Mr. Kaplan

"Mr. Kaplan"

Season 4, Episode 21

Episode Information

Air date

May 18, 2017

Directed by

Don Thorin

Written by

Lukas Reiter (Story)
J. R. Orci (Story)
John Eisendrath (Teleplay)

Episode Chronology

Previous	Next
“The Debt Collector”	“Mr. Kaplan: Conclusion”

“Mr. Kaplan” is the twenty first episode of Season 4 of The Blacklist and the eighty-fifth episode overall.

Synopsis[]

Press Release[]

Facing a crippling siege on his criminal organization, Red tracks a high-end thief enlisted by Mr. Kaplan for a mysterious assignment. Meanwhile, Aram faces a difficult choice when Agent Gale takes extreme measures in his investigation into the Task Force's conduct.

Number on The Blacklist[]

4

Unanswered Questions[]

Similarities between “Mr. Kaplan” and “Tom Keen”.
1. The field investigator engages in illegal actions.
2. The field investigator is outraged that the guilty are “above the law”.
3. The field investigator makes accusations that the government engaged in an illegal cover-up.
4. The field investigator shows outrage when the guilty escape.
5. The field investigator wanted justice.
6. The government official directing the investigation ignores the fact that some of the evidence was obtained under legally questionable circumstances.
7. The government official directing the investigation is outraged and baffled that the investigation is shut down.
8. The government official uses their authority combined with threats to end the inquiry. The government official is later killed by a member of the task force after the government official threatens the task force.
9. The investigation is shut down after a desperation maneuver.
10. The investigation ran the risk of being shut down since some of the evidence was illegally obtained or in a legal gray/grey area.
11. The investigation was shut down because of intervention from Raymond Reddington and the Cabal.
12. The “national security” reason is invoked to shut down the investigation. In several episodes of “Babylon 5”, the main characters are enraged when another character uses their position to undermine the law.
13. The trial of the task force would have embarrassed and humiliated the government.
The task force is on shaky legal ground.
1. Without Hitchin, Red can easily lose his position in the Cabal.
2. Hitchin’s death/disappearance means that the Cabal may seek revenge.
3. The attacks against Red have damaged his credibility in the black market.
4. The federal investigation means that the Department of Justice and the FBI are not unified on the immunity deal and want the guilty brought before a court of law.
5. The federal investigation means that the Department of Justice and the FBI are willing to use the task force for political maneuvering.
6. The members of the task force have all committed felonies that can be used against them.
7. The task force exists in a legal gray/grey area and lacks reliable political support.
8. Keen and Cooper stated that Red was their only chance of survival and Nemec had to be stopped.
9. Samar Navabi and Keen delivered Mario Brandon Dixon to Red and did not ask about his fate.
Elizabeth Keen
1. Why did Keen choose Red over the truth?
Raymond Reddington
1. The damage that Nemec has done to Red’s syndicate is severe. The FBI is not united on the immunity deal and the black market knows that Red’s allies are arrested, dead, deserted, or hunting him.
2. Why are so many of Red’s allies, clients, and employees deserting him?
  1. A: This is the result of Kathryn Nemec's attacks on Red. Without money or his reputation, Red lacks leverage. Red admitted that he had employed unreliable judgment concerning Keen and Nemec.
3. How many of Red’s enemies will initiate full scale attacks? Multiple criminals had heard the rumors of Nemec’s successful attacks.
4. Red will be required to rely on the Cabal for rebuilding his syndicate.
5. What did Red do to Katarina Rostova?
  1. A: In “Rassvet”, it is revealed that Red/Ilya helped Katarina escape from her assassins in the KGB by faking her death.
6. Will Red recover his bank accounts?
  1. A: Due to the betrayal of his last accountant, this is unlikely.
7. Why would the Beck family stop doing business with Red because of 1 failed deal?
  1. A: The failed deal implied the rumors about Reddington's failing empire and people deserting him were true. They didn't want to be a part of that.
8. Why did Red not tell Keen that he is her father?
  1. A: He didn't want to put Liz in danger and gave her evasive answers. It was through a DNA test Cooper has run that Liz learned the truth.
9. What was Red’s plan if Nemec had agreed to surrender?
10. Red’s Brunei island escape plan was not that effective. An obsessed enemy could attack the island and disregard the time and money it took to kill Red.
11. What will Red do with Brunei island ownership box?
  1. A: Most likely put it back in hiding and use it later.
12. Given Dembe’s conversation with Red, will it be revealed that the person we know as Red isn't the original Red?
  1. A: Yes.
Kathryn Nemec
1. Why did Nemec know about the Stone Canyon Storage Facility? Red did not know where his immunity deal was kept.
  1. A: Nemec is the cleaner, so she may have known from the beginning, but never told Red.
2. Why did Nemec wait so long to attack Red’s finances?
  1. A: She didn't. She's been using his finances since the beginning to fund her war. Draining them directly was just the next step.
3. Where did Nemec send the money?
4. Katarina Rostova’s death might not enrage Keen, she has gotten over the anger about Sam Scott.
  1. A: It still might anger Liz given the fact that Ian Garvey still has the skeletal remains and the documents of the DNA test to prove they belonged to Katarina.
Laurel Hitchin
1. Why did Hitchin attempt to blackmail Ressler? Red’s deal was limited to Reven Wright.
  1. A: She wanted favors from Ressler in exchange for her help in retrieving his FBI badge.
2. Why was Hitchin careless enough to keep the same gun she used to kill Reven and not have the bullet removed from Reven's body?
  1. A: Laurel is arrogant and always believed that her position kept her above the law. It's likely she expected no one would suspect her because of her rank and was egotistical enough to believe these wouldn't be factors.
3. Why did the blow to the head kill Hitchin?
  1. A: The human body is more frail than people realize. When she fell, you could hear her neck break and a soft and fatal spot for the head is at the temple, where the bleeding seemed to be coming from.
  2. A: Artistic license.
4. What will be the aftermath of Hitchin’s disappearance?
  1. A: Publicly, her death was ruled an accident and not pursued.
5. How did Hitchin convince the president to shut down Gale’s investigation? She mentioned “executive authority”.
  1. A: Hitchin is one of the top government advisers in the country, as she constantly likes to remind others. It's not an unreasonable thought she managed to use some of her sway and trickery to convince the president to drop it.
6. Why did Hitchin not care about Gale’s investigation? The trial of the task force would have eventually implicated her because of her connection to Red.
  1. A: She wasn't worried because the existence of the task force. They would have been disavowed. As she is part of the Cabal, she probably had an exit strategy ready.
Donald Ressler
1. Where did Ressler find the money to hire Mitchell Hatley?
  1. A: Ressler is straight-laced so it's possible he had a large savings account over the course of his career as a sort of nest egg. It's also possible that Hatley wasn't as expensive as we think he might be.
  2. A: Hatley could have a system of accepting the low payment from the client at the beginning and then overcharging with the later blackmail.
2. Why did Ressler call Mitchell Hatley instead of telling Harold Cooper or Red?
  1. A: It was no secret that Ressler hated Hitchin. If he had called Cooper, there would have been an inquiry and his reputation would not have survived. Also, despite working with Red, Ressler still distrusts him immensely and most likely feared a blackmailer, which happened anyway.
3. Ressler can no longer delude himself that he is morally superior to Red.
  1. A: Yes he can. Ethically, no, but morally, yes. Ressler is a believer of justice, while Red believes there's no such thing. Ressler's morals have never decayed, only the ethics of which he pursues them has.
4. How did Ressler obtain a search warrant for Hitchin’s house?
  1. A: There is no 1 judge to approve for a warrant. If an agent can make their case, they can get a warrant very quickly if they present their case properly.
5. Why did Ressler not know that Gale was responsible for the assassination attempt?
Harold Cooper
1. If Harold had a confirmed sample of Red's DNA why wasn’t it used in “Mr. Gregory Devry” to confirm who the real Raymond Reddington was?
  1. A: He probably never opened it this whole time, not wanting to know. Given how fast the case was going as well, he probably didn't remember either.
  2. A: Depending on the sample, it was probably too degraded or too little to be used as a DNA sample by that point. and was more circumstantial evidence than it was physical.
Tom Keen
1. When did Nemec hire Tom?
  1. A: Sometime after she returned to Washington DC for her revenge.
2. Who was Tom talking to on the phone?
  1. A: An associate working for Nemec, regarding the skeleton.
Julian Gale
1. The use of the immunity deal would have undermined Gale's case as it was an illegally obtained federal document that had been legally authorized.
  1. A: Unlikely. As long as the immunity deal was in public eyes, it would have done all the damage Gale needed to pursue his case. Considering the contractor, it's very possible the means of how he obtained it would never have been brought to light since Gale is a very "ends justify the means" kind of guy.
2. Gale’s reaction to Hitchin and his assassination attempt against Red indicate that Gale is a rogue agent who will only obey the law when the law is in his self-interest.
  1. A: Gale is driven to the point of pure obsession to put Reddington. In his eyes, anyone willing to assist Reddington, even for good purposes like the task force, is no better and deserves to be put away.
3. Gale’s accusations against Hitchin can damage his credibility if the case ever goes to court. If Gale repeats his behavior, then the defense can say that Gale engaged in reckless behavior and made accusations without evidence.
  1. A: Depends. If Gale can present irrefutable evidence, he will accomplish what he set out to do.
4. How did Gale get access to the SCI7 files?
  1. A: He is an FBI Special Agent, albeit from another department. It's not unreasonable he called in some favors or went through the necessary channels to see it for himself.
5. How did Gale convince the Department of Justice and/or FBI to convene an investigation and a grand jury?
  1. A: He had Kathryn Nemec with him to testify in the grand jury against the Reddington task force which includes her knowledge of the murders of high ranking officials and how she disposed of the bodies.
6. How did Gale know to subpoena Janet?
  1. A: He dug up evidence of her wrongdoing, including her involvement with Constantin Rostov and was using it as blackmail in order for her to testify against Aram.
7. Gale can spread rumors about Red’s deal with the FBI and use public opinion to his advantage.
  1. A: He can but without evidence it won't stick. He has a reputation for being obsessed with Reddington and claiming conspiracy theories. Since the task force was able to keep its cover, nobody is likely to believe Gale's accusations.
8. Why did Gale call Red an assassin?
  1. A: Reddington killed informants who turned on Reddington to cover his tracks. He also killed enemies in many ways all to expand his criminal empire. Because the murders were high profile and political in the criminal underworld, they can be considered assassinations, not just murders.
9. Unlike Wilcox, will Gale return? His obsession is stronger.
  1. A: No. As of Season 8, he has not made a reappearance or even mentioned.
10. Why did Gale shave?
  1. A: In court, you have to present yourself in a professional manner to be taken seriously.
Cynthia Panabaker
1. Why did Panabaker abandon the task force? A trial would have implicated her as she knew about the immunity deal.
  1. A: The risk was always that the task force would be disavowed if they came under fire. Doing so would not have implicated Cynthia since she came long after the immunity deal was signed. It would be very easy to claim ignorance.
  2. Q: Some people in the Justice Department could still see her as a liability. Since she worked with the task force, she could be labeled a collaborator.
  3. A: She could, but it would still be compared to the existence of the task force, their predecessors, and their actions. Cynthia was not around for the majority of it, so it's unlikely she would have implicated in the long run.
Janet
1. Has Janet’s immunity and criminal record erasure deal been destroyed?
  1. A: No. It was threatened that would happen if she did not testify, which she did.
Stone Canyon Storage Facility
1. Why did the Stone Canyon Storage Facility not have more guards?
  1. A: Security relied on a lack of obvious security.
2. Why did the Stone Canyon Storage Facility use a card catalog?
  1. A: They cannot be hacked by a computer.
3. The Stone Canyon Storage Facility appeared to be more of a library than a storage area for top secret documents.
  1. A: Many of the books were likely ledgers.
4. Who told the other federal bureaus (FBI, ATF, ICE, DEA) that Stone Canyon had been compromised.
Why are Macadamia nuts so expensive?
1. A: Macadamia nuts, unlike most other nuts take a long time to grow (7 - 10 years) and the production is a difficult process.
Will the automobile salespeople at the car dealership report Red's appearance at the auto dealership?
1. A: It's possible, but it's also possible he threatened their lives to not reveal he was there.
Will the FBI raid the boutique store in Hampden?
What will happen with the Reven Wright case? Since Ressler called Mitchell Hatley to hide Hitchin’s corpse, it will be difficult to blame Hitchin for the murder.
1. A: Unknown. Hatley didn't hide the corpse. He made Hitchin's death look accidental. It's possible Hitchin will be charged and convicted post-mortem, considering the evidence.
Why did the attorney chairwoman say Milos Pavel Kinsky instead of Milos Kirchoff?
1. A: Pavel Kinsky was one of Kirchoff's aliases.
Why do Nemec and Dembe appear on the Blacklist?
1. A: In “Smokey Putnum” Red tells Cooper that the enemy changes on a constant basis.
2. A: Dembe only appeared because he believed, at the moment, that Dembe betrayed him and tried to kill him. Kathryn was on the list, obviously, because she wanted revenge on Reddington and instead of accepting his offer of peace and making amends, she tried to destroy him and the task force.

Slanders on the FBI[]

Cast[]

Main star[]

Gallery[]

External Links[]

Season 4 Episodes
· Esteban · Mato · Miles McGrath · Gaia · The Lindquist Concern · The Thrushes · Dr. Adrian Shaw · Dr. Adrian Shaw: Conclusion · Lipet's Seafood Company · The Forecaster · The Harem · Natalie Luca · Isabella Stone · The Architect · The Apothecary · Dembe Zuma · Requiem · Philomena · Dr. Bogdan Krilov · The Debt Collector · Mr. Kaplan · Mr. Kaplan: Conclusion ·