🔴 Script 8:9 The Cyranoid

 

Brief (Where we’re at):

[ Note: See also the Brief at the beginning of the script for Episode 8:8 Ogden Greeley, which provides more background relevant to this episode ]

Red owes his life to Cooper after Cooper prevented the carrying out of a drone strike on a turncoat named Ogden Greeley (Blacklister #40) who planned to sell classified intel on how to control US spy satellites to the highest bidder. The highest bidder turned out to be Red. Cooper reported the theft to government higher-ups, based on a recording Greeley made on his intentions – a recording given to him by Red. Red’s plan was to win the bidding war and then to sell back to the US its own intel. What he didn’t figure in was that Cooper would come up with the idea of sending in a drone to vaporize both Greeley and the buyer. Cooper was with members of the National Security Council at the White House to observe the strike taking place (ironicallly, via the same spy satellites that the sale of the intel would have disabled). When the satellite visual zoomed in, Cooper saw Greeley in the process of handing a briefcase with the data over to Red. So Cooper argued to the NSC members that Red’s being only a criminal and not a nation-state would make the killing illegal – and the White House Legal Counsel agreed. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was hopping mad, but the end result was that Red and Dembe live on, to crime another day.

When Red later offered the suitcase of intel to Cooper for a minor $50M markup, Cooper told him what had happened. Red agreed to lower his profit margin to $5M and offered a thank you. In the meantime, the task force arrested Greeley who had sold out his country (and family) for the favors a beautiful British woman. Only she wasn’t British, but rather a Russian FSB agent named Nina Kurylenko. Ressler told Kurylenko he’d personally walk her over to the Russian consulate if she’d turn on Greeley. Agent Park objected to letting her go, but Kurylenko took the deal, giving up the location of the meeting (Mongolia) where the data sale was to be completed.

In other developments, Cooper was offered an appointment to step into the shoes of retiring Senator Brian Warwick. But there was a catch. Cooper would have had to overlook a line item in the super-secret “Black Budget” involving a no-bid contract with a company in which Warwick’s son held a major interest; Cooper of course refused. And Dembe put the kaibosh on Red’s on-going flirtation with the birdwatching lady, Anne: “You walked away from an ordinary life a long time ago. … She doesn’t know who you are. She’ll get hurt, Raymond. You don’t want that.”

 
For S8 Episode 8:9 The Cyranoid 🎯 EW recap ¤ 🌅 Photo Gallery ¤ 🎹 Music Videos ¤ 📒 Script link: https://wp.me/pDKwi-aVi [ “you are here” ]

 

༺✦ ♤ ✦༻

 
[ Red and Dembe enter a house. No one is home. Red checks out a duffle bag under a table. Dembe finds a gun, a revolver, in an end table. He takes it. They wait ]
[ A woman enters ]
A man’s voice on the woman’s phone: I’ve been trying to reach you. Doesn’t matter. Just– Just listen to me. There were two men. They know. I don’t know how, but they know. They came to the nest asking about the contract. They know where you are. They’re coming.
[ The woman, with wavy, long brown hair, heads to the end table where Red found her gun. Then she notices Dembe sitting on the couch ]
[ Red sits across from Dembe in an armchair. He waves the revolver in the air ]
Red: Elizabeth. I think we’re long overdue for a talk.

 
[ ~ Twelve hours earlier ~ ]
[ Cooper, Ressler, Aram and Agent Park are assembled in the war room of the Post Office ]
Cooper: What Agent Keen has done is reprehensible. Working to exonerate The Freelancer. Using him to befriend a war criminal like Chemical Mary. There’s no defense of that. But I think maybe I’ve confirmed a plausible explanation.
Ressler: You mean besides revenge against Reddington for killing her mother.
Cooper: I mean an explanation that matches what I know about Elizabeth. That she wouldn’t do any of this unless it was for a cause greater than herself. In this case, outing a traitor to the United States.
Aram: N-13.
Cooper: Elizabeth recently stole a thumb drive from a safe deposit box of Reddington’s. We know that the drive contained intel compiled by a man known as Rakitin.
Aram: A hacker who may be working on behalf of the Russians.
Cooper: The House intel chair thinks Rakitin was working somewhere in the U.S. government. He was close to finding out where when someone hacked into his committee’s computer and deleted all the files they had on Rakitin.
Agent Park: Do they know who did it?
Cooper: They don’t. But I do.
Ressler: Reddington.
Cooper: Rakitin funnels stolen intel to N-13. The drive that Keen has contains stolen intel Rakitin was funneling to Reddington.
Aram: Two plus two equals – Mr. Reddington is N-13.
Ressler: We think, but we don’t know. And we won’t know until we find the real Rakitin.
Cooper: That’s right. Fortunately, we have a lead. To be precise, five leads.
[ Cooper brings up profiles of at least 15 people on the overhead display ]
Cooper: The thumb drive Keen stole contained deep cover intel on a series of CIA assets stationed across the globe.
Aram: Wait. You decrypted it? Even– Even the NSA couldn’t decrypt it.
Cooper: The NSA didn’t have Reddington’s thumbprint on a scotch glass.
Park: You think one of these agents is Rakitin?
Cooper: No. But their identities were compromised by him, so I asked the House intel chair how many people in the Office of Intelligence and Analysis had the clearance to even know the identities of this many assets. The answer is five.
[ Profiles of the five are displayed ]
Cooper: I want their security clearances frozen and a full workup done. One of these five is a traitor to this country.
[ Elevator door opening ]
Cooper: I want to know who.
[ Red and Dembe step out of the elevator ]
Ressler: Maybe we should ask him.
[ Remote for the overhead display beeps🔅 ]
Cooper: [ To team, low voice ] For now, this stays with us.
⋘⋙
Cooper: [ To Red ] We can talk in my office.
Red: Why so glum, Harold? You all look like you’re in a Bergman film playing chess with death.
Cooper: Just housekeeping. Come on. I know you don’t like coming here, so what you have to tell me must be urgent.

 
[ Cooper’s office ]
Dembe: We acquired this recording late last night.
[ Cellphone beeps🔅]

Mary Bremmer: [ On mobile phone ] It’s me. Keen’s willing to make a deal. She wants to meet with Neville tomorrow here in D.C.
Vandyke: [ Over phone ] He’s not in the District.
Mary: Then get him here. My life depends on it.
[ Phone beeps🔅]
Mary: [ To Liz ] He’ll never forgive you for this.

Red: The man is an associate of Neville Townsend’s. I had a line on him and a tap on his phone, but the line’s been broken and the phone disconnected. This is all I know. That as of this morning, Neville Townsend is in the District.
Cooper: To meet with Elizabeth. What we don’t know is why.
Red: So she could kill him, I suspect. Townsend hunted her mother for years, forced her into hiding away from Elizabeth, who now wants revenge.
Cooper: Why play me the recording?
Red: Because it was made on a satellite phone, and we can’t pinpoint the location.
Cooper: So we’re working together on this.
Red: We are. The risks are too great if we don’t. I’ve found one of Townsend’s former bodyguards.
[ Dembe’s cellphone vibrates; he steps out ]
Red: My people are working him now. Make no mistake, Harold. By going after Townsend, Elizabeth is putting her life in grave danger.
[ Dembe hands the phone to Red ]
Dembe: He’s is on the line. He says it’s urgent.
Red: Thank you.
[ Red steps out ]
Red: [ Taking call ] Yeah.
⋘⋙
Cooper: [ Dembe ]Tell me everything you can about this recording. I’ll have the NSA inspect the tapes with our low Earth satellites.
Dembe: It came into the Townsend organization yesterday, 4:23 p.m.
⋘⋙
[ Outside Cooper’s office, Red talks on the phone with (!) Rakitin ]
Red: You’re overreacting.
Rakitin: They froze my security clearance. And when I say “they,” I mean Harold Cooper. The drive that was stolen. He must have accessed it, which means he is coming for me. Cooper needs to be stopped before that happens.
Red: I said I’d take care of it – and I will.
[ Cellphone beeps🔅, snaps shut ] [ Red goes back into Cooper’s office ]

 
[ Knocks on door ] [ A woman cracks the door, but leaves the security chain engaged ]
Vandyke: We’re here for Mary.
[ Mary Bremmer stands behind the woman at the door ]
Mary: Is Neville here? Is he with you?
Vandyke: Open the door and we can talk.
[ Door chain scrapes, rattles ] [ Door opens ]

 
[ Outside the multistory building where Mary Bremmer is, Ressler and Park are parked in an SUV equipped with surveillance equipment. They monitor the chatter. Ressler is also coordinating teams for a sting ]

[ Chatter heard by Ressler and teams over surveillance: ]
— [ Static, radio tuning ]
— Woman: But it’s your stuff. I mean, what do you want me to do?
— Woman 2: The senator…
— [ Static crackles ]
— …explanation. It’s being widely anticipated…

[ Dog barking ]
Park: [ To Ressler ] You okay?
Ressler: I’m fine.
Park: You don’t seem fine.
Ressler: [ Into microphone ] Hey, camera two, scan that second floor again for me, will you?

[ Chatter heard by Ressler and teams over surveillance: ]
— Woman: You said that I could make it up in extra…

Park: I know how hard this is for you.
Ressler: The NSA said this is where the call came from. Keen’s here.
Park: Point is, you’re doing the right thing. Seeing this through. Bringing her in.

[ Chatter heard by Ressler and teams over surveillance: ]
— Man: It’s– It’s not a problem with the wiring.

Ressler: [ To Park ] Just make sure she doesn’t get hurt. [ Into microphone] Hey, unit two. Third floor west.

[ Heard by Ressler and teams over surveillance: ]
Vandyke: I know what was agreed to, but he changed his mind.
Mary: Just go with him, please.
Woman: No. Absolutely not. 🔘 [See Note]
Vandyke: He’s insisting.
Woman: I gave you very specific instructions. I was very clear.
Vandyke: And I realize that.

Park: He just make us?
Agent: [ Over comms ] I think he did. Should we move in?
Ressler: No. Hold tight.

[ Heard by Ressler and teams over surveillance: ]
Mary: You understand why he’s insisting on a neutral location. He has no reason to trust you.

[ Ressler sees movement at a window ]
Ressler: Park. What do you think? Lookout?
⋘⋙
[ In the apartment ] [ The look-out, “Beans,” has noticed the unmarked FBI SUV ]
Beans: Hey, lady. These your friends?
[ A woman in a knit cap and long wavy hair looks out of the window ]
⋘⋙
Ressler: That’s her, Park. That’s her.
⋘⋙
[ The group in the apartment hurriedly exits ]
Mary: What the hell are you doing?
Vandyke: Getting you out of here!
⋘⋙
Ressler: Breach. Breach. All units, go now!
Park: I’ll take the north.
[ They jump out and run toward the building ]
⋘⋙
Vandyke: [ On radio, to their driver ] Keen lied. It’s a setup. We’re coming your way.
[ Gunshots 💥💥💥 ] [ Grunts ] [ Gunshots continue 💥💥💥 ]
Park: Shots fired. Shots fired. Officer down.
[ Grunting ] [ Ressler runs down a service alley. He thinks he sees Liz. She turns around ]
[ Gun cocks ]
Ressler: Stop! Keen! Put it down!
[ She first aims at Ressler but then instead shoots the FBI agent behind him ] [ Gunshot 💥 ] [ Grunts ]
[ She turns and climbs up a ladder ]
Officer: I’m okay.
⋘⋙
[ Back inside the building, she runs into Vandyke, gun drawn ]
Vandyke: You wanna live, you come with me.
⋘⋙
[ Ressler finds the apartment. He looks out of the window ]
Ressler: Park, they’re on the street. Moving west, headed your way.
⋘⋙
[ Gunshots 💥💥💥 ] [ Grunts ]
[ Vandyke and the others climb into the get-away car, all except for Mary Bremmer ]
Park: Freeze! Don’t move! FBI!
— Forget Mary! Leave her!
[ The get-away car takes off ]
Park: Hands!
[ Mary Bremmer is arrested, but the others escape ]

 
[ An interrogation room at the Post Office. Ressler is seated across from Mary Bremmer. Cooper and Aram are also there ]
Ressler: Elizabeth Keen. Where is she?
Mary Bremmer: I don’t know. Dead for all I care.
Ressler: She grabbed you in France, used you to lure out Neville Townsend.
Mary: She grabbed me and befriended me, tricked me into believing I could trust her, when all she wanted was to use me to betray my brother.
Cooper: Say that again.
Mary: Neville Townsend is my brother.
Aram: A war criminal and an international fugitive. Your parents must be proud.
Ressler: Keen thought she was using you to trap Townsend, but you made sure it was the other way around.
Mary: I was minding my own business when she kidnapped me. I’ve done nothing wrong.
Aram: Except use chemical weapons on men, women, and children.
Mary: I’m a research scientist. If you can prove otherwise, arrest me. If not, let me go.
Cooper: That’s not gonna happen.
Mary: Then I’m not gonna tell you what you want to know.

 
[ Inside Red’s Mercedes ]
[ Cellphone rings, beeps🔅]
Dembe: It’s Cooper.
Red: Harold, please tell me you found her.
Cooper: Found and lost, I’m afraid.
Red: Townsend got there first?
Cooper: He got Elizabeth. We got his sister, Chemical Mary.
Red: Mary Bremmer? She’s Townsend’s sister?
Cooper: We have her in interrogation, but we’re not getting anywhere.
Red: Our Townsend associate is proving to be equally obstinate. We’re ratcheting up his Q&A, moving from paper to plastic.
Cooper: You know Townsend. What hope does she have?
Red: He’s a very dangerous man. Elizabeth kidnapped his sister, and now he has Elizabeth. If I were her, I’d feel pretty hopeless.
⋘⋙
[ Agent Park appears at Cooper’s door ] [ Cellphone beeps🔅]
Cooper: Any word on Agent Keen?
Park: No, but we found Rakitin.

 
[ Police radio chatter ] [ Cooper and Park walk toward a vehicle ]
Park: He was one of the five suspects we’d been investigating at the Office of Intelligence and Analysis. Suspending his security clearance must have spooked him. Apparently, he was notified this morning that his credentials were frozen. Left the office. Neighborhood security patrol found his car less than an hour later.
[ Inside the car is a dead man, gun in hand, an apparent suicide ]
Cooper: Wrap the vehicle. Get Evidence Response on site. Something here points to his relationship with Reddington, and I want it found.

 
[ An older man, Godwin Page, walks along a hallway with a young Black woman, Blake Brown ]
Blake Brown: Godwin, I’m begging you. Please.
Godwin Page: It’s urgent.
Blake: He gave me very specific instructions.
Godwin: This takes precedence.
Blake: Whatever it is, it’ll have to wait. His last episode was four days. He was manic. He can’t be disturbed.
Godwin: Blake, my love, we need to wake Mr. Townsend. Right now.
[ They enter a darkened bedroom. Neville Townsend is sleeping, sitting upright in a chair. Next to the chair is a small table with a half dozen or so prescription bottles on it ]
Blake: [ Gently ] Neville? Neville, can you hear me?
[ She touches his hand. Townsend wakes with a start and grabs her wrist ]
Blake: [ Groans ] It’s okay. It’s okay, Mr. Townsend. You were sleeping.
[ Townsend breathes heavily ]
Godwin: Sir. I’m sorry to wake you, sir. It’s Elizabeth Keen. We have her.

 
[ Townsend enters a room where a woman sits, her head covered with a black sack ]
Neville Townsend: I’ve been dreaming about you, Elizabeth. You. Your mother. The malice you must feel toward me because of her death. It’s as if I– I manifested you, brought you here from my sleep. Why? We both know why.
[ He sits down across from her ]
Townsend: We know I need to be the last face you see while you’re begging for your life.
[ Vandyke removes the sack from the woman’s head. It’s not Liz, but someone who looks a lot like her ]
Townsend: What is this? Who– What have you done?
Vandyke: You need to hear her out.
Townsend: You said you had Elizabeth Keen.
Woman: Neville. Look at me. I am Elizabeth Keen.
⋘⋙
[ The scene appears contemporaneously on a computer screen at a remote location, watched by someone wearing headphones ]

 
[ Cooper calls Red from the site of the apparent suicide. Red is in the kitchen of his restaurant ]
Cooper: I thought our focus was finding Elizabeth.
Red: That’s right.
Cooper: I thought we had an understanding.
Red: We do. And I’m living up to that. Though your tone suggests you believe otherwise.
Cooper: What “suggests otherwise” is Rakitin’s dead body.
Red: What are you talking about?
Cooper: You killed him.
Red: No, I did not.
Cooper: You took time out from trying to find Elizabeth in order to save your own hide, to keep him from confirming that you’re N-13.
Red: I’m not worried about my hide. I worry about Elizabeth’s. I strongly suggest you do the same. And whoever is dead, I certainly didn’t kill him.
Cooper: I don’t believe you.
Red: Well, that’s your problem, not mine.
[ Cellphone beeps🔅] [ Police radio chatter ]
⋘⋙
Red: Harold says Rakitin is dead.
Dembe: We would have heard.
[ Sighs ] [ Cellphone🔅beeping🔅]
Red: I’m gonna make some calls, scratch around. After you finish that, why don’t you swing by his place, see what you can find.
[🔅Beeping continues🔅]

 
[ Townsend has just finished reading a letter ]
Vandyke: She had it in her jacket when we searched her.
Townsend: Well, Miss – Keen. This is certainly unprecedented. Where’s Mary?
Woman: In FBI custody.
Townsend: And she took her, what, to hurt me?
Woman: Talk to me, Neville. I’m right here. I’m looking right at you.
⋘⋙
[ The woman watching remotely puts her cup down in front of the computer ]
⋘⋙
Townsend: [ Sighs ] Why did you take my sister?
Woman: Because I had no way to reach you. Abducting your sister forced her to make contact, to negotiate her own safe return, and to get this face to face meeting with you. I had nothing to do with today’s capture.
Townsend: No? You’re an FBI agent.
Woman: Not anymore, I’m not. The FBI can’t help me. You can.
Townsend: If you thought saving my sister would put you in my good graces, you’re wrong.
Besides, why would you think I’d help you? I’ve done nothing but hurt you. I murdered your mother. I’ll kill you once–
Woman: You believe my mother was murdered by the Kazanjian Brothers. That never happened. They betrayed you, cut a deal with my mother to fake her death and buy her the time she needed to clear her name.
Townsend: I don’t believe any of this.
Woman: And I don’t expect you to. You’ve spent 30 years hunting my mother because you believe she’s the Russian turncoat they call N-13. She’s not. She was innocent.
Townsend: Katarina Rostova is N-13.
Woman: Katarina Rostova was framed by her father and set up as a patsy. She knew that you and the rest of the world would never stop hunting her until she could prove that truth, a truth she died trying to uncover.
Townsend: You said she was alive.
Woman: She was. Until Raymond Reddington killed her.
Townsend: Are you saying Reddington killed her to hide the fact he’s N-13?
Woman: Yes. And I can prove it. That he’s the reason your family’s dead. He’s the one you need to kill, and I’m here to help you do exactly that.
Townsend: Tell me more.

 
[ The kitchen of Red’s restaurant ] [ Red dries silverware ]
[ Door creaks open ] [ Dembe enters with Rakitin ]
[ Silverware clinking lightly ]
Red: What the hell are you up to?
[ Door creaks shut ]
Rakitin: They wanted Rakitin, I gave them someone who fits the bill.
Red: I told you I was handling it.
Rakitin: Does Cooper believe it was me?
Red: That’s not the point.
Rakitin: That’s the only point. The witch hunt is over and there’s one less government knob sticking his nose into our business. You should be thanking me.
Red: You tricked them. For a day. Maybe two. But they’ll see past it, and when they do, they’ll come looking for you.
Rakitin: You give them too much credit.
Red: My friend, I am engaged in a 30-year project. Now, you may be a vital part of that, but if you jeopardize it again as the impetuous amateur that you are, I will let you go. Permanently. Is that clear?

 
[ Aram and Park are working at nearby workstations in the war room. Aram is looking at scenes from Mary Bremmer’s chemical weapons attacks. Park is reviewing surveillance from the stake-out at the apartment building ]
Park: Still combing through surveillance.
Aram: I can’t believe she’d work with someone like this.
Park: She wasn’t working with her. She was using her to get to Townsend.
Aram: Have you seen what she’s done? Chemical Mary. The way her weapons have been used. Against civilians, children. The Agent Keen I know wouldn’t use someone like this to get to Townsend or anyone else. She’d arrest her and make sure she couldn’t hurt anyone again.
Park: Whoa.
Aram: What is it?
Park: Look. This is footage from the raid, and that’s supposed to be her.
[ Keys clacking ]
Aram: Agent Keen.
Park: Right. Except–
[ Keys clacking ] [🔅Beeping🔅] [ A close-up comes up ]
Aram: It’s not Agent Keen.
Park: Someone’s pretending to be her.
Aram: Why would anyone do that? But, uh, more importantly, this woman, where did they take her?

 
[ Neville Townsend’s place ] [ Cellphone beeps🔅]

[ Audio recording plays ]
Katarina: I can’t imagine what this must be like for you. Knowing you can’t kill me because of how much Elizabeth loves her mother.
[ Two gunshots 💥💥 ]

[ Beeps🔅]
Neville Townsend: That’s quite – convincing.
Woman: I wouldn’t have gone to the effort of taking your sister, luring you out, of making this pitch unless I was certain. Raymond Reddington killed my mother because she had uncovered the truth. She had evidence. She discovered his plan, and he killed her to keep her quiet.
Townsend: Even if you’re right, why would I ever trust you?
Woman: I told you, I’m not an FBI agent.
Townsend: The FBI raided my team during a meeting with you. They have my sister. They’ll force her to talk.
Woman: Those are the very people enabling Reddington. Working with him.
Townsend: The FBI.
Woman: I told you, he’s embedded himself in the Bureau, gained their trust. To what end, I don’t know, which is why I need your help.
Townsend: You mean my money.
Woman: I mean your influence. Look, Reddington has an army on both sides of the law. I can’t do this alone. I need a partner.
Townsend: What you’ve done, coming here like this, it’s– It’s audacious. But if I were to even consider an alliance, I’d need to know, without question, that I can trust you.
Woman: You can trust me.
Townsend: I hope so. Which is why I’m going to give you an opportunity to prove it.

 
[ The Post Office war room ]
Ressler: I can see it’s not Keen, but what I can’t figure out is why it’s not Keen.
Aram: And how did she find someone that looks exactly like her?
[ Park enters ]
Park: Just got the forensics back from the scene. No hit on the prints and nothing off facial recognition. Whoever Keen’s doppelganger is, she’s not in any database.
[ Cooper walks over ]
Ressler: We got nothing. No leads.
Cooper: We don’t have to find her.
Ressler: Why not? She could lead us to Keen.
Cooper: We don’t have to find her because she found us. She surrendered herself out front five minutes ago.
[ The elevator opens and the Liz look-alike is escorted in by two officers ]

 
[ Ressler is an interrogation room with Mary Bremmer. The others observe from outside ]
Ressler: We can sit here all day, but this, whatever it is we’re doing, it’s not gonna work. Look, you obviously are working with her. You’re some kind of a surrogate. So, why don’t you tell me how I can help?
Liz look-alike: Ressler, I told you what I need.
Ressler: No, it’s Agent Ressler.
Liz look-alike: Donald. Come on. I care about you. I want to end this as much as you do, but I need your help.
Ressler: We’re not giving you immunity.
Liz look-alike: I can’t tell you what’s happening until you do. Please.
Ressler: Talk to me about Keen.
Liz look-alike: I told you, it’s me.
Ressler: No.
Liz look-alike: You want proof? [ Leans forward, low voice ] Why don’t we start with what happened between you and me the night before I went on the run?
Ressler: Who the hell are you?
Liz look-alike: [ Loudly ] Harold. Please. I need your help. Reach out to Panabaker. See if she’ll consider a deal.
⋘⋙
[ Cooper’s office ]
Cynthia Panabaker: Absolutely not!
Ressler: Giving her immunity is the only way that we can find Keen.
Panabaker: Giving who immunity? We don’t even know who she is.
Ressler: Well, we know she knows a lot about Keen.
Panabaker: What she knows is that you thought it was a fine idea to dip your wick in the fugitive end of the swimming pool. Honestly, Harold, sometimes I wonder if Keen is still out there because you can’t find her or because none of you want to.
Cooper: It’s hard going after a beloved colleague. I make no secret of that. But I’d remind you that we apprehended Chemical Mary, a war criminal who’s eluded capture for over a decade. That, thanks to this Task Force, she’s sitting in an interrogation room awaiting transport to central lockup.
Panabaker: I am aware you have neutered more than your fair share of swamp creatures, which is why I give you a perilously long leash. But it’s not so long that I’ll approve granting immunity to someone whose identity I am unaware of.
Cooper: Ressler, go over the forensics again. Facial recognition, prints. See what you can find.
[ Ressler heads out of Cooper’s office ]
Panabaker: Be good if that included your dignity.
[ Cooper’s landline ☎️ rings ]
Cooper: This is Cooper.
Red: I thought I had someone who could help us locate Elizabeth. Sadly, I was mistaken.
Cooper: Townsend doesn’t have her. We thought he did. When we raided her safe house, we thought we saw his team grab Keen, but turns out, it was a look-alike.
Panabaker: If you boys are done mansplaining to each other–
Cooper: [ To Red ] Play nice. Cynthia Panabaker’s here.
Red: Tell me about this look-alike.
Cooper: She was a walk-in.
Panabaker: Says she’ll lead us to Keen if she gets immunity, which I will not be granting until I know exactly who we’re dealing with.
Red: A look-alike. A walk-in. Someone who knows how to lead you to Agent Keen. Be careful, Harold. I suspect that woman may be a Cyranoid.
Cooper: Excuse me?
Red: A play on a play. Cyrano de Bergerac, in which the homely but clever poet woos the lovely Roxane by speaking through a handsome intermediary. A timeless tale, perfectly adapted to the criminal world.
Panabaker: What the hell is he talking about?
Red: Imagine being able to hire trained operatives – ex-Mossad, discharged military personnel, agents of all stripes – to be your eyes, your ears, and your voice.
Cooper: Are you saying that Liz can hear everything her – Cyranoid can?
Red: Yes. She’s the master of her own puppet. An avatar of herself. Consider the arms dealer who’s conducting business in a war zone. Or the cartel leader who’s personally delivering a ransom. One might dream up any number of dicey and dangerous situations in which criminals would fear for their lives. Cyranoids are the solution. They’re paid surrogates offering a physical likeness of their employer while broadcasting the experience to said employer.
Panabaker: Broadcasting how?
Red: A device in the eye. A gadget in the ear. I don’t know how the magic works. I’m told it’s a voyeur’s delight.
Cooper: If you’re right and this is Elizabeth’s stand-in, why would she give herself up?
Red: My suspicion, Harold, is that she hasn’t. She just wants you to believe that she has.
⋘⋙
[ Liz’s Cyranoid is alone in the interrogation room. She walks over to a panel on the wall and opens it. Behind it is a keypad. She enters a combination. The room goes dark ]
⋘⋙
Panabaker: Something tells me the canary just ate the cat.

 
[ The war room ]
Park: I have double-checked. I’ve triple-checked. We can’t ID her.
Aram: Whoever she is, she is not our problem. Now, this – This is our problem. Douma and Khan Shaykhun. Syrian children victimized by chlorine gas.
Ressler: What are you doing?
Aram: We have a war criminal in custody. I am going to confront her with her war crimes.
[ Cooper enters ]
Cooper: She cut the feed. Keen’s Cyranoid.
Park: Her what?
Cooper: The doppelganger. We’ve lost visual contact.
⋘⋙
[ Ressler rushes to the interrogation room and enters ]
[ Ressler’s phone beeps🔅]
Ressler: She’s gone. Repeat, she’s gone.

 
[ Liz’s Cyranoid finds Mary Bremmer’s interrogation room. She keys in a combination ] [ Keypad beeps🔅]
Mary Bremmer: How did you get in here?
Liz’s Cyranoid: Your brother. He sent me.
Mary: What? How? What do you mean sent?

[ Flashback: ]
Liz’s Cyranoid: I am not a murderer.
Townsend: She knows too much. She’s made herself a liability.
Liz’s Cyranoid: She’s your sister.
Townsend: You can’t beat Reddington without me. That’s why you’re here. You need me on your team. This is my price. Are you willing to pay it?

Mary: What are we doing? Does Neville have people on the way?
Liz’s Cyranoid: Your brother loves you very much.
Mary: Oh! [ Grunting ] [ Choking ]
[ Liz’s Cyranoid strangles Mary Bremmer to death ]

 
[ Aram keys in the combination to the interrogation room ] [🔅Keypad beeping🔅] [ Aram enters, gun drawn ]
Aram: Do not move.
Liz’s Cyranoid: Aram. Put the gun down, Aram.
Aram: How do you know my name?
Liz’s Cyranoid: Aram, it’s me. It’s Liz.
⋘⋙
[ Park find the room where Aram and Liz’s Cyranoid are located on the real-time surveillance feed ]
Cooper: There. Go back.
[ Keys clacking ]
Cooper: Sector Four. Lower level. B-corridor south. Lock it down.
[ 🚨Alarms blaring🚨 ]
⋘⋙
Liz’s Cyranoid: I promise you, Aram–
Aram: Get on the ground.
Liz’s Cyranoid: –I hired the woman you’re looking at right now. I can see and hear everything she does. She says what I tell her to say.
Aram: I said get on the ground.
Liz’s Cyranoid: That’s how she knew about the Task Force. That’s how she got out of interrogation. I told her how to kill the cameras, gave her the override codes.
Aram: Stop where you are, or I will shoot.
Liz’s Cyranoid: Turbo.
Aram: What?
Liz’s Cyranoid: Your pet turtle’s name is Turbo. You ride your bike to work. You like your salad dressing on the side. Your last girlfriend was a socio—
Aram: Do not come any closer!
Liz’s Cyranoid: Aram, it’s me.
⋘⋙
[ 🚨Blaring🚨continues ]
Ressler: Breach control, Sector Four. We need a team at the south egress.
⋘⋙
Aram: If you’re Liz or – acting for Liz, whatever, just – Why kill Mary Bremmer? Liz would never do that.
Liz’s Cyranoid: I don’t expect you to understand, but I am doing what is necessary to end this. To stop Reddington.
Aram: She was in our custody.
Liz’s Cyranoid: She was a murderer, Aram. She killed innocents.
[ Liz’s Cyranoid looks over toward Mary’s body; Aram follows her gaze. She pushes past him ]
Aram: [ Groans ] No.
[ She pulls the door closed behind her ]
[ Aram tries to shoot through the glass 💥💥💥 but it is bulletproof ]
Aram: No.
[ Liz’s Cyranoid grabs a fire extinguisher and smashes the door lock, trapping Aram inside ]
[ 🚨Blaring🚨continues ]
Liz’s Cyranoid: I’m sorry, Aram.

 
[ A radio repair shop ] [ Light jazz music plays on an old-fashioned radio ]
[ A buzzer announces a new customer ]
Rory: Be right with you!
[ Red and Dembe walk into the back room ]
Rory: Whoa, hey, sorry. Employees only. I can help you two up front.
Red: I need to speak with The Commissioner. ⋘⋙ The Commissioner? Isn’t that what he calls himself?
[ To Dembe ] I thought you said he calls himself The Commissioner. Or The Commander. Sorry. The Commander.
Dembe: Jafari calls him The Commissioner.
Red: I need to speak with The Commissioner.
Rory: [ Chuckles ] Guys, um– I don’t know who The Commissioner is, or why you think he’s here, but we fix radios–
[ 💥 Red shoots the radio ]
Red: The Commissioner.
Rory: Right. You, um– need to speak to Mr. Wonderly first. Be vetted by security.
[ Red slaps his gun on the table in front of Rory and takes a seat ]
Red: Let’s not waste anyone’s life today.
Rory: Just– Just a minute.
[ Rory turns around and unlocks a small safe with his fingerprint ]
[🔅Beeping 🔅] [ Beep🔅]
[ He takes out a small box, out of which he takes an earpiece and puts it on. Then he takes a single contact lens from the box and inserts it in his eye ]
Rory: Paging him now.

 
[ Ressler with several officers finds Aram trapped in the interrogation room ]
Aram: The doppelganger. Agent Keen’s telling her what to do, where to go. She has a radio.
Ressler: [ To officers ] Notify CRT. Get men down to the utility corridor. Lock it down.

 
[ From an unknown location, The Commissioner puts on headphones and looks at Red on a computer screen ]
[ Receiver pinging 🔅🔅🔅 ]
The Commissioner: What’s this?
Rory as Cyranoid for the Commissioner: “You’re not on my schedule.”
Red: Commissioner. Are you in there? This is surreal. I’ll get to the point. I need information on one of your contracts.
The Commissioner: Who are you? How did you find me?
Red: Uh, who I am doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I found you, and that I’m willing to tell the world everything I know about your little enterprise unless you tell me where I can find your client Elizabeth Keen.
The Commissioner: Okay, just hold on. Slow down–
Rory as Cyranoid for The Commissioner: –I don’t have client information.
Red: I suspect you keep a rather close watch on your clients.
Rory for The Commissioner: On their money, yes. On their payments. Not their physical whereabouts.
The Commissioner: The only way to do that is to trace the signal while they’re communicating– Rory for The Commissioner: –through their Cyranoid in real time.
Red: Okay, then. The location of Elizabeth Keen’s Cyranoid. I need it. In exchange, I stay quiet and your little shop of horrors remains our secret.

 
[ 🚨Alarms blaring🚨 ] [ Agents search the hallways in the far reaches of the Post Office, looking for Liz’s Cyranoid ]
Liz’s Cyranoid: [ On radio ] Hey.
Ressler: Keen. I know you can hear this.
Liz’s Cyranoid: You should let me go.
Ressler: Those days are over.
Liz’s Cyranoid: Why? Nothing’s changed.
Ressler: No. You ordered your puppet to murder Bremmer. Now you’re helping her escape.
Liz’s Cyranoid: I’ve missed you.
Ressler: Well, how about we get together? Have a little chat. All right? You know where to find me.
[ Liz’s Cyranoid comes up behind Ressler and holds her gun to the back of his head ]
Liz’s Cyranoid: Yeah. As a matter of fact, I do. Give me your gun.
[ Ressler surrenders his gun ]
Ressler: Don’t do this.
Liz’s Cyranoid: Cooper, I know you can hear me. I have Ressler. Tell everyone to stand down. I don’t want to hurt him, but if I see even one guard, I will shoot him.
[ They have reached an elevator, but it has a keypad that requires an access code ]
Liz’s Cyranoid: [ To Ressler ] The alarm scrambled the codes. You know the new ones. I don’t.
[ Ressler keys in the numbers ] [🔅Beeping🔅] [ Elevator doors open ]
Liz’s Cyranoid: I meant what I said. I really do miss you.
[ Elevator doors close ]

 
[ Miss Collins, the woman who has been acting as Liz’s Cyranoid, arrives home. She takes a call on her cell phone. It’s from Rory, the young man who works at the radio repair shop ]
Miss Collins: Yeah.
Rory: Thank God. There you are. Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you.
Collins: What do you mean where have I been? I’ve been on assignment.
Rory: Doesn’t matter. Just– Just listen to me.
Collins: What’s wrong? What’s going on?
Rory: There were two men. They know. I dunno how, but they know. They came to the nest asking about the contract.
Collins: I can’t reach the client. You know that. We only correspond through–
Rory: The interface. I know. Which is why The Commissioner was forced to give them your location. They know where you are. They’re coming.
[ Collins rushes to the end table where her gun should be. Dembe is sitting on the couch ]
Red: Elizabeth.
[ Collins turns around. Red has her revolver. He waves it in the air ]
Red: I think we’re long overdue for a talk.
Collins: I can’t help you. I don’t know where she is. We’re not online.
Red: Then bring her back online. ⋘⋙ That’s not a request.
Collins: Whatever it is you want, you can’t get to her. You can’t hurt her. It’s why she has me as an avatar.
Red: I want to talk to her.
[ Collin puts on her earpiece and inserts the contact lens ]
[ Beep🔅] [ Liz is online ]
Collins: [ To Liz ] Yes. I am, thank you. Actually, no, there’s a man who’s insisting on speaking with you. ⋘⋙ Yes. He’s here now.
[ Collins turns to face Red ]
Collins: [ Exhales slowly ] [ Slowly, she opens her eyes ]
[ At Liz’s location, a view of Red appears on a computer screen ]
Red: Is she there? Elizabeth, are you there?
Liz’s Cyranoid: I’m here.
Red: This certainly makes me reconsider my dislike of cellphones.
Liz’s Cyranoid: What do you want?
Red: I’d like this to stop. For us to find peace. To talk.
Liz’s Cyranoid: We’re talking now.
Red: Where are you? I can come to you.
Liz’s Cyranoid: I don’t want to see you.
Red: We need to speak. Face to face, just you and I.
Liz’s Cyranoid: See, that’s the thing about you. You’re used to getting your way every time. Well, that’s not gonna work with me. Not anymore.
[ Red has Collins’s gun. He lets five of the bullets clatter to the floor, holds up the sixth ]
Liz’s Cyranoid: You can’t follow or interrogate me. That’s why I have a Cyranoid. To eliminate your control. And as far as finding me? Good luck, and goodbye, Reddington.
[ He slips slips the bullet in and spins the cylinder for a game of Russian Roulette. He points the gun at Collins’s forehead ]
Liz’s Cyranoid: So, now you’re gonna kill an innocent bystander to get to me?
Red: The innocent bystander you used for your contract killing of Mary Bremmer? I’m no lawyer, but I’m pretty sure that makes her a murderer. What it makes you, I’m still grappling with. The more immediate question is whether you’re willing to let this woman die as a result of your choices?
Liz’s Cyranoid: I’m not holding a gun.
Red: But you are, Elizabeth. Tell me where to find you, and she lives.
[ Red points the gun at Liz’s Cyranoid’s forehead ] [ Gun clicks ✵ ]
Liz’s Cyranoid: You really think you have power over me, don’t you?
Red: Your location.
Liz’s Cyranoid: I’m not giving it to you.
[ Gun clicks ✵ ]
Liz’s Cyranoid: I am not surrendering myself to you.
[ Gun clicks ✵ ] Okay.
Miss Collins (as herself): Stop. Please. Stop.
Red: Your location.
Liz’s Cyranoid: I didn’t say stop. She did.
Red: This young woman doesn’t deserve to die, Elizabeth. It’s your decision, but Miss Collins has three chambers left.
Liz’s Cyranoid: If you’re going to put a bullet in that poor woman’s head, that’s your doing, not mine.
[ Gun clicks ✵ ]
Collins (as herself): Please, sir, I’m begging you. I can help you find her. Just put the gun down, please.
Red: Two chambers, Elizabeth.
Liz’s Cyranoid: Miss Collins. Is that your name? I’m sorry to put you in this situation. I’m so terribly sorry.
[ Gun clicks ✵ ]
Red: You’re an extremely lucky young woman. But unfortunately, that’s it. Last chance. Give me your location, Elizabeth, or the next chamber is blood on your hands.
Liz’s Cyranoid: Do what you’re gonna do. This conversation is over.
[ Beeps🔅] [ Call ends ]
Collins: Wait! Stop, please. She’s gone. She disconnected. Please, I’m begging you. She’s gone.
Red: [ Calls out to Dembe ] Did we get the trace?
[ Dembe steps out ]
Dembe: Columbia Heights. Quincy Street.
[ Red, holding up the bullet, shows Collins that all six chambers of the revolver had been empty the whole time ]
Collins: [ Exhales deeply ]
Red: A cheap trick. My apologies.

 
[ Cooper’s office ]
Cynthia Panabaker: Where’s the line, Harold? The bright light. The demarcation between what you won’t stand for and what you’ll let slide even as it rots your soul.
Cooper: If I had a quarter for every time I’ve asked myself that question–
Panabaker: [ Sighs ] I can’t unsee what I saw.
Cooper: Of course you can. People do it every day. Look away from bigotry. Degradation. Disease. Ignore injustice.
[ Cooper pours two glasses of Scotch ]
Panabaker: Someone was murdered here today.
Cooper: You don’t understand Agent Keen. What she’s been through, the incredible burden Reddington placed on her. If you knew the whole story, if you knew half of it, you’d be as amazed as I am that she’s behaved as well as she has. I never could have. I don’t know anyone who could.
Panabaker: So you’re saying there is no line.
Cooper: No. I’m saying that drawing it is about the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. But I– think it’s time I do just that.

 
[ The Post Office war room ] [ Agent Park slaps an official document down for Ressler and Aram to see ]
Ressler: What’s this?
Park: Evidence Response Team’s report. From the cryptographer’s vehicle.
Aram: [ Reading ] He had fruit punch in his thermos?
Ressler: The intel on the drive that Keen stole from Reddington. It’s all here.
Park: It is now. It wasn’t when he died.
Ressler: What do you mean?
Park: He had a laptop in his vehicle. None of the files on the deep cover agents found on Rakitin’s drive was there at the time of his death.
Ressler: So who input the data? A ghost?
Park: How about Rakitin? Think about it. He knows we’re looking for him. I don’t know how he does, but just go with it for a sec. He knows there’s only five people with access to this kind of intel, so he kills one of them and uploads the incriminating data onto his computer.
Ressler: Looks like he did us a favor.
Aram: How do you figure?
Ressler: Well, originally, we had five suspects, and now we have four. That puts us 20% closer to finding the real Rakitin.
⋘⋙
[ Cooper and Panabaker come out of their meeting ] [ Panabaker walks alone toward the elevator; Cooper joins the group ]
Aram: What’s she gonna do about today?
Cooper: Issue an arrest warrant for Elizabeth Keen.
Ressler: You couldn’t talk her out of that?
Cooper: I’m the one who asked her to do it.
[ Panabaker gets into the elevator ] [ Elevator doors close ]

 
[ Red and Dembe arrive at the address in Columbia Heights on Quincy Street to which Dembe traced the communications from Liz to her Cyranoid. A desk with a computer sits in a darkened, vacuous room. There is no sign of Liz, but there is a burner phone ]
[ Dialing ] [ Telephone rings✨] [ Neville Townsend answers ]
Neville Townsend: Reddington.
Red: Where’s Elizabeth Keen?
Townsend: Life is full of little surprises, isn’t it? Imagine mine when I learned Rostova wasn’t responsible for the death of my family.
Red: But she was.
Townsend: Keen says otherwise.
Red: A daughter wanting to believe there was good in a mother who was bad.
Townsend: I heard the tape. You killing Rostova to cover the truth. So very operatic, even for you.
Red: Elizabeth Keen is not to be trusted.
Townsend: Oh, I think she is. She’s proven herself quite an asset already.
Red: Murdering your sister.
Townsend: Above and beyond, I think you’ll agree. It seems that there is literally nothing she won’t do to get to you. You certainly collect enemies in your wake. And as the wise men say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Red: My issues with Elizabeth Keen don’t concern you. And my issues with you don’t concern her.
Townsend: Oh, but they do. In ways you’ve kept secret for far too long. Uh, it turns out that you’re due for a reckoning. And Elizabeth Keen and I are coming to deliver one.
[ Call ends ]
⋘⋙
[ Townsend takes some pills with a glass of water ]
[ Blake Brown enters ]
Blake: Try and get some sleep.
Townsend: I always try. ⋘⋙ And I never do.

 
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❌❌❌ 8:9 End The Cyranoid

 
For S8 Episode 8:9 The Cyranoid 🎯 EW recap ¤ 🌅 Photo Gallery ¤ 🎹 Music Videos ¤ 📒 Script link: https://wp.me/pDKwi-aVi [ “you are here” ]

 

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Trivia: Once again, we do not see Liz in this episode. But we do hear from her. Liz’s lines via her surrogate are identified through the script in several evolving ways, so I thought I’d try to tie them together using the color I’ve been using for Liz: in previous scripts. I hope this is helpful. 🔘 [Return]

The concept of a “Cyranoid” is not new. According to Wikipedia, “Cyranoids are ‘people who do not speak thoughts originating in their own central nervous system: Rather, the words they speak originate in the mind of another person who transmits these words to the cyranoid by radio transmission.’” … “The cyranoid concept originated in the late 1970s with psychologist Stanley Milgram, who developed the idea as a means of operationalizing the mind–body fusion fantasy explored in Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac,” as accurately described by Red. The concept has proven useful in social psychology. I couldn’t help but think of the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th who, since arrested, have used as their defense that they were doing so at the direction of the former president. As Red points out, the perpetrator is the one responsible before the law. More on cyranoids from Wikipedia here: http://bit.ly/2OrETK2

 

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🔴 Episode Songs

 
♫ ⋙ Check Tunefind for any songs for this episode. Aside from few stanzas of a song playing on the radio (before Red shot 💥 it), I heard none.

♫ No Songs

 

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🔴 General

 
⭕ Script 8:9 The Cyranoid https://wp.me/pDKwi-aVi Status: FINAL @NBCBlacklist #TheBlacklist My site: BlacklistDCd.com https://twitter.com/BlacklistDCd/status/1368598575761022980?s=20/photo/1

⭕ Easy-Search Scripts updated thru Episode 8:9 The Cyranoid https://wp.me/pDKwi-awu#cyranoid #TheBlacklist @NBCBlacklist https://twitter.com/BlacklistDCd/status/1368634102249889801?s=20/photo/1

 
 

 
 

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