If you missed last week’s recap, check it out here.
This episode begins with a jeep pulling into a garage. The driver takes off the hoods of the two passengers and orders them inside. The man, Jacob Mercer, and his business manager Susan find his daughter on a torture table, with her body being stretched apart by her arms and legs. A man appears on the screen and orders Mercer and Susan to transfer money to another account where they will distribute the money to those who need it more. Jacob agrees to send the money over and the kidnapper lets Zoe go.
Ressler goes to Illinois to meet a man and his wife who he believes are the parents of Katarina Rostova. His wife had died years before so Ressler questions the husband, who has never heard of Katarina. He says that he would’ve known if his wife had a daughter from a previous marriage and he can’t help him.
Liz arrives at Red’s house, without Dembe. Liz immediately asks where he is and Red says that Dembe hasn’t been agreeing with his choices lately so he let Dembe take some time off to reevaluate. Red tells Liz that he has a lead on “The Third Estate.” Red says the reason they took surveillance equipment is to capture kids of billionaires for ransom. Liz tells Red that McMahon runs their Task Force now so they will have to fill her in without her knowing they are investigating her.
The team briefs Anna about the kidnappings of billionaire children and “The Third Estate.” Another teen has just been kidnapped but the parents are not willing to pay the ransom. Cooper has Liz and Ressler speak to the family of the latest victim. Anna wants to know Red’s true intention for this case but Cooper is focused on the life of Des Foy.
“The Third Estate” sent the Whitmore’s a video as Liz and Ressler are watching. Ressler thinks that if they make the kidnappers believe they will pay, it can help find their son. Mr. Foy refuses to pay the ransom because he says that’s why children are continuing to be taken. He does agree to meet at the location the estate assigned to get his son back.
Dembe meets at with a friend at the mosque and the friend wishes Dembe would be around more. Dembe helps sponsor them and gives them checks. Dembe says that he was able to look past terrible things, but he can’t do that anymore.
Ressler arrives back at Headquarters as the Foy family is continuing to cooperate. Surveillance is set and a team is on route. Cooper says that they can ask for forgiveness from Anna later as their priority right now is Des Foy. Anna is on the phone with one of the President’s agents as Anna tells him she has everything under control and that she is there to lessen the suspicion. He says that failure is not acceptable for them and to remember what is at stake.
Dembe is at the mosque and discusses his troubles. He has a bond with Red that extends life and death and his bond is sacred. He feels that in the beginning, he was helping save innocence by having to hurt others, but now, he isn’t so sure. His friend tells him that he can’t keep helping Red at the expense of his soul and his peace.
Mr. Foy as Liz and Ressler are watching from afar. He hears a cell from under the bench and answers, but Aram can’t get the audio and loses signal. He is instructed to go into the coffee shop to meet with a woman. Ressler tells him to follow the instructions as Foy goes inside and sees the woman set down a book. She walks away as Foy approaches and inside the book lies a bookmark. It says to go to the rear exit of the coffee shop into a black Mercedes. Foy asks Ressler if he should follow and reads the bookmark. Aram gets signal back and tells Liz about a spotter on a nearby roof. Liz goes after the spotter as Ressler goes after Foy. Foy gets a call saying that bringing along the police was a mistake and instructs his driver to drive away. Cooper tells Ressler that the car is headed his way and Ressler almost gets hit in the process. Liz tries to catch the spotter on the roof but only finds a scope.
Mr. Foy is furious as his cellphone receives a call from his son. It is the kidnappers and they said that they had an agreement but now they are done. The man shoots Des Foy as his father, Liz and Ressler watch.
Dembe is living with a heavy secret. #TheBlacklist pic.twitter.com/YY4UJpwRg1
— The Blacklist (@NBCBlacklist) April 23, 2019
Liz finds a clue from the “rack” that was used on Des Foy. She calls Reddington to see if he knows someone who trades or collects them. Liz asks for Raymond to reach out to the woman to get information for the case with the picture she sent. Red asks how they are and Dembe answers that he is becoming Raymond. Red reminds him that he can leave at any time but if he chooses to stay, Red wants to know he can count on Dembe. Red asks that Dembe set up a meeting with Maxwell Ruddiger who was there the day that Red was turned in.
Red meets with the woman, Marie, at her shop. Red shows her the picture sent by Liz and she says that she will ask around to others to find where it is located. Red says that he will make sure it ends up in her collection if she helps.
Red meets with Mr. King, the man who is believed to be Katarina’s step father. He says that one day he found a picture between pages of a book of Virginia who was his wife, and her daughter. It’s the only picture she had and the two had had a falling out. Virginia had sent her daughter a letter for closure and he mailed it to an address. Ressler gets a call that another child has been taken.
Liz and Ressler meet with the Whitmore family whose son has been taken. They warn them that the last family who had their child taken didn’t pay the ransom, and their son was killed. Suddenly, Mr. Foy walks in and hugs the parents. He tells them that Liz and Ressler are the agents he warned them about.
Red and Dembe approach a woman sitting on a bench at an abandoned amusement park and ask for Noel Gerrick. The young woman points out Gerrick on a track. She is Gerrick’s daughter and asks Red, “Tell me, why is it that men your age feel the need to compensate for an increasingly flaccid penis? It’s only natural.” Red responds with, “So is cholera.” Raymond walks onto the track where Gerrick is driving and he hits his brakes, barely missing Red. Red pulls out his gun and tells Gerrick to move over.
Back at the house of the Whitmore’s, Liz begs the parents to pay the ransom because those who have paid, have gotten their children back. Mr. Foy chimes in that it gives them another chance to take another child. Ressler gets a call from the post office inquiring about security footage from February as Liz gives the Whitmore’s time to think.
Red is driving fast on the track and questions Noel about who he sold the rack to after purchasing it at an auction. Noel said he didn’t sell it but he has a collection. The Whitmore’s make the decision not to pay the ransom as Liz gets a call from Red that he has an address.
Liz and Ressler arrive at a building with Aram and other FBI agents who are trying to get surveillance inside the collection warehouse. Aram suggests that he can splice the feed if he can get close enough. Aram goes undercover as a cable worker and gets into the building. He tries to find what he needs as Gerrick’s daughter makes a call to the “The Third Estate” and tips them off. The woman who let Aram in threatens him with a gun and tells him to come with her. A man behind Aram knocks him out.
Aram wakes up, tied up, and has a man in a mask with a gun sitting across from him. Aram tells him his phone will ring any second and that he needs to answer it or someone will come looking. Liz and Ressler are telling Cooper the situation as one of the kidnappers is on the phone with HRT. Cooper grabs the phone and tells the kidnappers to FaceTime so he can see the hostages. They call back and Aram and his guard briefly talk to Cooper.
Aram begs the guard to let Tyler Whitmore go or the FBI will storm the building. Aram gets a tool to help break his hands free as the guard goes to discuss letting Whitmore go. Anna shows up to the building were the FBI is camped out and tells Cooper they need to storm the building. He tells her that he will not take orders from her in the field. She tells him he may not have to listen to her, but he has to listen to Mrs. Whitmore, who has made many monetary contributions for the Chairman.
The guard tells Aram, after a brief discussion with the woman who let Aram in, they have decided not to release Tyler Whitmore. Aram breaks free and they struggle. Aram gets the gun and he wants Tyler’s location and how to get out. Suddenly, Tyler walks out, unharmed, with a gun. The guard takes off his mask and it is Des Foy. “You thought we were the victims of ‘The Third Estate’. We are ‘The Third Estate’.”
The team along with Ressler storm the building as Cooper, Anna, Liz, Mrs. Whitmore, and the HRT commander are standing by. The children of the billionaires hide or try to run but are arrested. The team finds Whitmore holding a gun against Aram with Foy and they shoot Tyler. Mr. Foy shows up to see Des being arrested as Tyler is being transported to the hospital.
Liz questions Des about where they sent it and to who. Aram walks in and tells Liz that Des’ lawyer has arrived. Aram tells Des that he is sorry and that he wanted to make sure that Des got back to his family, since Tyler wasn’t so lucky. Liz pleads with Des for his cooperation and for who runs “The Third Estate.”
Surprise. #TheBlacklist pic.twitter.com/2m8iP2PDcr
— The Blacklist (@NBCBlacklist) April 20, 2019
Red is sitting in the dark on someone’s bed as Dembe turns on the light, waking him up. Red asks for Anna McMahon and believes he runs “The Third Estate.” The man doesn’t know what he is talking about. “You can spill your guts or your brains, I’m good either way.”
Red is in Cooper’s office and says that Anna McMahon doesn’t work for “The Third Estate.” As they converse, Anna meets with the President’s agent. She knew the FBI would look if she had withheld anything so she did. They now know about this organization but she reassures him she has it under control. Red tells Cooper that she is more of an adversary than he originally thought.
Dembe meets Liz in her office and begs her to tell Raymond, or he will. He tells about the meeting with Ruddiger and that he was there the day she turned him in. Red interrupts them and asks Dembe about the Ruddiger meeting. Dembe says it has been set. “Excellent. A silver lining at the end of a grimly overcast day.”
Ressler arrives at the post office and receives a picture of the man who picked up the letter. He asks the man for the hard drive. This can lead Ressler closer to finding Katarina.
Here is next week’s trailer for the two-hour event:
The Blacklist airs Friday’s at 9 p.m. on NBC.