The Scimitar

"The Scimitar" is the seventh episode of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on November 3, 2014.

Plot

After Agent Navabi kills a top Iranian nuclear scientist on a Mossad mission in Dubai, the Iranian government plans retaliation by sending The Scimitar, an Iranian agent who is apparently responsible for the death of Navabi's brother, to kidnap American scientists involved in a nuclear weapons program. While the Task Force foils the kidnapping, Navabi, with the aid of Reddington interrogates the Scimitar by herself, and is told that her brother is also in league with him. Not believing the Scimitar's claims, Navabi executes him and allows his body to be found by the Task Force. Meanwhile, Liz uses the intel received from Tom to help Red get a meeting with Berlin. Kidnapping Zoe, he brings her to Berlin and reveals that she is actually Berlin's long-believed-dead daughter.

Reception

Ratings

"The Scimitar" premiered on NBC on November 3, 2014 in the 10–11 p.m. time slot.^[1] The episode garnered a 2.4/7 Nielsen rating with 9.30 million viewers, making it the highest-rated show in its timeslot^[2] and the twelfth highest-rated television show of the week.^[3]

Reviews

Ross Bonaime of Paste gave the episode a 5.8/10.^[4] He wrote: "It’ll be great if next week’s fall finale ups the limits that 'The Scimitar' tries to push. But if it can’t pull off the surprises (like this week’s episode), The Blacklist could take a break at a disappointing low point."^[4]

Cory Barker of TV.com gave a mixed review of the episode.^[5] He stated: "We all know that second seasons are tricky, particularly for shows that were extremely popular in their first season. There's always that tension between simply delivering more of the same and expanding into new territory, and The Blacklist has struggled with that exact issue in its first seven episodes."^[5]

References