- As Red (James Spader) enlists activist whistleblowers in his search for the mole, Liz (Megan Boone) pursues a deranged scientist who's helped dozens of criminals escape by engineering and killing their genetic doubles.
- Back in Lizs house, Red tells her the next person she should go after is a man hired to protect a mob informant and his wife. They call him The Alchemist.
Cut to a man kissing a tipsy woman. She gets woozier and he lays her down on the bed. Red explains the Alchemist relies on science to transform one person into another.
The blond woman who was in bed with the man wakes up midair on a private plane with brown hair cut differently, different clothes and seated across from a man covered in tattoos. Except the man doesnt know what hes doing there either. His teeth hurt and he says he doesnt have tattoos. As they scramble to figure out whats going on, the Alchemist comes out of the cockpit wearing a parachute.
He opens the plane door and jumps out. The plane starts to nosedive, with the two pilots dead in the front seat. It races into the ground below.
The Alchemist, 101 on the Blacklist
Later, the news identifies the couple as Pytor and Catherine Madrczyk, mob informants who look a lot like the man and woman who just crashed.
Back at the post office, Cooper doesnt understand why Red would warn them the Madrczyks were going to disappear if they just crashed in a plane. Liz explains that Red doesnt think the real mole has been found, so he wont come in.
Red checks in on his team of nerds working to figure out who the mole is. They have trash bags of shredded second tier intelligence from inside the company, Red tells them to put it together.
Red sits in Synagogue with an obituary for Lucy Brooks, 28. He puts it away when Liz arrives. She tells Red he was wrong about the Alchemist protecting the Madrzycks, DNA and dental impressions confirm they were in the plane. But Red explains the Alchemist is so skilled with forensics he can change DNA. Madrzycks tried to hire Red first, so he knows where they are.
Budapest, Hungary
Waiting for Madrzycks to arrive at a restaurant, Ressler tells Liz about his ex Audrey visiting him in the hospital, and how he doesnt feel like pretending hes happy shes getting married.
Pytor walks in. They follow him and grab him when he tries to run.
Back home, Tom is back from Nebraska, where he didnt go to his job interview. He tells Liz he didnt want to make her choose between him and her work. But Jenny is due in six weeks and hes expecting theyll take her baby. Liz promises to be safer at work. He also wants her to have fewer secrets. She says shell do anything to make things easier, which hes happy to hear because Ms. Sutton is organizing a baby shower for all the teachers and theyre hosting.
Back at the office, they go back over the autopsy results from the plane crash. The teeth and DNA were altered.
Back at the synagogue, Red throws out some possible explanations for how the Alchemist achieves his results, something vaguely sciencey about red and white blood cells and synthetic DNA. Red tells her if they can catch the Alchemist they have a chance to catch some of the most dangerous people who ever lived, his clients.
At the office, Liz goes over a series of murders and crimes, in each case the suspect was found dead but Red says theyre not.
Aram identifies the female plane victim as Sarah Jenkins. They took DNA from the bone marrow to ID her. Her last internet visit was a dating website three days ago.
At a lab somewhere, the Alchemist talks to a very upset Mrs. Madrzyck, asking who she told about their disappearance. She insists no one knew. He asks the name of their attorney, then he shoots her.
Ressler talks to Pytor, who tells him everything with the Alchemist was done through couriers. He got their medical and dental records. Pytors attorney arrives, introducing himself as a fill in. Its the Alchemist.
Left alone with the Alchemist, Pytor wants to know where his regular attorney is. Hes agitated and wants a cigarette, and takes a piece of nicotine gum from the Alchemist. Pytor starts choking.
Out in the hall, Liz shows Ressler the picture of Sarah Jenkins date from the site the Alchemist. Ressler races back in the room, but Pytor is already dead on the floor and the Alchemist is gone.
Back at the office, they traced the Alchemist through surveillance camera to a rental car agency and got a name, Eric Trettel, to find his background. He flunked out of med school and faked a degree from Harvard to join the Human Genome Project. He testified as an expert witness, but was exposed for faking evidence. He has a wife and daughter.
Liz pays them a visit. Their eight year old daughter Annie was recently diagnosed as diabetic. His wife explains that Eric is dangerous and thinks theyre still together even though he hasnt lived there in six years. He comes by some times and says he wants to help. She mentions a lab.
Ressler and Meera are called to the scene of a car fire, where Catherine Madrzycks body has been found inside. Theres a scrap of paper with numbers on it.
At Reds nerd HQ, theyre using German software to piece together the shredded documents. Red welcomes Liz, who brings him the numbers. They were traced to stock business paper, which is used by a Swiss bank.
Red is more interested in the Alchemist as a person. Liz calls him a lab rat and gets an idea. Back at the office, she and Ressler start looking up the serial numbers of equipment used to sequence DNA.
Eric goes through a stack of head shots and homes in on a blond named Mandy. He calls her, posing as a casting director and asks her to come to an audition tonight. When she gets there, hes the only one there and pretends to be a fellow actor. Theres a sign moving the audition, so he offers to share a cab.
A different woman (who could be the woman in Reds obit) preps for her role as Jolene. She has a picture of Tom in a folder.
At the Keens house, they play baby games at the shower. A teacher asks Liz how much time shes taking off and Tom explains Liz isnt taking maternity leave. The teacher gets judgy and Tom and Liz go to their bedroom to argue when Jolene comes out the bathroom. Tom recognizes her as a substitute at his school.
Liz gets called in to work.
The Alchemist gets to work on a brunette.
At the party, Jolene tries to give Tom marital advice. She tells him he should check out a photography exhibit of a woman who seduces married men and then takes their photos. He calls that crazy then she says its her show. As Tom is busy backtracking, she says she kidding.
At the office, theyve IDd the number as belonging to a centrifuge belonging to a company that does DNA research.
Ressler, Liz and Meera head to the lab and find evidence of the Erics work on various people, including two extras. They realize hes killing anyone who could lead them to him. They race to his familys house, but theyre too late, his wife and daughter are dead.
Liz calls Tom to apologize. He suggests the photography exhibit, but she suggests dinner at home instead.
In the office, Aram is going through Erics victim files. She sees Mandy and a young girl and realizes theyre the stand ins for Erics wife and daughter, who are still alive.
At Reds nerd HQ, they find a memo to Meera. Liz calls for help finding Eric and his family. Red suggests following the mother and childs needs, not Erics.
They start tracking Annies insulin pump and get a signal.
Eric stops with his wife and child at a convenience store. When he offers Annie a candy bar, his wife is aghast and mentions shes diabetic. He finds the insulin pump and says they need to leave. Everyone in the store sees the Amber alert broadcast for Annie. Eric sees the clerk on the phone and draws a gun. Another customer draws his gun and they exchange shots.
Annie is hit in the crossfire.
The cops and FBI surround the store. Liz goes to talk to Eric. He offers hundreds of names of people they think are dead in exchange for a medic for his daughter. His wife gets frantic, thinking hes taking too long to negotiate as his daughter bleeds.
As Liz is talking to him, Erics wife picks up the other customers gun and shoots her husband in the back. The SWAT team runs in, but Eric is dead.
Later that night, Liz calls Tom, hoping he hasnt cooked. Hes sitting in front of an elaborate meal with candles and wine, but tells her he didnt make anything because he figured shed be late.
He pretends to be OK with her offer to pick up Chinese.
Ressler tells Liz hes decided to tell Audrey what he really thinks of her fiancé. Aram interrupts to announce he found Erics database of people he helped disappear.
Liz goes back to the synagogue to give Red the list. He says he has unfinished business and she realizes Red used them to get the Alchemists list, but he wont say why.
Ressler meets with Audrey for dinner. He starts to tell her she made the right choice with her fiancé, when she tells him that they put the engagement on hold. She tells Ressler she hasnt been able to stop thinking about him since she saw him at the hospital. They leave the restaurant together.
Tom calls Jolene to see about going to the art show.
Liz gets home to an empty house and cleared dishes and know shes in the doghouse.
Tom shares drinks and flirts with Jolene at the show. He ignores Lizs call.
Meera returns home to find Red waiting for her. I trust you know why Im here, he says, holding a gun on her. Yes, youre here to kill me because Im the mole, she says.
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