The Blacklist Review: The Djinn (Season 3 Episode 4)

Before we talk about “The Djinn,” let’s recap what happened while I was out of town during last week’s episode of The Blacklist: Tom wanted to help Ressler find Liz; Ressler refused. Tom ended up teaming up with Cooper to find Karakurt as a way to exonerate Liz. Lots of boring stuff about GMOs and corn (yeah, CORN) was the focus of “Eli Matchett.” And Ressler and Samar nearly caught up with Liz and Red like, three times. Then Liz shot an agent and then immediately felt remorse so they rushed him to the hospital. More stuff about corn and corn fields happened, too. Oh! And Red’s associate Mr. Vargas found his way into captivity alongside Dembe.

Really, that’s all you need to know.

This week’s “The Djinn” and last week’s episode are a bit of a letdown after the stellar first few two episodes of the series (see, I shouldn’t have said anything because I jinxed it). It feels like now, the series is reaching back into its stale hat of tricks, rifling around for something to use again. This week, the case felt more serialized and was complete with yet another escape executed by Red and Liz (man, the FBI is REALLY bad at their timing these days). Until the final few minutes of the episode, I really wasn’t entirely invested. Mostly because The Blacklist has now decided to do that thing I hated in the first two seasons –– ask more questions and not deliver answers, while leaving plot threads dangling in the wind.

In their defense, though, this episode is still far better executed than seasons one and two. I honestly am interested to know what it is that Liz craves more than anything else in the world, since it’s not revenge on the Cabal. She tells Red in this episode that her deepest fantasy is to walk through a park with her husband and a little daughter, but I’m not sure I buy that, either. It seems far too generic and cookie-cutter, but the way that Red looks at her during this scene makes me think that maybe that’s his fantasy for her: to be able to see Liz live a normal life, free of pain and suffering and actually, genuinely happy for once.

While “The Djinn” is ultimately disappointing in the sense that I know the show is capable (and has proven it is) of creating more compelling, less case-of-the-week dependent episodes, this particular episode still had some really intriguing elements to it. And I, like Samar, am also wondering what Red’s endgame is in all of this fugitive stuff. Because as Samar notes, Red and Liz are fugitives, but they’re not running and hiding. They’re searching for something and it’s something more than just leverage to exonerate Liz with. And by the end of the episode, Ressler is concerned that whatever Red is searching for will wind up getting Liz killed. Samar coldly tells him that it’s not his job to save her and he needs to stop trying because she doomed herself when she shot the Attorney General.

But Ressler, for all of his faults, is not going to ever stop trying to protect Liz. By the time “The Djinn” concludes, he’s fully aboard #TeamSaveLiz, even if the episode preview quotes him saying the contrary. Here’s why Ressler didn’t accept help from Tom last episode: Ressler needs to do everything by the book and keep his position in the FBI in order to protect, not harm, Liz. He’s been able so far to use his position of power to save her. Remember at the diner? Had it not been for Ressler’s orders, the hostage extraction team might have seriously harmed Liz. In order for her to have her best shot at surviving all of this, Ressler needs to stay where he is and stay on a righteous path in order to help. Without the FBI’s resources at his disposal and his position of power to use them, Liz is a goner.

Strange as it may be, the only way for Ressler to protect Liz is to hunt her down and try to bring her in. (And I think Liz knows this, too, because she keeps contacting Ressler or the FBI pretty much every episode.)

This is a thing, however, that is going to be something problematic for Cooper if he’s not careful. He tells Tom that essentially he’s on his own –– that if anyone comes back and asks, Cooper had zero involvement with a man who is… well, whatever Tom is. Still, Cooper chose to become tangled with Tom and that may come back to bite him later on in this season. Speaking of Tom, he goes undercover in order to infiltrate a really wealthy circle which has ties to locating Karakurt. Really, there was no purpose to a two-minute montage of Tom perfecting a story to tell at the underground casino apart from the fact that The Blacklist wants to ensure we know Ryan Eggold is still on this show. I may hate Tom, but I do love me some Ryan Eggold. Thanks, show.

Elsewhere in this week’s episode, Red and Lizzie are still on the run (and Liz somehow manages to look flawless –– wait, that’s because she actually gets to SHOWER this episode and get a set of new clothes), but they’re in search of a person nicknamed The Djinn, who is said to grant the darkest revenge fantasies. She is a blonde-haired woman (also known as Harvey Specter’s therapist on Suits), who dresses in white and speaks with a gentle British accent… as she leaves the room and allows people to be tortured and killed. Red believes this woman to be vital to taking down the Cabal, because two of their members have apparently used The Djinn’s services. But when Liz stages a meeting with the vengeful angel of death, the woman doesn’t buy Liz’s story of her deepest, darkest desire being to hunt down the Cabal and make them pay.

But someone IS very interested in using The Djinn’s services. In the episode, a woman named Nasim nails her dad to a wooden cross (eesh) as a form of enacting revenge against him for a wrong that he did to her. However, we soon learn that Nasim is actually not what she appears to be –– the blonde woman with the white dress? She was just the face of The Djinn. Her name is actually Alice and she’s essentially a suburban house mom with a pair of diamond earrings and a Range Rover in the driveway. You know, SUBURBIA.

Nasim, meanwhile, is the actual revenge fantasy-granter. She has something that Red wants, too –– a leather journal. And before you ask, no, it’s not so he can write down monologues or quippy retorts. It’s actually a journal containing all of Nasim’s former clients. Amazingly – or not so amazingly at all if you think about it, Red and Liz manage to track down Nasim before the FBI does. And they get the chance to hear her villain origin story. (Because everyone has time for a good monologue or two on The Blacklist, right?) Nasim was actually born Nasir. Yes, a man. But when Nasir revealed to his father that he was gay, the man forced gender reassignment onto his son, thereby condemning him to live his entire life in a lower social class and cutting him off from ever being able to partake in his family’s company. Essentially, Nasir-turned-Nasim was doomed to a life he never wanted.

James Spader gets to do a lot of monologues on this show. He gets to verbally spar with a lot of villains. But I think this is the first time I’ve ever really heard Red rant before. And it was a beautiful, barb-filled rant directed at Nasim’s father. Red is appalled and horrified that a father could abuse his own child like that, just for being gay. Red has seen a lot of atrocities in the world and has committed some himself. But this? This is the maddest he has ever gotten. He never threatens Nasim’s father, though. We never think Red might kill him. We just get the chance to see the pure rage and hatred Red has regarding the injustice that has taken place. It’s an absolutely wonderful moment and probably my favorite scene in the entire episode.

Ultimately, Red offers Nasim the chance to fly away with them (because yeah, Red managed to almost get an ENTIRE HELICOPTER past the notice of the FBI and onto Nasim’s lawn) and not face the FBI… only if she hands over the journal. The three then race to the helicopter and Red, book in hand, allows Liz to climb in and then point a gun at Nasim. The woman is horrified because she kept up her end of the deal. But Red, in typical fashion, basically shrugs and says: “Women” (HE LITERALLY SAYS THAT), before the helicopter departs with the two fugitives and Alice on board. Red does throw the journal out of the plane though, and Ressler picks it up, now able to solve a lot of FBI open cases thanks to its contents.

… Except for one missing page, which Red steals. What was on the page, you ask? We don’t know, but I’m sure we will find out soon enough!

“The Djinn” may not be a stellar episode of The Blacklist, but at least it is relatively interesting. And it left me wondering whether or not whatever quest is on will ultimately lead Liz into more trouble. At this point, it’s hard to imagine Elizabeth Keen settling back into a life and a job at the FBI. So what’s at the end of this road for both of the fugitives, then? I guess we will have to wait to find out.

Notes & things:

• I didn’t talk about it above but DEMBE ESCAPED WITH THE HELP OF MR. VARGAS. Oh, wait, you wanted the bad news, too? Mr. Vargas shoots Dembe in the side as soon as the man reveals that he’s discovered where Red is. Turns out, Vargas is working alongside Mr. Solomon. Sheesh, you think you know a fellow captive!
• Aram and Liz hugged when they were reunited and it was absolutely beautiful. He was so happy to see her and she was delighted to see him. I can’t imagine that Ressler and Liz will hug upon being reunited, so it makes me wonder what is going to happen when these two partners actually come face-to-face again. Speculate away in the comments!
• Liz, to Red: “You’re a terrible actor.” How fun must that have been for Megan Boone to say to James Spader, though? It reminds me of the line John Barrowman delivered in Arrow (“And no offense — none of you are particularly good actors.”), which was awesome.
• Red: “Lies on top of pretense, my dear.”
• I honestly hate the idea of Tom/Liz again. He lied to you, girl. He manipulated you and HE PHYSICALLY FOUGHT WITH YOU IN YOUR OWN HOME AND HURT YOU. He’s threatened you and proven that he’ll do whatever it takes to survive. Why do the writers insist on these two being a thing again? It’s horribly toxic and the one glaring negative thing I saw in this episode. Liz’s wide, doe eyes and hopeful voice upon hearing from him was hard to stomach.
• However, Tom is now the third man who has told Liz that he knows who she is (alongside Ressler and Red). So take that for whatever it’s worth.
• Aram and Samar were flirtatious this episode and HE HAS A SELFIE OF THEM TOGETHER ON HIS FRIDGE. How cute is that? So cute.
• Red: “… Well, we can’t have everything,” after Liz and Nasim refused to link arms with him and walk toward the helicopter. Honestly, James Spader was hilarious in that moment.
• Samar to Ressler about Liz: “You can’t save her. You shouldn’t even try.” Oh, silly Samar. He’s going to. Until he finds her, he’s going to try.

What did you think of this episode? Let us know in the comments!

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The Blacklist airs Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC.