Happy New Year everyone!  I'm hoping for some solid Blacklist answers in 2020.

Happy New Year, Blacklisters! 

I was recently lurking out there in the jungle reading some comments here and there.  😮

It made me see some of the differences come from the fact some people are not connected to all social media if any.  I know I'm not. 

Some people say they have never heard the interviews or podcasts.  I haven't heard all of them either.
Tuxie was telling me about comments on Twitter by Cerone that I haven't read. That will give her a different way of looking at things because she has information that I don't.

Some people get very Sarcastic with others (not here) and answer them about what they heard in an interview. 
Some of those people are saying they don't trust those things. Can't really blame them for that. And Some people just don't have time because they work a lot.

Not really fair in my humble opinion to be getting sarcastic with someone or calling them names because they have a different perception on it.  If we all thought the same thing, we wouldn't need this board or any other social platform.

So, what would be our perception of this show if we had never heard anything on social media?

Who do you think the bones would be if you never heard JB say they were The Original Raymond's?  Or, who Red  might be?  The list could go on and on.

Really makes me appreciate our group!

I don't read the other discussion groups. I figure everyone has an opinion or a theory by now and people tend to get into flame wars, name-calling, and other nastiness when they are anonymously online. We are more of an office water-cooler type of group. You guys make it very easy for Tatiana and I to be the moderators. 

I am on Twitter (as HoneyWest55) and follow people like Aly, Zee Hatley, Hisham, Harry, Amir, various Writers. But not much else. Those people retweet enough info to make it pretty well-rounded. I never like or retweet anything myself, I just read. I haven't listened to the podcasts in years. 

I'm not sure the social media stuff really influences my ideas of the show. They are based on what we've seen and not what we might see. I read the Johns interviews because I figure they are having fun with us to keep us interested while trying to not give anything away. Just doing their jobs. Same as the writers and actors and production people. Certain writers tend to handle certain aspects of the story, so when I see their name on the credits I figure we will get some of those things, but not always.

I ask myself, if I knew the end story would I still keep watching it? Maybe, just to see if what I thought was really the end story was really it. But I would probably get tired of it and watch only the series finale when it came on. No, I am just along for the ride, enjoying the characters regardless of the silly things they do, relishing Spader's portrayal of Raymond Reddington in all of his quirky aspects, and mostly trying to decide if the puzzle pieces they toss at us are real or red herrings before I add them to the jigsaw puzzle on the dining room table that is The Blacklist.

All good points!

I used to read more of the different forums, but I have little patience for nasty comments. I tried to work in listening to the podcasts, but I'm not really set up for that: I have a slow internet connection at home and would have to download them to an MP3 player -- just too much bother right now.

I saw the first episode of Lincoln Rhyme: The Bone Collector last week, mostly because I was sewing and couldn't stand another episode of The Great British Baking Show (Iowa PBS offering). It wasn't bad. I didn't read the books or see the movie, so I took it was it was: it was better than the usual fare -- half decent writing! But the story development seemed very choppy. I might watch it again this week, but I'll also be sewing or crocheting a baby blanket.

Happy 2020 to everyone!

 

Honey West wrote:

I was just thinking this morning. And my thoughts turned to some of the DNA tests. I was trying to remember if the 30 year old RR bloody shirt DNA and the DNA from the RR bones had ever been directly compared, or have we just assumed (like Liz) that they came from the same RR? Dr. Nik ran the DNA from the bones and, presumably, they came up as being RR. But was it established that it was from the same RR as the bloody shirt evidence? I should go back and review the Ian Garvey episodes, but I'm being lazy. 

The bloody shirt DNA and the DNA from the bones were never matched.  In fact, we don' know how CODIS made the match to RR at all.  My original theory was that it was a familial match to Jennifer Reddington that Ian Garvey had entered into CODIS. But that was never confirmed by the show either. There is still mystery surrounding the  CODIS report - since RR's DNA was not available, according to Samar in Season 3's Greegory DeVry episode.

Tuxie400 wrote:

Honey West wrote:

I was just thinking this morning. And my thoughts turned to some of the DNA tests. I was trying to remember if the 30 year old RR bloody shirt DNA and the DNA from the RR bones had ever been directly compared, or have we just assumed (like Liz) that they came from the same RR? Dr. Nik ran the DNA from the bones and, presumably, they came up as being RR. But was it established that it was from the same RR as the bloody shirt evidence? I should go back and review the Ian Garvey episodes, but I'm being lazy. 

The bloody shirt DNA and the DNA from the bones were never matched.  In fact, we don' know how CODIS made the match to RR at all.  My original theory was that it was a familial match to Jennifer Reddington that Ian Garvey had entered into CODIS. But that was never confirmed by the show either. There is still mystery surrounding the  CODIS report - since RR's DNA was not available, according to Samar in Season 3's Greegory DeVry episode.

Thanks, Tuxie400! I remembered that the bones DNA match came back via CODIS, but couldn't recall the details. Now, I see there really weren't any details. :-) Good point from Samar in Gregory DeVry. Glad you remembered that. Between RR's fingerprints and his DNA, he's still not easy to pin down.

Iowa Watcher - You're right that many fans questioned whether the blood on that shirt really belonged to the original RR.  Cooper believed the chain of evidence from the beating and extraction to the evidence locker was solid.I think the misdirect there was not the bloody shirt but the DNA test proving Spader/Red was Liz's father. I think the blood was likely the original RR's. The show usually resolves misdirects within a season or even an episode, and they've never walked back the reveal that real RR was Liz's bio dad.

Hi everyone,Happy Belated New Year!

So I'm still pissed at the show.  Every Friday night around 'showtime' I ask myself, if it was on tonight - would you watch? So far, the last few weeks, the answer was still no.  But maybe by March I'll soften up some. If nothing else, so I can join in the discussion, which is so much better for me than the show itself these days.

On to the DNA question.  I seem to remember that after AnsloGarrick they collected Red's blood on the floor and determined it was his, ostensibly matching it to blood they took when he turned himself in. So they have this Red's blood on file, whether they put it in CODIS is another matter considering he is supposed to be very undercover so how would they explain how they got it? (this was before his recent arrest and trial, which I'm sure they officially took his dna again).  But I do think that's the DNA they matched the bones to - so irony of ironies, they matched it to a living person, only Tom and Ian Garvey wouldn't have known that, and Liz should've asked but I now just chalk up all of Liz's mistakes to her being written as an idiot.  (see...still pissed!).   This is why I came up with the theory that Kate planted one of Red's molars on the bones so that if the DNA was ever tested, it would come up as his, which would be a double benefit - hide the real identity of the bones and make people think Reddington is dead. Of course, if Red is Redarina, then that theory wouldn't work. In which case I agree, they'd have had to match the bones to Jennifer, although why she'd be in CODIS if she was in witness protection is beyond me.

As for the shirt, I think it's very telling that neither Cooper or Liz matched the shirt blood in evidence to our Red's blood which they have on file since he turned himself into the FBI.  Again, Liz written as an idiot so no expectation of competence. But why didn't Cooper check it after he was told this Red is a fake?  It seems to be such an obvious thing for him to do (?).


edited to clean up typos I found while re-reading

Last edited by KathyN (1/17/2020 9:15 pm)

KathyN - Anslo Garrick Part 2 did confirm the FBI matched the blood in the warehouse to Red's blood.. So it was on file - just not in CODIS up to Season 3's Gregory DeVry.  I've always left room for the tooth to have been planted as an escape valve for Red because of all the teeth, both pulled and implanted that came before it in the series.  But, if that was the case, I can't understand how Kate thought the bones would show Liz the truth.  Why would that scenario make Liz walk away from Red?  As for Cooper not testing Red's blood against the shirt, he had no reason to do so.  He 100 percent believed Red was the original RR and he had personally made sure the chain of custody on RR's shirt was not broken.

I believe Ian Garvey entered Jennifer Reddington's DNA in CODIS as a way to protect her.  Naomi had convinced him Jennifer was in danger from her father, and she even cut herself off from Jennifer to reinforce that idea.  I think Garvey hoped he could find and stop RR that way. Only law enforcement officers who've sent DNA to CODIS are alerted on matches, and Garvey was notified.  That's why I believe it was a familial match to Jennifer. Even though Jennifer was in Witness Protection, there was little threat for Jennifer being found from her DNA being in CODIS. She had more than one new name and several other addresses by then.

As frustrated as I was with the show before the break, I must admit I'm starting to miss it and have rewatched a few episodes from the second half of Season 3 last week. By March, I'll be ready to watch again, and I won't expect a Fakerina reveal until the very end of the season.