The Blacklist season 5 episode 16 review: Dr. Fulton’s secrets exposed

Singleton may be dead on The Blacklist, but he still found a way to inform Liz that Garvey is Tom’s killer. While she was a the scene of Singleton’s death, she over heard Garvey’s voice and recognized it immediately (how could she forget?). We know that she wants to try the right way to get revenge for Tom, by going through the law, but will she be able to make it stick? As Reddington said last week, cops have each other’s back and making a crime stick to someone on the force is next to impossible. He thinks that this is going to end up on the streets. Guess we are going to see who’s right.

The noose tightens for Garvey

Things are starting to unravel a bit for Garvey now that there’s a witness that saw Garvey kill Singleton and with Liz’s testimony as well there might be enough to put him away. Cooper wants Liz off the Garvey case because anything she does or says could be pulled apart by the defense. Reddington wants to help put Garvey away too, but not before he gets what he wants from him, which is his secret staying buried.

Cooper is trying to keep this witness safe, but since Garvey has gotten away with killing Singleton (and was even a pallbearer at his funeral) we suspect that this witness won’t be alive for long and if they lose him, they lose a lot of their case against Garvey.

Aram is in charge of going to get the witness to put him in protective custody, but when he runs into Garvey (who also wants the witness) we had a chance to see Aram’s teeth. Garvey threatened to take him outside and fight him over this witness, but Aram demanded that the witness be brought to him and made that magic happen. Once Aram has the witness, he is able to get him to point to Singleton’s murderer and points to Garvey.

Reddington and the bones

Garvey won’t go public with the bones until he knows Reddington’s entire truth and Reddington wont’ kill him until he gets the bones. They are at a stalemate. Garvey tells him that if he gets the witness from the task force that can ID him and deliver him then he will trade him the bag of bones. Reddington is conflicted on what to do since he wants Liz to have the closure that she so desperately needs, but we all know at this point that Reddington will do anything to protect his secret. As we suspected, while the witness is on route, he is stolen from the van right in front of Aram’s eyes. Reddington has taken the witness, but didn’t kill him, instead the witness will never been seen from again by the FBI or Garvey, but that’s not enough for Garvey to hand over the bag.

Dr. Fulton returns

If you were hoping for more of Martha Plimpton then you will be happy to know that she’s back tonight. Liz is still in therapy with Dr. Fulton until she deems Liz ready to be fully reinstated, so there’s still some work to do here. Liz admitted something very interesting tonight that we’ve all know for years as a viewer, but to hear her say it out loud to her therapist was a defining moment: She obsesses over the need for justice and that means if she has to go against the law then she will. There was one moment in their conversations that made us feel like maybe Dr. Fulton could be a possible Blacklister down the road – her knowing about classified information made us think that maybe there’s more to her. Perhaps this is just our hope since we love Plimpton and think she would be a brilliant blacklister.

Seems that the masterminds behind the show had the same feeling about Plimpton as a villain as we did and it turns out that she is working with this week’s blacklister – a former agent that is killing people. Dr. Fulton recruits agents that kill serial killers that got away with their crimes and when she had a chance to get to Liz she felt she struck a gold mine since not only is Liz willing to kill whoever she wants to get justice, but she is also the daughter of Raymond Reddington and thinks because of that relation she is pre-disposed to murder. While Liz doesn’t take the job working with her band of vigilantes, she does let Dr. Fulton go before the police can arrest her and when Fulton returns to work she has Liz reinstated. There is a bond shared between these women, something that they both appreciate about the other – the ability to color outside the lines to get justice.

CarterMatt verdict

First off we have to say how much we loved the twist of Dr. Fulton being a blacklister, what fun this was to watch! Next we want to talk a bit more about Aram. Watching him grow as a field agent and flex his power over Garvey was a side of Aram we hadn’t really seen before… and we liked it! Lastly, watching Reddington promise Liz that he won’t let the bones stand in the way of Garvey getting away as he lets Garvey walk out the door was truly heart breaking. We understand that Reddington is willing to do what he has to in order to get the bones, but that was rough to see.

What did you think about The Blacklist season 5, episode 16? Leave us your thoughts in the comment box below. If you missed our most recent interview with Amir Arison you can check that out here.

(Photo: NBC)