02x00 - Behind the Blacklist

Episode transcripts for the TV show "The Blacklist". Aired September 2013 - current.*
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Former government agent Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader) has eluded capture for decades. But he suddenly surrenders to the FBI with an offer to help catch a t*rror1st under the condition that he speaks only to Elizabeth "Liz" Keen (Megan Boone), a young FBI profiler who's just barely out of Quantico.
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02x00 - Behind the Blacklist

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Should we get started?

Narrator: Last year viewers around the world discover "The Blacklist," saw it, and were hooked.

The suspense is k*lling me.

Narrator: Overnight, "The Blacklist" became a sensation.

Move your men clear! Clear out!

Week after week, fans tuned in and "The Blacklist" delivered.

If you hurt him...

Goodness no.

You really think I would harm a dog?

Aah!

You on the other hand.

I've never seen a series with the action see agains*** like when we sh**t.

We're sh**ting feature-type action sequences.

Very much like the new Bond movies.

The Jason Bourne movies.

It's probably the most action-packed television show ever created.

But action is just part of what make "The Blacklist" so much fun to watch.

Absolutely mesmerizing.

"The Blacklist" is about story, suspense and unforgettable characters.

We've gotten off to a rock start.

You've k*lled three people.

I'm not perfect.

Narrator: Like that one right there.

That's me. Harry Lennix.

I play Assistant Director Cooper.

The leader of the unit responsible for hunting the criminals on the Blacklist.


Delivering criminals to me is your job.

Delivering criminals to you is a hobby.

One that may become tiresome.

Are you threatening me, Red?

I am.

Narrator: Tonight I'll be your guide as we go behind the scenes of "The Blacklist", dig deep into the enigma that is Red Reddington and take an exclusive sneak peek at season two with all-new never-before-seen footage.

Give me what I want or so help me God, I'll make it rain fire on you.

Narrator: So sit back, relax and settle in as we go "Behind the Blacklist".

Let's begin with a quick review of the basics of the Blacklist.

The who, the what, the why. Well, no one really knows why, but I digress.


Subject: Raymond 'Red' Reddington.

In 1990, this high level U.S agent turned his back on his country, his career, his family and simply disappears.

For the next 20 years, Reddington cultivates a network of criminals, spies and assassins.

Selling high level information and government secrets.


This guy's an equal opportunity offender, a facilitator of sorts He's built an enterprise brokering deals for fellow criminals.

Reddington's only allegiance is to the highest bidder.

And then one day, without explanation, one of the world's most wanted criminals turns himself in.


(alarm)

He offers an incredible proposition.

If you want to save lives and catch the bad guys, pay attention.

Zamani was only the first.

Narrator: In exchange for immunity, he'll help us capture criminals.


The worst of the worst.

My wish list.

I'm talking about the criminals who matter.

The ones you can't find because you don't even know they exist.

But there's a catch. With Red Reddington there's always a catch.

There's one very important rule: I speak only with Elizabeth Keen.

Who the hell's Elizabeth Keen?

Subject: Elizabeth Keen.

Newly minted FBI agent.

Keen is on her very first day of the job.

Narrator: Why her?


Agent Keen, what a pleasure.

Why involve me? I'm nobody. Nothing special about me.

Oh, I think you're very special.

Reddington's connection with Elizabeth Keen is far greater than anyone could have ever realised.

You owe me an answer. Why me?

Because of your father.

She asks him point blank: "Are you my father?" And he said no.

All we really know about her biological father is that he saved her life by reaching into the fire that was engulfing her All of these things about her life get exposed.

Like her relationship with her husband.

Lizzy, be careful of your husband.

Narrator: Subject, Agent Keen's husband, Tom Keen.

School teacher, adoring husband, or so it seems.

Is there something more to Tom?


I told you that I was in love with her because that is exactly what I am suppose to be. That is my job.

Narrator: Of all the characters in "The Blacklist", none is more complex, none more fascinating than Raymond "Red" Reddington.

A role actor James Spader was born to portray.


This is gonna be a gas.

There's nothing better than a fun villain, than a charming villain, you know.

And there's nobody better to play it than James Spader.

This is a Colt 45 1911.

I can strip and reassemble this w*apon in well under two minutes.

If at that time your task remains incomplete, I'm going to empty that mag into your head.

That's really messed up.

The most enjoyable thing about playing this character is how much enjoyment comes from knowing so little about him.

You're not telling us everything.

Let me put your mind at ease. I'm never telling you everything.

Just when you think you know, just when you're sure you know, you're wrong.

I'll make her talk.

How?

You don't want me to answer that.

You're hardly given a moment to get comfortable.

If you do and just ***, the rug is pulled out from under you very, very swiftly.

I gave you what you asked for.

What's he talking about?

Janice, shh.

One of the great things Spader brings to this role is he makes Red so likeable.

You monster!

Janice, stop with the yelling. It's just a flesh wound.

Even as he's doing terrible things, you still enjoy watching him be Red.

Janice, my sincerest apologies.

I'll take a rain check on the stroganoff. It smells delicious.

This is a very enigmatic character within the context of a very enigmatic story.

We're going to have to find out what the truth is about him.


You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can by its first few chapters and most certainly by its last.

So what's it all about, then?

It'll take the lifetime of the show to find out that truth.

I want another meal in Paris. I want another bottle of wine. And then another.

The scenes I'm not in that he's in, I've stayed late to watch him sh**t those scenes.

I want to stand on summits and smoke Cubans and feel the sun on my face for as long as I can.

I learn a lot from James Spader by just watching him work.

To stand at the helm of your destiny... I want that. One time.

Coming up next, Megan Boone shares a very, very personal story about the first time she met James Spader.

James knocked on my door and said "This is James".

And I just stiffened up.

A look back at the most original villains on television.

The Stewmaker is in town.


You're going to need a plumber.

And a sneak peek at season two of the Blacklist, so exclusive even I haven't seen it. After this.

My first day working on the show with James, I hadn't met him yet.

And I came to work with great anticipation and I was rehearsing my lines and very, very nervous and just munching on popcorn and James knocked on my door and said "This is James" and I just stiffened up and inhaled, and a piece of popcorn lodged itself in the back of my throat, and he came in to speak to me and he was very eloquent about how wonderful we were going to be together.

And I'm supposed to believe you?

Of course not.

And all the while, I'm just trying to pretend I'm not choking.

And then he left the room and I just spit it up and went in and did my scene with him.

Are you the one who did this?

Did what?

Don't play stupid. You're the only thing connecting us.

And it went quite well. I stabbed him in the neck with a pen.

I just punched a hole in your carotid. So, tell me how I make this right or I let you die, right here.

As an actor on the Blacklist, I have to confess there's nothing more fun than cracking open a new script and discovering which amazing bad guy we're pursuing next.

'Cause these aren't just any bad guys. These are the most original villains on television.


Hello, Red.

The Blacklist contains an incredibly colorful rogues gallery.

Today marks the beginning of a w*r.

They're Bond-like villains. They're very, very outlandish characters.

Like number 161.

The Stewmaker is in town. You're going to need a plumber.


He's creepy, he's strange, he's dangerous.

He has a very graphic way of making people disappear.

He's a chemical expert who turns his victims into chemical stew.

Have you ever wondered how criminals who know they can't trust one another are still able to conduct business with each other?

Number 85.

He's the Courier.


Once he's hired to make a delivery, he can't be bribed, he can't be stopped.

If either party attempts to double-cross the other, he kills them both.

The Courier is a particularly dangerous villain because he can't feel pain and he can get sh*t and he can s*ab himself and he can open himself up and hide evidence in his skin.

Get your hands up!

We have to find a way around that.

Number 47. Frederick Barnes.


Sir, you forgot your briefcase.

He's a very special animal.

One with the tools and know-how to k*ll thousands and thousands of people.

All at once.


He is, quite literally, the most dangerous man in the world.

There'll be protests, violent uprisings, planes will fall from the skies.

109. General Ludd.


General Ludd, with the internet can reach out to hundreds,

millions of people and with a couple of keystrokes, he has followers willing to sort of do his bidding.

Number 135.


They call him the Undertaker, a man who somehow turns ordinary people into contract K*llers.

He exploits people who have nothing left to lose and uses them to become assassins.

We paid you to make us disappear.
Villain 101.[/i]

The Alchemist is a facilitator, the witness protection for bad guys.

He's an artist who paints in blood and saliva samples.

I'm not ashamed to say he's even better than me in helping people disappear.

Don't worry.

This will all be over, very, very soon.

He's coming your way.

Number 42.

The Kingmaker.

He's single-handedly responsible for the rise and fall of some of the world's most pivotal politicians and statesmen and whatever he intends to touch, will turn very nasty.

What do you want?

I want you to vacate your Senate seat.

The blacklisters are very unique to this show and for the second season, I think that they are every
bit as clever and as exciting as the ones we had last year.

One of the questions that we have wanted to answer toward the end of the season is, whether or not all these individual Blacklist cases are connected.

Oh my God.

The connective tissue to all of those cases is a man named Berlin.

I know about Berlin.


He's coming for you.

The arrival of Berlin has caused chaos.

Lizzy, listen to me. Everyone on the task force is a target.

In the second season, we are going to figure out a deeper truth as to why Berlin has come after Red in the first place.

You don't choose Berlin. He chooses you.

And now we come to one of my personal favorite aspects of The Blacklist.

What's the deal with Tom Keen?

I mean the guys a schoolteacher. He's loving, supportive.

The one thing Liz could count on in her life was her husband Tom.


You deal with bad people and sometimes bad things are going to happen. And that's not your fault.

But Red showed up and started stirring the pot.

Tell me what you've learned about your husband.

And as the storybook marriage to Tom...

Someone is doing this to me.

Became... complicated.

I was doing my job.

Your job? That was our life. We were going to have a baby.

Everything was a lie. My life was a lie.

Who do you work for?

Liz, come on. You don't have it in you.

Ahh.

Especially when Liz learns the man she loves, is in fact a secret agent, working for the baddest blacklister of them all.

The deadly and mysterious Berlin.


k*ll her! Pull the trigger! Do it!

Well that simplifies matters.

Now that he's been found out, what does the future hold for dear old Tom?

Put the g*n down before you do something you'll deeply regret.

There's people who want to see Tom dead and them I'm getting people saying no, no, no, don't k*ll Tom. No, we love Tom.

Make the right choice, Tom, but make it fast because when I get over there, I'm going to take that g*n away from you.

Watching Liz resurface from this betrayal is... is really where we pick up in the second season.

I think the Liz that we're going to see in the second season is a little harder around the edges.

And perhaps a little more like Red.

There were a lot of things that were left unanswered.

And the unanswered questions come back in ways that we don't expect and that's where it gets to be the most fun.


I think it's going to be a really great season.

Coming up, I'll show you everything you need to know to prepare for season two of the Blacklist.

After this.

Now that you've seen all the elements that make the Blacklist such a sensation, it's time to enjoy a fast-paced and thrilling look back at season 1

that will get you up and running for season 2.
Reddington has brokered some of the most comprehensive international criminal activity in the past 20 years.

He's willing to cooperate, give us names.

And he's what, our informant? Slowly working his way towards immunity?

Which he's never going to get.

Let's say for the moment... our interests are aligned.

Ranko Zamani. You want him. I want him.

Ranko Zamani's been dead for six years.

Then a dead man just stepped off United 283 from Munich to Dulles.

Now, I'll give you Zamani, but from this point forward, there one very important rule.

I speak only with Elizabeth Keen.

Do you find it odd Reddington surrendered himself the day you started working as a profiler?

I think that it suggests he was waiting for me.

We're going to make a great team.

Why you?

Understand, Zamani was only the first.

That's why we're all here of course.


My wishlist.

A list I've been cultivating for over 20 years.

I'm talking about the criminals who matter.


It's called the Blacklist. That sounds exciting.

The Freelancer. The Judge. The Good Samaritan.

Anslo Garrick intends to att*ck this facility.

Just you and me again, Red. Just like the old days.

I hate working with the man. He's dangerous. He pathologically flaunts authority. He's reckless to the point of suicidal.

And all this, everything we've done, none of this
would've been possible if it weren't for him.

Hello?

Lizzy, be careful of your husband.

In what world is any of this okay?

The fact that you don't see that... that this is somehow normal to you...

I'm sorry.

I've been att*cked. I've been accused of m*rder.

Someone is doing this to me.

And now people are watching us.

Part of me thinks that you're manipulating this whole thing.

And you're trying to ruin my life.

I can only lead you to the truth. I can't make you believe it.

I just want to be a normal, boring couple and you have so many secrets.

And I wish you didn't, because I don't have any secrets.


Elizabeth Keen is not your wife. She's your target.

My husband chose me. He inserted himself into my life because of you.

Right now, the only thing that matters is the immediate thr*at.

Your husband.

Finding out who he is and who he works for.


Watch post is compromised. Tell Berlin I was forced to liquidate.

This is a copy of Tom's code book. It was used to pass information between Tom and his superiors.

Oh my God. It's all connected.

What is?

The Blacklist.

We've been looking at it all wrong. What if they're not random.

What if there's a larger pattern to all of this.


Reddington got a number from Wujing. A code that he entered into ViCAP,

after helping us stop General Ludd, in order to identify Joleen Parker.

Found a flash drive. Looks like the girl has been following your every move.


That means that you are compromised, and if you're compromised,

then it's only a matter of time before your trail leads to me.

I believe they all trace back to one entity. Berlin.

It's not a place, it's a person.


Lizzy, listen to me. You're in danger. Everyone on the task force is a target.

Why should I even can consider involving myself in your mess?

Because my enemy is your enemy.

I'm here to see if we can work together.

And you want?

Access.

The kind even the FBI doesn't have.

Ahh!

What did I do to you?

Beirut! 2010.

k*ll her! Pull the trigger!

The man you k*lled wasn't Berlin.

Yes, I know.

How?


He spoke of Beirut, 2010.

Berlin's att*cks on my business started years earlier.

I'm sure you will find him.

A w*r is coming.

I'm certain things will get considerably worse before they get better.

You can turn away and run from me.

You can hide from it and if you choose to do that, I'll fly away.

Or you can face it and confront it.

Engage it and maybe, maybe prevail.

And rise above it.

Tom told me something right before he d*ed.


What?

What was that?

Your father is alive.

The only memory I have of my real father is from the night of the fire.

I remember him pulling me out of the flames.

Next, stay tuned for an exclusive sneak peek of never-before-seen footage of season 2 of the Blacklist.

Right after this.

And now an exclusive sneak peek of season two of "The Blacklist."


Aren't you a surprisingly saucy minx?

Aren't we confident today?

I'm confident every day.

A man calling himself Berlin hired a bounty hunter to find me and my associates.

I'm willing to pay $3 million. You have 30 seconds.

Give me what I want or so help me God I will make it rain fire on you.

Tell the boy not to pull on the brim of the hat.

You have a lead.

Lord Baltimore is in town.

You have a new target?

Yes, me.

Unbelievable.

Hello, Harold.

Things are at a tipping point.

I'm not coming back.

Mr. Reddington, I presume.

Where is she?

Ok, all I can say is, wow.

Trust me, you do not want to miss "The Blacklist" season two premiere.

We leave you now with one final look at one of television's most charming villains, Red Reddington.

Doing what he does best.

I'm Harry Lennix. Thanks for joining us on "Behind the Blacklist".


I'm not a gumball machine, Lizzy. You don't get to just twist the handle whenever you want a treat.

Care for a peach? I rarely enter someone's home for the first time without bringing a gift.

Get the hacksaw. We're gonna have to take him out of here in pieces.

I'm just kidding.

You think I'm going to fly all the way to Montreal for the cheese cart?

Agent Keen, I have a tip. You're a winter not an autumn. Stop wearing olive.

He's a myth.

That's what they said about Deep Throat and the G-spot.

Well, this was fun. Let's do it again.
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