The Blacklist The Informant (No. 118) Review
The Blacklist: Season 5, Episode 10: The Informant (No. 118). This The Blacklist The Informant (No. 118) review finds the episode to be a gloriously dark entry that casts shadows on the characters’ souls.
The show starts off strong with a gripping, if somewhat misleading, stinger. The second part of that comment isn’t meant to detract from its effectiveness: it’s just that the club setting and vibe contrast starkly with the brooding tone of the program’s second half. Even the intro’s gruesome ending, with all the club patrons frothing at the mouth as they are poisoned by toxic fumes, doesn’t feel like it quite fits in with the more philosophical approach of the main plot.
Speaking of the main plot, it takes a while to get off the ground but it holds one’s attention once it does. Agent Ressler’s (Diego Klattenhoff) evolution from a bland by-the-book G-man to one of the most interesting things about the show continues unabated, with him being tempted by the darkness within himself perhaps more than ever. When Henry Prescott (James Carpinello) reminds Ressler of the fact that he can’t arrest him without going to jail himself, he tells him that he could kill him instead and he will if he ever approaches him again. Compared to Ressler’s hallucinogen-induced killing of Laurel Hitchin, threats are small potatoes, but the difference here is that Ressler is fully cognizant of his words and actions.
The clandestine relationship between Ressler and Prescott goes much deeper than not-so-veiled threats however, with it being easy to draw parallels between the FBI man’s predicament and that of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment. Like Dostoevsky’s protagonist, Ressler has managed to literally get away with murder but not to evade the guilt that comes with committing such an act. Doubling down on these parallels, the episode ends with Ressler turning in a confession to Cooper (Harry Lennix) detailing his involvement with Prescott, acknowledging and welcoming the fact that it could land him in prison. This of course is similar to Raskolnikov’s confession at the end of Crime, resulting in his imprisonment but redemption as well.
Ressler isn’t the only one to continue down the dark path that the show appears to be treading this season. Liz (Megan Boone) is still on her hunt for Tom’s (Ryan Eggold) killers, and she resorts to some truly nasty methods in her search. Well, maybe nothing as nasty as what we saw in Ruin, but definitely nastier than much else Liz has done so far in The Blacklist.
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