# The Blacklist season 3

The third season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on October 1, 2015 and concluded on May 19, 2016. The season consisted of 23 episodes. The season was produced by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television, and Sony Pictures Television, and the executive producers were Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, and Joe Carnahan.

## Premise

The third season sees Liz and Reddington on the run from the government and the Task Force. The first part of the season explores The Cabal's efforts to capture Liz and Reddington and their efforts to clear Liz's name. The Cabal is represented by the ruthless Director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service Peter Kotsiopulos (David Strathairn). The season also introduces private intelligence contractor Susan "Scottie" Hargrave (Famke Janssen), the mother of secret agent Tom Keen, mercenary Mattias Solomon (Edi Gathegi) and ex-United States Navy officer Nez Rowan (Tawny Cypress), key characters for the spin-off series The Blacklist: Redemption, focusing on Tom and Scottie Hargrave. The final episodes of the season also introduce a new series antagonist Alexander Kirk, AKA Konstantin Rostov, a businessman with aplastic anaemia, who claims to be Liz's father and will stop at nothing to protect her and win her loyalty. An important subplot for the season is Liz's pregnancy and Reddington’s cleaner Mr. Kaplan's (Susan Blommaert) efforts to protect Liz and Tom's daughter from Reddington.

## Cast
### Main

* James Spader as Raymond Reddington
* Megan Boone as Elizabeth Keen
* Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler
* Ryan Eggold as Tom Keen
* Harry Lennix as Harold Cooper
* Amir Arison as Aram Mojtabai
* Mozhan Marnò as Samar Navabi
* Hisham Tawfiq as Dembe Zuma

### Recurring

* Susan Blommaert as Mr. Kaplan.
* Deidre Lovejoy as Cynthia Panabaker.
* David Strathairn as Peter Kotsiopulos, the Director of the National Clandestine Service.
* Edi Gathegi as Matias Solomon, a Cabal operative sent to hunt down Reddington.
* Adriane Lenox as Deputy Attorney General Reven Wright, the Department of Justice liaison to the Task Force.
* Christine Lahti as Laurel Hitchin, National Security Advisor and chairman of the commission tasked with investigating the OREA bombing.
* Margarita Levieva as Gina Zanetakos, a corporate terrorist turned master criminal who recruits Tom for a heist.
* Andrew Divoff as Karakurt, a Russian assassin responsible for the OREA bombing and killing of Senator Hawkins.
* Fisher Stevens as Marvin Gerard, Reddington's lawyer.
* Peter Vack as Asher Sutton, a socialite whom Tom Keen exploits to track Karakurt.
* Paul Reubens as Mr. Vargas, Reddington's double agent.
* Tony Plana as Mr. Diaz, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister whom Reddington asks for help.
* Conor Leslie as Gwen Hollander, Asher Sutton's girlfriend.
* Clark Middleton as Glen Carter, a DMV employee occasionally employed by Reddington.
* Ned van Zandt as Leonard Caul, an operative of Reddington's and an expert on computer security.
* Tawny Cypress as Nez Rowan, a mercenary.
* Famke Janssen as Susan "Scottie" Hargrave and the mother of Tom Keen.
* Ulrich Thomsen as Alexander Kirk/Konstantin Rostov, the man claiming to be Liz's father.
* Benito Martinez as Senator Robert Diaz, a presidential candidate being supported by Alexander Kirk.
* Murphy Guyer as The Eye in the Sky.
* Piter Marek as Nik, Liz's former boyfriend and Reddington's emergency doctor.
* Raoul Trujillo as Mato, a hitman employed by Alexander Kirk.

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Blacklist guide | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | US viewers (millions) |
| 45 | 1 | "The Troll Farmer" | No. 38 | Michael Watkins | Jon Bokenkamp & John Eisendrath | October 1, 2015 (2015-10-01) | 7.76 |
| With Liz and Reddington on the run, Red reaches out to his contacts to help flee the city, however his contact known as the Troll Farmer is unable to help them until a full week later than planned, which results in Red and Liz hiding at a bar that houses a secret compartment beneath. Ressler interrogates Cooper about Liz's last known whereabouts and also does everything to find them as the new Director of the task force. Tipped off about Red and Liz's location, Ressler attempts to capture them but fails. Forcing the Troll Farmer to help them ahead of time, Red manages to escape the city, but Liz gets separated from him and is forced to go to the Russian Embassy, claiming to be a spy for the KGB. Meanwhile, an associate of the NCS Director, Solomon, kidnaps Dembe's infant granddaughter to attract his attention, blackmailing him to inhale an unspecified drug in exchange for her life. ||||||||
| 46 | 2 | "Marvin Gerard" | No. 80 | Andrew McCarthy | Story by : J. R. Orci & Lukas Reiter Teleplay by : Daniel Knauf & Brandon Sonnier & Brandon Margolis | October 8, 2015 (2015-10-08) | 7.02 |
| After Liz turns herself in to the Russian Embassy, the Cabal uses this opportunity as a means to kill her. Reddington warns Ressler of Liz's impending doom and has him stop that convoy, which gives Liz a chance to escape. Later, Liz and Reddington reunite at a diner which later turns into an improvised hostage situation when Ressler and his team show up. Reddington demands the release of fellow Blacklister Marvin Gerard (Fisher Stevens) a former top defense lawyer, who Red wants to help decode the Fulcrum and expose the Cabal. The hostage situation is later revealed to be a jailbreak for Gerard, as the diner turns out to be a smuggling location, which allows them to flee the scene. Elsewhere, Cooper is forced to take a leave of absence while his involvement in the assassination is being reviewed. Meanwhile, Dembe is tortured for information by Solomon on Red's whereabouts and Tom reappears to Ressler, offering help. Red and Liz escape in a shipping container on a cargo ship. ||||||||
| 47 | 3 | "Eli Matchett" | No. 72 | Steven A. Adelson | Lukas Reiter & J. R. Orci | October 15, 2015 (2015-10-15) | 6.93 |
| On the run in Iowa, Red and Liz seek to gain leverage over the Cabal by thwarting the plans of an officer of an agribusiness firm that launders money for it. Eli Matchett leads a group that steals company secrets; he develops a virus to kill the crops grown from the company's seeds. Meanwhile, Cooper turns to Tom Keen for help. Dembe resists physical torture during his interrogation, causing Solomon to bring in Mr. Vargas as another one of his prisoners. ||||||||
| 48 | 4 | "The Djinn" | No. 43 | Omar Madha | Daniel Cerone | October 22, 2015 (2015-10-22) | 6.68 |
| Reddington and Liz continue their quest into clearing Liz's name. Meanwhile, Reddington seeks help from the task force into catching Blacklister named "The Djinn", a criminal who helps fulfill revenge fantasies and who could lead them to the Cabal. Tom accepts Cooper's undercover assignment to pursue Karakurt, and looks to infiltrate a crime ring that may be protecting Karakurt. Meanwhile, Dembe successfully escapes, but is betrayed and shot by Mr. Vargas when he learns how to locate Reddington. ||||||||
| 49 | 5 | "Arioch Cain" | No. 50 | Alex Zakrzewski | Dawn DeNoon | October 29, 2015 (2015-10-29) | 7.03 |
| After an attempt on Liz's life, she and Reddington search for a blacklister named Arioch Cain, who has placed a bounty on Liz to avenge the OREA bombing and the assassination of a senator, both committed by Karakurt and believed in the media to have been committed by Liz. Meanwhile, Ressler testifies before a Presidential commission which orders the FBI task force to partner with Director Peter Kotsiopulous (David Strathairn) and the CIA. Tom continues his undercover mission for Cooper, befriending a rich socialite being extorted by Russian gangsters as he gets closer to finding Karakurt, and ends up killing one of his thugs. Reddington and Liz are betrayed by Mr. Vargas and handed over to Solomon. As Solomon proceeds to kill Liz in front of Reddington, Dembe intervenes and kills Solomon's henchmen while Reddington kills Mr. Vargas, but Solomon manages to escape. Reddington stages Liz's death to bring out the real identity of the person that placed the bounty, learning that Arioch Cain was the daughter of a CIA agent killed in the OREA bombing. ||||||||
| 50 | 6 | "Sir Crispin Crandall" | No. 86 | Ami Canaan Mann | Dave Thomas | November 5, 2015 (2015-11-05) | 6.44 |
| Ressler adjusts to working with the Director, who has forced the FBI to cooperate with the CIA in tracking Reddington and Keen. The two fugitives learn that an advisor with connections to the Director has gone missing, which leads them to Sir Crispin Crandall (Harris Yulin), a reclusive billionaire who has kidnapped some of the smartest people in the world in a bid to save the human race from a supposed mass extinction. They track Crandall to his lab, a perpetually airborne aircraft that Reddington forces to land, and take the advisor's thumbs to open a lock, which contains money that the Director had been stealing from the Cabal, as an escape plan. Tom ends up in a fight club in order to find and capture Karakurt. He kills Asher Sutton after being forced to fight him to the death, but succeeds in finding Karakurt and dragging him back to DC to exonerate Liz. ||||||||
| 51 | 7 | "Zal Bin Hasaan" | No. 31 | Michael Watkins | Brandon Sonnier & Brandon Margolis | November 12, 2015 (2015-11-12) | 6.75 |
| The task force looks for a Blacklister named Zal Bin Hasaan, an Iranian terrorist responsible for the murder of numerous Mossad agents, including those Samar worked with, and the capture of several scientists working on Israel's missile defense system. In doing so, Samar is reunited with her brother (Sammy Sheik), thought to have been killed in a bombing years ago. It turns out that her brother is Zal, and in the end, she gives her brother to Reddington to provide him with the leverage he needs to set up an important meeting. Meanwhile, Tom delivers Karakurt to Cooper, and they force Karakurt to agree to confess to framing Liz. Ressler becomes upset that Cooper went behind his back to work with Tom. After an emotional day, Ressler and Samar end up sleeping together. ||||||||
| 52 | 8 | "Kings of the Highway" | No. 108 | Terrence O'Hara | Brian Studler | November 19, 2015 (2015-11-19) | 6.91 |
| While waiting for Dembe to retrieve an important item for their plan to clear Liz, Reddington is kidnapped by the "Kings of the Highway", a common gang that aims to steal money and possessions from unsuspecting travelers. Stranded by Reddington's abduction, Liz calls Samar to locate him, but Ressler fires her from the task force after he finds out she used his laptop to track him. Liz tracks the gang down by taking one of their members hostage to trade for Reddington. The exchange, which also involves the item Dembe had retrieved, is interrupted by the FBI, and Ressler arrests Liz after a lengthy chase, while Reddington escapes. Cooper and Tom find themselves being pursued by Solomon's men, and must protect Karakurt from being killed and prevented from confessing to the OREA bombing. The hunt for Solomon takes Reven Wright to Laurel Hitchin, who helped Solomon when he worked for the CIA. Hitchin then kills Wright to cover up her involvement with Solomon and the Cabal. ||||||||
| 53 | 9 | "The Director" | No. 24 | Mary Lambert | Daniel Cerone | January 7, 2016 (2016-01-07) | 7.52 |
| Ressler puts Liz in the box at the post office to protect her until the U.S. Marshals can transport her to her arraignment. The Director and Hitchin, hoping to prevent her from testifying, arrange to remove Liz from the box before the Marshals arrive. Aram, determined to protect Liz from the Director, changes the door code to the box to keep the Director from taking Liz. The Director resorts to flooding the box with nitrogen, suffocating Liz, to force Aram to give up the door code. Meanwhile, Tom and Cooper take Karakurt to an empty cabin belonging to a neighbor with whom Cooper's wife Charlene was having an affair. With Ressler's help, they fend off an assault by Solomon and his men, who have tracked them to the cabin, and arrest Solomon in the process. Ressler returns to the post office quickly enough to prevent the Director from taking Liz, and warn Hitchin that he knows that she killed Wright. Reddington and Samar manage to retrieve the case the FBI took. The case, containing state-of-the-art printing plates for money, created from the software upgrades General Ludd stole from the U.S. Treasury, is Reddington's leverage to get Venezuela to agree to help him and Liz and help take down the Cabal. ||||||||
| 54 | 10 | "The Director: Conclusion" | No. 24 | John Terlesky | Lukas Reiter | January 14, 2016 (2016-01-14) | 7.47 |
| Reddington secretly meets with the task force while Ressler brings Liz to the federal courthouse and protects her there. Through an elaborate ruse, Reddington and the task force kidnap the Director and bring him to Venezuela's foreign minister, who intends to have the Director brought before The Hague on war crimes charges. Using the prospect of an American official being tried for war crimes as leverage, Reddington strikes a deal with Laurel Hitchin through Marvin Gerard, his attorney who helped him to design the plan to prove Liz's innocence. Thanks to Tom safely delivering Karakurt to the federal courthouse to confess to the OREA bombing and the Senator's murder, Gerard is able to get the U.S. government to drop all the charges against Liz except an involuntary manslaughter charge from the killing of Attorney General Tom Connolly. The plea deal prevents Liz from going to jail but also prevents her from returning to the FBI, unless as an asset to the task force. Hitchin issues a public apology to Liz, and also reveals both the existence of the Cabal and Connolly and the Director's involvement in it. With Liz finally set free, Ressler hands Cooper his old post as head of the task force. With Hitchin's permission, Reddington, kills the Director to rid the Cabal of a liability. Reddington and Hitchin meet afterwards to discuss involving him in the Cabal. ||||||||
| 55 | 11 | "Mr. Gregory Devry" | No. 95 | Alex Zakrzewski | Daniel Knauf | January 21, 2016 (2016-01-21) | 7.42 |
| Liz, though exonerated, finds adjusting to normal life difficult without being an FBI agent. She is stripped of her concealed carry permit, has difficulties finding a new apartment and passersby look at her with suspicion. Marcus Caligiuri, an international criminal, kills Mr. Kaplan's team of cleaners as a warning to Reddington that he knows about his connection to the FBI, endangering his criminal empire. In response, Reddington has the task force look into a gathering of criminals which includes Caligiuri, and their hunt leads them to a man (Jake Weber) who claims to be Raymond Reddington. In the box at the post office, the impostor warns the task force that Caligiuri plans to kidnap an FBI executive to expose Reddington as an informant. The kidnapping succeeds, which forces the task force to offer the impostor immunity in exchange for infiltrating the criminal gathering. The real Reddington, however, joins the meeting first, and the late-arriving impostor is then falsely presented as the FBI asset hired by Caligiuri to betray the gathering of criminals. Both are then killed by Reddington, restoring his reputation among his fellow criminals. Beyond suspicion once again, Reddington tells Liz the impostor was his friend, Gregory Devry, a con man who specialised in conning other criminals, was dying of cancer who sacrificed himself to help Reddington. Meanwhile, Tom proposes to Liz again, a prospect that Reddington explicitly forbids. Liz is assaulted in the street, and during her recovery in the hospital, she finds out that she is pregnant. ||||||||
| 56 | 12 | "The Vehm" | No. 132 | Michael Watkins | Vincent Angell | January 28, 2016 (2016-01-28) | 7.16 |
| Tensions within the post office begin to endanger the relationships within the task force, as Cooper is sleeping in his office after separating from Charlene, and Ressler and Navabi are partnered together on their next case. A series of grisly murders, including the murder of one of Reddington's associates, prompts the task force to track down the Vehm, a group of religious fanatics who hunt and kill pedophiles. Reddington, not convinced that his associate was a pedophile, suspects that someone involved in money laundering is controlling them to also eliminate the competition. The investigation leads Reddington to a priest who has been using the Vehm to target money launderers under the pretense of murdering pedophiles. Reddington then turns the Vehm on the priest by convincing them they were tricked. The priest is killed, and the Vehm become allied with Reddington. Meanwhile, Liz ponders whether to keep the baby she is about to have, or put the baby up for adoption. Reddington tracks down Liz's assailant and promptly kills him. Tom is eager to start a new life with Liz, but his plans to take Liz with him are sabotaged when Reddington interferes by cutting off his career opportunities and placing Liz under his protection and surveillance. ||||||||
| 57 | 13 | "Alistair Pitt" | No. 103 | Bill Roe | Story by : Nicole Phillips & Adam Sussman Teleplay by : Nicole Phillips | February 4, 2016 (2016-02-04) | 6.49 |
| The task force pursues Alistair Pitt (Tony Shalhoub), the head of an organization called the Promnestria, which brokers arrangements between criminal empires for profit. Pitt is brokering a merger between two warring crime families by arranging a marriage between their children. The groom-to-be is already engaged, so Pitt has his fiancee killed and blames it on the other family. To stop the violence, the daughter of the head of one of the mafia families, Alicia Vacarro (Allison Strong), agrees to marry the son of her father's rival. Reddington infiltrates the wedding party to stop it by exposing the truth about the fiancee's murder, forcing Pitt to reveal himself before the FBI swoops in. They arrest everyone except Pitt, who is taken by Reddington to France, where years ago, Pitt arranged a similar marriage between Josephine, a woman Reddington loved, and a man who eventually beat her into a catatonic state. Tom, seeking money to take Liz away from Reddington, seeks out Gina Zanetakos, who brings him in on an elaborate but successful jewelry heist. Liz works with an adoption agency for her baby, but while a couple has agreed to take the baby, they insist on a closed adoption that would prevent Liz from seeing her child. Samar has to handle the news that Levi, her former Mossad partner and ex-lover, is engaged to someone else. Reddington kills Alistair Pitt because Josephine had her life disgraced by an arrangement of Pitt. Josephine is alive and catatonic in a wheelchair and Reddington states that it's done. ||||||||
| 58 | 14 | "Lady Ambrosia" | No. 77 | Tim Hunter | Taylor Martin | February 11, 2016 (2016-02-11) | 6.43 |
| Reddington brings Liz a case involving a series of abductions of children who have special needs. One of the abducted children is found, leading the task force to investigate the child's parents and an employee of an adoption agency who takes children unwanted by one of their parents to Lady Ambrosia (Celia Weston). In turn, Lady Ambrosia and her son, who also has special needs, take care of the children and, when they turn twelve, euthanize them in a magical spectacle for the other children. Reddington abducts their accomplice from the adoption agency and tortures him to reveal the location of Lady Ambrosia's school of children. He takes one of the girls and leaves Lady Ambrosia to be killed by her son, who then commits suicide, while the other children are taken to safety by the task force. The girl Reddington rescued is returned to her mother, who returns the favor by giving him a file with information on Katarina Rostova, Liz's mother. Liz finally finds a couple who will take her child in an open adoption, but needs Tom's consent to complete the adoption. Unbeknownst to Liz, Tom is betrayed by Gina, who has him shot and left for dead. He survives long enough to be found and taken to a hospital. ||||||||
| 59 | 15 | "Drexel" | No. 113 | Anton Cropper | Dave Metzger | February 18, 2016 (2016-02-18) | 6.02 |
| Drexel is a serial killer whose murders double as performance art, and his latest murder of a co-founder of a start-up financial firm is investigated by the task force. The murder is posted by an underground publication before the police investigate, and the task force concludes that Drexel has been using stolen NSA technology to hack into personal computers and access their webcams. The task force reveals that the murder was meant to lead them to an illegal business that sold access to webcam feeds of unsuspecting people. Reddington uses the investigation to track down Drexel, who, according to the file he received, has been working on a painting commissioned by Katarina Rostova, depicting Liz standing over his grave. Liz finds Tom recovering in the hospital thanks to Nik, a doctor and Liz's ex-boyfriend, now under Reddington's employ after taking his money for saving his life. With his and Reddington's help, Tom escapes the police's investigation of the jewelry heist he participated in. The entire ordeal leads Liz to change her mind about giving her child up for adoption. ||||||||
| 60 | 16 | "The Caretaker" | No. 78 | Don Thorin, Jr. | Dave Thomas | February 25, 2016 (2016-02-25) | 5.97 |
| A US state government official is killed by the Chinese as retaliation against a murder of a Chinese official in the US by a Chinese American and US forces. The contract of this killing, which puts the blame of the killing to the US government, is protected by The Caretaker (Reg E. Cathey). Reddington then introduces Keen to this case who then, via the FBI, interrogates the Chinese-American to reveal his method of communication with the Caretaker. After getting to know that underground pipes by US post are used, Reddington, Keen, and Dembe pay a visit to one of Reddingtons's clients of which The Caretaker is also a client. Simultaneously, Tom confronts Gina Zanetakos on the intent of peace which leads to a fight between the two. Reddington provides the location of The Caretaker to Ressler and Navabi who hunt down The Caretaker, who is digging up a canister from a corpse in the cemetery. Upon interrogation, he says that he was releasing the canister to a group which had abducted his daughter. This canister involved a contract between an airline and the Germans. Upon further investigation, it is found out that the group of terrorists that orchestrated an attack on the airline has acquired a metric ton of C4 which via Reddington is located, but that truck contains a bomb made of that C4, which was triggered after Ressler shot the person holding the button. With the bomb squad 12 minutes away and the bomb exploding in 2, the duo enlists Aram's help via phone on defusing the bomb, which is completed in remaining 9 seconds. At the same time, the duo of Ressler and Navabi infiltrate the place where The Caretaker's daughter is held and shoot one of the guards. It is later revealed that the guards are former marines and that the daughter had staged her own abduction in order to get away from The Caretaker, as he had kidnapped her when she was a baby. Keen also finds out the truth about her mother via a retired Russian agent. However, at the end Reddington burns a piece of information that he recovered by using The Caretaker's ledger that potentially would have proven Keen's current knowledge about Katarina Rostova to be incorrect. ||||||||
| 61 | 17 | "Mr. Solomon" | No. 32 | Eagle Egilsson | Brian Studler | April 7, 2016 (2016-04-07) | 6.42 |
| Mr. Solomon is broken out of federal custody by an unknown patron. Liz and Tom decide to get married immediately, despite Reddington's objections. Liz asks Cooper to officiate at the wedding and invites the other members of the task force to attend. Gina Zanetakos and the Major prepare to kill Tom, but at the last minute Zanetakos kills the Major instead and leaves. Tom confesses what happened to Liz, fearing she will change her mind about marrying him, but she reaffirms her love for him. The task force learns that Solomon is attempting to steal a tactical nuclear weapon. They capture one of Solomon's accomplices, who tips them off about his plans, but it turns out to be a dead end. Reddington realizes that the accomplice allowed herself to be captured and the plot to steal the nuclear weapon was intended to divert the FBI's attention from Solomon's real target: Liz. He arrives at the church where Liz and Tom are about to be married just before Solomon surrounds it with his men and demands that Liz come out. A massive firefight breaks out, with Reddington, Dembe, Tom, Cooper, and Navabi holding off Solomon's men until Ressler arrives to help. Liz and Tom escape. ||||||||
| 62 | 18 | "Mr. Solomon: Conclusion" | No. 32 | John Terlesky | Daniel Cerone | April 14, 2016 (2016-04-14) | 6.74 |
| Solomon continues his relentless pursuit of Liz and Tom, using satellite and data surveillance to track them. Liz is injured in a car accident. Mr. Kaplan takes her to a secure location where Nick, Liz's physician ex, performs an emergency Caesarian section to save her baby. Mr. Kaplan rebukes Reddington for endangering Liz and her baby. The C-section is successful, but Liz refuses to let Reddington see her child, whom she names Agnes after her adoptive grandmother. Shortly afterward, Liz has a life-threatening reaction. Just before Nick puts Liz into a medically induced coma, she forgives Reddington. Reddington has Liz taken to a hospital, sending out an empty ambulance as a decoy, but Solomon's men still find and stop the real ambulance with Liz inside. The FBI arrives and kills Solomon's men, but Solomon escapes. Ressler finds that Liz has died despite Nick and Reddington's efforts. The task force grieves, and a devastated Reddington goes to see Tom and Agnes. ||||||||
| 63 | 19 | "Cape May" | None | Michael Watkins | Daniel Knauf | April 21, 2016 (2016-04-21) | 7.02 |
| A distraught and broken Reddington travels to Cape May, New Jersey, where he saves a woman (Lotte Verbeek) from drowning herself and it is revealed that he has a connection with her. Reddington tells her his feelings about Liz, her death, and the future of her child Agnes. Later on, she reveals that there are people after her to kill her. She and Reddington team up to take them down. Afterwards, she again tries to drown herself and Reddington is unable to save her this time. It is then revealed that this woman was a ghost who existed only in Reddington's mind: his memory of Katarina Rostova. ||||||||
| 64 | 20 | "The Artax Network" | No. 41 | Don Thorin, Jr. | Dawn DeNoon | April 28, 2016 (2016-04-28) | 6.70 |
| The task force mourn Elizabeth Keen's death and seek revenge on her killers, even though Cooper had been ordered to stand down and focus on finding Red. They discover Solomon's employers were using a defunct satellite network, the Artax Network, to track Liz at every step. The investigation uncovers a mysterious, unidentified woman (Famke Janssen) who may be the mastermind behind Liz's death. Meanwhile, Reddington is in hiding, trying to make amends with Liz's maternal grandfather, Dom (Brian Dennehy). Eventually he returns to the task force, ready to help find Liz's killers. ||||||||
| 65 | 21 | "Susan Hargrave" | No. 18 | Andrew McCarthy | Story by : J. R. Orci & Lukas Reiter Teleplay by : Vincent Angell & Daniel Cerone & Brian Studler | May 5, 2016 (2016-05-05) | 6.65 |
| The task force continues to mourn the loss of Liz. Reddington comes out of hiding and tells the task force to search for a powerful woman who was paid to kidnap Liz named Susan "Scottie" Hargrave (Famke Janssen). After being drawn out and wounded, Hargrave reveals to Reddington that the person who is responsible for Liz's death is a man named Alexander Kirk and that they both - Scottie and Red, now have a common enemy that they will work together to take him down. ||||||||
| 66 | 22 | "Alexander Kirk" | No. 14 | Michael Dinner | Story by : Jon Bokenkamp & John Eisendrath & J. R. Orci & Lukas Reiter Teleplay by : Jon Bokenkamp & John Eisendrath | May 12, 2016 (2016-05-12) | 6.62 |
| Reddington informs the task force to search for Alexander Kirk, the man responsible for the death of Elizabeth Keen. It is revealed that Kirk is after Liz's daughter Agnes and Tom, Solomon and Hargrave must team up to protect her. To draw Kirk out, the team reluctantly co-operates with Solomon and his crew to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from a campaign account that Kirk established to support Senator Diaz (Benito Martinez). Everything runs smoothly until Solomon makes a remark about Elizabeth, causing Tom to shoot him, although he escapes soon after. Despite this hurdle, the heist is successful. After the team splits paths, Tom returns to the hospital only to find Agnes missing. He meets with Hargrave with the intention of killing her, but finds that she moved Agnes to save her from Kirk. Tom also discovers that Hargrave is his mother, but Red tells Tom that Hargrave doesn't know Tom's true identity, believing her son to be dead. ||||||||
| 67 | 23 | "Alexander Kirk: Conclusion" | No. 14 | Bill Roe | Lukas Reiter & J. R. Orci | May 19, 2016 (2016-05-19) | 6.88 |
| The task force is closing in on Alexander Kirk. Meanwhile, Reddington reveals that he wants to leave the task force following Liz's death because he has no use left for them. Mr. Kaplan keeps an eye on Tom and Agnes as Kirk's men track them. Tom eludes his security detail and flees to a villa in Cuba with his daughter to go into hiding. When Red discovers this, he learns that Mr. Kaplan helped Tom flee the country, which makes Reddington furious, as Kirk has also tracked Tom and Agnes to Cuba. Mr. Kaplan reveals to Reddington that Elizabeth Keen is actually alive. She says she arranged to fake Liz's death in order to protect Agnes from Reddington, noting that Reddington ultimately failed to protect Liz. Reddington travels to Cuba only to find the empty villa and signs of a struggle. A captive Elizabeth is met by Alexander Kirk, who reveals himself to be her father, Konstantin Rostov. ||||||||

## Production

Hisham Tawfiq, who plays Red's body man, Dembe Zuma, was promoted to series regular beginning with Season 3.

### Potential spin-off

Episode 22 was written by Bokenkamp and Eisendrath and directed by Michael Dinner as a potential spin-off of the series. It aired on May 12, 2016. The spin-off was ordered titled The Blacklist: Redemption.

## Reception

The third season of The Blacklist received positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 93% approval score based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The consensus reads: "The Blacklist is back in top form with fresh dangers that put Red on the ropes while giving James Spader room to shine".

### Ratings

| No. | Title | Air date | Time slot (EST) | Ratings/Share (18–49) | Viewers (millions) | DVR 18–49 | DVR Viewers (millions) | Total 18–49 | Total viewers (millions) |
| 1 | "The Troll Farmer (No. 38)" | October 1, 2015 (2015-10-01) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.8/6 | 7.76 | 1.7 | 5.479 | 3.5 | 13.244 |
| 2 | "Marvin Gerard (No. 80)" | October 8, 2015 (2015-10-08) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.5/5 | 7.02 | 1.5 | 4.892 | 3.0 | 11.911 |
| 3 | "Eli Matchett (No. 72)" | October 15, 2015 (2015-10-15) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.4/4 | 6.93 | 1.6 | 5.049 | 3.0 | 11.978 |
| 4 | "The Djinn (No. 43)" | October 22, 2015 (2015-10-22) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.4/5 | 6.68 | 1.5 | 5.157 | 2.9 | 11.836 |
| 5 | "Arioch Cain (No. 50)" | October 29, 2015 (2015-10-29) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.5/5 | 7.03 | 1.4 | 4.632 | 2.9 | 11.661 |
| 6 | "Sir Crispin Crandall (No. 86)" | November 5, 2015 (2015-11-05) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.4/4 | 6.44 | 1.5 | 5.018 | 2.9 | 11.454 |
| 7 | "Zal Bin Hasaan (No. 31)" | November 12, 2015 (2015-11-12) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.5/5 | 6.75 | 1.4 | 4.809 | 2.9 | 11.563 |
| 8 | "Kings of the Highway (No. 108)" | November 19, 2015 (2015-11-19) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.5/5 | 6.91 | 1.3 | 4.485 | 2.8 | 11.398 |
| 9 | "The Director (No. 24)" | January 7, 2016 (2016-01-07) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.6/5 | 7.52 | 1.4 | 4.601 | 3.0 | 12.123 |
| 10 | "The Director, Conclusion (No. 24)" | January 14, 2016 (2016-01-14) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.6/5 | 7.47 | 1.4 | 4.880 | 3.0 | 12.352 |
| 11 | "Mr. Gregory Devry (No. 95)" | January 21, 2016 (2016-01-21) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.6/5 | 7.42 | 1.4 | 5.082 | 3.0 | 12.506 |
| 12 | "The Vehm (No. 132)" | January 28, 2016 (2016-01-28) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.6/5 | 7.16 | 1.4 | 4.579 | 3.0 | 11.743 |
| 13 | "Alistair Pitt (No. 103)" | February 4, 2016 (2016-02-04) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.5/5 | 6.49 | 1.4 | 4.846 | 2.9 | 11.375 |
| 14 | "Lady Ambrosia (No. 77)" | February 11, 2016 (2016-02-11) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.4/4 | 6.43 | 1.5 | 5.061 | 2.9 | 11.498 |
| 15 | "Drexel (No. 113)" | February 18, 2016 (2016-02-18) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.3/4 | 6.02 | 1.4 | 4.985 | 2.7 | 11.008 |
| 16 | "The Caretaker (No. 78)" | February 25, 2016 (2016-02-25) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.3/4 | 5.97 | 1.3 | 4.613 | 2.6 | 10.565 |
| 17 | "Mr. Solomon (No. 32)" | April 7, 2016 (2016-04-07) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.2/4 | 6.42 | 1.3 | 4.629 | 2.5 | 11.044 |
| 18 | "Mr. Solomon: Conclusion (No. 32)" | April 14, 2016 (2016-04-14) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.4/5 | 6.74 | 1.1 | 4.325 | 2.5 | 11.062 |
| 19 | "Cape May" | April 21, 2016 (2016-04-21) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.3/4 | 7.02 | 1.3 | 4.171 | 2.6 | 11.188 |
| 20 | "The Artax Network (No. 41)" | April 28, 2016 (2016-04-28) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.2/4 | 6.70 | 1.3 | 4.502 | 2.5 | 11.206 |
| 21 | "Susan Hargrave (No. 18)" | May 5, 2016 (2016-05-05) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.2/4 | 6.65 | 1.4 | 4.493 | 2.6 | 11.144 |
| 22 | "Alexander Kirk (No. 14)" | May 12, 2016 (2016-05-12) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.3/4 | 6.62 | 1.2 | 4.284 | 2.5 | 10.900 |
| 23 | "Alexander Kirk: Conclusion (No. 14)" | May 19, 2016 (2016-05-19) | Thursdays 9:00 pm | 1.3/4 | 6.88 | 1.2 | 4.446 | 2.5 | 11.323 |