🔴 Script 1:1 Pilot ~ Ranko Zamani

SERIES STARS:
 
Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington – James Spader
Elizabeth Keen – Megan Boone
Donald Ressler – Diego Klattenhoff
Harold Cooper – Harry Lennix
Tom Keen – Ryan Eggold
Meera Malik – Parminder Negra
 
GUEST STARS:
 
Newton Phillips (Grey) – Charles Baker
Beth Ryker – Delphina Belle
FBI Lobby Guard – Donnetta Lavinia Grays
Ranko Zamani – Jamie Jackson
Daniel Ryker – Chance Kelly
Ukrainian Man – Roman Roytberg

 

Note: Springfield’s in the UK provides a raw version of each script. These typically are available by 7:00am the next day, but can be delayed by a day or more. I add the speakers, formatting, and descriptive material when called for. Red’s lines are bolded. Sound effects from the screen caps and my added action notes are in [ square brackets ]. I am sure there are mistakes.

 

 

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⭕ Episode 1:1 Pilot (Ranko Zamani)

 
Blurb: Raymond “Red” Reddington, Number Four on the FBI’s Most Wanted list and underground for 20 years, offers to turn over criminals one by one from “The Blacklist,” his personal list of under-the-radar criminal “politicians, mobsters, hackers, spies.” He has a single demand: that he speak only with Elizabeth Keen, an FBI profiler fresh out of Quantico.

 

(8:57 mins)

 
Grey (Newton Philips): Must be good to be home again, sir.
Red: Yeah. Well, we’ll see about that.
⋘⋙
Red: Good afternoon. I’m here to see Assistant Director Harold Cooper.
Clerk: Do you have an appointment?
Red: I do not. Tell him it’s Raymond Reddington.
[ Red puts down his briefcase alongside the FBI seal emblazoned in the floor. He takes off his coat, folds it and places it on top of his briefcase. The receptionist has pulled up Red’s file online: “10 Most Wanted: Raymond Reddington” She quickly hits the alarm, which begins to blare loudly. Red places his hat on top of his folded jacket, then drops to his knees on the FBI seal, hands clasped behind his head, as he is quickly surrounded by armed guards with rifles aimed at his head ]

 
Ressler: Ressler. Washington field office. I’m the case agent on Reddington.
Cooper: Assistant FBI Director Cooper: When did this happen?
Ressler: Under an hour ago.
Cooper: We confirm it’s actually him?
Ressler: It’s him all right. Prints match. Tattoos. He even volunteered classified details about a Brussels Mission in ’08.
Cooper: What happened in Brussels?
Ressler: Sir? We tried to kill him, sir.
Cooper: [ Looking at video monitor ] It really is him.
Ressler: Came in with a briefcase containing every alias he’s ever used. Most of ’em we’ve never even heard of.
Cooper: What does he want?
Ressler: Don’t know. Won’t talk. He’s a stone.
Cooper: Call lab services. Have them fit him with an AlphaChip RFID tag. Assemble a full intel review. NSA. CIA.
Ressler: What exactly do you want to know?
Cooper: Everything.

 

Ressler: Raymond “Red” Reddington attended the Naval Academy. Top of his class. Graduated by the time he was 24. He was being groomed for admiral. Then in 1990, Reddington’s coming home to see his wife and his daughter for Christmas. He never arrives. This highly respected officer up and disappears from the face of the earth until four years later when classified NOFORN documents start showing up in Maghreb, Islamabad, Beijing. These leaks were traced to Reddington. This guy’s an equal opportunity offender, a facilitator of sorts, who’s built an enterprise brokering deals for fellow criminals.
[ An RFID tracking chip iis injected into Red’s arm ]
Red: Ouch.
Ressler: He has no country. He has no political agenda. Reddington’s only allegiance is to the highest bidder.
Tech: They call him something in the papers.
Cooper: “The concierge of crime.”
Tech: He’s online.
Red: Evidently someone with the authority to make decisions has arrived. I think I smell the stench of your cologne, Agent Cooper. Smells like hubris.
Cooper: Get these feeds fixed. I want him up here. Come on.
Red: You must have many questions, so let’s begin with the most important one. Why I’m here. Remember the 1986 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, the abduction of the six foreign nationals from the French consulate in Algiers in ’97, or the 2002 breach of the Krungthai Bank in Bangkok? You see these events as unrelated. I can tell you one man is responsible for all three. His name is Ranko Zamani. You want him. I want him. So let’s say for the moment our interests are aligned.
 
Tech: Ranko Sinisa Zamani. Serbian national educated in the U.S.
Cooper: Ranko Zamani’s been dead for six years. He’s a non–existent threat.
Red: Then a dead man just stepped off United 283 from Munich to Dulles.
Tech: He entered the country under the name Sacha M. Chacko. Cleared customs at 10:56 a.m.
Ressler: Listen up, people. The lab just pulled a latent print from the airline arm rest. Nine points of comparison. Zamani’s alive.
Cooper: You have my attention.
Red: Were you wrong?
Cooper: I was wrong.
Red: Yes, you were wrong. At least it’s not the first time. Familiar territory. Now, I’ll give you Zamani, but first –
Cooper: No “but firsts.” You don’t decide anything.
Red: Agent Cooper, you’ve overestimated your authority. I said I’ll help you find Zamani, and I will. But from this point forward, there’s one very important rule: I speak only with Elizabeth Keen.
Ressler: Who the hell’s Elizabeth Keen?

 
[ Liz Keen is home in bed, sleeping alongside her husband Tom. Hudson, their dog, wakes Tom ]
Tom: Oh, buddy. Seriously, dude?
Liz: Babe, what time is it?
Tom: I don’t know. What time you gotta be there?
Liz: Oh, crap.
Tom: What’s up?
Liz: Crap!
Tom: What?
Liz: No! My first day!
Tom: Babe, are you good? You need help?
Liz: I missed the bus, babe. I’m gonna need to take the car.
Tom: You can’t take the car. I need the car. I’ve got field trip planning committee.
Liz: You took the dog out, right?
Tom: I did. For the field trip Air and Space or the D.C. Zoo?
Liz: The zoo’s gender neutral.
Tom: All right. Good thinkin’.
Liz We’re out of milk.
Tom: Oop. Sorry.
Liz: Is this pee? I’m standing in pee, babe.
Tom: He’s your dog, too.
Liz: Yeah, thanks a lot. I’m gonna smell like a urinary tract infection on my first day!
Tom: Hey, don’t forget we got the last adoption meeting today. One–thirty. You heard me, right? One–thirty.
Liz: Yep. One–thirty. Last meeting.
Tom: I’m in the car. You got the keys?
Liz: Yeah, in my pocket.
Tom: I got your coffee.
Liz: No more peeing, dude.
Tom: What? We both woke up seven minutes ago. I’m pretty sure my pants are on backwards and I can barely see straight. But you are somehow dressed, composed, and as beautiful as the day I met you.
Liz: I think I’m forgetting something.
Tom: Yeah.
Liz: You know I’m not gonna let this job come between us and our family, right?
Tom: I know.
Liz: We want a family, we’re going to have a family.
Tom: Were you serious about that kid thing? Because I got stuff goin – Ow! Mama.
Liz: Today’s the day.
Tom: Yeah, I know. Man, I am so proud of you.
Liz: Thanks.
Tom: You worked so hard for this. Are you nervous?
Liz: No. But I am very late.

 
[ Suddenly a helicopter roars overhead and police cars converge in front of the step-down apartment ]
Ressler: Agent Keen. Donald Ressler. Washington field office. I need you to come with me right away.
Liz: Babe, I don’t think I’m gonna need to take the car.
[ Liz hands Tom car keys ]

 
[ Helicopter flying over the National Mall ]

 
Liz: What is this place?
Ressler: D.C. Metro Sorting Facility, U.S. Postal Service. It was abandoned and slated for demo twelve years ago. The Bureau acquired the building post–9/11. Been operating a variety of covert operations here ever since.
Liz: So this is a black site?
Ressler: We’re sentimental. We prefer to call it The Post Office.

 
Cooper: Agent Keen. Am I getting that right?
Liz: Yes, sir.
Cooper: Harold Cooper. Assistant Director of Counterterrorism.
Liz: Yes, sir. I know who you are, sir.
Cooper: So, uh, can you tell us what’s going on?
Liz: I wish I could. I can tell you that I’ve been vetted by the agency like everyone else, you know, same background checks, psych profiles. I’m sure OPR’s trolling my digital footprint right now, and I can tell you what they’ll find.
Cooper: What will they find?
Liz: Nothing. I have no history with Reddington.
Cooper: They tell me today’s your first day as a profiler.
Liz: Yes, sir. I was reassigned from New York. I graduated Quantico last month.
Cooper: Congratulations.
Liz: Thank you.
Cooper: Do me a favor. Profile yourself.
Liz: I’m sorry, sir?
Cooper: Who are you? What is he looking for? Profile Elizabeth Keen.
Liz: Oh. Okay. Uh Um, well, I’ve been with the Bureau for four years. I was the head of the Mobile Emergency Psych Unit in New York. We worked murders, extortion–
Cooper: Read your résumé.
Liz: Of course. My colleagues call me “sir.” They think I’m a bitch. Like most kids who raised themselves, I can display narcissistic behavior. I can be withdrawn, disconnected. Uh, I have a deep yearning to understand and relate to the criminal mind. I’m board certified in forensic psychology, and yet I operate under the delusion that I can rewrite my past by having kids of my own.
Cooper: Do you find it odd Reddington surrendered himself the day you started working as a profiler?
Liz: I think that it suggests he was waiting for me.
Cooper: Why you? Specifically.
Liz: Because I’m new and he thinks I can be easily manipulated. The man obviously doesn’t know me very well.

 

Cooper: [ To Liz ] If you need anything, remember we’re right here.
[ Liz walks down from observation deck to floor of facility. A chair awaits her. Reddington is cuffed (wrists and ankles) to a chair inside a containment unit (the ‘orange box’), bullet and blast-resistant, designed to prevent ingress or egress. The door of the unit swings slowly outward, then the unit is pulled clanking backwards, leaving only the platform which forms the floor of the unit with the cuffed Reddington ]

 

(7:12 mins)

 
Red: Agent Keen, what a pleasure.
Liz: Well I’m here.
Red: You got rid of your highlights. You look much less … Baltimore. Do you get back home much?
Liz: Tell me about Zamani.
Red: I haven’t been home in years.
Liz: Why involve me? I’m nobody. It’s my first day. Nothin’ special about me.
Red: Oh, I think you’re very special… Within the hour, Ranko Zamani will abduct the daughter of U.S. General Daniel Ryker. There’ll be some kind of diversion, communications will be scrambled, then he’ll grab the girl. He wants to be out of the country within 36 hours. If you don’t move quickly, she will die. That’s what I know.
Liz: And how do you know this?
Red: Because I’m the one who got him into the country.
Liz: And I’m supposed to believe you?
Red: No, of course not! I’m a criminal. Criminals are notorious liars. Everything about me is a lie. But if anyone can give me a second chance, it’s you.♤ The two of us have overcome so much. I mean, look at you. Abandoned by a father who was a career criminal, a mother who died of weakness and shame. And yet here you are, about to make a name for yourself, about to capture Ranko Zamani. I’m gonna make you famous, Lizzie.♤

 
[ Liz is once again in the observation area, where the Post Office command center is located ]
Liz: What did you tell him?
Ressler: What are you talking about?
Liz: How did he know those things? Private things about my family?
Ressler: Why didn’t your father’s criminal record show up on your background report?
Liz: We need to contact the SWAT commander at Quantico. Roll a team out to the girl.
Ressler: This is nonsense. He’s bluffing, sir.
Liz: No, he’s establishing value.
Ressler: I’ve been the case agent on this guy for five years.
Liz: And five years has gotten you what? You asked me here, you asked my opinion. Here it is. That girl’s gonna get taken.

 
Liz: Excuse me. [ On cell ] Tom. Thank God you picked up.
Tom: Hey, tell me you’re close. What’s going on? Are you close?
Liz: That helicopter, they flew me to the Assistant Director, put me on a case, and I can’t get away right now.
Tom: You’re kidding, right? The adoption people, they’re all waiting. Liz, are you there?

 
Ressler: Put on a great show in there. You better pull yourself together because you just called in the cavalry.
Liz: Can I just have one minute, um –
Ressler: We don’t have a minute. Come on. Let’s go.

 
Liz: [ On phone ] I’m sorry. I know we had an appointment, but there’s a girl, something happened I- I can’t tell you. It’s classified. This whole day is classified.
Tom: Lizzie Lizzie, babe, if- if it’s too much, we don’t have to do this right now, okay? We don’t have to do it. We’ll just– We’ll do it next year. But if we are gonna go through with this, you gotta do it with me. I can’t do it alone, Lizzie.
Ressler: We gotta go.
Liz: No. No. Tom, listen, our family is the only thing that matters, okay? – It’s the only thing that matters.
Tom: Okay. All right, let me, uh Let me handle it, I’ll, um, I’ll take care of it. I think this woman might punch me in the face, – but I got it.
Liz: I am so sorry.
Tom: Don’t be sorry, just be safe, okay? I love you.
Liz: I love you too.

 
Soldier: Sir.
Admiral: At ease.
Soldier: We have a situation, sir. It’s about your daughter.
Admiral: My daughter?

 
[ At a ballet class, children ages 6 to 9 or so are practicing ]
Liz: Guys, with the guns, please. We don’t want to scare the kids. I got this.
⋘⋙
Instructor: Beth. Sweetie, this lady needs to speak to you.
Liz: Hi, Bethany, don’t be scared. I just need you to come with me, okay? Thank you.

 
[ Inside SUV ]
Liz: Your name’s Beth, right?
Beth: Yeah?
Liz: My name’s Beth, too. I’m Elizabeth. My friends call me Liz, though. You can call me Liz if you want.
Beth: My daddy has a pin like that. [ Flag pin ]
Liz: Oh, yeah? I bet your daddy has lots of medals. To get a pin like this you gotta be really brave. This can be your special pin, okay? There you go. You like it? [ Beth gives Liza toy elastic bracelet ] Oh You don’t have to – Thank you so much. This is beautiful. Wow.
Beth: The bull’s pokey. Be careful.
Liz: Okay, I’ll be careful.

 
[ The SUV they are in slows ]
Ressler: What’s going on?
Liz: Hey, what’s going on up there?
Soldier: HazMat has the road closed. We’ll be turning around.
Soldier: Rolling Thunder to Follow 1. Be advised we have a chemical spill ahead.
Soldier: Copy that. Proceeding to alternate route.

 
Liz: Do you want to call your daddy?
Beth: Yeah, I want to tell him I’m okay.
Liz: Okay.
Guard: Back up!
[ 💥‼️ Crash ‼️💥 A semi-truck plows into the car ]

 
Liz: Are you okay?
Beth: I think so.
[ 💥💥💥Gunfight💥💥💥 ensues ]
Guard: Tango, tango, tango, respond! I can’t see! I got blood in my–
[ The driver and guard in the front of the car are 💥shot💥 through]
Commando: Get the girl!
Commando2: [ To Liz ] If you want to save the girl, do not fire your weapon.
[ Commando lowers a gas mask through the car’s sunroof ]
Commando: Take it.
[ Smoke begins to fill the car ]
Liz: Okay, baby, this smoke’s gonna hurt us. All right? I need you to put this on for me.
Beth: What about you?
Liz: There’s only one. It’s for you, hon. Okay, listen to me. These men are gonna take you.
Beth: Are they gonna hurt me?
Liz: They’re not gonna hurt you. I’m gonna find you, okay?
Beth: Okay.
Liz: Beth, I’m gonna find you.
[ The commandos take Beth. They lower themselves and Beth with ropes to pontoon boats below and speed away ]
[ Spilled gasoline ignites and 💥🔥Explodes🔥💥 Ressler only escapes by jumping into the river ]

 
Admiral: Who made the call to send that girl after my daughter? Who made the call?!

 

[ Liz appears again before Red ]
Liz: Where’s the girl? It’s been four hours. Your people haven’t made any demands.
Red: My people? I told you Zamani would take the girl. I told you that’s all I knew. This is in your hands now.
Liz: I need your help with Zamani.
Red: How about a trade? You tell me and I’ll tell you. Tell me about the scar on your palm. I’ve noticed how you– stroke it.
Liz: There was a fire. I was fourteen.
Red: Someone tried to hurt you.
Liz: Not exactly, no.
Red: May I see it? Is a child really what you want?
Liz: How on earth – ?
Red: But a baby won’t fix what happened in the past.
Liz: You lost the right to speak about parenthood when you abandoned your wife and daughter on Christmas Eve. The girl.
Red: You won’t find the girl until you learn to look at this differently.
Liz: And how should I look at this?
Red: Like a criminal. May come easier than you think. Shall I show you?

 

(10 minutes)

 
Red: Well, at least you know what Zamani looks like. Oh, my goodness! I haven’t seen him in years. Very interesting fellow. Completely unrelated to this. You’re pointing at the wrong guy here. Miroslav. They call him The Chemist. A highly regarded munitions expert. He left MIT to work for the Russian, Vor Usoyan. Last two years – very expensive freelancer. I don’t know what the hell any of this is. Ooh, the German. A banker. Name’s Reinhardt. He’s most likely moving the money. What about the girl? What do you have on the girl and her father?
Liz: Your 36-hour timeline would suggest a singular event. Something in D.C. I’m not sure how the girl fits.
Red: What about the Chemist?
Liz: Important, well paid. Whatever Zamani’s planning is expensive. Some sort of attack?
Red: You’re thinking like a cop. Cops are so objective. They’re obligated to protocols. Make it personal.
Ressler: Okay, this is nonsense.
Liz: Zamani’s sick. CIA says he carries the Nipah virus. Dying makes him dangerous.
Red: So what does he desperately want before he dies? And how does that relate to the little girl?
Liz: Her father, the General, spent time in Bosnia supporting NATO troops in the Bihac Pocket region. Zamani’s home. He bombed a chemical weapons facility, poisoning the village. It’s about his family. They died, Zamani survived. He wants revenge. He hired the Chemist to build a bomb, detonate it in Washington. He’s gonna use Beth to settle the score, deliver the bomb.

Cooper: Okay, let’s move. We’re on a clock.
Red: I have an acquaintance. They call him The Innkeeper, runs a series of safe houses. Lean on him. He’ll know where to find the Chemist. You find the Chemist, you’ll find Zamani.
Liz: Where is this Innkeeper?
Red: If I tell you, you have to give me something in return. No more restraints, no more cages. If you want to capture Zamani, he has to believe I’m moving freely, in touch with old friends, staying in one of my favorite hotels…
Cooper: If you think we’re gonna put you up at the Sheraton …
Red: Save your Starwood points, Harold. The Sheraton’s not my scene.

 
[ Luxury hotel suite. Red tosses his hat onto a coffee table ]
Ressler: Hey, live it up, pal. Soon as this is over, you’re headed back to a black site.
Host: Mr. Homan, it’s awfully nice to have you back. There’s complimentary Champagne. As usual, the bed’s made up with blankets instead of a comforter. Will there be anything else?
Red: No, thank you, Eric. [ To Ressler: ] Tip the gentleman, will you?

 
[ FBI storms into a room in a safe house ]
FBI: Where is The Chemist? FBI! Hands!
The Chemist: Tranquilo, papi.

 
[ Cooper, Liz and Ressler observe Red over a video feed from his hotel room as he enjoys his dinner. He lifts a toast toward the video camera ]
[ Frank Sinatra’s ♫ “How lucky can one guy be?” plays]
[ ⬇ Go to Full Lyrics ] or [ ♪ Tap square below twice to play ♪ ]

I kissed her and she kissed me
Like the fella once said
Ain’t that a kick in the head?

Ressler: They found the lab. They’re interrogating the Chemist as we speak.
Liz: What about the bomb?
Ressler: We think that we got there before he built it.
Liz: I gotta get out of here and clear my head. Take a shower, see my husband.
Ressler: Don’t go too far.

 
[ Liz arrives home to balloons and a sign reading 🎊”It’s a Girl.”🎊She is elated ]
Liz: Oh, my– Did they say yes? Oh, baby! How did you do this? Oh, my God, I cannot believe– We’re gonna have a baby, and this is exac–
[ Liz begins to pour herself some wine from an opened bottle. She turns around. There is Tom tied to chair, duct tape over his mouth, bruised and bleeding ]
Liz: Tom?!

Ranko Zamani: [ Thick Slavic accent ] Sit down. Sit down!!! Do what I say or I’ll shoot your husband. See, Tom and I, we have been talking, trying to figure out how you knew I was in town. I tell him you figure out my plan to take the General’s daughter.
Liz: Tom, look at me.
Zamani: Make for nice surprise. But my people handle quite well, I think.
Liz: [ To Tom ] It’s gonna be okay.
Zamani: But then, your people come for my Chemist friend. I was finished with The Chemist, so you saved me payment for services. And for that, I thank you. But it did make me wonder what else you know. What else do you know?
Liz: I don’t– Tom!
Zamani: No, no, no, no, no. Over here. I ask question. What else do you know about my plan?
Liz: A bomb. Maybe. We don’t know. We only knew about the girl. The rest is just speculation.
Liz: Tom, baby, it’s gonna be okay.
[ Zamani stabs him in the abdomen ]
Tom: Uhh!
Liz: You son of a bitch!
Zamani: What else do you know about my plan?!
Liz: Nothing! I swear! Oh. My God.
Zamani: You’re not as smart as Reddington says. My friend, he is always so obsessed with you. I’m not sure why.
Liz: It’s gonna be okay.
Zamani: Now, what I have planned will make for many casualties. So now you have choice. Stop me now and save many Americans, or save only one. What do you choose?
Liz: Tom. Baby. Oh, my God. Baby, keep your eyes open. I’m gonna get help. I’m gonna get help. Don’t fall aslee– You’re gonna be okay! You’re gonna be okay.
Operator: 911. What is your emergency?

 
[ Liz confronts Red in his hotel suite ]
Liz: Did you send him? Are you the one who did this?
Red: Did what?
Liz: He was in my house! My husband is on a ventilator because Zamani came –
Red: Calm down and tell me what happened.
Liz: Don’t play stupid. You’re the only thing connecting us. He told me that you’re obsessed with me.
Red: Did he mention the girl or the bomb?
Liz: We’re not a team.
Red: Zamani.
Liz: I’m not your partner.
Red: What did he say?
Liz: I don’t know, he said– he said something about casualties and chemical agents, and he talked about you. He even thanked me for getting rid of the Chemist.
Red: So the bomb’s still in play.
Liz: [ Furiously ] Why the hell was he in my house?! Tell me! You know him! Why is my husband dying in a hospital right now?!
Red: The truth is, despite your feelings, your husband doesn’t matter. Zamani did you a favor, Lizzie.
[ Liz grabs pen from side table and stabs it into Red’s neck and holds it there. Blood begins to ooze out ]

Liz: Now, you know I just punched a hole in your carotid. Best chance, one minute before you pass out. So here’s how it’s gonna work. You tell me how I find Zamani and make this right, or I let you die right here. Understand?
Red: Yeah. But if I die you’ll never know the truth about your husband.
Liz: You know nothing about my husband.
[ Liz yanks put the pen, throwing it on the table ]

 
[ At a hospital, Ressler is standing guard outside Red’s hospital room ]
Liz: Agent Ressler? I gotta talk to him.
Ressler: You shouldn’t even be here. You’re under official review. You know that.
Liz: I know. The Chemist isn’t talking, is he?
Ressler: No.
Liz: Red knows Zamani. Just give me five minutes. Thank you…
⋘⋙
Liz: He’s gone.
[ Red is seen walking off, several floors below the hospital room ]

 
[ Red greets Ranko Zamani on the steps of the US Capitol ]
Red: It’s good to see you, old friend.
⋘⋙
[ In SUV, Ressler and other FBI agents follow Red’s tracking chip ]

Heard over FBI radio: Initiating track. Okay, got him. His chip indicates he’s at the Lincoln Memorial. We’re on him.
Forty seconds out. En route.

⋘⋙
Red: How did things go with Agent Keen?
Zamani: Paid her a visit, like you asked.
Red: And the husband?
Zamani: Like you asked.♤
Red: It’s a shame you’re gonna miss the cherry blossoms.
Zamani: I think a great many people will miss the cherry blossoms.
Red: Tell me, the General’s daughter is such a risk.
Zamani: This is about much more than one girl.

 
Police Radio: He’s on the move. Heading westbound.

Zamani: This is about the children. Raymond, today on this day I am giving their plague back to them. In sixty years they will be talking about this day– about my legacy.

Radio: Still heading west.

[ Liz’s cell phone beeps ]
Liz: Hello?
Red: There’s a wrinkle. Zamani wants more than the General’s daughter. He’s after children.
Liz: Where are you?

Radio: Approaching 14th. You gotta move! You gotta move!

Red: I need you to tell me what Zamani said. In the house what did he say, what did you see?
Liz: He, uh, he asked about the Chemist and about the girl.
Red: No. What did you see?
Liz: Uh, there was blood. There was blood everywhere.
Red: Take a breath, Lizzie.
Liz: Over here. There was a tattoo.
Red: He’s Serbian Orthodox.

Radio: You’re closing on him.

Red: He wouldn’t have a tattoo.
Liz: I know what I saw. This mark, I’ve seen it before. Field trip. DC. Air and Space or the D.C.Zoo? It wasn’t a tattoo. It was a stamp. Zamani’s gonna bomb the D.C. Zoo.

 
Ressler: I got nothin’. Come on, where is he?!

Radio. He’s turning onto Maryland Ave. Dead ahead. He’s dead ahead. He’s stopped. The signal has stopped. He’s right there.

Ressler: Where is he?!

Radio: He should be right behind you. Vertically. Are there stairs near you?

[ Ressler races up the stairs of large parking garage ]

 
[ Liz finds Beth sitting on park bench at the DC Zoo ]
Liz: Beth? Hi, honey. Are you hurt?
Beth: No.
Liz: Are you alone?
Beth: He said to wait here for my daddy. He said not to take it off.
[ Liz opens her jacket – she has a bomb strapped on inside her backpack. It has a timer that is ticking down ]
[ Liz’s phone beeps ]
Red: Whatever you do, don’t touch it.
Liz: There’s less than three minutes. I’ve got to evacuate, call the bomb squad–
Red: Your people will never be there in time. My friend, he’s on his way.
Liz: Your friend. What friend?

 
[ Ressler follows the tracking chip but it is Zamani he finds on top of the parking garage, Not Red. Zamani drops something then falls to his death. Picks up what Zamani dropped ]
Ressler: He pulled the tracking chip. Son of a bitch.

 
Liz: Did Reddington send you?
Ukrainian: [ Speaking Ukrainian ]
Liz: I can’t understand what you’re saying. Can you stop the bomb? Can you stop it?
Beth: Are we gonna be okay?
Liz: Yeah, baby, we’re gonna be okay. Hey. I was scared when I was your age, too. But I had a secret weapon to keep me safe. My daddy gave it to me. It’s very special. I’ve never shown it to anybody. It’s like magic.
Beth: What does it do?
Liz: Whenever I’m feeling sad or afraid, I just touch it like this, and it makes me brave. Do you want to see if it can make you brave?
Beth: Yeah?
Liz: You’re a brave girl.
Guy: Uzasny!
[ The bomb stops ticking with seconds to go. The Ukrainian takes Beth’s backpack and runs ]
Liz: Wait. Wait! What are you doing?!
Red: [ Walking up ] Just consider the device his payment for services.
Ukrainian: [ To Red ] Pesibo!
Red: Nos dash daisa!
Liz: That is a chemical weapon!
Red: He’s fascinated by the things. He certainly has more use for it than we do.
[ Beth sees her father and runs to him ]
Beth: Daddy!
Liz: Red vest, gray sweatshirt! He’s got the bomb!
Red: [ As Ressler handcuffs him; To Liz: ] We’re gonna make a great team.

 
Cooper: Who is the Ukrainian?
Red: I’m not gonna tell you.
Cooper: You gave him a chemical weapon.
Red: He took it. That’s the price of doing business, Harold, with certain people who can get certain things done. You know that. You never look at the larger picture. The bomb didn’t detonate, the girl is safe, Zamani’s dead. Frankly, I think this all went down rather swimmingly.
Ressler: This was never about Zamani. You surrendered and infiltrated the FBI to get at our intelligence.
Red: Your intelligence?
Ressler: To get that weapon.
Red: I certainly don’t want your intelligence, Agent Ressler. I’m quite happy with my own. I think it’s more likely that I tried to help you in good faith and had to finish the job myself because you couldn’t.
Cooper: I think we’re finished.
Red: Well, this was fun. Let’s do it again. Really, let’s do it again. Understand, Zamani was only the first.
Cooper: The first what?
Red: Name. On the list.
Cooper: What list?
Red: It’s called The Blacklist. That sounds exciting. That’s why we’re all here, of course. My wish list. A list I’ve been cultivating for over twenty years. Politicians, mobsters, hackers, spies.
Ressler: We have our own list.
Red: Agent Ressler, please. We all know your Top Ten is little more than a publicity campaign. It’s a popularity contest at best. I’m talking about the criminals who matter. The ones you can’t find because you don’t even know they exist. Zamani was a small fish. I’m Ahab. And if you want the whales on my list, you have to play by my rules. I never sleep in the same location for more than two nights in a row. I want a fully encrypted 8-millimeter tag embedded in my neck not that garbage from AlphaChip you stuck in my shoulder. I want my own security I’ve compiled a list of five acceptable applicants. Pick two. Whatever I tell you falls under an immunity package that I negotiate myself. And finally, most importantly, I speak only with Elizabeth Keen.

 
[ Liz is home cleaning up the blood on the carpet in her home ]
[ Jim James’s ♫ “Daylight comes, Daylight goes” plays ]
[ ⬇ Go to Full Lyrics ] or [ ♪ Tap square below twice to play ♪ ]

♪ How far will reach
Ain’t nobody know
I use state–of–the–art Technology

[ Liz pulls up the bloody carpet and discovers a trap door in the floor. Inside is a wooden box with a strange carving on the lid. She removes the cover and discovers inside a large stash of cash, multiple passports with Tom’s picture but different names in different languages, and a handgun ]

♪ It’s supposed to make for better livin’
Are we better human beings?
And I’m straining to remember
Just what it means to be alive

 
[ Later Liz appears at Red’s cell. He is sleeping, standing in the dark against the wall. The lights come on. He wakes, squints. When he recognizes Liz, Red speaks: ]

Red: You’ve discovered something curious about your husband, haven’t you, Lizzie?
[ Jay-Z’s ♫ “99 Problems” plays]
[ ⬇ Go to Full Lyrics ] or [ ♪ Tap square below twice to play ♪ ]

♪ If you’re havin’ girl problems I feel bad for you, son
I got 99 problems
And a bitch ain’t one

[ Red smiles ]

 
END 1:1 ❌❌❌
 
⬆ Go to top
➡️ Go to to Episode in Tweets (for high-res photos)
⏪ Return to Easy-Search Scripts, Season 1
 

 
 

Songs

♫ Ain’t That A Kick In The Head?

By Dean Martin

♪ How lucky can one guy be?
I kissed her and she kissed me
Like the fella once said,
“Ain’t that a kick in the head?”
The room was completely black,
I hugged her and she hugged back
Like the sailor said, quote,
“Ain’t that a hole in the boat?”

♪ My head keeps spinnin’,
I go to sleep and keep grinnin’
If this is just the beginnin’,
my life is gonna be bee-yoo-tee-ful

♪ I’ve sunshine enough to spread,
It’s just like the fella said
Tell me quick, ain’t that a kick in the head?

♪ Like the fella once said,
“Ain’t that a kick in the head?”
Like the sailor said, quote,
“Ain’t that a hole in the boat?”

♪ My head keeps spinnin’,
I go to sleep and keep grinnin’
If this is just the beginnin’,
my life is gonna be bee-yoo-tee-ful

♪ She’s tellin’ me we’ll be wed,
she’s picked out a king-size bed
I couldn’t be any better or I’d be sick
Tell me quick oh, ain’t that a kick?
Tell me quick ain’t that a kick in the head?

🎹 Return to where this song occurs in script above
Lyrics and Credits: http://bit.ly/2nXXr65
YouTube: https://youtu.be/0lm76UTmlDg

 

♫ A.E.I.O.U.

by Jim James

♪ Daylight come
Daylight go
How far will it reach
Ain’t nobody know

♪ When the dawn breaks
The cradle will fall
And down come baby
Cradle and all

♪ Now I know you need the dark
Just as much as the sun
But you signin’ on forever
When you ink it in blood

♪ A. E. I. O. U. E. I. O. U. A. E. I. O. U. I.

♪ I used the state of the art
Tech-nology
Supposed to make for better living
Are we better human beings?

♪ We’ve got out wires all crossed
Our tubes are all tied
And I’m straining to remember
Just what it means to be alive

♪ A life worth living
Now you can feel it in your chest
Buildin like little bullets
Just building up the nest

♪ And you build it up strong
And you fill it up with love
And you pray for good rain
All from the lord above

♪ A. E. I. O. U. E. I. O. U. A. E. I. O. U. I.

♪ I sued my state of the art
Tech-nology
Now don’t you forget it
It ain’t using me

♪ Cause when the power goes out
I got other means
Cause the power’s goin’ out
…the power’s goin’ out
I mean it, the power’s goin’ out
I really mean it the power’s goin’ out

🎹 Return to where this song occurs in script above
Lyrics and Credits: http://bit.ly/1OiURuu
YouTube: https://youtu.be/THj4UjM-ZfQ

 

♫ 99 Problems

by Jay-Z

“99 Problems”

♪ If you’re having girl problems I feel bad for you son
I got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one

[Verse One]
♪ I got the rap patrol on the gat patrol
Foes that wanna make sure my casket’s closed
Rap critics that say he’s “Money Cash Hoes”
I’m from the hood stupid what type of facts are those
If you grew up with holes in your zapatos
You’d celebrate the minute you was having dough
I’m like fuck critics you can kiss my whole asshole
If you don’t like my lyrics you can press fast forward
Got beef with radio if I don’t play they show
They don’t play my hits well I don’t give a shit SO
Rap mags try and use my black ass
So advertisers can give em more cash for ads…fuckers
I don’t know what you take me as
or understand the intelligence that Jay-Z has
I’m from rags to riches nigga I ain’t dumb
I got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one
Hit me

[Chorus]
♪ 99 Problems but a bitch ain’t one
If you having girl problems I feel bad for you son
I got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one
Hit me

[Verse Two]
♪ The year is ’94 and in my trunk is raw
In my rear view mirror is the mother fucking law
I got two choices yall pull over the car or
bounce on the double put the pedal to the floor
Now I ain’t trying to see no highway chase with jake
Plus I got a few dollars I can fight the case
So I…pull over to the side of the road
And I heard “Son do you know why I’m stopping you for?”
Cause I’m young and I’m black and my hat’s real low
Do I look like a mind reader sir, I don’t know
Am I under arrest or should I guess some mo?
“Well you was doing fifty five in a fifty four”
“License and registration and step out of the car”
“Are you carrying a weapon on you I know a lot of you are”
I ain’t stepping out of shit all my papers legit
“Do you mind if I look round the car a little bit?”
Well my glove compartment is locked so is the trunk and the back
And I know my rights so you gon’ need a warrant for that
“Aren’t you sharp as a tack are some type of lawyer or something?”
“Or somebody important or something?”
Nah I ain’t passed the bar but I know a little bit
Enough that you won’t illegally search my shit
“Well see how smart you are when the K-9’s come”
I got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one
Hit me

[Chorus X2]

[Verse Three]
♪ Now once upon a time not too long ago
A nigga like myself had to strong arm a hoe
This is not a hoe in the sense of having a pussy
But a pussy having no God Damn sense, try and push me
I tried to ignore him and talk to the Lord
Pray for him, cause some fools just love to perform
You know the type loud as a motor bike
But wouldn’t bust a grape in a fruit fight
The only thing that’s gonna happen is i’mma get to clapping
He and his boys gon’ be yapping to the captain
And there I go trapped in the kit kat again
Back through the system with the riff raff again
Fiends on the floor scratching again
Paparazzi’s with they cameras snapping them
D.A. tried to give the nigga the shaft again
Half-a-mil for bail cause I’m African
All because this fool was harrassin’ them
Trying to play the boy like hes saccarin
But ain’t nothing sweet ’bout how I hold my gun
I got 99 problems but being a bitch ain’t one
Hit me

[Chorus X3]

You’re crazy for this one Rick
It’s your boy

🎹 Return to where this song occurs in script above
Lyrics and Credits: http://bit.ly/2n8ipeq
YouTube: https://youtu.be/nE6X6HGyIfE

 
 

⭕ Episode Songs ⇈ and Photos ⇊

 
 

༺ ✿⊰ ♤ ⊱✿༻

 
The Blacklist Pilot is now available as a Twitter “Moment” (two, actually). The Twitter software is a bit skittish still (it sometimes needs reloading and results vary by browser and app). It’s approximately the same set of photos as below, but with the captions, so there’s that. Twitter photos are higher resolution. Or you can continue to use the Twitter links in “Episode in Tweets”.

Here are the links:

⭕ The Blacklist Pilot, Part A

⭕ The Blacklist Pilot, Part B