'The Blacklist' Season 2 Spoilers: Red Goes On The Offensive In Episode 20; What Happened In 'Quon Zhang'? [RECAP]

In episode 19 of “The Blacklist,” Red (James Spader) and Liz (Megan Boone) finally exposed the intelligence secrets contained in the Fulcrum. Unfortunately, that made them both targets of the Cabal and they would have to work together to keep themselves safe. However, Liz was still trying to uncover the truth about her past from the mysterious criminal. How would it all go down in episode 20, “Quon Zhang?”

As the episode began, Liz was trying to figure out the identity of the woman holding her as a baby in the picture she found in Red’s secret apartment. Tom (Ryan Eggold) told her to just ask Red, but Liz said that Red wanted her to be in the dark. Tom, though, noticed that the ring the mystery was wearing was similar to one he had seen when he was working with Berlin in Russia.

Later, Liz met with Red who gave her their next case – a human trafficking ring smuggling Chinese-American women out of the country under false identities. Red told Liz that the smuggler was known to have transported explosives for the Cabal. The task force seized the coffin of Marjorie Lin, the latest victim, before it was put on a plane for China, but all they found was Lin’s oddly perfectly preserved body.

Meanwhile, Tom and Liz went to a Russian bathhouse where Tom confronted some old contacts about Liz’s picture. After Liz realized the men had been visited and sworn to secrecy by Red, she went back to his apartment where she found a camera he had used to spy on her when she found the picture. She threatened to expose other secrets from the apartment if he did not come clean, so Red agreed to meet where he confirmed that the woman in the picture was Liz’s mother – a former KGB agent. However, he would not divulge any details about the night she died.

Back at the FBI, Liz and Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) were able to track down the mortician who had worked on Marjorie Lin’s body where they discovered the smugglers were stealing the bodies to send to China to be reburied as part of a religious ritual. Using evidence from the mortician’s lab they were able to identify the identity of the smugglers’ next target.

Meanwhile, Red had forced one of the Cabal leaders – Kenneth Jasper (James A. Stephens) – out of hiding after blowing up a boat to start a rumor that he was dead, causing his company’s stock to fall. After Jasper gave a public interview, Red was able to figure out his location and take him hostage. Red recruited Samar (Mozhan Marno) to torture Jasper for information on the Cabal’s plan. However, when Red left them in the room alone Samar broke Jasper out instead and helped him escape. What Jasper did not know though, was that it was all a set up and Samar was working for Red to get the information out of Jasper after he believed she was working undercover for the Cabal. After Red got the intel he needed, he revealed his plan to Jasper and sent the man’s tongue to the Cabal director (David Strathairn) in a box!

Elsewhere, Liz and Ressler went to the house of the next girl the smugglers planned to abduct where they were able to capture the culprit – Quon Zhang (Ron Yuan). After interrogating him, Liz learned that the Cabal did not hire him to smuggle contraband, but an agent.

Later, Cooper (Harry Lennix) met with Tom Connolly (Reed Birney). Earlier Connolly had asked Cooper to leak classified documents to prove that his office was on top of the Reddington situation. Cooper refused, but Tom revealed that Cooper did not have a choice. Connolly worked for the Cabal and they had leaked the documents anyway, planning to hold Cooper’s perjured testimony from Liz’s murder trial over his head.

In the last scene of the episode, Liz was reeling from still not knowing the truth about her past. In her grief she turned to Tom, visiting her former husband and letting him hold her while she cried. Will their relationship rekindle? Fans will have to wait until next week to find out.

What did you think of “Quon Zhang?” Tweet your thoughts to @Ja9GarofaloTV.