‘The Blacklist’ season 1, episode 15 review: Did Tom Keen cheat on Liz with Jolene?

“The Blacklist” brought us a new episode on Monday night with an interesting case revolving around “the judge” … but to be honest, it really wasn’t that interesting in comparison to what was going on with Tom Keen. For the first time in the series’ run, we actually got an inclination from someone other than Reddington that this guy is not at all what he seems.

The guilty party at the center of all this is none other than Jolene, that “mystery women hitting on Liz’s man” that had the perfect song played near the end of this episode. She tried to seduce him, and succeeded to the point that the two had a little impromptu kissing. But then, just when he was trying to explain that he couldn’t sleep with her, things really started to hit the fan. He realized that she was potentially sent for a larger purpose, and he uttered some pretty chilling words regarding how it was more of his mission in order to love his wife, and not necessarily because he did.

This is where the story could finally start to get interesting, as we start to really figure out what Tom is really all about. Does Reddington want him gone because he is a threat to him, or because he is concerned about Liz’s well-being? Also, you have to wonder about the fact that Tom has never hurt his wife or done anything bad to her at all; instead, the only thing that he has really pushed for is for her to get away from the FBI at all costs. He hasn’t done anything horrible to her.

In the end, what we are getting at here is that while Reddington had his own stuff to do and that was fine, Tom’s revelation opens the door so much more on what this show can be … and we really hope that it is not so black and white (to borrow from the title), and that Tom is ultimately a complicated character in the gray. Grade: B+.

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Photo: NBC