The Blacklist’s main problem from the beginning is that it’s a show that thinks it’s so much smarter than it actually is. In fact, The Blacklist is often just downright dumb. Many times, it combines intentionally frustrating choices, stupid decision making and illogical plot developments in a way that is literally laughable. At one point in the latest episode, Elizabeth yells at Reddington to just stop playing these ridiculous games, and it felt like she was reading directly from my notes.
“Milton Bobbit” has such a slight plot that I’ll just summarize it in one sentence so I can focus on just what doesn’t make sense here. Basically, Elizabeth discovers that Tom isn’t who he says he is, she finds a mysterious key and Tom’s fake brother mentions something about a case in Berlin before jumping out a window. That’s it. That’s really all that furthers the story along this week.
The good news is at least “Milton Bobbit” does feature more of Elizabeth and Reddington working together on a case throughout the episode. Lately, Reddington has just shown up, given some key information, then mostly bailed on the rest of the episode. Here, he sticks around to figure out who Tom is. Of course, though, Reddington can’t be completely helpful. It’s made clear that Tom has inserted himself into Elizabeth’s life because of her connection with Reddington, yet he still refuses to tell her what that is, which as I mentioned earlier makes her rightfully pissed off. Reddington states that their connection doesn’t matter as much as who Tom works for, but still, I imagine finding out the Elizabeth-Reddington connection would really speed this process along significantly.
Tom has suggested that Elizabeth and himself renew their vows, which is clearly a last-ditch effort to keep Elizabeth close. Yet for months now, Tom has been running off and growing increasingly disappointed at Elizabeth, so why would he do that if his mission was to keep her close? It sounds more like the show’s writers had no idea what his arc would be until quite recently. So to keep Tom off of the trail of what Elizabeth is doing and to make her seem normal to everyone, Reddington suggests yet another case that has absolutely nothing to do with the overall show’s story. Good thinking, Red!