- Red investigates Jolene's life; Liz and Ressler go after a criminal known as The Judge, who incarcerates the ones that put innocent men away.
- "The Blacklist" {The Judge (No. 57) (#1.15)} - March 3, 2014
A man with long hair and a beard walks along a snowy highway in a tattered suit carrying a paper bag. He seems dazed when a motorist stops and tries to help him. He drops his paper bag. In the bag is a badge identifying him as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. The police bring a woman to him who says he's been missing for 12 years. She greets him in the hospital as Mark and IDs herself as Donna. She hugs him and asks him where he's been.
Red meets a no-nonsense man in a black cowboy hat (later identified as Hastings) in a car with Texas plates. Red shows the man a picture of a woman named Lucy Brooks, who is supposed to be dead. Red says she's alive and going by the name Jolene. Red wants to give him more info but the man begs off, saying he doesn't tell Red how to do his job. The man says he'll find the girl. Red says he doesn't want him to find her since he knows where she is. He wants to know where she's been. He says she's already faked her death to elude him. She's the woman currently lining Tom up in her sights pretending to be a teacher.
At a teacher conference in Orlando, Jolene and Tom are debating "Lolita" as acceptable for kids to read with other disapproving teachers. Tom ignores a call from Liz. Jolene is flirty with him.
Red goes to see Liz at the Post Office and apprises her of the Mark Hastings case, the returned Assistant U.S. Attorney, which is now front page news. Hastings had worked on a drug cartel case and Red thinks he was held captive, but not by the cartel. Red thinks "The Judge" had him. He thought it was a "justice myth" until now, saying all cultures have a "court of last resort" for the hopeless. Prisoners can state their case and claim they were falsely imprisoned, and eventually their appeals letter reaches "The Judge." If freedom or life was taken unfairly, The Judge demands the same in return. The Judge is number 57 on the Blacklist.
Liz brings their theory to Ressler, Cooper and the gang, showing them a case from 12 years ago in which Hastings may have withheld evidence that sent a man to prison for...12 years. She shows other cases of missing law enforcement and judicial officials who have gone missing in similar cases of apparent miscarriages of justice.
The belief is the appeals letters are sent to a book depository in Virginia. The team tracks down a man named Frank Gordon who works there, who himself was incorrectly incarcerated. Gordon works for the literacy program that is apparently the front for "The Judge." The team finds the space he stays in in the depository. Ressler wades into the dark space alone. Gordon punches him in the face. Liz gets off a shot but Gordon gets away.
They find appeals letters from all over the country. One of the prisoners gets their attention, a man named Rifkin, scheduled for execution the next day due to a false account of killing Afghan civilians. The file leads back to Cooper who was there. Cooper scoffs and says the guy is definitely guilty.
Liz goes to see Rifkin, who is with a woman from the Amnesty Collective, Ruth Kipling. Kipling alludes to "The Judge." Rifkin says it's a myth, but he was beaten by Harold Cooper on the orders of Assistant US Attorney Thomas Connelly. (Ruth is played by Academy Award-winning actress Dianne Wiest, so, obviously, she's The Judge.)
Back in Orlando and the teacher conference, Jolene and Tom continue to flirt in a bar. She claims to have a fiancé. He talks about the job and keeping secrets. She asks if he's good at that. He doesn't answer. She asks where Liz is. He asks after her fiancé. Then they start kissing. A child walks in on them in the bathroom. Jolene laughs and Tom apologizes. She claims she is sorry too and walks out, but soon returns and gives him her room key.
Frank Gordon gets out of a car in front of a country home. He's talking into a cell phone about grabbing Connolly and Cooper if Rifkin is executed. Kipling meets him with a big pot and tells him it's "feeding time" and they head to the barn. The horse stalls are converted cells filled with prisoners. She hands the prisoners food. Gordon seems freaked out by the prisoners. Kipling reminds him he was innocent and these people are not since they put people like him-- and her father-- behind bars. Gordon is worried the FBI is now on to them. Kipling says until they're busted, they're still going, and if Rifkin dies for the others to carry out "the sentence."
Back at the Post Office, the team works on breaking down the Rifkin case. They find falsified documents and try to track people down. Liz tracks down one of the people involved who claims he tried to come forward to narc on Connolly who basically said they didn't have enough evidence on Rifkin and ordered Cooper to beat a confession out of him. Which, according to this man, Cooper did and then helped to falsify the documents. The guy is freaked out that Rifkin, it would appear, is really going to die.
Cooper goes to see Connolly and tells him they have a problem they need to contain.
Meanwhile, Hastings runs down Jolene's place, which is full of cash, a flash drive, and fake IDs. She's been many places Red has been. The man calls Red and tells him that she wants to cause trouble, and is either hitting a lot of little targets or is going to hit one big one.
Liz confronts Cooper, who is with US Attorney Connolly. She asks to speak privately. Connolly won't allow that and Cooper tells her to speak freely. She asks about beating a confession out of Rifkin. Cooper says he did not railroad an innocent man. He admits to beating him and says Rifkin is paying the price for his crime. Connolly scoffs at Liz's efforts to do anything about stopping the execution. Cooper tells her she should worry about her career.
Liz tries to reach the "clemency advisor" just as Rifkin is being strapped into the lethal injection table. Liz strikes out. Connolly and Cooper witness the execution. Rifkin looks at the witnesses and declares his innocence. Kipling looks at them and says "Even God won't forgive you for this." Rifkin says "Goodnight mother." After the execution, Connolly looks relieved. Cooper looks conflicted. As they walk out Connolly says they did the right thing. Cooper agrees but says they did it the wrong way. Connolly notes he's poked around and discovered that no one is exactly clear on what it is Cooper does and that they're managing to take down amazing people not on their radar and asks how. Cooper says nothing. Connolly promises to appoint him to Director of the FBI when he becomes Attorney General and Cooper will then tell him all about the secret weapon they both know he has. When they arrive at their car they are abducted by Gordon and brought to the stables. Kipling/The Judge confronts them. Cooper toes the party line and she slaps his face.
Liz tells Red that Cooper has been taken. Red tells her to talk to Hastings. Liz is worried that Cooper will die since "The Judge" is all about "an eye for an eye."
The Judge yells at Cooper and Connolly and says if they did their job right she wouldn't have to do hers. She asks them how they plead. Connolly pleads not guilty. She says I find you guilty.
Red goes to see a former Naval Academy classmate named Richard at a Navy outpost in VA. He tells Red he made a helluva mess when he left and destroyed some careers, but not Richard's apparently. Red asks about the Rifkin case. Richard says rooming with Red was the worst thing that ever happened to him. Red says the men who want this information can be very "helpful" and get him back on track.
Liz tries to talk to Hastings who appears too traumatized to respond. He does, however, say "Goodnight Mother" which Liz recognizes from the execution. They work it out and trace it back to Ruth Kipling and get her address in Pennsylvania. Gordon is about to kill Cooper and Connelly in a janky, homemade electric chair when the cavalry arrives in the form of the FBI and Red, who has the information that Cooper and Connolly need. He has a classified file from the Pentagon that proves that Rifkin had turned and become a terrorist, which had been covered up. Red convinces The Judge to surrender since he knew this was always about justice for her, not vengeance.
The men are released from the stables. Connolly asks Cooper what happened. Cooper says "My secret weapon."
Liz brings the pleas from the prison to Cooper who tells her to bring them to the Pentagon.
Cooper pulls her aside and says he'll understand if she feels the need to report him for admitting to beating Rifkin. Liz says they've had enough judgment for one day.
Cooper tells Red that saving his bacon doesn't earn him any leverage. Red says a war is coming and the break in to the Post Office and the disappearance of Diane Fowler is just the beginning. Cooper asks if Red wants his help. Red says not now, but he will when the time comes. Red also tells Cooper to reach out to his old Naval buddy Admiral Richard and pull a few strings to help him out.
Red goes to meet Hastings, who shows him the flash drive, it's full of pictures of Red, Dembe, Tom and Liz. Red says he thinks Jolene is "finishing an operation" and he wants to see how it plays out. We cut to Tom at the bar contemplating his wedding ring. He takes it off, finishes his drink, and heads upstairs to Jolene's room. But when she kisses him, he rebuffs her. He says he loves his wife. She says "wrong answer." She says "Elizabeth Keen is not your wife - she's your target." Tom says perhaps she was sent by "them" to test him, but he loves his wife because that is what is he is supposed to do, that is his job.
"The Judge" heads to jail. The inmates tip their heads respectfully.
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