BWW Recap: 'Eli Matchett' is the Bad Seed on THE BLACKLIST

Corporate evil comes to the Cabal in this week's episode of THE BLACKLIST, "Eli Matchett," Number 72 on the secret list. Farmworkers in hazmat suits spray some mighty high corn until one unearths a gun and shoots the others. Meanwhile, some other workers gather guns and explosives and open a gate. It leads into the cornfield, which is an industrial farm of what's branded Verdiant Industries. Red and Liz would land their snazzy shipping pod right here, wouldn't they?

This episode is THE BLACKLIST wallowing in anti-corporate righteousness (never mind that NBC-Universal is a pretty big one itself). Verdiant is a thinly disguised Monsanto, with which it shares a fondness for letting patented crops spread into the fields of farmers who didn't buy their seeds, and then suing them - and winning - for theft of patents.

Red, sipping wine in the Shipping Pod of Luxe, tells Liz it's time to move, because the best defense is a good offense, or some comparable football simile. Not-Tom tells Ressler that Liz needs help. Ressler sagely replies, "Your ex is a wanted killer. You want to help her." He tosses Not-Tom without listening. For once, Not-Tom is clearly right. Ressler's being a cesspool of ignorant so far this season.

Red and Liz are in Iowa, home of Verdiant Industries, a fiendish agribusinessthat dabbles in genetically modified organism-type seeds. He explains that THE FIGHTERS who broke into Verdiant were small farmers who stole Verdiant trade secrets. Red wants those trade secrets because Verdiant launders money for the Death Eaters -er, the Cabal.

Aram the Brilliant, legendary wizard, tells super-muggle Ressler that he and Samar the Thoughtful have traced Red and Liz. Ressler and Samar head to Iowa, way behind Harry and Ron -sorry, Red and Liz. Red and Liz hotwire a car because Dembe isn't there to meet them. Red calls Glen the Strange, DMV operative, to look for Dembe while Mr. Solomon rolls Dembe some more. Dembe looks bad. Even Madame Pomfrey would have her hands full with these injuries.

Red finds the disgruntled farmworkers and asks for their leader, but Eli Matchett is not there. The workers think Eli is behind the shootout and theft of Verdiant secret files. There is an inside contact at Verdiant, Gabriel Costas, who might be able to help. Alas, in a feed store, people are trying to crack Verdiant's files. Matchett decides to kill the rest, including Costas, because he has "something else" in mind.

Ressler and Samar capture the unoccupied Shipping Pod of Luxe. Aram says he's found that Susan Hanover, chief tech officer of Verdiant and obvious Death Eater, is in the Fulcrum files. A Verdiant official tries telling muggle agent Ressler that Verdiant is full of good and Matchett is full of badness. He's informed that Costas is missing, but didn't Costas swipe in with his badge that morning? Well, yes, but he's dead now, baby. Meanwhile, Matchett and a mad scientist in a lab are cooking up Something Bad. The scientist is bald, so is not Severus Snape but some other potions master.

Red and Liz search Costas' apartment while Liz whines about luck. Liz, regretfully, whines a lot this episode. This is unbecoming of a Weasley, but doesn't stop her. Red tries to stop her with stories of how what you think is bad luck is sometimes the best thing that could happen. Luckily, for sure, they find a locked strongbox in a vent. They find it and run just as Ressler pulls up to the apartment looking for Costas. For reasons inexplicable, Liz calls Ressler to tell him to back off and let her clear herself. When must-he-be-such-a-jerk-this-season Ressler says no, she hangs up.

Samar finds a picture of Red and Liz in the car they hotwired while Ressler and fed goons search Costas' apartment. Red and Liz crack the strongbox and find many fascinating documents about Verdiant, including an even more evil than usual "Genesis Project". Matchett's mad scientist hands him a really big vial of virus guaranteed to "bring humanity to its knees!" If these two had moustaches, they'd be twirling them. How did they not chortle with fiendish glee, with a cheesy line like that?

Glen of the DMV enters a bar/restaurant. Only one barman/waiter is on duty. Glen makes him ask the chef if the chicken gorgonzola is gluten-free, and then dashes behind the bar to grab something. As he makes a dash for the door, Red and Liz enter THE FEED store and find the various dead, including the late Gabriel Costas. More searching reveals Mad Scientist's potions factory downstairs. A computer clearly has all the corn genome files, which Liz tries to copy, but they're huge files, and Samar has located their car there. But by the time Samar and Ressler invade the lab, Red and Liz are gone, with the computer showing they didn't get everything. Samar and Ressler look around at the lab in wonder and a little shock. You'd think muggles were being tortured in front of them.

Tom sits in a Chinese restaurant. He mopes cutely about Liz to a cute Asian waitress. He says if Liz calls for him, to give her a number he hands the waitress. There must be more to happen with this scene.

Samar reveals the Monsanto note: Matchett was a small farmer whose fields started sprouting Verdiant crops that drifted in from the next farm. He was sued and lost his farm, which is now part of Verdiant's industrial farm. Aram has done more of his wizardly calculating, and figures that the virus Matchett has would decimate American crops in weeks and all of the world in months.

Red scolds Liz for speaking to Ressler. Someone overhearing them becomes threatening and pulls a gun on Red. Liz shoots, but he's an undercover cop. Despite needing to get away, they drag him to his car, steal the car, drop him off at the emergency room because our anti-heroes are GOOD anti-heroes, and drive off, while Samar calls for extra LEO for a huge roadblock of the industrial farm, which she and Ressler know will be where Matchett will unleash the virus.

Liz worries if the undercover officer will die and whines again. She worries that there are no thoracic surgeons in the county. Red asks her what else isn't found in that county -namely, spare virologists who could formulate the virus. Who did the work? Red says that Ressler "may be of some use after all."

Matchett, seeing the roadblock, veers off the highway, trailed by Ressler and Samar. He runs into a field, Ressler in as much pursuit as you can be in the thick of seven-foot corn. They begin fighting just as Matchett grabs hold of The Virus Vial. Samar wipes up the scene, along with both Matchett and Ressler, and contains the virus.

Aram calls Samar and Ressler. Liz has faxed to him all of Costas' Genesis Project papers.

Red drops by the lovely home of Susan Hanover, tech officer, Death Eater, and "corporate shill for the Cabal." He suggests they shouldn't have their chat in front of her son who's playing in the yard. It's that "the virus you helped Eli Matchett Create has been contained." Of course. There's an entire warehouse of SEED that's already resistant to this virus. If Matchett released a virus that killed off all known Verdiant seed, people would think an individual terrorist had destroyed the food chain and would pay Verdiant anything for the new, resistant strains of corn and soy.

Hanover asks what Red wants. It's small. Just to tell the Director that Liz needs to be exonerated... and that the Director is all Red's.

Ressler looks at a board full of Hanover, Matchett, and other Verdiant miscreants, who are being taken in for questioning, while trying to process that Liz shot an undercover officer. Liz tries to process that she's shot an undercover officer and whines about being a bad person. Red tells her that she's a good person in bad circumstances.

Ressler goes to Cooper. Cooper seems to think that Ressler is being a jerk and amazingly stupid this season to date. He tells Ressler to trust his instincts. Ressler says his instincts tell him not to trust Not-Tom.

Glen looks at footage from restaurant cameras and sees Dembe with Solomon. He calls Red to tell him that Dembe's been taken. Solomon drops into Dembe's holding room. "The price of silence," he says, shutting the door behind him. Another man in the room with Dembe tells him they'll die there. It's Vargas!

The waitress drops Not-Tom her phone number as Cooper slides across from him. He tells Not-Tom that he's just the person to help Liz BECAUSE he's murderous slime, and pulls out Karakurt's file.

Will Not-Tom get Karakurt? Will Liz clear her name? Will Red rescue Dembe in time? Will Ressler quit being the jerk of the decade? Post your thoughts to us on Twitter @MarakayBWW, or below on the page!

Photo Credit: NBC Universal

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