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For the character of the same name, see Stanley R. Kornish.

The Stewmaker” is the fourth episode of Season 1 of The Blacklist and the fourth episode overall. It first aired on October 14, 2013 on NBC.

Synopsis[]

A tall man books into a motel room with his dog. Once in the room he cleans it and himself, before covering the walls in plastic sheeting. After he removes his disguise in the form of a dark, curly wig and false teeth.

Meanwhile, Special Agent, Elizabeth Keen goes to an FBI Evidence Storage Facility, knowingly entering the area without proper clearance. Her purpose? To see reports connected with the gun she found, along with passports belonging apparently to her husband, Tom Keen. She tells the agent who is guarding the area she has approval and presents her credentials upon which he tells her she can look while he runs her information.

She finds a box with a case number from the ballistics report, labelled “Angel Station” with the date 23 June 2012. Donald Ressler and Harold Cooper meet regarding the classified homicide, and decide that Liz does not have enough information to mount an investigation. Moreover, even accessing the file mandates notification of Homeland Security.

At the facility the guard discovers Liz doesn't have proper clearance, as she claimed, and she should not be there, but she slips away. In order to maintain tabs on her, Ressler decides to go to New York, where Liz is testifying in the case against Hector Lorca. He tells her he wants to go just to see someone of Lorca's ilk to be put away. She doesn't buy it though, she knows he is going to surveil her activity. As he tells Liz that he will be accompanying her, Meera Malik tells Liz that Dembe Zuma has called, Raymond Reddington wants a private meeting.

Red tells Liz that Lorca has contacted him requesting a new identity for later that day. Liz tells Red that she is sure that Lorca will be convicted. Red tells her he isn't so sure. He tells her normally he would have turned him away but her involvement in arresting Lorca and the fact Lorca intends on leaving town might be a danger to Liz and requires his attentions.

In court, just as the star eye witness is about to identify Lorca a juror has a seizure and collapses. The trial is suspended, courtroom cleared and the witness is escorted away by Liz who then turns him over to what she believes to be U.S. Marshals. The marshals prove to be fake, kill the witness and make their escape before Liz and Ressler can stop them. The witness's body is deilvered to the motel room first seen at the start of the episode where the now near nude man, revealing what appear to be multiple burns all over his body. He puts the lifeless body in the bath, photographs it, and begins to pour a mixture of chemicals over the body.

The FBI trace the van used to transport the witness to the motel room, but it has been cleaned of evidence apart from a single dog hair. Liz calls Red who is selling arms in Haiti and accuses him of complicity in the death of the witness. When Liz mentions “hundreds of victims” Red's interest is piqued. He tells Liz to check the bathtub drain. She runs her finger around the rim and sniffs the residue. She tells him it smells of chemicals, he says she will need a plumber.

Upon his return Washington, Red tells the FBI about The Stewmaker, a body disposal expert who uses chemicals to dispose of bodies. The Stewmaker is responsible for concealing hundreds of murders and is a “trophy collector” of his victims teeth. Red does not know who he is, and that he has looked for him. He suggests that the FBI pressure Lorca into revealing his identity or contact information.

At home Liz is about to search “Angel Station” on the web when Tom approaches, she crosses out 'Angel Station' on her pad, leaving the date. Tom sees the date and to Liz's relief, he assumes that Liz was about to look at the photographs taken on a romantic break they took on that date. She remembers the trip to Boston and how they turned him having a job interview into a holiday.

Liz and Meera interrogate Lorca, including threatening to link him to terrorism through his money laundering activities, but he reveals nothing. The decision is taken to hand him over to Homeland Security of which he tells them he would rather take his chances with DHS than to cross the people with whom he deals in business.

Lorca is being transferred from vehicle to an awaiting helicopter. He tells Liz, walking with him, she has caused him and his family a great deal of trouble and embarassment. The transfer of Lorca to the Department of Homeland Security is ambushed when an rpg is fired at the transport team vehicle and Liz is knocked to the ground and quickly black-bagged by unknown parties in Lorca's employ.

Liz's kidnap and Lorca's escape spur the FBI into action and Red is given permission to contact Lorca and provide him with a new identity. Ressler insists on accompanying Red to the meeting. Red tries to dissuade him from coming but Ressler insists. Red tells him Lorca will have questions and his answers should be 'breviloquent'.

At the meeting, Red tells Lorca that Ressler is an FBI agent, but Ressler says that he is the person that provided Red with the new identity for Lorca. Red confirms this information, providing Ressler with a reason for being there. He tells Lorca, Ressler is “crooked as a Corsican highway”. Red has documents and all Lorca needs to be transported and established by meeting the releveant people to start business in his new life but with the caveat he cannot travel for a day. Lorca demands to leave immediately which Red tells him is impossible. He will not help Lorca because he has kidnapped an FBI agent and is too 'hot'.

They converse over Lorca taking things personally and Lorca accuses Red of the same in wanting The Stewmaker's identity. Red refuses to hand over the identity until Lorca reveals who the Stewmaker is, implying that this is Ressler's fee. He tells Lorca he is correct. He wants The Stewmaker and Ressler saving Liz will help him to solidify his role in the FBI. (This is all pretense of course as they are merely covering their intentions). Lorca faced with not getting the new identity and being trapped without Red's help unless he agrees acquiesces and although he doesn't know The Stewmaker's identity he does have contact information.

Meera and Ressler trace the contact information to a Bill Conners, an alias for Stanley R. Kornish.

At the incident room the FBI start to trace Kornish, while Red leaves to pursue his own investigation based on a dog hair found in the motel room.

While the FBI storm Kornish's house and interrogate his wife Ellenore, Red calls animal control and persuades them to give him Kornish's dog tracking information, resetting it to sync with his mobile device, basically giving him GPS coordinates to Liz's exact location. 

Kornish takes Liz to his cabin, where he reveals that he has been ordered to kill her while making her suffer. She attempts to probe Kornish and tries to find the 'human' side of him by getting him to admit he is a father of a son and so forth. Her attempts are in vain. She gets free temporarily but Kornish tracks her down with his dog's help. He knocks her out with a solid blow to the face and drags her back to the cabin where he prepares a bath of chemicals to dispose of her body and is about to kill her when Red appears behind him. He has snuck in the cabin while they were out in their chase through the woods. Red knocks Kornish out, and releases Liz.

Red then waxes philosophically for a while. (This is where he delivers one of the more classic monologues of the show, “The Farmer's Parable”.) Liz tells Red that Kornish doesn't need to die and Red considers the possibility of change briefly only to in the end, grab the sitting man by the ankles, tipping him backward into the now bubbling tub of chemicals. Kornish submerges into the red liquid with a splash to which Liz is instantly horrified. The FBI arrive and release Liz and secure the scene.

While the FBI are tending to Liz, Red finds an album of Kornish's victims from which he removes a single picture.

As Liz is being loaded onto an ambulance, he sets the thick album of victims inside the vehicle. He tells her many mysteries of missing and dead people's murders will be solved with the album. She calls Red a monster. He agrees. She asks how he justifies himself. Red replies, “By saving your life”.

When Liz returns home Tom tells her that he has booked a 3 day break at the place they went to in June last year. When Liz checks the flyer she realizes that the adjoining restaraunt to the hotel is named “The Angel Station Hotel”.

Press Release[]

While continuing her investigation into the truth about Tom, Liz testifies against drug lord, Hector Lorca. Later another witness is abducted when he is forced to testify against the dangerous drug trafficker. Red’s interest is piqued and he informs the team that the witness may have been taken by “The Stewmaker” a man responsible for hundreds of missing and presumed dead people. Meanwhile, in an unlikely twist of events, Red and Ressler must work together for the first time.

Number on The Blacklist[]

  • 161

Unanswered Questions[]

  1. The Stewmaker character seems to be based on Santiago Meza Lopez (El Pozolero, "The Cook") and/or John Haigh.
    1. "Time" -- February 24, 2014 -- Page 38
    2. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2165465,00.html
    3. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2165465-4,00.html
    4. Even Yeltsin's Russia didn't have the sort of sociopathic gangsters who plague Mexico today--and who threaten to stunt its potential. Drug smuggling boomed in the country in the late 1990s after a U.S.-led crackdown largely choked off Caribbean smuggling routes and forced traffickers to find new ones through Central America. Extreme violence followed as cartels vied for business and turf. In 2009, Mexican police captured a drug-world figure who could have been devised by the creators of Breaking Bad: dubbed the Stewmaker, he allegedly disposed of some 300 dead bodies by dissolving them in acid. The symbolic nadir may have come the night in 2006 when patrons at a Michoacán nightclub looked down to see five severed heads rolling across the dance floor.
  2. What was the Latin phrase Red said when he told the task force about the Stewmaker?
    1. A: Not sure, if it is even Latin: It sounds like “Memore Morte”, which could actually be french (“Mémoires mortes”) for “memento mori”. But why would he pronounce it like it was Latin and not use the correct form.
    2. A: Red is showing off his superior education.
    3. A: The phrase is to derive the definition of “Memory of Death”; referring to the pictures that the Stewmaker takes of each victim. “Memore Morti”, which is specifically translated “remembering the deaths”. (Mortis is singular, where morti is plural).
    4. A: It is a mistake in a screenplay. The sentence is turned around. Proper form in Latin is memento mori which means: “remember, that you have to die”. It is an often problem that English and French speakers make: in English “memento” may bea easily associated with word “memory” and “mori” with French “mourir” which means “to die”.
    5. A: Memento Mori are items that are saved in rememberence of the dead. The Victorians kept locks of hair in broaches or other jewellery, and there is a history of photos of the dead being taken.
  3. Red's speech to Stanley R. Kornish seemed personal, combined with his removal of the photograph, it seems he killed the Stewmaker in revenge.
    1. A: The speech is given the name later in fandom as “The Farmer's Parable”. Red is comparing his behavior to Kornish's. Red is referring to how his past sins are returning to haunt him and those sins will be confronted.
  4. Who was the woman in the photograph removed from The Stewmaker's album by Red?
    1. A: She could possibly be Red's wife, that may have been murdered by Kornish.
    2. A: As revealed in the final episode of the season, the woman is Milos Kirchoff's daughter who's various body parts were sent to him while he was in prison in Siberia.
    3. A: Milos Kirchoff's daughter is revealed to be alive and has been living under an assumed name as Zoe D'Antonio in The Front when Red went to look for her using her photograph he secretly stolen from Kornish's book. Zoe is later taken to be reunited with Milos Kirchoff by Red to show him that someone in his syndicate lied to him in “The Scimitar”.
  5. The date on her picture was 12 '90. That's when Red disappeared. What's the connection?
    1. A: It is assumed that Red may have saved Zoe from being killed by Kornish.
    2. A: The date coincides with Red's return home from his duties in intelligence operations in Russia. Such as his involvement seen in “The Decembrist”.
  6. Will the removal of the photograph from the album result in problems for Keen or Red when it is examined as evidence?
    1. A: Likely Liz, due to the FBI faulty background check revealed in “Madeline Pratt”.
    2. A: It's removal gives Red information on Milos Kirchoff.
  7. How many of Stanley R. Kornish's client’s will be arrested?
    1. A: We are unlikely to find out, since processing that evidence will be given to another team within the FBI.
    2. Q: Cooper could mention in the future that Red's help has resulted in cold cases being solved and/or other criminal operations being exposed.
    3. A: He mentioned that in “The Judge”.
  8. Will Red's independent and rogue rescue operation damage his position with the FBI?
    1. A: Red's position only solidifies over time. The opposite occurs as Red is able to one by one, slowly gain control of various factions and groups, furthering his own empire of power and control.
  9. Will Kornish's death damage Red's position with the FBI? Donald Ressler seemed to accept Lorca's escape.
  10. Red's speech to the Stewmaker could have been a description of his own past considering the theme of despair and redemption. Did Red surrender because he was tired of working in the black market and wanted protection from his enemies?
    1. A: This is the partial reasoning for his surrender.
  11. What happened to the Stewmaker? His behavior and body scarring implies a past tragedy. Red's farmer story implied that he knew something of the Stewmaker's past.
    1. A: We can only assume they share a similar scarred past.
  12. Does Lorca have a double agent in the FBI or Department of Justice? It would explain his ability to arrange the kidnapping and breakout.
    1. A: It is certain that Lorca has some agents on his payroll.
  13. What happened to Hector Lorca? Will he be killed after landing? Red's words were, “he is on my jet”. That implies Red arranged his death.
    1. A: To maintain the cover story, Red would have him killed.
  14. Who hired The Stewmaker to kill Keen?
    1. Q: Lorca
  15. Was Angel Station the location where the classified homicide took place?
    1. The unredacted report makes reference to “Angel Station Hotel security footage”, so it was certainly involved. Gina Zanetakos was involved in the assassanation of Victor Fokin.
  16. How many of Kornish's clients will be arrested?

Slanders on the FBI and DoJ[]

  1. Why were the marshals protecting the witness unknown to the FBI?
  2. The security in the courthouse and at the airport was broken easily.
  3. Why did the FBI fail to investigate the dog hair connection?
    1. A: Red's call to the State Animal Control Center would have required a warrant.
    2. A: Red took the evidence about the dog hair.
  4. Why was Meera Malik surprised to see Red at the cabin, surely he is still being tracked?
    1. A: After Red left to investigate the dog hair connection, nobody seemed to care. They were focused on finding Keen. 
  5. Why is Red free?
    1. A: His deal was confirmed by Diane Fowler midway through “The Freelancer”.

Cast[]

Main star[]

Guest star[]

Co-star[]

  • Louis Arcella as Luis Peña
  • Mariann Aalda as Risa Peña
  • Paul Urcioli as Lawyer
  • James Hindman as Judge
  • James Rutledge as Heart Attack Juror
  • Daoud Heidami as Desk Clerk
  • Gameela Wright as Juror
  • Erik Martin as US Marshal #1
  • Maduka Steady as The Academic
  • Toussaint Abessolo as Haitian Buyer
  • Richard Arthur Scola as Danny Kornish
  • Christopher Parker as Security Guard

Gallery[]

Videos[]

External Links[]


Season 1 Episodes
 · Pilot  · The Freelancer  · Wujing  · The Stewmaker  · The Courier  · Gina Zanetakos  · Frederick Barnes  · General Ludd  · Anslo Garrick  · Anslo Garrick: Conclusion  · The Good Samaritan  · The Alchemist  · The Cyprus Agency  · Madeline Pratt  · The Judge  · Mako Tanida  · Ivan  · Milton Bobbit  · The Pavlovich Brothers  · The Kingmaker  · Berlin  · Berlin: Conclusion  ·
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