The Blacklist Declassified

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.”

 
For S9 Episode 9:9 Boukman Baptiste: 🎯 EW Recap ¤ 🌅 Photo Gallery ¤ 🎹 Music Videos ¤ 📒 Script link: https://wp.me/pDKwi-cSf [ “you are here” ]

[ 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.

[ Flashback: ]
[ Dembe’s and his operatives unleash gunfire on Boukman Baptiste’s car 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 ]
[ In the crashed car, Baptiste realizes his son was shot in the hail of gunfire ]
Baptiste: Daniel. Daniel! Daniel!
[ The boy is dead ]
Baptiste: [ Breathing quickly ]
[ As Dembe and the other gunmen approach, Baptiste slips out of the car on the far side. Dembe approaches the car and sees a man collapsed over the driver’s seat and the dead boy in the back. He shakes his head in dismay ]
[ Baptiste spills lighter fluid on the pavement and sets the car on fire 💥🔥💥 He runs off ]
Dembe: [ Voice-over ] Recon said his boy would be at home.

[ Indistinct shouting ]
Dembe: This isn’t about hurting Raymond. This is about killing me.
Lawler: [ Screaming ]
Cooper: If that’s true, I want you out of there. Is that clear? Pull back.
[ A man comes up behind Dembe and pistol-whips him ] [ Thump! ]
Cooper: Agent Zuma, do you copy? Agent Zuma!

 
Cooper: Ressler, we lost contact with Dembe.
Ressler: Yeah, we split up. I don’t have eyes on him.
Cooper: Circle back, then report.
⋘⋙
[ Dembe sits upright on a chair. Baptiste has Dembe’s comms earpiece ]
Baptiste: [ On comms; Haitian accent ] I have your agent. I assume there are others. Tell them to stand down.
Cooper: This is Harold Cooper with the FBI. Who am I speaking to?
Baptiste: Tell them.
Cooper: I will, as soon as I hear that my agent is all right.
Baptiste: Your agent killed my son.
Cooper: I just need to know that he’s okay.
Baptiste: He was 10, sitting in the back of a car, when your agent murdered him.
Cooper: That’s a tragedy, but killing other people will only make it worse.
Baptiste: Did you know that when you hired him, that he murdered children?
Cooper: I’ll help you, but you have to help me. We have to work together.
Baptiste: I am not a religious man. But sometimes even a sinner’s prayers are answered.
[ 💥💥💥 Ressler shoots. Dembe grabs Baptiste’s gun and slides it toward Lawler ]
[ 💥💥💥 Gunfight 💥💥💥 between Ressler and Baptiste’s mercs ] [ Dembe and Baptiste wrestle ]
⋘⋙
[ Cooper and Aram can still hear over comms ]
Cooper: Was that Dembe? Was he hit?
Aram: Sir, I don’t know.
⋘⋙
[ Dembe and Baptiste continue wrestling. It’s an even match ] [ Grunting ]
[ 💥💥💥 Gunfight continues 💥💥💥 ]
Baptiste: This does not make us even! Only your daughter does that. A child for a child!
[ Baptiste is thrown free and runs. Dembe chases him, but Baptiste is too far ahead. He returns to help Lawler ]
Lawler: Aah! [ Gasping ] [ Whimpers ]
[ Ressler comes up behind a gunman ]
Ressler: Drop it! Don’t move! Unclip it. Face the wall.
[ The gunman goes for a sidearm. Ressler shoots him 💥💥💥 ]
Lawler: [ Breathing heavily ]
[ Ressler comes up to Dembe and Lawler ]
Ressler: Baptiste?
Dembe: Gone.
Lawler: Who is he, and why was he so interested in finding you?
Dembe: To avenge the death of his son.
[ Dembe is applying a tourniquet ]
Lawler: [ Grunts ]
Dembe: I’m sorry you got hurt in this.
Lawler: Look, you gotta go warn Isabella. He said he was after his daughter.
Ressler: Right, I got this. Call her.
Dembe: She needs to be called, just not by me.
Ressler: Why not?
Dembe: It’s complicated. I can’t explain. Please, just do it. 202-555-0144.
[ Cell phone dialing ••• •••• ]
Lawler: I thought you and Isabella got past the tough times.
Dembe: We did. Until we didn’t.
[ Dembe tightens the tourniquet ]
Lawler: Aah!

[ Flashback: ]
Isabella: I don’t understand. You worked for one white guy, and now you want to work for white guys with badges?
Dembe: I told you, I haven’t decided yet. That’s why I’m here, to get your opinion.
Isabella: My opinion is that I don’t want my father to be a Judas to his community.
Dembe: Isabella, I know these agents. They’re good people.
Isabella: I never criticized you for working for Reddington. I hated it. My child almost died because of it. But I told myself that’s what you do, it’s not who you are.
Dembe: It’s what I did. Elizabeth is dead. Raymond is gone. I’m alone, looking for a purpose.
Isabella: Is this really who you are? A Black man who wants to be a cop?
Dembe: I’m a man that wants to help people and a man who’s also proud to be Black. I think I can do both.
Isabella: Reddington is one man. The cops are part of a system of oppression. You do this, people will see you as a sellout and a traitor.
Dembe: I don’t care what other people see. I only care what you see.
Isabella: You wanna know what I see? George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile–
Dembe: I see them, too.
Isabella: –Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Michael Brown–
Dembe: I see them, too, and I know that any day what happened to them could happen to me–
Isabella: –Atatiana Jefferson, Botham Jean, Alton Sterling! 🔘 [See Note]
Dembe: Isabella, I see them. I know there is injustice. But I also know justice can be done. I’ve seen it done, and I think I’d find purpose in doing it.
[ Isabella walks away ]
Dembe: Isabella. Isabella! [ Sighs ]

 
[ Isabella walks along a sidewalk ]
[ Cell phone ringing✨]
[ Isabella looks at her phone but doesn’t take the call ] [ Cell phone beeps🔅]
Isabella (Recorded voice): This is Isabella. Leave a message at the beep. Thanks. [ Beeps🔅]
[ Ressler is in a vehicle with Dembe ]
Ressler: It’s Agent Ressler, again. I know we keep calling, but it’s incredibly important that you call me as soon as you get this message. Thank you.
[ Cell phone beeps🔅]
Ressler: [ To Dembe ] Look, we sent agents. She’s gonna be fine.
Dembe: He got to Hess, Ray and Colby.
⋘⋙
[ A man comes up behind Isabella ] [ Gun cocks ]
Man: Inside, quietly.

 
[ Dembe and Ressler arrive at Isabella’s house ]
[ Door creaks ]
Dembe: Isabella! Isabella! Isabella!
[ In the kitchen, Ressler finds a burner phone and a phone number written on the table ]
[ Dembe enters ]
Ressler: Hey, check it out.
[ Dialing ••• ••• •••• ] [ Cell phone rings✨, beeps🔅]
Baptiste: [ On phone ] Consider yourself lucky. I’m going to let you have the opportunity I never got with my boy. I’m going to let you say goodbye.
Isabella: Papa? Papa? Papa!
Dembe: Don’t do this. Don’t hurt her.
Baptiste: I have no interest in hurting her. Only you.
Dembe: Reddington. Daniel died because you wanted his business. I can help you get some of that. Ray, Hess, Colby, they’re middle management. Essential, but not important. I can get you people who are irreplaceable. Take them down and Reddington follows.
Baptiste: I’m listening.
Dembe: I need two hours.
Baptiste: You’ve got one.
[ Cell phone beeps🔅]
Ressler: You think he believes that you’re gonna really help him take down Reddington?
Dembe: He should. Because it’s true.

 
[ The Post Office elevator doors open. Dembe and Ressler get out ]
Dembe: [ On phone ] –as quickly as you can. Yes, Marvin, that’s what I want to talk to you about. I’ll be right there.
[ Aram walks over ]
Aram: Hey. So I plotted the rest of the GPS data points.
Dembe: Later.
[ Dembe rushes off ]
Aram: Uh– What’s going on?
Ressler: Baptiste has his daughter.
Aram: What?
Ressler: Yeah, he’s gonna sell out Reddington to get her back.
Aram: That’s a joke, right?
Ressler: Not to him.
Aram: Uh, what can we do?
Ressler: Got to issue a BOLO on Baptiste, a silver alert on Isabella, and let’s try to keep him from getting Reddington killed.
Aram: Dembe blamed himself for what happened to Liz. He shouldn’t.
Ressler: What the hell are you talking about?
Aram: Let’s get out the alerts, then I’ll show you.

 
[ Red is with Cooper in his office. Dembe enters ]
Dembe: Did you know? Did you know, when you gave us the case, that it was Baptiste? That I would be going in blind against a man who wants me dead?
Red: I didn’t. In fact, I didn’t know for sure you were even on the case, or the task force, for that matter. I don’t want you to get hurt, Dembe. I just want you out of my life.
Dembe: He has Isabella.
Cooper: What? Has he reached out, made any kind of demand?
Dembe: He has. And we’ve come to an understanding.
Red: I’m very sorry. Is there anything I can do?
Dembe: You think I betrayed you. That Elizabeth died because I let down my guard. Fine. I admit that. But if you want to do something for me, admit that you let down your guard, too. That night, and after, you abandoned your business, and people died. That man’s son.
Red: I didn’t ask you to carry on.
Dembe: No. You just vanished. I killed that boy trying to protect your empire. I was doing it for you, because you didn’t do it for yourself.
Red: Elizabeth was dead. I was gone. And you killed that boy. Do those dots really connect? It seems a little simplistic. Excuse me. I have to make a phone call.
[ Red leaves ]
Cooper: I don’t think he has any idea what you were left with after he disappeared. But I do. I know all too well.

[ Flashback: ]
[ Cooper’s kitchen ]
Dembe: Isabella won’t speak to me. She says if I do this, I’ll be a traitor to my community.
Cooper: She won’t be the only one that tells you that. That joining the FBI makes you a cog in the machine of institutional racism. You might remind her there was a time when a Black man or woman wasn’t allowed to wear a badge or carry a gun. But thanks to trailblazers like Bass Reeves, Big Sam Battle who paved the way for us, we have the privilege of serving our community and fellow man. In fact, scratch that. It’s not a privilege, it’s a responsibility.
[ Cooper uncorks a bottle of scotch ] [ Liquid pouring ]
Cooper: I understand where Isabella’s coming from, but our people built this country, died for it. We deserve justice as much as anyone, if not more. I think this is precisely the place where people who look like you and me need to be. Our people need us here, fighting for them, fighting for everyone. Here, in the system, boots on the ground, because sometimes we’re the only ones standing between them and the wolves at the door.
Dembe: In my experience, there are wolves on both sides.
Cooper: Where does Reddington fit into all of this?
Dembe: He doesn’t, and I can’t ask him.
Cooper: Because you know what he’ll say?
Dembe: Because I don’t know where he is. He disappeared one night without even saying goodbye.
Cooper: I’m not sure I’m staying with the Bureau. After everything that’s happened, I may need to step away, but before I do that, if you want this, I promise you, I’ll make it happen.

 
[ Red runs into Dembe on the landing outside Cooper’s office ]
Red: With Baptiste, you said you’d come to an understanding.
Dembe: That’s right.
Red: Tell me about it. Perhaps I can help you come up with an even better one.
Dembe: I would before. Not now.
Red: I mean it. I don’t want to see you hurt. You or anyone you care about.
Dembe: It was an honor protecting you. But now I have to protect myself.

 
[ Dembe walks toward the elevator ]
Ressler: Any word on Isabella?
Dembe: I know what I need to do.
Ressler: Yeah, but does Reddington?
Aram: Look, you’re gonna do what you have to do, but if what you have to do has anything to do with what’s going on between you and Mr. Reddington–
Ressler: Look, he’s finally finished mapping the data points on Vandyke’s cell phone.
Aram: Right, and you’re gonna wanna hear what I found.
[ The elevator doors start to close ]
Dembe: Will it help me find Isabella?
Aram: Well, uh, no.
Dembe: Then it will have to wait.
[ Elevator doors close ]
Aram: I wish this could help.
Ressler: Maybe it can.
Aram: How? We didn’t get to tell him what we found.
Ressler: No, but there’s someone else we could.

 
[ Marvin Gerard’s office ]
Marvin: Dembe, come in. I am so glad you called. This business between you and Raymond, I want you to know I think he is completely overreacting.
Dembe: I appreciate you saying that.
Marvin: I mean, the suggestion that you are in any way responsible for what happened to Elizabeth is preposterous.
Dembe: I agree. But the reason I’m–
Marvin: Tell me, what can I do to help set things right between you two? I will do anything.
Dembe: I need the names of his banker in the Caymans, his arbitrage trader in Beijing, and the arms dealer he uses in Zagreb. I knew them before, but he has other ones now.
Marvin: Yes, he does. But, uh, how would me giving you the names help patch things up between you two?
Dembe: Yeah, about that– I’m not interested in patching anything up.
Marvin: All right.
[ Dembe pulls his gun out of its holster ]
Marvin: Uh, that’s, uh– That’s unexpected.
Dembe: My daughter’s life depends on you giving me the names.
Marvin: [ Chuckles ] Well, that’s unfortunate, because I am, uh, pretty confident that my life depends on me not giving them to you. You know Raymond. He’s a stickler for things like, oh, I don’t know, say, uh, not giving the names of his top three lieutenants to a guy like Boukman Baptiste.
Dembe: I need the names, Marvin.
Marvin: I see that, and I would give them to you if I could. I met Isabella. She’s amazing.
[ Dembe points his gun at Marvin ]
Marvin: [ Sighs ]
Dembe: I need the names!

 
[ The Post Office ] [ Red, Cooper, Aram and Ressler are looking at a computer screen ]
Red: And this is all of them?
Aram: Dembe plotted most of the GPS data points. I finished mapping them, then double-checked what he’d done. This is every place Vandyke was the day he shot Elizabeth, from 12:01 a.m. until he, and his phone, ended up in the morgue.
Cooper: Given everything that was happening, how in God’s name did you think to have Vandyke’s phone stolen from the morgue?
Red: Muscle memory. It was completely involuntary, like breathing. Or an innate desire for revenge.
Ressler: In order to get his daughter back, Dembe’s gonna give Baptiste damaging information about you.
Red: What information?
Ressler: I don’t know, but I heard him talking on the phone. Something about getting it from Marvin Gerard.
[ Red heads down the metal staircase ]
Aram: Dembe told us what you thought happened that day. This– This tells a different story.
Red: Not entirely, but, yes.
[ Red’s cell phone dialing ••• •••• ]
[ Dembe picks up ]
Red: He won’t help you.
Dembe: Are you calling to gloat?
Red: Put Marvin on. Whatever you’re looking for, he won’t give you without my permission.
Dembe: Why would you give it?
Red: We can discuss that later. There’s no time now. Put him on.
[ Dembe hands the phone to Marvin ]
Marvin: He wants tier-one names in the Caymans, Beijing and Damascus.
Red: Give them to him. I’ll get Chuck and Morgan on him. Baptiste can have the names if it means freeing Isabella. But if he acts on the intel, I’m bleeding, so I need to get eyes on this.
[ Cell phone beeps🔅]

 
[ A checkpoint. One of Baptiste’s men stands in the road. An SUV pulls up, stops ]
[ Gearshift clicks ] [ Dembe is in the SUV ]
Baptiste’s Man: Out.
⋘⋙
[ Parked some distance away, Chuck and Morgan are in another vehicle ]
Chuck: It’s a parking facility. Deming and Clark.
Red: [ On phone ] Sit tight. She’s on her way with Santiago. Nothing happens until Isabella is safe.
Chuck: What about the task force?
Red: You can’t go in with them. I don’t trust anyone else to go in for me anyway, so you’re on your own.
⋘⋙
[ Baptiste’s man pats down Dembe ]
Baptiste’s Man: [ Over comms ] He’s here, and he’s clean. [ To Dembe ] Car stays, you go. Level three.

 
[ Dembe enters the facility, walks down a long corridor until he comes to a room where Isabella is seated. Boukman Baptiste stands next to her ]
Dembe: Isabella.
[ Dembe tries to approach. Baptiste points a gun at her head ]
Baptiste: I wouldn’t.
Isabella: Papa–
Dembe: Everything’s going to be okay.
Baptiste: Did you bring the names?
Dembe: Let her go, please.
Baptiste: After I have the names.
[ Dembe takes out an envelope. Baptiste walks over to him and takes it ]
Baptiste: Tell me, where do you feel it, knowing you are helpless to save your child? I know where I felt it. I’m curious if you feel it there, too.
Dembe: My back.
Baptiste: Exactly. As if the pain has a weight you can’t bear. Look at us. So much hatred, and now – so much in common.
Dembe: You said you’d let her go.
Baptiste: I need to verify the names.
Dembe: That can’t be done.
Baptiste: If I couldn’t do it, I wouldn’t have asked you to bring them.

 
[ Another SUV pulls up to the checkpoint ]
[ Car door opens ]
Baptiste’s Man: Man, the lot’s closed.
Man in SUV: [ Speaking Spanish ]
Baptiste’s Man: I don’t speak Spanish.
[ Weecha comes behind Baptiste’s man and cuts his throat. He falls. The man in the SUV is Santiago, who also works for Red ]
Santiago: Chuck said Dembe went up.
Weecha: We’re going down.
[ Weecha gets inside ] [ Tires screech⚡️] [ Chuck and Morgan’s vehicle follows ]

 
Isabella: Why is this happening? Did you kill his son? Did you do it?
Dembe: After Elizabeth died, I had to make decisions for Raymond. Baptiste was taking territory. We had to stop him. I led a team that found him and tried to take him out.
Isabella: But you took out his son instead. Is that what happened?
Dembe: Yes.
Isabella: And after that, you became a cop?
Dembe: Yes.

[ Flashback: ]
[ Dembe is part of a group being sworn in to the FBI ]
Dembe and Others: I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.
Cooper: Congratulations, Special Agent.
Dembe: Thank you. It wouldn’t have happened without you.
Cooper: Isabella didn’t come. I’m sorry.

Baptiste’s Man: The names are correct.
Dembe: You have what you want. Let her go. Nothing you do here will bring Daniel back.
[ Baptiste again points his gun at Isabella’s head ]
Isabella: [ Gasps ]
⋘⋙
[ Chuck walks up to a circuit box and forces it open ]
⋘⋙
Baptiste: The French take billions from our poor country every year.
[ Gun cocks ]
Baptiste: Corrupt politicians take from the poor and open our ports to people like Reddington. This is about more than revenge. This is about power. This is about taking what I am owed.
[ Isabella sniffles ]
Baptiste: What my countrymen are owed.
⋘⋙
[ Chuck works on the circuit box ] [⚡️Electricity crackles⚡️]
⋘⋙
Baptiste: There are two kinds of people in the world, wolves and sheep. The wolves take. The sheep get taken.
⋘⋙
[⚡️Electricity crackles⚡️]
⋘⋙
Baptiste: Unfortunately for you, I am a wolf.
[ The lights go out … ]
⋘⋙
[⚡️Tires screech⚡️] [ Only the blinding headlights of two vehicles provide light ]
[ Baptiste is holding Isabella up and pointing his gun at her head ]
Baptiste: [ Shouting ] Whoever you are, you’re a little late! Somebody’s about to get shot!
Dembe: I wouldn’t have picked a wolf.
Baptiste: Who asked you?
Dembe: It may be an alpha predator, but they only travel in packs. And something tells me you’re not dealing with sheep here.
[ A knife 🔪 strikes Baptiste in the throat ] [ Gasps, groans ] [ Baptiste falls ]
[ Isabella runs to Dembe ]
Dembe: It’s done.
Baptiste: [ Gasping ] A wolf would put me out of my misery.
Dembe: Maybe. But I’m an FBI agent, so you’re under arrest.
[ Weecha walks over ]
Weecha: The names you gave them, were they able to confirm the identities?
Dembe: Yes.
Baptiste: [ Gasps, gags ]
[ Weecha kills Baptiste and gets his phone and hands it to Santiago ]
Weecha: Trace the last call and take care of it. [ To Dembe ] Raymond has something he wants to show you. As soon as you can.
Morgan: It’s good to see you, Dembe.
Dembe: You, too.
Isabella: [ Hugs Dembe and cries ]

 
[ The camper ] [ On a laptop is the map of the Washington D.C. area cell phone towers ] [ Beeping 🔅🔅🔅]
Red: This is the complete mapping of Vandyke’s whereabouts on the day Elizabeth was killed.
Dembe: I know we’ve talked about my lack of awareness and that I should have seen Vandyke watching us at the coffee shop. But I wanted to plot this because I’ve also been agonizing over the fact that maybe I was the reason Vandyke was there in the first place, that I led him to Elizabeth.
Red: Well, as it turns out, you didn’t. He was nowhere near you that day, not before the coffee shop. Which means he didn’t follow you there.
Dembe: And we know where Elizabeth was?
Red: Yes, I’ve plotted her day more times than I care to remember.
Marvin: So if Vandyke didn’t follow either of you to the coffee shop, how did he know where to go?
Red: Someone obviously told him.
Marvin: Yeah, but who could have known? I mean, I’m as big a conspiracy theorist as the next guy, but this sounds like some classic Third Man stuff.
Red: Yeah, that night, I couldn’t sleep. I felt like if I stayed, I would implode, that I’d collapse into myself like a black hole and cease to exist. So I left. I walked away and– And kept walking. Until I found Weecha and Mierce. And they helped me. And I helped them. ⋘⋙ I’m sorry that I abandoned you. Whatever happened, I shouldn’t have done that. And I’m sorry that I did.
Dembe: I know you’re upset that I gave Elizabeth the letter.
Red: Ah. It’s done. And perhaps it did bring her some peace. But we can’t be fighting each other when we have a real enemy to fight, to find. You’ll have to forgive Marvin. He’s a professional skeptic. But someone led Elizabeth’s killer to her that night. And we need to work together to find who that was. But that’s a quest that will have to wait another day. I’m late to a very important engagement.
Dembe: More important than finding out who killed Elizabeth?
Red: I think so.

 
[ Agnes’s bedroom. She is bundled up in a fluffy fleece blanket. Red sits on the floor reading to her ]
Red: “Pippi was sure that her mother was now up in Heaven, watching her little girl through a peephole in the sky, and Pippi often waved up at her and called, ‘Don’t you worry about me. I’ll always come out on top.'”
⋘⋙
[ Dembe is at Isabella’s house ] [ They hug ]
Isabella: That was so awful.
Dembe: It was my fault. It’s all my fault. I want to protect you, but all I do is seem to put you in harm’s way.
Isabella: Can you promise me it’s over?
Dembe: With Baptiste, yes.
Isabella: With everything. With what you’ve done with Reddington. Is it done coming back to us? To me?
Dembe: I don’t know.
Isabella: I’m going away. With Elle. Not forever, but for now.
Dembe: Where will you go?
Isabella: I don’t think I should tell you that. This isn’t a punishment. It’s not about you being a cop.
Dembe: I know.
Isabella: No, really, it’s not. I was upset with you about that. And I’d be lying if I said I still wasn’t upset. But you can be a police officer and a man who’s proud to be Black. I know that because I know that’s who you are.
Dembe: I want you to feel safe. And I want us to be together. I’ve missed you.
Isabella: Yeah, I’ve missed you, too.
Dembe: Can I see Elle before you go?
Isabella: Of course.
I was reading her a story. I’m sure she’d love for you to finish it.
⋘⋙
[ Dembe reads to Elle ]
Dembe: “‘You have plenty of courage, I am sure,’ answered Oz. ‘All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger.'”
⋘⋙
[ Red reads to Agnes ]
Red: “Her father, Pippi had not forgotten, he was a sea captain who sailed on the great ocean, and Pippi had sailed with him in his ship until one day, her father blew overboard in a storm and disappeared.”
⋘⋙
Dembe: “‘True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.’ ‘Perhaps I have, but I’m scared just the same,’ said the Lion.”
⋘⋙
Red: “But Pippi was absolutely certain that he would come back. She would never believe that he had drowned. She was sure he had floated until he landed on an island inhabited by cannibals. And she thought he had become the king of all the cannibals and went around with a golden crown on his head all day long. ‘My papa is a cannibal king, it certainly isn’t every child who has such a stylish […] ‘”

 
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❌❌❌ 9:9 Boukman Baptiste

 
For S9 Episode 9:9 Boukman Baptiste: 🎯 EW Recap ¤ 🌅 Photo Gallery ¤ 🎹 Music Videos ¤ 📒 Script link: https://wp.me/pDKwi-cSf [ “you are here” ]

Still, the number of killings did not decrease in 2021, despite political activism (e.g. associated with the hashtags #BlackLivesMatter and #DefundThePolice). It is estimated that about half of police killings go unreported as such. George Floyd’s murder for example was initially reported as due to natural causes.

This user-friendly interactive piece from AlJazeera provides the details about most of the better documented cases cited by Isabella and other cases of police violence against Black Americans:

🔆 This❗️⋙ AlJazeera: Know their names: Black people killed by the police in the US http://bit.ly/341EtS4
// Between 2014 and 2020, police in the United States killed at least 7680 people. Twenty-five percent of those killed were Black, although Black Americans accounted for about 14% of the population.

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Another Note: Dembe is reading from “The Wizard of Oz” by Frank Baum. Red is reading from “Pippi Longstocking” by Astrid Lindgren. I read all the Pippi Longstocking books as a girl and loved them. They’re about an eight-year-old girl who lives alone in a house with a monkey and a horse and has adventures with the children next door, Tommy and Annika.

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⭕ Script 9:9 Boukman Baptiste https://wp.me/pDKwi-cSf Status: FINAL @NBCBlacklist #TheBlacklist My site: BlacklistDCd.com https://twitter.com/BlacklistDCd/status/1485040768981024768?s=20/photo/1

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