The Breakdown
A woman drops her kids off at a carnival. She runs into a stranger, they have a bit of small talk, after she leaves. She gets in her car feels woozy and tries to get out of it and faints on site. When the woman wakes up she is tied up in a room with the creepy stranger she was speaking with. The man proceeds to collapsing her lung. When the man is done he calls 911 from a phone saying “I’ve done it again”. He leaves the phone off of the hook and we see the woman’s body in a van next to the man while he walks away.
Tom wants him and Lizzie to move away so they can have a normal life. At the FBI black-site Lizzie, Malik and Ressler are questioned in the disappearance of Red, the takeover at the black-site and the missing body of Luli.
Red has the body of Luli and wants to properly bury it. Red finds one of the men that knows the man with the apple and questioned him and another woman who worked on the Garrick job. After Red is done with them he kills them all.
Red finally calls Lizzie and he gives her information about how to handle this case. He tells her to pay attention to the victims not the killer. Director Cooper has Malik cleared and wants her to find the mole. She must do so with discretion as Cooper doesn’t trust the rest of the team. Red runs into a restaurant and shoots up the place to find a man named Theodore.
Red wants to know who the banker was on the Garrick job. After some torturing tactics (pouring vodka on the guy), Theodore finally tells Red. Red pours more vodka on Theo and puts a lit cigar in the man’s mouth. Red waits a little but then says “the suspense is killing him” and proceeds shoots Theo.
Ressler and Lizzie are questioning the boy of the dead woman. The boy has been injured several times and his mom told him to say that they were accidents. Lizzie figured out that the killer motive is to kill physical abusers. In a twist from Psycho our killer talks and tends to his mom in a weird fashion. His mom never talks however. The man goes to work and finds another patient enduring abuse.
Malik has discover that Aram is the mole. The FBI goes to look for Aram and he is not at his house. Red has taken him. Red wants him to steal money from the FBI. If Aram doesn’t do it in the time that it takes Red to break down and load a gun Red will kill him. This money also needs to be untraceable.
Aram barley gets the job done within the time permitted. Red had no need for the money. Red wants to see if Aram was involved in the bankrolling of the Garrick mission. Someone is trying to set up Aram. Aram is cleared by Red and he does not kill him. The killer is in a self-help meeting for abused persons. He states that his mother used to abuse him and now they are closer than they have ever been. Red is still tracking down the source of the money and this leads him to a man named Henry. Henry isn’t cooperating so Red shoots Henry in the leg. Henry finally tells Red that a Newton Philips is the last piece of the puzzle. The killer has another man in his lockup. George the man from the meeting, who was battering the woman who the killer saw while at work. The killer wheels his mother out to the garage to see George.
Lizzie brings up the fact that the killer gives the abuser the same injuries that they have given to the victim. The abusers are usually beating up their kids or spouse. Lizzie has the name of the killer. Carl Hoffman who was on call when the victims were admitted to the ER. Lizzie goes to the hospital to find Hoffman and he is not there. Hoffman is in the garage with George. His mother is still watching.
Lizzie and Ressler go to George’s house, who is not there also, his wife (Melissa) answers the door. She tells (after some hesitancy) that her and her husband are having problem but he is going to group meetings at the church. They go to see the man running the group who ID’s Carl. Carl is about to beat George with a hammer to give him a concussion, as George gave to his wife. Carl asks George what did he hit his wife with he mumbles a beer (as he is gagged) Carl goes to get a beer and tells his mother to watch George. Carl likes to hurt his victims in the same matter in which the abusers hurt their victims.
Lizzie goes to Carl’s house as Carl is going from the house to the garage. She tells him to put down the weapons, on Carl’s refusal she shoots him. Afterwards Lizzie goes to the hospital to threaten George telling him that if he hurts his wife again she will do to him what Carl was going to do to him. Back at the black-site Aram goes in and gives Cooper the evidence that Red gave to him.
Aram’s information says the Newton Phillips is the mole. Cooper wonders who the hell is Phillips. Red dumps out Luli’s ashes and then speaks to Phillips. Red tells him that he should have gone to him first, now he can’t help him. Red puts a bag over Phillip’s head and strangles him to death. Red comes to Lizzie’s house and tells her Tom is at the airport. Red also asks her about the case and congratulates her on solving it. Lizzie asks Red is he back and in a roundabout way tell her that he is. He also has the next name on the blacklist for her.
The Analyst
So Malik only partly solved this case! OK I’m going to be a slight hypocrite in the Anslo Garrick recap. I stated that I didn’t want the FBI to be chasing Red for half of the season. I’m now disappointing that he came back so quickly. I did want to see the FBI chase their tails trying to find Red. Oh well, now back to this episode. Even thought it was downplayed. I’m now wondering what is going on with Tom. Red stated he was at the airport but Lizzie didn’t seem like this was odd at all. Maybe I missed something I dunno. Either way I’m glad this show is back but surprised that James Spader did not win a golden globe for his performance in this show. But losing to Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad for their final season is understandable. Hopefully since BB is over Spader will win next year.
You missed the whole thing about Garrick having kidnapped Red on someone else’s behalf — namely Fitch (Alan Alda), that government bigwig who was busting FBI Boss Lady Diane Fowler’s balls in that next-to-last scene.
Also, difficult to recognize and make the connection, but Phillips was that Gray guy from all the way back in episode 1.
Aram did steal money from a specific account that Red gave him info for, but he wasn’t clear as to whose account it was (that I can recall), it was mostly just a setup to see what protocols the guy would use — if any — to make sure the theft was untraceable, which is when he knew that Aram was being set up by someone (Henry) who was intentionally far too messy, leaving a money trail that was easily traced.
It’s important to know that the whole reason Lizzie could make the connection with the first Samaritan victim, Karen, and her son is because Lizzie and Ressler had gone to the hospital after the Fun Internal Affairs Interrogation Time to meet with the Karen’s husband and that Michael was with his dad at the time, which allowed Ressler to make innocuous conversation with the kid; they knew after that who to call in once they saw the victim’s injuries.
To keep the general level of violence up, Red was pouring the vodka not just over Theodore’s head, but that first dousing was over a gunshot wound that Red had made on Theodore’s leg. Not that vodka doesn’t sting everywhere else, but an open wound? OW.