BWW Recap: 'The Scimitar' and Samar Cut Up on THE BLACKLIST

This week THE BLACKLIST returns to its roots, a villain with an interesting moniker: "The Scimitar"
(number 22 on the list). Alas, unlike The Stewmaker or The Courier, Mr. Scimitar doesn't have a fascinating hook; he's just an Iranian assassin. It's probably The Scimitar's lack of fabulousness that makes the episode less than sterling. On the plus side, however, we get lots of the totally fabulous Agent Samar Navabi doing her thing. We get plenty of Not-Tom information, and an interesting disclosure about his actual location. And Red makes a revelation that is almost as surprising as the discovery that Liz didn't kill Tom... in short, a major no-surprise. And something feels like this series is going off track.

In Dubai, a gorgeous woman who looks a lot like Samar, only more glamorous, meets a man at a hotel bar. The expected happens, and they neck their way up the elevator and into room 1208. Shortly thereafter, the man winds up out the window, landing on top of a car. It's ruled a suicide.

Liz wants Not-Tom to give up Berlin. He asks to be released. She wants the name of Berlin's arms dealer. Not-Tom wishes her a happy anniversary. Does he know she had their marriage annulled? And doesn't he realize it's dangerous not to give an angry woman a really good present? Oh, maybe he does, because he remembers that the arms dealer's name is Sivan Molkov.

Red meets with both Liz and Samar. Liz swears she's not jealous of Samar. Sure, Liz. You keep telling yourself that. Red mentions the Dubai story. It seems that the man who didn't commit suicide, but was killed, was an Iranian nuclear scientist. Not surprisingly, the gorgeous Samar lookalike was Samar being gorgeous. She cleans up as well as Liz if not better. Iran wants revenge, and the heads of some nuclear scientists, so Iranian assassin The Scimitar is on US soil.

Cooper and a bland government suit guy argue over the value of several US nuclear scientists. There's one, a professor from Duke, who can't be isolated; she's giving a public lecture at a hotel. Liz and Mr. Happy- sorry, that's Ressler and his magic pills- are assigned to see that she's okay. Liz wants Ressler to get help, but he's A Guy. Just as he cannot ask for directions, he cannot need help. He'll tough it out. Liz says there's no shame in FBI agents getting injured and hooked on pain pills. This suggests that FBI agents have a problem with this. Our faith in law enforcement is not increased with this information.

The big reveal of the episode is not the publicized "bomb" that Red will drop, it's the location of Tom. That warehouse isn't a warehouse... it's a boat. He's in a hold. The boat may have to be moved because of Zebra mussels. Liz says she'll let Tom out of the boat when she gets Berlin. She tosses him some warm clothes.

Liz confronts our arms dealer and threatens him with the Most Wanted List if he doesn't give up intel. Then she goes to see Red. Red says that if he didn't know she'd killed Tom, he'd think she was holding him for intel. Yeah, Red knows. She was too much of a wuss to kill Tom when Red offered to finish him off for her; doesn't she remember? Red says Berlin is of more value alive but Liz doesn't care.

Aram, God of Knowledge, has found a hidden camera at a DoD location. It's Iranian tech. He traces the signal to a construction site in suburban New Carrolton, where commuters congregate. Liz and Ressler find no one there, but plenty of papers on a Jonathan Reese, a Defense Department agent who may be guarding a nuclear scientist. They meet him at the New Carrolton Park and Ride, a famous DC-area meet-up point and now apparently the happening place for secret intelligence meetings. They're shot at, so Reese jumps in their SUV of Danger with them. They're pursued by cyclists and run off the road. When Liz wakes up, she and Ressler are in a hospital room.

While Aram follows the 911 calls on a damaged FBI vehicle, Liz is told she and Ressler are sharing a room at Bethesda National Hospital. Although the FBI recognizes the name, we don't- there's Bethesda Naval Hospital, which is now National Naval Medical Center, but this is a NBC-christened clinic. On the other hand, for a hospital everyone in NBC-world recognizes, their hospital room feels a little hinky. And maybe it should, as the doctor tells Liz that there was no Agent Reese rescued from their vehicle with them. Liz calls Cooper and tells him what's going on, requesting that the nuke scientist speaking that night be locked down.

Cooper's in a quandary, though. Not only is Bland Suit telling him that there is no Agent Jonathan Reese, but he's hearing that Liz and Ressler were never admitted to the real (though non-existent) Bethesda National Hospital. Where are they?

Liz is equally worried. Ressler's medical chart is phony. So is her broken arm, which is uninjured under the cast.

Red is eating with Zoe at her food truck. She asks her friend "Kenneth" if he has children; he mentions his daughter and says things are complicated. She understands. "My father did things I hated him for. Things that were unforgivable... I haven't seen my father in a long, long time." Then she passes out on "Kenneth" because he's drugged her. Dembe pulls up to the truck for them.

Cooper says Scimitar invented Reese. Aram mystically announces that all of this has been a diversion to isolate Liz and the Pillmaster from the nuke scientist they're trying to protect.

Agent Reese and the doctor treating Liz and Ressler are part of an Iranian plot. They're conspiring with others in a meeting room. While they meet, Liz overpowers the nurse and rouses Ressler so they can escape. Since the FBI can't track Rocky and Bullwinkle, Natasha calls Boris- oh, Samar calls Dembe, sorry.

In Red's car, Samar tells him that the matter of Liz and Ressler is personal. She needs to help her team. Red warns her that Mossad won't be happy, but Samar doesn't care. Red also tells her that the matter is more personal than she thinks; Scimitar is responsible for her brother's death.

Ali Hassan, whom Samar and Red know, lives in a beautiful home that is losing windows as Red hits golf balls through them. When Hassan comes out, Samar puts a gun to him. Yes, Scimitar came to visit. He's at a warehouse. Wait, Liz and Ressler are out of their hospital room and shooting their way out of... a warehouse. Samar rescues them.

At a hotel where she's to be speaking, our nuclear scientist is grabbed by Iranians. Cooper arrives late, as does Liz, who spots her doctor outside the hotel just as what looks like an FBI vehicle full of bad guys shows up shooting. Liz finds the scientist inside a huge suitcase her doctor was guarding. Scimitar heads over to Hassan's mansion, where Red is relaxing and Dembe is armed.

Samar visits, and Red offers her a trussed Scimitar. "A gift. No one knows he's here." Red and Dembe leave her with Scimitar, who begs her to turn him in to a US or Israeli agency rather than to leave him alone with her, after she makes him reveal that her brother was a specific target. Samar thinks. Cooper later tells Liz that Scimitar has been found floating in the Potomac River. Go, Samar.

Not-Tom asks Liz what she'll do to him when she gets Berlin. "Whatever you're gonna do, look me in the eyes when you do it." Guilt is not working on her, fool.

Red drops in on Berlin (Peter Stormare). "This entire affair... has been the result of a misunderstanding." On the graves of his ancestors, or a crate of Chateau Lafitte, whichever is more meaningful, Red swears, "I did not kill your daughter." Berlin quits scoffing when Dembe lets Zoe out of the car. "Is this the daughter you're referring to?" Red asks. "Because she's not mine." If anyone's surprised that Zoe is Berlin's daughter, they've skipped the past few episodes.

Will Ressler give up his Vicodin for good? Will Liz use Not-Tom for shark bait? Will Samar become the hottest hit woman on network television? Can Red and Berlin find two more for bridge? Is this show starting to go off track? Tell us if it's jumping the shark and turning into an evening soap opera at @MarakayBWW or @BWWTVWorld.

Photo credit: V Sherwood/NBC

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