Directed by Michael W Watkins
Written by John Eisendrath, Jon Bokenkamp, Amanda Kate Shuman, Brandon Margolis, & Brandon Sonnier
Tom Connolly (No. 11) provides examples of:
- Asshole Victim: Tom Connolly was a member of the Cabal, a group that engages in political assassination and terrorism. He was also an amoral, Smug Snake who gloated about how he was going to destroy the lives of the task force right up to the point that he got shot and died.
- Blackmail: Red’s blackmail threat against the Cabal comes to fruition when he releases the Fulcrum in response to their attack on Liz.
- Character Death: Keen shoots and kills Tom Connolly in response to hearing his plans for the task force, Charlene Cooper, and Red.
- Darkest Hour: The episode ends with Liz taking a spot next to RED on the FBI’s most wanted list after she murders the Attorney General and is falsely accused of assassinating a senator and bombing the OREA building. Red is forced to release the Fulcrum which means he no longer has protection against the Cabal who are after both him and Liz now. And unfortunately, Cooper is dismissed and might face charges because of his involvement in Liz’s escape.
- Flashback Cut: Played for Drama. Liz is shown recovering a memory from the night of the fire in a very short seconds long scene. Unfortunately, the scene is her as a child shooting her father.
- Frame-Up: Liz is framed for the assassination of Senator Hawkins and the bombing of the OREA building. She’s also being framed as a Russian agent which means that Russia is also being framed for her crimes.
- The Reveal:
- Harold Cooper was never sick. The Cabal leveraged his doctor into convincing him that he was. They even went so far as to drug him to make it more convincing.
- The memory Liz was repressing of the night of the fire was of her shooting her father.
- Trailers Always Lie: The promos said that the title of the episode was “Masha Rostova”. Masha Rostova was not the Blacklister for the episode and the actual episode wasn’t titled “Masha Rostova”. The episode’s Blacklister and title was Tom Connolly. Masha Rostova is actually just Liz’s birth name.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: While being chased down by Tom and Liz, Andropov is murdered by the Cabal’s men, whom he thought were going to save him.
