- When a witness in the murder trial of a ruthless cartel boss disappears, Red (James Spader) leads Liz (Megan Boone) and Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) on a search for the Blacklist's No. 161, a gruesome hit man known as the Stewmaker.
- "The Blacklist" - "The Stewmaker" - October 14, 2013
Tonight's list item: "The Stewmaker" #161
A man with a large dog checks into a motel. He unloads large cases from his car. Once inside he takes off false teeth and a wig. He disrobes, shaves his whole body, bathes in some weird brown liquid and then, naked, covers the room in plastic.
Liz goes to investigate in the evidence room. She doesn't have her badge but the guy lets her look anyway until he realizes she's not supposed to be in there. She looks at a box labeled Angel Station, with a June 2012 date. Cooper and Ressler know she's looking into the redacted homicide. Cooper says they need to keep an eye on her. Cooper notes she's testifying against a Mexican drug dealer Hector Lorca today and wants Ressler at the courthouse with her. Liz feels like he's watching her.
Red puts in a call to see Liz. She meets him on a park bench. He reads to her about her in the paper about the trial about Hector. He says her case is about to go sideways. Lorca's people have reached out to him. Normally he wouldn't help a drug dealer but since it concerns her he's interested. Lorca wants out of the country by tomorrow night and wants Red's help setting up elsewhere. Red doesn't think she's going to have a good day in court since Lorca thinks he's going to be free the next day.
The Stewmaker, now in a gas mask-- his body covered with various burns-- begins to cook up something in the motel.
In court the prosecutor reads off members of a long list of U.S. and Mexican law enforcement agents and potential witnesses who have died or disappeared, allegedly at the hands of Lorca. There are 109 names on the list. A man on the witness stand, the father of one of the victim, says he knows who killed his son. Suddenly a man on the jury has a seizure of some kind. Liz hustles the witness out of the courtroom with two FBI agents. They are impostors and abduct the witness, having already killed the actual FBI agents. Liz and Ressler race outside but they are gone.
In Haiti, Red is seems to be selling weapons of some kind to some folks with serious cash. Liz reaches him by phone. He claims he's keeping up appearances as a "criminal." She asks what Lorca's contacts said. He said he told her all he know. He notes he's not worried about a mediocre drug dealer but the bigger fish. She says it matters to her and to the families of the 109 dead people. He asks if the bodies have never been found. She says no, and wonders why he's asking. He tells her to go home and have a glass of wine because the witness is likely dead and she won't find him either.
Back at the motel, the Stewmaker takes a photo of the dead witness in a body bag. He drags the body into the tub. Dons the gas mask and pours some noxious liquid on him.
At home, Liz looks through some Lorca files. And then turns to the ballistics report and looks up "Angel Station." Tom enters and she hides the ballistics report and scratches out her notes. He asks how she is, she says fine and he knows she's lying. He says he knows all her tells. He reassures her that what happened today was not her fault, just a function of her job. He notes the scratched out notes and the date in June 2012 and asks what it is, besides "the best day ever." It turns out that day they were in Boston having fun and he pulls up photos from that day. He suggests packing up the car and going on a trip because they need that right now. She says it sounds good. Her phone rings and as he departs she asks if she really has tells. And he notes she's an open book and it's one of the things he loves about her because he always knows what she's thinking.
She answers her phone and it's Ressler. She meets him and they go to the motel. Unfortunately, because of the plastic sheeting there's no trace of anything in the motel room says Meera.
Red calls from a private plane for an update. He guesses about the tape residue on the wall. He tells her to go to the tub and stick her fingers in the drain. She reports she smells chemicals. He says "The Stewamker is in town. You're going to need a plumber.'
Red returns and gives a rundown on the Stewmaker, a true "Blacklister." He turns his victims into "chemical stew," leaving no trace of anything, DNA, etc. behind. As he explains we watch as he pours the liquid on the dead witness and his body turns into a disgusting mush. He collects "trophies" of his victims, bits and pictures. Red says Liz has lost her case but the Stewmaker knows where all the bodies are buried and has the answers to hundreds of unsolved cases the world over. Ressler asks how they get him. Red says he's notoriously cautious, Red doesn't know what he looks like. He says to put pressure on Lorca.
They bring Lorca in who professes no knowledge of the Stewmaker. Meera tries to talk them into a plea agreement. Lorca is not impressed with their ability to protect people. They say they're dropping the murder charges but are bringing up money laundering charges and siccing Homeland security on him...unless he gives them the Stewmaker. He then admits he does know him, sounds scared of him, they won't catch him and he likes his odds with Homeland since he knows the charges are trumped up.
Liz turns Lorca over to Homeland security. He says Liz disrupted his life and business and she doesn't know him just because she profiled him. Just as the helicopter picking him up is about to land it is blown up and the blast tosses Liz on the pavement. A van screeches up and Lorca's henchmen jump out and gun down the BI agents, put a bag over Liz's head and toss her in.
Back at HQ, Cooper, Ressler and Red see all this on the surveillance video. Red wants to go after her. Ressler wants to come. Red says he makes no assurances for Ressler's safety and they have to do it his way without FBI teams.
Red and Ressler arrive at an address and Red says Ressler has to trust him, which he says he can't. They make their way in and Red warns him to have good answers for Lorca's questions. They head into the restaurant. Red introduces Ressler as an FBI agent and they immediately throw him to his knees and put a knife to his throat. Lorca asks why he shouldn't kill him. Ressler claims to be corrupt, Red's "inside man." Red says he has everything Lorca needs to flee they just need to find the Stewmaker. Lorca claims he doesn't know where he is an Red and Ressler make for the door. Lorca relents and says he has a contact.
Back at HQ we learn the Stewmaker is a dentist from Maryland and Meera and Ressler head that way. Red notices the dog hair in an evidence bag, pockets it and sneaks out with Dembe.
We cut to the Stewmaker pulling Liz out of his trunk, blindfolded and hands bound. He pushes her up a driveway to a house in the woods. She tells him her name and notes she is a person with a husband and a life, presumably to make her seem more "real' to him, and not just a piece of stew meat.
Red, Dembe and his fancy lady friend also hit the road. He has Dembe call Maryland animal control and pretends he's the Stewmaker and says he's lost his dog and has lost the code on his cell phone to track him. He wants her to send the code to his iPad and says it's an emotional support dog and his heart is pounding.
Liz tries to appeal to the Stewmaker's humanity. She asks him his name and tells him that he's called the Stewmaker, which is disrespectful and disaparaging. He didn't know this apparently. He starts babbling about nature and the transference of energy. He says nature "transforms" dead people. He says he does it faster and cleaner than nature.
Ressler and Meera bust into a suburban house and confront the Stewmaker's wife and son. She says he's not home.
Liz asks the Stewmaker if he has family, a son? He does. She asks how old he is. He's 11. When she says she's not a mother he says that's good. He tells her he was asked to make her suffer and he apologizes and says it's just his job. He jabs a needle into a cluster of nerves in her shoulder, she screams.
The Stewmaker's wife tells Meera and Ressler about their cabin in the woods.
Red and his gang are getting close. They stop for meat.
The Stewmaker, now naked, gives Liz a sedative that will eventually cause paralysis but will maintain her sensitivity for pain. She asks why he's doing this since he doesn't take life he cleans up the mess of death. He says he evolved. She finally wriggles out of her plastic cuffs and knocks him down and races through the woods. The sedative is taking hold though. The Stewmaker and his dog find her in the woods. He punches her and drags her back to the house. He takes a picture of her. Then Red punches him. (He quieted the dog with the meat.) He gently puts the paralyzed Liz's feet back in the wheelchair. He says the effects of the sedative will dissipate soon and she'll be fine. He then turns and confronts the Stewmaker and asks if they should get started.
Ressler, Meera and the gang descend on the woods.
The Stewmaker's brew is bubbling while Red monologues at him, telling us his tragic backstory of the loss of his family many years earlier and how that twisted his mind and turned him into what he is and that he knows in his heart that he must pay. Liz defends him and says he couldn't help it. He tosses the Stewmaker into his own pot of stew. Ressler and Meer bust in. She asks how he got there. He compliments her blouse. Red looks through the Stewmaker's despicable photo album of bodies he destroyed. He pulls out the picture of one young blonde woman marked December 1990.
Ressler helps a weakened Liz out and she collapses, crying onto his shoulder.
Later in the ambulance, Red gives Liz the photo album so she can give the families some comfort. She notes that Red is no better than the Stewmaker. He asks if she's going to tell on him. She calls him a monster. He agrees. She asks how he can live with that. He says by saving her life. The ambulance drives off. He tells Ressler about the photo album and it should put Lorca away. Ressler says Lorca got away. Red says he's on his jet.
Later in the park he pulls out the photo of the girl and looks at it.
Liz sits on her tub and Tom comes in and surprises her with by saying he booked three nights at an inn they liked in New England. She kisses him. he says they're going to get through it and he begins kissing her neck. She opens the pamphlet for the inn and notices that it's called the Angel Station Hotel.
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