The Blacklist – “The Mombasa Cartel” Review. Suit of Skin.

Season 2, Episode 6

Air Date: Monday, October 27, 2014, 10/9c on NBC

Rating: ★★★★★

“He is… splendid.” – Reddington

Sharing a moment.

The next group on Reddington’s (James Spader) list for Agent Keen (Megan Boone) and the FBI to look into is the Mombasa Cartel, a ruthless organization that makes billions poaching animals. The focus shifts when skinless bodies of cartel members start washing up on shore. When all signs point to a disbanded Alaskan animal rights group known as the Animal Underground Network, Agent Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) is sent to investigate.

I’m not sure if “The Mombasa Cartel” can be considered a special Halloween episode but it is one of the creepiest offerings of The Blacklist yet. It has a vibe that makes it feel like The Most Dangerous Game, with its hunting for humans as sport, meets the criminal family from The Goonies.

So creepy.

On the surface, Skye Kincaid (Phyllis Somerville) seems like a normal loving mother keeping watch over her man-child of a son Matthew (Carel Struycken) deep in the Alaskan woods. Turns out Matthew’s hobbies include taxidermy—but not the type one typically thinks of. At 7’ tall, Struycken is an imposing figure, especially when standing next to the much shorter Somerville. Together, the two make for a very disturbing pair.

Every time writers use a sudden addiction as a plot device, it just feels lazy to me. In “The Mombasa Cartel,” Ressler suddenly develops an addiction to pills. To me, Ressler’s addiction seems like a cheap way to temporarily inhibit him until the last possible moment when he is able to draw the strength to get through it.

Seeing Dembe in a new light.

Grandiose, bombastic, and pretentious are often used to describe Reddington’s dialogue but one word I never thought I’d use is ‘touching.’ Listening to Reddington talk about his relationship to Dembe Zuma (Hisham Tawfiq) is both emotional and heartwarming. Spader does a magnificent job weaving between anger and pride as Reddington fights back tears while sharing the story of how the two met, and their resulting relationship. I had always assumed Dembe was nothing more than hired muscle but knowing the story sheds a whole new light on the two men, making me want to go back and re-watch their scenes from season one. What did you think of this revelation?

Zoe D’Antonio’s (Scottie Thompson) relationship to Reddinton continues to be a mystery. I was under the impression she was hiding from Reddington, using a new name, but as Reddington is finally able to muster up enough guts to talk to Zoe, it becomes clear she has no clue who Reddington is.

Sometimes too much teasing can be a bad thing. We finally learn what or who Keen has been keeping locked up in the basement of an abandoned building, unbeknownst to Reddington. For weeks, almost everyone has speculated it was Keen’s ex-husband Tom (Ryan Eggold), yet the writers kept toying with the audience. Frankly, the mystery had reached a point where I started hoping it wasn’t Tom down there. By the time we get the big reveal, any shock or excitement the writers hoped to achieve with this story line is gone.

While the big reveal of Keen’s secret turns out to be nothing more than a minor one, I did enjoy how the writers use Ressler’s imprisonment to segue into the reveal of what or who is behind the locked door. Does the emotional fallout from Ressler’s captivity cause Keen to question her own motives? What does Keen intend to do now?

One of the amusing parts of this very dark episode comes when Keen decides to tease her mystery man protector (Hal Ozsan), aka “Ezra,” one last time. Frankly, I was enjoying the sexually fueled cat and mouse game the two were playing, especially when Keen resorts to using a sexy body double to torment him while she would sneaks off. Somehow, I doubt this is the last we’ll see of him.

In many ways, “The Mombasa Cartel” feels like a standalone episode set to be extra scary just in time for Halloween. While we get answers to some questions, it’s too late; we have already figured them out. With the midseason finale around the corner, I hope we will continue to get more answers, in a timely fashion, than questions.

Tune in to The Blacklist Mondays at 10/9c, only on NBC. Tweet me @Staffaroadtrip or leave a comment below to let me know what you think about “The Mombasa Cartel.”

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Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.