The Blacklist is back and Red's day of wrecking has come! Hey now! Hey now! The Blacklist is back!!
Sorry about that, I've gotten that tune in my head before the new episodes of The Blacklist aired Thursday with an epic two hour spring return event.
The first episode "Dembe Zuma (No. 10)" was a very good episode that started off with Dembe taking Aram from his home and away from his girlfriend, Janet. Since the last episode, we had thought that Dembe might have poisoned Reddingotn, but as Aram and all of us have found out, that he knew Red was poison and the only way to find out was to do it while accused of it.
Aram believes Dembe and helps with try to see who has hacked into Red's hidden places and a name comes up that gave Dembe a look that someone has come from the grave. As that was happening, Red and Liz spend some very nice time together (yeah!!) not only where Dembe is but locating his daughter so he could get to him.
They search for Dr. Sophia Gallup that has aired criminals, who get released from prison to kill those that had killed her parents. When Red and Liz get to her after capturing her hit men, they see her covered in bees to help the pain after an accident that she had encountered from the ones that had killed her parents. Red asked for the book that she holds of information of those that are hidden and finds Dembe's daughter.
Red asked Dembe's daughter where he might be and soon give him a phone that he sends her with only one number to call. Red calls and gets Dembe, as he is back at the woods and tells him that she's not there. Red ask who but before Dembe could say anything, he gets shot with a bow by the creepy woods man. Red calls Aram asking the name that he and Dembe found and as Aram tells Red, Kate Kaplan. Red spooked as hell, tells Liz about Kaplan as she is the person who's been there through the darkest days.
Red and Liz recues Demebe and takes him to the hospital while Red goes after the woods man. Soon, Red outsmarts the guy and takes him down but the guy had one last shot with a bomb that goes off but Red and his bodyguard rushes out fast. But at the end, Mr. Kaplan answers her phone with a message from that woods man telling her to fight like hell because Reddington is coming.
The second episode "Requiem," opens back int he 60's of a young child saying goodbye to her mother, who happens to be Mr. Kaplan. This episode gives one of the series great backstory of how Mr. Kaplan became Mr. Kaplan and her relationship with Liz, Katarina and even Red.
She was aired as a nanny to watch Liz when Katarina would be doing her undercover job, even spotted her having a backseat relationship with Reddington. But when she helped Katarina with a guy that was trying to kill her and we see her first cleaning job.
As Katarina went on the lamb and Kaplan was watching Liz, we see that she gives Liz to what would be her "foster father. Later after dropping of Liz, she's at a bar and meets a by the name of Annie Kaplan and soon the two were a couple. They work for Little Nikos and soon a man who wants to see him comes in with a gun and not only shoots Annie but Kaplan too. Annie dies and Kaplan survived as the bullet went through her head cleanly. For some reason, she gets by two gun shots to the head like that, she is a lucky person.
We jump to where Red has summoned Kaplan and offered a job to help protect Liz because her life will be endanger. She tells him that she'll help him but if she had to choose between him or Liz, it would be Liz every time and Red agree ( I guess he had forgotten about that meeting ).
While watching the flashbacks, Kaplan in present time was on the road finding something that happen to be in a certain motel, probably the same motel that her and Liz were in hiding at the time. After a bit delay from a couple in the room, she goes in and takes part of the wall out and gets out suitcases.
As soon as Red calls Kaplan, she tells him that she's gonna bring him down to where it all hurts...release the bodies of the victims that he had killed, for which Kaplan had stored in an ice rink and leaves with a whole lot of bodies out out.
So we're off to the races! This was a very good, well spent two hour event that I couldn't have been more thrilled and stunned at times. The first episode was so good and amazing from performances not only from Spader but also Boone, Hisham Tawfiq as well. That scene when Red tells Liz about Mr. Kaplan without saying her name til the end of the scene was just so beautifully written. Also Annie Heise steals the episode too as Aram's girlfriend (I'm one who forgives Janet for what she has done as she's really changed Aram's perspective on things). Not to mention, Clark Middleton steals again as Glen Carter and the one scene was given Red and Liz a ride with a student foreign driver.
The second episode was probably the best episode, mostly the best backstory episode on the show (until we get to see Reddington's backstory). It was so beautifully written and so well performed by Joanna Adler as the young Mr. Kaplan and not to mention the original Mr. Kaplan Susan Blommaert. I was amazed how Kaplan's relationship grew for Liz and Katarina and not to mention when she met with Reddington. The episode ended with a chilling way that we've not seen Kaplan like this before, threatening Reddington.
Overall, I give "Dembe Zuma (No. 10)" a 9/10 and "Requiem" a 9/10.
You can catch The Blacklist Thursday nights at 10/9c on NBC.