‘The Blacklist’ season 2, episode 17 review: Liz’s birthday, Cooper recovering, Tom in trouble

Last week on “The Blacklist” we had an episode all about Tom Keen: Turns out he’s actually in love with Liz (or at least has some affectionate feelings for her) and turns up in court to take responsibility for the murder of the harbor master. There’s very little that is going to top that and we do still hold out hope that these two can some how, some way come together.

Cooper: The treatment is actually working! He’s walking around a little bit without his cane and we are excited for him, but of course it comes with a price. Tom (the next Attorney General he hopes), comes to him once again to have Cooper give someone he’s investigating the benefit of the doubt. How long is Cooper going to be in this position for? When he calls into his doctor to tell him that things are actually working, the doctor tells him that they may have to remove him from the program. Cooper learns that the program may have an age limit coming in and that they are waiting on the decision, but it’s not looking good for him. He confronts Tom about maybe getting cut from the program and he says that he will make a call… especially since Cooper did what he wanted again.

Liz: It’s her birthday and Reddington has brought her a bottle of wine that her and her adoptive father made together 20 years ago. The rest of the crew has red velvet cupcakes for her and it’s nice to see a little bit of happiness in this episode since it’s been a few rough episodes in a row for Liz. When Liz gets down about her birthday and decides to ditch her friends and the dinner, Ressler orders food from her favorite restaurant and brings it to her.

Tom: He’s having a hard time letting Liz go and shows her that he still cares when he acknowledges her birthday… but she just says goodbye and hangs up on him. He’s been burned by Reddington and we aren’t sure where he’s going to end up now, but when his employer shows up we start to worry and with good reason. His employer pulls a gun on him, saying that Liz has cost him his life, but it seems that he’s not the only one that wants Tom dead. The group he was infiltrating also want him dead and now they’ve got him and they are threatening to go after Liz unless he talks… and he does helping to set both of them free. Tom is on the run again, but now his employer is looking for him and with no where else to go, Tom goes to Liz’s house.

We know that every week can’t be the Liz and Tom show (even though we wish it could be), but we are happy that he’s still around even though his role in helping Liz is over. Him showing up at her house was a nice surprise (for us, not her) so we will see what happens with them next. We didn’t mention the case of the week, because it was easily one of the more forgettable villains. Episode grade: C+

What did you think about this episode of “The Blacklist”? Do you want to see Tom and Liz together or are you rooting for her and Ressler to end up as a couple? Share below. (Photo: NBC.)