Have you ever noticed thatThe Blacklistepisodes about torture are… particularly torturous to watch?
Call me crazy, but watching people in pain is simply not a pleasant experience for me!
So, who exactly do I mean by “they”?
James Spader and Laverne Cox in ‘The Blacklist’.Will Hart/NBC
Well, the writers, first of allhow dare they cause harm to Dembe.
But mostly, I mean this be-bunned Blacklister, Dr. Perillos, played byLaverne Coxwith sadistic glee.
And of course, I mean Neville Townsend, the nightmare who hired Dr. Perillos to torture Dembe.
So the question then becomes, do I also mean the person who hiredhim, Elizabeth Keen?
She wants to super-murder Reddington, sure, but Liz would never hurt Dembe, right?
DR. LAKEN PERILLOS, NO.
Townsend needs her in the United States as soon as possible.
She does not look thrilled to be pulled away mid-torture.
First Red visits Townsend’s money launderer, who just so happens to also run a laundromat.
While with the launderer, Dembe gets a call about a bomb that Ruddiger has been investigating.
Aram’s response: “Reddington says Liz is working with Townsend?
Ruddiger’s response to similar news: “Who could do this, Raymond?
Not Elizabeth,I’m sure.”
When will these men learn?
“What caused the misdiagnosis?”
Perillo asks Dembe in a way that suggests the answer is already on its way.
But I was also a little queasy to watch this information be relayed while torturing a Black man.
“Does he know the pain that causes you?
The pain inside your heart, can he see that?”
Dembe doesn’t give her an answerabout that or anything else.
When Townsend does, Reddington offers him a trade: him for Dembe.
Y’know… when Townsend’s men showed up?
Meanwhile, Red is being injected with jellyfish venom that will paralyze his lungs within the hour.
Which Red isn’t going to do,so I guess he’ll just die.
This momentyou waited for it, anticipated it, and somehow it’s dissatisfying.”
Townsend responds that, to the contrary, he’s having a wonderful time.
But if Liz really is listening, she does nothing.
But Reddington has something else on his mind.
“Do you think that I see your pain?”
To which Dembe responds, honestly: “No, I don’t… not always.”
A FEW LOOSE ENDS
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