BWW Recap: 'The Djinn' Makes Dreams Come True on THE BLACKLIST

In New York, a man in scrubs, Gerald, is in an apartment, with surgical-looking lines drawn on a man lying down. A blonde Brit in a mini dress tells him that his money has the penthouse for him until 9 am, so enjoy the revenge. The camera pulls back, showing that Gerald is sharpening chef's knives, and the victim is strapped to a dinner table. Victim was responsible for Gerald's son's drug death. Revenge seems to be a clip from HANNIBAL.

Leonard Caul shows Red photos of the evil Mattias Solomon, CIA torturer and goon, the guy who has Dembe. Red wants Dembe rescued. Leonard leaves, and in comes Aram, because Red and Liz are in Aram's apartment, where Liz has finally managed a shower, and where Red tells Aram to find him the Djinn, a miscreant who might help clear Liz. Aram lets slip that Not-Tom contacted Ressler, who turned down his help. Meanwhile, Cooper tells Not-Tom that Karakurt has had plastic surgeryand is probably hiding in the rust belt of America.

Aram tells Ressler about Red and Liz and the Djinn. Ressler thinks they have something until Aram says Red told him to tell Ressler. The Djinn helps people fulfill their deepest, darkest fantasies, usually involving exacting revenge. You find her on line, way in the deep web it seems, and fork over your bank account info to prove you can afford the Djinn's fantasy fulfillment. Samar tells Ressler they need to find the Djinn to find Red and Liz, not to tail Red and Liz to the Djinn.

Blonde Brit brings a slight young Muslim woman to a trussed man with a bag over his head. Is BB the Djinn? She's certainly welcoming the woman to take revenge, because revenge brings healing.

Dembe, still locked in the warehouse room, creates a weapon from a spoon in front of Vargas. Dembe is one mean SOB, and this is why we love him.

Samar shows that the Djinn has brought down businesses, such as the hotel in the opening, which lost business once there was a bloody cannibal picnic in it. An airline has also nearly collapsed thanks to the Djinn arranging revenge for some unknown person.

Meanwhile, Red and Liz are in a theatre, where Red quotes Bertholt Brecht, just like any other wanted fugitive would. In fact, he's produced Brecht at this theatre, for a friend who lost Red's money because it ran against CATS. But they're still friends, so he can hang at the theatre. He and Liz take naps on beds on the stage while waiting for the Djinn to contact Liz. The Djinn has ARRANGED fantasies for at least two Cabal members, so Red figures there's an in there. Oh, he also warns Liz not to call Not-Tom, who is ignoring waitress-flirting while he studies Karakurt's file.

A gentleman who we are to conclude is an Iranian Muslim tells Samar that his father, a rich industrialist Iranian Muslim, has been kidnapped. He laments that the family is just him, his sister Nasim, and dad. And money. Meanwhile, BB, who might be the Djinn, calls Liz, who is on a PARK BENCH waiting, and tells her to follow directions to her fantasy. Red and an associate follow behind to no avail. Liz enters a porta-john that turns out to open into the back door of a car that is taking her to the Djinn.

The young man with the missing father calls his sister. His sister is the young Muslim woman who was left someone to torture. She's currently torturing their dad, in revenge for some great abuse upon her.

Liz arrives at a funky canopied Persian kind of colorful indoor tent setup with tea and cookies, where BB sits on her throne and asks Liz her fantasy. Liz says she wants revenge on the men who framed her, but BB, who must be the Djinn, says that while Liz may want that, it isn't her deepest fantasy. It's not happening, and Liz gets no more tea and cookies. Liz knocks over a cup and manages to plant a tracker on one of the Djinn's not very Persian high heeled shoes before being sent home without any wishes.

Samar interviews Nasim. Butter wouldn't melt in Nasim's mouth. Samar says she needs to take control of her life, but Nasim isn't as brave as Samar. Nasim meets with her brother, who wants her guidance on selling the family business to a venture holdings company. He says she should have run the business, but Nasim tells him he'll be fine and just to handle the sale. While they fuss, Dembe and his bunkie wait for Solomon's men to come into the room, and then Dembe and bunkie (mostly Dembe) overpower the guards and escape in a truck. Go, Dembe!

Back at the theatre, Liz calls the restaurant but Not-Tom isn't there. The waitress gives her the number he left with her last week. Red asks about the Djinn. Liz says that guards meant she wasn't asking about the Cabal and that the Djinn didn't like the fantasy they'd concocted. Red asks what her deepest fantasy really is. It's walking in the park with her hubby and daughter that don't exist. A phone call comes, and there's an address for the Djinn.

Dembe reads classifieds in the truck and finds one for a tuba mouthpiece, a link to Red. Vargas shoots Dembe in the side and runs off. This is not a good season for Dembe. Why hasn't Red sent Mr. Kaplan to find him? Mr. Kaplan can do anything. Mr. Kaplan must be on vacation in Guadalajara, because she could also clear Liz in fifteen minutes.

Red and Liz drop in on a nice middle-class house. He tells her that her fantasy is a good one (after all, she's been obsessing lately about being a bad person) and rings the doorbell. A cute, blonde little girl answers, and Red asks for mommy. Mommy is BB. He looks at BB and announces,"You're not the Djinn." In fact she's Alice, the face of the operation, and hey, it's a living. She wants out, but not very badly. Red offers to stake Alice to her own slightly nicer fantasy delivery business if she rats out the Djinn.

Nasim reveals to her nearly dead father that her brother sold the business to Newcastle Ventures. Also that she is the Djinn, who is now living out her own fantasy by torturing dad. And also that she owns Newcastle Ventures, so a girl really will run the family business like daddy said she couldn't. Aram also has found that Nasim owns Newcastle, and tells his cohorts that she must have used the Djinn to get her father's business.

Not-Tom thinks a New York rich kid with an underground casino is the way to Karakurt, so he and Cooper build him a new persona, Mr. Wainwright, with a nice suit and a fake designer watch to crash the casino.

Red and Liz head to Nasim's secluded, sleek, stylish house and break in. They find her father attached to a cross but still alive and call 911. Nasim emerges. Red reveals the episode's actual storyline (FINALLY), that Nasim was born Nasir, a boy. But dad found out his son was gay and forced a sex change operation, to kinda make things "right". However, turning his son into a woman made Nasim a second-class citizen, and therefore Nasim could not inherit the business that Nasir would have. Red rails appropriate words of political correctness and disgust at dad.

The 911 call was intercepted by Aram, so of course Samar, Ressler, and half the agencies in Washington are heading there. Red has an escape plan. He offers to cut Nasim in if she produces her secret diary of revenge fantasies and the names of the clients who wanted them. There are choppers overhead, so Nasim agrees. Ressler orders a house raid just as a lieutenant realizes that the chopper closest to the house isn't there. In fact it's Red's. He and Liz get on board, and Nasim would if Alice weren't in the chopper pointing a gun at her.

Red and friends drink at the theatre, until Leonard shows up and takes Red to the warehouse where there's no sign of Dembe or of Solomon's people. Vargas, pressed up against a wall, calls Solomon.

Ressler and Samar have Nasim's diary. Except for one page, which they know Red took. A picture of Nasim goes up on the board. Her diary will close many other cases. They bicker about, what else, Liz. Not-Tom plays at the casino, apparently deliberately getting caught cheating. Rich kid asks him to dinner. Liz calls and is sorry he's back in the game. He heads to dinner with his new buddy.

Will Mr. Kaplan show up? Why hasn't she shown up yet? Is Dembe all right? And why was this such an insufferably bad episode? Tweet @MarakayBWW or post below!

Photo Credit: NBC Universal

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