General Commander (2019) - full transcript
GRS operative Jake Alexander and his team of young recruits go after the most dangerous and notorious criminals with the help of a Hong Kong billionaire.
[COUGHING]
♪
Damn it.
Merriam!
[COUGHING]
Rosa, where the hell's Merriam?
- You okay, Mr. Bob?
- No, I'm not okay.
- I need my inhaler.
- What's going on?
He's having trouble again.
I don't know what the hell's wrong.
I can't get my breath. [COUGHING]
Is it your chest?
Rosa, I found another one.
It's that feeling again,
that damn scratching,
like my breath... [GAGS]
I feel...
♪
[MAN VOCALIZING]
I can't...
Oh, no! Bob!
♪
NURSE #1: He's in respiratory distress.
Obstruction of the lower airway.
NURSE #2:
- We've ruled out anaphylaxis?
Correct. No known medical allergies.
Wife said he was ill
with shortness of breath.
Tell O.R. 8 we're on our way.
Nasotracheal intubation?
We don't have time.
We need to establish an airway.
- SpO2 approaching 80%.
- Let's open his cricothyroid.
I want to avoid his cervical spine.
[MONITOR BEEPING, FLATLINE]
♪
♪
[VOCALIZING CONTINUES]
♪
[BEETLES BUZZING]
♪
♪
Yesterday morning,
a bio-tech company executive
met a gruesome death.
Yeah. I'm not playing this game.
I'm giving you a case.
You're giving me a lead for you
so that you can keep on doing
whatever it is you're doing.
I'm picking a jury of my peers.
Wouldn't that be a colorful lot.
You gave us The Pharmacist
so that Dembe could get
five minutes alone with him.
You asked for a psych eval
so you'd be sent
to a mental-health facility
where someone you needed to see
was a patient.
If you're accusing me
of using the Task Force
to assist me in avoiding
the hangman's noose,
- guilty as charged.
- I want to help you,
but I can't if you don't tell me
what it is you're doing.
I'm fighting for my life.
And you are helping more than you know.
Why can't you just be honest with me?
You remind me so much of your mother.
I don't remember if I've ever
told you that before, have I?
There are a lot of things
you haven't told me.
I'm here because someone
betrayed me, someone close.
Under the circumstances,
it's hard to know who to trust.
Okay. Tell me about the case.
What do you know about
entomological warfare?
For over 1,000 years,
human beings have been
weaponizing insects.
In the 12th century,
wasps nests were catapulted
into enemy towns.
During the Cold War,
the Pentagon developed plans
to produce 100 million
yellow fever-infected mosquitoes
per month.
And the most notorious
Japanese war criminal
in World War II was General Shiro,
who bred bubonic plague-carrying insects
that killed tens of thousands of Chinese.
Did Reddington give you a case
or a history lesson?
A bit of both.
A year ago, a patent attorney
was found suffocated in his office.
Why? An infestation of deadly beetles
had eaten the lining of his lungs.
- Ew.
- And six months ago,
it was a chemical manufacturer's turn,
and yesterday, the head
of a bio-tech company.
Eaten from the inside by killer beetles.
Apparently, and according to Reddington,
they were put there
by a modern-day General Shiro.
Am I right in assuming
this case has something
to do with his defense?
Yes, but he wouldn't tell me why.
Our immunity deal with
Reddington has been invalidated.
He stands accused of treason.
Is this your periodic reminder
that by working with him,
we may be viewed as aiding and abetting?
It's a possibility,
especially if we pursue cases
in which his agenda is,
to be polite, obscure.
We're all in,
if that's what you're asking.
Samar, ARAM, look into
what connects the victims.
The man who died yesterday...
Bob Lockemy,
founder of Lockemy Technology.
Go to the M.E., see what he can tell you
about the weaponized insects
that killed him.
SIMA: Your Honor,
we agree with Mr. Reddington.
Jury questionnaires
can be sent to potential jurors
prior to jury selection,
but he wants to ask 382 questions,
most of which require essay answers.
It would take jurors days to complete.
RED: I'm sorry if you find the process
of selecting a fair jury
to be inconvenient, Mr. SIMA,
but you are trying to kill me
for a crime I didn't commit.
The problem is not inconvenience.
It's relevance. Example... Question 133.
I quote, "Compare and contrast
the role of memory
in the works of Proust
and Dickens, with examples."
How can I sensibly judge one's character
if I don't know their views
on great literature?
This is absurd.
In case you haven't read
a newspaper recently,
Mr. SIMA, all of our lives
are playing out
in the theater of the absurd these days.
Your Honor, I believe the prosecution
wants to intentionally dumb down
the jury questionnaire
because he wants to attract dumb jurors
because Mr. SIMA wants
a jury of unsophisticated,
unthinking sheep who will
blindly convict me of treason
out of some misguided notion
that it's the patriotic thing to do.
I, on the other hand, want astute jurors,
people who can understand
the somewhat complicated
evidence I plan to present,
capable of evaluating
not only my motives,
but also those of the government.
The literature question is stricken.
Excellent.
That sort of bias
will only aid in my appeal
should the government win
in this round of play.
We also object to question 134,
"Who is your favorite
classical composer?"
Okay, I will not be judged
by anyone who likes Schumann.
I refuse to be sent to my death
by Philistines.
I love Schumann.
"Fantasie in C Major" was played
at my mother's funeral this past summer.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Mr. Reddington, 40 questions
should be sufficient.
No essays, keep it simple,
and don't waste my time.
RESSLER: Dr. Maguire,
thanks for meeting with us.
So, what do you have?
It appears that
your victim... suffocated.
On insects?
Best I could tell,
some kind of water beetle.
Apparently, they're scavengers
and fierce predators,
but what I don't understand
is how the larva were able to survive
in his digestive enzymes
and stomach acids.
I'm sorry. I thought
you said he suffocated.
That is the official cause of death,
but I found larval remnants
in his stomach wall and digestive tract,
which suggests that he
may have ingested them.
These creatures were
literally feeding on him,
eating from the inside out.
My guess is that they migrated
into his bronchial tubes and lungs,
and the incision in the neck,
well, that simply provided
an escape hatch.
Just a guess.
I'm not an expert in insects.
You probably should
talk to an entomologist.
Know anyone you can recommend?
Not personally, but I do know
that Dr. Jonathan Nikkila,
he worked at the same company
as your victim.
If there's anyone who can
help you find the person
who did this, well, I'm sure he can.
♪
[MAN VOCALIZING]
♪
♪
♪
[SMOOCHES]
♪
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS]
[VOCALIZING CONTINUES]
♪
♪
♪
"The government wouldn't spend
the time charging someone
with treason if they were innocent."
"Innocent" is misspelled, by the way,
and the apostrophe is misplaced
in "wouldn't."
None of these answers instill me
with great confidence in our jury pool.
We'll find the right people.
Thanks.
Why is it that spiritual
advisers such as yourself
are always so insistently optimistic?
Just once I'd like to hear
a man of the cloth say,
"Yep, this sucks."
Dembe, we need a juror I can count on,
one person capable of convincing
the others to vote not guilty.
The jurors are chosen randomly.
Yes, from the registered voter logs,
the IRS, and the Department
of Motor Vehicles.
♪
Fortunately, we have a friend at the DMV.
♪
- [KNOCK ON DOOR]
- [DOOR OPENS]
Dembe! Come in.
Good to see you, old friend.
Ah! I'd shake,
but I got "sandwich hands."
[CHUCKLES]
Thank you for seeing me.
No sweat off my sack.
Anything for you and the Old Man.
How's he holding up, anyway?
- It's not good.
- Is it the food?
Gulping down government cheese
and dishwater stew...
Egh. It's enough to make
a man want to go vegan.
We have a situation you may be
able to help us with.
It's the jury pool.
Raymond needs people
who would be agreeable to him.
I could go to jail for that.
If he's found guilty, they'll
try and put him to death.
[SIGHS] When you say it like that...
You have access to the voter
logs via the DMV records.
Raymond needs to know
if you can access the logs,
put a friend on the panel.
Can you make that happen?
I've got friends.
Little Robbie Funkhauser
in the Big Apple office.
Uh, there's Yaling in I.T., who
carries a bit of a torch for me.
[SNIFFS]
Let me poke around a bit,
see what I can do.
- Do it quietly.
- What about me, Dembe?
This is just "between friends."
Tell the Big Man to hang in there, hmm?
Jelly Bean's got his back.
Serious.
LIZ: Thank you for helping us.
DR. NIKKILA: Of course.
Bob was like a mentor to me.
I am devastated by the news.
Did you have a chance to look
at what the M.E. sent over?
I have, and it's terrifying.
♪
You are looking at
a genetically modified version
of a predacious diving beetle
known as the Dytiscidae.
- Predacious?
- Predatory.
There are over 4,000 types
of carnivorous beetles.
But none that prey on humans?
Not naturally, no,
but nothing about what
happened to Bob was natural.
The gestation period of the
Dytiscidae is at least a week,
and there's no reason
the larvae should've survived
inside his body for that long
after the eggs had hatched.
But that's what the medical
examiner said happened.
I can't explain it.
All I know is that someone
made alterations.
Those are its jaws.
By my math, they are
four times normal size.
Talk about weaponized.
But why go to the trouble
to make a super bug?
I mean, there are easier ways
to kill people.
Well, not if you want to be ironic.
He sent a bug to kill a bug killer.
Lockemy Technologies made pesticides.
Powerful ones. Like Hexapene,
which I developed when I worked there.
It was designed for use
after natural disasters
like hurricanes when
the standing waters left behind
could breed potentially
disease-infected insects.
Some people thought it was too powerful,
so it was not approved
for commercial use,
but I still got death threats.
For killing diseased bugs?
You sound very rational,
but in the environmental world,
that type of thinking is in short supply.
So you think someone
from the environmental community
targeted Lockemy?
I was a lowly technician.
Bob was the CEO.
If I got death threats,
I'm sure he did, too.
We've been led to believe
that our killer fashions himself
as a latter-day General Shiro.
Does that mean anything to you?
General Shiro was a war criminal,
but his knowledge of how
to weaponize the insect world
was so great that instead
of executing him,
the Allies hired him to teach us
how to wage bio-war.
If the man you are looking for
fashions himself after Shiro,
it means to get his point across,
he doesn't care how many people he kills.
Hexapene is what connects
the three victims.
Lockemy ran the company
that developed it,
Steiner was the attorney
he hired to patent it,
and Helfrich was the chemist he used
to manufacture the pesticide.
Nikkila told us Hexapene wasn't
approved for commercial use.
Not yet, but according
to a recent SEC filing,
Lockemy was lobbying Congress
and the FDA for approval.
And now someone's killed
everyone involved
in making that happen.
I got something.
This is Lockemy's calendar.
Business meetings, speeches,
lunches he'd scheduled,
including one he had a week ago
with Dick Kendel.
Wait. The clean air guy?
The clean air guy, the clean water guy.
In the environmental community,
he is the guy,
and his current crusade...
leading the fight
to ban pesticides like Hexapene.
Kendel is a lobbyist.
Maybe he had lunch with Lockemy
so he could lobby him to change his mind.
Maybe, but he did have lunch
with him a week ago.
So?
So Dr. Nikkila told us
the gestation period
for these bugs is a week.
Which means a week ago,
our killer found a way to get Lockemy
to eat or drink their way
into his system.
What better way to do that than
at a power lunch on K Street?
COOPER: Find Kendel, bring him in.
Looks like we found
our latter-day General Shiro.
♪
GLEN: What about this broad?
Fay Macmannis.
She's a registered Libertarian.
They're always "hear no evil,
see no evil."
Put her in the maybe pile.
What about Marlene Sucha?
Carnegie Hill address.
Salmon pants territory.
Blue blazers, family crests,
tres law and order.
Pass.
[SIGHS]
WOMAN: D-22. Window W.
D-22. Window W to your right.
- What?
- I was thinking, with your access
to the Big Man's finances, uh...
You know, never mind. Bad idea.
What's a bad idea?
Doesn't matter. It's stupid.
What if we leave him?
Leave who?
Reddington. I mean, let him rot.
With your access to his money
and my connections,
we could clean him out, vanish.
That's a terrible idea.
Unless it's not.
We let him think we tried,
did everything we could,
but it didn't work.
Reddington takes a ride
on the pale horse,
we abscond with the dough, 50/50 split.
40/60, whatever you think is fair.
Point is, you and I are great together.
You can feel that. I know you can.
Like brothers from another mother.
The White Stripes. The Black Keys.
African-American.
Dembe, you and I could do
great things together.
[LAUGHS] I'm screwin' with you.
You think I'm nuts? He'd kill us both.
You should've seen your face.
We have to find someone.
Yeah, yeah, after lunch. I am starving.
Dying for one of those
teriyaki bowls, extra cabbage.
- You want one?
- Didn't you just eat?
Don't worry. We'll figure it out.
Unless you want to let the old man rot.
I'm only kidding!
But not really.
Either way, think about it.
I'll get an extra teriyaki bowl.
You'll thank me later.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS,
LAUGHTER IN DISTANCE]
[SIGHS]
Mr. Kendel, FBI. Open up, please.
[BEETLE BUZZES]
Do you hear that?
What is that?
I don't hear anything.
Mr. Kendel?
Hello?
Maybe we're too late.
Maybe he killed Lockemy and fled.
Maybe not.
♪
Mr. Kendel?
♪
[BEETLES BUZZING]
♪
So much for finding our killer.
♪
LIZ: This doesn't make any sense.
Lockemy, Steiner, and Helfrich
lobbied to make Hexapene legal.
Kendel lobbied to keep it illegal.
Why would someone who kills
people because he hates
the pesticides they make kill
someone who hates pesticides?
Did the M.E. establish a time of death?
Both men died within
an hour of each other.
So, we thought Kendel
poisoned Lockemy at lunch,
but it turns out someone else
poisoned them both.
COOPER: We'll worry about why later.
Right now, all that matters is who.
Our only lead is the restaurant.
Get there and see what you can find.
[CELLPHONE BEEPS]
Written answers having been given,
we will now proceed
to in-person interviews.
Given this is a death-penalty case,
each side has 20 peremptory challenges.
Does defense counsel understand
the nature of such challenges?
Yes, Your Honor. It means that
by the time the jury is seated,
there won't be
a Schumann lover in the bunch.
This should be fun.
Treason is pissing on our flag,
going against our own people.
Anybody who does that deserves
to die, in my opinion.
I'd pull the trigger myself.
We'll certainly keep you
in mind for that.
So, you're a professor
of criminal psychology.
Are you confident
that you could be impartial
in assessing the evidence in this case?
I am. In fact, I have been before.
My sister was the victim
of a violent crime.
Yes, I'm a veteran. Two tours in Iraq.
Thank you for your service.
If a man's broken a law,
he's broken a law.
Ain't no way around it.
It's why we got laws, anyway.
But you could bring back a verdict
without fear or prejudice?
Of course I could, yes.
RED: Your Honor, I'd ask that this juror
- be dismissed for cause.
- Grounds?
A close member of her family
was victimized by crime.
I think it's reasonable to question
her ability to be impartial.
She just said she could be fair-minded.
And I'm sure she believes that.
Your motion to strike for cause
is denied.
If you have concerns,
you can use one of the few
peremptory strikes you have left.
- No, thank you, Your Honor.
- MAN #1: It's simple.
If more people were executed,
maybe the death penalty
would work the way it should work
and criminals just might think twice.
Your Honor, I'd give a dozen
strikes to dismiss this juror.
I put my life on the line
to defend this country.
Friends of mine have died for it.
So, yeah, if this guy's
guilty of betraying the U.S.,
I think capital punishment
is appropriate.
Respectfully, I move to strike for cause.
- Because he's a veteran?
- No,
because it appears
he already thinks I'm guilty.
He said "if" you're guilty.
How long have I been with
the ACLU? 28 years.
I'm a card-carrying member.
Would you care to see the card?
That won't be necessary.
Your Honor, this juror
is acceptable to the defense.
But not the prosecution.
Peremptory strike, Your Honor.
- Move to strike.
- Your Honor, please strike.
- Strike, Your Honor.
- Truth is, I detest any form
of political correctness,
conventional wisdom,
or government intrusion.
Do you believe in the rule of law?
The best and the brightest
should rule, not the law.
Your Honor, the defense accepts
and welcomes this juror.
Move to strike.
[GAVEL BANGS]
So... you like pugs.
No, I love pugs.
Even with all the scratching
and the wheezing,
the drooling and the gassiness?
That is a myth. Pugs don't suffer...
I think you love them
because they suffer.
Perhaps because you suffer.
This is jury selection, Mr. Reddington,
not group therapy.
Your Honor, this juror said
she favors the death penalty
and that her husband was a cop.
With all due respect,
she certainly qualifies
as an obvious dismissal on my part.
I'm aware of that. I'm also aware
that you are out
of peremptory challenges.
You may strike subsequent jurors
for good cause only,
and loving pugs isn't cause.
Ah, well, you see, but it is.
It's cause for hope.
Only people with
a healthy dose of empathy
are capable of caring
for beasts with such deficits.
Did you just call my pugs beasts?
That's what some people see.
You clearly see something else.
I know what I see, and I don't like it.
Give it time.
I've been known to wheeze and scratch.
I prefer not to discuss
the drool and the flatulence.
Your Honor, this juror
is acceptable to the defense.
Good to know, because I'm seating her.
Ma'am, you may be excused.
Call the next juror.
[DOOR OPENS]
Okay, here I am. Ready to serve!
Ahh!
Okay, who's got questions?
Y-Your Honor, we've been at
this for several hours now.
Might we take our mid-morning break?
I'm feeling a little... unwell.
Just 15 minutes till I get my legs back.
Very well. We shall be in recess.
[GAVEL BANGS]
♪
SCHMOCK: Poisoned? While eating here?
- We believe so, yes.
- They had lunch here a week ago.
Yeah, I-I don't remember them.
But there was an incident in the kitchen.
What kind of incident?
A stranger wandered in.
One of the busboys followed him out.
I mean, nothing was taken,
so I didn't give it another thought.
Is the busboy here today?
We'd like to speak to him.
You know, I'm afraid
that won't be possible.
He may be able to I.D. the killer.
Look, I-I want to cooperate with you
and I-I'm sure he does, too,
but you're with the FBI,
- and he's...
- Undocumented.
And in the current climate,
people are understandably
reluctant to talk
to law enforcement, even about murder.
We're not looking to report anyone.
We're just looking for some answers.
[SPEAKS SPANISH]
Me llamo ARAM.
Mucho gusto. [CHUCKLES]
Uh, yeah, that's... that's
the extent of my Spanish.
It was a first period in high school
and I've never really been
much of a morning person.
Right.
Okay, uh, here's the thing.
My parents were refugees.
[SPEAKS SPANISH]
Agent Navabi was
a-a political refugee herself.
[SPEAKS SPANISH]
Tell him that we both believe in amnesty.
[SPEAKS SPANISH]
And that we'll go as soon
as he tells us what he knows.
[SPEAKS SPANISH]
♪
[SPEAKING SPANISH]
He saw a man in the kitchen.
And he asked him what he's doing here.
- [SPEAKING SPANISH]
- He took off.
[SPEAKING SPANISH]
He chased him down the block.
[SPEAKING SPANISH]
Where he saw him get into a taxi
in front of Hotel Macon.
Muchas gracias.
NAVABI: Thank you.
We both feel that way?
Well, I wanted him to feel comfortable.
I didn't think trying to
convince him that you're
actually a lovable Zionist
was the way to do it.
Agents Navabi and Mojtabai, FBI.
We need to speak with
your head of security
about any surveillance footage
you might have of the cab stand.
The license plate on the cab is yours.
My cab, my crazy passenger.
- You remember him?
- Sure.
Guy jumps in,
tells me this insane story
about being chased by a jealous husband,
and that I should drive as fast as I can.
Drive where?
- FBI!
- Show me your hands! FBI!
FBI!
- Clear!
- Clear.
MAN: Room clear!
ARAM: Oh, this is disturbing.
What is it?
Beetle larva.
All of which has probably
been genetically modified.
How much do you think it
takes to kill someone?
Oh, a thimbleful, if that.
Looks like he plans to kill again.
Yeah, it does.
Again and again... and again.
[DOOR OPENS]
What the hell happened?!
DEMBE: I don't know.
Glen?! Honestly. Glen?
We only found three names.
And if it isn't bad enough,
now my fate rests in the hands
of Jelly Bean Carter!
- [CELLPHONE RINGING]
- This is him.
I'm not talking to him.
Raymond, you're operating in the dark.
See what he knows.
[RINGING CONTINUES]
What the hell are you doing here?
And where are the people I asked for?
I couldn't risk putting your
fate in the hands of strangers.
Stra... Glen, Dembe gave you
very specific instructions.
I can do this, boss, trust me.
D-Don't call me boss,
and you cannot do this.
You want to second-guess me,
go right ahead.
Haters gonna hate. That's what they do.
I-I don't even know what that means.
I won't let you down.
Not today, not tomorrow,
not no how, not no way,
and that, my friend,
is the name of that tune.
- [LINE CLICKS]
- [CELLPHONE CLOSES]
I might as well just ask the judge
to let me go lie down in traffic.
[SIGHS]
Mr. Carter, have you followed
any of the media coverage
regarding this case?
News? Never watch it.
I like the show with those ladies.
You know, the wives?
What about social media?
Bullies and porn. Don't care
for one, don't need the other.
Have you ever heard
of Raymond Reddington?
Can't say that I have.
Have you formed an opinion
of the defendant's guilt or innocence?
Knew a Fred Reddington once.
Had four nipples.
JUDGE WILKINS:
As fascinating as that may be,
please just answer the question.
I don't judge a book by its cover,
if that's what you're asking.
What is your feeling
about the death penalty?
I get pre-judged plenty.
I try not to return the favor.
If you were asked to impose...
Guess you could say I'm not
unlike that blindfolded beauty,
Dame Justice, up there in her silky robe.
No bias, no prejudice.
I don't discriminate.
Or apparently,
follow simple instructions.
Except against cats! I hate cats.
Besides that, I'm good. I'm sorry.
What was your question?
Exactly. Move to dismiss
the juror, Your Honor.
On what grounds? That he's open-minded?
That the abuse
that's been heaped upon him
as a result of his decidedly
unpleasant personality
has made him reluctant to do unto others
as they have so often done unto him?
This isn't a popularity contest.
Mr. Sima's dismissiveness is, I'm sure,
an all too familiar event
in this man's life.
He's odd and annoying
and clearly incapable
of following instruction.
I think it's safe to say that
even those who know him best,
perhaps especially
those who know him best,
probably hold him
in remarkably low regard.
But the lamentable characteristics
that make him an outcast
are the very ones
that make him perfectly suited
to sit on this jury.
Beholden to no one
because no one likes him.
Capable of making up his own mind
because he's incapable
of listening to anyone else.
He is an outcast.
Maybe even deservedly so,
but if he's able to administer
blind justice in this case,
I think we should give him
a chance with the blindfold.
Whatever justice this juror
may have been intending
to administer will hardly be blind
after defense counsel's
stirring remarks on his behalf.
JUDGE WILKINS: I'm not so sure
he was damning with faint praise
or praising with faint damnation.
Either way, if the juror
insists he's impartial,
I'm inclined to take him at his word.
So I made the cut?
You did, Mr. Carter.
Thank you in advance for your service.
Thank you, Your Majesty.
And may I say, uh, unlike my last judge,
you are a tall drink of water.
Your last judge?
In your questionnaire,
you said you hadn't served
on a jury before.
I wasn't on the jury.
I was the defendant.
I won a hundred K
at a craps table in Reno.
Casino took me to court for sliding dice.
And did you slide dice?
[CLEARS THROAT] Six boxcars in a row.
So you're a convicted felon?
Or a parable for our times...
the common man
forced to do something
uncommon to make ends meet.
I bought a sweet condo, that's for sure.
[CHUCKLES]
Mr. Reddington, as moving
as your apparently
boundless empathy for this man may be,
a convicted felon
may not serve on a jury.
Mr. Carter, you're dismissed.
For what? Leveling the playing field?
Odds of rolling a pair of sixes
is 36-to-1.
House only pays 31-to-1,
and you think I'm the crook here?
What about a jury of his peers, huh?
You can't just have a bunch
of pocket protectors!
This is Raymond Reddington
we're talking about!
I thought you didn't know who he was.
I don't. Not in a Biblical sense.
That's not how I roll.
Mr. Carter, I think you
should roll on out of here.
Agh.
♪
We had it all wrong about Lockemy
and Kendel being on opposite sides.
It turns out they both
wanted to legalize Hexapene.
Files from the Blacklister's lab
indicate that Lockemy paid Kendel
to support legislation
being considered by Congress.
Paid his organization $3 million
to do an independent analysis.
I guess for that kind of money,
it's hard to stay independent.
Have you been able to I.D.
the Blacklister?
Not yet. We've looked through
the tax records on the property,
but it's owned by a holding company.
TAC team's on site now,
but he hasn't showed up.
Kendel sold out
and paid for it with his life.
Lockemy, Steiner, and Helfrich
were killed for being true believers.
Dr. Nikkila's not only a true believer...
he invented Hexapene.
COOPER: Navabi, reach out to him.
Get him a security detail
and somebody to monitor
what he eats and drinks.
- [DIALING]
- We also found a copy of a press release
that Kendel's organization
was scheduled to release today
in support of Hexapene.
LIZ: Why today? A press release
is usually tied to a news event.
The legislation that Congress
is considering
to legalize Hexapene,
the Committee on Energy and Commerce
is holding a hearing on it today,
and the Blacklister had the date
circled in his calendar.
We're on our way.
♪
NAVABI: We found Dr. Nikkila.
That's a relief.
Not where we found him, it isn't.
The committee hearing
you're on your way to,
Dr. Nikkila is the star witness.
We've contacted Capitol Police,
but we don't have a description
of the UNSUB.
Were they willing
to postpone the hearing?
Shut down Capitol Hill
over a toxic beetle larva?
It's not gonna happen.
Have you reached out to Dr. Nikkila?
He's not answering. We've left
messages, phone and text.
Everything we know suggests this man
will strike again at the hearing.
- When does it start?
- Five minutes ago.
Good morning.
My name is Dr. Jonathan Nikkila.
I want to begin by thanking you
for inviting me to testify.
I am confident that before
the hearing concludes,
you will agree with me that the question
of whether or not to legalize Hexapene
is, quite literally,
a matter of life and death.
Yes, I personally developed
the pesticide in question,
Hexapene,
so I can vouch for its efficacy.
- [MAN COUGHING]
- There are some environmentalists
who worry about its effect on people,
and it's true that like all pesticides,
Hexapene can have
negative effects on humans,
but that is not really the point.
Harm to humans isn't the...
[COUGHING]
I'm sorry. I was asking isn't
harm to humans the whole point?
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
Agents Ressler and Keen, FBI.
Yes, Officer Talbert, Capitol Police.
We spoke. EMT's en route.
Dr. Nikkila. Can you take us to him?
The real threat Hexapene poses
is to the insects, not humans.
It decimates insect populations.
Not just the insects
it targets... all insects.
It is not the only one.
Pesticides are causing
cataclysmic die-offs
of insects throughout the world.
It is not just honeybees.
I think we're getting off topic.
The issue is the harm caused to humans.
Our land can live
without humans, thrive even.
The Earth dies without insects.
There'll be no pollination,
no crops, no food,
no way to remove rotting flesh,
dead vegetation.
Without insects, the Earth will become
a deep, dark graveyard
because we killed off
its most important inhabitants.
In that case, why didn't you protest
the making of Hexapene
in the first place?
♪
Because I trusted my colleagues.
I was assured by them
that Hexapene would only be used
in the wake of a natural disaster,
but then I found out
Mr. Lockemy misled me.
He intended to sell Hexapene everywhere,
and he was lobbying you to allow it.
I begged him to reconsider.
He thought I was being hysterical,
- but I felt and feel...
- [COUGHS]
...that people who poison the planet
present a mortal danger
that must be eliminated
as an act of global self-defense
and justice.
That, sir, is why you
cannot stop coughing.
You have been poisoned.
Not by me, but by the insects.
- What is he talking about?
- Did he say poisoned?
They are genetically modified
Dytiscidaes, to be precise...
predacious diving beetles,
and they have been growing inside you
since I dosed your wine at Ruby's.
By now, they have hatched
and are trying to escape
via your airways.
[COUGHS]
[SPECTATORS GASP]
♪
Security, detain Mr. Nikkila.
You don't need security,
you need an ambulance,
and this cause needs attention,
which is exactly what
you are going to give us.
Jonathan Nikkila. FBI.
These people are poisoning the planet.
The insects can save us!
You're under arrest.
♪
You were on the jury! You'd been picked!
All you had to do was stop talking!
What do you want me to say?
I've never been picked
for anything before.
It went to my head.
And FYI, I'm not the one that
said hurtful things in there.
No, what you said was
catastrophically stupid.
"Unpleasant personality, odd, annoying,
beholden to no one
because no one likes him."
You cut me, man. You cut me bad.
I cut you?
Without an apology,
I don't know where we go from here.
[SIGHS]
I'm sorry.
Dude, I'm messing with you!
Being odd and annoying's
my stock and trade.
So, tell me [CLEARS THROAT]
what's the contingency plan?
You were, Glen.
[CELLPHONE CLOSES]
This sucks.
On second thought,
I prefer insistent optimism.
♪
We've been through worse.
The Nkana mine explosion in Zambia.
The typhoon on the trawler.
40 people, 3 life vests.
If we found our way
out of those situations,
we can find our way out of this one.
That case I gave the Task Force...
have they identified General Shiro?
Yes. His name is Dr. Jonathan Nikkila.
I need you to get into
his lab, get to his files.
What am I looking for?
An address for
my get-out-of-jail-free card.
I believe Nikkila must have sent him
some of his toxic bug juice.
And without Glen,
he is the last rabbit in my hat.
The only way out of
this situation is to find him,
and the way to find him
is somewhere in Nikkila's lab.
If there's an address, I'll find it.
Thank you, Dembe.
I don't care if it's insistent
optimism or false hope.
At this point, I'll take either one.
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
The jury has been picked.
And?
Raymond is in trouble. He needs help.
W-What can I do?
Take me to Dr. Nikkila's lab.
And give you five minutes alone with him
like I gave you with The Pharmacist?
It's important, Elizabeth.
It's also a sealed crime scene.
Then you need to unseal it.
♪
NAVABI: You should know
that Robert Carson,
the Committee Chair,
passed away an hour ago.
You really don't understand
the scientific process.
There's no biological benefit to revenge.
None of those people were my victims.
They were my experiments.
Experiments? For what?
The insects, of course.
My crime was to create
a pesticide that kills them off.
The least I could do
was help them fight back
by giving them the tools
and traits they need to survive.
But I had to test it, verify.
I needed to prove my hypothesis
that insects could fight back,
and my six experiments
proved that they could.
You modified the insects.
You took traits from different
species to make them lethal.
Mm. That will be my legacy.
I will not be remembered
as a destroyer of their world,
but their savior.
You said six experiments.
There was Lockemy, Steiner,
Helfrich, Kendel, the Congressman.
Who was the sixth?
Call an ambulance!
Did you hear me? Call a medic, now!
[COUGHING]
You knew you would get caught,
but you don't care because you know
you're not going to prison.
Did you hear me? Get a medic in here now!
Paramedics are on their way.
That's okay. Tell them not to rush.
You can leave for this part
if that would make you more comfortab...
[GAGGING]
♪
[COUGHING]
[THUDDING]
[SPITS]
[COUGHING]
[GROANING]
[BEETLES BUZZING]
[GROANING]
RED: What a nice surprise.
Oh, if I'd known you were
coming, I would've baked a cake.
Don't suppose you have one on you,
perhaps with a file or a blowtorch in it?
No such luck, I'm afraid.
Ah, pity.
It's not a blowtorch,
but I thought it might,
uh, calm the nerves.
[LAUGHS] Grab a chair.
[LOCK DISENGAGES]
♪
I was thinking earlier about the time
Dembe and I were on a trawler
that capsized during a typhoon
off the Philippines.
We were running guns to the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
It's interesting.
How you always seem to side
with the underdog.
I find desperation pays well.
The overdog always pays better.
[LAUGHS]
The boat was too full to begin with,
so when the storm caught up with us,
we didn't stand a chance.
Of the 40 people on board,
24 were lost right away.
Another 11 didn't last the night.
There was no life raft.
The militia leaders took
the three available life vests.
- Leaving you and Dembe.
- [CHUCKLES]
How did you survive?
I didn't.
I drowned that night.
I saw the other side.
It was...
[BINDER CLICKS]
...so...
...different.
♪
And then I was back.
How he did it...
Found a wooden door,
held me to it,
pounded the water out of my lungs
and the life back in.
♪
Dembe saved my life that night.
♪
Dembe's always saved my life.
♪
LIZ: Did you find what you came for?
I did. Thank you, Elizabeth.
He said I reminded him of my mother.
That's what he said when I asked
him why he gave us this case.
He's right.
You remind me of her, too.
You know everything.
♪ Keep your head down ♪
Don't you?
♪ Keep moving ♪
Everything about him.
All the answers I'm looking for.
♪ Listen for a sound ♪
I do.
♪ Keep moving ♪
♪
♪ They'll never pin you down ♪
[LOCK ENGAGES, KEYS JINGLE]
♪ If you keep moving ♪
Do you and each of you solemnly swear
that you will well and truly try
and a true deliverance make
between the United States
and Raymond Reddington a true verdict
rendered according to
the evidence, so help you God?
TOGETHER: I do.
JUDGE WILKINS: With the jury in
place, trial is set to commence
Tuesday morning at 8:00 a.m.
I will see you all then.
♪
That's a smug little grin.
I've been a prosecutor for 18 years.
I have empaneled over 300 juries.
It's usually a flip of a coin
as to which way
they're gonna lean, but this group...
This is a two-headed coin, my friend.
Your fate is sealed.
We'll see about that.
I respect the false confidence,
but you and I both know
you're a dead man walking.
♪
♪
Damn it.
Merriam!
[COUGHING]
Rosa, where the hell's Merriam?
- You okay, Mr. Bob?
- No, I'm not okay.
- I need my inhaler.
- What's going on?
He's having trouble again.
I don't know what the hell's wrong.
I can't get my breath. [COUGHING]
Is it your chest?
Rosa, I found another one.
It's that feeling again,
that damn scratching,
like my breath... [GAGS]
I feel...
♪
[MAN VOCALIZING]
I can't...
Oh, no! Bob!
♪
NURSE #1: He's in respiratory distress.
Obstruction of the lower airway.
NURSE #2:
- We've ruled out anaphylaxis?
Correct. No known medical allergies.
Wife said he was ill
with shortness of breath.
Tell O.R. 8 we're on our way.
Nasotracheal intubation?
We don't have time.
We need to establish an airway.
- SpO2 approaching 80%.
- Let's open his cricothyroid.
I want to avoid his cervical spine.
[MONITOR BEEPING, FLATLINE]
♪
♪
[VOCALIZING CONTINUES]
♪
[BEETLES BUZZING]
♪
♪
Yesterday morning,
a bio-tech company executive
met a gruesome death.
Yeah. I'm not playing this game.
I'm giving you a case.
You're giving me a lead for you
so that you can keep on doing
whatever it is you're doing.
I'm picking a jury of my peers.
Wouldn't that be a colorful lot.
You gave us The Pharmacist
so that Dembe could get
five minutes alone with him.
You asked for a psych eval
so you'd be sent
to a mental-health facility
where someone you needed to see
was a patient.
If you're accusing me
of using the Task Force
to assist me in avoiding
the hangman's noose,
- guilty as charged.
- I want to help you,
but I can't if you don't tell me
what it is you're doing.
I'm fighting for my life.
And you are helping more than you know.
Why can't you just be honest with me?
You remind me so much of your mother.
I don't remember if I've ever
told you that before, have I?
There are a lot of things
you haven't told me.
I'm here because someone
betrayed me, someone close.
Under the circumstances,
it's hard to know who to trust.
Okay. Tell me about the case.
What do you know about
entomological warfare?
For over 1,000 years,
human beings have been
weaponizing insects.
In the 12th century,
wasps nests were catapulted
into enemy towns.
During the Cold War,
the Pentagon developed plans
to produce 100 million
yellow fever-infected mosquitoes
per month.
And the most notorious
Japanese war criminal
in World War II was General Shiro,
who bred bubonic plague-carrying insects
that killed tens of thousands of Chinese.
Did Reddington give you a case
or a history lesson?
A bit of both.
A year ago, a patent attorney
was found suffocated in his office.
Why? An infestation of deadly beetles
had eaten the lining of his lungs.
- Ew.
- And six months ago,
it was a chemical manufacturer's turn,
and yesterday, the head
of a bio-tech company.
Eaten from the inside by killer beetles.
Apparently, and according to Reddington,
they were put there
by a modern-day General Shiro.
Am I right in assuming
this case has something
to do with his defense?
Yes, but he wouldn't tell me why.
Our immunity deal with
Reddington has been invalidated.
He stands accused of treason.
Is this your periodic reminder
that by working with him,
we may be viewed as aiding and abetting?
It's a possibility,
especially if we pursue cases
in which his agenda is,
to be polite, obscure.
We're all in,
if that's what you're asking.
Samar, ARAM, look into
what connects the victims.
The man who died yesterday...
Bob Lockemy,
founder of Lockemy Technology.
Go to the M.E., see what he can tell you
about the weaponized insects
that killed him.
SIMA: Your Honor,
we agree with Mr. Reddington.
Jury questionnaires
can be sent to potential jurors
prior to jury selection,
but he wants to ask 382 questions,
most of which require essay answers.
It would take jurors days to complete.
RED: I'm sorry if you find the process
of selecting a fair jury
to be inconvenient, Mr. SIMA,
but you are trying to kill me
for a crime I didn't commit.
The problem is not inconvenience.
It's relevance. Example... Question 133.
I quote, "Compare and contrast
the role of memory
in the works of Proust
and Dickens, with examples."
How can I sensibly judge one's character
if I don't know their views
on great literature?
This is absurd.
In case you haven't read
a newspaper recently,
Mr. SIMA, all of our lives
are playing out
in the theater of the absurd these days.
Your Honor, I believe the prosecution
wants to intentionally dumb down
the jury questionnaire
because he wants to attract dumb jurors
because Mr. SIMA wants
a jury of unsophisticated,
unthinking sheep who will
blindly convict me of treason
out of some misguided notion
that it's the patriotic thing to do.
I, on the other hand, want astute jurors,
people who can understand
the somewhat complicated
evidence I plan to present,
capable of evaluating
not only my motives,
but also those of the government.
The literature question is stricken.
Excellent.
That sort of bias
will only aid in my appeal
should the government win
in this round of play.
We also object to question 134,
"Who is your favorite
classical composer?"
Okay, I will not be judged
by anyone who likes Schumann.
I refuse to be sent to my death
by Philistines.
I love Schumann.
"Fantasie in C Major" was played
at my mother's funeral this past summer.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Mr. Reddington, 40 questions
should be sufficient.
No essays, keep it simple,
and don't waste my time.
RESSLER: Dr. Maguire,
thanks for meeting with us.
So, what do you have?
It appears that
your victim... suffocated.
On insects?
Best I could tell,
some kind of water beetle.
Apparently, they're scavengers
and fierce predators,
but what I don't understand
is how the larva were able to survive
in his digestive enzymes
and stomach acids.
I'm sorry. I thought
you said he suffocated.
That is the official cause of death,
but I found larval remnants
in his stomach wall and digestive tract,
which suggests that he
may have ingested them.
These creatures were
literally feeding on him,
eating from the inside out.
My guess is that they migrated
into his bronchial tubes and lungs,
and the incision in the neck,
well, that simply provided
an escape hatch.
Just a guess.
I'm not an expert in insects.
You probably should
talk to an entomologist.
Know anyone you can recommend?
Not personally, but I do know
that Dr. Jonathan Nikkila,
he worked at the same company
as your victim.
If there's anyone who can
help you find the person
who did this, well, I'm sure he can.
♪
[MAN VOCALIZING]
♪
♪
♪
[SMOOCHES]
♪
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS]
[VOCALIZING CONTINUES]
♪
♪
♪
"The government wouldn't spend
the time charging someone
with treason if they were innocent."
"Innocent" is misspelled, by the way,
and the apostrophe is misplaced
in "wouldn't."
None of these answers instill me
with great confidence in our jury pool.
We'll find the right people.
Thanks.
Why is it that spiritual
advisers such as yourself
are always so insistently optimistic?
Just once I'd like to hear
a man of the cloth say,
"Yep, this sucks."
Dembe, we need a juror I can count on,
one person capable of convincing
the others to vote not guilty.
The jurors are chosen randomly.
Yes, from the registered voter logs,
the IRS, and the Department
of Motor Vehicles.
♪
Fortunately, we have a friend at the DMV.
♪
- [KNOCK ON DOOR]
- [DOOR OPENS]
Dembe! Come in.
Good to see you, old friend.
Ah! I'd shake,
but I got "sandwich hands."
[CHUCKLES]
Thank you for seeing me.
No sweat off my sack.
Anything for you and the Old Man.
How's he holding up, anyway?
- It's not good.
- Is it the food?
Gulping down government cheese
and dishwater stew...
Egh. It's enough to make
a man want to go vegan.
We have a situation you may be
able to help us with.
It's the jury pool.
Raymond needs people
who would be agreeable to him.
I could go to jail for that.
If he's found guilty, they'll
try and put him to death.
[SIGHS] When you say it like that...
You have access to the voter
logs via the DMV records.
Raymond needs to know
if you can access the logs,
put a friend on the panel.
Can you make that happen?
I've got friends.
Little Robbie Funkhauser
in the Big Apple office.
Uh, there's Yaling in I.T., who
carries a bit of a torch for me.
[SNIFFS]
Let me poke around a bit,
see what I can do.
- Do it quietly.
- What about me, Dembe?
This is just "between friends."
Tell the Big Man to hang in there, hmm?
Jelly Bean's got his back.
Serious.
LIZ: Thank you for helping us.
DR. NIKKILA: Of course.
Bob was like a mentor to me.
I am devastated by the news.
Did you have a chance to look
at what the M.E. sent over?
I have, and it's terrifying.
♪
You are looking at
a genetically modified version
of a predacious diving beetle
known as the Dytiscidae.
- Predacious?
- Predatory.
There are over 4,000 types
of carnivorous beetles.
But none that prey on humans?
Not naturally, no,
but nothing about what
happened to Bob was natural.
The gestation period of the
Dytiscidae is at least a week,
and there's no reason
the larvae should've survived
inside his body for that long
after the eggs had hatched.
But that's what the medical
examiner said happened.
I can't explain it.
All I know is that someone
made alterations.
Those are its jaws.
By my math, they are
four times normal size.
Talk about weaponized.
But why go to the trouble
to make a super bug?
I mean, there are easier ways
to kill people.
Well, not if you want to be ironic.
He sent a bug to kill a bug killer.
Lockemy Technologies made pesticides.
Powerful ones. Like Hexapene,
which I developed when I worked there.
It was designed for use
after natural disasters
like hurricanes when
the standing waters left behind
could breed potentially
disease-infected insects.
Some people thought it was too powerful,
so it was not approved
for commercial use,
but I still got death threats.
For killing diseased bugs?
You sound very rational,
but in the environmental world,
that type of thinking is in short supply.
So you think someone
from the environmental community
targeted Lockemy?
I was a lowly technician.
Bob was the CEO.
If I got death threats,
I'm sure he did, too.
We've been led to believe
that our killer fashions himself
as a latter-day General Shiro.
Does that mean anything to you?
General Shiro was a war criminal,
but his knowledge of how
to weaponize the insect world
was so great that instead
of executing him,
the Allies hired him to teach us
how to wage bio-war.
If the man you are looking for
fashions himself after Shiro,
it means to get his point across,
he doesn't care how many people he kills.
Hexapene is what connects
the three victims.
Lockemy ran the company
that developed it,
Steiner was the attorney
he hired to patent it,
and Helfrich was the chemist he used
to manufacture the pesticide.
Nikkila told us Hexapene wasn't
approved for commercial use.
Not yet, but according
to a recent SEC filing,
Lockemy was lobbying Congress
and the FDA for approval.
And now someone's killed
everyone involved
in making that happen.
I got something.
This is Lockemy's calendar.
Business meetings, speeches,
lunches he'd scheduled,
including one he had a week ago
with Dick Kendel.
Wait. The clean air guy?
The clean air guy, the clean water guy.
In the environmental community,
he is the guy,
and his current crusade...
leading the fight
to ban pesticides like Hexapene.
Kendel is a lobbyist.
Maybe he had lunch with Lockemy
so he could lobby him to change his mind.
Maybe, but he did have lunch
with him a week ago.
So?
So Dr. Nikkila told us
the gestation period
for these bugs is a week.
Which means a week ago,
our killer found a way to get Lockemy
to eat or drink their way
into his system.
What better way to do that than
at a power lunch on K Street?
COOPER: Find Kendel, bring him in.
Looks like we found
our latter-day General Shiro.
♪
GLEN: What about this broad?
Fay Macmannis.
She's a registered Libertarian.
They're always "hear no evil,
see no evil."
Put her in the maybe pile.
What about Marlene Sucha?
Carnegie Hill address.
Salmon pants territory.
Blue blazers, family crests,
tres law and order.
Pass.
[SIGHS]
WOMAN: D-22. Window W.
D-22. Window W to your right.
- What?
- I was thinking, with your access
to the Big Man's finances, uh...
You know, never mind. Bad idea.
What's a bad idea?
Doesn't matter. It's stupid.
What if we leave him?
Leave who?
Reddington. I mean, let him rot.
With your access to his money
and my connections,
we could clean him out, vanish.
That's a terrible idea.
Unless it's not.
We let him think we tried,
did everything we could,
but it didn't work.
Reddington takes a ride
on the pale horse,
we abscond with the dough, 50/50 split.
40/60, whatever you think is fair.
Point is, you and I are great together.
You can feel that. I know you can.
Like brothers from another mother.
The White Stripes. The Black Keys.
African-American.
Dembe, you and I could do
great things together.
[LAUGHS] I'm screwin' with you.
You think I'm nuts? He'd kill us both.
You should've seen your face.
We have to find someone.
Yeah, yeah, after lunch. I am starving.
Dying for one of those
teriyaki bowls, extra cabbage.
- You want one?
- Didn't you just eat?
Don't worry. We'll figure it out.
Unless you want to let the old man rot.
I'm only kidding!
But not really.
Either way, think about it.
I'll get an extra teriyaki bowl.
You'll thank me later.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS,
LAUGHTER IN DISTANCE]
[SIGHS]
Mr. Kendel, FBI. Open up, please.
[BEETLE BUZZES]
Do you hear that?
What is that?
I don't hear anything.
Mr. Kendel?
Hello?
Maybe we're too late.
Maybe he killed Lockemy and fled.
Maybe not.
♪
Mr. Kendel?
♪
[BEETLES BUZZING]
♪
So much for finding our killer.
♪
LIZ: This doesn't make any sense.
Lockemy, Steiner, and Helfrich
lobbied to make Hexapene legal.
Kendel lobbied to keep it illegal.
Why would someone who kills
people because he hates
the pesticides they make kill
someone who hates pesticides?
Did the M.E. establish a time of death?
Both men died within
an hour of each other.
So, we thought Kendel
poisoned Lockemy at lunch,
but it turns out someone else
poisoned them both.
COOPER: We'll worry about why later.
Right now, all that matters is who.
Our only lead is the restaurant.
Get there and see what you can find.
[CELLPHONE BEEPS]
Written answers having been given,
we will now proceed
to in-person interviews.
Given this is a death-penalty case,
each side has 20 peremptory challenges.
Does defense counsel understand
the nature of such challenges?
Yes, Your Honor. It means that
by the time the jury is seated,
there won't be
a Schumann lover in the bunch.
This should be fun.
Treason is pissing on our flag,
going against our own people.
Anybody who does that deserves
to die, in my opinion.
I'd pull the trigger myself.
We'll certainly keep you
in mind for that.
So, you're a professor
of criminal psychology.
Are you confident
that you could be impartial
in assessing the evidence in this case?
I am. In fact, I have been before.
My sister was the victim
of a violent crime.
Yes, I'm a veteran. Two tours in Iraq.
Thank you for your service.
If a man's broken a law,
he's broken a law.
Ain't no way around it.
It's why we got laws, anyway.
But you could bring back a verdict
without fear or prejudice?
Of course I could, yes.
RED: Your Honor, I'd ask that this juror
- be dismissed for cause.
- Grounds?
A close member of her family
was victimized by crime.
I think it's reasonable to question
her ability to be impartial.
She just said she could be fair-minded.
And I'm sure she believes that.
Your motion to strike for cause
is denied.
If you have concerns,
you can use one of the few
peremptory strikes you have left.
- No, thank you, Your Honor.
- MAN #1: It's simple.
If more people were executed,
maybe the death penalty
would work the way it should work
and criminals just might think twice.
Your Honor, I'd give a dozen
strikes to dismiss this juror.
I put my life on the line
to defend this country.
Friends of mine have died for it.
So, yeah, if this guy's
guilty of betraying the U.S.,
I think capital punishment
is appropriate.
Respectfully, I move to strike for cause.
- Because he's a veteran?
- No,
because it appears
he already thinks I'm guilty.
He said "if" you're guilty.
How long have I been with
the ACLU? 28 years.
I'm a card-carrying member.
Would you care to see the card?
That won't be necessary.
Your Honor, this juror
is acceptable to the defense.
But not the prosecution.
Peremptory strike, Your Honor.
- Move to strike.
- Your Honor, please strike.
- Strike, Your Honor.
- Truth is, I detest any form
of political correctness,
conventional wisdom,
or government intrusion.
Do you believe in the rule of law?
The best and the brightest
should rule, not the law.
Your Honor, the defense accepts
and welcomes this juror.
Move to strike.
[GAVEL BANGS]
So... you like pugs.
No, I love pugs.
Even with all the scratching
and the wheezing,
the drooling and the gassiness?
That is a myth. Pugs don't suffer...
I think you love them
because they suffer.
Perhaps because you suffer.
This is jury selection, Mr. Reddington,
not group therapy.
Your Honor, this juror said
she favors the death penalty
and that her husband was a cop.
With all due respect,
she certainly qualifies
as an obvious dismissal on my part.
I'm aware of that. I'm also aware
that you are out
of peremptory challenges.
You may strike subsequent jurors
for good cause only,
and loving pugs isn't cause.
Ah, well, you see, but it is.
It's cause for hope.
Only people with
a healthy dose of empathy
are capable of caring
for beasts with such deficits.
Did you just call my pugs beasts?
That's what some people see.
You clearly see something else.
I know what I see, and I don't like it.
Give it time.
I've been known to wheeze and scratch.
I prefer not to discuss
the drool and the flatulence.
Your Honor, this juror
is acceptable to the defense.
Good to know, because I'm seating her.
Ma'am, you may be excused.
Call the next juror.
[DOOR OPENS]
Okay, here I am. Ready to serve!
Ahh!
Okay, who's got questions?
Y-Your Honor, we've been at
this for several hours now.
Might we take our mid-morning break?
I'm feeling a little... unwell.
Just 15 minutes till I get my legs back.
Very well. We shall be in recess.
[GAVEL BANGS]
♪
SCHMOCK: Poisoned? While eating here?
- We believe so, yes.
- They had lunch here a week ago.
Yeah, I-I don't remember them.
But there was an incident in the kitchen.
What kind of incident?
A stranger wandered in.
One of the busboys followed him out.
I mean, nothing was taken,
so I didn't give it another thought.
Is the busboy here today?
We'd like to speak to him.
You know, I'm afraid
that won't be possible.
He may be able to I.D. the killer.
Look, I-I want to cooperate with you
and I-I'm sure he does, too,
but you're with the FBI,
- and he's...
- Undocumented.
And in the current climate,
people are understandably
reluctant to talk
to law enforcement, even about murder.
We're not looking to report anyone.
We're just looking for some answers.
[SPEAKS SPANISH]
Me llamo ARAM.
Mucho gusto. [CHUCKLES]
Uh, yeah, that's... that's
the extent of my Spanish.
It was a first period in high school
and I've never really been
much of a morning person.
Right.
Okay, uh, here's the thing.
My parents were refugees.
[SPEAKS SPANISH]
Agent Navabi was
a-a political refugee herself.
[SPEAKS SPANISH]
Tell him that we both believe in amnesty.
[SPEAKS SPANISH]
And that we'll go as soon
as he tells us what he knows.
[SPEAKS SPANISH]
♪
[SPEAKING SPANISH]
He saw a man in the kitchen.
And he asked him what he's doing here.
- [SPEAKING SPANISH]
- He took off.
[SPEAKING SPANISH]
He chased him down the block.
[SPEAKING SPANISH]
Where he saw him get into a taxi
in front of Hotel Macon.
Muchas gracias.
NAVABI: Thank you.
We both feel that way?
Well, I wanted him to feel comfortable.
I didn't think trying to
convince him that you're
actually a lovable Zionist
was the way to do it.
Agents Navabi and Mojtabai, FBI.
We need to speak with
your head of security
about any surveillance footage
you might have of the cab stand.
The license plate on the cab is yours.
My cab, my crazy passenger.
- You remember him?
- Sure.
Guy jumps in,
tells me this insane story
about being chased by a jealous husband,
and that I should drive as fast as I can.
Drive where?
- FBI!
- Show me your hands! FBI!
FBI!
- Clear!
- Clear.
MAN: Room clear!
ARAM: Oh, this is disturbing.
What is it?
Beetle larva.
All of which has probably
been genetically modified.
How much do you think it
takes to kill someone?
Oh, a thimbleful, if that.
Looks like he plans to kill again.
Yeah, it does.
Again and again... and again.
[DOOR OPENS]
What the hell happened?!
DEMBE: I don't know.
Glen?! Honestly. Glen?
We only found three names.
And if it isn't bad enough,
now my fate rests in the hands
of Jelly Bean Carter!
- [CELLPHONE RINGING]
- This is him.
I'm not talking to him.
Raymond, you're operating in the dark.
See what he knows.
[RINGING CONTINUES]
What the hell are you doing here?
And where are the people I asked for?
I couldn't risk putting your
fate in the hands of strangers.
Stra... Glen, Dembe gave you
very specific instructions.
I can do this, boss, trust me.
D-Don't call me boss,
and you cannot do this.
You want to second-guess me,
go right ahead.
Haters gonna hate. That's what they do.
I-I don't even know what that means.
I won't let you down.
Not today, not tomorrow,
not no how, not no way,
and that, my friend,
is the name of that tune.
- [LINE CLICKS]
- [CELLPHONE CLOSES]
I might as well just ask the judge
to let me go lie down in traffic.
[SIGHS]
Mr. Carter, have you followed
any of the media coverage
regarding this case?
News? Never watch it.
I like the show with those ladies.
You know, the wives?
What about social media?
Bullies and porn. Don't care
for one, don't need the other.
Have you ever heard
of Raymond Reddington?
Can't say that I have.
Have you formed an opinion
of the defendant's guilt or innocence?
Knew a Fred Reddington once.
Had four nipples.
JUDGE WILKINS:
As fascinating as that may be,
please just answer the question.
I don't judge a book by its cover,
if that's what you're asking.
What is your feeling
about the death penalty?
I get pre-judged plenty.
I try not to return the favor.
If you were asked to impose...
Guess you could say I'm not
unlike that blindfolded beauty,
Dame Justice, up there in her silky robe.
No bias, no prejudice.
I don't discriminate.
Or apparently,
follow simple instructions.
Except against cats! I hate cats.
Besides that, I'm good. I'm sorry.
What was your question?
Exactly. Move to dismiss
the juror, Your Honor.
On what grounds? That he's open-minded?
That the abuse
that's been heaped upon him
as a result of his decidedly
unpleasant personality
has made him reluctant to do unto others
as they have so often done unto him?
This isn't a popularity contest.
Mr. Sima's dismissiveness is, I'm sure,
an all too familiar event
in this man's life.
He's odd and annoying
and clearly incapable
of following instruction.
I think it's safe to say that
even those who know him best,
perhaps especially
those who know him best,
probably hold him
in remarkably low regard.
But the lamentable characteristics
that make him an outcast
are the very ones
that make him perfectly suited
to sit on this jury.
Beholden to no one
because no one likes him.
Capable of making up his own mind
because he's incapable
of listening to anyone else.
He is an outcast.
Maybe even deservedly so,
but if he's able to administer
blind justice in this case,
I think we should give him
a chance with the blindfold.
Whatever justice this juror
may have been intending
to administer will hardly be blind
after defense counsel's
stirring remarks on his behalf.
JUDGE WILKINS: I'm not so sure
he was damning with faint praise
or praising with faint damnation.
Either way, if the juror
insists he's impartial,
I'm inclined to take him at his word.
So I made the cut?
You did, Mr. Carter.
Thank you in advance for your service.
Thank you, Your Majesty.
And may I say, uh, unlike my last judge,
you are a tall drink of water.
Your last judge?
In your questionnaire,
you said you hadn't served
on a jury before.
I wasn't on the jury.
I was the defendant.
I won a hundred K
at a craps table in Reno.
Casino took me to court for sliding dice.
And did you slide dice?
[CLEARS THROAT] Six boxcars in a row.
So you're a convicted felon?
Or a parable for our times...
the common man
forced to do something
uncommon to make ends meet.
I bought a sweet condo, that's for sure.
[CHUCKLES]
Mr. Reddington, as moving
as your apparently
boundless empathy for this man may be,
a convicted felon
may not serve on a jury.
Mr. Carter, you're dismissed.
For what? Leveling the playing field?
Odds of rolling a pair of sixes
is 36-to-1.
House only pays 31-to-1,
and you think I'm the crook here?
What about a jury of his peers, huh?
You can't just have a bunch
of pocket protectors!
This is Raymond Reddington
we're talking about!
I thought you didn't know who he was.
I don't. Not in a Biblical sense.
That's not how I roll.
Mr. Carter, I think you
should roll on out of here.
Agh.
♪
We had it all wrong about Lockemy
and Kendel being on opposite sides.
It turns out they both
wanted to legalize Hexapene.
Files from the Blacklister's lab
indicate that Lockemy paid Kendel
to support legislation
being considered by Congress.
Paid his organization $3 million
to do an independent analysis.
I guess for that kind of money,
it's hard to stay independent.
Have you been able to I.D.
the Blacklister?
Not yet. We've looked through
the tax records on the property,
but it's owned by a holding company.
TAC team's on site now,
but he hasn't showed up.
Kendel sold out
and paid for it with his life.
Lockemy, Steiner, and Helfrich
were killed for being true believers.
Dr. Nikkila's not only a true believer...
he invented Hexapene.
COOPER: Navabi, reach out to him.
Get him a security detail
and somebody to monitor
what he eats and drinks.
- [DIALING]
- We also found a copy of a press release
that Kendel's organization
was scheduled to release today
in support of Hexapene.
LIZ: Why today? A press release
is usually tied to a news event.
The legislation that Congress
is considering
to legalize Hexapene,
the Committee on Energy and Commerce
is holding a hearing on it today,
and the Blacklister had the date
circled in his calendar.
We're on our way.
♪
NAVABI: We found Dr. Nikkila.
That's a relief.
Not where we found him, it isn't.
The committee hearing
you're on your way to,
Dr. Nikkila is the star witness.
We've contacted Capitol Police,
but we don't have a description
of the UNSUB.
Were they willing
to postpone the hearing?
Shut down Capitol Hill
over a toxic beetle larva?
It's not gonna happen.
Have you reached out to Dr. Nikkila?
He's not answering. We've left
messages, phone and text.
Everything we know suggests this man
will strike again at the hearing.
- When does it start?
- Five minutes ago.
Good morning.
My name is Dr. Jonathan Nikkila.
I want to begin by thanking you
for inviting me to testify.
I am confident that before
the hearing concludes,
you will agree with me that the question
of whether or not to legalize Hexapene
is, quite literally,
a matter of life and death.
Yes, I personally developed
the pesticide in question,
Hexapene,
so I can vouch for its efficacy.
- [MAN COUGHING]
- There are some environmentalists
who worry about its effect on people,
and it's true that like all pesticides,
Hexapene can have
negative effects on humans,
but that is not really the point.
Harm to humans isn't the...
[COUGHING]
I'm sorry. I was asking isn't
harm to humans the whole point?
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
Agents Ressler and Keen, FBI.
Yes, Officer Talbert, Capitol Police.
We spoke. EMT's en route.
Dr. Nikkila. Can you take us to him?
The real threat Hexapene poses
is to the insects, not humans.
It decimates insect populations.
Not just the insects
it targets... all insects.
It is not the only one.
Pesticides are causing
cataclysmic die-offs
of insects throughout the world.
It is not just honeybees.
I think we're getting off topic.
The issue is the harm caused to humans.
Our land can live
without humans, thrive even.
The Earth dies without insects.
There'll be no pollination,
no crops, no food,
no way to remove rotting flesh,
dead vegetation.
Without insects, the Earth will become
a deep, dark graveyard
because we killed off
its most important inhabitants.
In that case, why didn't you protest
the making of Hexapene
in the first place?
♪
Because I trusted my colleagues.
I was assured by them
that Hexapene would only be used
in the wake of a natural disaster,
but then I found out
Mr. Lockemy misled me.
He intended to sell Hexapene everywhere,
and he was lobbying you to allow it.
I begged him to reconsider.
He thought I was being hysterical,
- but I felt and feel...
- [COUGHS]
...that people who poison the planet
present a mortal danger
that must be eliminated
as an act of global self-defense
and justice.
That, sir, is why you
cannot stop coughing.
You have been poisoned.
Not by me, but by the insects.
- What is he talking about?
- Did he say poisoned?
They are genetically modified
Dytiscidaes, to be precise...
predacious diving beetles,
and they have been growing inside you
since I dosed your wine at Ruby's.
By now, they have hatched
and are trying to escape
via your airways.
[COUGHS]
[SPECTATORS GASP]
♪
Security, detain Mr. Nikkila.
You don't need security,
you need an ambulance,
and this cause needs attention,
which is exactly what
you are going to give us.
Jonathan Nikkila. FBI.
These people are poisoning the planet.
The insects can save us!
You're under arrest.
♪
You were on the jury! You'd been picked!
All you had to do was stop talking!
What do you want me to say?
I've never been picked
for anything before.
It went to my head.
And FYI, I'm not the one that
said hurtful things in there.
No, what you said was
catastrophically stupid.
"Unpleasant personality, odd, annoying,
beholden to no one
because no one likes him."
You cut me, man. You cut me bad.
I cut you?
Without an apology,
I don't know where we go from here.
[SIGHS]
I'm sorry.
Dude, I'm messing with you!
Being odd and annoying's
my stock and trade.
So, tell me [CLEARS THROAT]
what's the contingency plan?
You were, Glen.
[CELLPHONE CLOSES]
This sucks.
On second thought,
I prefer insistent optimism.
♪
We've been through worse.
The Nkana mine explosion in Zambia.
The typhoon on the trawler.
40 people, 3 life vests.
If we found our way
out of those situations,
we can find our way out of this one.
That case I gave the Task Force...
have they identified General Shiro?
Yes. His name is Dr. Jonathan Nikkila.
I need you to get into
his lab, get to his files.
What am I looking for?
An address for
my get-out-of-jail-free card.
I believe Nikkila must have sent him
some of his toxic bug juice.
And without Glen,
he is the last rabbit in my hat.
The only way out of
this situation is to find him,
and the way to find him
is somewhere in Nikkila's lab.
If there's an address, I'll find it.
Thank you, Dembe.
I don't care if it's insistent
optimism or false hope.
At this point, I'll take either one.
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
The jury has been picked.
And?
Raymond is in trouble. He needs help.
W-What can I do?
Take me to Dr. Nikkila's lab.
And give you five minutes alone with him
like I gave you with The Pharmacist?
It's important, Elizabeth.
It's also a sealed crime scene.
Then you need to unseal it.
♪
NAVABI: You should know
that Robert Carson,
the Committee Chair,
passed away an hour ago.
You really don't understand
the scientific process.
There's no biological benefit to revenge.
None of those people were my victims.
They were my experiments.
Experiments? For what?
The insects, of course.
My crime was to create
a pesticide that kills them off.
The least I could do
was help them fight back
by giving them the tools
and traits they need to survive.
But I had to test it, verify.
I needed to prove my hypothesis
that insects could fight back,
and my six experiments
proved that they could.
You modified the insects.
You took traits from different
species to make them lethal.
Mm. That will be my legacy.
I will not be remembered
as a destroyer of their world,
but their savior.
You said six experiments.
There was Lockemy, Steiner,
Helfrich, Kendel, the Congressman.
Who was the sixth?
Call an ambulance!
Did you hear me? Call a medic, now!
[COUGHING]
You knew you would get caught,
but you don't care because you know
you're not going to prison.
Did you hear me? Get a medic in here now!
Paramedics are on their way.
That's okay. Tell them not to rush.
You can leave for this part
if that would make you more comfortab...
[GAGGING]
♪
[COUGHING]
[THUDDING]
[SPITS]
[COUGHING]
[GROANING]
[BEETLES BUZZING]
[GROANING]
RED: What a nice surprise.
Oh, if I'd known you were
coming, I would've baked a cake.
Don't suppose you have one on you,
perhaps with a file or a blowtorch in it?
No such luck, I'm afraid.
Ah, pity.
It's not a blowtorch,
but I thought it might,
uh, calm the nerves.
[LAUGHS] Grab a chair.
[LOCK DISENGAGES]
♪
I was thinking earlier about the time
Dembe and I were on a trawler
that capsized during a typhoon
off the Philippines.
We were running guns to the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
It's interesting.
How you always seem to side
with the underdog.
I find desperation pays well.
The overdog always pays better.
[LAUGHS]
The boat was too full to begin with,
so when the storm caught up with us,
we didn't stand a chance.
Of the 40 people on board,
24 were lost right away.
Another 11 didn't last the night.
There was no life raft.
The militia leaders took
the three available life vests.
- Leaving you and Dembe.
- [CHUCKLES]
How did you survive?
I didn't.
I drowned that night.
I saw the other side.
It was...
[BINDER CLICKS]
...so...
...different.
♪
And then I was back.
How he did it...
Found a wooden door,
held me to it,
pounded the water out of my lungs
and the life back in.
♪
Dembe saved my life that night.
♪
Dembe's always saved my life.
♪
LIZ: Did you find what you came for?
I did. Thank you, Elizabeth.
He said I reminded him of my mother.
That's what he said when I asked
him why he gave us this case.
He's right.
You remind me of her, too.
You know everything.
♪ Keep your head down ♪
Don't you?
♪ Keep moving ♪
Everything about him.
All the answers I'm looking for.
♪ Listen for a sound ♪
I do.
♪ Keep moving ♪
♪
♪ They'll never pin you down ♪
[LOCK ENGAGES, KEYS JINGLE]
♪ If you keep moving ♪
Do you and each of you solemnly swear
that you will well and truly try
and a true deliverance make
between the United States
and Raymond Reddington a true verdict
rendered according to
the evidence, so help you God?
TOGETHER: I do.
JUDGE WILKINS: With the jury in
place, trial is set to commence
Tuesday morning at 8:00 a.m.
I will see you all then.
♪
That's a smug little grin.
I've been a prosecutor for 18 years.
I have empaneled over 300 juries.
It's usually a flip of a coin
as to which way
they're gonna lean, but this group...
This is a two-headed coin, my friend.
Your fate is sealed.
We'll see about that.
I respect the false confidence,
but you and I both know
you're a dead man walking.
♪