The Blacklist Refugees » Episode 5.02 - Greyson Blaise

deadskie13 · 10/08/2017 2:30 am

Gah! Everyone posted so many fantastic things!

The bits I picked up on, were mostly minor things, and minor things--or already touched upon. I did find it a little odd that Dr. Nick was willing to help Tom out after he got in all sorts of trouble once--especially now that he's engaged again. I mean how many people are willing to cross someone like Red twice, to help out an ex? And so I think you guys who said perhaps Dr. Nick is working for Red, may be right.

Tom tells Dr. Nick it's "The dying wish of a good woman." Oh my goodness! Mr. Kaplan was many things: brilliant, amazing, no-nonsense, formidable, concise, and just this overall fantastic force to be reckoned with--but good was not one of them. I can see Tom feeling as though he owes Kate--but he's completely delusional if he thinks Kate was one of the good guys. One of our good guys? Yes. But a good person? No.

Pfft! Of course Dembe would know how to cook, and cook well. I suspect he's one of those irritating people who are good everything--lest we forget how quickly he was able to find the Highlight hidden pictures.

Jeez-o-peetz does Red know how to read people! First of all, we have him reading Cooper before he even gets a decent reprimand out, then we have him pinpoint what makes someone like Blaise tick, and then he uses the most surefire way to get any artist to do anything, ever--to tell them they can't.

What I did notice, though, is that whenever Red uses his skills to manipulate people, it's always out of necessity. He doesn't intentionally manipulate the people he's closest to--and I think part of that was one of the many factors that went into him concealing his relationship with Elizabeth. Because the realization has changed things--and it's such a great dynamic to watch; James and Megan are really doing such a fantastic job!

Red killing Dennison was pretty abrupt and cold, and duly noted. But! On the other hand, we have Red coming to terms with the homeowners'. Albeit, it's a forced hand compromise--but for all intents and purposes, Red does seem to only use violence when necessary; he would rather have an agreement and come to an understanding, than go the other route.

Red's confession to Blaise about it all being a scam:    The truth is stranger than fiction, always. I equally got a kick out of poor Liz's mind being blown when Red said they were going to let the authorities the jig was up about the stolen painting--her expression was priceless, and perfect; just complete bewilderment.

I kind of like that Red was expecting a reprimand from Liz, and got the "cool" reply, instead. Figure he's just as uneasy about this whole father/daughter arrangement as she is, and such a reaction was needed to keep them both on their toes. I honestly think Red legitimately doesn't want Elizabeth to turn out like him any more than she already has.

Overall, another fun episode that keeps bringing back the feel of the start of everything.

Tuxie400 · 10/08/2017 11:07 am

Deadskie - Glad you had time for more than a drive-by this time!

I loved what you said here: " I think what made this kill seem different, was the deal that it comes from a point of matter-of-fact desperation. Red's ready for Kate's residual impact to be over, but she left such a dark patch in the road, that he can't get around it; she's still pulling the strings from beyond the grave, so it's like fighting a ghost. It's also a lot like working backwards, in a lot of ways; instead of having all the puzzle pieces, and working towards a goal, Red has the completed puzzle at hand, and he needs to dismantle it--and quickly."

It does make sense that Red would want to get rid of everything associated with Kaplan quickly. The idea that he has the completed puzzle and is working backwords is insightful. Poor Tom has to work both backwards and forwards on this.

As for Cooper, his exasperation with Red is providing a lot of comedy in the first two episodes. Plus, since Liz is not at odds with Red now, someone has to be to provide some tension.

"Here's to hoping Aram gets left in charge of the Task Force for a day!" Now that just makes me smile, imagining all the possibilities.

You said, "I think how Katarina felt towards Red was skewed by Kate's viewpoint. What I mean is, I don't think Katarina necessarily trusted Kate with everything--and I think her emotions towards Red are something she would have kept to herself. And so I lean towards there being a real possibility of them being very much in love, being stuck in an impossible situation where circumstances didn't allow a favorable outcome." This is certainly a possibility. There are so many possibilities involved with almost every facet of The Blacklist. That's what makes it so maddening!

Last edited by Tuxie400 (10/08/2017 11:10 am)

lara1 · 10/08/2017 11:22 am

Deadskie13 - really enjoyed reading all of your comments, especially the ones that Tuxie400 repeated. I agree that the killing of Dennison had an emotional residual part to it, and I guess he also didn't want him running around if he was a "Kate survivor". But I do wonder if he thought someone was in the closet, or even knew who it was. I guess we may get some clues in the next episode.

I find that I'm more confused than ever about the Red-Reddington-KR thing. I'm now back to one of my other thoughts, that maybe the "kidnapping" of Elizabeth was staged for some reason. and maybe KR was in on it. That would in part explain KR's reaction with Kate about it. And then it all went wrong. But then maybe not. the argument that little Liz hears outside the closet in the fire memory wouldn't make sense then.

Thinking more of Red's plan with the painting, I think he may have come up with another plan along the way. Red is good at manipulating situations and probably saw an opening to do something even better for his long term survival. I think the same with Smokey Putnam. I think originally it was to get rent money (LOL) but then somewhere along the way he realized he could use Smokey, and the turning point was the conversation when the car broke down. IMO of course

The sneak peeks of Ep 3 see Red asking various people for help. I'm still of the view that he is not as "broke" as he appears to be - and that these pleas for help are a test of loyalty - who can he still really call his "friends", or at least, people still on his side. If they are "with" him when he's "down and out", they pass the loyalty test. Just a thought.

Last edited by lara1 (10/08/2017 11:23 am)

Big Badd Bazzer · 10/09/2017 8:24 am

My ideal fantasy Blacklist episode what feature - Aram being left alone at the post office (all the others are pre-occupied with assignments or held captive) and enlisting the help of Glen & Gina Zanatakos to run ops.

Can't think of who I'd want for the 4th person but Glen & Gina would make things interesting!

OK, perhaps old Dominique!!!

Tuxie400 · 10/09/2017 12:15 pm

BBB - Aram directing the ops for Gina, Glenn and Dom would be hysterical.

10/09/2017 5:46 pm

Who do we think beat the crap out of Dennison before Tom got there? I had initially assumed it was Dembe, but then I've wondered why Dembe would have needed to leave to get Red. Red could have come over on his own. That makes me wonder if it was someone else, like Oleander?

Someone else mentioned Tom calling Kate a "good woman". I have a feeling he doesn't know she was trying to get Liz thrown in jail.

Tuxie400 · 10/09/2017 6:23 pm

Brittany #106 - When watching the episode, my thought was Dembe had tried the sugar method, but then switched to vinegar. If it was O. Leander, where did he go, and why did he leave Dennison alive? If it wasn't Dembe, I bet Red did have the place watched to see who would come back. And, in doing that, he would have seen Tom leaving.

Honey West · 10/09/2017 6:32 pm

I think Dennison was left there as bait. And probably by Red.

lara1 · 10/09/2017 7:10 pm

My original guess somewhere above here was that Red and Dembe had already been there - I think if they arrived at Dennison's for the first time to see that the door had been broken into (as Tom had noticed when he got there), I think they would have come in with guns drawn, but they just walked right in without guns raised. And I thought too, HW, that it was bait - maybe Red got a whiff that someone else was also after Dennison. They may have even been watching the apt. too.

But in any event, I think they'd already been there and stepped out for some reason, or they would not have just walked straight in without guns drawn. I haven't re-watched the episode yet, so maybe I'm wrong. but I seem to recall they just strolled right in. OF course that doesn't exclude the possibility that Oleander had been there and left. Somehow I don't think so - I think its what Tom has to find in his next step to "not leave well enough alone". LOL

lara1 · 10/09/2017 10:40 pm

So I re-watched tonight and saw what I thought was an amazing parallel to fire night: when Tom enters the hallway in Dennison's building and walks across to the door of Dennison's apartment: that hallway looks amazingly like the hallway in one of the memory "flashes" of fire night. Eastcoast, this is the picture with what looks like either a boy or man or other person slumped on the floor under the window at the end of the hallway which is bathed in yellow light.

In 5.02, the hallway of Dennison's building is that very warm, buttery yellow color, with a window square in the center wall at the end, and with the apartment doors on each side in white and even the glass lamps on the hallway wall like the hallway in that fire night scene. Underneath the window, situated approximately where the boy/man/person is seated in the fire memory, is a bicycle. Amazing parallel. Esp since I think that the flashes represent snippets of Liz's "real" memory.

Now the building in 5.02 isn't fire house, but the amazing thing to me is that less than a minute later, Tom hides in the closet with those louvered doors and is peering out like Liz in fire night. The hallway IMO is making it a more definite fire night connection. So, is it saying the suitcase is connected somehow to fire night? Was Tom the other child in the closet with Liz? or is it just a parallel to Liz, looking out and seeing something, that she now doesn't remember because her memories are messed up? Did she see someone kill someone else? Dd she see Red kill someone, or maybe someone else kill someone, and is that who is in the suitcase? I've always thought Liz saw something from the closet....

Interesting also to me the way that Tom's gun is left outside the closet - reminded me of how the gun was on the floor in the fire memory. Whatever it is, I think that scene is giving us a big clue somehow.

lara1 · 10/09/2017 10:43 pm

On my re-watch, these were my other observations: Red comes in to see Dennison for the first time in that scene, because he asks Dennison if he knows who he (Red) is. So I think Dembe had been in there before or maybe even Brimley or someone like him, though we didn't see him

And - anyone notice that Harold was wearing plaid in that scene with Liz and Red at the motel pool??

Last edited by lara1 (10/09/2017 10:51 pm)

lara1 · 10/09/2017 11:13 pm

Tuxie400 - I've been thinking a lot about your other theories, watching this episode again. Well both episodes really. Not sure why - maybe because to me its like Season 1 replaying scenes but differently. And repeated dialog. When Red has the guy at Grayons' place repeat the address to him, it reminded me of Kaplan making Liz repeat the address to take Red to, when he was shot. And Fitch, having Red repeat the safe combination to him in The Decembrist. And...gotta go back and note down those numbers!!!

Tuxie400 · 10/10/2017 9:51 am

lara1 wrote:
Tuxie400 - I've been thinking a lot about your other theories, watching this episode again. Well both episodes really. Not sure why - maybe because to me its like Season 1 replaying scenes but differently. And repeated dialog. When Red has the guy at Grayons' place repeat the address to him, it reminded me of Kaplan making Liz repeat the address to take Red to, when he was shot. And Fitch, having Red repeat the safe combination to him in The Decembrist. And...gotta go back and note down those numbers!!!

lara - Are you referring to the multiple personality theory or the con man theory? For the con man theory, we're seeing Red concoct elaborate cons with many moving parts.

For the multiple personality theory, I offer this bit of dialog:

Liz: I’m scared of you. Now more than ever. Of who you are, because you might be who I am, too. I let you do it because it felt like the right thing to do. It wasn’t. But it certainly felt that way because–
Red: Because you’re my daughter?
Liz: In more ways than I care to admit.
Or, are your talking about the theory that repeated dialog could reveal what BL is all about? LOL I've had so many theories over the course of this show.

Last edited by Tuxie400 (10/10/2017 9:54 am)

Tuxie400 · 10/10/2017 10:02 am

lara1 - Yes, I think Tom in the closet and that hallway are both reminders of the Braxton fire night scene. It's interesting to me that none of the recappers or pod casters keyed in on this parallel like we have.

Speaking of the name Braxton, I suddenly had this thought right now that the writers took it from Braxton Hicks contractions, or practice contractions for birth that cause much milder pain than the real thing. When Liz finds out what really happened, the pain will be much more intense and awful, but it will give birth to something totally different that what we've seen before on the show.

Tuxie400 · 10/10/2017 10:28 am

lara1 - I think the writers are just jogging our memories with these parallel scenes. I don't think it implies anything about Tom being the other child in the closet with Liz. I think there might be some link between fire night and the suitcase, but who knows what.

I still think repeated dialog could be some kind of clue.

Last edited by Tuxie400 (10/10/2017 10:28 am)

Tuxie400 · 10/10/2017 11:58 am

Speaking of revisiting Season 1, when was the last time we had an Asian named Cho? Wujing with architect Henry Cho in danger.

lara1 · 10/10/2017 12:27 pm

Tuxie400 wrote:
lara1 wrote:
Tuxie400 - I've been thinking a lot about your other theories, watching this episode again. Well both episodes really. Not sure why - maybe because to me its like Season 1 replaying scenes but differently. And repeated dialog. When Red has the guy at Grayons' place repeat the address to him, it reminded me of Kaplan making Liz repeat the address to take Red to, when he was shot. And Fitch, having Red repeat the safe combination to him in The Decembrist. And...gotta go back and note down those numbers!!!
lara - Are you referring to the multiple personality theory or the con man theory? For the con man theory, we're seeing Red concoct elaborate cons with many moving parts.

For the multiple personality theory, I offer this bit of dialog:

Liz: I’m scared of you. Now more than ever. Of who you are, because you might be who I am, too. I let you do it because it felt like the right thing to do. It wasn’t. But it certainly felt that way because–
Red: Because you’re my daughter?
Liz: In more ways than I care to admit.
Or, are your talking about the theory that repeated dialog could reveal what BL is all about? LOL I've had so many theories over the course of this show.

Tuxie400 - LOL that's right, so many theories! I was thinking of multiple personality. So much dialog repeated almost verbatim by different characters, and then, dialog like this, repeated but slightly different...I re-watched Gaia from Season 4 last week and remembered how Tom says to Liz, when she thinks Kirk is her father - and the memories at Summer Palace - the memories of a 4 year old aren't reliable, something like that. What Red said to Liz in Braxton.

Red as conman - yeah, we are seeing loads of that. I still keep thinking he was a con man way back when. (and not the "real" Reddington, the naval officer, that is, LOL).

Yes, I thought aabout that scene with Tom looking out of the closet louvers again and the close up of his eyes etc., and concluded its not literal, rather symbolic and pointing to a connection of the suitcase with fire night but not that Tom was the other child with Liz in the closet. But I do still wonder whether Liz did witness someone killing someone else that night......question, questions!

lara1 · 10/10/2017 12:30 pm

Tuxie400 - oh dear, I just thought of something else for MP theory. All those close ups of eyes that I've noted before - Liz as child, Red in 4.08 with Kirk and with Kaplan in Requiem, and now Tom behind the louvers., like the close up of little Liz's eyes peering out. Maybe. Maybe not. LOL

Tuxie400 · 10/10/2017 1:33 pm

lara1 - Maybe, maybe not, indeed!

lara1 · 10/11/2017 10:57 am

BBB - Off topic but since this thread is active and is being changed up today thought I'd put it here -
did you catch Deirdre Lovejoy last night on Bull? I posted this and Susan Blommeart news under "Off Topic" yesterday.