The Blacklist Refugees » Episode 5.17 - Anna-Garcia Duerte

Eastcoast · 4/05/2018 12:09 pm

Tuxie400 wrote:
If they're going to kill anyone off, I would be least effected if it were Samar. Maybe they are giving her a lot of screen time here at the end (the two-parter that is supposed to be Samar-centric) only to bump her off at the end of it.. But maybe they let Aram get field trained just to kill him off. Either way, I predict one of them will die by the end of this season. No one gets happily ever after in this show.

I find the Samar and Aram relationship very boring. Aram was much more interesting when he was dating Elise/Janet.

I wish someone could be happy a while in this show. I like them together. I might be the only one who didn't care for Janet/ Elsie. She was a liar and not trustworthy. I didn't like that about her. Glad she is gone!

I just really do not want to see Aram gone..

4/05/2018 12:10 pm

Tuxie- I was a fan of the relationship before it happened, but I'm a little meh on it now. I guess it was the tensions/chase that was more interesting for me. If anyone has to go, I'd rather it be Ressler, though there haven't been any hints at him going anywhere. But they have such a small main cast it would be difficult to lose any of them without a big shift in dynamics. I'd much rather see the task force operating on the run. Cooper seems to only be able to give out random orders lately. I want him to have something more interesting to do. And i want to know if he and Charlene ever got back together, did they get divorced, etc....

Tuxie400 · 4/05/2018 12:53 pm

Eastcoast wrote:
I wish someone could be happy a while in this show. I like them together. I might be the only one who didn't care for Janet/ Elsie. She was a liar and not trustworthy. I didn't like that about her. Glad she is gone!

I just really do not want to see Aram gone..

You are not alone in disliking the Aram/Janet relationship. It mirrored Tom and Liz, which most fans hated. Neither relationship bothered me that much. But I think they were actually both supposed to be sick relationships. RR and Kat was a sick relationship too, although people seem to worship that one. All of them mean something in the scheme of things. In the end, it may become clear, or not, because fans see what they want to see.

Tuxie400 · 4/05/2018 12:55 pm

Brittany - Last year we thought Ressler was going to be the one to go. LOL I think by the time the show ends nearly everyone on the task force will cease to exist.

lara1 · 4/05/2018 1:56 pm

RE the duffel bag, I too thought the bones looked a bit different - maybe darker, I don't know. It was such a short glimpse of them, and it could have been the lighting and that they were fully inside a nearly closed bag. Will have to look on rewatch.

lara1 · 4/05/2018 1:57 pm

I liked the episode. I thought it was a filler episode, but for that, it was good. Also the action did move very fast - I need to go back and re-watch for anything I missed......

Big Badd Bazzer · 4/05/2018 2:57 pm

Great episode for Samar - but overall one of the weaker efforts in the last couple years.

As far as the end of the series goes - I think the show-runners are the type of people who will continue to dangle the carrot in front of viewers if they are continually re-upped for season upon season.

In order to obtain closure - perhaps NBC should look at the CBS formula for closing down Person of Interest. Despite solid ratings - they decided to give it a final 5th season - but made it only 13 episodes.

How 'bout the same for TBL? 1 more season - perhaps 13 to 15 episodes which would force TBL show-runners to accommodate a plausible/shocking/subversive/chiff-hanging ending - BUT AN ENDING NONETHELESS.

We ain't gonna get closure if the show-runners keep getting re-upped for season after season.

Funny thing - Person of Interest was so fabulous it probably could have continued for another 3 or 4 seasons - even with the loss of Amy Acker & James Caviezel.

Would Blacklist survive if James Spader left. 2 years ago the answer was 100% NO - now I'm not so sure. Megan Boone has become fantastic as Black Liz - could she do a show without Tom, Red, Mr. Kaplan, etc? Maybe!

Personally the only truism in the equation - is TBL lasts as long as James Spader wants it to . . . .

4/05/2018 4:52 pm

I went back and looked at the bones and I think they look a little different than the ones we saw in previous episodes. Not that it really matters. It's not like we can assess anything from them.

Tuxie400 · 4/05/2018 7:17 pm

Brittany - I can't decide if the bones are different ones, or if it's just the lighting and the fact we're looking at them rejumbled.

But what about the amethyst ring Aram gave Samar. It looks like a sapphire on my TV screen. Did it look purple on yours?

4/05/2018 7:23 pm

It looked purple to me, Tuxie.

Tuxie400 · 4/05/2018 8:38 pm

Brittany wrote:
It looked purple to me, Tuxie.

Good! The color settings must be slightly off on my TV.

Eastcoast · 4/06/2018 12:00 am

I had a minute to look at Tessa's page while ago and she has the pictures of the bones on there. I was glad because hers are a bit more clear than mine. They have Black on them and the last ones were white. lol

Last edited by Eastcoast (4/06/2018 12:00 am)

lara1 · 4/06/2018 11:43 am

As you guys know, I am not one to shy away from analyzing everything in this show! LOL. But somehow, I can't get excited about the changing bones. I mean, they rent the props, return them, then get them back when needed, I'm assuming. So maybe they aren't the same exact set of prop bones. I don't know that it matters.

Maybe it does. Maybe they don't even exist at all.

Tatiana · 4/06/2018 12:15 pm

Lara - I"ve been promising I would post a write up I started quite some time ago, but real life keeps kicking in!
Absolutely agree the retro trailer was bizarro! I haven't seen one like that .... I don't even remember when. And I live in Wisconsin where a lot of people go 'up north' with their trailers and boats as do all Wisconsonites.

The bones thing? I think the whole show is becoming more and more shattering and disembodied and I believe the reason for that is because they want to convey a bigger, more bizarro, more horrific story. We talked about Liz ultimately killing Red in the end after she goes through multiple challenges to her sense of right and wrong (and thinking like a criminal instead of like a cop). Will she become a criminal? An underworld cop? And will she 'kill' Red in the end when she becomes strong and sure?

IowaWatcher · 4/06/2018 12:17 pm

Yeah, I'm not letting the changing appearance of the bones bother me. They can't seem to keep the same
ones around for some reason.

Also, I really like Aram, and the show would be poorer if he dies. I have mixed feelings about Samar. I guess I'd be okay if her character dies or is transferred. I'm not into their relationship: it's more painful than entertaining. Samar would be stronger if she went to work as one of Red's contractors where she can do badass "Tom Bond" things in foreign places. I really miss the spy aspect of the show! (But not Tom).

Also, they've dropped the ball on Donald's story line. It faded away.

I know the writers did a reset, but I think the story-telling could be stronger with these characters.

I wish several of the fans who really know the show could sit down with the producers/writers and start by going over the list of unanswered questions on that other thread and then craft a more stable story arc that brings the show closer to the elements in Season 1 that made it so compelling. I agree with BBB's post -- wherever it was -- that if feels like a lot of the writing is "on the fly," and that makes for continuity problems, more glaring in this type of show than something more fluffy like "Agents of Shield," which I'm also watching this season, and some of those plot holes are large enough to drive an SUV through!

I also wish there were more avenues for fan-generated scripts. I know some of the posters here could create stronger episodes than some of the ones we've seen this season. Yes, I know there's union rules and legal aspects. I'm just venting!

4/06/2018 12:17 pm

I’m with you Lara. If it isn’t vital I don’t care if it changes. We can’t analyze these bones with accuracy because they aren’t real so it doesn’t matter. All we are supposed to know is that it still is in play.

IowaWatcher · 4/06/2018 12:19 pm

Tatiana wrote:
The bones thing? I think the whole show is becoming more and more shattering and disembodied and I believe the reason for that is because they want to convey a bigger, more bizarro, more horrific story.

I agree! I hope that's not the reason. But, yes, it really does feel like the show runners are losing their way.

lara1 · 4/06/2018 12:26 pm

Hi IowaWatcher! I have to agree, I'm not crazy with the Aram/Samar thing either. It is lacking in something, I'm not sure what, but there doesn't seem to be any spark to their story. Unlike, say elise/janet. I kind of think each of Aram and Samar are kind of more interesting on their own at this point.

I love your idea of having Samar become the new bad ass, Tom Bond girl. That would be awesome. I think that she might have to split from Aram for that to work, as I wouldn't want to see another copy of Liz/Tom - although that would be hard to do anyway in its various aspects.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Last edited by lara1 (4/06/2018 12:27 pm)

Tuxie400 · 4/06/2018 1:54 pm

I don't think the showrunners are losing their way, I think the audience just never knew what the way was. For me, this season is my second favorite, with Season 1 being my top favorite. I think the changing bones are much like the changing Hudsons.

Last edited by Tuxie400 (4/06/2018 1:56 pm)

Tuxie400 · 4/06/2018 2:14 pm

Some parallels and callbacks for this episode:

Red calls Agent Keen Lizzy again, and tells her to think like a criminal, like he did back in the pilot.

The last time Liz violently laid hands on Red was the pen in the neck in the pilot.

Brimley says, "Who knew skin was so elastic?" The last time we heard a character talking about skin being elastic was Dr. Abraham Maltz, the plastic surgeon, in Season 1's General Ludd. I think Brimley's other quip about the guy he was torturing - On the bright side, he's 3 inches taller - was a little joke aimed at proponents of the Redarina theory.

The child bride theme was first introduced in Season 2's Kenyon Family.

Samar also talked a child out of killing himself in The Kenyon Family. That time she talked a little boy out of bombing the van he was driving. Her scene with Anna-Gracia reminded me of that.

Red last offered a large sum of cash and shot everyone but the person willing to give him information in Season 4's Esteban episode when he was carrying a disembodied head with him.