Congressman Hudson gets some major ammunition… but what will he do with it?
He’s still leaning on Jonathan Pritchard (Mackenzie Astin) to help him spy on the Task Force.
Hudson gives his recruit an NSA phone tap that needs to be uploaded to Ressler’s cell.
James Spader.Will Hart/NBC
Despite his protests, Pritchard is clearly wavering.
Dembe and Ressler meet with Margo Rutherford (Jenna Stern).
Rutherford is livid they even know about the report, let alone that they have information she doesn’t.
Alex Brightman as Herbie Hambright, Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler.Will Hart/NBC
That’s right, four-star generals are just like us!
Outside the house, the would-be thieves are getting ready to enter.
They video call just in time to get the general into his panic room.
Anya Banerjee as Siya Malik.Will Hart/NBC
but Ressler is interrupted by an emergency call from Pritchard.
I guess he got over his reluctance and is on team betrayal now?
Looking at security feeds of the miles and miles of underground corridors, they find an odd dead spot.
Malik and Ressler go there to find the missing area and end up at the titular Room 417.
When they get the door open, they are horrified to find an absolutely epic level of surveillance.
All of the most important public officials in the country are being actively bugged and monitored.
As the stunned security officer who opened the room says, “This is…
I have to alert someone…
The last communication out was the information about the Friedman Report to an unknown phone number.
So close, Herbie!
No one can get a hold of Red, so the team works on the phone number.
Kids, ask your grandparents.
Point being, this phone number is privately operated by a company called Evelyn Strategies.
At Evelyn’s offices, Dembe and Ressler find a room full of fax machines.
One is still powered up and prints a message from room 417.
Dembe is more alarmed to realize that the other fax machines all have different country codes attached to them.
And that means it can only belong to one person.
“Donald, what you are looking at is Raymond Reddington’s intelligence empire,” he says.
“Or it was.”
While we ponder that, Pritchard is throwing the NSA spyware back on Hudson’s desk.
He also defends Ressler’s honor, telling the congressperson, “He’s a good man.
You probably think you’re a pretty good man, too.”
To his minor credit, that thought seems to shake Hudson a little.
Dembe and Ressler call in to their team.
Their timing is horribly perfect they splice right into the current call.
Cooper, unaware he’s being recorded, essentially admits to a truckload of crime.
It’s like Hudson rubbed a magic lamp on Christmas Day at his own birthday party.
The corruption, as they say, goes all the way to the top!
As always, working for Red is dangerous, but there are really nice benefits.
When he brings up the immunity agreement, Red laughs.
Cooper pushes Red to explain why he’s doing any of this.
Red responds with the story of President Garfield’s assassination.
Aww, a meandering history lesson in lieu of a direct answer!
I’m gonna miss this character so much.
Anyway, it took Garfield more than two months to die from his gunshot wound.
“This is where you usually ask me if I have a point.”
“I’m tired of encouraging you,” Cooper replies wearily.
Red gets to his point, ambiguous though it might be.
Sometimes despite our best efforts and best intentions, or sometimes because of that effort and intent.
That is sadly proven in our next scene.
Pritchard sits on a bench with a bottle of pills, considering them.
He ignores a call from Hudson and dry swallows a handful, ending his hard-won sobriety.
Hudson sits in his office and listens to Cooper say the word “treason” over and over again.
He’s got his smoking gun.
The only question now is what he’ll do with it.
