Ian Garvey

"Ian Garvey"

Season 5, Episode 8

Episode Information

Air date

November 15, 2017

Directed by

Bill Roe

Written by

John Eisendrath
Jon Bokenkamp

Episode Chronology

Previous	Next
“The Kilgannon Corporation”	“Ruin”

“Ian Garvey” is the eighth episode of Season 5 of The Blacklist and the ninety-seventh episode overall.

Synopsis[]

Press Release[]

When Tom goes missing, Liz desperately retraces his steps in order to find him. Meanwhile Red's hunt for the suitcase of bones puts him on a collision course with Tom that will change everyone's lives forever.

Number on The Blacklist[]

13

Unanswered Questions[]

Elizabeth Keen
1. Why did the writers use the “flash forward” storyline of lost/missing time of 10 months?
  1. A: The finale jumps ten months into the future and when the show returns a couple more months have passed. Why such a big leap? Eisendrath: We wanted to skip some of what we would have been obliged to play if we just had Liz wake up the next day in that raw state of frozen depression. What we want to play is her active, avenging desire mixed in obviously with the pain and the agony of losing the person she loves the most. We wanted to get to a place where she is moving forward and active in her search, in her hunt and in her healing. Bokenkamp: The time jump also raises a lot of questions. What is Liz going to do, what has happened to the task force, where is Reddington? It shapes the dynamic in a really interesting way that helps us tell compelling stories.
Ian Garvey
1. How did Ian find Tom at the house?
2. How did Ian arrive at the house before Red?
  1. A: His men were following Tom back to the house and told Garvey about it.
3. Why are the bones so valuable? Even if it is the skeleton of Katarina Rostova, how can identifying her corpse give the possessor an advantage? The series has been building a legend and/or myth around the Rostova name.
  1. A: The bones are important because Red does not want Liz to know what really happened to Katarina. Back in “Mr. Kaplan: Conclusion”, Kathryn Nemec dug the bones up at Tansi Farm and she intended for Tom to deliver it to Liz. Unfortunately, Garvey had other plans and intercepted Tom just as he was about to show her the actual truth.
  2. Q: Assuming Garvey knew all this, how does that give him power over Reddington? He seems to know next to nothing about Liz, therefore it is unlikely he referred to that.
  3. A: In “The Capricorn Killer”, it was revealed that Garvey has documents of a DNA test that Tom did on the skeletal remains and knows who they belong to. He's just waiting for Red to confirm it.
  4. Q: It still remains unclear why the bones (or their identity) are powerful, especially since it became clear that Garvey is unaware of who Liz is. If these were just proof of yet another murder Red committed, it would hardly be powerful.
4. Why did he kill Tom?
  1. A: Since Garvey intercepted Tom between (or at) the train station and the apartment, he likely has had knowledge of Tom's plans. In “The Invisible Hand” it was revealed that Garvey has access to advanced surveillance equipment. It is therefore likely that he intercepted the phone call from Tom to Liz at the train station; therefore Garvey knew that “Tom knows everything” and cannot live.
  2. A: Garvey might have tortured and interrogated Tom before Liz arrived. If Garvey learned that “Tom knows everything”, then Tom is a liability.
Tom Keen
1. Tom’s death resembles his near-death experience in “Pilot”.
2. Why does the morgue tag on Tom state his age as 33? When Elizabeth Keen visits the grave in “Ruin” his tombstone states 1985 - 2017, making him 32 years old.
  1. A: Error in the bureaucracy, a difference in 1 year could be the result of not looking at the date of his birth.
3. Why does the morgue tag on Tom state that the cause of death was a gun wound?
  1. A: Error in the bureaucracy.
  2. A: The morgue tag states the real cause of death is hemorrhaging. Under comments the line “Gunshot &” can be seen and we can only assume the other part mentioned the stab wounds.
4. When did Tom remove the skeleton from the suitcase?
  1. A: In the kitchen when Red left the room.
5. Why did Tom drop the eye glasses?
  1. A: The eye glasses had prescription lenses. It was foreshadowing his death.
6. Why did Tom refuse to call Red after being threatened by Ian?
  1. A: If Tom called Red, he lost his leverage.
How did the police find the farmhouse?
Where did Reddington's man at the farmhouse go? He was supposed to report back to him, but never did. He didn't join forces later on, either.
Why did Tom meet Elizabeth at their home, a place that could be compromised?