Luther Braxton Conclusion

"Luther Braxton Conclusion" is the tenth episode of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on February 5, 2015.

Plot

Following the missile blast at the prison, Reddington, Ressler and Samar escape safely. Braxton captures Liz, taking her to a hospital in Alaska to be tortured for information on the Fulcrum. Braxton kidnaps the child of one Dr. Selma Orchard (Gloria Reuben) to coerce her into performing a "memory recovery operation" on Liz while she is sedated. While Liz experiences multiple memory cycles, Reddington captures Braxton and arrives with the other agents to recover Liz. Liz has learned that Reddington was there at her home to recover the Fulcrum, and rescued her from the fire while her parents died in the chaos. She angrily tells Reddington that his fatherly concern for her is an act he needs to drop. Reddington later meets with the NCS director next to Braxton's hanged corpse, claiming to have custody of the Fulcrum. The director calls Reddington's bluff and states that he isn't afraid of Reddington. At her apartment, Liz goes through her personal effects and finds a strange device inside her childhood stuffed rabbit. Dr. Orchard later meets with Liz, telling her the events she recalled in the memory recovery are likely correct, but the roles of the people involved may not be.

Reception

Ratings

"Luther Braxton Conclusion" premiered on NBC on February 5, 2015 in the 9–10 p.m. time slot.^[1] The episode garnered a 2.4/7 Nielsen rating with 10.11 million viewers, making it the second highest-rated show in its time slot behind ABC's Scandal.^[2] It was also the twelfth highest-rated television show of the week.^[3]

Reviews

Ross Bonaime of Paste gave the episode a 4.5/10.^[4] He stated: "It’s fine for The Blacklist to keep some secrets. In fact, without some of these core secrets, The Blacklist would be completely without merit. Yet the way 'Luther Braxton: Conclusion' pretends to answer questions, only to further confound viewers is beyond irritating. There’s no commitment to any choice, which makes it seem like nothing matters."^[4]

Cory Barker of TV.com gave a mixed review of the episode.^[5] He stated: "Though I liked big chunks of the sojourn into Liz's melon, some of the more Red-centric stuff in 'Luther Braxton: Conclusion' lacked the zip of the material in Part 1."^[5]

References