tags: #publish links: [[The Blacklist]] created: 2021-07-23 Fri --- # The Blacklist S1 Episode 2 (The Freelancer) Previous: [[The Blacklist S1 Episode 1 (Pilot - Zamani)|1 (Pilot - Zamani)]] - Next: [[The Blacklist S1 Episode 3 (Wujing)|3 (Wujing)]] More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Freelancer *(Spoilers)* **Themes:** *People are not who they seem; living with secrets* Introduces the interesting concept of an assassin ("The Freelancer") who mostly uses large-scale accidents to conceal his kills - typically rather public disasters high in collateral damage, such as ferry accidents, building collapses, ... There was some kind of a train derailment thing to demonstrate this, but I didn't really get the point of that bit tbh. After an amusing diversion to fly Reddington somewhere for cheese, wine, and information - and to demonstrate the ease with which he can outwit everyone - we get to the main plot. Red also makes some progress towards more freedom of movement, convincing the FBI to assign him a security team of his own choosing, one of whom is **Meera Malik**, an unflappable and dryly skeptical CIA agent. The assassin's target, based on a photo recovered from the cheese shop cloakroom in a hat, turns out to be the high-profile head of an anti-sex-trafficking charity, who is also one of Elizabeth Keen's heroes and subject of her college study. The assassin is found and captured, but only after poisoning the target. Malik capitalises on a broken bone to inflict some casual torture and extract some information... it turns out *shocker* he was hired by Reddington to do the job... Reddington, in a classic move, shows up where Elizabeth is with the dying target, and by offering an antidote coerces the revered public figure to confess that she is in fact leader and profiteer of a sex trafficking group, and the charity is merely to provide cover, adulation, and reduction of competition. He then lets her die, as there is in fact no antidote. This is Red's first overt killing, perhaps something of an eye-opener for Keen but she doesn't seem too bothered, which I guess sets things up for future developments... It appears the FBI decides to just let all this stuff go and give Red more free rein, which is fair enough, that did go quite well in the end! In a little chat by the waterfront afterwards, Red suggests that Keen has a couple of options with respect to her discovery of Tom's multiple identities. Dob him in, or confront him. Or perhaps there is a third option... Keen takes the third option - living with secrets, generally the preferred mode of existence for characters in this show - and hides the box back under the floorboards, covering with some nice new carpet. ## New characters - CIA agent **Meera Malik** (Parminder Nagra), joining in Reddington's security detail. ## Mysteries Why is the FBI letting Red get away with this shit? Why is the FBI so bad at not letting people escape when they're being watched? Was "The Freelancer" real or just a diversion?