Eastcoast wrote:

I meant to say, they look like his fingers are sliced off.
It looked like he had his thumb and most or all of his index finger. If he had hurt them moving Nik, it would Not look so straight.

Reminds me again of Leonard Caul.  Not that its him but is there a connection they are telegraphing to us?

Before they spoke about him (Pete) being a con artist (there is that parallel again!) and being in jail for relatively minor stuff (like not murder) I thought he was perhaps another agent or someone nefarious working for someone else.  Like a trained operative.  I'm not sure about that now.  He just seems a con artist, albeit probably a very good one.  So I think he got mixed up in something over his head, rather than being perhaps an operative working for a Berlin type big bad.  Still possible of course.  The arrest for the more minor things (relatively speaking) may have been a mistake.

Last edited by lara1 (11/02/2017 10:10 am)

My overall thoughts on the episode.  I haven't read any reviews yet, but these are my impressions:

-Overall I liked the episode.  There were some interesting parallels.   I found the blacklister plot intriguing and it engaged me - and I didn't see the twist coming at the end though there were clues sprinkled. ( I actually hope the series ends something like that - a twist we didn't see coming, but looking back on the clues, we'll be like, oh!)

-The side plot with Harold was so-so.  I think it could have been more impactful if they'd built up to it a bit in one or two prior episodes.  It just kind of came out of nowhere.  Though it was great to see Cooper out of the office and Harry and Spader acting together - really good scenes.

- the ending kind of ruined the episode for me, if I am honest.  Artistically, I think it detracted from the solemn impact of the preceding scene where the blacklister and his wife are both killed at their children's grave.  Logically, it made no sense to me - I would have thought that cemetery scene with the blacklister would have given Liz some pause for deep thought and soul-searching about her current relationship with a known operative and assassin (who by the way has already put their daughter in danger at least three times).

The wedding felt contrived, much like how the Tom/Liz relationship feels to me overall.  I think Megan and Ryan do a great job, and do have on screen chemistry together, its just the construct of how this relationship could exist kind of defies believability to me.  However, it is only television ! - and maybe the (fourth) wedding is a step towards something else that happens.  Just my two cents, LOL

Last edited by lara1 (11/02/2017 10:27 am)

I have read the EW recap and many responses to the episode on Tumblr. Apparently I'm in the minority because I found this episode very engaging and satisfying. I really loved the Groundhog Day murder plot. For me, this episode is tied with The Endling for my favorite Blacklister of the season so far. I enjoyed seeing Cooper out of the office, with Red and Dembe backing him up. I liked that Tom's journey in this episode started and ended at the Courthouse. The scene with Red and Tom was fabulous, and everything Tom said could have been more about him than Red. The twist at the end - that it was Dawson's wife behind the murders - was a good one. I'm a sucker for the amnesia and time travel themes, and this episode sort of had both - so I was a very happy viewer.  As for expectations, I didn't think we would get any concrete info on the bones this early, and I expected a Liz and Tom wedding at some point, so I wasn't bothered by it at the end. 

Tuxie400# 86 - The three times I could recall were:  when (I think it was The Forecaster) the building model was left outside the door of the apt. and Tom leaves the door wide open and Agnes alone as he runs after whoever it was that left it); the episode where he storms Kirk's compound where he thinks Kirk is keeping Agnes; and, initially, being careless and not using a burner phone while Liz was in Cuba, so that Mato traced him very easily, leading to Kirk finding Liz and Agnes.  Those are my thoughts, anyway!

Good point about the episode beginning and ending at the courthouse.  And that is when the scene with Red/Tom about "secrets" takes place....Is that also where Tom found that Pete had never been married?  Then the person who was once a fake husband (Tom) gets married at the end?  

Thanks for pointing that out.  It makes the ending more understandable to me.  Yeah I knew that Liz and Tom would get re-married at some point, I just didn't agree with the juxtaposition right after the meaning of the prior scene.  Picky picky!  LOL

Last edited by lara1 (11/02/2017 11:01 am)

lara1 wrote:

  Yeah I knew that Liz and Tom would get re-married at some point, I just didn't agree with the juxtaposition right after the meaning of the prior scene.  Picky picky!  LOL

For the record, it bothered me, too, plus it just felt like the show runners had to hurry up and jam that event in there or there will be a problem with later plot point. I agree that they are setting up "something."

I like Ryan. I like the Tom character but not with Liz. There were some good points about "Redemption" -- but trying to fold that whole story line back into "The Blacklist" seems awkward to me. It's too complicated for a one-hour show, plus I like "Tom Bond" better as a spy than as a dad, and that whole Agnes story arc needs to fade away.

Someone smack me if I'm wrong, but I wonder if Megan Boone is pregnant with a second child?

The Man Who Never Was was the story of Operation Mincemeat during WWII. The British came up with a plan to make the Germans think they were going to attack Greece instead of Sicily by floating a body of a supposed British naval,officer in the ocean so that it would be picked up by a German agent who would be very interested in a couple of letters in the corpse's briefcase. The letters indicated that the invasion was not going to be Sicily, which it was. So they fabricated this officer's identity and made it look like he’d died in a plane crash. I guess the whole ruse was pretty convincing, even fooled this German top agent. I remember seeing the book in my grandmothers library and the picture on the dust jacket was an officers uniform with no face, like the invisible man. It was also a movie in the 1950’s.

The only clear signal emanating from yesterday's ep was that Harold Cooper's time might be drawing to a violent conclusion.
Show-runners went off the reservation, letting Harold 'Go Crazy', then take in a brief but effective lecture on morals by none other than The Redemption Man, Red Reddington.
Task Force ranks getting too busy where there's little room for actors to manouver - even the very popular Aram character couldn't generate more than 30 sec. of screen action. Donald has the most interest story-line of any of the Task Forcers in S. 3 - - - so his future is safe. Can't say the same about Harold. They either put him on the bench (little screen time) or retire him WITH A BANG. I vote for the big bang theory!

Good actor, just a bit lost in space with so many good actors and guest stars clouding the landscape. Wish him well - he was very good for the show!

Honey West #91 - thanks for that info.  some interesting parallels there!  you know the movie title is vaguely familiar.....maybe I did in fact see it way back when......

OK so I came across a reference I made on another thread a few months ago that the hourglass has been used in TBL.  Does anyone remember having seen it and in what context and when?  I have a feeling it was in Season 4 but not sure....

Back to clues within the space of a few minutes in the opening sequence we have the clock radio (almost first thing we see in the pilot), the year is 1989, year of the fire, the fall of East BERLIN is playing on the news, the blacklister is doing a CROSSWORD then drives in a car with a license plate that starts with the NUMBER 36 to a farm that looks like Tansi Farms (even if it isn't are these being threaded together for us) and ends up attacking the man with an AXE.

I wrote down a whole bunch of other stuff, will do a separate post once I complete a re-watch where I might pick up some more.....

I really hope we don't lose Harry Lennix. I think he's an excellent actor but is forced to do his best with the paltry lines the writers give him. I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way but I felt that Harry/Harold was reduced to a stereotype in this latest episode. Once again, the writers felt the need to indulge their desire to inject their political views into the Blacklist scripts and it ALWAYS comes across as forced and obvious.

Whether it's Samar and Aram having a conversation about gender wage gaps, the task force chatting about killer cops or this latest episode with Harold and Red in the car, it always seems so obvious and honestly breaks the immersion of the particular episode/scene. These shows tend to take inspiration from the headlines, and that's fine, but there are more subtle ways to work it in.

These are good actors. They should be more than talking head robots spewing the writers political views. Even if the actors and the audience agree with those views, these things always stick out like a sore thumb. Tell the Blacklist story, leave the political soap box speeches out of it.

OK rant over.