The Blacklist is celebrating its 100th episode, “Abraham Stern.” It’s about a Blacklister named Abraham Stern who is portrayed by Nathan Lane (The Producers, The Birdcage). Lane describes his “titular” character as a man who works in a bank as a loan officer but he’s also been leading this criminal life for 40 years. He’s in search of four pennies that when put together reveal a code that will presumably lead to a great monetary treasure. When Red finds one of the pennies, Stern collides into Red and snatches it.
The episode “Abraham Stern” is directed by Spader’s long-time friend Andrew McCarthy. (They both fought over Molly Ringwald in the 1986 movie Pretty in Pink.) And The Blacklist writers have done a wonderful job in tapping into Red’s literary preferences. When Red unearths the penny, he admits to be giddy. Red loves a good mystery and mentions two of his favorites — Edgar Allan Poe’s The Gold-Bug and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island (which inspired Poe’s The Gold-Bug). The Blacklist airs Wednesdays at 8pm on NBC.
