BWW Recap: It's the Big Chill With 'Sir Crispin Crandall' on THE BLACKLIST

Today's episode is the episode of no one being happy. Dr. Richard Kuchera is not happy, because he is not only as brilliant as Stephen Hawking, just in math, but is also no healthier than Hawking. He's also unhappy because he's on a plane with a British lunatic who's babbling about freeing Kuchera's mind from his body.

Red, Liz, and Dembe are on Red's jet of all human comforts. Red is not happy because Andras Halmi, brilliant economist, is missing, and he's The Director's most trusted advisor; also, like every Cabalist this season, he presumably could exonerate Liz. (Six episodes in, this is getting very tired, NBC.) Also, mixed pairs of male and female scientists in paired disciplines are missing. Finding Halmi could clear Liz and find the "ark" where the scientists are being hidden. He calls Ressler, who had noticed missing scientists but not the pattern. Red and Ressler discuss how to get around the Director. The Director is not happy, because he knows Ressler has contact with Red.

Cooper is not happy, because Not-Tom has killed a Russian fight club goon. Tom tells him it's the key to reaching Karakurt.

Ressler is not happy because of The Director. He briefs the team on Red's theory while The Director sits in and bitches. Aram has located a missing mathematician -the one the Brit has -and has found a female counterpart living in Arlington, just down the road, that he thinks is a likely target. The Director is pissed because he can't pinpoint Red's actual target.

The Brit tells Kuchera he's found him a mate, while Kuchera watches an ugly operation. His mate is Mathwoman, who is in Arlington doing math in her apartment. Samar and Ressler drive there, trying to call Mathwoman unsuccessfully while bickering about how to protect Liz and Red from The Director. Samar is not happy because Ressler believes the protocols in place will protect Liz. By the time they quit bickering, bad guys have abducted Mathwoman. FBI and police cars pull up; one abductor is not happy and kills himself, while another flees but is captured by Ressler.

Red meets up with Marvin Gerard in a building under remodeling with an unhappy building inspector. Marvin is not happy because the building inspector needs to be bribed to quit bothering them. He's also not happy that Red doesn't have Halmi. The inspector is unhappy that Red has tried to bribe him with a trip to Palermo. His son died in Palermo. As Red says, who could guess?

Not-Tom drops in on Asher and fiancée Gwen, who are unhappy that he killed a Russian fight club goon. Equally unhappy fight club goons drop in on the apartment and start roughing everyone up.

Mathwoman's abductor resists Ressler's questioning. The Director takes a shot. Now the abductor is unhappy because first, The Director starts quoting the Bible, and second, because he talks about visiting the sins of the fathers on the children while waving a picture of the guy's daughter. The Director is pleased to tell Ressler that the problem is Sir Crispin Crandall, billionaire Science jerk, who has a building near Boston, by the airport.

Red looks for the building inspector's weak spot. It's Lisa, the world's worst pastry chef. Red drops in on her bad, bad baking and starts babbling about decorating the restaurant her boyfriend has gotten for her. He brings her to the construction site, which gives the building inspector meltdown. Or possibly heartburn if he eats those pastries she baked earlier. Lisa, at least, is happy, though no one else.

Ressler, Samar and company storm Crandall Cryonics in Boston, where they unhappily do not find any missing scientists. Just a lot of frozen people who are not missing scientists. Aram has to remind them that cryonics is legitimate if nutty, and manages not to discuss Walt Disney's allegedly frozen head that's allegedly hidden in a secret freezer under Disney World. Allegedly. He also explains that Crandall lives on a jet that refuels in the air and has only landed thirty times in three years. It must have one hell of a food storage system and plumbing. It's not only big enough for the huge pantry and sewage disposal, but for a cryonics lab.

The first rule of fight club is that you're chained up before fight club. Not-Tom awakes from being roughed up to find himself chained up and a fight club goon explaining that he and Asher are that evening's no-holds-barred fight. Not-Tom is not happy to see that Asher is also chained up. The second rule of fight club is that you're not happy to be chained up to fight your new BFF.

Red decides to call on Crandall, who's having a fueling problem. The Director calls Solomon, suggesting that Red and Liz can be killed at Solomon's plane. FBI radar says the plane is going to Halifax so Ressler and Samar head for their own plane. ("Wheels up in 30," as they say on CBS's FBI show.) The Director knows this is phony and Crandall is heading for Pittsburgh. But thanks to Aram, Samar and Ressler figure out that The Director has diverted them, and reroute their plane to Pittsburgh, too.

The third rule of fight club is kill somebody. The crowd is very annoyed that Not-Tom is trying to be non-violent. So is Asher, who says if they don't fight they'll both be killed. Someone hands Asher a knife. Which Not-Tom immediately gets from Asher and uses to kill him, before Asher could even write him into his billionaire will. There is much blood, and Not-Tom is not-happy. But he does want to see "the Russian."

Red and Liz meet Crandall in Pittsburgh. Crandall says he's saving great minds to save the world when everything goes to pot. Red suggests these minds could be better used to prevent everything from going to pot in the first place. Crandall may be a great scientist but he's a lousy sociologist, so Red gets bored and shoots him, mostly to prove that what's happening at the moment is always more important than what might happen in the future. A gang of flunky scientists rushes out from the plane lab to save him while Red and Liz go in to look for Halmi. Please note that they do not find Jimmy Hoffa. He may have been back at the lab in Boston. Meanwhile, Solomon's goons storm the plane. Red finds a frozen side of Halmi and takes off the thumbs. Red and Liz escape during a shootout that mostly is thawing frozen scientists. Solomon calls The Director. Apparently the thumbs are an issue.

The Director calls a bank to seize the safe deposit box of Andras Halmi. Red and Liz go back to the construction site, where they and the work crew tear down the construction barriers to reveal that the construction is phony; in fact, Red's able to get into the bank vault directly below. Oh, clever! This is one of Red's best setups yet. He breaks into Halmi's safe deposit box, and uses the frozen thumbs to open a biometric lock. When The Director gets there, the box opens easily, the thumbs the only thing in it. Aw, poor Director. But what was in the box?

Red calls The Director from his jet of creature comforts. The Director is in the den of creature comforts. Red suggests it's time to exonerate Liz. The Director thinks not. Red points out that he has all of Halmi's goodies including The Director's secret account of millions in embezzled money. The Director bluffs that he doesn't care and Red's got nothing (except more millions than he's already gotten elsewhere). Red calmly threatens the apocalypse, and that when he's done, the Cabalists will ask him to kill Director Dear.

Not-Tom gets taken to see "the Russian." He explains how everyone there except Karakurt will die, because he's going to exonerate Liz. The poor fools start to attack him, and in moments, everyone but Karakurt is dead, and Not-Tom is dragging off an unconscious Karakurt. For once, Not-Tom has performed a valuable public service.

Will Red take down The Director before or after the mid-season finale? Where did he find that fabulous Panama hat? Will anyone be more cheerful next episode than this one? Will Liz actually do something next episode other than poke along with Red? And for God's sakes will one of these targets of Red's actually have something useful for clearing Liz? Because this plot line is getting stale fast! If you have any thoughts on this, tweet @MarakayBWW or comment below. We want to know what you're thinking!

Photo Credit: NBC Universal

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