TV Review: THE BLACKLIST: Season 3, Episode 22: Alexander Kirk [NBC]

NBC‘s The Blacklist Alexander Kirk TV Show Review. The Blacklist: Season 3, Episode 22: Alexander Kirk offers new story arc details for long-time viewers and exhilarating thrills for passive watchers.

With Susan Hargrave (Famke Janssen) effectively under Raymond Reddington’s (James Spader) thumb, the would-be challenger to his stranglehold on the criminal underworld is forced to help him and his allies, namely the show’s FBI task force, bring Elizabeth Keen’s (Megan Boone) killer to justice. Naturally, the prospect of working with Hargrave doesn’t exactly appeal to the former, with Agents Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) and Navabi (Mozhan Marno) sneering in disgust at the sight of Matias Solomon (Edi Gathegi) and Nez Rowan (Tawny Cypress), two of the operatives responsible for the operation that resulted in Liz’s death. Undeterred by her new partners’ distaste for herself and her associates, Hargrave pooh-poohs their “selective” outrage, observing that they have no such reservations about working with as prolific a criminal as Red. It’s a hard argument to counter, and sure enough, none of the agents do.

Ironically, the most principled resistance to cooperating with Hargrave comes from Tom Keen (Ryan Eggold), who was groomed since childhood to be a criminal himself. Still recovering from the trauma of Liz’s death, Tom is determined more than ever to protect his newborn daughter from the consequences of his past involvements and associations. He can barely bring himself to work with Solomon, refusing to forget that it was him who led the attack on the church where he and Liz were getting married. He even attempts to kill Hargrave the moment he sees her, with her life being spared only when Red calmly explains that it was not her, but scheming oligarch Alexander Kirk (Ulrich Thomsen) who triggered the events that led to Liz’s demise. Tom reluctantly accepts this explanation, but the moment they foil Kirk’s undercover power grab, he shoots Solomon and prepares to do the same to Hargrave when Red reveals one final bombshell to him: she is his long-lost mother.

As one can see, much ground is covered within the span of the episode. Thankfully, however, this is accomplished without making the audience feel overwhelmed by the influx of information. The inclusion of fast-paced scenes showing Tom and his temporary allies engage in illicit activity plays a large part in this, superbly complementing the necessary exposition. In short, it’s one of the best episodes of Season 3 of The Blacklist.

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