The Blacklist Review: 3×06 “Sir Crispin Crandall”

The Blacklist has had an outstanding run in its third season so far. While this episode didn’t have the same impact as others, it still had it’s stellar moments. After all, you can’t keep Red down for long.

CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD IN OUR DETAILED REVIEW

The Blacklist — Along with a recovering Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq), Red (James Spader) and Liz (Megan Boone) set their sights on the next piece of the puzzle to exonerate her name. They need Andras Halmi, a brilliant econometrician and one of the world’s leading minds. It just so happens that Halmi is also a close advisor to The Director (David Strathairn) as well. But to find Halmi, who has been kidnapped, they will first have to find Sir Crispin Crandall (Guest star, Harris Yulin and Blacklister No. 86). An eccentric billionaire, Crandall is pouring resources into a bizarre attempt to thwart the next mass extinction event he believes will come from unsustainable population growth by putting the world’s most gifted minds on ice until the inevitable crisis passes.

Meanwhile, Tom (Ryan Eggold) has drug Asher (Peter Vack) and Gwen (Conor Leslie) deeper into trouble than any of them imagined. When both Tom and Asher are abducted by the very people extorting Asher for enormous sums of money, Tom may be one step closer to Karakurt, but he is also staining his emerging conscience with the blood of innocents along the way. At the Post Office, Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff), Navabi (Mozhan Marnò) and Aram (Amir Arison) must walk a dangerous tight rope as they work to help Red find Crandall and at the same time, prevent The Director from using intel gathered to find Red and Liz. As all sides close in on the unsuspecting Crandall, a dangerous trap is sprung that puts Red and Liz directly into the hands of Mateus (Edi Gathegi), who is clearly out for blood this week on The Blacklist!

The games of billionaires are not like the ones the rest of us play.

Sir Crispin Crandall will certainly go down as on of the most eclectic Blacklisters we’ve met. An eccentric billionaire, Crandall is a vague, twisted amalgamation of numerous such characters in movie and television lore. Part S. R. Hadden from “Contact” with a bit of John Hammond from “Jurassic Park” plus a dash of all crazy James Bond villains tossed in for good measure, Crandall was a tapestry of characters we’ve seen many times. To say Harris Yulin ate up the role would be an understatement. He captured the oddities and warped humor of Crandall exceptionally well. Before things were said and done, we certainly believed this man had completely lost his mind in the process of trying to save humanity through a warped plan of freezing the brightest minds in every field.

As bizarre as Crandall was, and as well as Yulin played him, our only question was did we need Sir Crispin Crandall? The Blacklist has been rich with bizarre candidates so that’s nothing new, but in nearly every case those Blacklisters were all a bit more intimately tied to our main plot or characters. Yes, Crandall had someone we needed on ice, but it took a very long time to get to that point and to understand how it was connected to the Task Force, Red and Liz. While we don’t mind a good mystery on The Blacklist, this one simply felt forced with a retread character trope of the crazy billionaire that’s been done time and time again. Quite frankly, The Blacklist is better than that. Crandall’s antics were fun, but seemed to be more about shock value than substance. As he pontificated his vision to his next cryogenic victim, we were set up for something bigger than what we ultimately got in the end.

“You and I, along with the others, will free ourselves. We shall slip the surly bonds of earth and touch the face of God. I see the captain’s turned on the seat belt sign. Well make sure that your seat back and folding tray are in their full upright position. We’re in for a bumpy ride.” ~ Crandall

But as the episode wore on, there was no real payoff for that enigmatic beginning. Bumpy ride to where? Learning that Crandall lived on a plane that rarely landed was interesting, but anti-climatic compared to the “bumpy ride” statement that promised something more. Don’t get us wrong, there was still plenty of good in this episode of The Blacklist, but it had a bit of a tired feel to it. As if so many things we saw happen were ones we’ve seen before in other places. That’s not typically how The Blacklist does business, but on more than one occasion the plot devices in this episode felt just a bit retread. In fact, Red confronting Crandall at the end felt ripped almost right out of a vintage James Bond flick, right down to the mindless drones that put Crandall on ice and ignored James Bo–er–Red who just shot their employer. And then everything concluded with the token shootout where the good guy gets away with the girl and the goods (easy Lizington Shippers).

Our criticism of the plot devices and writing shouldn’t in any way diminish the good job of bringing Crandall to life by Harris Yulin. We may have a few issues with Crandall as a character in the grand scheme, but Yulin delivered in style and though the first forty-five minutes of the episode had a few tired and winding moments, the payoff for things not related to Crandall at all in the last fifteen minutes was especially good. Like we said, there are no bad episodes of The Blacklist. Just some that are more exceptional than others and this one lacked a bit in the “does it make sense” department up until the sweet bank heist and takedown of Karakurt by Tom.

How much blood does it take to wash a man’s soul clean?

Tom isn’t making any friends in his efforts to find the elusive Karakurt. The deeper he goes, the more we wonder just how horrified Liz will be when she realizes how much innocent blood has been spilled in her name. In her mind, her innocence is likely worth her own life, but she wouldn’t sacrifice anyone else’s to clear her name. Tom on the other hand has always been closer to a sociopath than anything normal and his actions to clear Liz’s name certainly fit that profile more than any other.

But despite his targeting of Gwen and Asher, a small part of him seems to be growing a conscience. It’s not the full-fledged introspective voice that most normal people have. Most of the time those voices stop people from using and abusing others long before there’s a knife in someone’s throat, but his conscience has a faint pulse. Along with loving Liz, this might be the first time that there’s actually hope for Tom to reach some level of normalcy that Liz could love in some way. The only problem is that as Tom begins to exercise his feeble conscience muscle, he really has no idea what to do with it or how to let it guide him. Just ask Asher. Oh wait, he’s the one with the knife in his throat so we can’t really do that.

“I’m sorry.” ~ Tom

Yeah, we get that you’re beginning to feel something normal Tom. It was even evident that he had twinges of regret in killing Asher, but “I’m sorry” doesn’t quite make up for bleeding a relatively innocent man to reach your goals. While few will likely shed a tear for the Russians Tom killed at the end, Asher’s death is going to have consequences. Gwen doesn’t seem like the kind of person that would let that go. She’s rash and unpredictable. That may very well come back to bite Tom later. In fact, Tom may feel bombarded at all sides. Cooper, Gwen and even Liz will likely all exert some level of pressure on Tom for Asher’s death and while Tom may not care much about what everyone else thinks, rejection by Liz could send him down a very dark path.

Ryan Eggold has been splendid this season through Tom’s gradual progression from a heartless con man to one that genuinely cares for Liz. He’s making fatal flaws when it comes to how to handle people and those mistakes will be either ones he’ll grow from or cause such regression that we may never see the bright-eye’d Eggold again. One can see the markings of a full season arc for Tom. An arc that the writers crafted with an endpoint. We don’t know what that point will be, but Eggold has played each step brilliantly thus far and this episode was no exception. Tom may have Karakurt, but that overhead shot of Asher’s blood on Tom’s hands was no accident. Tom is clearly in the crucible. What comes out after the fire molds him, is anyone’s guess.

Two thumbs up for Red. Two thumbs down for The Director. Two thumbs undecided for The Blacklist.

The Fulcrum has largely played the role of a tantalizing MacGuffin on The Blacklist. Philosophies differ on whether or not an audience needs to care about a MacGuffin or simply understand why it would drive characters to act. The answer depends on who you ask in Hollywood. As of yet we don’t know many details about the Fulcrum, but it’s truths, whatever those are, would seem to be damning to those implicated if taken seriously.

For the most part, we’ve not necessarily needed to know specifics about the Fulcrum in order to understand its importance. We’ve simply needed to know enough about it such that we believe why it would drive the larger plot of this show as dramatically as it has. After all, a MacGuffin is simply an object used to get the audience’s attention and drive the plot. On that front, The Blacklist has succeeded wildly. With very little to go on, we believe in the Fulcrum’s potential power.

But something specific in the Fulcrum has the attention of Red and Marvin (Fisher Stevens) and it would appear they plan to use that information to their advantage. We don’t know what that is, but in order to believe it’s important we don’t have to understand it—yet.  Here is where differing philosophies on the concept of the MacGuffin come into play. The Blacklist entered a second MacGuffin into the mix this week and the payoff didn’t quite fit the buildup.

After muddling through the Crandall business in order to get to Andras Halmi, or more specifically his thumbs, the construction side plot paid off in spades with the realization that it was all a ruse to cover a slick bank heist and retrieve something only Halmi’s thumb prints could unlock. As The Director’s confidant, Halmi’s thumbprints were the key to unlocking a safe deposit box The Director would have rather kept closed. That was Red’s plan all along. Unfortunately for Crandall, he picked the wrong econometrician and got caught in the crossfire between Red and The Director. As the two men exchanged barbs, the real plot of the episode was finally revealed.

“You’ve been skimming from the company till, stealing millions in anticipation of running away. When you were linked to the Cabal, you reached out to Halmi–put your golden parachute in a secret account only he could access. Except now I’ve got it. You have no money to escape the inevitable. Your colleagues will abandon you. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon enough, because I’m not going to stop until they do.”  ~ Red

“Unless I exonerate Keen.” ~ The Director

“It’s one small chance to save your life.” ~ Red

“Such a generous offer. I’ll have to decline.” ~ The Director

“I’m going to bring this whole damn thing down on you, Peter. And when I do, your own people will beg me to kill you to stop the bleeding.” ~  Red

And while the  dialogue between The Director and Red once the gig was up was priceless by two magnificent actors at their best, the mysterious “it” in the safe deposit box was a bit of a letdown. We half expected the contents of the box to glow gold like the famous unknown MacGuffin from Pulp Fiction after all the side plots and winding elements led us to it. A box of cash just didn’t have the luster it needed. Unless there’s more we’ll learn later, the assumption by Red that the cash was a secret escape plan by The Director was a bit of a leap. Red might have been right on the money with that assumption, but how did he know?

In this case, we saw exactly what was in the box and it represented a double-edged sword for The Blacklist writers. On one hand, they had to make it powerful enough that it would give The Director pause, but on the other, they had to make it soft enough that he could choose to ignore it and continue his pursuit of Red and Liz. Whether Red’s assumption is correct or not we don’t yet know. Either way, there was just enough bite to the move to get The Director’s attention, but not nearly enough teeth to stop him. So the game continues. In the end, we think The Blacklist will deliver on the mysterious elements in the Fulcrum that are key in defeating the Cabal. We will eventually need to know exactly what Red and Marvin are so interested in so that we are invested and follow things to their logical conclusion. The writers have earned our trust and we believe that will happen, but that didn’t stop this smaller piece of the puzzle from coming off a bit flat. Yes, the conversation between the two men was gold, but the contents of the box was not.

FINAL VERDICT: Usually spot on, this episode of The Blacklist fell just a tad flat in some places whiles others definitely shined. Not every episode is a titanic home run, but singles can still deliver big when the next episode knocks one out of the park.

The Blacklist almost always gets just about everything right. Almost. And, while there are not bad episodes of this show, this one did come off a bit stale and predictable in places early and through the middle. Yes, it had shining moments for Red (we certainly didn’t see that bribe fail coming either) and considerable tension with The Director prowling the henhouse. Tom’s evolution is a fascinating study of human psychology and Ryan Eggold has been stellar in showing us how a character with no conscience can begin to care.

The end payoff was a good one for Red. His blasting of The Director in their final conversation certainly was a moment we enjoyed, but as good as Harris Yulin was as Crandall he didn’t seem entirely necessary other than to shock us after all the pieces fell into place. Tying the kidnappings of brilliant minds to him and muddying the plot with numerous scenes of Crandall scaring the crap out of poor Dr. Kucera (Arnie Burton) felt a bit excessive. The real story between The Director an Red needed a bit more time to sink in, but there just weren’t enough minutes left after Crandall.

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Usually The Blacklist nails the nuances of its stories so well that we can’t help but applaud the cleverness and inventive ways this show unravels its tales. By the end of an episode everything we truly needed to know is clear. Things are never known in full, this is The Blacklist after all, but we get the key parts and that’s what matters. In this case, it took a second viewing and some thought to get everything and that over-complication is probably the second mail main culprit behind Crandall.

While we don’t have a clear solution for how it could have been better, it just seemed like one too many things to juggle. That’s not to take away from some stellar moments. The Blacklist always has them, but in this case a little less would have helped everything be clearer and the good moments to shine just a bit more.

Writer Dave Thomas and Director Ami Canaan Mann collaborated on what ultimately was a tremendously complex episode. They managed to make most of the numerous elements work, but a few simply felt like they’d been done before one too many times. The idea of the eccentric billionaire felt like a bit of a recycled fallback and moments like Dr. Neehoff’s (Emily Dorsch) hiding under the bed became predictable when they played out exactly as we’d seen them in other places. Her abduction seemed pulled straight out of the movie Taken, we just didn’t get to see Navabi threaten the kidnappers by phone.

Overall, the good did outweigh the questionable elements. Ryan Eggold’s transformation and fiery determination to save Liz is likely to pay off later with some incredible drama and heartbreaking moments. Liz will likely appreciate his effort, up until she knows just how much innocent blood was spilled in the process. Speaking of good things, Red and The Director need more direct interaction. James Spader and David Strathairn are both exceptional actors and their clash on this show has been divine to watch.

We have a feeling that things left untouched by this episode will come to light later and that there will be some definitive payoff of elements that didn’t quite feel right here. The writers of this show have proven more than once that when one episode falters a bit, subsequent ones take tarnished things we didn’t understand and polish them into plot gems that finally shine. We expect no less here and don’t plan to miss any episodes of The Blacklist to find out how!

Questions, Comments, Concerns and My Reaction on Twitter…

• Living in Arlington. Well, that’s  convenient for travel. 😉
• Freeing that beautiful mind. Um..this is entering into a very, very creepy place.
• If he finds Liz. He’ll kill her. That’s a pretty likely scenario Navabi.
• Uh oh. She just pulled a Taken. Never get under the bed with the phone. 😉
• Pop goes the bad guy. Navabi just pulled a Ressler!
• Faster than a fart .. in a fan factory. That’s gone pretty quick Marvin.
• Find a place to hide. But not UNDER the bed with your PHONE Gwen. #DoesntWork
• Who could have predicted that? And that’s why these people are pros. 50 takes later, I’d still be laughing.
• To prepare you for a Brave New World .. This dude is NUTS.
• Uh oh. Sleeveless Navabi is serious business.
• Genius popsicles?
• It is just me or did that gentleman’s voice not quite fit his face? o.O
• Don’t go anywhere. This dude is COMPLETELY nuts.
• Well, when he told Cooper “anything” he meant it. #BloodOnHisHands
• I think Tom actually “felt” that one.
• He said popsicles! lol
• What’s death? It’s just a process. Checkmate Crispin.
• Nicely done Red. Two thumbs up
• Oops. Two thumbs down for you Director. 😉
• Holy hell. Telling people what you’ll do to kill them and then DOING it is badass.