‘The Blacklist’ season 3, episode 13 review: Tom’s job hunt and Tony Shalhoub

Thursday night’s episode of “The Blacklist” was an odd one for many reasons. It had some great Red backstory, an interesting Tom plot, but then also a case of the week that felt very much like something that was vintage from the show’s first season.

Let’s start with Tony Shalhoub as Alistair Pitt, our villain for the occasion and a shrewd negotiator. He’s the sort of guy who pulls strings, and then watches as other people deal with all of the violence and chaos. We’ll always take plenty of Shalhoub whenever we can, and this case turned personal for Red when it started to involve Josephine, a woman from his past who he felt still a very strong need to protect. Let it be known here that whatever Red wants, Red has a knack at getting … at least in time. Spoiler alert: This episode did not end well for Pitt.

What we found fascinating to go along with seeing a more tender side to Red is the show utilizing a rather-interesting story device: Having us know more a little bit more about what is going on than what the characters themselves know. For example, we know full well what some Liz Keen’s plans are when it comes to dealing with her child. However, at the same time Tom doesn’t know that, which caused him to take on a job to bring home some of the bacon with his ex, Gina. Uncomfortable? Probably, especially given some of the moments that they had. (Samar, for the record, also doesn’t seem to know everything yet.)

While it was interesting to see more of a spotlight episode on Red and Tom, did we need a little more of a consistent flow here? Possibly, but the one thing that we will say here for the time being is that at least the show is changing things up somewhat, and didn’t just do a story-of-the-week while they’re in this transition phase. They’re adding something else to it, as well. Grade: B.

(Photo: NBC.)