The Blacklist Refugees » Episode 4.18

Tuxie400 · 2/28/2017 12:50 pm

Alyblacklist is reporting today that Susan Blommaert was seen sticking her head out of a trailer on location for this episode, and stunt doubles for Liz, Red, and Kaplan were seen. So we are getting Kaplan in Episode 18!

Last edited by Tuxie400 (3/05/2017 6:31 pm)

Tatiana · 2/28/2017 8:10 pm

Our first look at the new character, Julian Gale, who will be joining the show in 4.18. I saw from a separate post by someone else earlier today that the location was the Staten Island Skating Pavilion and that there were “dozens of dead bodies” in the scene.
from AlyBlacklist

There's also a picture of the new character. Here's the link: https://68.media.tumblr.com/2f299bd4abc742685d225da366a469b8/tumblr_om3x4943JN1uh5l4uo1_1280.jpg

Honey West · 3/05/2017 2:50 pm

And here's a link to a TV guide article about Kaplan's Return.
http://www.tvguide.com/news/blacklist-spoilers-mr-kaplan/

Plus Harry Lennix's dramatic reading of favorite tweets is cute.

Last edited by Honey West (3/05/2017 2:53 pm)

Tatiana · 3/05/2017 4:13 pm

Thanks Honey West. So what are your thoughts about how Mr. Kaplan and Elizabeth are related? Somehow I think Kate is literally related to someone, whether that be Raymond, Dom, Katarina, or even Kirk. I'm a lot more inclined to think she's related to Raymond.

This will be fun!

Honey West · 3/05/2017 5:32 pm

Tatiana wrote:
Thanks Honey West. So what are your thoughts about how Mr. Kaplan and Elizabeth are related? Somehow I think Kate is literally related to someone, whether that be Raymond, Dom, Katarina, or even Kirk. I'm a lot more inclined to think she's related to Raymond.

This will be fun!

That is such a good question and I have given it some thought but haven't come to any real conclusions. I go back to Kate saying that bit about when Red put her into my arms as an infant. So how far back did that take place? Birth? Or just after that? Were Kate and Red there when Liz was born? Or soon after? And I can see how Red might have been around, but why would Kate have been there? Were Red and Kate working together that far back? And if so, it was obviously a close working relationship and they would have both been with Naval Intelligence. Red would have been just about two years out from graduation from the Academy. Then there is the idea of them being somehow related, either by blood or marriage. Or maybe even though Liz. I don't think Kate is Katarina. I've pretty much ruled that one out. But she is either related to Red or Katarina. Could she have been a second wife to Dom? Katarina's step-mother? Maybe she was assigned to him? She made that comment that time when she did the field autopsy for Red and Liz that she had slept with a medical examiner's sister, so is she bi? Or was that another assignment? She is very devoted to Red, but she always refers to him as her employer when she talks to others about him. Yet he is always Raymond, in person. She knows "everything" about him. If you go by their real-life ages she is 12 years older than he is. She is closer in age to Sam than Red. I made a list once which grouped the characters by age groups. I wish I could find it, but I think I had Sam, Mr. Kaplan and Laurel Hitchin grouped together. Maybe Kate had something to do with Sam? Anyway, she could be Red's older sister or an Aunt. Or maybe she even was a second, younger wife to Reddington Senior? We know almost nothing about his parents, except that his mother is dead.

So many questions for them to answer with that Kate episode!

Edited to add: That sort of slip by Red to Liz where he referred to her as Kate - Mr. Kaplan, quickly correcting himself. As far as I can recall, I don't think he ever called her Kate to Liz before that.

Last edited by Honey West (3/05/2017 5:35 pm)

Tuxie400 · 3/05/2017 6:34 pm

I've got no theories on Mr. Kaplan. I only know she told Red she'd been cleaning up his messes for a long time. I am excited about her origin story.

Honey West · 3/05/2017 7:15 pm

Tuxie400 wrote:
I've got no theories on Mr. Kaplan. I only know she told Red she'd been cleaning up his messes for a long time. I am excited about her origin story.

I always thought that maybe she had known him since he was little kid. Maybe she was his babysitter?

lara1 · 3/05/2017 7:21 pm

Mr. Kaplan - very cryptic. I think she may call him her "employer" to others so as to not reveal the real nature of their relationship.

I think that Red calling her Kate means that their relationship is more personal, not just professional. So they know each other through a personal relationship first.

Honey West #7 - you may be onto something with babysitter - how about Nanny? maybe she'd need to be older though. But a nanny would perhaps explain her fondness for him, her loyalty and defense of him. In that way, maybe she knows Dom as well.

But I guess that doesn't explain her connection to Liz. Maybe she's an aunt. I agree she is not Katarina. I kind of dismissed that - I think the dynamic with Red, and with Liz and Agnes, would have been different if that were the case. And Cape May would have played out differently if she were Katarina.

Also I don't think Kaplan sees herself as "equal" to Red, I don't mean that in a bad way, what I mean is, she sees her mission very much as putting him first. hmmm

lara1 · 3/05/2017 7:59 pm

So I'm thinking about this nanny idea again. That might explain why some of us have thought a close personal connection almost like that of a mother, yet we don't think she's his mother. She has been cleaning up from him and looking after him for a long time. And has provided some emotional support. And calls him "dearie".....is the connection that she was both a nanny to Red, and then to Liz when she was at the summer palace - Red asked him to look after Liz as she had looked after him?

Is that why Red always trusted her completely? Is that why, of everyone on the entire planet, she would never be on his list of those who would betray him?

I guess we don't know her age. Or if Red's birthdate on the show is real. If there were a greater difference than their perceived ages, I'd go with this. Right now, it might be too iffy. Not sure....

Tatiana · 3/05/2017 8:08 pm

When Kaplan says, "I've been cleaning up after you for a long time" I have to say, it sounded like she was talking about changing his diapers to me. So maybe older sister?

And it would make more sense given what she said, "... when you put her (Elizabeth) in my arms" as an infant.

Honey West · 3/05/2017 9:36 pm

Tatiana wrote:
When Kaplan says, "I've been cleaning up after you for a long time" I have to say, it sounded like she was talking about changing his diapers to me. So maybe older sister?

And it would make more sense given what she said, "... when you put her (Elizabeth) in my arms" as an infant.

LOL! Tatiana, that's what I thought of, too when she said that! When I was a teenager I babysat for the kids down the street. The youngest was barely out of diapers and I was probably about 16 maybe in the beginning? You didn't usually have teenagers changing diapers for the kids they sat for back then, so the 12-13 year age difference between Red and Kate (if they are using the actors' real ages) isn't too far-fetched at all. Especially in the 1960's.

I really can't wait to see how it does turn out.

Tatiana · 3/05/2017 11:02 pm

Honey West - LOL! I was maybe 12 when I started babysitting two young boys, one was 9 months old in diapers! It wasn't at all uncommon for babysitters to be 11, 12, 13 on up.

Tuxie400 · 3/05/2017 11:27 pm

I like your ideas that she was a babysitter or nanny for Raymond.

lara1 · 3/06/2017 11:36 am

I happened to catch the beginning of episode 1.17 "Ivan" last night. I forgot how much I enjoyed that episode, Ivan impersonating Ivan.

Anyway, the fun dialog between Red and Kaplan: when she exhumes the bodies of the cowboy and Jolene, and Red loves her vicuna coat. He asks, "how can I get one?".

And Kaplan replies: "Put it on your Christmas list, and if you are good......" And they move on to other things.

So I smiled at this because its yet another Christmas reference for my St. Nick stuff, LOL, but also kind of supports the idea that Kaplan had a caretaker type of role re Red, quite possibly from an early age. Or, if not, at least it was a fun line.

lara1 · 3/06/2017 9:52 pm

So here is something very interesting!! I just re-watched the first episode of Redemption. (I never thought I would but I have acute TBL withdrawal, LOL!)

In the very beginning scene with Liz and Tom before Tom goes to NY, Liz remarks sort of jokingly that who knows, Tom's father was rich so maybe they will be rich too something like that. And talks about how they could get a new car, other stuff. And Tom says:

"We could get a nanny." Now that kind of came out of nowhere. and Liz replies, kind of happy, yeah, we could leave Agnes with the nanny while we are out....(something like that)

I wonder if that is a mirror of Katerina - was Liz left with a nanny while Katerina was on missions - we often wondered about that - and was that nanny Kaplan? It kind of goes with her comment to Red about how he had placed Liz in her arms as a baby girl, and tasked her with looking after Liz. Kind of like giving a baby over to a nanny, maybe......

So I'm wondering again about a nanny relationship between Kaplan and Red. But for that to work, Kaplan would need to be around 5 years older, to make her around 18 when Red was born. I'm really not sure how old she is meant to be. A former nanny could explain how Red and Kaplan interact with each other. Or maybe she doesn't need to be 5 years older, if she was hired as a nanny when Red was a toddler. She could have been 18/19 when he was 3-4 or even 5.

LOL I am in love with this idea. But, it might be too much of a stretch!!

Last edited by lara1 (3/06/2017 9:54 pm)

Tatiana · 3/06/2017 10:30 pm

"In the very beginning scene with Liz and Tom before Tom goes to NY, Liz remarks sort of jokingly that who knows, Tom's father was rich so maybe they will be rich too something like that. And talks about how they could get a new car, other stuff. And Tom says:
"We could get a nanny." Now that kind of came out of nowhere. and Liz replies, kind of happy, yeah, we could leave Agnes with the nanny while we are out....(something like that)"

That conversation struck me as very odd as well. Why on earth would they even mention it? I mean, since Agnes came home her parents have been out and about and I'm pretty sure the ever changing Hudson has been babysitting. lol

I like the idea, Lara.

My thoughts on Mr. Kaplan? I don't get too caught up in the age difference. Carla/Naomi is 6 years younger than Reddington so she would have had a child when she was 19 or younger? Not likely. So if Mr. Kaplan is 13.5 years older than Red, we could certainly see her character as being a little older. (using the actors' actual ages).

But we certainly can see her being 'nanny' to Elizabeth. There are several clues that could tie that in together, the most notable of which is when Kate herself says, "when you put her in my arms as a baby..."

Tuxie400 · 3/06/2017 10:45 pm

Mrs. Kaplan could even have started working as a Nanny when Red was 7, 8, or 10. Remember that show The Nanny? None of those kids were toddlers.

lara1 · 3/06/2017 11:05 pm

Tuxie400 good point. Red had mentioned his mother died. I got the impression that this happened when he was young, as she was "the first". Maybe that's how Kaplan came into the picture.

then later learned to become a mean shot with a gun!

Honey West · 3/06/2017 11:35 pm

lara1 wrote:
Tuxie400 good point. Red had mentioned his mother died. I got the impression that this happened when he was young, as she was "the first". Maybe that's how Kaplan came into the picture.

then later learned to become a mean shot with a gun!

Now there's a thought! I kind of got that same idea that his mother died when he was pretty young. So this idea of Kate as either babysitter or nanny isn't that farfetched really. Here's another one - supposed Red's father remarried a younger woman and Kate is his step-mom.