So - the fire set at the IRS storeroom or whatever, reminded me of something that's been kind of ticking in the back of my head for a while - the appearance in this series of old style, dark colored, metal file cabinets.
For example, in The Travel Agency, Liz and Samar search the AGency's old office at the farm.  In it we see travel posters, as well as records kept in those old style file cabinets.  Perfectly fine.

But we have also seen them appearing in random places.  I first noticed them when in Berlin, Liz pulls a manila folder with Red's file from one of those cabinets.  They've made several appearances since.  Why do I mention this?  Well, in a digital age, most documents are created, sent and stored online, whether in folders on a computer, on a networked server, or in the cloud.  One tends to see hard copy things mostly (though not exclusively, i know), with original documents, signed papers etc. such as home closing papers as examples of hard copy documents.  The last office I worked at, hardly anyone kept paper.  I had some files, but they were mostly working papers, copies I'd printed, annotated and highlighted etc as working drafts.

I can't remember the last time I went to a doctor or dentist and the assistant went to a hard copy file cabinet.  Straight onto the computer, print you a copy of something if you want it.

Now I know that doesn't mean that those old style, vertical, steel, dark colored cabinets don't exist anymore.  Sure they do.  But a lot of modern offices no longer have them - and if they have cabinets, they are more modern types.  

Would expect to see the old style cabinets in older, smaller offices, places like that.  Like I said, I know that it isn't a case of them not existing anymore.  Just that the places we see them, they are a bit out of place.  Its subtle, but there.  Maybe.

So burning up all the IRS records - it could go either way.  I have no idea where government agencies keep files, they may very well still keep paper, and maybe a lot of it.  And would they have computer back up?  I have no idea.  But it just kind of triggered this thing in my head about the file cabinets.

Well thanks for reading this anyway.    

Last edited by lara1 (3/08/2018 11:57 am)

Tuxie400 wrote:

The best lines of the episode were Fagen's:
"I need someone who sees the fire in my eyes and wants to play with it."
 

That chilled me to the bone. And when Raymond Reddington says it scares him, you know it's scary! Great line.
 

lara1 - You haven't mentiioned something I thought you would. There's a two girls recurring theme this season. It started in the Travel Agency with the two daughters and their Sisters Forever tombstone. Then, the woman from the Invisible Hand had two daughters she wanted to protect, so she agreed to help Ressler and Samar find the red haired victim. Now we have Singleton with two girls who are threatened by Garvey. 

lara1 wrote:

So - the fire set at the IRS storeroom or whatever, reminded me of something that's been kind of ticking in the back of my head for a while - the appearance in this series of old style, dark colored, metal file cabinets.


Now I know that doesn't mean that those old style, vertical, steel, dark colored cabinets don't exist anymore.  Sure they do.  But a lot of modern offices no longer have them - and if they have cabinets, they are more modern types.  

Would expect to see the old style cabinets in older, smaller offices, places like that.  Like I said, I know that it isn't a case of them not existing anymore.  Just that the places we see them, they are a bit out of place.  Its subtle, but there.  Maybe.

So burning up all the IRS records - it could go either way.  I have no idea where government agencies keep files, they may very well still keep paper, and maybe a lot of it.  And would they have computer back up?  I have no idea.  But it just kind of triggered this thing in my head about the file cabinets.

Well thanks for reading this anyway.    

 
LOL! Lara1, if you knew where I worked! In an old government office with LOTS of those file cabinets, full of tons of paper. Believe me, they still exist, especially in large government offices.

Only slight surprise was the show-runners failing to continue "the plumping up of Garvey's alternative task force". Which could mean two things: 1. They feel they've plumped them up enough for Black Liz, The Fireman & Red to eviscerate or 2. They are no longer relevant to the Garvey storyline - kinda died when Garvey knife-bombed Norm Singleton!

Bought some licorice today - got to thinking the show needs some on-line products. So how 'bout

The Blacklist - Pure Black Licorice
Blacklist - Black Liz nibs
Blacklist - Red Licorice twists
Blacklist - authentic Kosher Samar multi-color licorice
Blacklist - Jellybean flavored Glen licorice
Blacklist - Memories of Tom licorice all-sorts
Blacklist - Damascus shaped Garvey bits
Blacklist - Mr. Kaplan "Glasses-shaped licorice"

any others types?

Hot Tamales for Fagen!

Love it! I was thinking atomic fireballs and $100,000 bars too.

Say, I have a timeline, memory, plot gap question. TVfanatic asked if Red was so hot to nab Garvey for being in possession of the bones, why did he wait this long to do it. Remember, it's been well over a year. Liz was in a coma foe 10 months.

Thus coukd feed into a lot if different theories we have so I'd be interested in what you all think.

Tatiana wrote:

lara1 wrote:

So - the fire set at the IRS storeroom or whatever, reminded me of something that's been kind of ticking in the back of my head for a while - the appearance in this series of old style, dark colored, metal file cabinets.

That's what I thought when Keen took the manilla file folder which was the file on the stewmaker. Pretty empty too. 
Early on someone on the original board (maybe it was HoneyWest) pointed out how much these storyboards look like classic detective cartoon strips. Look at the cell below; doesn't that look like a screenshot from the blacklist? And we even have what looks like the Brooklyn Bridge above Dick Tracy aka Red (LOL) and an enemy in peril. Ever notice that Red wears a wristwatch. Who does that? Dick Tracy does!
To support the idea of BL as cartoon is the actual Blacklist 'comic' books themselves. They made at least two of them.  They made a conscious decision to set this tone, detective/criminal/film noir/cartoon feeling. 
This show doesn't adhere to reality although it gives us the sense of reality. Face it, no one gets from MD to NYC in 15 minutes or a 1 hour round trip to Russia. Switching memories or erasing them doesn't really happen. I could go on. But it's part of the fun of it all :-) 
I love seeing all the pre-technology stuff. It makes me winsome for a different time. 

Tatiana - I agree there is a lot like comic book and superhero/supervillains about the series.  I kind of partly watch it with that in mind 

yeah everyone I know the file cabinets are still in use.  But the ones in the series appear to be old, and crop up in interesting places.  The fire just made me think of the cabinets (a lot of which are fireproof, up to a certain temperature and duration)  - it also got me wondering if that was part of the reason why Fagan had to calculate the fire to burn as hot as he did, but probably not.  Just got me focused on the cabinets again.