- When a mutilated corpse washes ashore, Agent Liz Keen consults Red over what he knows about the deadly underworld of wildlife poachers. Meanwhile Agent Donald Ressler develops a dangerous habit.
- "The Blacklist" - "The Mombasa Cartel (No. 114)"- Oct. 27, 2014
We open on a small homestead in the Sierra Leone and are told it is 29 years ago. A Jeep full of armed men careens up. They shoot several members of a family. A young boy, standing off to the side sees this all and the men abduct him instead of killing him.
We cut to a swanky Parisian hotel in the present day and a man, presumably the little boy now grown, stands at the window as room service is brought in. The waiter chokes him to unconsciousness from behind. (That's one way to spoil breakfast.) He then clamps a tag to the man's ear.
We cut to a boy and his dog on the seashore. He and his grandfather stumble across a mutilated body that has washed ashore.
We to Red's place where he is telling Liz about the Mombasa Cartel which traffics in wild animal poaching. They are essentially terrorists with corporate fronts. Liz says the FBI is tasked to protect people. In addition to the harm to the animals and the environment, he runs down the human toll: assassinations and massacres purely in the name of hundreds of billions of dollars in human blood money. She correctly assesses this issue is important to him.
We cut to Ressler trying to get a prescription he claimed was stolen.
Liz goes to the Post Office and explains the Mombasa Cartel and it's work on cornering the illegal wildlife trade. She brings up the dead body from the shore, the body is our friend with the spoiled breakfast. He was behind an elephant massacre. Other cartel members have disappeared and may potentially wash up flayed. Liz gets a text from someone named "Ronaldo," claims it's Red and excuses herself.
She heads to her secret hiding place gun drawn. Bald Aaron Neville, Ronaldo presumably, is dead on the ground. Her minder from the motel is there and asks if he should tell Red or if she wants to.
We cut to a rustic cabin with mounted animal heads. A man puts in a false eye in a creature we can't see. An older woman comes in and says it's Matthew's best work yet, beautiful. It is a kind of taxidermied (?) mannequin using the skin of the dead man who washed ashore.
Red tells Liz he's arranged drinks with the 33rd richest man on the planet who is a passionate animal advocate and knows about the illegal animal trade. She is impressed Red knows this guy, he says they're not buddies, he doesn't have those, they are acquaintances who share passions and have a quid pro quo relationship. He tells her her cover as a animal activist reporter. She is meeting him that night. She seems nervous. She says she's fine.
Liz meets the guy at a loud rock concert at a rustic-looking club. Jeff Pearl is Peter Fonda. (So he pretty much has to be the bad guy, right?) He greets her warmly. He says what she's undertaking is dangerous, she says she can handle herself. Smitten he agrees.
Later in the car, Red says he knew Jeff would love her. He gave her one lead on an import company. Ressler and Liz approach a leader in the company and, persuasively, ask for his cooperation. Ressler is all chesty with the guy. Liz wonders if he's okay since he was late and is edgy. He says he's fine and calls her mom.
They bring the guy in and he claims he has no knowledge to share even with many charges against him. They also discover a new body washed ashore from the Mombasa Cartel, someone is poaching the poachers.
Later, Liz calls her minder and admits she didn't tell Red. He says he has to, he has no choices. She says she doesn't either and suddenly his room is raided and he is arrested.
We cut back to the creepy old lady and she is asking the evil waiter, who is apparently her son, for another "friend" for Matthew, his brother. He is annoyed that he does all the work of the abduction and takes all the risks while she and his father sit around. She slaps him and says everyone does their part and the poachers his father identifies deserve what they get and he should be proud to be on Team Poacher Killer/Stuffer. She says she knows it's hard but she loves him and calls him her rock.
Red drinks coffee by Zoe D'Antonion -- aka "the girl"'s-- food truck. He pretends to leave his hat and she brings it over to him. He offers her a cash reward which she refuses and he introduces himself as "Kenneth."
The latest body gives them lots of data points and Aram figures out the bodies were dumped off the coast of Alaska where an underground group were attacking grizzly poachers. Cooper sends Ressler to Alaska.
Liz's stunt results in a police report that says the FBI may be close to catching Red since the man in custody is an associate of the "Concierge of Crime"-- such a great nickname!. Red is annoyed. Liz says she'll put a 24 hour tail on him and see how he likes it. He argues this isn't about that but about being found out that she's hiding something and that he will find out what in due time.
We cut back to the creepy cabin where Matthew is taking a hot bubble bath and mom is babying him. Matthew is not quite right clearly. Mom tells Matthew that Peter is bringing him a new "friend" and he seems happy. He stands and is very, very tall. (Although to be fair, mom seems really short.)
We cut to Sitka, Alaska where Ressler is desperately rubbing his teeth with the powder from his empty pill bottle. (Poor Donald.) He is clearly out of sorts without his meds, shaky and blowing out deep breaths. He intentionally smashes his hand in his car door so he can go to the hospital and get a prescription. (Damn.) He gets a call from Liz who says he needs to head out to a ranch formerly owned by the Alaskan underground group.
Liz, Aram, and Savar try to track down how the victims got from their abduction spots to Alaska to be dumped, guessing private planes.
Ressler arrives at the ranch where there is no cell signal. It is, of course, the creepy cabin of the poacher-killing clan. He runs into mama who is very brusque. He shows his badge and asks about the former owners. She says they're long gone and it's just her and her son Peter now. Peter rides up and says he never met the former owners and is sorry he came all the way out there for nothing. Ressler is about to leave and notices a tarp over Peter's truck and asks what's in it. He claims a goat. Ressler takes a peek and it's the guy they arrested to try and help track the Mombasa Cartel, bound and gagged in a cage. Peter knocks out Ressler.
Back at the Post Office Aram has tracked the planes with the abductees and they narrow down the corporate parent behind the shell corporations. Liz calls Red and asks about the company he doesn't know anything off the top of his head. She says Ressler has fallen out of contact and she and Navar are headed up there. Red tells Liz to be careful.
Ressler wakes up in a cage next to the unfortunate informant. Both have tags on their ears and loud music is playing. Off in the distance Peter tells Matthew to only shoot animals who are tagged. Peter opens the cages and Ressler and the guy light out. The guy starts to run and Ressler tells him to stop and if they can they should try to make it to a nearby gas station. He starts to shake and the guy realizes he's looking for his pills and says he saw them taken from him. He calls Ressler a junkie and Ressler gets angry and says he isn't. The guy notes that this is what all junkies say. His gloating is short lived however when Matthew kills him with his crossbow. Ressler grabs the arrow out of the guys chest and takes off running.
Mama Poacher Killer makes a call to the boss man who is...yup, Peter Fonda. She tells him about Ressler and how they had no choice. Peter Fonda says this can't be like the others, they can't skin and stuff him and there can be no evidence of Ressler's body. Peter Fonda is apparently daddy and is embarrassed by Matthew. He goes downstairs and Red is waiting for him with a gun.
Liz and the gang descend on the area and are given the scoop by local law enforcement. Meanwhile, Ressler is scrambling through the woods and comes across a group of men by a campfire. He asks to use one of their cellphones and then realizes that this group of men are the stuffed poachers, set up in this crazy tableau by Matthew.
Red has a chat with Peter Fonda. He monologues his story from the animal underground and they talk about the murders. Peter Fonda points out that they are horrible poachers. But of course it isn't just about killing poachers, Peter Fonda is making money off the whole deal as a poacher himself and he was killing off his competition not trying to save animals or make a point. He claims his motives are not about profits and that he does care about conservation but that trafficking can't be stopped so he's managing it to ensure long-term species survival. Red says that was a breathtakingly insane explanation. Red asks for his list of the Mombasa Cartel members or he'll kill him.
Crazy Matthew arrives at the tableau and has a seat and talks to the dead guys. Ressler is pretending to be a dead guy until he gets the shakes and gives himself away. He attacks Matthew who is bigger and stronger and gets the upper hand. Ressler stabs him with the piece of arrow he grabbed and runs away.
Liz and the local forces descend on the cabin. Matthew has just walked in bleeding. They throw in stun bombs and shoot Peter. Mom and Matthew are in the tub when Liz walks in. Mom pulls the record player into the tub, electrocuting herself and Matthew.
Peter Fonda gives Red the information on a flash drive. Red explains about the abducted boy from the opening. Red found him 8 years after the abduction at age 14 after he'd been tortured. Red nursed him back to health and turned his life around. Wow, the kid from the opening wasn't the first victim-- it was Dembe!! Dembe says it serves no purpose to kill Peter Fonda now. Red kills him anyway. He sends the Mombas Cartel list to Cooper.
Liz wanders around the super-creepy cabin and sees Ressler's gun, badge, and pills. She looks at the bottle and sees only a few pills are left on a prescription he just filled. She goes to Ressler at the ambulance and hands him the bottle. he looks suitably embarrassed taking it as she puts her arm around him.
Red chats up Zoe D'Antonio.
We cut to Liz in her super secret hiding place. The good news is Bald Aaron Neville isn't dead, he was just knocked out. Liz is telling someone she is trying to figure out what to do with them and she came close to telling Red. We cut to her POV and it's...Tom! Bearded, weary, and chained up. He says he's answered all her questions. She leaves. He walks as close to her as his chains allow and he says "You can't hide me forever."
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