joins Aram and Dembe in the war room ]
Park: Hey. Cooper updated me while you were at the crime scene. Find anything?
Aram: Okay, so, NYPD is nowhere on the shooter. Was it a passerby, someone in a vehicle, a building? They don’t know.
Dembe: So, we read the eyewitness statements and M.E. reports. From that, we got this.
[ Photos from the area around the crime scene are projected ]
Aram: Alright, the victim was here. Now, based on the entry wound, the shooter was somewhere to the east.
Dembe: NYPD canvassed the most likely building based on the assumed trajectory, which would put the shooter on this rooftop.
Aram: Only they didn’t find the shooter or any evidence of him. So, I think the shooter was here. Same angle, just farther back. He fires, the bullet goes over the rooftop of the lower building, across the street, and between the flagpoles and obstructions, and into the victim.
Park: That building isn’t further back. It’s, like, in another county. Who can make a shot like that?
Dembe: I could.
Park: I’ll pull CCTV footage from around that building at the time of the shooting, see if we can ID anyone.

 
Red: Vermont.
Agnes: Montpelier.
Red: Kentucky.
Agnes: Frankfort.
Red: [ Chuckles ] Carson City.
Agnes: Nevada.
Red: Okay, maybe I am ancient.
Agnes: [ Laughing ] Well, I told you, you have an excuse.
Red: Yes, thank goodness.
Agnes: When did you stop being Russian?
Red: [ Laughing ] That’s a funny question. How did you know I was Russian?
Agnes: My mother told me. She told me everything I would ever need to know about you.
Red: She must’ve said a lot.
Agnes: She did. But at the end of it, she said all I needed to remember was that Raymond Reddington was the most important person in her life, besides me, and she was glad that I had met you, and she wished that we could meet again.
Red: I am really glad we did.
[ Agnes reaches across the table and takes Red’s hand ]
Agnes: She said you liked to hold hands.
Red: [ Pause ] I’m starved. You want to go see if Mooms wants to eat with us?
Agnes: Okay.

 
Dr Sand: Dino, I need you to focus. We can’t do this work without you.
[ All the mobsters speak with a New Jersey accent ]
Mikey: Yeah, it’d be nice if he worked on something.
Dino DeCanio: [ Scoffs ] I’m the brains of the operation, and everybody knows it.
Johnny: [ Laughs ] Last I checked, you couldn’t tell a socket wrench from your elbow.
Dino: Yeah, maybe that’s ’cause I don’t have to. ‘Cause I’m not a drudge, like you.
Mikey: You think you’re better than us?
Dino: I know I’m better than you.
Mikey: Say that again!
Dr Sand: Gentlemen, gentlemen. I have a question for the three of you. What are you getting out of all this anger?
Mikey: He’s gonna get his nose broken. Ha.
Dr Sand: And then what? I mean, you have a big project coming up that requires teamwork. Do you think punching him in the face is gonna make that happen?
Dino: No. It’s definitely not.
Dr Sand: Exactly. Now, everyone has a path in life, and the path you’re on, well, most people would say that it’s the wrong one, but what a man can be, he must be. So, to be clear, I’m not here to tell you to stop being angry or to judge you. No. My goal is to help you stop judging yourselves and each other.

 
[ The Post Office ]
Park: This is the roof from which the sniper shot and killed Mary Parrot, and only three minutes after the murder, who walks out the building, but everyone’s favorite noir stereotype, Mr Instrument Case.
Aram: Now, we have no ID on the sniper, but on the plus side, we happen to have a sniper on the payroll.
Dembe: Shooting from that distance is extremely difficult and takes a great deal of practice.
Aram: And when he says “from that distance,” he means anywhere from 500 yards to, say, I don’t know, Kansas?
Dembe: Of the gun ranges in that area, there’s only one with lanes longer than 300 yards.
Park: And guess who’s a member in good standing.

 
[ A shooting range ] [ 💥💥 Gunshots 💥💥💥 💥 💥 ]
[ A woman, Jean, recognizes Dembe, who has come with Park ]
Jean: As I live and breathe. It is good to see you.
Dembe: Hey, Jean. This is my friend Stacey. [ Referring to Park ]
Jean: Nice to meet you. So, you gonna tell me what’s going on? About a week back, Red comes out here with this little, itty-bitty Latinx-er, acting like she’s the new you.
Dembe: And I appreciate your concern, but I’m fine. Raymond and I – we had a good run.
Jean: So, what’re you doing for an encore, then?
Dembe: I joined the FBI.
Jean: [ Laughs ]
Park: I hired him, for a job that needs a pro’s pro.
Dembe: Given what’s required, I’m told we should be asking for this man.
[ Dembe shows Jean a surveillance photo ]
Jean: Hmm. Beasley. He’s a hell of a shot.
Dembe: Any chance you have his address?

 
[ Park and Dembe arrive at the residence of Randall Beasley. They discover the yard is booby-trapped ]
[ 🚨Alarm wailing🚨 ]
Dembe: Get down!
[ Dembe: and Park duck behind an old rusted car ]
[ 💥💥💥 Gunfight 💥💥💥 ] [ Dembe puts the rearview mirror from the car on roof of the car to reflect the blinding sunlight. Beasley shoots the device, smashing it ]
Beasley: Got you.
[ Gunshot 💥] [ He hits Dembe’s shoe ] [ Dembe crawls through the car ]
⋘⋙
[ Dembe comes up behind Beasley from inside, shoeless, and puts his gun to the back of Beasley’s head ]
Dembe: Randall Beasley. You’re under arrest.

 
[ Red and Weecha quietly enter Red’s “weird little apartment,” lined with bookcases and old photos. Red snaps on a pair of vinyl gloves ]
Weecha: I don’t understand. I thought you were having such a fun time with Agnes.
[ Red goes to a bookshelf and pulls out a book. He flips through the pages until he finds the letter he had given to Dembe to give to Liz after his death ]
Weecha: What is that?
Red: A piece of the past.

[ Flashback: ]
Red: The answers are here, in a letter she wrote to you.
Liz: Why do you have a letter my mother wrote to me?
Red: For when the time was right, to let you know the truth.

[ Red slices open the envelope and takes out the letter, which he puts back in the book. He replaces the book on the shelf. He carefully places the envelope in a plastic zipper bag and seals it ]
Weecha: What are you gonna do with it?
Red: Cvetko is meeting us at the jet. I’m hoping he can tell me about its more recent history.
Weecha: Like what?
Red: I hate to think.

 
[ The Post Office ]
Park: We’ve gone through everything we found at Beasley’s house. Cache of weapons, letters from his mom who thinks he’s a PE teacher, and this.
[ Park slides an open appointment book for Aram and Dembe to see ]
Aram: 11 appointments just this month for dog grooming.
Cooper: So, he’s a dog person.
Park: That’s the thing – there’s no evidence he had one. And if that is not curious enough, each appointment is scheduled to take place at a different address. Well, intersections, actually.
Dembe: Second Avenue and 16th Street on Tuesday the 30th, then Friday the 3rd on 63rd and Central Park West.
Park: None of which correspond to a pet store or groomer.
Cooper: So, it’s a code. For what?
Aram: We don’t know the what. Just the how. Beasley would send a text requesting an appointment, then get one back with a location, and this location is just a few blocks from where Mary Parrot was killed, and the date and time is an hour before he killed her.
Cooper: This is definitely evidence of something. You need to get him to tell us what.
[ Aram, Dembe and Park leave ]
⋘⋙
[ Cooper’s cellphone rings✨]
Cooper: Hey, Lew. Now? I’m in the middle of a c– You got a ballistics report? Yeah. Tell me where and when.

 
[ An interrogation room ]
Dembe: The dog grooming – tell us about it.
Randall Beasley: I got a Lhasa Apso. Her hair knots.
Dembe: We know it’s a code.
Beasley: Then what do you need me for?
Aram: You murdered an innocent woman. And yet, here you are, as calm as can be. And we know why. Therapy. A twisted version of counseling to make you feel good about being bad.
⋘⋙
[ Dr Sand has coached the three young mobsters to sit in a circle, holding hands ]
Dr Sand: And exhale.
[ Men exhale ]
Dr Sand: Now, how does that feel?
Mikey: Honestly? Better. Eh, kind of like our hearts started beating at the same time.
⋘⋙
Aram: That’s what these are, right? Therapy appointments?
Beasley: I’m not talking about that.
Aram: 11 appointments in three weeks. That is almost one every other day. Why so many? Because that’s how long it took Dr Sand to convince you it was okay to kill. That’s what she did, isn’t it? Make you feel okay about murder.
⋘⋙
Dr Sand: Dino? Eh, there’s no wrong answers, as long as you’re honest about how you feel.
Dino: I, uh – I feel alright. Look, I’m not saying I’m happy about Johnny threatening me, but I, uh – I get it. We need to swallow our pride for the good of the team.
Dr Sand: Johnny?
Johnny: What? You want me to be honest?
Dr Sand: Absolutely. This doesn’t work unless you are.
Johnny: Okay, then. Uh, honestly? I feel like I’m on an episode of “Dr Phil.”
Dino: Hey.
⋘⋙
Aram: [ To Beasley ] As bad as we know you are, we think Dr Sand is worse.
Dembe: Help us, and we’ll help you.
Aram: The codes are appointments. Show us how it works.
Dembe: I understand how it feels to have guilt about things you’ve done in the past. You know what you did was wrong. Show us you know.

 
[ Dr Sand sits with Vito DeCanio, head of the DeCanio Crime Syndicate, on a bench alongside a river. A young man sits on a neighboring bench, glancing around ]
Dr Sand: Johnny’s not ready.
Vito DeCanio: [ New Jersey accent ] It’s a three-man job.
Dr Sand: One that you said requires complete trust. Johnny doesn’t have it. Maybe if I had more time with him–
DeCanio: No, that’s not an option.
Dr Sand: Then my advice is you find someone else.
DeCanio: Well, what about Dante?
Dr Sand: You know the answer to that.
DeCanio: Well, you said we needed somebody–
Dr Sand: I did. But not him.
DeCanio: It’s an important job.
Dr Sand: We have an understanding.
DeCanio: If it goes well, he can write his own ticket.
[ Cellphone vibrates ]
DeCanio: Look, you’re the best at what you do, which is making people feel good about themselves. At what I do, I’m the best. And making people feel good has nothing to do with it.
Dr Sand: Are you threatening me? After everything that I’ve done for you?
DeCanio: Ah, first of all, we both know who you do it for, and it sure ain’t me. And secondly, yeah, I’m threatening you. That’s what I do. Dante’s in. You got a problem with that, see a shrink.

 
[ At the location of Beasley’s next dog-grooming appointment, Park and Aram wait in a surveillance van. Dembe sits on a bench nearby ]
[ A van marked “Jazz Paws – Mobile Pet Groomers” pulls over ]
Park: Is that – Wait, it’s really dog-grooming appointments?
Aram: I don’t know if the president’s dog’s in there getting a trim or what, but Jazz Paws is tricked out with armored panels and a GPS jammer.
Park: Let’s move.
[ Aram and Park jump out of the surveillance van. Along with Dembe and several undercover agents, they surround the pet van, guns drawn ]
[ Pounding on door ]
Park: FBI! Exit the vehicle now!
[ The back door opens and Dr Roberta Sands steps out. Dembe and other agents enter the van, which is decorated inside as Dr Sands’ therapy office ]

 
[ Cooper’s and Lew Sloan’s cars are parked alongside each other in the parking garage. Cooper is looking over the ballistics report prepared for Detective Heber ]
Cooper: I don’t understand. This says my gun wasn’t the murder weapon.
Lew: Imagine that.
Cooper: I can’t, because it was. We- We- We ran the ballistics. We know the truth.
Lew: Yeah, but they don’t, and they never will.
Cooper: Lew. What did you do?
Lew: Nothing that you wouldn’t do if I asked you.
Cooper: But I didn’t ask.
Lew: I performed a little magic on the bore. That’s all you need to know, and it’s more than Heber ever will.
Cooper: It’s one lie built on another. First I rope in Charlene, now you.
Lew: You didn’t rope me in, alright? I did it because I know you, and I know you didn’t kill Doug Koster.
Cooper: You don’t know that. I don’t know that. I hated that man because of what he did to my marriage. At my worst, who knows what I could have done?
Lew: What I know is that innocent people get convicted all the time. And I wasn’t about to let that happen to you. You feel guilty, like you’re getting away with murder, but you’re not, because you’re not a murderer.
Cooper: Someone killed Koster.
Lew: Yeah, that’s right. And then they framed you, and now that you’re in the clear, it’s time to find out who did that and why.
Cooper: It doesn’t feel like I’m in the clear.
Lew: Yeah. I guess that’s why you haven’t thanked me.

 
[ An interrogation room ]
Aram: How’d it work? You roll up in a van, dig up some deep-seated trauma, figure out how to exploit it, then what? Send you client off to commit the perfect crime?
Dr Sand: Anything I did or didn’t say to my clients is privileged.
Park: Not if you didn’t report a crime you knew they were going to commit or made them comfortable committing it.
Dr Sand: I help my clients be comfortable in their own skin.
Park: Comfortable? Committing crimes? Giving in to their darkest impulses?
Dr Sand: Everyone has dark impulses, Agent Park. Even you.
Park: Yeah, ones that, like any normal person, I hate about myself and that I’d hope a therapist would cure me of.
Dr Sand: Cure you? Of what? Uh, being who you are? Why would you possibly want anyone to cure you of that?

 
[ Inside Red’s plane ]
Red: [ To Weecha ] Once I was dead and gone, I wanted Elizabeth to know everything. So, I gave Dembe the letter with very specific instructions.

[ Flashback: ]
Red: Only when I’m gone.
[ Red hands the letter for Liz to Dembe ]
Red: Give it to Elizabeth, but only when I’m gone.

Red: Later that night, Elizabeth was shot and killed.
Weecha: Okay. But what does that have to do with whatever happened with Agnes?
Red: I think she said her mother told her about those things. Elizabeth would never have told her unless she’d read the letter.
[ Vlad Cvetko walks in ]
Vlad Cvetko: Am I interrupting?
Red: Ah! Vlad, please, come sit. Ah, good to see you again.
Cvetko: Ah, great to see you.
Red: Uh, Weecha, you’re in the presence of greatness. Vlad’s one of the world’s foremost forensic analysts.
Weecha: I have a, uh, finger in a drawer at home. Would you be able to tell me who it belongs to?
Cvetko: Would be easier if you had a-a head in a box.
[ Red and Cvetko laugh ]
Weecha: If you can identify the finger, I will.
Cvetko: Eh, is that why you wanted to see me?
Red: No, although I’m always intrigued by streams crossing. So, we’ll get you the finger, but first, this envelope. I need you to tell me if Elizabeth Keen’s fingerprints are on it.
Cvetko: That’s it? That’s all you need? Besides the finger?
Red: Yes. I’ve had a copy of her prints sent to you.
Cvetko: Consider it done. Out of curiosity, what answer you are hoping for?
Red: That her prints aren’t there. That I’m – imagining things.

 
[ Dembe catches up to Cooper who is walking down a corridor at the Post Office ]
Dembe: Sir, we ran her prints. Dr Sand. Her name is Eleanor Russo. She used to be in private practice, kept up with her licensing, until she fell off the grid five years ago.
Cooper: Any idea why?
Dembe: A theory, yeah.
[ Dembe hands Cooper a photo of Dr Sand (Eleanor Russo) talking to the young man who had been seated nearby when she talked to Vito DeCanio ]
Dembe: Him.
Cooper: DeCanio’s body man?
Dembe: Who also happens to be her son.
Cooper: What did Sand say about it?
Dembe: She hasn’t yet. We’re about to find out now.

 
[ Dembe enters the interrogation room where Dr Sand sits alone ] [ Door closes ]
Dr Sand: I already told the other two I won’t violate doctor-patient privilege.
Dembe: I don’t want to talk about your patients. To them, you’re Dr Sand. It’s Eleanor Russo I’m interested in. Eleanor and her son, Dante. UCLA medical school, a thriving practice in Philadelphia, then five years ago, you vanish. People like you don’t vanish. Not without a good reason. Is Dante your reason?
Dr Sand: I vanished because my marriage fell apart. Because we fought over Dante, and the more we fought, the worse he got. Cutting school, hanging out with bad people who introduced him to worse people.
Dembe: Vito DeCanio.
Dr Sand: Yeah, eventually. But not until after he’d committed a number of crimes. [ Sighs ] Enough to get him arrested. And that’s when Vito stepped in to help keep him out of prison.
Dembe: If you agreed to help him.
Dr Sand: He said if I’d counsel his people, he’d keep Dante out of harm’s way. Today, he broke that deal. If I help you, will you protect him?
Dembe: I promise to try to protect you both, but I’m unable to do that unless you tell me where Dante is.

 
[ Dino DeCanio walks down a narrow alley behind an tesidential building with Mikey and Dante ]
Dino: We demo and snatch, [ To Dante ] you drive. It’s teamwork, just like the doctor ordered.
Dante: As in Dr Sand?
Dino: Yeah, you seeing her, too?
Dante: Me? No. I tried therapy. Had issues with my mom. It didn’t take.
Dino: Yeah, well, like Dr Sand says, growth only happens if you’re open to it. Maybe you weren’t open.
Dante: Yeah. Maybe. Hey, what time does the construction crew arrive?
Dino: Whenever Vito tells them. That he controls. Wildcard was the preservationist. She wanted to shut us down. Would’ve made this whole snatch-and-grab impossible.
⋘⋙
[ Two members of a Witness Protection (WITSEC) team deal play poker while a white-haired man, Herman Levy, watches ]
WITSEC Agent: [ Gleefully ] There you go.
Herman Levy: You do know this is a protection detail, not a rehearsal for the World Series of Poker.
⋘⋙
Dante: So, this Herman guy – what’s he testifying about?
Dino: He’s not gonna be testifying. He’s gonna be crying for his own mama whenever Vito gets ahold of him. Now, get back to the car.

 
[ Red’s plane ]
Weecha: Couldn’t it be a good thing? That Liz knew the truth before she died?
Red: No.
Weecha: Why not? Because she knew, she was able to tell Agnes how important you were to her. And her to you. It’s why she encouraged your relationship with Agnes.
Red: What if it’s also a part of why she died?

[ Flashback: ]
[ Liz points her gun at Red. The plan is for her to shoot him in order to take over his criminal empire and continue The Blacklist. (Red apparently has a terminal illness) ]
Liz: [ Pause ] I can’t do it.
Red: That’s alright.
Liz: [ Pause ] I don’t want to.

Red: Her hesitation. The time it took. If she hadn’t hesitated, she might’ve survived.

 
[ The Post Office ]
Dembe: Eleanor – Dr Sand – she says DeCanio has a crew working a job at a property he owns downtown.
Cooper: Working on what? We’ve been nibbling at the edges of the DeCanios’ syndicate for years. If she wants a deal, her intel’s gonna have to lead us higher up the food chain.
Dembe: All she knows is that it’s connected to Mary Parrot’s death, it involves her son, and that the old man said it’s urgent.
Park: Companies associated with the DeCanios are mid-construction on two sites we know of downtown – a luxury hotel and a residential tower.
Cooper: What’s Parrot’s connection? Was there a preservationist objection?
Aram: Not to those sites. Her big push downtown was to landmark Memorial Baptist Church. Now, she’d held up developers who wanted to demolish it, but now that she’s dead, the sale can go through, and the building can be torn down. And DeCanio’s a silent partner.
Cooper: That’s what this is about? Killing a preservationist to demolish a church? We’re missing something. What?
Aram: Well, sir, there is something else. When cross-referencing the address, the building next door pinged our database.
Park: I recognize it. This church. But I can’t remember why. What’s the address?
Aram: 30 West Oak Street.
Park: Oh, my God. Herman Levy, the informant, the one testifying against DeCanio – WITSEC is holding him at a safehouse at 32 West Oak.
Dembe: They’re trying to get to him before he testifies.
Cooper: Not if we can get to him first. Go. I’ll alert the Marshals – and Main Justice about a deal for Sand. She didn’t get us up the food chain. She got us to the top of it. Let’s hope we’re not too late.

 
[ Dante Russo waits nervously in the getaway car while Dino and Mikey break a hole in the back of the residential complex and climb inside ] [ Bricks clattering ] [ Grunts ]
Dino: Alright. Third floor. Let’s move.
Mikey: Yeah.
[ They run up the service stairs to the third floor ]
⋘⋙
[ The poker game continues ]
[ Cellphone rings✨]
[ Dino and Mikey interrupt and 💥💥 shoot both WITSEC officers 💥💥 ]
[ Herman Levy raises his hands ]
Dino: Grab the rat.
[ The three head down the stairs. They encounter an FBI Agent who Mikey shoots 💥. Mikey, Herman Levy and Dino descend the stairs past the crumpled agent ]
[ At the bottom on the steps, the FBI has arrived in force ]
— FBI!
[ Gunfire exchange 💥💥 💥💥 ]
— FBI! Drop your weapons!
[ The mobsters are down ] [ Groans ]
[ Dembe and Park help Herman Levy to his feet ]
Herman Levy: This is all very confidence-inspiring.
[ Aram approaches the get-away car, pointing his gun at Dante who already has his hands raised ]
Aram: Dante Russo? [ Over comms ] I have the son.

 
[ Cooper is in his office talking to Red who is in his plane ]
Cooper: Dr Sand is in custody. She and her son.
Red: And DeCanio?
Cooper: He’s been arrested. The doctor’s son worked for him as well. Both of them are set to be transferred to Main Justice to sign immunity agreements in exchange for everything they know about DeCanio.
Red: Have you spoken with Agnes yet? Did she say whether she had a good time or not?
Cooper: She said that you, and I quote, “suck at state capitals,” which I took to mean a good time was had by all.
Red: Yes.
Cooper: You’re doing well with her. I’m impressed. And hopeful that, like me, you’re finding that being around her helps, in every way.
Red: What about Sand? What do you think? You know her story. Now you’ve questioned her. Do you think DeCanio was right to hire her?
Cooper: I do. She’s smart and thoughtful. I’m not surprised with the results she got.

 
[ Dr Sand and her son Dante are in the transport van ]
Dante: We’re gonna testify against Vito? After he sent me to kidnap a witness in federal custody, we’re signing up to federal witnesses?
Dr Sand: We both know it’s the only way out.
Dante: Well, what we know is there’s no way out.
Dr Sand: He’s using you now. For dangerous jobs. I can’t protect you anymore.
Dante: You think the feds can?
[⚡️Tires screech⚡️]
Dr Sand: Hey.
Man’s voice: [ Muffled ]
Dr Sand: What the hell is that? Hey. Hello? What is it? What’s going on?
Dante: [ Panicky ] It’s him.
Dr Sand: Hey! Hello?
Dante: Mom.
Man’s voice #2: [ Muffled ] Get out of the van.
Dante: It’s him.
[ They clasp hands ]
— On your feet.
[ Banging ] [ Van doors open ]
Red: Dr Sand, I presume.
Dr Sand: You’re Raymond Reddington.
Dante: Did DeCanio send you?
Red: Dear Vito’s been detained. I’m here of my own volition with a proposal. Would you care to hear it?

 
[ The Post Office ]
[ Elevator doors⚡️clank open⚡️] [ Vito DeCanio is led in ]
Cooper: Vito DeCanio. Welcome to federal custody.
DeCanio: Been there twice, for a total of six hours.
Aram: [ Quietly ] Third time’s the charm.
[ Park walks up to DeCanio ]
Park: Where are they? You heard me. Where the hell are they?!
Cooper: Agent Park–
Park: Where did you take them?!
Aram: Alina, hey–
Park: He hit the convoy. With Dr Sand. She and her son – they’re gone.
DeCanio: I got no idea what you’re talking about.
Park: [ Urgently ] If you did anything to her– !
Cooper: [ Angrily, to Park: ] Okay. Stop. [ To DeCanio ] If you did anything, we’re gonna find out.
DeCanio: I didn’t do anything. But I’m in debt to the person who did.
Cooper: Take him to interrogation.

 
[ Red’s airplane ]
Dr Sand: Your personal therapist?
Red: Yes, for which you’ll be well paid and safe from harm.
Dr Sand: You said DeCanio’s been arrested.
Red: He has, but he has friends in high places. Just not as high as me.
Dr Sand: I helped him to protect my son. Why should I help you?
Red: I need your help. And what I do, my professional life – you will not be a part of that.
Dr Sand: Helping you personally helps you professionally. That’s how this process works.
Red: Just give me three months. On the island of your choice. At the end of which, you’re free to go. I hope you won’t, but it’ll be up to you. Consider it a palate cleanser. A transition from a distasteful past to a delightfully piquant future.
Dr Sand: Why me?
Red: The details of my story are not for the faint of heart. Based on your history, I believe you can stomach pretty much anything.
Dr Sand: I’m not a miracle worker.
Red: No need. I already have one of those. Let’s talk islands.

 
[ Aram finds Park on the landing above the war room ]
Aram: Headache?
Park: No. Embarrassment.
Aram: For what? What, losing it on DeCanio?
Park: [ Scoffs ]
Aram: Come on, I understand. This job – This job can get under your skin. It’s hard, being someone who crosses lines. People judge you for it, so then you judge yourself. Dr Sand is right. We all have dark impulses. And most of the time, there is no cure for that. So, the idea – well, at least the idea I came up with after spending my grandparents’ entire inheritance on therapy – is– is to not hate yourself because you have dark impulses, but to love yourself in spite of them.
Park: How big was your inheritance?
Aram: $86,749.
Park: I’d say it was money well spent.

 
[ Red calls Cooper from his plane ]
Red: Harold, I hope you’re right about the good doctor’s efficacy.
Cooper: Sand. You took her.
Red: “Took” is a big strong, but yes, she’s agreed to work with me.
Cooper: Instead of testifying against DeCanio.
Red: There’ll be plenty of testifying against him before it gets around to her. Hopefully, by then, I’ll be a better man and she won’t be so frightened.
Red: Gotta fly, Harold.
[ Call ends🔅]
[ Weecha walks up to Red ]
Red: Cvetko?
Weecha: He just called. The prints match.
Red: Dr Sand.

 
[ Peter and Park are in bed; he is turned to her ]
Park: We should talk.
[ Bed creaking ]
Park: I told myself I wasn’t honest with you because if you found out the truth about me, about who I was, you wouldn’t like what you saw. But the truth is, I wasn’t honest because I didn’t like what I saw.
Peter: It adds up to the same thing.
Park: I couldn’t expect you to love me when I didn’t love myself. So, that’s what I’m gonna try and do. Learn to love myself. And maybe you can love me, too.

 
[ Cellphone ringing✨]
Cooper: Harold Cooper.
Distorted Voice: I texted a photo. Look at it.
Cooper: Who is this?
Distorted Voice: Look at it.
[ Cooper pulls up the photo. It shows him in his car talking to Lew in the parking garage ]
Distorted Voice: There’s audio, too, of you and your friend evidence-tampering.
Cooper: What do you want?
Distorted Voice: So much. And with what I know about you and the murder of Doug Koster, I’m confident you’re gonna give it to me.

 
[ Red talks to Dr Sand in his plane ]
Red: I found peace and tranquility and a real feeling of– quiet. Yet, I abandoned it out of this compulsion for chaos and peril. I had found light. Yet I’m compelled by the dark. It animates me, so much so that I drag others into it. Others that I care desperately about. If I’m willing to risk everything good in my life, to even defend risking it as necessary or just, when I know the result will only be– a deepening darkness.
Dr Sand: Tell me, where is this coming from right now? Why now?
Red: [ Pause ] [ Emotionally ] I recently discovered that I was betrayed by my oldest and closest friend. ⋘⋙
[ Darkly ] I’m apprehensive about the depth and breadth of my anger.

 
⬆ go to start of 9:6 Roberta Sand
⏫ go to top
 
 

Episode Songs

♫ String Quartet No. 1 (Allegro)
By Johannes Bach

♪ [ Instrumental ]

Lyrics and Credits: [ Instrumental ]
YouTube: https://youtu.be/dhZPeXZZmrk

 
⬆ go to start of 9:6 Roberta Sand
⏫ go to top
 

❌❌❌ End 9:6 Roberta Sand

🔴 Script 9:7 Between Sleep and Awake

 
Program air date: 1/6/2022 in the US
Script Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-cIK
EntertainmentWeekly Recap: https://bit.ly/3mSLbAr
 

Brief (Where we’re at): Red has discovered that Liz’s fingerprints are on the envelope of the letter he gave to Dembe with strict instructions to give it to Liz ONLY after his death. He became suspicious when Agnes mentioned that she knew he was Russian:

Agnes: When did you stop being Russian?
Red: [ Laughing ] That’s a funny question. How did you know I was Russian?
Agnes: My mother told me. She told me everything I would ever need to know about you.
Red: She must’ve said a lot.
Agnes: She did. But at the end of it, she said all I needed to remember was that Raymond Reddington was the most important person in her life, besides me, and she was glad that I had met you, and she wished that we could meet again.
Red: I am really glad we did.
[ Agnes reaches across the table and takes Red’s hand ]
Agnes: She said you liked to hold hands.

Red had told Liz that the reason he didn’t want her to read the letter before his death was “Because if you knew beforehand, you’d never agree to kill me.” But instead of shooting Red, as they had agreed (so she could take over his criminal operation and continue The Blacklist) Liz hesitated and so was shot by Vandyke, a loyalist of Neville Townsend (who Red had killed). So Red had the envelope analyzed and Liz’s prints were indeed on it. Furious with Dembe for betraying his trust, Red turned to Dr Roberta Sand PhD (Blacklister #153), with whom he was trying to negotiate for three months of therapy in exchange for shielding her and her son Dante from the revenge of Vito Decanio, head of the Decanio crime syndicate. Dr Sand had become the “secret sauce” behind the reinvigoration of Decanio’s syndicate, which she did by helping his gangsters feel comfortable with who they are. But that arrangement came to an abrupt end when Vito broke his promise to her by putting Dante in danger.

In other news, Cooper was served a warrant for his service weapon by Detective Marcus Heber of the Metro PD. Cooper already knew it was his gun that fired the shot that killed Doug Koster, his one-time neighbor who years earlier had had an affair with his wife Charlene. Cooper had awoken in his car the morning after a retirement party with no recollection of the intervening hours. Noticing that a shot had been fired from his gun, he had had his friend Lew Sloan run a ballistics test on it. He asked Charlene to lie to Heber and say he had come home that night. After Cooper told Lew that Metro PD had his gun for analysis, Lew took it upon himself to intercept and modify Cooper’s gun so it would no longer match the bullet that killed Koster. Later, Cooper received a call from someone with his voice digitally altered, threatening to blackmail him. The man sent Cooper a photo showing him talking to Lew in the parking garage where the two would meet. The man with the digitally-altered voice said he also has audio that proves evidence tampering.

⭕ Script 9:7 Between Sleep and Awake

 
[ Flashback: ]
[ The final Scenes from Episode 8:22 Konets play while Ressler narrates his perspective ]
[ Red exits the restaurant. Liz waits in her car ]
Ressler [ Voice-over, echoing ]: That’s how she’s gonna prove to the world that she’s seizing control of his empire. She’s gonna kill him.
[ Ressler has been in the hospital ] [ Monitor beeping🔅🔅🔅]
[ He takes off his monitor and removes his I.V. ]
Ressler [ Voice-over, echoing ]: She’s making a mistake. I need to stop her!
[ Ressler steps into the hospital corridor ]
Ressler [ Voice-over, echoing ]: This won’t end well.
[ Ressler begins to run in slow motion ]
⋘⋙
[ Red walks in front of the restaurant and turns at the corner. He senses movement behind him and spins around. Liz is pointing her gun at him ]
Liz: ⋘⋙ I can’t do it.
Red: That’s all right.
Liz: ⋘⋙ I don’t want to.
Red: I understand.
[ Gunshot💥]
[ A red spot appears on Liz’s chest, just above her heart ]
⋘⋙
Ressler: No. No!
[ Ressler runs toward Liz and Red ]
⋘⋙
[ Red stares into Liz’s eyes, kisses her. She has died. Dembe comes up to Red and tugs at him ]
Dembe: Raymond, we must. I’m sorry.
[ Red lays his hat on the sidewalk and lowers Liz’s head onto it, then allows Dembe to guide him away ]
[ Ressler runs to Liz and crouches over her, feeling for a pause ]
Ressler: [ Inaudible ]
[ Fade to white ]
⋘⋙
[ Ressler tries to flag down a car ]
Ressler: No! [ Grunts ] Stop! Stop! Stop!
[ Horn honks 📣 ] [ A car slows down, stops ]
Ressler: Stop. I’m an FBI agent. I’m in pursuit of a murder suspect. Get out of your car! I need your car!
Woman: Really?
Ressler: Come on! Get out of the car!
[ The woman gets out. Ressler gets in and speeds off ] [ Tires squeal⚡️]
Woman: [ To bystander ] Call the police! He just hijacked my car!
 
[ Ressler is closing in on Red’s car ]
Dembe: We have company. It’s Ressler.
Red: [ Pause ] Lose him.
[ They speed up ]
⋘⋙
[ Horn blares (((📣 ] [ Ressler’s cell phone rings✨ It’s Cooper. Ressler answers ]
Ressler: He killed her!
Cooper: I know what you wanna do.
Ressler: [ Furiously ] He may not have pulled the trigger. But she’s dead because of him.
Cooper: Yes, probably, but killing him will only make it worse. Donald, listen to me. You’re in no condition to drive. Don’t do this.
[ Horn 📣 honks ] [ Horn blares (((📣 ] [ Ressler miscalculates and his car💥rear-ends💥another, climbing over it and flipping over onto its roof 💥‼️💥]

 
[ The Present: ]
[ Ressler’s office at the Post Office black site ]
[ Ressler toys with the small clear container of pills in his hand ]
[ Knock on door ] [ Cooper enters ]
Cooper: Hey. Hard to believe it’s been two years.
Ressler: Feels like 200. How’s Agnes holding up?
Cooper: Amazingly well. She wants the anniversary to be a celebration of Elizabeth’s life, not a mourning of her death. So that’s what we’re doing tonight. You’re welcome to join us.
Ressler: Oh, I appreciate that, but I, uh, just came in to see if I could get the morning off.
Cooper: Take the day. I insist.
Ressler: Thank you.
Cooper: We’ve been going through photo albums recently and found this. Agnes wanted you to have it.
[ Cooper hands Ressler a photo of himself and Liz ]
Cooper: I’m around if you need me.

 
[ Flashback: ]
[ Ressler is being treated in the the E.R. immediately after the car crash. He has a V-shaped gash deep into his shoulder ]
[ Monitor beeping 🔅🔅🔅 ] [ Indistinct chatter ]
E.R. Nurse: Shortness of breath. Decreased breath sounds. Tracheal deviation. I think it’s a tension pneumothorax. And it looks like the area’s already been damaged.
E.R. Doctor: We need to do a needle decompression.
[ Monitors beeping 🔅🔅🔅 ] [ A syringe is stuck into the wound ] [ Pop 💢 ]
Ressler: [ Exhales slowly ] [ Beeping echoing 🔅🔅🔅 ]
E.R. Nurse: BP is 80 and dropping. Heart rate is 120. Oxygen saturation is low.
[ Ressler drifts in and out of consciousness ] [ Chain rattles ~ Ressler is cuffed to the bed ]
Trauma Surgeon: Put him on a non-rebreather. His lung is putting pressure on his heart. He needs a chest tube now! Let’s go, people!
⋘⋙
[ Outside the procedure room, Cooper argues with two officers ]
Cooper: I understand. I know the driver of the car he hit is in surgery and you need to talk to him. But he’s my agent. He’s hurt. And I don’t appreciate you going in there and cuffing him like he’s a common criminal.

 
[ Later. Ressler is in a regular hospital room ]
Cooper: You’re surprisingly popular.
Ressler: How’s the woman I hit?
Cooper: Better. Healing. In time she should be fine.
Ressler: “Should be.” And this?
[ Ressler holds up his cuffed hand which is chained to the bed ]
Ressler: Am I free, or is this a stay of execution?
Cooper: That depends on the outcome of the Bureau’s disciplinary committee hearing. They’re holding it as soon as you get out. What they decide will go a long way in determining whether the D.A. files charges or not.
Ressler: Do they know I was in pursuit?
Cooper: They do. And that you were DUI.
Ressler: Reddington. Where is he?
Cooper: Gone. Disappeared without a trace. His lines are dead. All major law-enforcement agencies have been alerted, and nothing’s come back. It’s only a matter of time before his immunity agreement is revoked and the task force disbanded.
Ressler: Good. Then we can start hunting him again.
Cooper: Elizabeth had a will. She designated me and Charlene as Agnes’ legal guardians.
[ Ressler looks startled ]
Cooper: I think she’d want us to look forward, not back. I’m gonna try to do that. My hope is you can, too.

 
[ Ressler is sitting up in a wheelchair next to his hospital bed ]
Trauma Surgeon: I’ve put in your discharge papers. Your job now is to rest and do PT. I’ll see you in my office in a week. In the meantime, I want to talk with you about pain management.
Ressler: Oh, I’m good.
Surgeon: I know from your chart that you had a dependency issue in the past.
Ressler: I was an addict, yes. But, uh, I don’t plan on being one again.
Surgeon: And we’ll do whatever we can to help you. But you’re going to be in pain for a while.
Ressler: I’m fine.
Surgeon: Taking what I’m offering, the pills and the advice, is better than the alternative, which is to wait until in your suffering you find yourself on the street looking to buy whatever you can.
[ Pills rattling ]
Ressler: You don’t wanna give me those.
Surgeon: No, I don’t. But I can’t let you walk out of here without them. Do you have someone who can help you manage this?
Ressler: [ Wryly ] Sure. Tons of people.
Surgeon: I’m prescribing oxycodone.

 
[ Cooper is on the phone talking to Ressler who sitting on an outdoor bench ]
Cooper: I just got off the phone with Rebecca Hagens, head of the FBI disciplinary committee. She’s been sitting at your hearing for a half-hour. She says you haven’t shown up. I encouraged her to give you the benefit of the doubt after everything you’ve done for your country and allow for a little more time, but I can only do so much. Where are you?
Ressler: I’m looking forward, not back.
Cooper: Five minutes away? Ten?
Ressler: You said this is what Keen would want.
Cooper: What she’d want is for you to look forward to clearing your name. Which you can still do if you can get there soon enough.
Ressler: I’m not going.
Cooper: Donald. They’ll take your badge.
Ressler: They can have it. I left it at my apartment, along with my service weapon.
Cooper: So that’s it? You’re done?
Ressler: Yeah, I am. Look, if I stay, I’ll hunt for him. I’ll become obsessed with him and her.
Cooper: You’ve worked too hard to let it end this way.
Ressler: Yeah, I have.
Cooper: Donald, we can help you get through this. We can help each other. We’re all struggling. We need to be here for each other.
Ressler: I know. I’m sorry. [ Phone beeps🔅]
[ Ressler opens the prescription bottle and pops a pill ]
[ A bus approaches ] [ Brakes squealing⚡️] [ Brakes hiss ] [ Door opens ]
Bus driver: Hey, buddy. You gettin’ on? I don’t got all day.
[ Ressler gets on the bus ]

 
[ The Present: ]
[ Electronic bell chimes✨] [ Ressler walks into a barber shop ]
Barber: Hi, there. Take a seat.
[ Ressler sits down in the barber chair ]
Barber: So what are we doin’ today? A trim? Clean it up?
Ressler: Take it off.
Barber: You sure? Looks like you’ve been growing it a while. It’s a real statement if you ask me.
Ressler: Trust me. It’s time.

 
[ Flashback: ]
[ Ressler wakes up on the bus ] [ A highway sign says “Liberty Falls PA” ]
⋘⋙
[ Ressler enters the office of a rundown motel. A woman (Lauren) is behind the desk. Her eight year old son, Theodore, sits in the sitting area reading a book ]
Ressler: Hey.
Lauren: Welcome to Liberty Falls.
Ressler: Yeah, thanks. It seems like a nice little town.
Lauren: Well, it’s definitely – little. Room for tonight?
Ressler: That should work. Yeah.
Theodore: Mom! The craziest thing just happened!
Lauren: Honey. I’m helping someone–
Theodore: Captain Hook just captured Wendy and the other Lost Boys! And he took them to the pirate ship. But Peter Pan’s asleep, so he doesn’t know! And they’re gonna poison–
Lauren: Theodore! I said not now.
Theodore: You’re gonna wanna hear this.
Lauren: I know. And I will. In a minute. Okay?
Theodore: [ Sighs ] Geez. Fine.
Lauren: I’m sorry. He has a very active imagination.
Ressler: It’s all right.
Lauren: He sometimes does his homework out here, but he’s usually quiet as a mouse.
Ressler: It’s really okay. Uh, about that room – Can I pay?
Lauren: Yeah, sure. Uh, that’ll be $45.
Ressler: All right. Ah.
Lauren: Room 5. Best room in the place. It even has a pool view if you’re looking out the bathroom window–
Ressler: Ah. I’d really like to get to my room. Thank you.
Lauren: Right. Of course. [ Sighs ]
[ Door opens, bell jingles✨]

 
[ Ressler gets to his motel room ] [ Door closes ]
[ Ressler closes the drapes. He uses a glasses to smash two pills and forms two lines of powder ] ⋘⋙ [ Sniffles ]
[ He goes to sleep on the bed ] [ Groans softly ]
⋘⋙
[ Ressler wakes up, drinks some water and puts eye drops in his eyes. He goes out ]

 
[ A bar ] [ Ressler sits on a barstool ]
[ Aleyce Simmonds’ ♪ “Only On My Terms” plays ]
[ A female bartender, Vivian, pours Ressler a drink ]
Vivian: Whiskey on ice. Hold the ice.
Ressler: Thanks. Can I open a tab?
Vivian: Why not? I’m easy.
Ressler: I don’t think you’re allowed to say that anymore.
Vivian: Maybe not where you come from, but around here, people pride themselves on being behind the times.
Ressler: This sounds like my kind of a place.
Vivian: Believe me, this ain’t nobody’s kind of place. Where are you from?
Ressler: Hmm. Where the grass is greener. Trust me, it’s brown.
Vivian: Soon as I can afford to, I’m heading to L.A. Gonna be a makeup artist. I got my own YouTube channel. You should check it out. Wow. That was fast. Another one?
[ Ressler notices she has needle track marks on her arm ]
Ressler: You know where I can get something a little, uh, stronger?
Vivian: I-I try and stay away from that kind of stuff.
[ She looks at a guy, Max, sitting at a table. Ressler takes the hint ]
Ressler: I got it. I’ll take another one.

♪ But if I do, it’s gonna be on my terms ♪
♪ Yeah, if I do ♪

Vivian: You’re $75 all-in.
[ Ressler puts down a $100 bill ]
Ressler: [ Chuckles ] Well, uh, keep the change.
Vivian: Thanks.

 
[ Ominous music plays ] [ A dealer (Max) walks up behind Ressler at the bar ]
Max: Hey, there. Vivian tells me you’re looking for a hookup.
Ressler: Well, Vivian’s a very helpful lady.
Max: Meet me in the back room. Five minutes.
⋘⋙
[ In the back room ]
Max: So – What are you after?
Ressler: Oh. Oxy, Norco. I’m an equal-opportunity offender.
Max: Isn’t that a coincidence? So are we.
Ressler: “We”?
[ Two other men appear behind Ressler ]
Ressler: Look, come on. I’m not looking for any trouble.
Max: It’s a little late for that.
[ The men⚡️attack Ressler⚡️, who is too drugged and drunk to put up too much of a fight ]
Max: [ Laughs ] You’re making this too easy, man!
[ Grunting ] [⚡️Kicks landing⚡️]
Vivian: Hey. He’s got an iPhone, too.
Max: Take everything.
[ The thugs and Vivian leave Ressler lying on the floor ]
Ressler: [ Groans, coughs ]

 
[ The Present: ]
[ The Barber has finished. Ressler’s beard is gone, his hair once again in a crew cut, not a hair out of place ]
Barber: You sure shine up like a new penny. Where you off to? Somewhere special?
Ressler: Something like that.
[ Ressler takes in his reflection in the mirror ]
Barber: You all right, son? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.
Ressler: Not a ghost. Just – Someone I used to know.

 
[ Flashback: ]
[ Ressler has somehow made it back to the motel. He is passed out in front of the door to his room, where Theodore finds him ]
Theodore: Are you okay, mister?
[ Theodore pokes Ressler with his book ]
Ressler: [ Gasps ] Oh, my God. What the hell are you doing, kid?
Theodore: Um, well, I didn’t want to touch a dead person with my hand.
Ressler: Well, I’m not dead, so–
Theodore: Why are you sleeping in the hallway?
Ressler: [ Groans ]
Theodore: Hey. You know your face is bleeding? My mom has a first-aid kit in the office.
[ Ressler sits up ]
Ressler: [ Groans ] Oh, you got to be kidding me.
Theodore: What?
Ressler: They robbed me.
Theodore: Who? Burglars? Pirates? That’s so cool! You should call the cops, though. They can help.
[ Ressler manages to stand up ]
Ressler: [ Groans ] Trust me, wherever the pirates took my stuff, it’s not coming back.
Theodore: So it was pirates! You know, I’m reading this book Peter Pan and–
Ressler: I really gotta go, bud.
Theodore: Are you sure you’re okay? I really think my mom can help you.
Ressler: [ Losing patience ] Look, I don’t need your mom or a first-aid kit or a phone.
Theodore: Look, I just–
Ressler: [ Angrily ] I need to be alone. Understand? [ Shouting ] I said get outta here!
[ Theodore runs away ]

 
[ Ressler is at the ice machine outdoors. He has filled a plastic bag with ice ] [ Ice rattling ]
[ Lauren storms over ]
Lauren: What the hell do you think you’re doing?
[ Ressler turns around, holding the bag of ice to his face ]
Ressler: Um– getting ice.
Lauren: You know what I’m talking about. My kid said he found you passed out in the hallway.
Ressler: Well, since you’re here, I, uh– I actually lost my key.
⋘⋙
[ Ressler enters his room, with Lauren following angrily behind ]
Ressler: Hey. I wasn’t really planning on entertaining, but–
Lauren: Are you listening to anything that I’m saying? What you did out there was not okay. I don’t want my son seeing stuff like that.
Ressler: Look. No offense, lady, but this place isn’t exactly the Ritz. You know, I’m sure he’s seen plenty of, uh, unsavory things.
Lauren: At least most people keep to themselves. What happened to you, anyway? You’re a mess.
Ressler: Look. I paid for my room. I’ll keep to myself. Are we done here?
Lauren: Actually, you owe me for tonight.
Ressler: I’m not sure if your son told you, but, uh, I got robbed. And I’d love to pay you, but at the moment, I’ve got nothing.
Lauren: I’m sorry. Really. But I can’t let you stay if you can’t pay.
Ressler: Okay. I get it. All right. I’ll be out in half an hour.
Lauren: [ Sighs ] Look. Willy down at Liberty Auto has been looking for someone to help out around the garage.
Ressler: Garage. As in, like, a mechanic?
Lauren: More like a janitor. Unless that’s beneath you.
Ressler: At this point, nothing’s beneath me.
Lauren: Then I suggest you go see him.
Ressler: Okay. Great. Thanks. Um– But do you know a doctor I could see?
Lauren: [ Sighs ]

 
[ The Present: ]
[ A florist shop ]
[ Door opens, bell jingles✨] [ Door closes ]
Belinda: Shopping for someone special?
Ressler: I am.
Belinda: I’d love to help. We have a beautiful selection of roses that just came in. Top of the line.
Ressler: I’m actually looking for carnations.
Belinda: Oh. Honey. I think we can do better. If you ask me, carnations are the sad flower of weddings past.
Ressler: Well, sad or not, they’re her favorite. She always said that people underestimate their beauty.
Belinda: Okay. Understood. Did you have a color in mind? The pink and the red are both so lovely.
Ressler: She likes the purple.
Belinda: Ah! Is she impulsive? Unpredictable?
Ressler: If it’s all the same to you, I’m in a bit of a hurry.
Belinda: Of course. This’ll just be a minute.
[ She goes to the refrigeration unit where the cut flowers are kept ]
Ressler: She’s impulsive and unpredictable. I’m– I’m the opposite. I’ve been thinking about what I’m about to do for two years. What am I gonna wear, what should I say. Uh, didn’t mean to be short with you. I’m just a little nervous.
Belinda: Well, it sounds like she is about the luckiest woman alive. To have someone give so much thought and attention to a moment like this. You– You really see her. And if she has no more sense than a titmouse, she’s gonna say yes.
Ressler: Oh, this isn’t– I’m not gonna, uh–
Belinda: Is she expecting it? I hope not. A proposal’s so much better when it’s a surprise.
Ressler: Well, trust me. After everything that’s happened in the past two years, me just showing up is gonna be a huge surprise.

 
[ Flashback: ]
[ Ressler sees an doctor about the injuries the drug punks inflicted ]
Dr Sutton: Well, looks like we’re dealing with a couple of broken ribs and a lacerated kidney.
Ressler: Folks in this town sure know how to roll out the red carpet. Then beat you over the head with it.
Dr Sutton: [ Chuckles ] On a scale of 1 to 10, how much pain are you in?
Ressler: I may look like that green smiley face, but I feel like the red devil bawling his eyes out. [ Chuckles ] A while back, I got into a car accident. Doc offered to prescribe me oxycodone, but I turned him down. I didn’t wanna risk getting hooked. So I gutted out the pain on Tylenol and rest. Nearly killed me. I’m not sure I could do that again.
Dr Sutton: I don’t think you should. But oxycodone is a powerful narcotic. You have to be very careful not to overuse or abuse it. But you seem to be, uh, more concerned about that than most, so I’m comfortable writing you a prescription for it. Janie will give you four pills to tide you over till you can get to a pharmacy.
Ressler: I appreciate that.
⋘⋙
[ Back in his room, Ressler crushes a pill and makes a line ]
Ressler: [ Sniffles ] [ Exhales ]

 
[ Willy’s Auto Body Shop ] [ Willy shows Ressler around ]
Willy: So, we got the break room, storage facility, the office, and, of course, the garage floor. My wife wants me to spruce the place up a bit. And what Helen wants, Helen gets. [ Chuckles ] Which is where you come in. I need someone to do basically all the crap I don’t wanna do. Sweeping, mopping, toilets. Dusting, unloading boxes, inventory.
Ressler: That a ’72 Chevy Nova? That thing’s a beauty.
Willy: Do not bring Layla into this.
Ressler: Oh. She’s got a name, huh?
Willy: She sure does. Pain in my ass, though.
Ressler: She’s got potential. Engine doesn’t need to be rebuilt. Suspension’s solid. Everything else is surface rust.
Willy: You know cars?
Ressler: I didn’t have much of a choice. I grew up watching my dad restore anything he could get his hands on. Spent my childhood scouring the Detroit junkyards with him.
Willy: A Detroit boy. That explains it. Would be sacrilegious not to know your stuff.
Ressler: Ah. To be honest, I wasn’t looking for a job. But I got robbed, I owe money on my room, and, well, it’s not like I got anywhere else to be. Plus, I love cars, I know how to fix them, and, well, at one time I was told I was a pretty responsible guy.
Willy: Fair enough. I’ll tell you what. You help me with Layla in addition to the other work, and I’ll pay you up front. I’ve been trying to restore her for months, and she’s just stubborn as hell. [ Laughs ] What do you say?
Ressler: Sounds like a plan.

 
[ Ressler enters the motel office ] [ Bell jingles✨] [ Lauren is behind the counter. Theodore is reading on the couch ]
[ Ressler puts some money on the counter ]
Ressler: Hey. That should cover me till Wednesday.
Lauren: So – it all worked out?
Ressler: Sure did. In fact, I even got a promotion. I’m working on the cars now. Thank you for your help. Really. If there’s something I can do to pay you back–
[ A police car drives up ]
Lauren: [ Urgently ] Theo. Get up. Theo. Now!
Theodore: What’s going on?
Lauren: It’s him! [ To Ressler ] You want to pay me back? Don’t let him find us.
[ Lauren and Theodore duck into a corner. Ressler steps behind the desk ]
[ Bell jingles ✨] [ A policeman (Shane) enters ]
Ressler: Hey. You looking for a room?
Shane: I’m looking for these two.
[ He holds out a photo of Lauren and Theodore ]
Shane: I’m from downstate. We got a tip she’s working at a motel along this stretch of highway.
Ressler: What seems to be the problem?
Shane: [ Sarcastically ] The problem is that I can’t find them.
Ressler: No. Uh, I’m sorry. What I mean is, uh, why are you looking for them? What’d they do?
Shane: What happened to your face? Put it somewhere it didn’t belong? The photo. Have you seen them?
Ressler: [ Sighs ] I can’t say that I have.
[ Shane looks around the waiting area, but not where Lauren and Theodore are hiding ]
Ressler: Hey, you need something else?
Shane: If you see them, give me a call.
[ Shane leaves ] [ Bell jingles✨] [ Lauren exhales sharply ]
Lauren: [ To Ressler ] Please. Don’t ask.
Ressler: Tell me who you are and why the police are looking for you.

 
[ Ressler’s room. Theodore reads his book while his mother talks to Ressler ]
Lauren: I really don’t want to talk about this.
Ressler: And normally I wouldn’t insist, but I lied to a police officer for you.
Lauren: I’m not a criminal if that’s what you’re worried about.
Ressler: Well, you sure acted like one. Come on. Why was he looking for you?
Lauren: He’s my husband.
Ressler: Why are you running from him?
[ Lauren shows Ressler a long scar on her arm ]
Lauren: This is from when he threw me into our glass coffee table. It shattered, and I ended up with 40 stitches. Oh, and– This was a fun one.
[ She shows Ressler a burn scar on her ankle ]
Lauren: One morning, we got into a fight because I stayed out later than expected with a girlfriend at dinner. He threw a cup of coffee at me, and it splashed all over my foot, giving me third-degree burns.
Ressler: That’s unforgivable.
Lauren: And yet – I always forgave him. He’d apologize after, bring me flowers. I always thought the next time would be different, that I could help him be better. If he’d stayed away from Theodore, I probably would’ve stayed. But once after a bad day at work he came home and wanted it quiet at dinner. Theodore was chatty, asking all about this and that. Being a normal kid. And Shane just – snapped. Backhanded him across the face. He didn’t even cry, he was so shocked. We left the next morning and never looked back.
Ressler: And you didn’t go to the police because he was the police.
Lauren: Shane’s a powerful man where we’re from. Everyone told me I couldn’t just run from my problems, but I didn’t see another way out.
Ressler: Hey. No judgment here. I’m the poster child for running away from mine. But if he’s as bad as you say he is, he’ll be back.
Lauren: I just need to figure out our next move. Gather up some cash so we can head out again.
Theodore: [ Reads something funny and giggles ]
Lauren: Theodore’s a really special kid. With such an open heart. I won’t let anyone take that from him.

 
[ Willy’s Auto Body Shop ]
[ Wrench clicking ] [ Ressler works away on the ’72 Chevy Nova ]
[ Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s ♪ “An American Dream” plays (substitute song) ]

♪ Whoo! ♪

[ Theodore shows up ]
Theodore: What a cool car! Do these work?
Ressler: Hey. Hey! Easy! [ Groans ]
Theodore: I’m sorry.
Ressler: Where’s your mom at, anyway?
Theodore: Huh?
Ressler: What are you doing here?
Theodore: I got bored, so I rode my bike.
Ressler: Then you need to ride right back.
Theodore: I can’t. My tire broke.
Ressler: Well, then we’re gonna have to call your mom and have her come and get you.
Theodore: Come on. I won’t bother you.
[ A vintage transistor radio plays ]

♪ Yeah, and I’ve worked real hard since I was 17 ♪

Ressler: Don’t touch anything.

♪ And this is where the good times start ♪

[ Ressler walks away to call Lauren ]
Ressler: [ On phone ] Yeah.
[ Theodore immediately picks up the radio ]

♪ Living the American, living the American ♪

Ressler: [ On phone ] What do you mean, you–

♪ Living the American dream ♪

Ressler: [ On phone ] All right. [ Beep🔅] [ To Theodore ] Well, it looks like you’re gonna be hanging out here for a while.
[ Radio channels tuning; signal is lost ]
Ressler: Hey, didn’t I tell you not to touch anything?
Theodore: I’ve always wanted one of these.
Ressler: Well, I suggest you get one of your own.
[ Ressler takes back the radio ] [ Static crackling ]
Theodore: Just so you know, I don’t need a babysitter.
Ressler: Good, ’cause your mother said you got to read or do some homework.
[ Ressler finds the radio signal again ]
Theodore: I don’t have any homework. And my book’s at home.
Ressler: And your bike tire’s busted, so you can’t ride back and get it. Great.
Theodore: I know how to use a socket wrench. Please? I’ll be your best friend.
Ressler: Fine. Whatever. ⋘⋙ We’re not friends.

♪ And we will never be apart ♪
♪ Living the American, living the– ♪

⋘⋙
[ Later, Ressler and Theodore eat at a picnic table. Ressler sets down two bottles of cola. Theodore is picking stuff off his sandwich ]
Theodore: My mom doesn’t let me drink soda.
Ressler: Come on. Live a little. I’m not even gonna ask what you’re doing.
Theodore: How do you know so much about cars?
Ressler: I used to work on them with my dad.
Theodore: You don’t anymore?
Ressler: No, no. My pops died a long time ago.
Theodore: My dad died, too.
Ressler: I thought that was your dad at the motel.
Theodore: Who? Shane? No. He’s not my dad. He’s my stepdad. My real dad had a pulmonary embolism. Whatever that means.
Ressler: I’m sorry.
Theodore: Sometimes I think I can still see him. Like– at the grocery store or the park. And for a second, I just forget. And at night, I meet him at the place between sleep and awake.
Ressler: The what?
Theodore: You know the place where you can still remember dreaming? It’s from Peter Pan!
Ressler: [ Chuckles ] You really like that book, don’t you?
Theodore: Mmm-hmm.
Ressler: I had a friend, she used to read it to her daughter all the time. She loved it.
Theodore: Probably ’cause it’s really good. Duh. Anyway, I’d meet my dad at night, and we’d go on adventures. And they’re the best adventures any two people could ever go on. We climb mountains, explore new galaxies. And it’s awesome– even if it’s in my head. Everyone says I have to move on, but I don’t know how to.
Ressler: Can’t you talk to your mom?
Theodore: It would just make her worried. She just wants me to be okay, so I pretend like I’m okay. I’m really good at pretending.
Ressler: Everyone is when they’re hurt. I mean, I certainly am. You just pretend you’re okay until one day, well, you are. It just takes time. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
Theodore: Me too.
[ Horn honks 📣 ] [ It’s Lauren ]
Ressler: Uh-oh.
Theodore: Thanks for lunch.
[ Lauren rolls down the car window ]
Lauren: [ Calls out ] You and I have some things to talk about, mister. In the car. Now.
[ Engine shuts off ]
[ Ressler carries Theodore’s bike over to the car’s trunk which Lauren opens. Ressler puts the bike inside ]
Lauren: I can give you cash.
Ressler: Oh, no. No, really. No.
Lauren: Let me.
Ressler: It’s on me.
Lauren: I’m sorry you had to watch him. I promise it won’t happen again.
Ressler: Really, it’s– Turns out babysitting’s not that bad after all.

 
[ Ressler is in the bed in his motel room sipping a glass of cola. There’s a game show on the rv ]

Game Show Host: Come on, Jokers. Joker! Joker! Whoa!
[ Cheers and applause on tv ]
Man in audience: Whoo!

[ Knock on door ] [ Ressler cracks the door open ]
Theodore: Aren’t you gonna open the door?
Ressler: [ Sighs ] I’m in the middle of something, kid. What’s up?
Theodore: I wanted to invite you to my birthday party. It’s on a Saturday. In our room. 3:00 p.m.
sharp.
[ Theodore hands Ressler an invitation he drew ]
Theodore: It’s also Peter Pan themed. You don’t have to dress up or anything.
Ressler: I really don’t think I can make it.
Theodore: There’s gonna be cake.
Ressler: I can’t.
Theodore: Well, if you change your mind–
Ressler: Look, I know you had fun at the garage, but you’re a kid and I’m an adult, and like I said, we’re not friends.
Theodore: You’re the only person I know here. I think we’re friends.
Ressler: Trust me. You don’t wanna be friends with someone like me. All right? Bad things happen to people I get close to and– I don’t want that for you. Understand?

 
[ The Present: ]
[ Ressler approaches Liz’s grave. It is alongside Tom’s ]
Ressler: Hey.
[ He lays the bouquet down in front of the headstone ]
Ressler: Uh– I, uh– [ Sobs, sniffs ] I– Oh, Jesus.
[ The headstone reads: “KEEN / ELIZABETH / 1985-2021 ]
Ressler: I’ll just take a seat here.
[ Ressler sits and leans back against the headstone ]
⋘⋙
[ Later ]
Ressler: … And Dembe’s an agent. Aram walked away from a tech fortune. [ Chuckles ] Reddington shaved his head, and his new lover’s a shaman. Park had a cancer scare because I borrowed her urine for a drug test and it came back with elevated hormone levels. But I passed and got reinstated, even though my old issue with the pain meds is back for an encore performance after I punctured this and broke that in a car crash while I was trying to [ Chuckles ] chase down and kill Reddington right after you died.
   So I’m working with him again. We all are. Because we think it’s what you’d want. FYI, he’s just as insufferable as ever, so if it’s not what you want, please, you feel free to tell me, and I’ll happily go back to being a mechanic. Don’t laugh. That’s exactly what I was doing for a while. After everything fell apart. After I fell apart. Did I mention I fell apart? Yeah. I hit rock bottom. This little town called Liberty Falls. I was – beat up and broke, angry at myself and the world. Then I got this job fixing this car.

[ Flashback: ]
[ Wrench clicking ] [ Ressler makes one last turn of the wrench on the engine. He closes the hood and steps back to admire the beautifully restored vehicle ]

Ressler: [ Chuckles ] I didn’t know it at the time, but that car wasn’t the only thing I was fixing.

[ Flashback: ]
[ Ressler goes to Willy’s office. Willy is on the phone ]
Ressler: [ Interrupting ] You got a minute?
Willy: [ To caller ] Hold on. [ To Ressler ] What’s up?
[ Ressler tosses Willy the car keys ]
Willy: I gotta call you back.
[ Willy hangs up and jumps out of his chair, following Ressler ]
Willy: [ Laughing ]
⋘⋙
[ The’72 Chevy Nova speeds along a winding country highway ] [ Engine rumbling ] [ Ressler and Willy laughing ]

Ressler: I mean, when I started, it was– it was broken. Nothing about it worked. It was– It was dead to the world. But when I finished, I looked at that car, I thought – Well, I didn’t think anything. I just – I felt something. Something I hadn’t felt in a long time. I felt like I could feel – Good.

 
[ Flashback: ]
[ Lauren and Theodore’s motel room ] [ Lauren has made a Peter Pan styled 🎂 with nine candles. Cutout figures of the characters from Peter Pan hang from a string. Theodore wears a green Peter Pan cap ] [ Lauren sings to him: ]

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
♪ Happy birthday, dear Theodore ♪
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

Lauren: Make a wish.
Theodore: Do I have to? [ Sighs ]
[ He blows out the candles ]
Lauren: [ Laughs ] Well? What’d you wish for?
Theodore: You’re not supposed to tell.
Lauren: Fair enough. Should I cut you the first slice?
Theodore: Sure.
Lauren: You know, it won’t always be like this. One day, whatever you wished for – I know it’ll come true.
Theodore: [ Disappointed ] I thought he’d come.
Lauren: Oh, honey. He has a lot going on. I’m sure he really wanted to be here.
Theodore: If he really wanted to, he would have come. I wish we never moved. I have no friends. You don’t let us go anywhere. I hate it here!
[ Loud knocking on door ]
Theodore: He came!
[ Theodore over runs to the door and flings it open. But it’s not Ressler — It’s Shane ]
Shane: Teddy! Ha!
Theodore: That’s not my name!
[ Door closes ]
Shane: You don’t need to be afraid of me, son. I know your mom’s been filling your head with a bunch of garbage. [ To Lauren ] So you’d really rather live in this dump than come home? Pathetic. Even for you.
Lauren: What are you doing here⁉️
Shane: Can’t I come see my wife?
Lauren: I’m gonna call the cops.
Shane: I really wouldn’t do that.
[ Lauren tries to reach the phone, but Shane gets to it first, shoving Lauren onto the bed ] [ Receiver clatters⚡️]
Lauren: Stop‼️
Shane: Get out of here, son. This is an adult conversation. I’m not asking you again! Get out!
Lauren: It’s okay, sweetie. I’ll be okay. Go.
[ Door opens ] [ Door closes ]

 
[ Theodore runs down the hall, breathing heavily. He turns a corner and runs into Ressler ]
Ressler: Hey, bud. Happy birthday. Sorry I’m late— What’s going on?
Theodore: He found us! He’s here!
[ Both Theodore and Ressler run toward Lauren’s room ]
⋘⋙
[ Lauren runs to the door and tries to leave but Shane slams the door and grabs her by the hair, dragging her back ]
Lauren: Aah!
[ She grabs the knife from the cake and stabs Shane in the leg with it ] [ Squish ]
Shane: [ Groans ] Oh!
[ Shane takes the knife and grabs Lauren by the shoulders ]
Lauren: Let go of me‼️
[ Shane shakes her violently and shouts directly into her face ]
Shane: What the hell? You crazy bitch!
Lauren: [ Grunts ] [⚡️Screams⚡️]
Shane: Now what are you gonna do? Huh? Think you’re gonna be able to pull that again? You don’t have it in you! You’re weak! Always have been!
[ Lauren sobbing ]
[ Ressler opens the door and runs toward Shane ]
Ressler: Get away from her‼️
[ Shane pulls his gun. They fall to the floor⚡️fighting for the gun⚡️] [ Grunts ]
[ Gunshot 💥 ] [ Ressler is alive, panting heavily. Shane lies motionless ]

 
[ The Present: ]
[ Liz’s grave ]
Ressler: So that’s what I’ve been up to. I’d move every couple weeks. To stay distracted, keep from thinking about what happened, keep from thinking about you. I tried to mind my own business, but– [ Chuckles ] Yeah. You know me. That wasn’t always possible.

 
[ Flashback: ]
[ Police radio chatter ] [ Lauren sits in the back of a police ambulance, a bandage above one eye ]
Ressler: How are you doing?
Lauren: I’m okay. Shaken up.
Ressler: How’s Theodore?
Lauren: He finally fell asleep. Thank God.
[ A Liberty Falls Police Officer comes over ]
Officer: We’re waiting on the M.E.’s report, but from every indication it’s clear this was self-defense.
Ressler: I told the officer about your husband, and, uh, the story checks out.
Officer: Turns out he was pretty open about coming for you, how mad he was. Agent Ressler also told us about what he’d done to you. And with your permission, we’d like to reach out to county hospital and just verify the extent of the injuries.
Lauren: “Agent” Ressler?
Ressler: Ex-agent.
Officer: Well, ex or not, this man is a decorated FBI agent. He had a distinguished career.
Lauren: You don’t say.
Officer: You were very lucky to have him in your corner when you did. You’re gonna need to sign a release to give him the medical records. Yeah, once we get them and the M.E.’s report, we’ll have everything we need.
The Officer nods goodbye: Ma’am. Sir.
⋘⋙
Lauren: Why didn’t you tell me anything?
Ressler: It’s a long story.
Lauren: You were a decorated agent, now you work in a small-town garage. However long that story takes to tell, I’d like to hear it.
Ressler: Well, I appreciate it, but, uh, it’s not a story I can tell. Not yet, anyway.
Lauren: I understand. Whenever you’re ready.
Ressler: I’m not who you think I am.
Lauren: Maybe. But you’re more than you think you are. He was right. I was lucky to have you in my corner. But– maybe you’re lucky, too. ‘Cause I’m in yours.
Ressler: Look. I got a lot of luck. It’s just– It’s never good.
Lauren: Then maybe it’s about to change. If you’re looking for a fresh start, so am I. Is it crazy to think we could look together?
Ressler: It’s not crazy. It’s just– It’s not something I can do right now.
Lauren: Alone is hard. You helped me confront my past. Let me help you confront yours.

 
[ Knock on door ]
Theodore: Mr. Ressler? Are you in there?
[ Knock on door ]
Mr. Ressler?
[ Theodore enters Ressler’s unlocked room. He finds the transistor radio with a bow on it ~ but Ressler is gone ]

 
[ The Present: ]
Ressler: [ Talking to Liz’s headstone ] I know there are good people out there. People I could connect with. People I should connect with. But I don’t. I can’t. Not yet, anyway.

 
[ Flashback: ]
Lauren: Theodore?
Theodore: You were right. He was a bad guy.
Lauren: No. I wasn’t. You were right. You saw the good in him when I couldn’t. And he saved us.
Theodore: If he’s so good, then why’d he just walk away?
Lauren: I know it might be hard for you to understand, but he’s in a lot of pain.
Theodore: Do you think he’ll ever come back?
Lauren: Honestly? I don’t know.
Theodore: [ Sighs ]

 
[ The Present: ]
[ Robot Koch’s ♪ “Care” plays ]

♪ Carry me home ♪
♪ To where I belong ♪

[ Ressler stands and looks at both Liz’s and Tom’s headstones ]
Ressler: I’m glad you’re here with Tom. [ Looking at Tom’s headstone ] I mean, I used to hate you, no offense, but there’s no point in denying it. [ Chuckles ] Still– I’m happy you’re not alone. You know, I told Harold that I was coming tonight, and he said that Agnes wants today to be a celebration of your life, not a memory of your death. Smart kid you two made. Strong. Wise. She’s dealing in a way I still haven’t figured out yet.
⋘⋙
[ Glimpses of Agnes, happy and animated, at home with the Cooper’s, as Ressler peers through the window ]
⋘⋙
Ressler: For now, I’m stuck in the place between sleep and awake – The place where you can still remember dreaming. Maybe we can meet there sometime – Go on adventures together. Climb mountains – explore galaxies. I’d like that. [ Inhales sharply ]

♪ On the right trail ♪

[ Ressler puts his hand on Liz’s headstone ]
Ressler: [ Voice cracking ] More than you could possibly know.
[ Ressler turns and walks away ]

♪ Carry me home ♪

 
⬆ go to start of 9:7 Between Sleep and Awake
⏫ go to top
 
 

Episode Songs

♫ Only On My Terms
By Aleyce Simmonds

[Verse 1]
♪ I get scared, but I still roll the dice
You can lose your fictions by thinking ’bout it twice
I’m not good at taking orders, following advice
Sometimes I know I’m gonna crash and burn
But if I do, I’ll do it on my terms
I stand up, even when I’m gonna fall
I speak out, when I can’t find the words at all
I’ll keep giving it my best when there’s no hope at all
I get tripped up by the things I haven’t learned
If I do, I’ll do it on my terms

[Chorus]
♪ I don’t need your permission, and I don’t need your blessing
I’m doing it for me, it’s not you that I’m impressing
Oh how I live my life, is none of your concern
You can have me, but only on my terms
I don’t need your permission, and I don’t need your blessing
I’m doing it for me, it’s not you that I’m impressing
Oh how I live my life, is none of your concern
You can have me, but only on my terms

[Verse 2]
♪’Cause I care, and you might think I’m soft
But if you stick around, you’ll soon find out I’m not
When it comes to loving me you’ve only got one shot
If you get too close somebody might get burned
And if it’s me, I’ll do it on my terms

[Chorus]
♪ I don’t need your permission, and I don’t need your blessing
I’m doing it for me, it’s not you that I’m impressing
Oh how I live my life, is none of your concern
You can have me, but only on my terms
Oh how I live my life, is none of your concern
You can have me, but only on my terms
Only on my terms

Lyrics: http://bit.ly/3HO5kj9
YouTube: https://youtu.be/SPQ0nFwmGYk

♫ An American Dream (Substitute Song)
By Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

♪ I beg your pardon, mama, what did you say
My mind was drifting off on Martinique Bay
It’s not that I’m not interested, you see
Augusta, Georgia is just no place to be

♪ I think Jamaican in the moonlight
Sandy beaches, drinking rum every night
We got no money, mama, but we can go
We’ll split the difference, go to Coconut Grove

♪ Keep on talking, mama, I can hear
Your voice, it tickles down inside of my ear
I feel a tropical vacation this year
Might be the answer to this hillbilly fear

♪ I think Jamaican in the moonlight
Sandy beaches, drinking rum every night
We got no money, mama, but we can go
We’ll split the difference, go to Coconut Grove

♪ Voila, An American Dream
Well, we can travel girl, without any means
When it’s as easy as closing your eyes
And dream Jamaica is a big neon sign

♪ [Instrumental Interlude]

♪ Just keep talking, mama, I like that sound
It goes so easy with that rain falling down
I think a tropical vacation this year
Might be the answer to this hillbilly fear

♪ And voila, An American Dream
Yeah, we can travel, girl, without any means
When it’s as easy as closing your eyes
And dream Jamaica is a big neon sign

♪ Just think Jamaican in the moonlight
Sandy beaches, drinking rum every night
We got no money, mama, but we can go
Split the difference, go to Coconut Grove

[ Note: I looked for the exact song for way too long, finally settled on this one. I came to the conclusion it’s not online: and there really are really a lot of songs about the American Dream!
~ as there should be) ]

Lyrics and Credits: http://bit.ly/3f2RXzr
YouTube: https://youtu.be/vnOXHDMXbSs

♫ Care
By Robot Koch
♫ Care

♪ Carry me home
To where I belong
Carry me home

♪ To where I belong
Carry me home
On the right trail
Carry me home
On the right trail

♪ Carry me home
On the right trail
Carry me home
On the right trail
Carry me home
On the right trail
Carry me home
On the right trail
Carry me home

♪ Carry me home
Why don’t you carry me home
Carry me home

♪ Carry me home to where I belong
Carry me home to where I belong

Lyrics and Credits: http://bit.ly/3n6RAIm
YouTube: https://youtu.be/v-3Xtm8pCHM

 
⬆ go to start of 9:7 Between Sleep and Awake
⏫ go to top
 

❌❌❌ End 9:7 Between Sleep/Awake

🔴 Script 9:8 Dr Razmik Maier (№ 168)

 
Program air date: 1/13/2022 in the US
Script Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-cNE
EntertainmentWeekly Recap: https://bit.ly/3JRZEXk
 

Brief (Where we’re at): The last episode (9:7 Between Sleep and Waking) provided background on Ressler’s two years since Liz’s death, a time in which he struggled with drug addiction and worked for a while as a mechanic, finding a way to heal himself by restoring a vintage roadster. He connected with a woman named Lauren and her son Theodore who were also fleeing from a traumatic past at the hands of a physically abusive husband/stepdad. The episode ended with Ressler getting a haircut and having his beard shaved, buying flowers and visiting Liz’s grave, which is next to Tom’s. Talking to Liz and Tom (but mostly Liz), Ressler gave his unique Ressler-esque take on the Season so far (eg “Reddington shaved his head and his new lover’s a shaman”), and after tears and laughs (but mostly tears), seemed to see a way to move forward with his life. We’ll see.

(From earlier episodes:) Red has discovered that Liz’s fingerprints are on the envelope of the letter he gave to Dembe with strict instructions to give it to Liz ONLY after his death. He became suspicious when Agnes mentioned that she knew he was Russian. Red had told Liz that the reason he didn’t want her to read the letter before his death was “Because if you knew beforehand, you’d never agree to kill me.” But instead of shooting Red, as they had agreed (so she could take over his criminal operation and continue The Blacklist) Liz hesitated and so was shot by Vandyke, a loyalist of Neville Townsend (who Red had killed). So Red had the envelope analyzed and Liz’s prints were indeed on it. Furious with Dembe for betraying his trust, Red turned to Dr Roberta Sand PhD (Blacklister #153), with whom he was trying to negotiate for three months of therapy in exchange for shielding her and her son Dante from the revenge of Vito Decanio, head of the Decanio crime syndicate. Dr Sand had become the “secret sauce” behind the reinvigoration of Decanio’s syndicate, which she did by helping his gangsters feel comfortable with who they are. But that arrangement came to an abrupt end when Vito broke his promise to her by putting Dante in danger.

In other news, Cooper was served a warrant for his service weapon by Detective Marcus Heber of the Metro PD. Cooper already knew it was his gun that fired the shot that killed Doug Koster, his one-time neighbor who years earlier had had an affair with his wife Charlene. Cooper had awoken in his car the morning after a retirement party with no recollection of the intervening hours. Noticing that a shot had been fired from his gun, he had had his friend Lew Sloan run a ballistics test on it. He asked Charlene to lie to Heber and say he had come home that night. After Cooper told Lew that Metro PD had his gun for analysis, Lew took it upon himself to intercept and modify Cooper’s gun so it would no longer match the bullet that killed Koster. Later, Cooper received a call from someone with his voice digitally altered, threatening to blackmail him. The man sent Cooper a photo showing him talking to Lew in the parking garage where the two would meet. The man with the digitally-altered voice said he also has audio that proves evidence tampering.

⭕ Script 9:8 Dr Razmik Maier (№ 168)

 
[ An enthiastic crowd of fans, photographers and reporters has gathered to greet tennis star Sam Rhode ] [ ⚡️Cameras flashing⚡️] [ Shouting indistinctly ]
Sam Rhode: [ Chuckles ] Hey! Oh, my goodness!
Women: Sam!
Sam: Hey! Hey, I love you, too!
Woman: Sam!
Sam: We’ll see you at the match on Sunday! Ah, y-you’re too kind.
Woman: Sam! Sam.
Sam: Hey.
[ A reporter, Stella Huang, steps up to Sam ]
Stella Huang: What’s your relationship to Razmik Maier?
Sam: Sorry. I already did the presser.
Teen Fan: And m-my dad says you’re too old to win against Grishov.
Sam: I hope your pops didn’t bet the house. Otherwise, you’re gonna be sleeping in a tent!
Teen Fan: How are you so sure?
Sam: One word, my guy. Practice.
Stella Huang: Are you working with the doctor? Do you know who else he’s working with?
Sam: Thank you, everyone!
— Sam!
— Hey! Hey! Hey!
Sam: Thank you!
Stella Huang: Do you know who else he’s working with?
— Sam!
[ Sam gets into a car ] [ Car door closes ]

 
[ Sam Rhode’s home ] [ Sam talks to Dr Razmik Maier. Dr Maier carrries a large black doctor’s bag ]
Sam Rhode: [ Agitated ] She knows. That reporter. I don’t know how she knows, but she does!
Which means it’s only a matter of time before everyone else does!
Dr Razmik Maier: She’s persistent, but unimportant. What matters is you and the goals you are close to accomplishing.
Sam: She is a reporter!
Dr Maier: She’s one reporter. Everyone else thinks you’re aging like fine wine.
Sam: Aging like fine wine is fine for wine, but when you’re a tennis pro, people start asking questions.
Dr Maier: Let them. You’ve never failed a drug test, and with me, you never will.
[ Dr Maier fills a syringe ]
Sam: We’ve talked about this. You know how uncomfortable it makes me. All of it. Besides, I-I feel good. I am– I’m winning.
Dr Maier: I want you to keep winning.
Sam: Look, my dad is gonna be here any minute, so you cannot be here.
Dr Maier: I’m sure Ken’s happy you made the finals. He’ll be even happier when you win. Come. We have work to do.
[ Sam lies back on a couch ]
Sam: [ Sighs ]
Dr. Maier: Good. Now close your eyes. Visualize the match, what you need to do to win. To be the best there is. The best there ever will be.
[ Dr Maier injects Sam ]

 
[ The front door opens. Sam’s father enters ]
Ken Rhode: Sammy? Sammy! It’s Dad! Yo, Sam! Come on, sleepy head. Up and at ’em.
[ He sees Sam motionless, the syringe hanging from his arm ]
Ken: No! Sam! My boy. Sam!

 
[ Cooper’s kitchen. His friend, Lew Sloan, from the ballistics lab, is there. Cooper hands Lew a lab report ]
Lew Sloan: What’s this?
Cooper: Proof that I’m innocent. I took a blood test. The lab misplaced the results. I didn’t want to draw attention by getting another, so I couldn’t confirm it until now.
Lew: You were drugged. GHB. Well, that explains why you can’t remember.
Cooper: The perfect drug to give someone you’re trying to frame for the perfect murder.
Lew: Yeah. The homicide detective, Heber, you show this to him?
Cooper: I didn’t. I can’t.
Lew: Why not? You said it yourself, it proves that you’re innocent.
Cooper: Remember when you told me you worked a little magic on my service weapon to make it look like it wasn’t used to kill Doug?

[ Flashback: ]
Cooper: We ran the ballistics. We know the truth.
Lew: But they don’t, and they never will.

Cooper: We were being watched.
Lew: Ugh. Coop, you got to tell Heber.
Cooper: Whoever killed Doug knows that you tampered with evidence, and I know that he knows because he called me.
Lew: He called you. What does he want?
Cooper: I don’t know. But he wants something. ‘Cause I’ve roped you and Charlene into a cover-up, he thinks he’s got the leverage to get me to do it.
Lew: Any idea who it is?
[ Cell phone chimes✨ ~ It’s Red; Cooper ignores it ]
Cooper: None. Only way to get us out of the hole that I’ve dug is to find out who he is and prove what he’s done. Once we do that, then we go to the cops.
Lew: Mmm. Where do we start?

 
[ Red and Mierce and Weecha’s camper in the woods. Red is turning a cell phone in his hand. Another phone, his own, lies on the table ]
Mierce: Is everything alright? Are you expecting a call?
Red: This belonged to the man who shot Elizabeth.
Mierce: Why do you have it?
Red: That night, when everything was falling apart, I guess muscle memory or instinct told me to have a guy get it from the morgue. In case there were [ inhales ] loose ends.
Mierce: I see.
Red: Yes. I know you do.
Mierce: I see what you’re doing. I’m less clear why.
Red: I now know Dembe gave Elizabeth that letter before she died, but in the past two years I’ve never really asked any questions about what happened that night.
Mierce: And now you are.
Red: My young friend Tadashi will be coming here in about an hour. And I want you to give this to him. I’ve asked him to hack into and pull the phone’s GPS history from that day, that night. Once I know where the killer went, I’ll know if there’s more to the story.
Mierce: If you look hard enough, you’ll find there’s more to every story. But that doesn’t mean you should. ⋘⋙ It’s your present that demands your attention, not your past.
[ Red’s cellphone vibrating ]
Red: You’re right, Mierce.
[ Red’s cellphone beeps🔅]
Red: But please give it to him anyway. Harold?
Cooper: [ On phone ] I missed your call. Sorry for all the back-and-forth.
Red: That’s why I was calling, actually. Back-and-forth.
What do you know about professional tennis?

 
[ The Post Office ]
Cooper: Sam Rhode. Number eight in the world. At 36, he was playing the best tennis of his career. Now he’s dead.
Ressler: Well, there was rumors he was juicing. I guess now we know.
Cooper: Not according to Reddington.
Aram: The M.E. said Rhode OD’d on a synthetic oxygen carrier designed to increase stamina, but it gave him a heart attack instead.
Cooper: The M.E.’s focused on how Rhode died, not why. Reddington says the “why” involves this man, Dr. Razmik Maier. A German pharmacologist whispered to be responsible for keeping two generations of world-class athletes a step ahead of WADA. Giving East Germans steroids during the Cold War, EPO to U.S. cyclists in the ’90s, and hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers to the Russian Federation in 2014.
Dembe: If Maier devoted his career to helping athletes win and if they were his clients, why would he suddenly want to kill one?
Cooper: Because that’s what his biggest client wants him to do.
Park: Who’s bigger than the 8th-ranked player in the world?

[ Flashback: ]
Red: The Boswell Syndicate, a family-run sports book catering to the decidedly criminal element who are unable or unwilling to satisfy their predilection in the betting parlors of Vegas, Macao, or Monaco.
Cooper: And Maier is in business with them?
Red: Rumor has it the Boswells, James and Junior, pay Dr. Maier a significant fee in exchange for inside information, who’s doping, where they are in their cycle.

Ressler: Insider information is one thing. Murder’s another.
Cooper: A generation ago, the Boswells controlled the nation’s sports book. But betting on sports has exploded since then, in casinos, online. Three years ago, the Supreme Court struck down laws prohibiting states from authorizing sports betting.

[ Flashback: ]
Red: As a result, the Boswells’ once-hefty profit margins all but evaporated. To retain business, they cut their vig, but their ability to survive an outcome that exposed them to large losses was terribly compromised. So instead of putting a finger on the scale, I’m told they enlist their German friend to put the full weight of everything he knows on it.

Cooper: Supposedly Dr. Maier still provides the Boswells inside information, but, in what Reddington says are a few select cases, he “accidentally” overdoses a player whose performance might wipe them out.
Dembe: Players like Sam Rhode who were already working with Maier, so it was easy to make their murder look accidental.
Cooper: Aram, review Reddington’s theory with the M.E, see if it holds up. Ressler, Park, talk to Rhode’s parents. See if they know anything about Dr. Maier.
⋘⋙
[ The group disperses, except for Dembe ]
Cooper: Reddington’s gonna take the lead with the Boswells, and he asked you to join him.
Dembe: Did he say why?
Cooper: He did not. Maybe he wants to talk about the good old days?

 
[ Telephone rings in distance ] [ Park walks with Ressler ]
Park: So, you went to visit Liz. How was that?
Ressler: It was good. Long overdue.
Park: What I mean is, I know you’re still struggling and I’m hoping that going to the cemetery –
I’m hoping it helped.
Ressler: You know what? It did. I thought it was gonna have the opposite effect, but, uh, I’m good. I’m– Well, the fancy word for it is, uh, “titrating.” I’m weaning myself off. It’s hard, but, uh, the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, I can see it now.
Park: And I can see your face. [ Chuckles ] I’m glad you shaved. I’ll take it as a sign that you’ve got nothing to hide.
[ Sound of elevator door opening ]

 
[ Ani Bolin, another athlete, is walking outside. Stella Huang, the reporter, catches up to her ]
Stella Huang: Ani, got a sec?
Ani Bolin: No, I don’t, definitely not for you.
Stella: Any comment on Sam Rhodes?
Ani: Seriously. I told you to stop contacting me!
[ Dr Razmik Maier peers from around a corner ]
Stella: Tell me what you know before someone else “accidentally” dies.
Ani: I’m not gonna tell you again. Leave me alone. Or I will call the police.
Stella: Is winning that important to you? That you’d cover for Maier?
Ani: I’m not gonna tell you again.
Stella: Ani! Ani, come on!
[ Ani goes into a building ] [ Door closes ]
[ Dr Razmik Maier appears beside Stella and jabs a needle into her neck ]
Stella: [ Grunts ]
Dr Maier: You have too many questions.

 
[ Red and Dembe ride in the back of an SUV driven by Weecha ]
Red: I know about the letter, that you showed it to Elizabeth.
Dembe: It made her happy.
Red: And hours later, she was dead.
Dembe: All the more reason to have told her.
Red: Unless telling her is one of the reasons why she died.
Dembe: What does that mean?

 
[ Dr Maier leans over Stella Huang ] [ Fingers snapping ✽✽✽ ✽✽✽ ]
Dr Maier: Hey. Hey! Stella!
[ Stella, groggy, opens her eyes ]
Dr Maier: You got 10 minutes to give me everything you’ve got on your doping story. Ten minutes, or the 20 milliliter of iron I gave you will kill you. You give me your notebooks, your laptop, your passwords, I give you adrenaline. I get what I want, and you get the antidote you need.

 
[ The Boswell Syndicate’s sports bookmaking operation ] [ Brokers are busy on the phones taking bets and keying them into computers. Screens playing sports matches play around the room ]
[ Brokers chattering ] [ Telephones ringing ☎️ ]
— Go up to 10,000.
— It’s got to be now.
— It starts at 3:00.
[ Red enters with Dembe ]
Red: Junior!
Junior Boswell: [ Into the phone ] That’s right. On his shoes coming untied.
[ Junior sees Red ]
Junior: [ Angrily, at Red ] You! Go out!
Red: Oh, dear. Here I was hoping time would heal this wound.
Junior: [ Into phone ] If we set the odds right, people will bet on his hair lighting on fire.
[ He slams the phone down and slaps a gun on the table ]
Junior: Speaking of odds. What are the odds you take one more step, I blow your head off?
[ Red throws him a baseball ]
Junior: What’s this?
Red: Bartman.
Junior: That ball was destroyed.
Red: Uh-huh. And the moon is made of ribs.
Junior: This doesn’t make up for Professor Tannenbaum’s disappearance.
Red: [ Chuckles ] The man was an alcoholic. Plying him with mai tais and getting him to place his hard-earned money on ships that would never come in was not your finest moment. Yes, my relocation of him cost you some ill-gotten gain, but now he’s sober, you have the Bartman ball, peace on earth, goodwill toward men.
Junior: You got authentication for this?
Red: I do. And I’ll give it to you right after you’ve heard me out.
Junior: Wakefield City starts in ten. You got five.
Red: It’ll only take one. Is the Wakefield game on the level?
Junior: As far as I know. Why?
Red: Junior, this is Kenny Mills. [ Red points to Dembe ] We’re associates. Or were, until we had a falling-out over a mutual friend. After her death, he spiraled and, like our friend Tannenbaum, turned in sorrow to your fine establishment. If you check your records, you’ll see he placed a $50,000 money-line wager on the Wakefield City match. As a down payment on what I hope will be our renewed friendship, I promised Kenny I’d make sure you weren’t artificially sweetening the outcome. You or Dr. Maier.
Junior: Maier? I haven’t heard from him in, oh, at least two years.
Red: And here I’ve heard you were working together.
Junior: Well, you heard wrong. Whatever he’s doing, he’s not doing it for me.
Dembe: Forgive my ignorance, but who is Bartman?
Junior: An innocent man wrongly accused. His life gets ruined. Then time heals, people apologize. Kind of like me and Red here. Sounds like maybe you guys, too?
Red: Maybe. Maybe not.

 
[ Stella has gathered the evidence she has collected – laptop, disks, papers – on Dr Maier’s doping of athletes and given it to him ]
Dr Maier: Make sure you give me everything.
Stella: [ Groggily ] The truth will come out.
[ Her hand closes on a thumb drive ]
Dr Maier: Perhaps, but it won’t be from you.
[ Dr Maier takes the syringe with the antidote from the table, drops it on the floor and steps on it ] [ Crunch ✽! ]
[ Stella collapses ] [ Groaning ] [ Wheezes ]

 
[ Ressler and Park talk to Sam Rhode’s parents, Ken and Loreen, in their home ]
Ressler: We’re very sorry for your loss, but we do appreciate you speaking with us.
Loreen Rhode: Thank you for saying that. We’re just, um– [ Voice breaking ] Sorry. [ Sobbing ]
Ken Rhode: It’s too much. Losing him, then you telling us he might have been killed?
[ Door opens and closes ]
Ken: Who would do that?
[ Walker Burgos, CEO of Athlanta Athletic Wear, enters and takes a seat ]
Walker: I’m sorry I’m late.
Loreen: Oh.
Ken: No, please. Come in.
[ Walker hugs Loreen ]
Ken: This is our dear friend Walker Burgos.
Walker: Yeah, my, uh– My company sponsored Sam.
Ressler: Athlanta. The, uh, shoes, right?
Walker: And athletic wear, yes. But, uh, when I met Sam, it was just shoes, yeah. He was our first endorsement. He felt like a little brother of sorts.
[ Park places a photo of Dr Maier on the table ]
Park: This man’s name is Razmik Maier. We have reason to believe he provided Sam with the drugs used to kill him. Do you know him?
Walker: No.
Loreen: [ Sobbing ]
Ressler: Let me get you some tissues. Uh, is your restroom this way?
Ken: It is. Thanks.
Ressler: Thank you.
Park: Anything?
Walker: I know of him. Yeah. Everyone in my business does. And anyone with any sense knows to stay away from him.
⋘⋙
[ Door closes ]
[ Ressler goes to the vanity. A box of tissues is on the counter, but Ressler opens the medicine cabinet and searches through the prescription medicines. Finding nothing he’s interested in, he takes the box of tissues and returns ]
⋘⋙
[ Ressler sets the box of tissues in front of Loreen Rhode. She takes one ]
Loreen: Oh. Thank you. You said, uh– [ Clears throat ] You said you had “reason to believe” all this. Who gave you that reason? Was it that reporter?
Park: Reporter?
Loreen: She was always asking questions, making accusations. Sam, he wouldn’t jay-walk as a kid. He was a rule-follower. There’s no way he’d be involved with someone like that.
Park: The reporter. Do you know her name?
Ken: No idea. We refused to talk to her. Walker, help me out here.
Walker: Sam told me about her. Um, said she was a doctor of some sort. Uh, worked for medical journals, uh, did pieces on health and fitness. Uh, he said her name was, um, S-Stella. Stella Huang.
Loreen: She the one trying to convince you that our boy used drugs to cheat?
Park: We haven’t spoken to Miss Huang, but if she knows anything that’ll help us figure out what happened to Sam, perhaps we should. Do you have her number or know where she works? She could be in danger.
Walker: I don’t, but it’s possible my office does. Yes, I’ll– Let me give them a call.
Ken: Thanks, Walker.
Walker: Yeah. Of– Of course. And if there’s anything else that you can think of that I can help you with, then please feel free to call.

 
[ Ressler and Park arrive at Stella Huang’s apartment ]
[ ✽ ✽ ✽ Knocks on door ✽ ✽ ✽ {
Ressler: Stella Huang. FBI. Miss Huang?
[ Ressler⚡️kicks⚡️in the door ] [ Stella lies on the floor. Park goes to her ]
Park: I’m having trouble feeling a pulse.
[ Ressler checks out the other rooms ]
Ressler: It’s clear.
[ Door closes ] [ Cellphone beeps🔅and dials ••• •••• ]
Park: This is Special Agent Alina Park. We need EMTs. 2440 Junior Terrace. [ Breathing sharply ]
[ Ressler sees a prescription pad on a table. He sees that Park is doing CPR. He tears off a couple of sheets and shoves them into his pocket ]
Park: What is that?
Ressler: What are you talking about?
Park: Show me. And if you say “what,” I swear on my mother’s grave I’ll report you as a thief.
Ressler: Alright, alright. You win.
[ He shows her ]
Park: Put it back. I preferred the beard. At least you were honest about having something to hide. Hang on, Stella. Help’s coming.

 
[ The Post Office ]
Cooper: Stella Huang died on her way to the ER. What do we know about her?
Dembe: Not much. She was an M.D. who did health reporting. She also had a sports-medicine podcast.
Ressler: When I asked Sam Rhode’s parents about Maier, they assumed it was because I had spoken to Huang. It was clear that she had figured out there was a connection.
Dembe: Maier was so good, the doping agencies couldn’t catch him. But Stella Huang did, so it makes sense that he killed her because of it.
Cooper: So how do the Boswells fit into this?
Dembe: They don’t. Raymond was right. They did work with Maier. But that ended years ago.
Cooper: Maier acted alone?
Ressler: If she had evidence that Maier was doping Sam Rhodes or anyone else, whoever killed her took it.
Dembe: Stella was drugged. Not a PED, but, still, it points to Maier.
Cooper: I agree. She knew about his involvement, so he silenced her.
⋘⋙
[ Aram walks in ]
Aram: But, uh, he didn’t silence her.
Cooper: Was something in the apartment?
Aram: No. Or her clothes or her car. But there was something in her.
Ressler: In her?
Aram: Yeah. Like inside her. The M.E. found this flash drive in her intestinal tract.
Cooper: Can you extract any data?
Aram: Uh, maybe. Give or take a little gastric acid.
Cooper: Let us know when you have something. Dembe, Ressler, go back to the family and see if they can tell you any more about the connection between their son Sam and Dr. Maier.
Ressler: It was clear their family didn’t know much. But there was someone there who might, Walker Burgos.
Aram: The CEO of Athlanta?
Ressler: Yeah. How do you know about him? Uh, his company.
Aram: Last year I signed up for a triathlon. I didn’t do it. The whole “peeing while riding your bike” thing was just, uh, too intimidating. But, anyway, I got really into the idea of running and bought sunglasses, those sunglasses. The ones Sam Rhode endorses, along with everything else he’s wearing.
Ressler: Burgos said he spoke to Sam about the reporter. He offered to help us in any way he could.
Cooper: That’s a generous offer. I think you should take him up on it.
Ressler: Do you mind if I punt this to Aram and Dembe? Alina’s having another one of her, uh, headaches. I want to make sure she’s okay.
Cooper: Of course. I’m sure she’ll appreciate your concern.

 
[ Park’s office ] [ Door opens, Ressler enters ]
Ressler: How’s your headache?
Park: I don’t have a headache. I told Cooper I did so I didn’t have to be around you.
Ressler: [ Sighs ] I don’t have an excuse. But I do have an explanation.
Park: I’m sure you do. I’m sure you have a thousand explanations. But not one that could explain how you could be such a dick. You do know my marriage is hanging by a thread, that I got zapped by a next-gen weapon that can kill people through walls, that I had a miscarriage for God’s sake, but still I found the time to invest in you, in your problem, in trying to fix it, which, of course, is the last thing I should have done, helping you cheat the drug test so you wouldn’t lose your job to addiction like my mom lost hers. [ Sighs ] She fell apart after that, so I figured, if I helped you, you wouldn’t. Well, I’m done helping you. And if you don’t help yourself, I’ll tell Cooper about the drug test.
Ressler: Yeah, you tell Cooper that you helped me cheat, you’re gonna be in just as much trouble as I am.
Park: That’s right. It’s called taking responsibility for your actions. Something you’re clearly incapable of. Shut the door on your way out.
[ Door opens ]

 
[ Cooper’s office ] [ On a computer screen, surveillance video shows Cooper sitting at a bar talking to the man next to him. A bartender walks behind the bar ]
[ Mouse clicks ¤ ¤ ]
Lew: Fast forward to 13:34. Stop. Now play it from there. And the second you look away you see you look away, look what he does, the bartender.
[ The bartender is seen passing his hand briefly over Cooper’s glass ]
[ Mouse clicks ¤ ¤ ]
Cooper: Why? I see it, but I still can’t believe it. Or understand it.
Lew Sloan: Yeah, well, our plan was to I.D. who did it and then find out why. And now we have a lead. His name is Abel Judge. You find him, and you’re one step closer to finding out who’s threatening your life and your livelihood.

 
[ Aram and Dembe question Walker Burgos, the CEO of Athlanta Athletic Wear ]
Walker Burgos: Before we go any further, I just want to thank you. What has happened is unimaginable and the attention that you are giving it means the world to me and to my company.
Dembe: We were talking about Stella Huang.
Walker: Sam talked to me about her, that she was alleging he worked with Maier. He denied it, but–
Aram: You believe he was doping.
Walker: I do. At his age, what he was doing. I should have said something. But when he won, my company won, so I didn’t. And I have to live with that, not having the courage to speak out against the doping that is such a cancer on sports. And apparently Stella Huang had the courage that I lack because what she was doing, trying to expose a man like Razmik Maier, I admire her for doing that.
Aram: Do you know anyone else who Maier might be working with? Any of the other athletes that you sponsor?
Walker: I don’t. I’m sorry.
Dembe: You might not know, but whoever’s doing this does. They stole Stella’s notes and computer. We’re gonna need a list of all the athletes you sponsor.
Walker: Of course. If you’d like, I can call the office right now and have them send the list over.
Dembe: Thank you. We’ll give you some privacy. When you’re finished, we’ll be outside.
[ Door opens ]
Walker: Thank you.
[ Cellphone beeps🔅] [ Door closes ]
Walker: Hey. Can I please get a list of all of the athletes we sponsor? Names and numbers. Oh, also, um, Ani Bolin. Does she still live in Philly?

 
[ Red and the Xiu sisters’ camper ] [ ♪ Latin music plays ]
[ A chef, Herman de Leon, chops vegetables and talks to Red in Spanish ,)
Herman: [ Speaking Spanish ]
Red: [ Chuckling ] No, no, no, no, no, no. [ Chuckles ]
[ Mierce comes in ]
Mierce: What’s going on?
Red: Cosecha Mayas. Your favorite restaurant.
[ Herman turns around ]
Herman: Sorpresa! Ha hah!
[ Mierce and Herman hug, laughing ]
Mierce and Herman: [ Speaking Spanish ]
Red: [ Laughs ] Since we can’t be in Flores, I thought we’d bring it here.
Herman: Raymond called, said you missed home, and my tamales. The next thing I know, a car shows up, takes me to the airport, and here I am. ⋘⋙ I’m missing some coriander.
Red: Weecha can take you to the market. You can get whatever else you need.
Herman: I hope you’re hungry. I plan on making a feast. [ Chuckles ]

♪ De ti ya no quiero saber ♪

[ Weecha and Herman leave ] [ Door closes ]

♪ Anda y da la media vuelta ♪

Red: You were so down this morning. I’m hoping this will raise your spirits.

♪ Agarra tus cosas y vete de aqui
Y Fuiste mala conmigo ♪

[ Mierce places an envelope on the table ]
Mierce: Tadashi left you this. He said he found what you asked for.
Red: The rest of the story.
Mierce: You want to raise my spirits? Don’t look. Nothing good will come from it.
Red: Why does it bother you? It’s important to me. But it upsets you. Why is that?
Mierce: I appreciate what you did, bringing Herman. But I don’t want us to be eating his food here. I want us to be there. The way we were.
Red: And you think that this prevents that.
Mierce: I think it will. If you open it.

 
[ The Post Office ]
Dembe: Burgos gave us a list of the Athlanta-sponsored athletes. So far, no one knows, or is willing to say they know, anything about Maier.
Ressler: Well, Reddington was wrong about the Boswells. Maybe he’s wrong about Maier, too.
Park: And what, there’s another explanation for why Stella Huang was killed?
Ressler: Well, we have a theory why she was killed but not an explanation.
Park: She was killed by Maier because he was afraid of being exposed, of being found out.
Dembe: But what about the tennis player? You think that’s reason enough for Maier to kill an athlete when he’s devoted his life to helping them?
Park: I do. In my experience, people will do almost anything to hide what they’re ashamed of.
Ressler: Well, experience is one thing, and facts are another. At this point, we don’t have any.
[ Aram enters ]
Aram: Okay. Okay, okay. The way she swallowed the flash drive? Uh, first of all, wow, right? Talk about dedication. Based on where it was found in her intestinal tract, the M.E. says she swallowed it five minutes before she died.
Park: While her killer was destroying evidence, she was hiding some.
Aram: You want evidence? Check this out. [ Keyboard clacking ] Now, most of the information was destroyed by her stomach acid. Fun fact, did you know that acidity is measured on a pH scale from zero to 14, with stomach acid clocking in at a one, just above battery acid?
Cooper: Were any of the files uncorrupted?
Aram: Oh. Yeah. Right, right. And they showed this.
Cooper: So, what do these tell us?
[ Aram brings up photos of Ani Bolin with Dr Maier ]
Park: That Maier was the killer.
Ressler: And he’s not done killing.
Park: Who’s the unsub?
Aram: Ani Bolin, a top middle-distance runner and one of Athlanta’s biggest stars. Now, during my flirtation with being a triathlete, I studied her form. Kind of got obsessed with it, actually. The length of her stride, pounds per square inch every time she pushed off. Basically, the way she flies was so depressingly impossible for me to approximate that I decided to stick with what I’m good at.
Dembe: Cycling, right?
Aram: Orange sherbet.
Cooper: Dembe, Park, get Bolin’s address and roll out. Ressler, call Burgos. Have him contact his athlete and get her to sit tight. There have been two victims. There isn’t gonna be a third.

 
[ Ressler calls Walker Burgos ]
[ Cellphone dialing ••• •••• ]
Ressler: Mr. Burgos. Donald Ressler. I need you to reach out to Ani Bolin.
Walker Burgos: It’s Maier. He’s targeting her, isn’t he?
Ressler: We think he might be. But that’s why I’m calling. I want you to let her know that there’s nothing to worry about. We’re on our way.
Walker: I’ll call her right now. Thanks for the heads-up.
⋘⋙
[ Ani Bolin’s cellphone rings✨and beeps🔅]
Ani: Hello?
Walker Burgos: [ On phone ] Ani. It’s me. I just spoke to the FBI.
Ani: Thank God. It’s about time they get involved. I-I don’t want to get caught, but I don’t want to end up like Sam, either.
Walker: You won’t end up like Sam.
Ani: Or Stella. She was a pain in the ass, but, oh, my God!
Walker: Ani, listen to me. I told the FBI that I would stay with you until they got here.
Ani: H-Here? What, are you in Philly?
Walker: I am, for an important meeting that involves you, actually.
Ani: Okay, I’m not interested in meetings. I just want to know why this is happening. Do you even know where Maier is?
[ Walker looks at Maier’s bag on the seat next to him ]
Walker: No. I haven’t heard from him at all. Just sit tight. Help is on the way.
[ Cellphone beeps🔅] [ Cellphone beeps🔅]

 
[ The camper ] [ Red enters the bedroom ]
[ Rustling ] [ Drawer slides ]
Red: You’re packing.
Mierce: I want to go home. I love you, but I’m afraid of this place, what it does to you and to Weecha. I can’t watch what it’s turning you into.
Red: I want you,Mierce.
Mierce: Yes. And you want this.
[ She holds out the envelope from Tadashi ]
Red: Can’t they co-exist?
Mierce: In some people. Not in you. It consumes you.
Red: It’ll be over soon.
Mierce: It was over when we met.
Red: [ Pause ] I thought it was. I was wrong.
Mierce: You’re better than this. This should not define you.
Red: You know what Elizabeth was to me, who she was to me.
Mierce: Yes. Which is why I know you have to let go. Not of her, but of your anger. Your need for revenge. It’s going to kill others. I don’t want it to kill you. ⋘⋙ Please – let go. Don’t do it for me. Do it for you.
Red: If I do that, will you stay?
Mierce: I would. But if I stay, you won’t. ⋘⋙ I should finish packing.

 
[ Ani Bolin lets Walker Burgos into her home ]
Ani: What the hell is going on?
Walker: The reporter, Stella Huang, found out about Maier, started asking questions. Maier got spooked. He started covering his tracks.
Ani: By killing Sam and Stella? That’s insane.
Walker: Well, of course it is. But he’s not going to find you. I promise you we’re safe. I will protect you.
Ani: Yeah, until the whole world finds out that I was one of his clients. Everyone will know that I was doping. And there’s no keeping me safe from that.
Walker: Ani, you don’t have to worry.
Ani: Wait. You’re the one who hooked me up with him. You said that my contract was contingent upon results, knowing that the only way I could get those results was through Maier.
Walker: Are you telling me you didn’t like those results?
Ani: I’m not–
Walker: The sub four minute 1,500? The prize money, the added attention? You became famous. I sold more shoes.
Ani: But the only difference is now he’s coming after me, not you.
Walker: I told you, you don’t have to worry about Maier.
Ani: But you also told me that he’s covering his tracks. Sam. Stella. He got to them. How can you be so sure that he’s not gonna come for me, too?
Walker: Because I am here and I won’t let anything happen to you. Okay? Come here.
[ Walker pulls Ani into a hug ]
Walker: Come here.
[ Ani is comforted – until she looks over Walker’s shoulder ]
Ani: Is that Maier’s bag? I thought you said you hadn’t heard from him–
[ Ani pulls away. Walker grabs her from behind and holds a cloth over her face ]
Ani: [ Grunting ]
Walker: I’m afraid I lied about that.
[ Ani passes out ]

[ Flashback: ]
[ Knocking on door ]
Walker Burgos: Open up. It’s me.
[ Knocking on door ]
Walker: Open up.
[ Dr Razmik Maier opens the door ] [ Stella Huang lies unconscious on the floor ]
Walker: The FBI knows. Not everything, but enough. They’re coming to talk to her.
Dr Maier: I bought us some time, 30 minutes, no more. I got everything. All her work. Ani’s the only one left who knows.
Walker: [ Sighs ] Ani– [ He points his gun at Dr Maier ] And you.
Dr Maier: Wh– What are you doing?
Walker: The FBI asked me about you. They know you’re involved.
Dr Maier: People have been after me for years.
Walker: The FBI will find out, and when they do, they could find me. And that’s not gonna happen. Let’s go.
Dr Maier: Burgos–
Walker: Move!

[ Walker kneels over Ani. He takes a syringe from Dr Maier’s bag ]
[ Pounding on door ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ]
Park: Miss Bolin! FBI! Miss Bolin?
[ Walker looks around furtively ]
⋘⋙
[ At front door ] [ Pounding on door ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ]
[ Door opens ] [ Aram and Park enter ]
Park: Miss Bolin? FBI!
Aram: Ani?
[ They find Ani on the floor ]
Park: Please tell me we’re not too late.
Aram: Low pulse. Loss of consciousness.
[ He sniffs the white cloth that Walker held over Ani’s face ]
Aram: Okay. It’s chloroform. We’re late. But we’re not too late.
Park: Call the paramedics. I’m going after Maier.
[ Park leaves, running ]
[ Cellphone dialing ••• •••• ]
Aram: Okay, this is Special Agent Aram Mojtabai with the FBI. We need a team at 32 Cottage Grove Ave.
[ Front door closes ]
[ Walker Burgos enters ] [ Aram points his gun, Walker raises his hands ]
Walker: No. It’s– It’s me, Walker. I came as fast as I could. What happened?
Aram: Maier. We came in, he went out.
Walker: Well, don’t let him get away. Go. I-I’ve got her. I’ll call 911.
Aram: I already called them. The paramedics should be here soon.
Walker: Go! Please.
Aram: Thank you. Thank you.
[ Aram gets up and runs out ]

 
[ The Post Office war room ] [ Cooper walks up to Ressler ]
Ressler: So, we’ve been going through Stella Huang’s files. There weren’t just photos. There was documents, receipts. She knew who Maier met with and who was paying for his work.
Cooper: That’s Maier with Walker Burgos.
Ressler: Yeah, and these are the e-mails and text threads proving that Maier was on Burgos’ payroll, that his supplies and the facility he worked from were paid for by an Athlanta slush fund controlled by Burgos.
Dembe: The reporter knew everything, that Burgos paid Maier to juice the athletes. Publishing that would destroy Burgos and his company.
Cooper: Alert Park and Aram, let them know there’s another suspect we have to be on the lookout for.

 
[ Outside of Ani’s home in Philadelphia ] [ Aram comes up to Park on the sidewalk ]
Aram: Burgos is with her now. Anything?
Park: No. Which is weird. The way the apartment looked, I would’ve sworn he could not have gotten far.
[ Cellphone ringing✨]
Aram: It’s Ressler. Ani should be fine, but Maier’s gone.
Ressler: [ On phone ] It’s not just Maier. It’s Burgos. They’re working together.
Aram: Say that again.
Ressler: Burgos played us. He got us to tell him everything we knew about Bolin. But it’s a good thing that you got there before him.
[ Park and Aram look Aram at each other in disbelief, then run off in opposite directions ]
Aram: [ Under his breath ] Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Cooper: Aram, what is it? Did you copy?
⋘⋙
[ Walker Burgos prepares to inject Ani ]
[ Park burst in ] [ Gun cocks ]
Park: Drop it! Put it down. [ Breathing heavily ] Now!
[ Walker rises slowly, placing his hand around the handle of Maier’s bag ]
[ Walker swings around, slamming the bag in to Park, who loses balance and falls down ]
Park: [ Grunting ]
[ Walker runs toward the front door; Park gets up and runs after him. Burgos throws the door open. Aram is there ] [ Gun cocks ✽ ]
Aram: It’s over.
Walker: [ Panting ]

 
[ The camper in the woods ]
Red: [ Sighs ]
Weecha: She’s just running an errand. She’ll be right back.
[ Door opens ] [ Mierce enters with a bouquet of white roses ]
Red: Great! Just in time.
Mierce: Herman, it looks delicious. [ To Red ] Have you looked?
Red: We can talk about that later.
Mierce: You looked. I told Weecha to get a new bouquet each week and put them in water. After five days, send me a picture. Depending on what they look like, I’ll know what to do for you.
[ Water running ] [ Water stops ]
Red: How are you going to leave? Do you want me to drive you somewhere?
Mierce: I called a car.
Red: [ Rising ] I’ll drive you.
Mierce: I’d prefer not.
Red: I need you, Mierce.
Mierce: I know, Raymond.
[ They kiss goodbye ]
[ Mierce picks up her bags and leaves ]
[ Door opens ] [ Door closes ]

 
[ Aram sits across from Walker Burgos in an interrogation room ]
Aram: When I was a child, my parents took me to Greece, to see the wonders of the world. I slept through the Parthenon, I was bored to tears at Thermopylae, but when I got to Olympia and saw the remains of the first Olympic stadium, I was overwhelmed.
Walker Burgos: If you’re ramping up to ask me a question, don’t. I’m not saying anything without a lawyer.
Aram: As a general rule, yes, questions are part of interrogating a suspect, but in your case, a lot of our questions have been answered.
Walker: Well, then, as I’m not the least bit interested in your summer vacations, there’s nothing to discuss.
Aram: Sports predates math. History began with writing, and sports began 7,000 years before people learned to write. Sports isn’t just as old as man. It is essential to mankind. And you perverted it, you and Maier and everyone who takes something so pure and elegant and– And fair, and cheats.
[ A man leaves an envelope of evidence on the table ]
[ Door opens ]
Aram: Thanks, Louis. Yeah, we found your car. And Maier.

[ Flashback: ]
[ Park and Aram open the trunk of Walker’s car. Dr Razmik Maier’s body is inside; he was shot in the forehead ]

Aram: And all the evidence you took from Stella Huang. There is evidence here that shows you were juicing – thirty-two athletes. See, you thought Stella Huang only knew about Sam and Ani. But she knew everything. And now so do we. Why don’t you start from the beginning?

 
[ The Post Office; a quiet corner ] [ Ressler walks over to Park ]
Ressler: Going to the cemetery only made things harder, not easier. I mean, if there was a light at the end of the tunnel, visiting Liz only made it harder to see. When I put back the prescription pad, I had already torn off a page. I used it to get these.
Park: You can’t do this alone, weaning yourself off, titrating. It’s like handcuffing yourself to your desk at night just to keep from falling off the wagon. You need help, help I can’t give you because I don’t know how, so when I try, I only make things worse.
Ressler: I know you’re going through a lot, and I don’t want to add to your burdens, but it’s just, I’m asking you, please, don’t give up on me, okay?

 
[ Cooper’s office ] [ Knocking at door; door opening ]
Dembe: We executed a search warrant on Athlanta. And Ani Bolin, her doctors say they expect her to make a full recovery.
Cooper: This came for you, from Reddington.
[ He hands Dembe an envelope ]
Dembe: Thanks.
Cooper: Was I right? About why he wanted you to work with him? Was it about the good old days?
Dembe: It was definitely about the old days. Good? Not so much.
Cooper: Well, you did good work on this case. You all did.
Dembe: Thank you.
[ Door opens and closes ]
⋘⋙
[ Dembe leaves Cooper’s office and opens the envelope from Red. Inside are photos of him at a table in a restaurant with Liz ]

 
[ Dembe sits in the back of the SUV with Red as Weecha drives ]
Red: That’s where you told Elizabeth. In a coffee shop. Based on when I asked you to give her the letter after I’m dead and the time stamp on the photos, it took you just over an hour to betray me.
Dembe: We already discussed this, that I told her.
Red: The photos came from Vandyke’s phone. I asked Tadashi to pull GPS coordinates, to see where Vandyke had gone in the hours before he shot Elizabeth. Tadashi found the coordinates, but then he found these. And, yes, the images themselves only confirm what you and I have already discussed. What we haven’t discussed, what the photos really show, is that the man who killed Elizabeth – a man you knew – was 20 feet from you, taking your picture, and you were so intent on your betrayal that you missed him, and in missing him, you failed to protect both me and her.
   How did Vandyke know where we’d be that night? How is it that he was waiting for us at the restaurant? No one knew we’d all be there except for Elizabeth and you and me. Yet there he was, and now we know why. Your job wasn’t to tell my story the way you wanted it told. Whether or not you were at peace with my decision was irrelevant to what I hired you to do. You had a job. And for decades, you did it better than anyone possibly could. Until you didn’t. You could sense a threat a mile away. But the biggest threat? Standing 20 feet away? You missed him. And Elizabeth is dead because of that.
[ Aloe Blacc’s ♪ “Rotten Tree” plays ~ (Song not yet released) ]
Dembe: Elizabeth is dead for many reasons.
Red: Pull over.
Dembe: But it looks like as if one of those reasons is me.
Red: Get out.

♪ Tear it down
Tear it down ♪

[ Vehicle door opens, closes ]

♪ Bring that rotten tree
To the ground ♪

Weecha: Should we go home?
Red: Do you think she’ll come back?
Weecha: Not unless your investigation into Elizabeth’s death is over. Is it?
Red: It’s just beginning.

♪ All these apples bad as they can be

 
[ Ressler is in an interrogation room ] [ He puts several pills along the edge of the table. He sits at the far end of the table and handcuffs himself to a file cabinet ]

♪ Blood in the soil
Bitter seed
Tear it down
Mmm ♪

[ Cellphone beeps🔅and dials ••• •••• ] [ Line rings✨]
Park’s voice [ Recording ]: Hi. This is Alina. Leave a message, and I’ll call you back. [ Beeps🔅]
Ressler: First of all, you don’t make things worse. You call me out, hold me responsible. [ Sighs lightly ] I need that. I also need you to try to get to work early tomorrow. Doesn’t matter what time. I’ll be here. Thank you.
[ Cellphone chimes✨]

♪ Pull it up
Rip it out
From the root
Mmm ♪

 
[ Cooper walks down the hallway of an apartment building. He goes to apartment 29 ]

♪ Pull it up
Rip it out
From the root
Mmm
Got an axe in my hand and the truth on my side

[ Cooper knocks ✽ ✽ ✽ ]

And I’m gonna swing it for every tear that I’ve cried ♪

[ No one comes to the door. It’s unlocked. He pulls his gun and enters ]
[ The apartment has been ransacked. In the bedroom, a man lies dead on the floor, his neck covered in blood ]

♪ Your shade is darkness
It’s no shelter for me
Rotten tree
(Oh) Rotten tree
(Oh) Rotten tree ♪

[ Telephone ☎️ ringing ]

♪ Oh ♪

[ Ringing ☎️ continues ]

♪ Oh ♪

[ Cooper picks up the phone ]
Male Voice (Digitally altered): Congratulations, Harold. Now you have the blood of two men on your hands.
Cooper: Who are you? Who is–
[ Line clicks ✽ and disconnects •••••••• ]

♪ Bring that rotten tree ♪

[ Receiver⚡️clatters⚡️to the floor ]

♪ To the ground
Tear it down ♪

 
⬆ go to start of 9:8 Dr Razmik Maier
⏫ go to top
 
 

Episode Songs

♫ Rotten Tree
By Aloe Blacc (produced by AG)

♪ Tear it down
Tear it down
Bring that rotten tree
To the ground

♪ All these apples
Bad as they can be
Blood in the soil
Bitter seed
Tear it down

♪ From the root
From the root
Nothing good will come
From spoiled fruit
When they fall
More rotten trees will sprout
Pull it up
Rip it out
From the root

♪ Got an axe in my hand
And the truth on my side
And I’m gonna swing it
For every tear that I’ve cried
Your shade is darkness
It’s no shelter for me
Rotten tree
(Rotten tree)
(Rotten tree)

♪ Tear it down
Carry it down
Bring that rotten tree
To the ground
Tear it down

Lyrics and Credits: http://bit.ly/3nD80so
YouTube: https://youtu.be/mbmIGvO_HcM

 
⬆ go to start of 9:8 Dr Razmik Maier
⏫ go to top
 

❌❌❌ End 9:8 Razmik Maier

🔴 Script 9:9 Boukman Baptiste (№ 164)

 
Program air date: 1/20/2022 in the US
Script Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-cSf
EntertainmentWeekly Recap: https://bit.ly/3GXh5DS
 

Brief (Where we’re at): Mierce Xiu, Red’s lover, has left him to return home to Flores in Latin America. A shaman, she has long been uncomfortable accompanying Red back to the U.S., but it was his inability to put aside his search for someone to hold accountable for Liz’s death that was the last straw. His obsession, she said, “will kill others. I don’t want it to kill you.” Her sister Weecha will stay on with Red as his bodyguard. Red suspected that Dembe may have disregarded his instructions not to share with Liz the letter to her ‘from her mother’ until after his death. When Liz’s daughter Agnes mentioned to Red that Liz had told Red was was Russian, Red concluded Liz would only have known that if she had read the letter. Red had told Liz that the reason he didn’t want her to read the letter before she killed him ~ (so that she could credibly assume control over his criminal empire and continue working with the FBI on the Blacklist) ~ was that if she knew what it said, “You would never agree to kill me.” Red believes Liz’s hesitation to kill him (“I don’t want to. … I can’t do it”) gave Vandyke (Nevhille Townsend’s loyal henchman) the moments he needed to shoot and kill her.

So Red retrieved the letter and gave the envelope to an associate, Vlad Cvetko, a forensic analyst, to look for Liz’s fingerprints on it. Red was right. Liz’s fingerprints were on the letter. His next step was to have Vandyke’s cell phone hacked and analyzed by young whiz-kid-on-call Tadashi Ito. He asked Mierce to give the phone to Tadashi. When Tadashi returned his findings in an envelope, Mierce put her foot down and said if Red opened it, she would leave. Red opened it and she followed through on her promise, and left, despite his pleas. Inside the envelope was damning evidence: photos showing Dembe sharing the letter with Liz in a café. Red confronted Dembe with the photos. In addition to proving that Dembe gave Liz the letter, Red said the fact that Vandyke had been close enough to Dembe and Liz to photograph them proved that Dembe had failed to detect the danger to Liz (and himself) and was responsible for Liz’s death. Surprised by this evidence, Dembe admitted his guilt ~ but pointed out that there were other reasons for her death as well. At this point, Red erupted at Dembe, and told him to “Get out!” (Red has killed for less.)

Ressler has continued to struggle with addiction and again turned to Alina Park for help. She wants to help him but says her efforts to cover for him have only made things worse: “You can’t do this alone, weaning yourself off, titrating. It’s like handcuffing yourself to your desk at night just to keep from falling off the wagon.” So that’s what Ressler did, literally (the handcuffing thing), then left her a voicemail to come into work early.

Cooper and his friend Lew Sloan from the ballistics lab have continued trying to figure out who is blackmailing Cooper by trying to pin on him the murder of Doug Koster. Koster had years earlier had an affair with Cooper’s wife Charlene. He was murdered on a night when Cooper had attended a retirement party. Cooper woke up the next morning in his car, unable to remember how he got there. He discovered a bullet was missing from the clip in his service weapon. Cooper had Lew run the ballistics and the bullet matched his gun. When Metro PD Detective Marcus Heber served a warrant for the gun, without telling “Coop,” Lew took it upon himself to modify the gun’s barrel so the bullet and gun would no longer matched. Now, Cooper has received the results of a lab test that prove he was in fact drugged with a ‘date rape drug.’ Surveillance video from that night which Lew acquired shows a bartender slipping something into Cooper’s drink. Lew got the name of the bartender, Abel Judge. So, Cooper went to the man’s apartment. No one answered his knocks and the door was unlocked, so he entered, only to find the place completely ransacked and a man (likely Abel Judge) lying dead on the floor, his throat slashed. At that moment the landline phone in the apartment rang. Cooper answered. The digitally altered voice of the blackmailer spoke: “Congratulations, Harold. Now you have the blood of two men on your hands.”

⭕ Script 9:9 Boukman Baptiste (№ 164)

[ Flashback: ]
[ Outside Pascual’s Restaurant, Liz points her gun at Red ]
Liz: ⋘⋙ [ Sighs ] I can’t do it.
Red: That’s all right.
Liz: ⋘⋙ I don’t want to.
Red: I understand.
[ Gunshot💥]
[ A red spot appears on Liz’s chest, just above her heart ]
⋘⋙
Ressler: No. No!
⋘⋙
[ Red stares into Liz’s eyes, kisses her. She has died. Dembe comes out of the restaurant and runs up to Red and tugs at him ]
Dembe: Raymond, we must. I’m sorry.
[ Red lays his hat on the sidewalk and lowers Liz’s head onto it, then allows Dembe to guide him away ]
⋘⋙
[ Dembe is driving ] [ Ressler is closing in on Red’s car ]
Dembe: We have company. It’s Ressler.
Red: [ Pause ] Lose him.
[ They speed up ]
⋘⋙
[ Ressler’s car ] [ Horn blares (((📣 ]
Cooper: [ On phone ] I know what you want to do, but killing him will only make it worse. Donald, listen to me. You’re in no condition to drive. Don’t do this.
[ Horn 📣 honks ] [ Horn blares (((📣 ] [ Ressler miscalculates and his car💥rear-ends💥another, climbing over it and flipping over 💥‼️💥]
[ ‼️⚡️Glass shattering⚡️‼️]

 
[ Door creaks ] [ Red and Dembe enter Red’s apartment ]
[ Red sits in a chair, staring blankly. Dembe spreads a blanket over Red’s lap then sits in a chair alongside him ]
Dembe: [ Sighs ]
[ Dembe puts the letter intended for Liz on a small table between their two chairs ]
⋘⋙
[ The letter vanishes ]
⋘⋙
[ Dembe awakes. Red is gone ]
Dembe: Raymond? Raymond? Raymond?!
[ Dembe falls back into the chair ]
Dembe: [ Sighs ]

 
[ Red’s camper in the woods ]
[ Weecha takes a photo of the faded white roses on the table ] [ Camera shutter clicking ✽ ]
[ Red steps out of the front bedroom. ] [ Door slides, thumps ]
[ Red has a visitor: his long-time lawyer, Marvin Gerard. Red sits down across the table from him ]
Red: I’m being evaluated.
Marvin: Not on your floricultural skills, I hope.
Red: [ Chuckles ] My mental state. Weecha’s sister, Mierce, is a shaman. She reads the flowers for insight into my mood.
Marvin: I see dried-out and dark.
Red: Bad blood and betrayal.
Marvin: Is this still about Dembe joining the FBI? Because that wasn’t about betrayal. It was about upward mobility.
Red: What happened to Elizabeth, Dembe shares a significant responsibility for that.
Marvin: What are you talking about? Townsend is responsible. He sent Vandyke, Vandyke pulled the trigger. I thought you were with the sister.
Red: I am. Weecha and I are roommates. The bed is much more comfortable than the couch. I, being a gentleman, I offered her the bed. She being a lady, she invited me to join her. Marvin, you said you had news. Let’s hope it’s decidedly less dry and considerably more light.
Marvin: Hess, Ray, Colby. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Three days, three hits. No who, no why, only the what, which is a disaster. The only thing worse is the fact that I am the first one telling you this. Hess was hit on Tuesday. How could this possibly be news to you? You’re out of touch. You need to get your ducks in a row, Raymond.

 
[ The kitchen of Cooper’s home ]
[ Red has been waiting. Agnes dashes in and hugs him ]
Agnes: Pinky!
Red: Oh, my goodness! Aren’t you a bundle of energy this morning?
Agnes: [ Speaking rapidly ] I’ve got orchestra practice before school, then a math quiz and an English presentation. Then I’m trying out for the play. And then you’re reading me some Pippi Longstocking. You’re weeks behind on that, by the way. [ Horn honks 📣 ] That’s Sadie. Total frenemy. Got to go. Hi, Weecha. Bye!
Cooper: [ Chuckles ]
[ Door closes ]
Cooper: I’d like to think I had that much energy once. On the other hand, if I did, it’s depressing to think about where it all went.
Red: Perhaps this will give you a jolt. It seems I’m under attack. In the past week, a strike team has taken out three key members of my organization.
Cooper: I’m sorry to hear that.
Red: Thank you, but I’m not here for your sympathy.
Cooper: Good, because officially, you don’t have it. On the record, the Bureau would be thrilled to know the Reddington organization is under siege, but I’m guessing you’re not here for my official response.
Red: As a rule, I police my own business. In this case, I need help, and if you want the Blacklist to continue, you’ll give it.
Cooper: It’s that bad?
Red: The attacks were surgical and strategic, requiring an insightful knowledge of my organization. And I don’t really know from which direction this assault is coming. And there’s one more thing. Dembe – I won’t work with him again.
Cooper: Why not?
Red: All that matters is that I won’t. He’ll have to be replaced.
Cooper: I won’t do that, certainly not without knowing why.
Red: Ask him. He’s an honest fellow. Who knows? After he tells you, you may not want to work with him either.

 
[ Dembe sits at a workstation ] [ Keys clacking ] [ Beeping🔅🔅]
[ The computer screen shows a map of Washington D.C. Another click and numerous yellow dots appear, spread across the area ]
⋘⋙
[ The Post Office war room ]
Cooper: Reddington’s worried. His organization’s under attack, and he wants our help to fend it off. He doesn’t have a name or a motive. Only this, three victims in three days.
Ressler: Who are they?
Dembe: Ricki Hess. Jack Ray. Budge Colby.
Aram: Friends of yours?
Dembe: They were, once. Good people.
Alina Park: What did they do for Reddington?
Dembe: Operations. Each was responsible for a different port. New Jersey, Norfolk, Miami. These were top people. Well-protected.
Ressler: But yet someone got to all three. No wonder Reddington’s worried.
Cooper: I’ve asked our field offices in the relevant cities to forward us the crime-scene information. If there’s a clue in there about who did this, we need to find it.
Dembe: We already have a clue.
Aram: You know who did this?
Dembe: No. Just what they’re going to do next.
Park: How happy is Reddington that you’re on the task force?
Cooper: Not very. In fact, he wants me to kick you off it.
Aram: What? Why would he want that?
Cooper: He said I should ask you.
Dembe: Vandyke. If I was doing my job even a little bit that day, that night, I would’ve seen him long before he shot Elizabeth. I could’ve stopped him.
Park: And Reddington blames you because you didn’t.
Dembe: No more than I blame myself.
Ressler: You shouldn’t. I don’t. And, believe me, I tried.
Dembe: Raymond has Vandyke’s phone. He had someone pull the GPS data points from the day Elizabeth was killed. I met Elizabeth at a diner hours before she was shot. The GPS data points and photos on the phone show that Vandyke was watching us. If I was paying attention at all, I would have noticed him.
Aram: How did he know you’d be there?
Dembe: I assume he was following me, but I’m not sure. Which is why I had the phone data sent to me. I hope that by tracking it, I’ll find out. I could use your help plotting the data points.
Aram: Of course.
Cooper: So what’s the clue?
Dembe: I thought I was being kicked off.
Cooper: That’s my call, not Red’s. He thought I would agree with him once you had explained yourself. You have, and I don’t. So the clue, let’s hear it.

 
[ Dembe displays a map of ports on both sides of the Atlantic ]
Dembe: This is a macro look at Raymond’s operations in the Atlantic.
Aram: Does he have that many operations in the Pacific?
Dembe: And the Indian, Baltic, and the Mediterranean.
Park: Nothing in the Arctic?
Dembe: No. Other than a compound on the Faroe Islands.
Aram: It’s official. Our lives suck.
Dembe: For shipping in the Atlantic, he uses accounts in Hamburg, Belfast, and the Caymans. Funds are routed through the hawala network to Morocco. He then ships from Gibraltar, Benin or Dakar.
Aram: You really know everything, don’t you? I guess I assumed you did, but you actually do.
Dembe: I didn’t always. Everything with Raymond is need-to-know, but after Elizabeth, he couldn’t function. So I had to function for him.
Cooper: You took over.
Dembe: I did.
Aram: What was that like, going from the man in front of the man to the man behind him?

[ Flashback: ]
[⚡️Tires screech⚡️]
[ Boukman Baptiste and his young son are being driven down a two-lane country road. Two cars drive toward them and block the road. Several men, including Dembe, open fire on Baptiste’s car with semi-automatic rifles ]
Baptiste: Down!

Dembe: A nightmare.
Cooper: So, Benin, Dakar, Gibraltar.
Dembe: Goods ship from there to New Jersey, Norfolk, Miami. Raymond is a middle man. He has clients. They have goods. If the port of entry is choked off and they can’t take delivery, that costs them money, which Raymond has to cover.
Park: This is all very educational, but where’s the clue?
Dembe: Right here. [ He points ] The port of Baltimore.
⋘⋙
[ The port of Baltimore ] [ Ship horn blares🚢 in distance ] [ Birds calling ]
[ The door of a shipping facility on the pier opens ]
Man: That you, Joe?
Joe: I know, I know, no smoking on site. Don’t tell her royal pain in the–
[ Silenced gunshot (💥) ] [ Joe falls ]
Man: What the– Joe?
[ Silenced gunshot (💥) ]
[ Man falls ]
[ Masked men wearing black enter the shipping facility on the port. They have rifles ]
⋘⋙
Dembe: Baltimore is Raymond’s only remaining port of entry on the eastern seaboard. Whoever’s doing this took out three of his port managers. It’s safe to assume he’ll try to take out a fourth.
⋘⋙
[ Silenced gunshot (💥) ] [ Another man falls ]
[ The armed men move deeper into the facility ]
[ More men fall (💥💥💥) ]
⋘⋙
Cooper: Do you know his name?
Dembe: Reginald Lawler.
Cooper: Let’s go get him, and hope we’re not too late.
⋘⋙
[ The men enter the office. Reginald Lawler sits in a chair ]
Armed Man: Hands in the air!
[ Boukman Baptiste enters, smoking a cigar ]
Reginald Lawler: I won’t talk.
[ Baptiste shoots💥Lawler in the knee with a pistol ]
Lawler: [ Screams ]
Baptiste: Oh, I think you will. Let’s start with the same question I asked the others, huh?
[ Baptiste shows Lawler a photo of Dembe ]
Baptiste: This man, where is he?

 
[ The camper ] [ Marvin Gerard is on the phone, pacing ]
Marvin: What do you mean Lawler’s not answering? Then go there. I don’t care that you just gave birth.
[ Red’s cell phone dialing ••• •••• ]
Marvin: That is not my problem. My problem is $106 million worth of goods–
[ Line ringing ✨]
Marvin: –we rerouted to Baltimore that now can’t land in Baltimore unless you get Lawler to land them. And until he lands them, we are out 5% a day in insurance and carrying charges. So I suggest you wrap Junior in a binky, shove him onto your mammilla, and go find Lawler.
[ Call ends ]
Marvin: [ To Red ] Lawler’s out of pocket. ⋘⋙ Yoo-hoo. Did you hear me? Lawler is AWOL, which means the East Coast is shut down.
Red: Mierce read the flowers.
Marvin: Mierce. The shaman?
Red: She’s optimistic.
Marvin: [ Sarcastically ] Is she? That’s great. The shaman is optimistic. Fantastic.
Red: I mean, it doesn’t mean there aren’t problems. It just means we’ll figure them out.
Marvin: Do you value my counsel?
Red: I do.
Marvin: Good. ‘Cause here it is. You’ve lost your mind. The world is falling apart around you, and you’re all beatific because your ex-lover looked at a photograph of some dead flowers and said Kumbaya.
Red: She’s not my ex. We’re just pausing until I resolve the issues surrounding Elizabeth’s death.
Marvin: That is another thing. You blame Dembe for something he didn’t do. Elizabeth’s death has been resolved. Asked. Answered. As is the reason we are in this mess. [ Sighs ] Look, I know this is third-rail stuff, but you’re the one getting your flowers read, so what the hell – You never should’ve designated Elizabeth as your successor. She wasn’t qualified. And when she passed and you went away, there was no one to keep all hell from breaking loose.

[ Flashback: ]
[ Two years ago ] [ Red’s airplane in flight ]
Marvin: [ Sighs ] Seven days, seven countries. I am done looking.
Dembe: I told you we wouldn’t find him.
Marvin: Oh, well, forgive me for hoping he might not want his entire life’s work burned to the ground.
Dembe: His life’s work was Elizabeth.
Marvin: Well, my life’s work was him. And right now, it is under siege. Chin in Taipei. Madrzyk in Dubrovnik. Baptiste in Haiti. They’re all moving against us. And if we don’t put them down, others will follow. And when I say “we,” I mean you.
Dembe: Me?
Marvin: Starting with Baptiste, who’s in Texas, meeting with other turncoats. Red may have picked Elizabeth, but we both know that you are his natural successor.
Dembe: [ Sighs ]
Marvin: Now that they’re gone, the organization is yours to run.
Dembe: [ Sighs ] And if I don’t want to?
Marvin: Then it gets sliced and diced.

Marvin: We weren’t equipped for what came, least of all Dembe.
Red: Mm-hmm.
Marvin: My point, my counsel, is this. You left us in the lurch once, don’t do it again.
Red: Call Marybeth. Tell her to stay home with her newborn. If Lawler’s not answering, it’s because he’s been captured, if not killed.
Marvin: If that’s the case, we got no play.
Red: Of course we do. And I’m sure Dembe’s playing it.
Marvin: Dembe? I thought you want him off the task force.
Red: I do. But I have no illusions that Harold will abide by my request. And you’re wrong about Dembe’s abilities. His not wanting to run my empire doesn’t mean he couldn’t. Believe me, if you and I are realizing that Lawler’s been targeted now, Dembe’s already realized it.
Marvin: How can you be sure?
Red: I told you. Mierce’s optimistic.

 
[ The warehouse at the Port of Baltimore ]
[ Ressler and Dembe enter ]
Ressler: [ On comms ] We’re in.
Aram: Agent Park reports two guards down at the perimeter. She’s waiting on EMTs.
Cooper: We have no intel on the number of mercs or where they are in the building. A TAC unit is on the way. Do not engage until we know what we’re dealing with.
[ Dembe and Ressler split up and advance ]
Dembe: I see movement. I don’t know who or how many. I need to get closer.
[ Now Dembe can see Lawler and Baptiste’s back ]
⋘⋙
Baptiste: I’m going to give you one more chance. Dembe Zuma, where is he?
Lawler: I don’t know. [ Shuddered breathing ]
[ Baptiste presses the nuzzle of his gun against Lawler’s wound ] [⚡️Screaming⚡️]
⋘⋙
Cooper: Dembe, talk to me.
Dembe: That can’t be.
⋘⋙
Baptiste: Where–
⋘⋙
Cooper: What is it? What can’t be?
Dembe: Not what. Who. Boukman Baptiste.
Aram: We don’t know who that is.
Dembe: A man I killed.