The Blacklist Episode 2.22 Tom Connolly

We pick up where the last episode left off: having just realized she's being framed for infecting Senator Hawkins with a deadly virus, Liz is on the phone with Red, creeping through the Post Office hallway. Knowing she'll test positive for the virus, Red wants Liz to leave now, but she refuses, thinking now is her only chance to prove her innocence. Meanwhile, Connolly and Cooper argue about Liz, whom Connolly knows has been infected with the virus. Her fingerprints are on the truck bomb, too - and did Cooper know she's the daughter of a KGB asset? Cooper angrily refuses to abet this nefarious scheme, but Connolly doesn't care; a blood test is all he needs to put Liz away for good. Reven Wright will head up the investigation on Liz, and she'll be sure to follow the "facts." Oh, and if Cooper stands in the way, he'll be charged with perjury in the Harbormaster case... and there's no telling what might happen to Charlene. Cooper's clinical trial won't continue, either. Throwing his medication in anger, Cooper insists he'd rather die than be part of Connolly's plot. So Connolly places him on administrative leave and has security escort him from the building.

Ressler and Samar oversee quarantine at St. Agnes Church, where Hawkins' infection took place, testing everyone for the virus. When all the results come up negative, Ressler knows the only person they haven't tested is Liz, who's back on the phone with Red, having overheard Connolly and Cooper arguing. She's just arranged for Red to pick her up when Connolly and his men seize her. Moments later, her blood is drawn, and then it's on to a very unsympathetic interrogation by FBI Agents Colby and Suarez, overseen by Reven Wright. Liz's insistence that she's being framed falls on deaf ears, and her story sounds crazy - especially when Colby and Suarez confront her with her real name, Masha Rostova. Senator Hawkins is pronounced dead, so Wright appoints Ressler to run the Liz investigation. Moments later, Aram reports that Liz has tested positive for the virus that killed Hawkins.

Cooper meets Red, who's already planning Liz's escape with some friends at the power company. When the lights go out, Liz will have 90 seconds to get out of the Post Office, and Red's counting on Cooper to guide her though the dark. Luckily, Liz knows just what to do. After she knocks out one of her guards, the other hands her a burner phone with Cooper on the line. Liz is one doorway away from freedom when she bumps into Ressler, who urges her to stay and fight. With 10 seconds to go, Liz points to a camera overhead. If Ressler's going to let her go, he'll have to do it before the camera turns back on... Ten seconds later, she's in the back seat of Red's Mercedes and Ressler's holding up her burner phone for the camera.

Red, Liz and Cooper reconvene at Caul's house to talk strategy. Tom calls Red, offering to help Liz disappear and secure her safety, but Red declines, then advises Liz to do the same. If she runs before clearing her name, she'll never be able to stop. Then he's off to black box the basement of a rock club with Mr. Kaplan, while discussing the securing and transport of several far-off targets. Simultaneously, in all corners of the world, his operatives start rounding up people...

Liz ignores Tom's call and hops in the car with Cooper, who apologizes for getting mixed up with Connolly and violating her trust. Liz tears up, thinking about Cooper's fatal disease, but when he tells her to pull it together, she wipes her eyes and heads into Union Station. Convinced she'll find Karakurt on the station's surveillance video, she persuades security to let her have a look, and is surprised to discover it was Andropov! Although it's not on the tape, the visual is enough to jog her brain into remembering that he sprayed something up her nose - must have been the virus. Liz hightails it back to the car, where a distraught Cooper has bad news: Connolly has detained Charlene for questioning, so Liz is going to have to find Andropov on her own. Liz proceeds to Ninoshka's restaurant to talk to Anton Velov, who gives her an address for Andropov but refuses to talk about Liz's mother. When she sees Velov's eyes glaze over, Liz knows Red paid for his silence, so she makes a beeline for Caul's house to rip him a new one. Every time Red does something to make her think he cares, he does something else to show her that he's incapable of caring. When Red claims he's a sin eater, Liz asks what sin of hers could he possibly have eaten? She stomps off to find Andropov on her own.

But Liz doesn't go it alone; instead, she surprises Tom on his boat. With her face plastered all over the media, Tom thinks Liz's only option is to run; she's only sticking around to clear her name because Red told her to. Liz can't leave now and Tom can't stay... but he can help her break into Andropov's lab to steal a flash drive. Hearing Andropov on the fire escape, Liz and Tom climb into his Mustang and give chase. Andropov careens to a stop in an alley where two men shoot him just as Liz and Tom pull up. Tom starts a firefight while Liz tries to pull Andropov to safety, but he dies on the pavement. Back on the boat, Tom tenderly picks glass out of Liz's shoulder, while she tells him what all she was thinking during the firefight: "The boat, the boat, why didn't I get on his boat? Tell me what to do." It's a deeply tender moment, giving Liz the chance to explain she doesn't want to regret anything, like not saying yes to Tom. Can't he just take her away with him? Surprisingly, Tom agrees with Red for once. If Liz leaves, she'll never get the answers she seeks, and she'll never find out who she truly is.

The next morning, Liz wakes up naked and alone; Tom's already up working on the boat. Remembering Andropov's thumb drive, she plugs it in, and is surprised to find Cooper's medical records. Cooper's doctor works for the Cabal! Grabbing Tom's gun, Liz promises she'll be back, but he knows she won't. Liz calls Cooper, who then barrels into Dr. Levin's office, grabbing his neck and lifting him off the floor. Levin quickly admits Cooper is perfectly healthy; Andropov designed meds to make him exhibit all the symptoms of cancer.

Red stands before 11 handpicked investigative journalists in the basement of the secured rock club to introduce himself and hand over all the data secreted in The Fulcrum. When one journalist asks what to do with all this information, Red tells them to do what they do best: investigate, determine the truth and report. That being said, such reporting will put their lives and the lives of their loved ones at risk. But the truth will be out... Meanwhile, Liz and Cooper corner Connolly in a hotel ballroom to demand that he exonerate Liz and Charlene and reinstate Cooper. Connolly scoffs; tonight in this very ballroom he'll make a speech that will incriminate the entire task force for treason and result in the death penalty for Red. Liz's mouth settles in a grim line and she pulls out Tom's gun. While Cooper tries to talk her out of it, Connolly promises that he's just a cog in a very large wheel; if Liz shoots him, the Cabal will simply replace him with someone just as powerful. When Liz pulls the trigger, she doesn't see Connolly, but another man, and a flash of memory takes her back to the night of the fire, when Young Liz held a gun. It's this memory that stuns Liz back to the present. In disbelief, she drops the gun and runs out, then calls Ressler. Cooper had nothing to do with what just happened. When Ressler tells her to turn herself in or he'll have to hunt her down, she hangs up and calls Red.

After giving Dembe a kiss goodbye, Red meets Liz outside a playground. Apparently shooting Connolly has allowed Liz to remember everything that happened the night of the fire, and now she knows why Red didn't want her to remember. Liz's parents were arguing; her father was hurting her mother, so she shot him. Red blocked her memory to protect her - he is Liz's sin eater. With tears in his eyes, Red laments his failure; he never wanted Liz to be like him. He takes Liz's hand and leads her toward a waiting van... In the final moments of Season 2, Ressler and Reven Wright watch as Cooper is taken into custody; The Director surveys a front-page newspaper article titled "Documents Indicate Existence of Shadow Government"; Tom takes off in his boat, alone; and Liz joins Red on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.