'The Blacklist' recap: 'Berlin (No. 8)'

On this week’s episode of The Blacklist, the team looked for Berlin, Liz came clean about Tom and the task force prepared for a breakup.

We started the episode in Columbus where a man is sick. He is coughing up blood and lying to his wife. He goes into a bank and stumbles toward the bathroom. He’s calls 911 and leaves a message for his wife. As he stumbles out of the bathroom, he falls on the ground and dies.

When emergency services come, it is revealed that the man was infected with a virus and everyone in the bank may be infected too. The police, without taking any precautions, tell the confused crowd of people that they may be infected so they try to run away. The police then hold them at gunpoint. Because, nothing says “calm down” like a gun pointed at your face.

At Liz’s house, she’s finally showing Ressler all of her evidence. Ressler gives her the advice to just get through it. So, she is interviewed by an officer and tells him everything.

Tom makes an appearance. He notices that someone is following him so he follows the follower and tells him to call Red and say that he lost track of him. So, he calls Red and he finds out when he’s on a plane.

Tom pulls the man into a warehouse and talks about his spider tattoo. After the man begs for his life and says that he will work for Tom’s boss, Tom replies, “You don’t choose Berlin. He chooses you.”

It’s crazy that a few episodes ago I called Tom a whiny husband and now he’s a monster. He’s killed tons of people and has been watching Liz. I wonder if he’s going to be around for season two. I love his darkness and I love his car commercials about playing Tom on The Blacklist.

When Liz walks into Cooper’s office, she finds Red. She hands in her resignation and says that she won’t talk to Red. Red says that he won’t talk to anyone but her. He also says that there is a case coming in.

Red says that there is going to be an outbreak. Berlin is after him and doesn’t care who dies. Liz agrees to work the case. When she goes to the bank, the woman from the CDC says that the virus has been mutated and that it isn’t airborne. The scientist who did it must be genius. They also found a cure in his pocket.

Red and Liz are on a plane to see a brilliant scientist. On the plane, he gives Liz a copy of Tom’s codebook. He says that there are details in there about her and that she needs to be careful reading it.

Meanwhile, at a stranger’s house, there is another sick man. A video tells him that he is dying and that he needed to do a task in order to get the cure. So, the man prepares to do the task.

Red and Liz arrive to a mental institution to talk to Doctor Sanders. As they talk, Liz realizes that he seems crazier and crazier. He thinks that he is on the staff. When Red asks him about the virus, Sanders says that it is a sign of the apocalypse with the five horsemen. He also talks about a space agent.

Liz, who believes that she had been fooled into talking to the doctor, asks Red if he has ever done a selfless thing. She decides to take a flight home instead of riding in Red’s plane.

When Liz arrives back at the post office, she finds that the team is going to be disbanded and Red will be put back in jail. Meera asks about it and Liz agrees. Ressler stands up for her.

Look at how far Ressler and Liz’s relationship has gone since the pilot. In the early episodes of the season, he didn’t trust her and now he trusted her to quit the team? Also, I believe that they’re setting up a Ressler/Liz couple. While I am very much looking forward to that, I hope their romance doesn’t take over the rest of the story.

They all realize that Sanders is really a genius. Liz goes back and pressures him into talking but doesn’t get anywhere. However, she sees a badge and walks away. She tells Aram to look for a badge that says UD4126.

Cooper, who has been told that that the team will have to separate, tries to convince Liz to stay on the team. She says that she can’t. They set up a meeting to capture Red. They also find the man responsible for the virus.

In interrogation, the man mocks Liz and she immediately calls his bluff. She gives him the virus and won’t give him the cure until he tells them the names of the people he is blackmailing.

Liz goes home and looks through Tom’s codebook. She realizes that everyone on the blacklist is connected to Berlin and that the group is looking at it in the wrong way. They look at it like they are Red and realize that Red is using them as an ally against Berlin. She thinks that Berlin is coming for Red today.

On the plane is a man in a hood. He says that the plane needs to go down now. He tries to unlock his handcuffs.

After looking through all of the people who are being blackmailed, the team realizes that they’re breaking someone out of jail. They don’t know whom but they know that there is a plane filled with soldiers coming in. A fighter jet hits the plane to take it down.

Liz goes to the place where Red is being captured. She tells him to get in the car. He doesn’t. He wants to know why she changed her mind and tried to save him. She tells him that his immunity deal is off.

Red tells Liz that nothing the FBI can do is worse than losing her. He tells her about an island he went to. When he was on the island, he was dying. A woman saved him and kissed him on the cheek.

Liz says she needs him. Red says he needs her. However, he gives himself up- just like he did in the pilot. However, when he is down on the ground, the plane that was shot down flies above them.

They all watch and there is a giant cliffhanger.

Side note, if Berlin is number eight on the blacklist, who in the world could be number one?!

Quote of the night: “Now it begins,” –Red, watching the plane go down

Who do you think Berlin is? Comment below on your hypothesis.