🔴 Script 9:16 Helen Maghi (№ 172)
NBC’s series The Blacklist starring James Spader and Megan Boone
Series created by: Jon Bokenkamp
Program air date: 4/15/2022 in the US (7pm Central/Chicago Time)
Script Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-dmZ
EntertainmentWeekly Recap: https://bit.ly/37Pg6ZWu
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IMDb (Internet Movie Database): http://imdb.to/3EhUotB
Source: Raw Script from OurBoard: http://bit.ly/3EsoREs [ dump of captioning ]
STATUS: ⭕ Pending ⭕ Rough ⭕ Preliminary 🔴 FINAL
STATUS: 🚫 Pending 🌒 Rough 🌓 Preliminary Final
Last updated: 4/17/2022 at 4:00pm CT [ Central/Chicago time ]
Directed by: John Terlesky
Written by: Daniel Cerone
SERIES STARS:
Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington – James Spader
Donald Ressler – Diego Klattenhoff
Harold Cooper – Harry Lennix
Aram Mojtabai – Amir Arison
Alina Park – Laura Sohn
Dembe Zuma – Hisham Tawfiq
GUEST STARS:
Agnes Keen – Sami Bray
Red’s Army – Kemo Coleman
TAC Team Leader – John Damroth
Mehmet Akurek – Danish Farooqui
Judge Carol Bailey – Darlene Hope
Helen Maghi – Anna Khaja
Maghi’s Bodyguard – Edmund Laryea
Prosecutor – Felicity Jones Latta
Cynthia Panabaker – Dierdre Lovejoy
FBI Agent Aronson – Beth Malone
Agent McCoy – Edward Manley
Lew Sloan – Danny Mastrogiorgio
Valve Room Guard – Andrew Mauney
Mateo DeSoto – Joseph Melendez
Charlene Cooper – Valarie Pettiford
Agent McConaughey – John Rochette
Weecha Xiu – Diany Rodriguez
Real Agent McCoy – Wayne Stephens
Mount Bastion Guard – Terrell Wheeler
🔴 Script 9:16 Helen Maghi (№ 172)
Brief (Where we’re at):
Cooper has been placed under arrest for a number of charges ~ potential felonies ~ relating to his and Lew Sloan’s ‘investigation’ of the person attempting to blackmail Cooper, now believed by Cooper and the task force to be an former NYPD detective whose name is Reginald Cole. Unfortunately that does not excuse the crimes Cooper and Lew committed, including witness tampering, unlawful imprisonment, failing to report a murder and altering Cooper’s service weapon. Cooper was forced to come clean after Red placed a man named Andrew Kennison on the Blacklist (Blacklister #185). Red had flown to Boston to talk to a doctor about the tracking device found in Liz’s body during an exhumation autopsy. The doctor recognized the device as a prototype developed by Kennison to help patients who were inconsistent in taking their meds. But when Red went to find Kennison, his roommate told him Kennison had been missing for several weeks. So Red turned to the task force for help. Cooper instantly recognized Kennison as the young man he had placed in witness protection because his blackmailer had demanded it. He didn’t immediately speak up, but instead dispatched Ressler and Dembe to MIT to talk to Campus Police. A surveillance photo of the license plate led them to the US Marshals Service where they were told that it was Cooper who had placed Kennison in protective custody.
So Cooper had to come clean, to both Red and the task force. Cooper refused to give Red the location of the safe house where Kennison was being held but Red used his own sources to find Kennison and abduct him. Kennison told Red that he had given the tracking device to Reginald Cole, the ex-NYPD detective who was now a private investigator. Simultaneously, Aram was able to ID Cole by reversing the voice modification he had used to disguise his voice in phone calls to Cooper. So the task force and Red’s team arrived at Cole’s office at the same time, but the task force nabbed him first. Red fruitlessly pleaded with Panabaker to let him interrogate Cole. She refused, but when Cole’s lawyer showed up, even after dropping hints that he knew *a lot* about Liz’s murder, the tracking device, and even Vandyke (who killed Liz), Panabaker conceded they didn’t have enough evidence to hold Cole, so Cole was released. Red was waiting with his lawyer Marvin Gerard outside the Post Office and had given orders to his crew to grab Cole once he was five minutes out, but before that could happen, a motorcyclist sped by and mowed down Cole and his lawyer with an automatic pistol as they were getting into their car.
Unresolved from earlier episodes:
1) Red’s business is under attack. Illiquid after his two-year hiatus following Liz Keen’s murder, Red had incorporated on an underground stock exchange called the night market. Someone organized a group of investors to attempt a hostile takeover – and Red can’t figure out who.
2) In an effort to be more open with her husband Peter about the nature of her work, Park appeared ready to divulge that it has to do with Raymond Reddington. This is of course very tightly-held classified information.
3) Ressler has reached a two-month milestone in his treatment for drug addiction and the task force celebrated with him, but he remains somewhat paranoid and uncharacteristically emotional. Cooper still doesn’t know Ressler cheated on his drug test to get reinstated into the FBI.
4) Cooper began to tell Agnes ‘her story’ in a way which seemed to imply Red might be her grandfather. How much did Cooper tell Agnes? How much does Cooper even know?
5) What was in the box Red gave to Dembe?
6) What did the letter from Katarina to Liz say about Red’s true identity?
7) And what happened in Brasilia, anyway?
For S9 Episode 9:16 Helen Maghi: 🎯 EW Recap ¤ 🌅 Photo Gallery ¤ 🎹 Music Videos ¤ 📒 Script link: https://wp.me/pDKwi-dmZ [ “you are here” ]
[ Red and Weecha let themselves into the office of Reginald Cole ] [ Lock disengages ]
Weecha: [ Sighs ] Looks like the FBI already took anything useful.
Red: The FBI has no idea what’s useful to me.
Weecha: Maybe we’ll find the shooter.
Red: I don’t know, we’ve got everyone out there, but a guy on a motorcycle? That bike’s in pieces by now. The shell casings are a dead end. Shooter could be anyone, anywhere. All we can do is keep looking.
[ Weecha pours the contents of a bowl of odds and ends into an empty drawer and pokes through it ]
Weecha: Whoever killed Elizabeth is going through a lot of trouble to keep you from finding them. Seems like it would just be easier to take you out.
Red: Perhaps they need me. Or they’re saving me for something special.
Weecha: Could be they love you.
Red: Or it could be all three.
Weecha: This is something. What is this?
Red: Oh, this is an item that definitely should not be in the possession of a former NYPD officer, even a crooked one like Reggie Cole.
Weecha: What is it?
Red: It’s a key to a vault that’s inside one of the most inaccessible, enigmatic security facilities in the world.
Weecha: How do you know that?
Red: I have one just like it.
[ Door opens ] [ Indistinct voices ]
[ Cooper is awaiting his arraignment. Cooper’s lawyer Mateo DeSoto enters with Cooper’s wife Charlene ] [ Door closes ]
DeSoto: Harold. The judge is taking the bench now. She’s gonna arraign Lew Sloan first. I’ll give you guys a few minutes alone together.
Charlene: Thank you.
DeSoto: [ Whispers to Guard ] Do you mind giving them a few minutes?
[ Door opens, closes ]
[ Cooper and Charlene hug ]
Charlene: [ Sighs ] [ Breathes deeply ] Is it true? About the cop? Mateo said that he was killed?
Cooper: He and his lawyer. We couldn’t hold them. As soon as we left the Post Office, they were gunned down.
Charlene: By who? Why?
Cooper: I don’t know. Other than somehow it’s connected to Elizabeth’s murder.
Charlene: Which means it’s connected to Reddington.
Cooper: Oh, he’s not to blame, if that’s what you mean.
Charlene: I lied for you, to the cops to give you an alibi. I lied for you, not him.
Cooper: No charges will be filed against you. Cynthia gave me her word.
Charlene: Yeah, well, Senator Panabaker lets Reddington do as he pleases. And as soon as you and poor Lew try to figure out who framed you for murder, she just lets you both rot.
Cooper: This isn’t on her, Char, this is on me. Based on my years of service, my attorney expects that I’ll be released without bail. So hopefully I can return to work.
Charlene: Elizabeth left Agnes with us as parents, role models. You want to make this right for me, I understand. But you have got to make it right for her.
[ New York City ] [ Piano music plays ] [ A waiter pours tea for a dark-haired middle-aged woman, Helen Maghi ] [ Door opens ]
Helen Maghi: Thank you, Walter.
[ Red enters ] [ Door closes ]
Red: Helen. What a delight to see you.
[ Red sits down at the small table across from Helen ]
Helen: [ British accent ] I’ve been making a great effort not to be seen. By anyone. How did you know where to find me?
Red: The real mystery is why you’re hiding in the private room and why you aren’t returning calls.
Helen: Too many questions, Raymond.
Red: Mm.
Helen: What can I do for you today, other than marvel at your deductive powers and tolerate your unwanted presence?
Red: A dead cop was storing something of value in Mount Bastion. I need to know what. I need to get inside this vault.
[ Red puts the vault key in front of Helen ]
Helen: Impossible.
Red: You engineered the impossible when you carved out the core of a granite mountain to build your impenetrable facility.
Helen: Well, I have more pressing concerns than enabling your criminal mischief, Raymond.
Red: Tell me.
Helen: I recently consulted on a job. A heist crew needed a way to steal cargo from a heavily guarded container yard. My rig worked beautifully, but the crew left evidence behind. Now they’re in federal custody using my name to cut a deal. If I’m not a wanted woman already, I fear I shall be at any moment.
Red: It seems we both have itchy backs. An opportunity to scratch each other’s itch.
[ Cooper’s arraignment, Judge Carol Bailey presiding ]
Judge: Mr. Cooper, it’s not every day an assistant director of the FBI graces us with his presence, particularly on the wrong side of the bar. How do you plead to the charges against you today?
Cooper: Not guilty, Your Honor.
Judge: I’ll hear the defense on bail.
Mateo DeSoto: Defense asks for release with no bail, Your Honor. Harold Cooper’s led a long and distinguished career in law enforcement–
Prosecutor: Long and formerly distinguished until 10 years ago. After that? Who knows? No one will say. Everyone knows everything in this town, but what he does and how he does it is – No one has a clue.
Desoto: Oh, Your Honor–
Prosecutor: Which means he can go anywhere anytime, which makes him, by any reasonable standard, a flight risk.
Judge: Bail is set at $300,000. Trial in six weeks. [ Gavel bangs ]
⋘⋙
[ Charlene, Aram and Cynthia Panabaker gather around Cooper ]
Charlene: Honey, we can get the money. We can cash out an insurance policy if we have to.
[ Charlene hugs Cooper ]
Cynthia Panabaker: I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.
Cooper: You kept Charlene out of this mess. That’s enough.
Aram: We’re not stopping until we find out who’s behind this. If I had any say in this, the only Blacklister we’d go after is the person who did this to you.
Cooper: You do have a say. The say. [ To Panabaker ] You haven’t told him yet?
Panabaker: Until the judge miscarried justice, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to.
Aram: Have to what?
Cooper: Give you my job.
Aram: What? No.
Cooper: You have my full confidence and blessings. And you–
DeSoto: Harold, you have to go.
[ Door opens ] [ Cooper leaves with DeSoto ]
Aram: [ To Panabaker ] I can’t do this.
Panabaker: Probably not. [ Door closes ] But Harold chose you.
Aram: What about Agent Ressler?
Panabaker: What about him? You eat life, or life eats you, Agent Mojtabai. You’re the boss now, so bon appétit.
[ The Post Office war room ] [ Aram addresses the task force ]
Aram: This is only until Mr. Cooper is back, which I hope is really – Really soon. Um, I’m just a figurehead, like Colonel Sanders. They need a face on the bucket. [ To Ressler ] It should’ve been your face, obviously. Square-jawed, dimpled, top of the pecking order.
Ressler: I had my shot. It’s your turn.
Dembe: You’ll be fine.
[ Red gets off the elevator with Weecha ]
Red: I understand congratulations are in order.
Park: [ Quietly ] Says the man who really rules the roost.
Red: If I may offer some counsel – “Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ] In the spirit of that, I bring an unusual case. A Blacklister not to catch, but to release.
Ressler: Ah, here we go. [ To Aram ] Good luck.
Red: Helen Maghi, one of the world’s most accomplished structural and geotechnical engineers.
[ Aram pulls up her history ]
Aram: In the invasion of Iraq, Maghi designed a floating bridge to carry tanks and heavy-armor vehicles across the Euphrates River in the dark of night.
Red: Her crowning achievement is Mount Bastion. Using proprietary drilling techniques, she carved into a Pennsylvania mountain of solid granite to create an impregnable storage facility favored by the criminal elite, with more safeguards and redundancies than the U.S. Bullion Depository.
Ressler: And you want to break into it.
Red: Well, we found this key in Reggie Cole’s office. A key to a storage vault in Mount Bastion.
Dembe: Mount Bastion would never rent a vault to a former police officer, but they might to his employer.
Red: His employer, Harold’s blackmailer, Elizabeth’s killer, all the same person.
Park: What are we waiting for? Let’s storm the mountain.
Red: Impossible without Maghi’s help. That’s where the task force comes in. She provided engineering services to some heist crew working the Port of Virginia. The crew was just arrested by the FBI, and Helen is afraid they’ll sell her out in a plea bargain.
Aram: You want us to make the criminal case against Helen Maghi go away, in exchange for her help breaking into Mount Bastion. How do we feel about that, team? Show of hands for yes.
[ Aram raises his arm. Red *enthusiastically* raises his. No one else does ]
Aram: Right. I am in charge here. Okay, uh, Agent Ressler, Agent Zuma, track down the FBI team that made the arrest. We’ll start by trying to find out what kind of case they have.
Ressler: You got it.
[ Ressler and Dembe leave ]
Red: And Harold. How is he?
Aram: Not good. He’s stuck in jail with a bail he can’t afford.
[ Dembe and Ressler visit the FBI team investigating the case against Helen Maghi ]
FBI Agent Aronson: They cut open a shipping container right in the middle of the yard, directly in front of security cameras, and nobody saw a thing.
Ressler: How did they do that?
Aronson: Look at the red container. Now check it out 15 minutes later. [ Mouse clicks ] And after that – And after that.
Dembe: Who was moving it?
Aronson: It was moving itself – slowly. So slowly, motion cameras didn’t detect it and security guards never noticed.
Dembe: The heist crew was hiding inside.
Aronson: They retrofit the container with hidden wheels, then crept it into position next to the stolen cargo to block security cameras. It was brilliantly engineered, which makes sense given the woman who hired them.
Ressler: Helen Maghi. Now, our intel says that she was hired by the crew, uh, as a consultant.
Aronson: Someone is playing you. The crew we’re talking about are high school dropouts.
Dembe: What did they steal?
Aronson: Six crates of RPGs. According to our suspects, Maghi made plans to ship them to separatist forces in Kazban. To put it simply, she’s arming terrorists.
[ Cooper is dressed in a suit again ]
Charlene: Mr. Homan? I don’t know who that is.
Cooper: Our friend with the hat.
Charlene: He posted bail?
Mateo Desoto: All $300,000. Once payment goes through, you can go home.
Cooper: Have you spoken to the prosecutor about a deal?
Charlene: A deal? A deal for what?
DeSoto: She says she’ll take two years if you plead guilty to conspiracy.
Charlene: No!
Cooper: Char, it’s 15 if I go to trial.
Charlene: But you were framed.
Cooper: And to find out why – I tampered with evidence and witnesses and let you lie to create my alibi. You were right, I have to make this right for Agnes. A deal is the best way to do that.
DeSoto: So, Harold, tell her we’re good?
Cooper: On one condition. I won’t testify against Lew. He wouldn’t cut a deal to hurt me, and I won’t cut one that hurts him.
DeSito: Okay.
[ Red’s camper in the woods ]
[ Red holds an egg against his forehead, reminiscent of Mierce’s shamanic practices ]
[ Mierce’s sister (and Red’s bodyguard) Weecha brings a glass of water ]
Weecha: Go ahead, read the results.
Red: I’m not trying to read anything. I’m trying to remember. I miss Mierce.
[ Cell phone buzzing ] [ Cell phone beeps🔅]
Red: Is it done?
Aram: [ On phone ] Well, we spoke to the Bureau about the heist crew you say hired her. Only, uh, they say she hired them and that, uh, she’s a terrorist.
Red: While dramatic statements are effective attention grabbers, overstatement merely serves to try your listener’s patience.
Aram: I’m not being dramatic. Or maybe I am, because, well, stealing RPGs to arm extremists in Kazban is, well, pretty dramatic, and apparently what she did.
Red: We need the FBI to lose interest in Helen Maghi. It’s the only way for us to obtain information we need to avenge Elizabeth and free Harold.
Aram: You asked us to look into Maghi’s claims, and we did. And now I’m asking you to do the same, respectfully. Please?
Red: Another word of advice, moral relativism.
Aram: That’s two words.
Red: Yes, but one piece of advice.
[ Red tosses his hat on the table of the private dining room where Red meets Helen Maghi. He sits down ]
Red: Did you lie to me, Helen? Fresh intel says you’ve been arming the separatists in a war-torn country, putting innocent civilians at risk.
Helen: And you know me better than that.
Red: I do. But my best contact in law enforcement has replaced by a conscience with ears, so I am unable at present to wave your federal troubles away.
Helen: Then we have little to discuss.
Red: On the other hand, I could make you disappear.
Helen: I’m sorry. Is that a threat?
Red: What I’m offering is a gift. While I can’t stop the FBI from looking for you, I can certainly make sure they never find you. New papers, private estates. Reflexologist on call, day and night.
Helen: I prefer shiatsu.
Red: Done.
Helen: If I just help you break into the mountain fortress I designed. There must be something quite valuable hidden inside that vault.
Red: I hope so, Helen. I really do.
[ Cooper descends the yellow metal staircase from his office carrying a file box ]
Aram: Can I help?
Cooper: I got it.
Aram: I insist.
[ Aram grabs the file box and heads back up the stairs ]
Cooper: What are you doing?
Aram: Taking this back where it belongs.
Dembe: Raymond gave us a case that can help find the person who framed you.
Ressler: He’s the one who should be on trial right now, not you.
Cooper: I’m not – On trial. I agreed to plead guilty.
Aram: Wait, what? No. No, no, no, no, no, no.
[ Aram comes back downstairs, still with the file box ]
Aram: You can’t because, um, you’re not.
Cooper: But I am, and finding the person who set me up won’t change that. Two years. With good behavior, maybe 18 months. Then it’s over. Unfortunately, so is my career [ Chuckles ], so thank you, but I’ll take the box where it belongs.
[ Cooper takes the file box from Aram ]
⋘⋙
[ Elevator doors clang open ] [ Red and Weecha step out ]
Red: Ah, Harold. Hello.
Cooper: Hello, ‘Mr. Homan.’ Thank you for my bail. I’ll repay it. I’m not sure how or when.
Red: Harold, the deal, your plea to fall on your all-too-honorable sword, have you told Agnes about it?
Cooper: Have I told her her life is being upended again? No. Of everything that’s happening, that’s the thing I dread the most.
Red: Then don’t. You want to repay me for bailing you out – Say nothing.
Cooper: I can’t protect her from this.
Red: No, but perhaps I can.
Cooper: Then you have my word. And my curiosity.
Red: All I need is your patience.
[ Cooper’s (for now, Aram’s) office ] [ Red sits down. Aram stands beside the desk ]
Red: Helen Maghi denies arming terrorists.
Aram: Do you know a lot of people who would admit to arming terrorists?
Red: I do, yes. I also enjoy that degree of honesty with Helen Maghi. A fact I only mention to put your righteous mind at ease about working with her.
Aram: I can’t make the heist crew’s testimony go away. She- She will be indicted.
Red: Yes, wheels of justice and all that. Terrible metaphor, really. Wheels turn, justice sits. Nonetheless, Helen has agreed to help us break into Mount Bastion.
Aram: How did you make her agree?
Red: The only relevant question is, will you agree to help? — You do know that’s your chair now, right? Go on, it won’t bite.
[ Aram sits ] [ Chair squeaks slightly ]
Aram: Uh– This feels wrong.
Red: Well, I’m sure there’s a knob underneath you can adjust.
Aram: Not the chair.
Red: Oh, well, give it time. You’ll do fine.
Aram: No, I don’t mean the job. I mean the case. Despite what Maghi told you, I have solid intel that Kazban rebels are expecting a shipment of stolen RPGs from the U.S. And, well, Maghi is accused of stealing RPGs, so I can’t let the team work with a woman who is actively arming terrorists.
Red: I’m right about Helen Maghi. You need to trust me on that and move on with this case. If for no other reason than if you don’t, Harold will never be able to reclaim that seat.
Aram: [ Pause ] Mount Bastion. How do we get in?
[ Upbeat music plays ]
[ Helen Maghi explains the plan to Red, Dembe and Weecha in Red’s garage/office. Separately, Aram then conveys the plan to the task force at the Post Office ]
Helen Maghi: My contract with Mount Bastion was to engineer impenetrable storage vaults inside a mountain with one heavily fortified way in and out. To hide its existence from the outside world, the entire facility had to remain unconnected to the municipal power grid.
⋘⋙
Aram: Okay. So to stay off the grid, Maghi built her own geothermal power station inside the mountain, but this created a hidden vulnerability ’cause the system needs a constant supply of circulating water to dissipate the thermal load.
⋘⋙
Helen: That water is piped in underground from a nearby lake. If anything happens to that water supply, the entire system, including security, will overheat and shut down.
⋘⋙
Aram: So Maghi provided us with GPS coordinates of an emergency valve hidden on the mountainside. Once Mr. Reddington and Agent Zuma are inside the mountain, you two need to close the valve and cut the water supply.
Park: How do Red and Dembe get inside Mount Bastion? I thought the place was like Fort Knox.
Aram: Turns out Mr. Reddington has a vault of his own there, and, as his former bodyguard, Dembe has security clearance, too. This should the enable the both of them to clear the three levels of biometric scanners, and from there, it is 30 floors down to the subterranean vaults.
⋘⋙
Helen: But, as you know, the guard will escort you to your private vault, so you have to go there first. By the time you reach the vault, your support team needs to be in position.
⋘⋙
Aram: Mount Bastion keeps the water valve under tight watch with two guards. Now, you’ll relieve them just before their shift ends, which gives us a short window before the real guards arrive.
[ Flashforward: ]
[ Knock on door ✽ ✽ ] [ The guards let Ressler and Park in ] [ Buzzer ]
Ressler: Hey, guys. We got it from here.
Guard: You’re early. We still got a half-hour left on our shift.
Park: This is our first assignment on the mountain. Didn’t want to be late.
Guard: Be our guest.
[ Door closes ]
⋘⋙
[ A guard lets Red and Dembe into Red’s locker ]
Aram: When you get the signal, you need to find this high-pressure water valve and turn it off quickly. Without water for cooling, the power system will immediately shut down and switch to auxiliary power.
[ Flashforward: ]
[ Ressler turns off the valve ]
Aram: When that happens, the guards are ordered to lock clients into their vaults to keep them safe and then report to the perimeter to provide security for the facility. At that point, the Mount Bastion controller will call Maghi, the systems designer, to figure out what the problem is.
[ Flashforward: ]
[ Cell phone rings ] Hello?
Controller: Helen, it’s Terry. We have a Tier One problem on the mountain.
Helen: Send me a remote access code, and I’ll take care of it.
[ Cell phone beeps🔅] [ Keyboard clacking ]
Helen: [ To Red and Dembe in Red’s locker ] All right. I have surveillance running on an endless loop.
Red: How long do we have?
Helen: [ Over comms ] You have six minutes to get to the other vault and back. After that, the system reboots, and it’s shoot to kill. I’m sorry, I wish I could give you more time.
Red: You’ve given us enough. I hope.
Helen: Go now.
[ Keyboard clacking ] [ Computer beeps ]
⋘⋙
[ Alarm blaring 🚨]
[ Red and Dembe find Reginald Cole’s locker. Red opens it with the key ] [ Lock disengages ]
[ Alarm blaring 🚨]
[ Inside the room-size locker is only one thing: a metal lockbox. Both Red and Dembe recognize it ]
Dembe: It can’t be.
Red: But somehow it is.
Dembe: We put it in a safe in Tivat. Only two people could open it.
Red: And neither of us did.
[ Red opens the box. Inside are computer disks ]
Dembe: If it wasn’t you or Elizabeth, then who did?
[ Red lifts one disk labeled “Strategy and Inplementation” ]
Dembe: And how?
Red: This was her future. What she needed to succeed.
[ Another disk is labeled “Intelligence Gathering and Dissemination” ]
Red: She would’ve been great. Stronger than me.
Helen: [ Over comms ] Hurry. You have 30 seconds.
Dembe: We have to go, Raymond. It’s time.
⋘⋙
[ Alarm blaring 🚨] [ Blaring stops ] [ Power comes back on ]
[ In the guard station, Park and Ressler get up and leave ]
⋘⋙
[ A regular guard opens the locker where Red and Dembe are. Red is putting the files into a leather bag ]
Red: Nothing serious, I trust?
Guard: Not at all. A venting issue, but we have the all clear.
Red: And we have what we came for.
[ After the successful operation ]
Helen Maghi: [ On phone to Red ] Well, it sounds like a win-win. You got what you wanted, and I got a new contract to retrofit the geothermal piping that caused the shutdown. [ Laughs ]
[ Red is in his plane ]
Red: A contract you’ll be undertaking in a new life from an undisclosed location of your choosing.
Helen: Oh, I’ve chosen. The Villa Peduzzi on Lake Como.
Red: [ Laughs ] A stone’s throw from Clooney.
Dembe: [ To Red, low voice ] Aram asked me to text him when we’re in the air.
Red: [ To Helen ] If you see him, please remind him he still owes me a case of tequila for our wager on the Palio di Siena.
⋘⋙
[ Aram sits at Cooper’s office ] [ Tablet chimes✨] [ He picks a two-way radio ]
Aram: TAC Ops, initiate takedown. Move.
⋘⋙
[ The door to Helen’s dining opens ] [ The TAC team bursts in on Helen ]
— FBI!
— Hands up.
— Hands where we can see them!
[ Helen’s guard moves to protect her ]
Helen: [ To her guard ] No, no, dear.
— Don’t move.
Helen: No need to die on my behalf.
— Don’t move.
— Back, please.
Helen: Not today. [ To the waiter ] Thank you, Walter.
[ Cooper’s kitchen. Cooper is making pancakes for Agnes ]
Agnes: Pancakes are not a snack food.
Cooper: According to whom?
Agnes: I think everyone.
Cooper: Well, “everyone” hasn’t tasted my pancakes. Let’s see. A little butter.
Agnes: That’s a little-and-a-half.
Cooper: And a little-and-a-half of syrup.
[ Ringtone plays✨]
Cooper: Go on, sink your fangs into that and tell me it isn’t amazing. [ To person on phone ] Hello?
Mateo DeSoto: Harold, we have to talk. It’s about Lew.
Cooper: What happened? Is he all right?
DeSoto: He’s fine. You’re not.
[ Cooper knocks on the door of Lew Sloan’s house ✽✽✽✽! ✽✽✽✽! ] [ Door opens ]
Cooper: You agreed to testify against me?
Lew: You shouldn’t be here.
Cooper: I would never sell you out, never. I was planning to do jail time to protect you, two years. Now the D.A. won’t offer me less than five.
Lew: Well, I’m sorry, but I wasn’t prepared to go to jail, okay? I got two teenage boys who need their father.
Cooper: You should have thought about them before you altered the barrel of my service weapon.
Lew: I did that to help you!
Cooper: I never asked you to. You made that decision on your own. You decided to tamper with evidence.
Lew: You’re my friend, and this breaks my heart. But I’ve got a family I’ve got to look out for.
Cooper: So do I. And thanks to you, I’m not gonna be able to.
[ The Post Office war room ]
Ressler: We broke into a mountain fortress for a box of homemade DVDs?
Park: That’s it? That’s all that was in the vault?
Aram: What was recorded on them?
Dembe: They are a series of instructions recorded by Raymond for Elizabeth and advice on how to run his empire after he died.
Park: A master class on how to become a criminal. And to think I signed up for a mixology class.
Ressler: Why would Reggie Cole steal them? I mean, what good did they do him? And where did he steal them from?
Dembe: Those are good questions, and Raymond can’t answer a single one.
Aram: Well, you all did good work on the mountain. Mr. Reddington got what he was after, and so did we.
Park: What did we get?
Aram: Helen Maghi, our Blacklister. She’s in holding right now.
Ressler: How?
Aram: While you were all pulling off the heist, I dispatched a van with an IMSI-catcher to intercept any mobile phone traffic emanating from the mountain. Once the repair call went out to Maghi, it was just a matter of using her cell signal to track her location.
Dembe: So when you asked me to notify you that we were in the air–
Aram: Yeah, that was the signal to move on the target.
Dembe: You should have notified me.
Aram: I’m sorry, but I did not want to put you in Mr. Reddington’s line of fire, any of you. It was decision, and if there’s fallout, I’ll take the heat.
[ Ringtone plays✨]
Ressler: Looks like the heat’s here.
Park: Put him on speaker. You don’t have to deal with this by yourself.
⋘⋙
[ Aram steps aside to take Red’s call. Red is upset ]
Aram: Mr. Reddington.
Red: We had an agreement! We agreed you wouldn’t act on Helen unless I confirmed your intel.
Aram: It wasn’t exactly an agreement. It was more like an order.
Red: Which you disregarded.
Aram: Yes, I did.
Red: Where is she?
Aram: Two agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force are on their way to take her into custody.
Red: And I was just on my way to take her into hiding, which I promised to do in exchange for her help. I don’t break my promises. It’s bad for business, mine and therefore yours.
Aram: I’m, uh, sorry, but it’s done.
Red: Harold Cooper knows when to compromise, and he knows it isn’t immoral because he accepts moral relativism. Clearly you do not, which is a problem because I can’t work with you until you do.
Aram: Then remove me as head of the task force, please. I am aging in dog years here. But I urge to use whatever you learned on Mount Bastion to help us find Elizabeth’s killer and prevent Mr. Cooper from going to prison.
Red: Helen first.
Aram: Helen is going to prison, which, I am sorry, isn’t about moral relativism. It is about doing what’s right. Clearly you do not see that, which is also a problem because I can’t work with you until you do – Sir.
[ Cell phone beeps🔅]
[ Aram’s sits in Cooper’s office ] [ Knock on door ✽✽ ] [ Ressler enters ]
Aram: You don’t have to knock.
Ressler: Took a lot of, uh, balls to do what you did yesterday.
Aram: For which I assume we will all pay a painfully stiff price.
Ressler: You gave him what he wanted, but without compromising your principles.
Aram: Thanks for the pep talk.
Ressler: You’re welcome, but that’s not why I came up. The, uh, agents from JTTF are here to transfer Maghi over to Central Detention.
⋘⋙
[ Aram and Ressler descend the staircase from Cooper’s office ]
Aram: Agent Mojtabai. You’re here for the prisoner?
Agent McCoy: We are. Agents McCoy and McConaughey, JTTF.
Dembe: I’ve reviewed their paperwork. Everything’s in order. Park’s bringing out Maghi.
Ressler: Just a little heads up on the transfer, fellas– We have it on good authority that Raymond Reddington wants to spring Maghi loose.
Agent McConaughey: The Raymond Reddington? Thanks for the tip.
[ Park comes out with Helen Maghi ]
Park: She’s all yours.
Agent McConaughey: Well, well, well. After all these years. You got a lot to answer for. Can’t wait for our chat.
Helen: You’ll chat with my lawyer.
[ Elevator door opens, closes ]
[ Red’s office/garage ]
Red: [ On phone ] I trust everything is in order? Very good.
[ Door opens; Weecha enters ]
Red: I’ll meet you in a half-hour.
Weecha: I got the information you wanted about your lady friend.
Red: I don’t know if we need to worry about that anymore, Weecha.
Weecha: Too late. I already got to the bottom of it.
[ A man whose head is covered with a sack is brought in ]
Red: Oh, my. And whom exactly did you get to the bottom of?
[ Weecha pulls the sack from the man’s head; he’s bruised and bloody ]
Weecha: This is Mehmet. He received the cargo from the shipping container job Helen engineered.
Red: Well, hello, Mehmet. So you know what was stolen and where it went?
Mehmet: [ Nods ]
Red: Tell me.
[ The Post Office ] [ FBI Agent Aronson, head of the team originally investigating Helen Maghi, enters with two JTTF agents ]
Dembe: Agent Aronson. How can I help you?
Agent Aronson: Helen Maghi’s a big fish, and we all reeled her in together. I didn’t want to miss this. These gentlemen are with the Joint Terrorism Task Force. They’ll be taking Maghi into custody.
Aram: The JTTF was already here. They took Maghi half an hour ago. Agents McCoy and McConaughey.
Real Agent McCoy: We are Agents McCoy and McConaughey.
Aram: He didn’t.
Ressler: He couldn’t.
Dembe: He did.
[ Red’s airplane ] [ Helen Maghi is brought in ]
Helen: Raymond? What’s going on? Who are these men?
Red: Imposters. My imposters, to be precise. I told you, Helen, you had nothing to worry about from the FBI. Please, sit. I just had a very interesting conversation with a young man. I believe you know him. Mehmet?
Helen: [ Shakes her head ]
Red: Well, he knows you anyway. He says you sold him six crates of heavy artillery that you stole from the Port of Virginia, which are now on their way to a group of extremists in some faraway desert.
Helen: I didn’t do it for money, if that’s what you’re thinking.
Red: I’m thinking about survival. My survival depends on relationships. I’m gutted you’ve poisoned ours. You lied to me. Twice! Why?!
Helen: [ Tearfully ] My son. They killed my son. Beheaded him. He was an aid worker in Kazban, providing food and shelter for people with none, but the state heard a rumor he was a rebel, so– [ Voice breaking ] They cut off his head.
Red: I’m very sorry to hear that. I wish you’d shared this painful story from the start.
Helen: We’re not going to Italy, are we?
Red: You’ve proven you can’t be trusted. And you know much too much. If you were in my shoes, what would you do?
Helen: What would you do if you were in mine? If someone butchered your only child for no good reason? I’m willing to bet that you would stop at nothing to scorch the very earth they walk on.
Red: That may be. But if I were you and you were me– I would never, ever lie to you. ⋘⋙ [ To the two men ] Take her to Como, see to her needs.
[ Red leaves the plane with Weecha ]
[ Helen Maghi covers her face with her hand ]
[ The Coopers’ kitchen ] [ Agnes sits at the table. Cooper enters ]
Cooper: I need to talk to you, honey.
Agnes: Did I do something wrong?
Cooper: No, I did.
[ Cooper sits down ]
Cooper: I did something very wrong. I lied to a police detective. I thought I was doing it for a good reason, to protect my family from getting hurt, but I learned something. I learned there’s never a good reason to tell a lie.
Agnes: Well, that’s okay. At least you learned, right? That’s what you always tell me.
Cooper: Well, the reason we teach children when they are children is because when you’re an adult, there can be serious consequences for bad behavior. And now – I have to pay for mine.
[ Red’s office/garage. Red is there. Panabaker is brought in ]
Panabaker: Really?! In the Senate parking garage you send two guys to “give me a lift”?! You’re the fox in the henhouse, and I’m the sheepdog, which is not a good look.
Red: Harold is scheduled for sentencing this afternoon. He’s pleading to five years he doesn’t deserve.
Panabaker: I’d help him if I could.
Red: ‘If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, oh, what a Christmas we’d have.’ You’re not a sheepdog, Cynthia. You’re Santa Claus. And you’re not going to give Harold coal.
Panabaker: Harold is clenched firmly in the jaws of the legal system. There is no path forward here but to let it play out. Now if you don’t mind, I’ll just be going.
Red: “Otherwise Illegal Activity.”
Panabaker: Excuse me?
Red: A federal agent, usually undercover, fills out an application that, when approved, authorizes him or her to bend laws with almost no judicial review or oversight, all to catch a criminal.
Panabaker: Harold was operating with no such authorization.
Red: But he was chasing a killer who murdered Doug Koster and framed Harold to gain leverage over him. How hard could it be to backdate one of those fancy forms to explain his actions?
Panabaker: As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I won’t participate in a cover-up. If Harold had nothing to hide, he shouldn’t have hidden.
Red: Agreed, but he did. Cynthia, to spare our loved ones from pain and to get to the truth, who among us wouldn’t abandon a few of our firmest principles, like rats from a sinking ship?
Panabaker: I’m sorry you have such a dark view of humanity, Raymond, but not all of us would compromise our ethics so willingly.
Red: Is that a fact?
[ Tape recording: ]
[ Nurse Binstock screams ] [ Groaning ]
Reddington: You seem ill at ease.
Panabaker: Yes, well – There is a line I have studiously avoided crossing in my career, until now.
[ Shouting indistinctly ]
[ Recorder clicks ✽ ]
Red: That terrible sound came from a woman you brought to me two weeks ago to interrogate for information.
Panabaker: You recorded that?
Red: She’d harmed your daughter-in-law, who was harming your granddaughter. I wonder how that recording would play for your Judiciary Committee.
Panabaker: I thought you were trying to help me.
Red: I did help you. And now you can help me. Or Harold, to be precise.
Panabaker: You son of a bitch.
Red: Okay, but then again, you didn’t know my father.
[ The Coopers’ kitchen ] [ Agnes is with Cooper. Charlene walks in ]
Charlene: It’s time.
[ Agnes and Cooper hug ]
Agnes: [ Sniffles ]
Cooper: It’ll be okay.
Agnes: I’m not gonna let you go.
Cooper: You don’t have to. I’m never gonna let go of you. But you do have to let me leave.
[ Doorbell rings✨ ]
Charlene: I’ll see who that is. You get your things and then we’ll go.
Cooper: [ To Agnes ] I’m gonna call you every day, okay? I am not going to let you go. Ever.
⋘⋙
[ Footsteps approaching ] [ Panabaker enters ]
Cooper: Cynthia, what do you want?
Panabaker: Reddington paid me a visit today.
Cooper: If it’s all the same to you, I really don’t want to hear about Reddington right now.
Panabaker: Oh, I think you’re gonna want to hear this.
[ Chelsea Wolfe’s ♫ “If You Have Ghosts” plays ]
[ ⬇ Go to Full Lyrics ] or [ ♪ Tap square below to play ♪ ]
♪ If you have ghosts– ♪
[ The Post Office ]
Ressler: What are you doing here? We were just on our way to your sentencing hearing.
Cooper: Panabaker got it postponed. One month. To allow me time to finish investigating.
Dembe: Why did the senator change her mind?
Cooper: I don’t have the details, but I know Reddington got involved.
Park: Does that mean you’re back? Please tell me you’re back.
Cooper: I’m back.
Aram: You’re back. You’re back! Oh, Mr. Cooper! Mr. Cooper’s back. I could kiss you. You know what? I will kiss you. [ Kisses him on the cheek ] You don’t understand. The office, the title, the headaches, they are all yours. I tried to make you proud. I stood up to Mr. Reddington. I showed the courage of my convictions. And then he sent two fake JTTF agents who trampled all over them. My convictions and me.
Cooper: I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m back only as an agent. Unless and until we can figure out who set me up, you’re still the boss.
Aram: Uh, okay, but, uh, [ Whispers to Cooper ] you can just tell me what to do, and I’ll pretend to boss you into doing it.
Cooper: Now I just need to show results.
Ressler: Don’t worry. This time you won’t be working alone. We’re gonna find your blackmailer, all of us.
[ Speaking indistinctly ]
[ Cooper’s house ] [ Cooper walks into the kitchen. Red is sitting there ]
♪ If you have ghosts–
Red: There is no more peaceful sound than the quiet of a home with a family tucked safely under the covers and fast asleep. I envy you, Harold.
Cooper: I’m not sure how safe anyone is with you in the house.
Red: Nonsense. I’m a guardian angel and an angel of death, all rolled into one fiercely protective package.
Cooper: Thank you, for the look I saw on Agnes’ face when I told her. Now we have a month to figure this out.
Red: I came here tonight to tell you that from now on, I won’t be working with the rest of the task force on this case or any other.
Cooper: Aram.
Red: He leaves me no choice. I don’t trust him.
Cooper: That’s ironic, because you won’t find a more trustworthy soul on this planet.
Red: Then he has you fooled, Harold. Because he deceived me. The sort of deceit that gets people killed.
Cooper: Was it? Or did he give you a taste of what you give us and you didn’t like it – Any more than we do?
Red: I have to operate the way I do. I give, but I get. And nine times out of 10, my get is the very thing that enables me to give you what you need.
Cooper: And as I explained to Aram today, that’s why we need to trust you, even when you’re not forthcoming with us. For our team to work, one side needs to adhere to rules, be held accountable. That’s our role as FBI agents. I forgot that myself, nearly went to jail for it.
Red: Don’t be too hard on yourself.
Cooper: I won’t if you won’t be too hard on Aram. Give him another chance. He’s new to the job, he’ll learn. He’s also my boss, so I have to back him.
Red: We’ll see. I’ll consider your words.
Cooper: Well, when you’re done considering, turn off the light, lock the door behind you.
♪ If you have ghosts–
Cooper: Good night, Raymond.
Red: Good night, Harold.
♪ You have everything
If you have ghosts
You have everything ♪
❌❌❌ 9:3 End Helen Maghi
For S9 Episode 9:16 Helen Maghi: 🎯 EW Recap ¤ 🌅 Photo Gallery ¤ 🎹 Music Videos ¤ 📒 Script link: https://wp.me/pDKwi-dmZ [ “you are here” ]
🔴 Episode Songs
♫ ⋙ Check Tunefind for any additional music for this episode
If You Have Ghosts
By Chelsea Wolfe♪ if you have ghosts then you have everything
if you have ghosts then you have everything
you can say anything you want
and you can do anything you want
if you have ghosts then you have everything♪ one never does that
one never does that
if you call it surprise there it is
the moon to the left of me
is a part of my thoughts
is a part of me
is me
one never does that♪ in the night i am real
in the night i am real
the moon to the lеft of me
is a part of my thoughts
is a part of me
is me
forеver is the wind
is a part of my thoughts
is a part of me
is me♪ in the night i am real
i don’t want my fangs too long
i don’t want my fangs too long
the moon to the left of me
is a part of my thoughts
is a part of me
is me
forever is the wind
is a part of my thoughts
is a part of me
is me
i don’t want my fangs too long♪ if you have ghosts then you have everything
if you have ghosts then you have everything
if you have ghosts then you have everything
if you have ghosts then you have everything🎹 Return to where this song occurs in script above
Lyrics and Credits: http://bit.ly/3vflr4Q
YouTube: https://youtu.be/F9AJrWqhlPM
🔴 General
⭕ Script 9:16 Helen Maghi https://wp.me/pDKwi-dmZ Status: FINAL @NBCBlacklist #TheBlacklist My site: BlacklistDCd.com https://twitter.com/BlacklistDCd/status/1515801192374452230?s=20/photo/1
⭕ Easy-Search Scripts updated thru Episode 9:16 Helen Maghi https://wp.me/pDKwi-c3J#maghi #TheBlacklist @NBCBlacklist My site: BlacklistDCd.com https://twitter.com/BlacklistDCd/status/1515806394871656451?s=20/photo/1
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