The Blacklist Refugees » Episode 8.01

Honey West · 11/13/2020 6:50 pm

I thought I would jump in and start the discussion thread for tonight's season premiere. As usual, you all will see it before I do out here on the West Coast, and I will have to try to stay off the board until it airs here!

Enjoy! (I have my Cadbury Dairy Milk Bar ready to go! LOL!)

Eastcoast · 11/13/2020 7:00 pm

Thank you HW! We will see you on the other side.
Cadbury sounds delish!

IowaWatcher · 11/13/2020 7:03 pm

Air-popped popcorn with a touch of real butter, leftover "red blend" wine, and a cup of decaf coffee!

I'll bet you have cake, Eastcoast.

Eastcoast · 11/13/2020 7:06 pm

IW, I just posted under your other post. I have coconut cake, Icecream, cookies and candy. I was ready for tonight.

Eastcoast · 11/13/2020 7:06 pm

IowaWatcher wrote:
Air-popped popcorn with a touch of real butter, leftover "red blend" wine, and a cup of decaf coffee!

I'll bet you have cake, Eastcoast.

I Looooove cake! Lol

See y'all later!

IowaWatcher · 11/13/2020 9:24 pm

Yummy! You were ready!
Hope the Cadbury was good, HW.

Now, tonight's episode. First, I'm glad the show is back on! I appreciate all that goes into filming during a pandemic. Kudos to everyone!

Last weekend, I re-watched the last two episodes. But I have to admit that I was still a little confused with tonight's story line. I realize several episodes were cut last season and now we are playing catch-up.

Liz's motivation is bothering me the most right now. Oh, and I so hope the plan isn't to get her romantically involved with Ressler! I was yelling at the screen when she kissed him.

I liked Dom's replacement and the "IRS lady" will give Red a run for his money if she's allowed to be the new comedy relief.

As for the rest of it, N-13 (?) I will do a re-watch. It almost sounds like a return to the fulcrum and that whole abandoned story line. And Ilya seems to have been abandoned, too. I wonder if he recovers and gets his mind back?

So many questions!

Tuxie400 · 11/13/2020 9:31 pm

Shocking Liz behavior! Do you think Cooper was right that Red turned her into this person who would kidnap her own grandfather? Or was Red right, that this was always her destiny? I think it's a little bit of both.

Last edited by Tuxie400 (11/13/2020 9:31 pm)

Tuxie400 · 11/13/2020 9:34 pm

Eastcoast - Liz's motivation is wanting answers and wanting to help her "mother." I think N13 was the real Katerina - the Lotte version - now our Red.

IowaWatcher · 11/13/2020 9:43 pm

So maybe the plan is for Liz to become the new N13?

Bed for me. Perhaps it'll be clearer after a re-watch. I also wonder if N13 is something Fakerina has made up to get Liz to go along with her.

Eastcoast · 11/13/2020 10:44 pm

IW, I thought Don's replacement worked out well. He did a great job.
I think she is motivated by just wanting answers. She probably figures KR is going to do it anyway.
When I saw them kiss, the first thing I thought was the Keenlers will be happy. But I was thinking something isnt right, she's playing him. And then boom!

Tuxie, I do think she wants to help her mom, but if KR is pressuring answers from Dom, one way or another, she was thinking I may as well be involved so he isnt hurt. Then she learns she wants her to get them. Yes, it was a bit shocking to see her burn her bridge like that...

I was thinking that KR or Red might kill Dom. I'm leaning towards Red, Not because he wants to, but that if the previews are right, that he told Liz everything, then Red might look at it as a betrayal. I think KR knows Red would do that if he was betrayed.

My other thought is that Dom says he told her everything, but he really didn't. Maybe he Figures that Red will end his misery because he betrayed him? Red learns later that he really didn't tell Everything.

Anyway, that's the thought I have right now. My ideas change a lot. Lol.

IowaWatcher · 11/13/2020 11:07 pm

Mine, too!

I just had a brainstorm -- bad idea when I've been up since 5 am -- what if Liz was saying to Ressler, "Don't give up on me" because she was trying to tell him she's going to play both sides against the other in her pursuit for answers?

When I look at tonight's show with that in mind, it makes a lot more sense to me.

The problem: Liz isn't smart enough (or is she?) to play both sides against each other and win.

Eastcoast · 11/13/2020 11:42 pm

IowaWatcher wrote:
Mine, too!

I just had a brainstorm -- bad idea when I've been up since 5 am -- what if Liz was saying to Ressler, "Don't give up on me" because she was trying to tell him she's going to play both sides against the other in her pursuit for answers?

When I look at tonight's show with that in mind, it makes a lot more sense to me.

The problem: Liz isn't smart enough (or is she?) to play both sides against each other and win.

IW, I want everyone to win. I want Liz to have answers. I just dont think there will be any winners at the end.

But I dont think that's a bad idea you have. Could be?

Last edited by Eastcoast (11/13/2020 11:43 pm)

Honey West · 11/14/2020 2:33 am

This one definitely requires a re-watch. Daniel Cerone said (on Twitter) that he had written this to be the original 7.20. And I read several places that they were using the final three episodes of 7, but that they had to re-work them since they had made 7.19 into the season finale. I also recall they rewrote parts of 7.19 in order to use it as the finale, so that makes sense. In any case, it makes it harder than usual to jump back in as a premiere. They have said they normally just sort of ease into the new seasons.

One thing I did notice that was different from the previews is that in the preview KR told Liz that Red had killed her father. Tonight she told Liz that he had killed the man who raised her. So unless that's from something else, she meant Sam all along. So she knows about Red killing Sam. Did Liz tell her? Or has she been keeping close tabs on things for a long time.

I bet the Keenlers out there about fainted when she kissed Ressler. LOL! But I thought more like what KR had said earlier about Russian women spies being raised to seduce men, starting at age 15 and ordered by Dom. Geesh, no wonder she hates her father! So I didn't see that as anything much more than a manipulative act since Liz initiated it. I hope there's more there on her part, but I wonder, because she has changed so much.

Her destiny. And Red and Dembe had discussed that she might turn this way. He seemed so sad about it.

The previews look pretty intense: KR and Red have a face to face. ScreenSpy had some photos and Liz had her hands zip-tied in many of them. I don't think next week will have a happy ending. And I agree, the whole show will likely not have a happy ending and everyone loses.

Well, I will write more after the re-watch. They threw a lot at us tonight and it requires digestion.

I only had half the Cadbury bar. I'll save the other half for the re-watch!

IowaWatcher · 11/14/2020 10:52 am

Yes, it makes sense that it's out of sequence, HW. Hope you glean more from the rewatch!

Eastcoast, I'd like eveyone to win, too, but that's not been the nature of this show. My hope is that the loose ends will be addressed and all will make sense in the end. Right now, the plotting seems messy. I'm sure it will make more sense after we've seen the next 3 episodes or so.

The show runners had a big job to pull off. There have been continuity problems all along, but toss a pandemic into the mix and that's got to be a nightmare for getting the story lines to work. Blacklist is not a typical cop show where the writers can tweak a little here and a little there to make it work.

Last edited by IowaWatcher (11/14/2020 10:53 am)

Tuxie400 · 11/14/2020 12:01 pm

Eastcoast - I doubt that we'll see present-day Ilya again - unless Liz manages to track him down at some point in the future. I was wondering how Red found out Liz knew he wasn't Ilya. At first I thought we were supposed to think Ilya told Red. But I just rewatched Season 7 this past month, and Ilya appeared to be too out of it at that point to know Liz was in the room. I'm thinking that must have been explained in what was originally 7.17 but got cut out when they turned half of it into animation. I really thought Dom would tell Red that Liz knew he lied and was now siding with her mother.

As for playing both sides against each other, Liz told Ressler she was on the side of the truth. Dom will likely give her more truth than either Red or Faker, but I don't think he'll give her the whole truth.

As for the Liz/Ressler kiss, it didn't bother me. We've seen them get closer over the last two seasons. I think the kiss was real on both their parts. Liz knew Ressler would take her in though, so she had to take his gun. And that manipulative action mirrors her mother, Katarina the honeypot.

Last edited by Tuxie400 (11/14/2020 1:48 pm)

Eastcoast · 11/15/2020 3:41 pm

Tuxie, I thought that Dembe found the investigator that Liz hired and she told them?

Tuxie400 · 11/15/2020 4:43 pm

Eastcoast wrote:
Tuxie, I thought that Dembe found the investigator that Liz hired and she told them?

I think you're right, Eastcoast. I had forgotten that. I didn't rewatch any episode last year. And this year I only made it to 7.13 on my Netflix rewatch.

Honey West · 11/15/2020 11:11 pm

I did my re-watch yesterday. I didn't really see anything new the second time around. But the thing that stands out to me is Dom and his precarious position. I think he would like to tell Liz the truth, but he is in danger if he talks. I'm not sure who poses the biggest threat to him, though. It could very well be someone we haven't met yet.

It would sure seem like Red is or was N13, but I suspect this may be another red herring for us. He might be too obvious. It's interesting that he was called N13 and the beginnings of the Sikorsky Archive contained 13 parts. I don't know if it's related to that or not. But it sounds like the Sikorsky Archive is still growing, especially if KR is trying to pin it on Red maybe being N13. The reason I don't think so is because Red seems to be dismantling something with his handing over of Blacklisters to the Task Force, rather than building a bigger blackmail file. Unless of course what he gains from doing so is what builds it. I don't know, just thinking out loud.

I agree, Tuxie, I think the Liz/Ressler kiss was real. But she knew he would be duty-bound to take her in so she had to take his gun and escape. That's what she likes about him.

Cerone said there would be a big exposition scene between Liz and KR because he had to do it that way in order to try to tie things all together after the abrupt end to 7. Pretty much everything she told Liz was covered by earlier stories we've seen. So it was more of a recap than a revelation. Except for the part about Dom trying to frame her as N13 and then killing her before anyone could learn the truth. Of course, she could be saying that and maybe she really was N13. Only time will tell.

Big Badd Bazzer · 11/17/2020 3:45 pm

Eastcoast wrote:
IW, I thought Don's replacement worked out well. He did a great job.
I think she is motivated by just wanting answers. She probably figures KR is going to do it anyway.
When I saw them kiss, the first thing I thought was the Keenlers will be happy. But I was thinking something isnt right, she's playing him. And then boom!

Tuxie, I do think she wants to help her mom, but if KR is pressuring answers from Dom, one way or another, she was thinking I may as well be involved so he isnt hurt. Then she learns she wants her to get them. Yes, it was a bit shocking to see her burn her bridge like that...

I was thinking that KR or Red might kill Dom. I'm leaning towards Red, Not because he wants to, but that if the previews are right, that he told Liz everything, then Red might look at it as a betrayal. I think KR knows Red would do that if he was betrayed.

My other thought is that Dom says he told her everything, but he really didn't. Maybe he Figures that Red will end his misery because he betrayed him? Red learns later that he really didn't tell Everything.

Anyway, that's the thought I have right now. My ideas change a lot. Lol.

Glad they found Ron Raines as Dom. His accent work was terrific and although he's a few scant years younger than Brian Dennehy his physical resemblance was acceptable.

Thought this was the weakest season opener in Blacklist history. . . . but still a really decent 60 minute drama. I think I've grown tired of Madeline, Ressler has become redundant (although I didn't expect the Liz kiss moment) and I miss Mozhan & Glen (Clark Middleton) terribly.

Thought Hedy was really good in her role - chasing down a non-existent lead but after that it still rolled back to Spader & Liz.

For the record I think Liz's character has undergone an almost complete metamorphosis. The others - NOT SO MUCH . . . ? ? ?

Tuxie400 · 11/18/2020 2:36 pm

Hey BBB - Good to see your post! I agree that Liz's character is the only one who has changed very much. I found it very easy to accept Ron Raines as Dom, so I think that was genius casting. I do agree that this was the weakest season opener in the series, but it was still better than a lot of Blacklist episodes and better than most hourlong dramas.