tags: #publish links: [[The Blacklist]] created: 2021-07-23 Fri --- # The Blacklist S1 Episode 3 (Wujing) Previous: [[The Blacklist S1 Episode 2 (The Freelancer)]] - Next: [[The Blacklist S1 Episode 4 (The Stewmaker)|4 (The Stewmaker)]] Reddington is hired by Wujing, some kind of international criminal slash spy-killer-for-hire, to decrypt a message enabling him to identify another spy to kill. The FBI, foolishly, goes along with Red's suggestion to pose Liz as a cryptography expert, go visit Wujing's rather nice "underground concrete bunker startup digs" lair in person, decrypt the message for him, but try to steal the information and protect the target before they get got. This endeavour is partially successful - luckily a brief mention of RSA encryption being a bit crap is enough to convince people you're a crypto expert, and arch criminals are easily subject to bluffing and fake outrage and misdirection about the rather obvious FBI vans outside. Unfortunately, after sneakily transmitting the decrypted info about the target, they are almost busted as they're on their way out. After supporting Wujing in incorrectly pinning the blame for data exfiltration on one of his techs, Red carries out his second casual killing of the show before the tech can speak, and they talk their way out, leaving a tracking device which leads to Wujing's capture. Meanwhile the target - an architect who'd been leaking info on construction of foreign government buildings - narrowly escapes being killed, and Agent Donald Ressler has a jolly good punchup with some of the murderous assassins, in already his third feat of rather ineffective FBI macho-ness of the season. Side plot is that a crew of sinister armed types sneak into Elizabeth's house, seemingly to bug it. They're almost caught but not of course. Continuing last episode's "hidden mystery box of Tom secrets" shenanigans, Liz shoots the stashed gun in some phone books to get some bullets and casings, then has then analysed in the ballistics lab. Apparently you don't even need a case number to do that, which is handy. Results are pending, but she kind of gets detected sneaking around like this. Wujing had paid Reddington with an envelope. It contains nothing of value, just a mysterious 6-digit number. ## Mysteries What does `042983` mean? Why is Reddington suddenly allowed to go out and about and commit criminal wickedness? Who has bugged Elizabeth's house and why? Why does the dude only ever eat a couple of bits of his apples?