Ruin

"Ruin"
Season 5, Episode 9
Episode Information
Air date	January 3, 2018
Directed by	Michael Caracciolo
Written by	Sean Hennen
Episode Chronology
Previous	“Ian Garvey”
Next	“The Informant”

“Ruin” is the ninth episode of Season 5 of The Blacklist and the ninety-eighth episode overall.

Press Release

Liz abandons her old life and seeks out a fresh start in a place where no one knows her history, her name, or the depths of her grief. When an unexpected threat finds her, she is forced to draw on her emotional and physical strength in a brutal fight for survival.

Number on The Blacklist

• None, N/A

Unanswered Questions

1. Elizabeth Keen
   1. Who placed the bear trap in the forest?
      1. A: It is possible Elizabeth did.
   2. Why was there a bear trap in the forest?
      1. A: Bear traps are not just meant for hunting, but also meant to serve as a deterrent. If bears know there is something dangerous in that area, they will be inclined to stay away.
   3. Why did Keen take the bear trap after triggering it?
      1. A: It is possible that she stood in a bear trap before, during a run (see bandages). As they seem to be placed in the area. She probably triggered and took the trap to not let it hurt her or someone else in the future.
      2. A: It is also possible that she did not want to run into it during the night or lose it during the storm.
   4. Why did Keen have an unreliable generator, a broken radio, and a truck that shut down in cold weather?
      1. A: It could possibly be to blend in and/or save costs but she underestimated how faulty the equipment was.
      2. A: She wanted to be off the grid, out of touch from anyone to mourn Tom's passing. She was not thinking about making a perfect life out in the middle of nowhere, she just wanted to get away and those were her living conditions.
   5. Why did the garbage disposal overload the generator?
      1. A: It is possible that it has some kind of electrical fault tripping the generator's fuses or residual-current device.
   6. Why did Keen have bandages on her feet?
      1. A: It is possible that she stood in a bear trap before, during a run. As they seem to be placed in the area.
   7. When was Keen’s handgun magazine emptied?
      1. A: Probably sometime after she arrived. At the end of the episode, she told Red she tried really hard not to look for trouble.
      2. A: She seemed surprised. There may have been an opportunity for the enforcers to unload the gun and put it back.
   8. What did Keen use to drug and/or poison the food?
      1. A: Unknown. Probably rat poison or something else tasteless.
   9. When did Keen freeze the glass shards into the ice cubes?
      1. A: After she swept them up. It was already very cold out so freezing them would have been a quick process.
   10. Why did Keen remove the evidence of her existence at the cabin?
       1. A: Most likely it is because she never wanted anyone to know who she was in the first place and wanted to keep it that way. An investigation would have revealed that Grace was just an alias.
       2. A: She would have been questioned for the deaths of the Carlucci enforcers, and possibly brought up on charges for killing them. It was a demonstration for us viewers to show that she knew how to completely wipe everything down so that the investigators had zero (0) clue where to even begin to look for her.
   11. Will the police pursue Keen?
       1. A: They might, but considering how little they were able to find, it is unlikely they will find her.
       2. A: The investigators said that whoever left the site had probably been properly trained on how to wipe it clean, so there is little to no chance they will ever connect Elizabeth to that crime scene.
   12. What was in the mail Keen received?
   13. Why did Keen decide to return to the task force?
       1. A: She was done grieving, but still desired revenge.
       2. A: She knew that investigators would come asking about the deaths and she left before she could be connected to any of it.
2. Assassin team
   1. Why did the Carlucci crime family need to know how much Elroy had revealed?
      1. A: Damage assessment to determine how much law enforcement knew about their crimes.
   2. How did the assassins locate Elroy?
      1. A: It is possible they were able to do so during the events of “The Harem” when the Witness Protection list was out in the open for a short time.
   3. What was the ice habit?
      1. A: Chewing ice is said to be bad for teeth.
3. Susan Scott Hargrave
   1. How did Keen contact Susan?
      1. A: After the events of “The Blacklist: Redemption”, it was revealed Tom and Susan knew they were son and mother. When Tom came back, he would have no doubt told Liz this and they would have stayed in touch.
   2. What happened to Howard Hargrave and the supercomputer?
   3. Why was Susan released from prison? She had committed crimes, such as the wedding attack.
      1. A: Her company is sanctioned by the US government; the wedding attack would not be prosecutable as it used the same resources and any evidence linking her to it and/or Solomon, does not officially exist. As to why she was free after being arrested for the mess with Howard; Susan stated that Tom testified on her behalf and against his father. She had been framed for said ”crimes” after all. This implies Howard is in prison.
4. Colin
   1. Why did Colin buy the plane crash story?
      1. A: He was not able to discern like Liz and definitely was not a profiler like Liz.
5. The ice storm passed quickly. It had melted before the FBI and police searched the cabin.

Trivia

• Elizabeth Keen's escape into the forest is similar to Dom's retreat into the wilderness after Katarina Rostova's disappearance.

Cast

Main star

• James Spader as Raymond Reddington
• Megan Boone as Elizabeth Keen
• Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler
• Amir Arison as Aram Mojtabai
• Mozhan Marnò as Samar Navabi
• Hisham Tawfiq as Dembe Zuma
• Harry Lennix as Harold Cooper

Guest star

• Famke Janssen as Susan Hargrave
• William Mapother as Bill
• Jay Wilkison as Colin Knox
• Jon DeVries as Early

Co-star

• PJ Sosko as Ellis
• Christopher Halladay as Fifield
• Danny Wolohan as Orson
• Bristol Pomeroy as Stranger
• Kimiye Corwin as Dr. Nguyen
• Don Guillory as Agent McKenna
• Lauren Lim Jackson as Agent Hobbs
• Dan Truman as Postal Worker #1
• Jami Simon as Postal Worker #2
• Ramon O. Torres as Local Officer
• Jamal Thomas as Local Officer #2
• Katherine Kell as Agnes Keen (2 yrs)
• Emily Kell as Agnes Keen #2
• Sarah Kell as Agnes Keen #3

Gallery

External Links

• NBC.com
• NBC.com