The Blacklist: Redemption: Episode 1 Review

The most recent episode of The Blacklist ended with one of its biggest twists ever, and that same night marked the start of the show’s spinoff, The Blacklist: Redemption.

The Blacklist: Redemption stars ex-operative Tom Keen, husband of Elizabeth Keen, Father of their daughter, Agnes, and Tom is played by Ryan Eggold. The show centers around Susan “Scottie” Hargrave (Famke Janssen) and her operatives, notably Matias Solomon (Edi Gathegi). These three all have some things in common. They have experience in this twisted criminal underworld, all three have spy experience, and all three were part of Raymond “Red” Reddington’s blacklist in the original series: Tom Keen (No.07), Susan Hargrave (No.18), and Matias Solomon (No.32).

Last we saw, Red worked out a deal with Scottie and her group worked with the FBI for a little while, Hargrave offers Tom a job, which he refuses. Tom learns later on that Hargrave is his mother and Red instructs Tom not to tell her who he really is. The last time we saw Mr. Solomon, Tom had shot him and left him for dead.

What exactly happened in The Blacklist: Redemption season one, episode one: “Leland Bray”?

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers

We see Hargrave interrogating a man, she repeats the phrase “rubber baby buggy bumpers” over and over. She threatens to send the man overboard (note that they are in a plane…) and he finally caves and gives her the information she wants before she reveals to him that it was just a simulation, fans turn off and Scottie walks away.

The Hargrave Mystery

Tom heads to something for his dad after his death… except his dad is not dead. He actually confronts Tom in a park and tells him that Tom he needs to work for his mother as an operative and that his mother tries to have him killed.

Tom’s dad leaves but comes back later, showing Tom a room where he has been searching for his son for years.

Leland Bray

Solomon and Tom head to an area and kidnap a girl, cutting the bottom of the pool out from underneath her.

It appears as though Tom and Solomon botch the job and the girl gets away, but rather this was part of the plan, as the girl leads them right to Bray.

Using the tunnels around Bray’s compound, Tom. Solomon and another operative slip inside and rescue a woman and her son. Bray is later killed attempting to escape with the boy as a hostage.

The mother tries to kill the operatives later on in an attempt to find her son. Tom and Solomon do surgery to disarm a bomb Bray placed inside of the mother.

Conclusion

Tom goes to a funeral for his dad, Scottie speaks about how much she loved him and so on and Tom later decides to accept a formal position in Halcyon (his parent’s company). The only stipulation: his mother can not know that he is her son.