The Blacklist Refugees » Episode 5.10 - The Informant

Honey West · 1/11/2018 2:45 am

lara1 wrote:
Tuxie400 and IowaWatcher - yes I got the impression that Cooper has colored over the lines in a big way at some point. Not sure what.

Not sure about the gas either - I think I was too grossed out by it to focus on why it happened, LOL

Maybe Cooper's envelope contains that flash drive that Red handed over to him saying it was the only copy of what happened in Kuwait? Cooper and Red share some secrets.

Honey West · 1/11/2018 2:53 am

Tuxie400 wrote:
Iowa Watcher - That was funny how Ressler took a bottle of booze - like he felt he was entitled after dealing with both Presscott and Red.

I'll bet that it was a very expensive bottle, too. Ressler just needed to get drunk and Red's nice Scotch would provide the means.

Honey West · 1/11/2018 2:57 am

Eastcoast wrote:
That was a crazy episode! I get a feeling we will be saying that a lot.
LIz is a loose cannon!

lara1, I saw the watch too. I also want to get a better look at it and the ring he is wearing since they keep putting it in our face. He really is a creeeepy dude!

It was very disturbing to see Red set that fire knowing he knows what that feels like.
Interesting he said his good friend about Donald to Prescott before he lit the fire. Then later he was talking to Donald about them being friends.

BBB, 56, yes. I think Cooper knew he was going to do that.

Well, they are sort of blood brothers.

1/11/2018 6:37 am

I hadn't considered that the Metro PD might still be looking into the case. It's good thing Liz had that head injury and could claim ignorance on Red and Dembe coming in to kill the bad guys and take them to the hospital. I really wish we knew how long it had been since the night Tom was killed. She was gone a few months in Alaska according to the detective. They knew exactly when she had come back....did someone within Metro PD alert Garvey? Or just coincidence multiple people were watching her?

I thought it was interesting that Garvey was now keeping tabs on Liz...had he been in such a rush upon finding the suitcase at first that he didn't do much in the way of digging into Red's life? Using Liz to get to Red is always a mistake. I wasn't expecting to see him this episode.

Liz killing Navarro and turning into the Stewmaker to conceal the body next week is very exciting. Between that and the addition of Nathan Lane, it is going to be fantastic. But she needs to work on the level-headed threatening look. She looked a little psycho when she was telling Crisanto that if he didn't answer her question she'd kill him. and seriously, shouldn't she be taking it a little easier? She had a massive traumatic brain injury not that long ago. Too many hits to the head could kill her. I have to wonder if she suffered any long-term brain damage from the injury.

Like some of you have mentioned already, Red setting Prescott on fire was brutal but I think it was to make it look more like an 'accident' than an assassination. And doing that to someone when you know what it's like to be on fire, but you know just how horrible it is and if you really wanted someone to suffer, that would be the way.

I'm wondering what the high/low is on Red genuinely caring that Ressler not go to prison versus needing him in his back pocket for future suitcase related things. I'm betting the latter is higher, though not much.

I didn't see Cooper's envelope very well. Was it a regular envelope or a smaller one, like you'd put something like cash or a flash drive in? I figure it can be anything from something he did in the past while in the Navy to some of the things he did while being blackmailed by Connolly to the concealment of Ressler's involvement in Hitchin's death. But both he and Red knew. Did Red tell him about everything or did he just start putting it all together?

Tuxie400 · 1/11/2018 10:18 am

Brittany - Cooper's envelope was a large manilla type. I think his confession would more likely have to do with things he's done since Red came back on the scene. It would be FBI related.

Tuxie400 · 1/11/2018 10:21 am

This is a difficult episode to rate. The Blacklist case seemed to be written by several different writers, and the pieces just didn't match up. So to me, that part was bad. The Liz parts were well written, and I'm OK with her looking like a crazed psycho - because she is right now. I think my favorite part was a place, rather than a particular scene or character this time. I loved the look of the place Red was staying.

Last edited by Tuxie400 (1/14/2018 6:36 pm)

lara1 · 1/11/2018 10:47 am

Brittany - interesting observations. Although I do think the Metro PD knew Liz was back because didn't they keep trying to contact her? And eventually they did, so they knew she was back. Or maybe I mis-heard that.
I agree with your observations on Liz, but at the same time I think she has gone off the rails a bit.

There might be an interesting parallel with Kaplan, as I think Tuxie has pointed out. Among all the cabin imagery. Kaplan seems to have been affected by the injury to her head as a result of Red's gunshot, and she seems to have swung in the direction of revenge following her stay at Hunter's cabin. At first she was resigned and kind of agreed with Red's actions - I think she may have said so to Hunter. But then she turned. So Liz comes out of the cabin truly unleashed, and also following a head injury. Will she end up ultimately going after Red as a result?

I thought the Red-Ressler part of the story was very good. I wonder whether Red's real interest in keeping Ressler out of jail was so much Ressler, or Prescott. Didn't the FBI wheel in loads of case files on him? (Kind of reminded me of when Red surrendered). Could have had stuff that would have maybe compromised some of Red's contacts or activities. I'm also wondering exactly how Cooper knew precisely what Ressler did. And how Red knew, for that matter. Red could have told Cooper, I suppose.

We now have a couple of envelopes floating around the series - there's Ressler's, Liz's (her resignation back in Season 1), Cooper's and Red's (and Red set his on fire).

Tuxie400 - I agree the BL story was a weak link. But I did like the Ressler/Red story.

lara1 · 1/11/2018 10:50 am

Honey West - always enjoy reading your comments!

"Well, they are sort of blood brothers." LOL, yes that's true, forgot about that.

although I did find it interesting that Red called Ressler a good friend before he set Prescott on fire. Why and why did he say that? I wonder if its a parallel to real fire night.

Big Badd Bazzer · 1/11/2018 10:57 am

I have unofficially informed TBL show-runners that the show is now re-named

THE BLACK LIZ

Tuxie400 · 1/11/2018 10:58 am

On another site, Susanne Hinkle Patterson sharpened and blew up Garvey's ring. The insignia on the side proves it's a Navy ring!

Last edited by Tuxie400 (1/11/2018 10:58 am)

1/11/2018 11:20 am

Garvey being former Navy doesn't surprise me. My feeling is that he and Red have a history. He didn't want to talk to him on the phone, but knew Red's voice enough to know Tom wasn't jerking him around. And also referred to Red's power as 'legendary' which told me that he hadn't probably had interaction with him in a very long time and had only heard the stories rather than seen it in action.

The stone is his ring has looked blue or green from what I've seen. Do you only get these through the Naval Academy? Do the different graduating years have different colors?

1/11/2018 11:24 am

Liz is a bit psycho at the moment (which I completely dig) but I wonder if she will be able to rein it in after the job is done. I have worked with numerous people with traumatic brain injuries over the years and many of them suffer from significant lack of impulse control and mood swings. I wonder if even after she has taken care of Tom's killers if she is ever going to be able to go back to the FBI. She might be able to pass the physical test but I question her ability to control herself anymore.

Tuxie400 · 1/11/2018 11:31 am

Brittany wrote:
Garvey being former Navy doesn't surprise me. My feeling is that he and Red have a history. He didn't want to talk to him on the phone, but knew Red's voice enough to know Tom wasn't jerking him around. And also referred to Red's power as 'legendary' which told me that he hadn't probably had interaction with him in a very long time and had only heard the stories rather than seen it in action.

The stone is his ring has looked blue or green from what I've seen. Do you only get these through the Naval Academy? Do the different graduating years have different colors?

Brittany - Good insights about the verbal clues that Red and Garvey have history! The stone looked green to me in previous photos. I would think you would get these through the Naval Academy, and I would think you could order whatever stone color you wanted just like other schools and institutions.

lara1 · 1/11/2018 11:45 am

Tuxie400 - thanks for that info. I think Garvey is somehow connected to fire night, hence the fire imagery we've been getting. Just a thought. Also I think the glass in the neck thing just reminded me in the back of my mind to Liz stabbing Red in the neck with a pen. Completely different situations obviously but something stuck in the neck....And Red was a pain in Fitch's neck.

Brittany - the interesting thing to me is that Liz has always seemed impulsive with mood swings. Its now been unleashed to a completely different level. Which raises some interesting questions, to me anyway.

BBB - LOL!

lara1 · 1/11/2018 11:47 am

Did anyone else think it a bit strange that Prescott slapped Ressler? And did Liz also slap someone? I know she pistol whipped the guy, but before that. Need to re-watch.

Eastcoast · 1/11/2018 11:48 am

HW, #61, that is what I was talking about in my post. I had a brain freeze and couldn't get the Kuwait to go from my brain to my fingers! lol

BBB, The black Liz, lol

Eastcoast · 1/11/2018 11:53 am

HW, yes they are blood brothers even if Donald doesn't like it.

I was thinking, I don't think Red wants Donald to realize that sometimes things are not so black and white. Bad things and accidents happen to good people sometimes.
He thanked Red for helping him about his girl-friend. So this was really a good time to push it a little harder in Reds way of thinking. Him taking the bottle when he was leaving was great!!

I do think in the future when Red gets into a bind that this is meant to

Eastcoast · 1/11/2018 11:55 am

lara1, that also took me by surprise that he slapped him!

1/11/2018 12:03 pm

lara1 wrote:
Brittany - the interesting thing to me is that Liz has always seemed impulsive with mood swings. Its now been unleashed to a completely different level. Which raises some interesting questions, to me anyway.

She has always been impulsive, but it does seem to be unleashed on a completely unstable level.

1/11/2018 12:22 pm

I just saw an EW blurb about how Martha Plimpton will guest start in the future as a psychologist who evaluates Liz's suitability for duty. So apparently she is going to attempt to rejoin the Task Force? Is it going to be because it's what she wants/needs or to use the resource to help find Tom's killer/