The Blacklist recap: (In)convenience Stop

 We open on a weed influencer — yes, in 2023 those are words that go together — live-streaming his review of a convenience store selection of blunt wraps. The cashier is barely tolerating these shenanigans as she rings up another customer, who we follow as she leaves the store. 

That customer sees an extremely sketchy guy with a revolver tucked into his waistband enter the store and lock the door. It's a robbery, she and I and you all think simultaneously, and we are all correct. This is clearly not a Blacklister — it's just a dumb guy with a gun — so why are we here? Well, as the robber slaps the phone out of the influencer's hand, we see a familiar fedora lurking in the back corner.

Ha! This criminal is so screwed.

The video that was being livestreamed goes viral as news teams cover the robbery-turned-hostage situation. Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq) is already on his way to the small town outside Philadelphia when he clues in Cooper (Harry Lennix). 

Hilariously, Cooper first asks why Red (James Spader) is robbing a store. Once he's convinced that Red is actually a victim for once, Cooper is on board to get their highly valuable asset out of there without being spotted by law enforcement or the media. This is especially important because his to-do list includes explaining the events of Wujing's death to Senator Cynthia Panabaker (Deirdre Lovejoy). He's not anticipating a fun convo with the boss. 

Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) and Dembe arrive at the scene, spotting a Zoomer car (think Zipcar) in the parking lot. These quick rentals are one of the ways Red has been traveling lately.  They talk to the witness, who is still slurping her iced coffee while confirming she saw the robber holding a revolver. She also lists who's in the store: the influencer, the clerk, an older woman, someone in a Phillies hat, and… an older man in fedora.

Panabaker arrives and is PISSED to hear about how Red played the Task Force and murdered folks on federal grounds. Cooper tries to calm her down, but she insists that unless Red meets with her before the end of the day, she'll tell the Attorney General everything. Presumably, that would be the end of the Task Force. 

Back at the store, Dembe tries calling the gunman, who threatens to shoot hostages if the SWAT team that is now on site enters. The SWAT leader (Royce Johnson) gets ready to breach anyway, but then the clerk sticks her head out and yells for them not to shoot. "The crazy man is dead!" she announces.

Inside the store, the clerk explains the gunman wanted to rob the safe and hit her with his gun. The influencer wrestled with him and the gun went off. The older man in the fedora is there too, but it's definitely not Red.