BWW Recap: BLACKLIST Asks If Your Money's Safe at the Bank

We learn several things in the course of BLACKIST's "Monarch Douglas Bank.' The three most important: Red's daughter's name is Jennifer, the US marshals lost track of her seven years ago (so she's not the girl in The Stewmaker's file, folks), and Mr. Kaplan's first name is Kate! Knowledge is power and don't forget it. Also, Red has a hot Latina manicurist, but that may not be news.

Monarch Douglas Bank has branches in 63 countries, but it got robbed at the Warsaw office, where folks in white hazmat SUITS marched in, stole a measly $400,000 in bearer bonds, hit a few safe deposit boxes, and, according to a private conversation between New York manager Strickland and a local executive, took "the formula." Red informs Liz that Monarch is a bank no one would want to rob, which leads to her to set Aram The Great on the problem- it turns out that it's the preferred bank of major league evil, especially the Warsaw branch. It also turns out that the people who robbed the bank left rose-scented, but flammable, pastry filling in their getaway vehicle. We wouldn't know it's flammable, but Red asks Liz to check. Flammable rose jam? That's a culinary trend you wouldn't predict.

Ressler and Liz have been sent to Warsaw, where other federal agents already are. Meanwhile, Red gets a box with a tooth in it, presumably one of the many pieces of Naomi that Berlin is chopping off. One of his aides, on the other hand, has a toothache, and Naomi doesn't seem all that orally challenged. We see her planning to make an escape - she's quite resourceful, and maybe not as innocent as she told the US marshals she was when she went into witness protection.

Liz finds an outdoor camera that may have filmed the Warsaw Monarch robbery. Aram, knower of all things, finds that five hazmatted robbers went in but six came out, and that spare one was female. It turns out to have been a young woman named Kasia, a junior account manager. The hit on the bank wasn't so much a robbery as a kidnapping of some sort- but why her?

Berlin's on the phone with his bank- yes, Monarch. Strickland, like any banker, is doing the "your money is safe with us" rap. What about the FDIC insurance bit? We missed that. Strickland seems to think "the formula" is safer than the FDIC. But Berlin wants to see Strickland in New York. No one trusts bankers any more, poor things. Meanwhile, Naomi is working on her escape plan.

In Warsaw, Red and Dembe are visiting a sweet little old lady, who is plying her favorite boys- Dembe is apparently the very favorite- with her delicious pastry. She has a charming little bakery. With an armory in the back. Boy, she must be afraid of getting robbed, unless she's selling AK-47 shaped cakes. Apparently, some of her customers rolled the Monarch branch in Warsaw. That might explain the exploding jelly donuts. Bring Rolaids if you check this place out on your tour of Central Europe.

Meanwhile, Ressler and Liz find Kasia, the account manager, surrounded by guards. They explain they're there to save her. Guess what? The guards rescued her already, from Monarch. Her job was to oversee super-secret evildoer accounts, and the bank had kept her under lock and key.

Berlin chews out Strickland. The "people he works with" have authorized him to off Strickland if things aren't set right. But the FDIC... er, the formula- will take care of it. Really and truly. The formula is apparently more amazing than the secret recipe for Coke.

Ressler grills Kasia while Liz talks to the chief other-federal-agent. Kasia reveals that she has a photographic memory (of the sort that recalls everything that ever happened on any day, like Marilu Henner's fascinating ability). She knows account numbers, names, everything- she's the record for all the Monarch illegal transactions. In fact, she's "the formula." Liz wants to take her back to DC, but there's objection by Other Agent Dude- "in the interests of national security." The objections are violent, and so are the paramilitary guys storming the place. Kasia's hurt, pretty badly, and things look bleak- but wait! The cavalry, in the form of saucy minx Mossad chick "Samar" (that's Tamar, with a different Hebrew accent, by the way) has arrived. Ziva David saves the day on another network!

Ressler, Liz and Kasia run for it, but there's a traffic jam. While the driver tries to figure out where his passengers went, they steal a car and drive around the jam. It's not the rose jam, but it's still explosive. Cooper gives them a safe location, but Red gives them a better one with yet more explosions. Cooper can't even explain why Mossad rescued them- what good is he? Kasia needs help, and Ressler displays a field medical skill apparently born of Red's treating him during Anslo Garrick's onslaught. Maybe that transfusion did make Ressler smarter. Red shows up, while Kasia mysteriously disappears. He's kidnapping her yet again; he's wheels up in 20 minutes, while he's flipping Liz and Ressler first-class plane tickets home. For some reason, they complain.

Naomi tells a Berlin flunky that she needs the bathroom. As he frees her, she stabs him and runs. Go, Naomi! But Berlin catches her, and is apparently about to do actual body part removal on her; alas, the phone rings. It's Red. He wants a meeting. Secret meeting locations are such a good idea that they meet at Coney Island, where Red's suit outclasses Berlin from the first moment, so you know who will win. Besides, Peter Stormare's the guest star and therefore expendable. Berlin explains it's all about revenge- revenge is his passion, he says. "Revenge isn't a passion, it's a disease. Make sure your passion isn't your sickness," Jedi Master Red explains. Besides, Red explains, they have a common enemy. Who? "Whoever told you I killed your daughter."

Suspicion: Berlin is not the real "adversary" mentioned last season. There's a fourth player, besides Red, Berlin, and the Fitch coalition. Someone's playing all sides against the middle.

Red suggests a trade. Since he has Kasia, he's swiped all of Berlin's money. How about if he gives it back in exchange for Naomi? Berlin likes the idea, but Liz doesn't- in fact, she manages to track down Kasia thanks to Red's manicurist... a medical school deserter... and gets Kasia to freeze those accounts. Red's likely to be killed when the trade fails to go through; "Wish me luck."

Something else learned: Berlin couldn't find Red for years- until he was able to connect Red to Elizabeth Keen. Which means that Lizzie is in fact a hot property; Berlin's had an eye on her, too. What's the story, Liz?

Red and Berlin meet. Berlin demands the codes before releasing Naomi. Does Red die? No, the transfer goes through. Where did the money come from? Those accounts were frozen, right? But Naomi's freed and goes off with Red.

Revelation at the FBI- unhelpful Federal Agent was Not Who He Seemed. Also, the FBI keeps millions of dollars in Monarch as a slush fund for certain operations. Ressler makes actual jokes before looking for his secret pill stash. Mossad chick is a CSI rip- FBI agent on pain pills is straight from the CRIMINAL MINDS playbook. Can we do this show without stealing popular CBS procedural subplots, Jon Bokencamp?

Liz visits Red. She, the former junior thief, is the one who secretly moved the FBI slush fund in Monarch into the frozen accounts that allowed Red to get Naomi from Berlin. Red admires her technique, and says he knows she didn't get all the information from Kasia - she's developed her own mole, and he's proud of her. Ah, his little girl (even if she isn't his daughter- and she isn't, please!) is growing up.

Cooper meets with Samar to see her secret files. He wants to know what she wants. She calls Red- she's in on the task force now. "I'm in. I look forward to working with you."

Boy, Red must have done a good job offscreen convincing her that he didn't kill her brother. His technique works better on her than on Berlin, obviously.

Liz is alone in the back seat of a car, which Dembe is driving. Is Dembe the mole who's leaking to Liz? Expect no answers next week, 10:00 Monday night.

What did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments below.

Check out a promo for next week's episode titled '"Dr. James Covington" below:

Photo credit: Eric Liebowitz | NBC

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