The Blacklist Refugees » Episode 8.21, Nachalo

Eastcoast · 6/16/2021 7:09 pm

I hope we get some answers tonight. I guess we will see.
I'm sure we will have more questions! Lol.

IowaWatcher, I have vanilla cake and cookies tonight.
What do you have?

Anyone else have any goodies they will be snacking on?

Eastcoast · 6/16/2021 7:10 pm

I meant to say its 10pm tonight.

IowaWatcher · 6/16/2021 7:22 pm

Yes, 10:00 EDT and 9:00 CDT (me). I left a sticky note to myself on my bathroom mirror so I wouldn't forget.

Cake and cookies sound great! I have a slice of plain cheese cake that I'm going to cover with fresh strawberries and a little chocolate syrup.

Eastcoast · 6/16/2021 7:44 pm

That sounds delish!
I have been keeping an eye out for chocolate cheesecake. When you mentioned that a few weeks back, I got a craving for it. I just want a slice or 2. The bakery does not put enough of those out. I think they want you to buy the whole thing!

Honey West · 6/16/2021 7:52 pm

Thanks for starting the thread Eastcoast! I wasn’t sure if I would be near my phone at the right time. Been driving around through Hollywood this afternoon. Playing tourist for a few days in La La Land!

Big Badd Bazzer · 6/16/2021 9:59 pm

Nice season capper.

I guess we could easily re-title it:

"SKIP" the SECURITY

Never seen criminals able to penetrate unpenatrable fortresses like never before!

Skip woulda been proud . . . but lots of answers to many pre-existing TBL myth questions!

Main one = Does Townsend survive to provide an evil, ugly psycho for another season?

Tuxie400 · 6/16/2021 10:36 pm

Fabulous episode! I wish they wouldn't have done the reveals jn an interpretive way, but we can all agree on a lot of the information. It was like Liz was talking to black and white interactive holograms

Last edited by Tuxie400 (6/16/2021 10:56 pm)

IowaWatcher · 6/16/2021 10:40 pm

Eastcoast, I get most of my treats from the HyVee (grocery store) bakery. Since we have an elderly population, they sell a lot of single slices of pies and cakes. That might be true at some store in your area, too.

BBB -- several plot holes tonight, but I'll forgive them. What's bothering me right now, though, and I'm trying to forget it: what did Dembe mean when he said, "She's never going to forgive you for what you did to her mother"?

I wonder if that will vanish into the memory hole.

Overall, I liked getting some answers but the only thing that I don't remember discussing was the idea that KR created this latest version of Red. It works, but I'm not sure that was the original intention of the producers.

Also, since KR was burned in the fire and Red also has burn scars on his back, that leaves the Rederina theory intact, FWIW.

Yes, worth a re-watch.

Tuxie400 · 6/16/2021 11:07 pm

To me, all these reveals bolster the Redarina theory:

Katarina was burned at the fire.
Katarina was the one who had Masha's memory wiped.
Katarina was "the son her father never had."
As part of her job, Katarina slept with both men and women.
Finally, finally, finally we know Fakerina was fake exactly as I've always said.

Tuxie400 · 6/17/2021 11:45 am

I thought it was fun to see how Katarina and RR met in Russia at a store. And now we know her cover job was working for the Bolshoi Ballet. It was also interesting to find out she and Masha had spent time at the Takoma Park house with RR and Jennifer. So Jennifer was Bubble Girl. It was in that house that RR looked in her suitcase and began spying on Katarina, which lead to his finding out about the Cabal. That mistake lead to his stealing the fulcrum, taking Masha, and all the tragedy that followed. No wonder Red wanted to blow up that house.

Big Badd Bazzer · 6/17/2021 11:53 am

I hate Townsend more than ever - not because he's an evil psycho-criminal - but mostly due to his impeccable timing. He arrived on-scene just as Liz was to receive her final reveal.
Dammit Neville, you didn't even bring soup!!!

Tuxie400 · 6/17/2021 1:02 pm

Big Badd Bazzer wrote:
I hate Townsend more than ever - not because he's an evil psycho-criminal - but mostly due to his impeccable timing. He arrived on-scene just as Liz was to receive her final reveal.
Dammit Neville, you didn't even bring soup!!!

LOL I agree!

Honey West · 6/17/2021 9:50 pm

Back home! I did manage to watch the show last night, although in a shared hotel room with elderly family members, I had the sound down pretty low so I probably missed a lot of dialogue, particularly when they were using Russian accents! I recorded it and plan to watch it later this evening.

I liked how it linked together a lot of separate things. Finally! So we ( and Liz) didn’t get the final reveal thanks to Townsend. Well, there’s still next week.

I’ll write more after my rewatch. But, yes Tuxie, it certainly seemed to bolster Redarina. Yet, it also made me wonder even more about Ivan Stepanov. Suppose that Katarina swapped places with Stepanov? And Stepanov became Replacement Reddington?

Tuxie400 · 6/19/2021 7:50 am

Honey West - If Katarina swapped places with Stepanov that would really surprise me. But I think there was too much Redarina confirmation for it to go another way. Fans who do not participate online have never heard the Redarina theory, and they would need a lot of links to be made before the reveal. Even Aaron on the podcast said he would have to eat crow and congratulated Troy for being right all this time.

Honey West · 6/19/2021 2:02 pm

Stepanov swap was just an idea. After the rewatch I see they showed Stepanov giving Recreated Red the packet at the bus station, presumably the 13 intelligence packets. Confirming that this past person we are calling Recreated Reddington is the same as Current Red, AKA N-13.

Of course, the most compelling stuff is the Cabal tie-ins. Explains relationships with people like Fitch, Diane Fowler, The Director, etc. But was the Fulcrum even needed once the Sikorsky Archive was in his possession? I guess they did sort of stop looking for it after that.

Still doesn't explain the "Believe it or not, I once had a normal life." statement, though. Because, clearly, Katarina NEVER had a normal life. And the grifters and carnies. Maybe those were Sam's assets. I do believe I heard her say he was one of their people. So was Sam a Cabal guy, too?

I'm still wondering how much of all of this Harold is in on? If any. And which Red did he work with way back when. Both?

One line of Red's that always made me wonder was when he was explaining to that guy that "there were plenty of other ways to please one's partner in the boudoir". hmmmm.

Tuxie400 · 6/19/2021 2:12 pm

Honey West - Yes, Recreated Red is Current Red, who is N13. And remember Dom said both Katarina and Reddington have the archive.

The fulcrum bluff was a way to keep the Cabal in check with a deal that kept Red alive. The Sikorsky Archive was information he could leverage to build his power base.

I've always taken that boudoir line from Season 4 as a Redarina clue.

IowaWatcher · 6/19/2021 3:05 pm

Y'all are going to make a Redarina believer out of me, yet.

Tuxie400 · 6/20/2021 8:14 am

IowaWatcher wrote:
Y'all are going to make a Redarina believer out of me, yet.

Honey West · 6/20/2021 1:55 pm

Okay, so the night of the Fire, Katarina showed up at the house with three men. We saw them in the Luther Braxton flashbacks. We know one was Ilya Koslov. There was also a stocky guy in a plaid shirt and a third guy that we never got a good look at his face, but he seemed to have hair like current day Red, close cropped and maybe thinning. He is the guy who ended up lying on the floor facedown. I'm sure most of us always assumed it was RR, because he was shot. They showed him again last week, and he still had the short hair, not like Original RR's hair. So did he get left behind? Anyway, I bring him up because one of the flashback stories gave a Russian-sounding name of someone from that house who had vanished after the fire. I am going to guess it was that Third Man. If they got him out, he, to me anyway, is the most likely candidate for some pretty bad burns on his back since he was lying facedown with flames all around him. If he survived, it would have taken months to get him in any shape to function normally again.

Not saying he is for sure the one who was transformed into Current Red, but they still need to say what happened to him, IMHO. Because why even bother to name him?

Just thought I'd toss that one out and see if it floats. LOL!

Big Badd Bazzer · 6/20/2021 3:11 pm

Honey West wrote:
Okay, so the night of the Fire, Katarina showed up at the house with three men. We saw them in the Luther Braxton flashbacks. We know one was Ilya Koslov. There was also a stocky guy in a plaid shirt and a third guy that we never got a good look at his face, but he seemed to have hair like current day Red, close cropped and maybe thinning. He is the guy who ended up lying on the floor facedown. I'm sure most of us always assumed it was RR, because he was shot. They showed him again last week, and he still had the short hair, not like Original RR's hair. So did he get left behind? Anyway, I bring him up because one of the flashback stories gave a Russian-sounding name of someone from that house who had vanished after the fire. I am going to guess it was that Third Man. If they got him out, he, to me anyway, is the most likely candidate for some pretty bad burns on his back since he was lying facedown with flames all around him. If he survived, it would have taken months to get him in any shape to function normally again.

Not saying he is for sure the one who was transformed into Current Red, but they still need to say what happened to him, IMHO. Because why even bother to name him?

Just thought I'd toss that one out and see if it floats. LOL!

Still not convinced they're going to do the big reveal of Red's identity. Would scorch the premise of never revealing too much!