Ohh, If you're not gonna stay(Ooh) Please don't tease me
Like you did before
Because I still love you so
- "Hello Stranger" - Barbara Lewis
For the first time in the series' run The Blacklist has had two straight weeks with ratings under 7 million, with 6.6 and 6.9, respectively. When you add in the DVR viewership The Blacklist does very well, especially in the important '18-49' demo. I mention all of this because it's that time of year when networks pickup and drop shows in excess and I wanted you all to see where it stands. I know The Blacklist has been approved for a Season Three, but let's hope the ratings don't drop too low because I, as I imagine most of you, want a Season Four, Five and Six.
Much like the episode 'Quon Zhang' from two weeks ago, last Thursday's hour also seemed like a set-up for the finale. That's not to say they were bad, I actually enjoyed them, but a lot of the answers we have been waiting for were merely teased to us through carefully constructed conversations between some of the characters. Primarily it was Liz trying her hardest to get Red to provide her with answers she has been seeking about her parentage, mostly about the mysterious woman in the picture she took from Red's flat a few episodes ago.
The episode's blacklister was Karkaurt, an extremely dangerous Russian assassin. Karakurt was mentioned by Quon Zhang, at the end of the episode from two week's ago, claiming he was already on US soil. The Cabal hired Karkurt to kill Senator Hawkins using a highly sophisticated biomedical weapon. This weapon, a virus, is extremely customized and keyed to infect one individual with a specific genetic sequence. They wanted to frame Liz by making it appear as though she is the one who purposely infected the Senator with the unique strain of the virus while simultaneously infecting her. I thought it was a very clever and crafty way to get the job done on the Cabal's part. As much as love The Blacklist, I do not remember the last time I was actually concerned for a character.
Due to the intense ending of the last episode I am very excited for the finale this week. We are left wondering (at least I am) how the writers can pack in all that needs to be told, and the story threads that need to be tied together, in the hour they are given. One story line I am particularly looking forward to see play out is Liz and Tom's. I thought it was interesting the song that was playing while they were at the diner was "Hello Stranger" by Barbara Lewis. I know some of you do not, by any means, want Liz to get back together with Tom, while some of you, I have noticed, really do want them to reignite their love for each other. I'm not sure where I stand, to be honest. Like Barbara hinted at, they are strangers at this point - they even have different names from the ones they currently use for each other (Tom is Jacob and Liz is Masha). Liz doesn't know who Tom really is and I don't think Tom understands the woman he has turned Liz into and what she has become since she found out about his treachery involving their marriage. It's no mystery Tom sincerely loves and cares for Liz and Liz always seems to have that sparkle in her eye when she talks to Tom, but can that be enough to form a long lasting and strong bond between the two given their history? At this point, I suppose, they are just strangers to each other, starting fresh, and it's up to them to see if they can get past their prior transgressions.
Did you notice when meeting Dr. Lauren Kimberly, Red's microbiologist friend, Liz is introduced by him as 'Ginger Lumiere'. A lot of you picked up on the fact that her name can also be interpreted as "Red Light". There are, of course, numerous ways to illustrate what that could mean. Perhaps it means Liz is a lower calorie version of Red - same great flavor, less filling...just kidding, Lol :). It could mean Liz is an easier and more moderate version of Red, slowly becoming him as time goes on. Perhaps The Blacklist is a story about how Liz, a happily married woman with a job as an FBI profiler, is slowly having her life changed by mirroring exactly what happened to Red's life - Red was in the US Naval Administration and left for unknown reasons, while Liz works (or worked) for the FBI and now has to leave. Over the course of the series, we have seen Liz slowly transform from innocent, first-year agent, to someone who kills, kidnaps and shoots people with little forethought. Maybe what we are witnessing in these latest episodes are the next steps in her becoming more and more like Red.
I thoroughly enjoyed this past episode, especially the ending, I admit, I did not see coming. We know now Liz is 'Masha Rostova', the blacklister for the finale, which I think is going to be a great episode filled all sorts of interesting information for us to dissect during the summer break until season three. One question posed to me (great question 'ivan') was what number do I think Liz (Masha) will be on the blacklist. I think 'Number 4' is going to be someone special because Red is 4 on the FBI's Most Wanted List and the number 4 appears quite a bit when he is around. Numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 I would imagine is for people close to Red so she will most likely be 1, 2, 3 or 4. I want to say 1, but I would've thought they would leave that for the final season. My Final Answer is Liz (Masha) will be '4' on the blacklist. It would be perfect because it would mirror Red being '4' on the FBI list and add to their close connection. Although, at this moment, I think Liz is thinking less about what number on the blacklist she is and more about how she is going to get out of that tricky situation she is in.
Red's Quotes
- "She did, however, let me name a lipstick color, 'Fire In The Hole'"
Red to Liz
Music from the Episode
- "Hello Stranger" - Barbara Lewis
Liz meets Tom at a diner
- Did you notice...The Press ID Card Karakurt uses to get close to Senator Hawkins claims his name is Jonas Flemming. I thought that was interesting given Karakurt was using an advanced form of biomedical weaponry. Jonas Salk discovered and developed the first polio vaccine and Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin.
- At the end of episode 18, Red has Mr. Kaplan hire Vanessa Cruz for some unknown reason. What reason do you think Red hired her for and do you think we will see her in the season finale?
- After the episode ended I was left wondering how Karakurt managed to get Liz infected. Then I realized that was why Connolly wanted Cooper to redirect Liz and Ressler to Union Station. It was there that Liz was 'bumped into' and attacked, most likely being infected at that point. What do you think will be the fate of Connolly's and Cooper's relationship in regard to the finale, especially now that he is after Liz and Cooper won't stand for that.
- Do you think we will see Liz's mom at all during the finale? If she is still alive, she could be a great story line for Season Three. Along with her parentage, other family members Liz does not know about could be a great story for the next season as well.
- I loved that we got to see Mr. Brimley again. He is an interesting character I would like to see more of next season.
- I laughed when Red was interrupted during him and Dembe's investigation of the apartment by the neighbor. It was funny when he gave the name "Bill Houston" as an alias.
- Who enjoyed the fact that Tom was stood up by Liz at the end of the episode?
- Did you notice...Mr. Masik, from the CIA, tells Liz that Katarina Rostova is like "The Pinko Mata Hari". "Pinko" is a slang term coined in 1925 in the United States to describe a person regarded as being sympathetic to communism. "Mata Hari" was a Frisian exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy and executed by firing squad in France under charges of espionage for Germany during World War I.
Thank you for checking out my review! Please comment below so we can discuss the episode and the series some more. Have a great week everyone! Also, don't forget we are conducting a "Live Discussion" this Thursday night during The Blacklist for the Finale! If you would like to participate, just check SpoilerTV's Homepage and click on the "Live Discussion" link for The Blacklist that will be posted a few minutes before the episode begins to air.
Great theory about Liz's evolution into sort of a female mini version of Red. And have been wondering too about what part Vanessa Cruz has yet to play. Liz has to stop telegraphing her moves to Red though to become a more devious person - like tipping him off on the old Soviet contact who Red then beat her to.I think Cooper finds out he was never sick in the finale - it was just his being duped and tricked into helping Connally. I also think no one on the team will believe the frameup and that will work to Liz's advantage. Still not quite sure if this "mole" always being referred to was only a reference to Cooper's limited help to Connally or if there really is a full fledged mole who has not yet been revealed.And lastly, am waiting for a last second glimpse of a silhouette of a female who will turn out to be Liz's Mommy Dearest.
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I do believe that Liz is becoming Red "light." As he becomes less the indiscriminate killer, she becomes more. Several times on the show, they have showed them as mirroring each other. The best example I can think of is when they were sitting on the stairs together in the Berlin Conclusion last season.
ReplyDeleteI think Katarina is to Red what Tom is to Liz. I think they both got duped at one time. It is a nice juxtaposition... That is what I took as Red meant when he said, "I was young, and I didn't know what the face of an enemy looked like." Red seems particularly sensitive and understanding to Liz's love of Tom and Tom's love of Liz. Like he has been there... He also said something to that affect in the episode where him and Tom have a showdown... Something like, "I know what it is like to be drawn to something bad for you."
My predictions for the finale:
Tom doesn't die. (He seems to be a favorite of the producers of the show, so I think he is going to stick around. I also think they are using him to draw in more younger viewers to help with the ratings.)
Liz remembers but key pieces are still missing. (I think we will have to wait for that scene until next season).
Red believes the mother to be dead, but she is not, and we get a glimpse of her or a hint at that.
Cooper does not have cancer and never did.
Connolly is going to die soon. Red will make sure of it. I am not sure if that happens this next episode or early next year. Whenever Red is done with him...
I imagine Vanessa Cruz will return. People will surely forget if they don't see it soon. There is too much going on.
Agree on all points
ReplyDeleteI really do enjoy reading these reviews. I'm guessing Mom shows up in the finale, but like always, we don't get to see her face- they'll probably only cast the actress this summer. Can't wait to see what season 3 brings, if that's the case.
ReplyDeleteAny time they bring on one of The Blacklist's many curious recurring characters, like the oxygen tank interrogator guy, I'm usually pretty happy. "I'm gonna need a bag of dry ice and five feet of vinyl garden hose!"
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you mentioned the lipstick quote. When Red said "Fire in the Hole" it literally made me laugh out loud and, since I was watching the episode with headphones on in a public place at the time, I got my fair share of odd looks because of it.
I have not commentes on your reviews in a while, for the simple reason that I have been behind on The Blacklist since the Braxton two-parter. However, last week I caught up and I also watched this episode. In general, I must say that season 2B has been pretty great! Maybe watching these episodes back-to-back helps enjoying them more and making the slowly unraveling mysteries more interesting. It's also interesting that some Blacklisters have returned in later episodes, like Madeline Pratt and Leonard Caul. Last season, we saw most, if not all, Blacklisters only in their own episode.
ReplyDeleteBack to this episode, I found this an excellent one and way better than last season's penultimate episode. Even though I had read the press release which said Liz was framed, I was still surprised at the end. The finale is shaping up to be an interesting one and I'm pretty excited for it! Conolly must die, I agree. And like you, I'm undecided about Liz/Tom so we'll see what next week brings us.
Two questions I have after reading your review:
-when was it revealed that Liz is Marsha? I know Katarina is supposed to be her mother so we can safely assume Liz is Marsha, but was that ever confirmed in an episode? When you marathon these episodes, some little things can slip past my detection.
-when did we see Mr. Brimley for the first time?
He Daniel! In the Braxton episodes we saw the flashback of the fire Liz was in when she was 4. The little girl is named Masha.
ReplyDeleteMr. Brimley was in this episode, Karkaurt. He was torturing a guy that worked for Karkurt to get more intel on his whereabouts.
Ah, thanks I had forgotten about that. I thougt you wrote that Mr Grimley returned from a previous episode but I might have misread or misunderstood you.
ReplyDeleteOh, I just meant that we saw him in previous episodes. I forget which ones exactly from season 1.
ReplyDeleteRe Ginger Lumiere. Did you not watch Braxton 1 earlier this year? Liz is Red's light...his road to salvation and redemption. There are about dozen examples throughout the year one and 2 episodes of the use of the "light" to point this out both in song, lighting and words. The fact that you miss this leads me to doubt you understand much of what is going on in The Blacklist.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your idea that Liz is Red's chance for redemption. He stated as much in the pilot of the series. She definitely humanizes him as has been shown in his evolution as an anti-hero. I think you are being a bit hard on Geo, however; he is a very astute observer of the show.
ReplyDeleteThe fun aspect of literature (which television qualifies as) is that while there are wrong theories (theories that have no evidence in the text), there can be multiple readings on any one text. What's more words/symbols can have multiple meanings. Additionally, each audience member "reads" the text in their own unique way bringing their background/history into the story. I am not equating the Blacklist writers to Robert Frost, but think of a poem like "For once, then, something," both the well and the pebble can have multiple symbolic meanings.
As I always tell my students, literature is not arithmetic, it is not so easy as to look up the answers in the back of the book. Literature lives in the world of the gray.
I agree on hindsight I was being too harsh, but light has been such an important symbol throughout the show that I could not believe, such a normally astute reviewer missed the Red angle, particularly when Red spelled it out in Braxton 1. I totally agree that the symbolism of light does have multiple meanings in the show. I love the show, to me in many ways, it is like very much like a great poem or a great novel!
ReplyDeleteAshley - you're awesome, thank you... :)
ReplyDeleteJudith - I don't state everything in my Reviews due to length and I like there to be a discussion about the things I leave out. That part about "Red Light" I originally didn't have in the body of my Review as it was a "Did you notice" part of my Thoughts and Discussion section (which is a little more fun - I hope) for the sole purpose of hopefully sparking a discussion about it in the comments section (If I put everything I wanted to write in my Review it would 20 pages long). I moved it at the last minute because I thought it would go better where it ended up.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the content goes, I completely understand the "Light" symbolism from the story Red told in the Braxton episodes and subsequent scenes this season. However, I was just making a joke about the comparison to a "Light beer" and gave another example of what that name could mean. I used the word perhaps twice, lol. I am merely giving another example of what "Red Light" could mean (after all it is "Red Light" not "Red's Light" - that's another joke - sorry).
No hard feelings Judith, I am totally glad you read my Reviews and have such a strong feeling about the elements of the show I write about. But again, I leave some things out for brevity not because I don't know the show.
Do you disagree with my other take on "Red Light"? I would love to know. I won't be upset, promise. Like Ashley said, It's all up for interpretation.
I really think Season 3 is going to start off with Liz going in exile/on the lamb with Red like Red has done for the previous 20 years. So now we will get a real look into what Red's life was like for those 20 years. Even crazier than we have seen these past 2 years I'll bet. Oh and I am guessing Red works for Ms. Rostova and Liz will get to meet her mother during the first episode (teased at the end of S2 finale). Just a hunch...perhaps even wishful thinking. I assume some of the other FBI agents will be conflicted about whether to let Liz slip through their fingers, arrest her or even possibly join her (and Red). I am certain Cooper's wife is gonna die. Expect Cooper to exact revenge on Tom and get locked up or go out a martyr in doing so.
ReplyDeleteJust read all the reviews but no-one picked up on the suggestion I read on another fanpage that Mr. Kaplan could be the notorious Katherine Rostova. Mr. Kaplan's name is 'Kate' (short for Katherine). I thought it was a nice observation although Mr. Kaplan and Lizzie don't look so much alike (except for hair colour maybe). What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI've read that theory, but dismissed it because, as you say, they don't look alike that much. Also, they haven't revealed anything that would suggest a link between Mr. Kaplan and Liz since we first met Mr. Kaplan. Other questions - Why would she still go by Kate? Why would she work for Red (especially in the capacity she does now?
ReplyDeleteI suppose it's possible, but highly (very highly) unlikely.
Plus, I think Mr. Kaplan is such an interesting and unique character in her own right that they would not need to go that route.
Great theories Joel!
ReplyDeleteI think you are very close with your theory regarding Agent Cooper and his wife. I think she will die in the finale and Agent Cooper will want his revenge.
I also think we will get just a glimpse of Liz's mom in the finale and then meet her fully in the first episodes of season two. Just a guess.
Thank you for saying so Ellison! I'm glad you enjoy my reviews!
ReplyDeleteI think you are right about seeing Liz's mom. We will probably only see a glimpse of her and then meet her in the early episodes of season three.
Lol! That's funny because that happens to me a lot because I watch shows everywhere I go and people look at me funny when I laugh or react to a scene from a show I'm watching.
ReplyDeleteThank you! You make some very good points!
ReplyDeleteI think you have a very interesting theory about Cooper being duped about his diagnosis. Perhaps it was all an elaborate scheme by Connolly to have control over him and the Task Force?
That was also a great question about the mole - Is it referring to Cooper or someone else that has not been revealed yet?
I think you are right about seeing Liz's mom in the finale. We will probably just catch a glimpse of her (maybe a
Thank you so much Ashley! I appreciate the kind words!
ReplyDeleteGreat example of Liz "mirroring" Red with the scene of them sitting on the stairs together. She is definitely starting to act more like Red, in small increments.
I also like your take that Katarina is to Red what Tom is to Liz.
Great predictions for the finale also! I don't think Tom will die either - he will stick around for a long time I think.
I am guessing we will catch a glimpse of Liz's mother in the finale, but most likely it will only be a shadow or a silhouette like Avonlea mentioned below.
Connolly will die by Red's hand I think, but I think Red wants to 'use' him more. So you are probably right on that front - "Whenever Red is done with him" - :) Lol
I'm looking forward to the finale - It should be great!
Thanks so much for your comments! I really like your reviews. Sorry if I get a bit too passionate. I agree somewhat on the red light interpretation, though I still think the "Red's Light" meaning is the stronger interpretation but I totally agree that symbols often do and should have multiple facets and meanings. I look forward to your review of S2E22!
ReplyDelete