The Blacklist Refugees » Fall Hiatus Discussion, Season 4

lara1 · 1/01/2017 12:54 pm

Hello everyone - Happy New Year 2017! Looking forward to another year of comments and theories from the truly great group that we have here!

I read on the Blacklisters site that the Nebraska premiere of episode 4.09 took place and there is a big twist coming that might change the direction of the show or otherwise shake it up. And, it may have something to do with what Red whispered to Kirk. Not sure how reliable that is, but we only have a few days to wait to find out! Finally TBL is returning! Although I am surprised that NBC isn't promoting it much - anyone seen anything (recent promos)?

Honey West · 1/01/2017 3:00 pm

Happy New Year, everyone! Ditto to what lara1 said! Looking forward to getting the new episode discussions going again.

I hope the new direction is a good one! I haven't been watching a lot of NBC shows lately, but the few times I have, there have been TBL promos. But with practically every one of their shows returning this week the Blacklist promo is usually the very last one in a group of them. Same promo, nothing new.

Last night Directv dropped our local NBC affiliate from their program lineup due to them fighting over money (as usual). I hope they resolve this quickly, because that's where I normally also get my local news. I can watch over the air, but it breaks up and the way my sound system is set up I get picture but no sound. It's a pain and I really hope I don't have to reconfigure everything for Thursday!

Eastcoast · 1/02/2017 1:33 am

Yes lara1, my watch malfunction really got the ball rolling!! lol

I had seen them all before, but to go from the Pilot to the last one a lot of stuff seamed different. I cant even write everything i noticed.
So many thoughts and not enought time to write them...
I imagine when this show is all over I will start over again and watch it and see how it all fell together.

Tom, I do not know how he got that number but it was really odd to me that he would have it. BUT, he did say just beore he killed her that Red had had been using the cases of Wujing and the Alchemist to track her down in order to get to him. So some how he knew a lot of things that were going on. Probably snooping on Liz!

I am the one who brought up Janet having a house bought for her by Red in Gregory D. He said "Ive purched a beach house". I took it that he may have just gotten it for her.

I had thought only about Tom C. as being on the inside before, but it just popped out at me this time
and I wanted to throw it out there. Reason being that Kenneth said 'on the inside' talking to Samar who is an agent, so I thought maybe he meant one of the agents in there. There are other people in the post office background that we dont know yet that are not main characters.

Honey West,

Those are all my questions too!

I am wondering if its like he had told Liz when he said the Cold War was too hard for her father and he took her.
I would think it would be very hard if he had another family and then had an affair and had a child from it. What a mess. And what if Naomi thinks Red took her, but doesnt know if it is his daughter or not? I just wonder from the way she spoke to him about her... There are a few roads this could take.

In their dialog from the fire if it is correct, it seams like it is when he first find out for sure
that she spied on him. So, maybe if we put together what we have heard from Red, Kirk and the Diary of KR we could sumize that they did fall in love and she probably got pregnant either when Kirk was away on business.
Although my first impression is that Liz shot Red, I have been wondering if Kirk showed up on fire night and is the one who got shot and didnt want Liz to know it.
Why in the world would he dismiss that the way he did and say it was a lie?

I do think he most likely took it as an act of betrayal from KR.
Speaking of betrayal, if he shot Mr. Kaplan I cannot see why he would let Dr. Nik live? Might be more on that later on. We have not heard anything of him yet? I am still waiting for Liz to find out what Red did to her and how that will work out...

Although Red was a young officer, he had told Liz at one point, 'there were spies to run.'
I have read before that young and very intelligent unsuspecting people would be the people to incert.
He did say he was arragant and didnt know what the enemy looked like but that he does now.

I looked at this whole thing trying to see if he could be someone else. There were so many confirmations of him being Red.
Another time I felt it confirmed he was who he said he was when Kirk heard his voice after all those years and said his name.
And then there is Susan Hargrave, she knew who he was and they had apparently known each other from way back.

I am guessing that Dom was a double agent of some sort. Whatever they had going on Dom was a part of it. He seams to see him as who he is.

And now I have a Susan Hargrave/Tom/Christopher Question?

The timeline has Tom being Born 1980
But Red said he was 3 1/2 years old when he disapeared and she mentioned
it had been 28 years ago. That would put him at around the age of Liz. Born in 1985.
Up until the rewatch I just did I had thought Tom had been kidnapped before Liz was born.
So now I see that the kidnapping, the fire, and the Christmas eve stuff being a lot closer together.

But, if he was 14 in 1994 when the major found him which date is right?

I need some imput because I dont want to change the dates on the timeline unless we are on the same page.
But is it possible he isnt as old as he thinks he is?

Last edited by Eastcoast (1/02/2017 1:44 am)

lara1 · 1/02/2017 5:34 pm

Hi east coast #43. Enjoyed reading your post and your comments/observations brought me back to some of my own thoughts. Still mulling those over, but as for your question on Tom's age, well we were given both sets of dates, so one must be wrong - but which?We were previously told that Tom was picked up by the Major in 1994, when he was 14. That would have made his year of birth 1980 so now 36 Then we heard that he is really Christopher Hargrave, kidnapped around the age of 3, 28 years ago, which makes his year of birth 1985, or 31, like Liz. So which is true?

Do you happen to remember who said Tom was 14 when picked up by the Major - Tom, Red, or the Major (all suspect, LOL!). As I recall, 1994 was an actual year on the TV screen in the scene where Tom is picked up by the Major (in a Cadillac, no less!). So - was he 9, or was he 14 at the time? The Major had a file on him, presumably his date of birth, and he'd been following him for a while. Tom looked older than 9 in that episode…

So, did Red intentionally lie to Tom, to keep Tom from killing Scottie - she seems to be worth more to Red alive than dead or Red would have killed her by now to avenge her role in what led to Liz's "death". Or, is Red misinformed? How does his know that Tom is Christopher? In Season 2, Red told Liz he knew little more than she about Tom. What did Red know when he hired him? Would he have hired him then if he knew he was Christopher Hargrave? Is Tom Christopher Hargrave? And, if Tom was born in 1980 hasn't he figured out that the dates don't add up?, making him younger than he is?

Questions, questions! Not sure this helps at all! LOL.

Last edited by lara1 (1/02/2017 5:35 pm)

lara1 · 1/02/2017 11:33 pm

Hey eastcoast, here are some random thoughts on your post #43:

"I am the one who brought up Janet having a house bought for her by Red in Gregory D. He said "Ive purched a beach house". I took it that he may have just gotten it for her."

Hmmm, some of the case study houses were on cliffs overlooking the California coast near Santa Monica but I don't think they would qualify as beach houses. Well there goes that theory (that Red previously owned the house he gave to Janet and it might have been "Katarina dancing house"). LOL

"I am wondering if its like he had told Liz when he said the Cold War was too hard for her father and he took her."

I have to admit I still don't understand how the Cold War was so difficult for Red, if he was/is Liz's father. Also another piece of dialog I still don't understand is when Red talks to Liz in Season 3 and says that when Katarina was pregnant with Liz, the Soviet Union was crumbling,... everything that Katarina had ever known was disappearing, words to that effect. But a lot of us think that Katarina was born and grew up in the US, so how could the Soviet Union be everything that she had known? hmmm

"Why in the world would he dismiss that the way he did and say it was a lie?"

I forgot about that, good point. Why did Kirk dismiss the fire as a lie, or at least lead Liz to believe that it did not happen. Was/is he hiding something?

"Speaking of betrayal, if he shot Mr. Kaplan I cannot see why he would let Dr. Nik live? Might be more on that later on. We have not heard anything of him yet? "

Good point. I forgot about that. what did become of Nik? The last time we saw him, he was in Red's "death room", its not like Red brought him somewhere else to question him. People are brought to the death room for a purpose, but we still don't know. Maybe he was spared as Liz once loved Nik….

"I looked at this whole thing trying to see if he could be someone else. There were so many confirmations of him being Red.
Another time I felt it confirmed he was who he said he was when Kirk heard his voice after all those years and said his name.
And then there is Susan Hargrave, she knew who he was and they had apparently known each other from way back."

Yes, good points and its interesting that the people you mention all refer to Red as "Raymond". though Susan Hargrave did also call him "red" once, almost sarcastically or dismissivley, in that scene in the airport loading dock. I think that if Reddington was/is an alias, Red is a slightly older person who took on that cover identity earlier on. What we don't know is how long he knows Dom - as an adult around the time of "that event" or earlier?

- You also got me thinking about Naomi again. Some others have speculated that perhaps she is/was Katarina. However I don't think so - she was at best indifferent, at worst, a bit hostile both when speaking directly to Liz, and to Red, about Liz. Given what we have heard from Red, that evidently Katarina loved her daughter very much, I don't think she is Naomi. Also Liz's recollections of her show a caring mother (if those memories are real, that is! ha)

Roll on thursday!

Last edited by lara1 (1/02/2017 11:37 pm)

lara1 · 1/02/2017 11:38 pm

Honey West #42 - poor you! I hope its its all sorted out for you very soon!!

Honey West · 1/03/2017 12:32 am

lara1 wrote:
Honey West #42 - poor you! I hope its its all sorted out for you very soon!!

Me, too! This really s*cks. My usual thing is to fall back on rabbit ears, but for some reason I am having a very difficult time getting our NBC affiliate's over the air signal to come in. And I can see their broadcast antenna from my house! I can get the other broadcast stations, but not the one I want. So I may have to miss Megan Boone on LIVE with Kelly tomorrow AM, since it's still not available on directv. I read somewhere that when they had one of these dustups, there were a number of east coast areas that couldn't get the Olympics. This could go on for awhile. Meanwhile I am looking into a better antenna that can go outside and may just ditch directv once and for all like I've been thinking about doing anyway.

IowaWatcher · 1/03/2017 7:02 pm

Honey West, since you can see the tower, it could either be a problem on their end or you may be using an antenna that's being overwhelmed with the signal, the opposite problem that a lot of people have. That is, if you are within 10 miles of the tower, you don't want to use an indoor amplified antenna that's good for 50 miles. In that case, a simple pair of rabbit ears will probably work, but since it isn't you may want to try a different design, like mine. See the link below.

The site www.tvfool.com may help. That's where I send people who are cutting cable and need to know more about their local stations and what sort of antenna they need.

I cut my cable about 5 years ago and have been watching over-the-air TV since.

My indoor antenna is something like the one below. I got it at Walmart for around $10.

https://www.amazon.com/ANTOP-Antenna-Indoor-Coaxial-AT-105/dp/B01CTY6OJK/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1483487764&sr=8-16&keywords=indoor+TV+antenna+for+less+than+10+miles

YES !!! Only two more nights until The Blacklist returns! I'm suffering through withdrawl symptoms. I'll bet others are, too!

Last edited by IowaWatcher (1/03/2017 7:04 pm)

Honey West · 1/03/2017 9:17 pm

Thanks, Iowa Watcher, that is great information! I'd seen the tvfool.com site mentioned on other cut the cable sites. The stations I want to get have their main transmitters all clustered together about 14 miles almost due south, so I ordered a unidirectional antenna. It will mount outside on the eaves at the back of the house. There is some conveniently located coax cable already in place from when I used to have a second satellite box in the back bedrooms. I don't think I will even need to make any new holes in the walls. :-) It should get here on Thursday. Amazon had the best price, even with 2 day shipping. But I probably won't have time to hook anything up before 10 PM. But you never know!

lara1 · 1/03/2017 11:37 pm

Iowa Watcher and Honey West - well this is an interesting discussion. Debating whether to cut the cord myself, as I probably watch fewer than 10% of what is available and very little broadcast channels - mainly streaming and apps. So to get things over the air is very attractive. I will follow up with those links!

Honey West - if you lived near me, I would invite you to watch with me!

IowaWatcher · 1/03/2017 11:39 pm

That should work, Honey West. If it doesn't, let me know, and I might be able to give you more suggestions.

Lara, it was an easy decision for me: my hours got cut to part-time, so the cable was the first thing to go. I think I mentioned on the other board: Family Video and the library have a lot of shows. I first started watching Game of Thrones on discs I got from the library. PBS carries cooking, garden, and home renovation shows. Other than CNN Business, I haven't missed cable. I certainly haven't missed the bills!

Last edited by IowaWatcher (1/03/2017 11:46 pm)

Honey West · 1/04/2017 4:30 am

Awww, thanks, lara1! Just a little too far away.
I could probably get the antenna up fairly quickly when it gets here, but we have a week of rainstorms and I don't think we have a break until maybe Friday. After years of drought, the rain is very welcome, but it just reminds us of how dry the past few winters really were. This year we have to schedule things around the storms for a change.

Iowa Watcher, I'd been planning to cut the cord for sometime, but it's always too convenient to have all the channels there in case I wanted to watch them. I do mainly watch PBS shows and the only thing I will miss might be the Giants games that for some reason I kept getting all season even though I wasn't subscribed to that channel. I have an Apple TV, so I know I have access to shows through it. In fact I watched the last TBL episode last night to see how that worked. Looked fine to me. Just have to redo my recorder to catch things. I don't have TiVO, just a Panasonic VHS/DVD recorder. It's a little old school, as it records directly to DVDs and not a hard drive. But once finalized I can play them on my computer or whatever.

Tuxie400 · 1/04/2017 11:52 am

Honey West - I do hope you can watch BL somewhere on Thursday. I so enjoy reading your comments the day after.

I've been thinking about cutting the cord on my cable - especially since the payment just went up $30 a month. I appreciate Iowa Watchers recommendations on an antennae. I do seem to be watching more streaming services now than the cable channels.

lara1 · 1/04/2017 1:34 pm

Same for me, Tuxie400 - especially since you can now get some cable TV shows through streaming services. Not real time, but that doesn't really bother me.

Tuxie400 · 1/05/2017 12:17 pm

Well, today's the day. Every time I read the title of tonight's episode, Lipet's Seafood Co., it makes me hungry for shrimp, lobster and crab and a trip to Red Lobster. LOL It seems like a strange entity to be on the blacklist.

Honey West, do you have a way to watch live, or will you have to watch online tomorrow?

Last edited by Tuxie400 (1/05/2017 1:32 pm)

lara1 · 1/05/2017 12:39 pm

Hi Tuxie400, I thought the same thing! I picture a storefront with lots of boxes full of ice with seafood!

But then I thought, it could be interesting as its kind of combining two Blacklist themes - the ocean, and fish/fishing…..I also think Red in one episode threw someone's gun on the top of an iced seafood box like that. I can't remember the episode but I think it was in Season 3.

Anyway its interesting!

Colleen · 1/05/2017 1:56 pm

Hi everyone - hope your New Year is off to a good start! Finally able to spend more time here and just in time for The Blacklist's return.

Lara1 - good memory about Red dumping a gun into a box of fish! That was Alistair Pitt and the only reason I remember is bc the episode featured Tony Shaloub, one of my favorite actors.

Honey West - my fingers are crossed that all goes well with the TV antenna. I've been cable free for a dozen years and don't miss it one bit. I do have to put the antenna in an odd spot to watch BL but that usually is a source of laughter for me. I also have the absolute cheapest antenna so plan on using everyone's suggestions to upgrade.

Eight more hours until a new episode - hooray

Honey West · 1/05/2017 2:39 pm

I think I remember seeing a set photo of an actress wearing what looked like something a seafood processing factory worker would wear. So i have been thinking that Lipet's is a seafood processing plant rather than a restaurant. Not that they couldn't have a fresh fish market as part of it.

I have to go to a meeting this evening where we will be feasting on fresh pizza. But I should be home in plenty of time before 10 PM. Actually I was kind of happy when they moved to 10 PM because of these meetings. I checked directv this morning and the NBC affiliate is still blacked out. Last night my old rabbit ears were working great and I watched Blindspot. Only had a couple of little pixelated moments. Today it's a bright sunny day and the rabbit ears are picking up nothing. So I hope that if I can't get the new antenna hooked up that maybe the conditions after sundown will pick back up again. At least I should be able to watch in real time. Even if I have to get out the tinfoil and stand there holding the rabbit ears over my head in front of the window. LOL! I probably won't be able to record it, though, and will have to stream it tomorrow to re-watch. Of course that eliminates freeze-framing or anything needed for in-depth study.

Tatiana · 1/05/2017 5:12 pm

Hi everyone! I've been out of the loop for a while but very excited to get a new BL episode tonight :-)

We just re-watched the fall season episodes. I still think Red whispered to Constantin "she's alive, Katerina is still alive" But judging from the JB interview, it sounds like that secret is going to stay a secret between the two men.

Hubby is convinced Samar is the mole in tonight's episode. Her ex-boyfriend (hot!) was in the previews. You just never know.
.
Honey West - don't know if you'll see this or not, but we have Roku tv. You don't see the episode until the next morning, but that way you can watch it whenever you want and you can stop, playback, etc. In addition, we opted for an interior antenna and we splurged and got the 50 mile radius capacity. We've been pretty happy with these options. Waaaaaaay better than shelling out hundreds of dollars for cable or direct TV (which would go out on us everytime the wind blew!).

Honey West · 1/05/2017 5:33 pm

Tatiana! Great to hear from you!

I'm kind of leaning towards the mole being Aram, because until he outed his girlfriend as a spy, he was being used to get information. So he was an unwitting mole. Then again, I am only saying that because I think Samar is too obvious! LOL! But, she is a mole already. She's Red's mole, isn't she?

I have an AppleTV box, so I was going to look into what I can get with it. Plus I can always stream from NBC's site. But, of course, before I cut the cord I need to make sure that whatever I have set up will work well. Directv really did it this month - cutting off those local stations plus their rates are going up Jan 22nd.
Even better, we have two days of sun before the next storms blow in on Sat and Sun. Time to get this all set up!