Milton Bobbit

"Milton Bobbit" is the eighteenth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on March 31, 2014.

Plot

A series of seemingly unconnected murder-suicides are attributed by Red to a life insurance claims adjuster named Milton Bobbit (Damian Young), who is able to convince terminally ill people to carry out the acts in exchange for financial rewards for their surviving family members. The targets of the murders are ultimately discovered to all be part of a clinical drug trial for Type 2 Diabetes that caused people to die, and Bobbit himself is found to be terminal. Elizabeth, Ressler and the team must catch up with Bobbit before he himself takes out the next victim: the doctor who headed up the trial. They manage to arrest the doctor and let Bobbit commit suicide. In Cooper's office, Red has a look at Bobbit's client list which seems to matter much to him. Meanwhile, Tom proposes that he and Elizabeth renew their marriage vows, given all they've been through, and has his brother Craig (Peter Scanavino) officiate the ceremony. Craig pulls Tom aside and says he's certain Elizabeth knows the truth about him, but Tom isn't convinced. In their new safe house, Elizabeth demands answers from Red regarding Tom as well as Red's interest in her, but all Red will say is that he's watched her closely ever since Tom came into her life. After Red gets some DNA results on Tom, he determines that Craig (real name "Christopher") is not Tom's brother. Elizabeth traps Chris in his hotel room and tries to get answers. Tom calls Chris while Elizabeth, Red and Dembe are in the room, and mentions "Berlin". Red demands to know what's in Berlin, but a frightened-looking Chris says he cannot say anything. After Red threatens that he'll find a way to make him talk, Chris hurls himself through the hotel room's window, falling to his death, after which Tom attempts to convince Liz that Craig had to fly home. Elizabeth has her own hideout where she watches surveillance footage of her and Tom which Red gave her. With that, she finds a hidden key.

Reception

Ratings

"Milton Bobbit" premiered on NBC on March 31, 2014 in the 10–11 p.m. time slot.^[1] The episode garnered a 2.8/8 Nielsen rating with 11.39 million viewers, making it the highest rated show in its time slot^[2] and the eighth most watched television show of the week.^[3]

Reviews

Gwen Orel of The Wall Street Journal gave a positive review of the episode.^[4] She compared the episode to Patricia Highsmith's 1956 psychological thriller novel Strangers on a Train and noted that several of the show's "big bad secrets are out".^[4]

Ross Bonaime of Paste gave the episode a 5.0/10, calling the show "dumb".^[5] He further stated: "Many times, it combines intentionally frustrating choices, stupid decision making and illogical plot developments in a way that is literally laughable. At one point in the latest episode, Elizabeth yells at Reddington to just stop playing these ridiculous games, and it felt like she was reading directly from my notes."^[5]

References