BWW Recap: 'The Decembrist'- An Explosive Mid-Season Close To THE BLACKLIST

"The Decembrist" was the fall finale for THE BLACKLIST, which will be back on SUPER BOWL Sunday, and amazingly, we got a couple of answers. Sure, we got a lot more questions, but we got a couple of answers. We also got two dead major recurring characters, an explosion, and the discovery that The Box is explosion-proof for sure. What answers did we get? Well, The Decembrist, who set up Berlin and Red, and is number 12 on the list, turns out to be Alan Fitch. Fitch's job title turns out to be Assistant Director of National Intelligence, whatever job that is. Fitch turns out dead. And Not-Tom? Oh. That. First off, he's gotten away. Second? Don't tell Liz, but... well, why spoil the surprise? Later.

It turns out that Liz didn't kill Not-Tom four months ago. She brought him to Meera's confidential informant who wanted his hands on whoever killed Meera, so the boatman-informant has been babysitting him. Now she and the boatman are trying to decide how to get rid of Not-Tom. Tommy-boy sweetens the angst pot: "All this time you never asked me if I ever really loved you." "Because I know the answer." "I don't think you do." Know what? Some of us don't want to. By this point, some of us don't even care. We just want you gone, Not-Tom.

Red and Berlin are on a first name basis now, and Berlin's is Milov. Red asks where the story about him killing Berlin's daughter originated. Berlin traces it to a terror-type called The Decembrist, who bombed a meeting of Berlin's back in 1991 and blamed the US and Red for that, too. Zoe reveals that The Decembrist got her out of the country, away from her father, and apparently offered to protect her from Red as well.

Liz is horrified to find Red and Berlin working together. If Liz really wants answers, she'll drop the Berlin thing and go after The Decembrist. Ressler is confused about helping Berlin now, but Ressler is frequently confounded. At least this time he isn't asking why the FBI is working for Red. Cooper likes getting a terrorist. Aram, the new Sorcerer Supreme since Marvel stopped running Doctor Strange, mystically determines that The Decembrist is Russian politico Kyril Marasov. Higher-ups say Cooper can't chase Marasov. Cooper tells Liz that he's sure she can have an anonymous source see that Red gets a name. Cooper, you sly dog, there's been no one of your ilk since Al Giordano on HOMICIDE. You work that magic informing skill. Also, you and Red have a secret bromance of some sort. You like how he takes care of scum you can't touch, you do. You've been making eyes at him since "The Cyprus Agency" and all those rescued women and babies.

A fight breaks out with Liz, Informant, and Not-Tom and some poor fool who thought he was helping Tom but now sees he wasn't. Not-Tom can kill people with his legs.

Red and Berlin take a bromantic trip to Moscow to find Marasov, who's a diamond hoarder. Marasov is merely a flunky of The Decembrist, it turns out. The Decembrist is Alan Fitch. Berlin says that Fitch is a dead man.

Red has a lovely chat with Fitch. Fitch utters Ominous Things: "You stole damaging information from me when you disappeared." "Berlin chewed through his leash. I couldn't stop him." Red has no allies in Fitch's snooty private club of evil, so if Fitch goes down, Red goes down. Fitch leaves in a black Cadillac in a motorcade, where he's attacked and abducted by Berlin.

Liz goes back to the boat, where Red is waiting. He chides her for not telling him she didn't kill His Not-ness. Liz says he was a source, but Red calls her out on still having feelings for He Who Screwed Her And Not In A Fun Way. Red tells her that he finally needs Mr. Not, because he needs intel on Berlin's safe houses so they can find Fitch.

Liz and Ressler, Man of Integrity About Anything But Pills, stake out Not while he tries to get to Berlin. Ressler objects to everything and wants to know when Liz will 'fess up to her kidnapping, torture, and other fun party games. Nobody in Berlin's gang wants to talk to Not, and Berlin tells him to pound sand, but Not still gets an address for Liz and the R-Meister. The place is raided, and Fitch is found with an explosive collar on that has a green light announcing that it's armed and ready to kill him anytime. Back at the ranch, Ressler, Master Of The Obvious, says "Berlin handed us Fitch on a silver platter after he had a bomb strapped to his neck." Higher-ups demand to know Liz's informant. Whether to protect Liz about Tom or to spite Red, Ressler tells them Red is her informant before she can figure out what to say.

The bomb squad puts Fitch in the very DARPA-secure box that Red and Ressler have loved so much. Because as we learned from "Anslo Garrick," nothing can blow it up. Fitch's explosive collar has a secondary detonator that's been triggered, it's on a timer, and there's no display so there's no way to know when it will blow. Berlin is a man of great sneakiness.

Berlin wants Zoe to stay around a while, but Red shows up with new identity papers and passports for her so she can disappear again. Red wants Berlin to tell him how to stop the Fitch-bomb, but Berlin doesn't know. "Think harder."

In the box, Fitch recalls that 763 men and women have died at his orders, and that he'd personally contacted every one of their families. He won't have a 764th die for him, especially since he won't be able to notify their family, so he sends the bomb squad guy out of the box with him and tells Cooper to get Red for him. Red greets Fitch appropriately: "What a long, strange trip it's been, Alan." Fitch tells Red that some people don't believe Red has the Secret of Secrets, and makes Red promise that he does. Things are getting more and more radicalized as 2017 approaches. Will 2017 be to THE BLACKLIST what 2012 was to THE X-FILES? Must we remember a new Armageddon date now? Fitch has something Red must get from Fitch's safe. He makes Red memorize the combination, which is his wife, Margaret's, birthday, 8-30-44. The safe is in a wall in Saint Petersburg on the second floor of... BOOM. The box holds up nicely, but who's scrubbing those walls?

Red orders Berlin released. They pound shots of vodka while Berlin waxes rhapsodic over Yuri Gagarin. Red pours Berlin the last shot and gives him several more shots. In the chest. Bye bye, Berlin. No one warned him about the last guy who had vodka with Red.

Liz finds Red at the boat. Mr. Kaplan, whom we need to see again, soonly or even sooner, is tearing her hair out trying to clean up the Liz mess, he says. Liz says that Tom helped with Fitch, and that she'd realized she couldn't kill him. She'd thought she was in control, but she wasn't. Red explains that's how love is. Learn you must from Jedi Master Red, oh padawan. She cries. "What's wrong with me?" Red assures her that nothing is wrong, and he hugs her. Astute romance fans will note that he kisses her politely. They then squeal and implode, missing the next scene.

Not-Tom walks along a street and into a bar. He heads to the back, where there is a booth. In the booth is Raymond Reddington. Red hands Not a thick manila envelope that might be full of cash; we're not shown it. "You're never to see her again." Not says sure thing, but Red repeats it menacingly in his I Mean Business voice.

But Not-Tom needs the last word. "For what it's worth, I spent four months on that ship and I never told her about us. Not one word." All right, buddy, inquiring minds demand to know...

Will we see Not-Tom again? Will Liz? How is Not-Tom connected to Red, and how is he connected to Red in such a way that Red still didn't know anything about Berlin, when Not-Tom has been working with Berlin? And who will be the next big-name recurring guest now that Red's killed Jane Alexander and Peter Stormare, and Berlin's killed Alan Alda? Send your best guesses to @MarakayBWW or @BWWTVWorld, and let's find out after the Super Bowl!

Photo Credit: Will Hart/NBC

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