'The Blacklist' Season 7 Episode 15 Review: Red tackles gun violence and a panicked Ilya, but is [spoiler] back?
Spoilers for 'The Blacklist' Season 7 Episode 15 'Gordon Kemp'
While a lot goes into making Raymond 'Red' Reddington the man he is, even seven years later the character continues to surprise us for the way his emotions work, and his compassionate protest of all things wrong and cruel. From digging down the core of a gun and weapons business to sometimes even babysitting and pacifying a grown woman like Elizabeth Keene — Red's work is pretty much cut out for him in this second half of Season 7. And while we see him trying to calm down a frenzied Ilya Koslov, who keeps seeing things that induce only panic within, the one question that still remains to be answered is whether Katarina is really back? And if so, could she and Red have been working together all this time?
The episode kicks off with Red and Dembe watching a retail employee die from an armed robbery, right as she was about to inform her mother that she got into college. This strikes a nerve in Red, particularly the emotional kind where he wants to dig up the organization behind such brazen selling of guns, even though they shot the robber. Liz finds out that Fine Caliber Arms International is a hundred-year-old gun manufacturer run by Gordon Kemp and they produce guns with no collectible value and are easily accessible — thus making Kemp a top man on their blacklist.
Thus, another day of hustle ensues for the FBI as they try to arrest Kemp, but the old man keeps getting away as the law is on his side. Even with young girls busying some 30 girls at a time, Kemp can't be arrested by the FBI because as he proclaims, he just manufactures guns and there is no law against that even if people go rogue on each other and start piling up body counts just because Kemp's guns are so accessible.
In all of this, even though Liz and the FBI set up a plan to trap Kemp's convoy, Liz eventually turns out betrayed by Cooper who wrongly informed her of the truck carrying Kemp's guns. Cooper defends his actions claiming he did it only because he couldn't trust Liz to not spill the beans to Red — who is running out like a compassionate hound, thirsting for justice. So who has to pacify Liz once again about the entire debacle? Well, who other than Red.
But Red also has other things to take care of and this is where Spader reminds us just why we adore this character so much. Ambushing Kemp at his own home, Red tells him that the law or judiciary isn't needed to do justice for the unabashed selling Kemp practices. In those moments where Kemp tries to pray for his life, Spader's spine chilling, merciless disposition as Red is sheer brilliance as he tells Kemp how the girl at the grocery store did the same, but to no avail. So Red tells Kemp how casually he could have been shot and stages a scenario where he says any violent man could've bought one of Kemp's guns and shot him — and right then and there, as Red shoots Kemp twice, justice gets served.
Yet, Red had more to deal with on his plate as Ilya can't stop panicking about a blue Chevy he claims is stationed outside his house. Ilya, traumatized from Katerina's torture, keeps worrying it is her, back again. From attacking Dembe to leading the country — Ilya and his wife reel under the frenzied panic he finds himself in. In the end, it turns out the person in the car was the PI Liz had hired to keep tabs on Ilya. It's obvious Liz is looking into Red, especially after him consistently denying her doubts surrounding her mother's death. We know there's a high chance Katarina might still be alive and return soon to grab them by the neck for vengeance. But for now, even with Red and Liz toasting on how they are by each other's side, the breach has seeped in. Her doubts over his identity are made clear by the way she wouldn't reveal to him exactly which truck was carrying Kemp's guns actually, and this leaves us wondering how much of their faith in each other will survive in the end.
'The Blacklist' Season 7 airs on Fridays at 8 pm only on NBC.