‘The Blacklist’ Recap: Season 2, Episode 1, ‘Lord Baltimore’

It seems like forever since we last left our favorite criminal turned FBI informant, Raymond Reddington and his FBI confidant, Elizabeth Keene. As the fabulously successful season one of The Blacklist concluded, Red’s nemesis, Berlin, had lost his hand but was loose somewhere in America still seeking to destroy Red.
Berlin apparently blames Red for the death of his daughter. Meanwhile, Liz’s double-agent husband Tom was shot and presumed dead; but his body disappeared and it is a safe bet he will come back someday. Tom’s final words to Liz were to tell her that her father was still alive. Red insists Liz’s dad died many years ago in a fire and we have seen horrible burn marks all over Red’s chest and back as proof that he was there. Of course, many folks still think Red is Liz’s father, a question the show will someday answer, though I doubt we will learn the truth behind Red and Liz’s relationship any time soon.
Ok, enough back story, let’s get to tonight’s season premiere and see how Red and Liz are handling the threat of Berlin.
We start season two with a beaten up Red in the back of a jeep being driven by a couple African militiamen in Cameroon. He is brought at gunpoint to meet a local warlord, Yibari. Yibari threatens Red’s life, but Red is utterly calm. Red pours $3 million in cash on a table and tells Yibari that he knows Yibari as working for Berlin. He tells Yibari to give him the name of Berlin’s other mercenaries or Red will rain fire down on Yibari’s head. At that moment, one of Red’s Hellfire Missiles destroys Yibari’s camp. Yibari relents and tells Red that one of Berlin’s recent hires is a man named Lord Baltimore. Red burns the $3 million before he leaves the camp.
Time to check in on Liz. She’s in a hotel room, staring at the ceiling… a ceiling covered with pictures and evidence from the search for Berlin, including photos of her ex-husband, Tom. She goes outside and meets with Red, who tells her about Lord Baltimore.
Liz goes to meeting with her FBI contacts. FBI Special Agent Martin, who is running the FBI Reddington team while Director Cooper recovers from being knifed last season, is skeptical. The team’s cyber expert, Aram, explains that Lord Baltimore is like a myth in hacker circles. He’s a brilliant data-miner. Aram tells Liz and Agent Ressler to go talk to a local FBI data tech, named Rowan Mills, who had her system hacked, perhaps by Baltimore. Mills later gets a computer phone call that warns her against working with the FBI.
Meanwhile, we see a tall thin man named Marcus visit Berlin. Marcus says Lord Baltimore has found Red and will grab him tomorrow. Berlin is angry that it has not happened yet and threatens Marcus’s life.
The FBI finds information that makes them suspect Mills may actually be Lord Baltimore. The FBI questions her at a place they identified as Baltimore’s hideout. Outside, we see Marcus looking on and see Rowan Mills look at him. Mills says her only explanation is that her twin sister, Nora, who she has not seen in ages, is actually Lord Baltimore.
Red visits Director Cooper and urges him to come back to work. Red, who knows about some secretive stuff that Cooper did in Kuwait, says that if Cooper comes back, he will forget about Kuwait.
As Red returns to his base of operations, a mercenary team descends from a helicopter and begins shooting up the place. They grab Red and escape, nearly killing Red’s bodyguard Dembe in the process. The folks who grabbed him are Mossad, Israeli secret agents, who want revenge for an operation Red was connected to that left some Israeli agents dead. Red scoffs and explains his way out of it. The lead Mossad agent, a beautiful woman, explains they found Red because he loves a certain kind of tie. The explanation is brilliant and Red is impressed.
The Mossad agent releases Red into the hands of the FBI, specifically Agent Martin. Aram has figured out that Lord Baltimore is not targeting Red, but is instead looking for a woman. Red looks at a list of potential candidates and tells Liz that Baltimore is after a woman named Naomi Hyland. Red says, “She’s my ex-wife.”
The FBI goes to Naomi’s house to protect her. She is played by Mary Louise Parker. She is worried and says, “He’s back, isn’t he?” She has bene through witness protection before and does not want to go through it again.
Marcus visits Rowan Mills and plays a record for her. The song causes her to recall who she really is – she is Lord Baltimore. Her sister, Nora, has actually been dead for years. Rowan and her team burst into Naomi’s home and take out a bunch of FBI guards there, grabbing Naomi in the process. Liz is on the scene and though she cannot save Naomi, she grabs Rowan/Lord Baltimore as well as Marcus. The rest of Baltimore’s team take Naomi to Berlin who says, “Hello, Mrs. Reddington.”
The FBI figures out that Rowan and Nora are split personalities in the same body. Right now, Rowan is back in charge, while Nora is the real Lord Baltimore. Liz is able to convince Marcus to give up the song that will bring Nora’s personality back out.
Berlin is with Naomi in a lonely apartment. He takes a creepy polaroid photo of her, probably to send to Red. Meanwhile, one of Berlin’s men communicates an address to Reddington. Red and Dembe go to investigate. It is the apartment where Berlin was holding Naomi. A pocket watch containing what appears to be the polaroid of Naomi, is left on a pillow there. It looks like the watch that Berlin had last season that had a photo of his daughter in it.
Liz is granted an annulment of her marriage to Tom. She celebrates by changing her hairstyle. Back at the FBI Blacksite, Liz is thrilled to see that Cooper is back on the job.
The episode ends in chilling fashion. Red gets a packge delivered to him. It contains a box and a cell phone. He hits redial on the phone and Berlin answers. Berlin taunts Red saying he is going to do to Naomi what Red did to Berlin’s daughter (we see an image of the pocket watch with Berlin’s daughter’s image in it). Berlin says “I’m going to send her back to you piece by piece by piece.” Red opens the box and a finger is inside it.
And with that, the episode is over! This was a pretty good start to the season, though lots of the Rowna/Nora split personality stuff felt unnecessary. Yawn. Berlin is suitably ruthless and Peter Stormare is playing this role wonderfully! The previews show that Red and Berlin will finally face off—after 20 years of not seeing each other – next week. I can’t wait for that!
So, what did you think? Any ideas of how Red was connected to Berlin’s daughter? Did Red actually cut her up and send her to Berlin or has Berlin been unfairly blaming Red all these years? Leave your thoughts in the comment section! I’ll see you there!
If you want to read more of Jason Evans’ commentary on the Movie and TV industry, follow him on Twitter @TVFilmTalk and be sure to check out Speakeasy for his recaps of The Blacklist and The Flash.