Colleen wrote:

Aww Red is finally developing a soft spot for Jellybean.

Yes - one of my favorite scenes in the entire series, and one of the funniest I think, was that scene with Glen traveling to St. Petersburg with Red and then when they are searching in the wrong apartment!  priceless!  lol
 

BBB - great assessment of the episode! You nailed it about the ending, with Red offering comradery to Glenn and a lifesaver (not the candy) to Ressler. Red doesn't want Ressler to go to the dark side.

Lara1 - completely agree about when Glenn and Red went to St. Petersburg.  "I forgot my pills for dyslexia" - whoever wrote that line deserves an Emmy for best comedy writing.

Last edited by Colleen (10/11/2017 8:47 pm)

I thought The Bobbits add lots of fun to the cast but I still miss Annie Heise terribly! She brought out a different (and unique) side in Aram. So far this season they've been under-utilizing Mozhan Marno (Samar) but I suspect that's about to change!

BBB - I think that the actor playing the role of Smokey is very good.  I was never a huge fan of Aida but I think these two are there to show us some side of Red's background.

I think the Annies of the world will make a comeback shortly.  I think Red is well on his way, he still has his hat (was in the motel room), now he has a jet, next comes fuel and a pilot and appropriate traveling gear (i.e. the 3 piece suit).  lol

My initial watch feelings were a little meh.  Mostly on the Thrall plot.  I need to rewatch to see if that interests me a little more.   I could have used a little more Red/Liz interaction.  Not that they had to be attached at the hip the way they have been for the first two episodes, but that scene in the beginning was basically it.  I felt like the secondary characters really helped the episode.  Glen, Smokey, and Heddie were fantastic and I loved Red's appreciation of Glen's loyalty there at the end.  Red may be sort of down and out, but he isn't dead yet.  He knows Tom is up to something.  I'm not sure he knows it's the suitcase, because I don't think he would be this patient about it when he's so terrified of it would reveal. I know there has been speculation that Nik is in cahoots with Red, but I'm not sure anymore.   But it's the whole 'keep your enemies closer' concept probably tied in a little with peacemaking for Liz's sake. I think Red is more informed of Ressler's problems.  Thus the offer to help.  

That comment Tom made about not understanding how Liz could be related to Red because he's insane made me laugh.  He's talking to the woman who held him hostage and tortured him for 4 months on a crappy boat.  That's a completely insane Reddington move right there. 

And as for the plaid, I don't think it means anything, but now I can't help but notice it!  

Last edited by Brittany (10/12/2017 6:00 am)

Hi everyone!

I hope I don't seem like a Debbie Downer but I find that my notes for this episode are a bit negative.

Some random thoughts:

The rookie cop McGinnis was terribly mis-cast. They were going for "young rookie" but the femininely plucked eyebrows and heavy make-up were extremely distracting. In the very beginning, I thought the surprise twist of this episode might turn out to be that he was female but then I quickly realized he was just an odd choice of actor with WAAAY too much make-up / styling for a believable police officer, no matter how young.

Ugh!!! It drives me BONKERS when the writers/actors of The Blacklist try to inject their political views into an episode. Whether it's an odd rant by Red or in this case the forced conversation between the Task Force members in the Post Office about "good cops vs bad cops" Please, writers, these conversations/monologues are always incredibly obvious and break the immersion. Viewers are well aware of the days news and political debates. Can we leave it out of The Blacklist scripts? I understand wanting to draw inspiration from current events but please leave the silly obvious political statements out.

Why does Ressler's fixer guy always seem to be wearing kohl eyeliner? And possibly mascara? Is that just what the actor's real eyes look like? Or doesThe Blacklist make-up artist need to be replaced? That's two misses this episode. While we're at it, Red is often made to look too feminine. I always suspected that perhaps that was done intentionally to ease us into "Redarina" one day by feminizing James Spader's appearance. Now I just think the makeup artist needs to lay off the makeup on the male actors. It's distracting!

I too was a bit lost with the insurance scam plot line. It was a bit weak. I would have preferred the entire cop shooter / Rebecca Thrall storyline be dropped and the focus just being on the gun supplier. I found that heist to be much more interesting.

OK let me try to end on a good note. Maybe I'm a bit grumpy and out of sorts today due to a hectic real life week. The DMV....always cracks me up. And that campout scene at the end was enough to save the entire episode. You are so right, BBB! Glenn was absolutely the MVP that saved this stinker of an episode.

Last edited by JackPow (10/12/2017 1:25 pm)

JackPow wrote:

Hi everyone!

I hope I don't seem like a Debbie Downer but I find that my notes for this episode are a bit negative.

Some random thoughts:

The rookie cop McGinnis was terribly mis-cast. They were going for "young rookie" but the femininely plucked eyebrows and heavy make-up were extremely distracting. In the very beginning, I thought the surprise twist of this episode might turn out to be that he was female but then I quickly realized he was just an odd choice of actor with WAAAY too much make-up / styling for a believable police officer, no matter how young.

Ugh!!! It drives me BONKERS when the writers/actors of The Blacklist try to inject their political views into an episode. Whether it's an odd rant by Red or in this case the forced conversation between the Task Force members in the Post Office about "good cops vs bad cops" Please, writers, these conversations/monologues are always incredibly obvious and break the immersion. Viewers are well aware of the days news and political debates. Can we leave it out of The Blacklist scripts? I understand wanting to draw inspiration from current events but please leave the silly obvious political statements out.

Why does Ressler's fixer guy always seem to be wearing kohl eyeliner? And possibly mascara? Is that just what the actor's real eyes look like? Or doesThe Blacklist make-up artist need to be replaced? That's two misses this episode. While we're at it, Red is often made to look too feminine. I always suspected that perhaps that was done intentionally to ease us into "Redarina" one day by feminizing James Spader's appearance. Now I just think the makeup artist needs to lay off the makeup on the male actors. It's distracting!

I too was a bit lost with the insurance scam plot line. It was a bit weak. I would have preferred the entire cop shooter / Rebecca Thrall storyline be dropped and the focus just being on the gun supplier. I found that heist to be much more interesting.

OK let me try to end on a good note. Maybe I'm a bit grumpy and out of sorts today due to a hectic real life week. The DMV....always cracks me up. And that campout scene at the end was enough to save the entire episode. You are so right, BBB! Glenn was absolutely the MVP that saved this stinker of an episode.

 Many excellent points Jackpow - by now its obvious the episode will not go down in history as a TBL Classic, far from it. The Becky Thrall story-line looks like it was cobbled together at the last minute on a Subway napkin. Not very enticing - with choppy execution.
Not excusing the make-up on McGinnis - but the actor playing him had a nice 2 ep arc on my favourite all-time show (Person of Interest) as a planted Russian cop working for the NYPD. He was a bad guy!

At some point I want Glenn to come on board and take over Red's operations when Red is kidnapped, temporarily infirm or somesuch. He'd be a hoot - kinda normal working with Dembe & Liz, even Tom but he'd be hilarious running laps with Aram, Samar, Harold & Donald.

I just finished my second watch.  

*Red as Bruno sounds like some old mob guy in retirement. 
* I dont' understand the Thrall plot line.  Why did Red give them this case?  He didn't benefit from it.  And it reminds me quite a bit of the Milton Bobbit plot line.  People with inside knowledge of another's life hiring desperate people to commit crimes for a large payment. 
* The bones haven't been mentioned as male or female.  Anthropologists and other forensic people can usually identify as male or female, so thanks a lot Blacklist writers for keeping us even more in the dark for another week. 
*God love Jellybean.  Everything about him.  His loyalty and willingness to help Red without question, his desire to hang out with him at the end.  I adore the man.  
* I have to love Smokey and Hawkins.  Smokey is a freaking genius!  And the way Red has bonded with these people in such a short time in a testament to who he is.
* Tom's a moron who is going to get people killed. And it makes me lean further in the direction of him being involved in the memory swipe two years ago.  If he loves Liz as much as he claims, he needs to stop trying to pull her away from Red.  She has made her decision.  And Red does have Liz's best interest at heart, even if he has his own agenda that she may not like. 
*I adore Red and his island of misfit toys.  He collects the oddballs because he sees their worth despite (or because of) the eccentricities. 
* Ressler is becoming Red with that parable about the Mongolians. 
* I really missed more Red/Liz time.  Just a little more would have been nice. 

Last edited by Brittany (10/12/2017 6:26 pm)

Did anyone else notice Red's request to be locked up next time with a redhead with a nice smile and a friendly demeanor?  Made me think of Katarina (and I wonder if Red was thinking of her too). 

Great comments everyone!  I haven't yet re-watched the episode but agree with comments here how the insurance plot just didn't come off - it never really gelled or gripped the story in any way, it was too superficial, in more ways than one.  On top of that, there was no twist at the end as to what was in it for Red - unless as a simple distraction for Liz while he was off buying guns - didn't he say something at the end of the episode about what he'd been up to lately which was just an outright lie?

So I agree with those who say there wasn't enough Red/Liz interaction but then I go back to thinking that Red deliberately sidelined Liz so he could pull off his difficult "magic trick" (LOL!) of getting money, guns and a plane.  Well that's my theory about it anyway.  But the insurance half still could have been written better IMO

I no longer think Nik in cahoots with Red although it IS curious that he happens to know someone from med school who is now plugged into a criminal network.  really?  hmmm

Smokey continues to show he is the clever guy I think he is.  I do think the actor does a great job with the character.  I think I've already said I'm not a huge Aida fan, but for me the issue, as someone else said, is the contrived bickering (and other stuff in the episode felt contrived also).  I'd be much more interested in those two actually knitting their skills together to pull off a huge coup for Red - now that I would like to see.

Although I do still think these characters are being shown to us for a reason, and I do think its a copy of how Red originally started out.

More on parallels another time - but did anyone other than me think that the shirt that Tom was wearing on his mission with Red, the same one as when he got captured in Cuba?  hmm

Oh lastly, some possible foreshadowing for Tom/Red deeper troubles.  And Red knows something is up.  He will figure it out.  Kind of another parallel, to how he knew Liz was up to something and it turned out to be holding Tom in a boat.

Last edited by lara1 (10/12/2017 7:42 pm)