The Blacklist: Monarch Douglas Bank (No. 112)

On tonight’s The Blacklist the title has the name of a bank not a Blacklister. How is a bank on the list with a number? This is one of those shows I have to watch twice so you won’t see this reap until tomorrow!  (Um, “tomorrow” was an overly industrious prediction. Sorry I’m so late.) I’m already confused. Mr. Kaplan (Kate) is there to clean up a bunch of bodies. It looks like Red is not getting the answers he wants from people who he is interrogating about his missing wife. So he kills them all. Mr. Kaplan, his cleaning lady, so to speak is starting to worry that Red is getting careless in his quest to save his wife, she suggests he ” Take a moment, read a book.” Meanwhile, some dudes in hazmat suits knock over a bank in Poland looking for something they didn’t find. Henrik (where do we know him from?) calls Red to let him know. He tells Red, “We know what they were looking for…” So tell us Henrik!

Lizzie goes to chat with Red who is getting his manicure done by a woman who has medical training named Rosa. He asks about Jennifer. Is he claiming she is his daughter who was in witness protection? I am already confused and am watching on fucking ON DEMAND which does not allow me pause. I somehow managed to delete the episode from my DVR.

Eventually, it is determined that what was stolen from the bank was a list of all the criminal transactions from bad people all over the world. Red gets the next body part of his wife. A tooth. Lizzie and Ressler are sent off to Poland. Lizzie notices on security cam that five robbers went in and six came out. It was a kidnapping of a woman. The Polish are concerned that “the formula” was taken.

The Polish bank executives deny that a bank employee was kidnapped. They say she went home sick that day. Liz and Ressler visit her apartment and find it full of surveillance cameras and she was escorted everywhere by security.  Her name is Kaja Tomczak .  They find the getaway car and there is a mysterious red substance in it. Liz calls Red for help already. He is able to determine over the phone it is jelly from a jelly donut. Red flies to Poland immediately and goes to a particular donut shop that also sells guns to get a donut and information and a gun. And Red, one keeps flour in the fridge because it makes the biscuits rise better. The Crisco should be in there too.

Red gets the info he needs from the bakery about where Kaja is and Liz and Ressler find Kaja and take her into protective custody. As it turns out she was trying to get away from the bank executives in general and Strickland in particular. She has a photographic memory and all of the registry of criminal bank activity is stored in her brain, making her “the formula” I presume.

Berlin is involved with the bank and he is not happy. Berlin threats to peel one of the bank guys, Strickland like a grape if his assets are in jeopardy.

As Kaja is explaining her  hyperthymesia (the ability to remember everything she ever saw, kind of he opposite of CRS) to Ressler in some sort of interrogation room. One of the bank exec starts to beat the shit out of Liz who is on the other side of apparently soundproof glass. He has to kidnap Kaja or all the bank secrets will be out. Kaja set up the “robbery” so the bank would be investigated and she could get away. She was hired to remember things at first but then realized they were laundering massive amounts of money and wanted them dealt with. Liz is able to bit the hand of the dude which causes him to shoot out the two way mirror so she can shout to get Ressler’s attention. Again, his reaction time is slow. A shoot out ensues. Kaja is shot. If she dies the records of all the shading dealings die with her. That Moussad woman to kidnapped Red in the premiere shows up and helps everyone escape. Liz comments to Ressler that his reaction time seems off. We saw at the end of the last episode that Ressler is popping pills.  Liz, Ressler and Kaja hop in a taxi.  Kaja is in bad shape and is dying. Resseler appears to pull out a tampon and shoots it into the gunshot hole. WTF? I’m On Demand and can’t back up. Did I just see that? I thought it was syringe at first!

Meanwhile, Red’s wife tries to escape by shoving a chicken bone in the eye of one of Berlin fails. It as a great try, but she does not escape.

There is a roadblock and the taxi driver explains to the cops they were in his care and one of them bled all over it. Pretty much everyone is dirty in Poland. Liz and Ressler are told to get off the grid by Cooper. Red comes in to save the day. He sends Liz to meet with his ally. He blows up a car to divert the cops and the three flee to a train. The train comes to an unexpected stop. He is fast! He talks about how they will all get home. He sends Liz and Ressler off with his …er … heavily armed friends for a first class ticket home. He gets what he wanted all along. The information from Berlin’s account. Now he has the ammo he needs. Red calls Berlin and says it is time they met.

Red and Berlin meet up.  Berlin says revenge is his passion. He talks about some anorexic on the running team, Twila. It as funny.  The best exchange of the show occurs of course with Red telling Berlin, ” She spent her entire life chasing something that destroyed her… make sure your passion isn’t your sickness.” And Berlin replies, “Your wife is coming apart nicely.” Berlin is proving a tough adversary for Red.  Red tells Berlin they have a common adversary, the person that told him that Red killed his daughter.  Red tells Berlin he has taken over all of his financial accounts (thanks to Kaja). He says, “Shhh, Listen. Hear that?  That’s the sound of all your checks bouncing.from here to St Petersburg and there to Mozambique” Red says his proposal is an even swap his money returns, Red’s wife returns.  Berlin has no choice but  to agree to Red’s demands. But he counters by saying he knows Red’s Achilles heel…Elizabeth Keen. He says, “That is why you are sitting here today…becaue of KEEN!” He says they are both blinded by passion.  I told you this Berlin dude is Red’s most equal adversary. Berlin says to have Red’s associate set up the meeting.

The stupid post office idiots decide to fuck everything up including Liz. They are all still pissed. That hottie Aram looks on the bright side and says,” The coffee machine still works.” Lizzie calls Red as he is playing a carnival shooting game. He won a stuffed animal.  She tells Red she  will not allow him to return the money to Berlin because he kills a lot of people and other bad stuff and that is not worth one life. She heard the info to and has frozen the money. Red let’s her know she will regret doing that and wonder at what point she became, “this thing.” They hang up. Liz seems to know that Naomi and Red will die, but gosh darn it she has a job to do. Oh Liz. Why are you so unlikeable? Red struggles to figure out how to do it anyway. All the postal workers, um I mean Feds are pissed because they know Red probably set this whole thing up to get Berlin’s bank accounts. Foiled again. They are like Charlie Brown and Red is holding the football telling them to trust him one more time.

Red goes to make the trade as planned. And Liz does not go through with her threat. Berlin keeps his word. Red gets his wife back. His wife is blindfolded. He doesn’t acknowledge her. She is taken away likely without knowing he was there.

Liz apologizes to Ressler. Mossad or whatever her name is gives a portfolio to Cooper with lots of information.

Liz and Red meet up. Red thanks her. Liz says he is an asset she is hired to protect. Nothing more. And as far as she is concerned every life Berlin takes is on him. She hopes his wife was worth it.  OH LIZZIE!  He just saved your fucking mother. Have some compassion.  Red says, “It’s funny, how did you know Berlin had his money in that bank?” He realized that some has a secret Santa, a source. Bravo Lizzie he says. When you are ready to share, I’d love to hear. I’m thinking Lizzie is working with Tom   Lizzie wonders how we know that Kaja gave up all the accounts. She says maybe Red kept some back to take care of him and his friends.  He reminds her he has no friends. She leaves. Moussad calls and says she is in (with Cooper I presume) and she looks forward to working with him. The show ends with Dembe driving Naomi, Red’s wife somewhere.

Sorry. This recap is not up to snuff. It’s impossible to recap from On Demand. I hate not being able to back up. Feel free to make corrections in comments.