The Blacklist [NBC - US] [** Spoilers **]

Ageyev

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

IMHO this whole story with Tom in the dungeon was done really sloppily. Presumably it'll all be cleaned up in a nice flashback episode of how she caught him, but that's annoying.

You could say that again!

Just a random scene at the end of an episode showing Liz having a beer whilst holding a key - totally unrelated to everything else!

EoinMcLovin

Great mid season finale that cleared up some loose ends but added more questions. Sadly won't be back until February

squonk

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

Great mid season finale that cleared up some loose ends but added more questions. Sadly won't be back until February

What's the friggin point of that? That's practically 3 months away anyway! I know it's getting into the silly season shortly but the run up this season was so lacklustre that it's almost like the show never restarted!

EoinMcLovin

squonk wrote: »

What's the friggin point of that? That's practically 3 months away anyway! I know it's getting into the silly season shortly but the run up this season was so lacklustre that it's almost like the show never restarted!

That's NBC for you. It returns straight after the Super bowl and then moves to Thursdays. Supposedly even if the show that is replacing it , State of Affairs fails they still won't be moving it back to Mondays.

Ageyev

Thought this recent 'mid-season finale' was the show's ultimate 'jump the shark' moment.

So, if I have this right:

Red has something he can hold over dodgy US state govt. people , Hawkeye from M*A*S*H and his "syndicate" (hat-tip to The X-Files). There is a deal in place to protect both interests. Both have a failsafe in place should the other party release material and/or be killed. Hawkeye hired Anslo Garrick to infiltrate The Post Office and attempt to kill Red as a warning and tricked Berlin - who unleashes a war of attrition against Red - into thinking that Red had killed his daughter and sent him her body in pieces in order to actually try to kill Berlin without triggering the failsafe and annulling the deal.

Meanwhile this Tom fella has been hired by Berlin to watch Liz and that stuff but *SWERVE* Tom was working for Red all along to infiltrate Berlin's group to get Berlin to kill Hawkeye from M*A*S*H because Red wanted Hawkeye to to call off the dogs and give him pertinent information without triggering the failsafe and annulling the deal.

In short, Red was using Liz to gain access to the FBI.

Wutlol?!

What in the blue f**k. Convoluted doesn't begin to cover it.

squonk

LOL I didn't watch it that deeply. I thought it was the first good episode this season. Sadly it's the last good episode for the next 3 months. I do agree it seems a little overly convoluted. I'm just not sure anymore. Red always seems to come out on top and be way ahead of everyone else. In the end Berlin, our big, bad villian from last season seems like a bit of a pussy cat really. The whole thing reminds me of what Star Trek did to the Borg. There's only so many times they can do this. Any new arc vilain has to be a worthy foil for Red. Anything else will just be boring.

On a side note, the Merc product placement is a bit much now. I totally buy Red swanning around in an S-Class but Liz is now sporting a Merc C something which is majorly expensive, certainly not believeable on what I'd presume the salary of an operative a year out of FBI training would have access to anyway I'd think. It just detracts from the believeability of the story.

Backstreet Moyes

Whats the cliff hanger maybe i missed it because i am half watching it these days. Berlin the big baddy died like a wimp, Tom is gone and that fella got killed i just don't see where it's actually going.

Agent Coulson

We never did get the great James Spader vs Alan Alda over act off I was hoping for

Talisman

Ageyev wrote: »

Thought this recent 'mid-season finale' was the show's ultimate 'jump the shark' moment.

So, if I have this right:

Red has something he can hold over dodgy US state govt. people , Hawkeye from M*A*S*H and his "syndicate" (hat-tip to The X-Files). There is a deal in place to protect both interests. Both have a failsafe in place should the other party release material and/or be killed. Hawkeye hired Anslo Garrick to infiltrate The Post Office and attempt to kill Red as a warning and tricked Berlin - who unleashes a war of attrition against Red - into thinking that Red had killed his daughter and sent him her body in pieces in order to actually try to kill Berlin without triggering the failsafe and annulling the deal.

Meanwhile this Tom fella has been hired by Berlin to watch Liz and that stuff but *SWERVE* Tom was working for Red all along to infiltrate Berlin's group to get Berlin to kill Hawkeye from M*A*S*H because Red wanted Hawkeye to to call off the dogs and give him pertinent information without triggering the failsafe and annulling the deal.

In short, Red was using Liz to gain access to the FBI.

Wutlol?!

What in the blue f**k. Convoluted doesn't begin to cover it.

You missed a few bits.

Regarding the raid:

The point of the bunker raid was to demonstrate to Reddington that they could get to him anywhere. They were concerned that he was spilling the beans to the task force. Garrick deviated from the plan as he wanted to kill him.

I always thought it was kind of obvious that

Tom had previously worked for Reddington - the level of vitriol they have for each other suggested a previous arrangement that went sour. I wouldn't be surprised to discover that it was Reddington who had him trailing Lizzy originally.

The second part of the series should be interesting - Reddington has been patiently working his way through with things using the Thirty-Six Stratagems. So far in the second season he has strengthened his own syndicate,

secured the Port of Tankulu takeover and eliminated major opponents in Kirchoff and the Mombasa cartel

Ageyev

Talisman wrote: »

You missed a few bits.

Regarding the raid:

The point of the bunker raid was to demonstrate to Reddington that they could get to him anywhere. They were concerned that he was spilling the beans to the task force. Garrick deviated from the plan as he wanted to kill him.

I always thought it was kind of obvious that

Tom had previously worked for Reddington - the level of vitriol they have for each other suggested a previous arrangement that went sour. I wouldn't be surprised to discover that it was Reddington who had him trailing Lizzy originally.

The second part of the series should be interesting - Reddington has been patiently working his way through with things using the Thirty-Six Stratagems. So far in the second season he has strengthened his own syndicate,

secured the Port of Tankulu takeover and eliminated major opponents in Kirchoff and the Mombasa cartel

With regards to Tom and Red, go back to the first episode. Red had Tom stabbed to point out to Liz that he's a spy. And Tom and Red were working together all along while Tom keeps whinging about how Red's not who he says he is - well duh!. I am guessing the stuff he.told Liz about Red was either made up or he was actually trying to warn her. Or something.

This makes no sense from a logic point of view.

fiddlechic

Ageyev wrote: »

This makes no sense from a logic point of view.

This is the fundamental problem with this show. It's fun to watch, but trying to piece it together is frustrating.
I don't think the writers have it quite figured out yet, and leaving all the conspiracies suitably nebulous and clueless allows them to do whatever the hell they want with it.

Ageyev

fiddlechic wrote: »

This is the fundamental problem with this show. It's fun to watch, but trying to piece it together is frustrating.
I don't think the writers have it quite figured out yet, and leaving all the conspiracies suitably nebulous and clueless allows them to do whatever the hell they want with it.

Seems quite obvious that they didn't have a long-term direction when they started out.

I heard a podcast review show theorise that

Red is a trans man and may have been Liz"s mother

. With the ludicrous turns this show has taken that would not surprise me at this stage.

Person of Interest has a similar premise and structure - shadowy govt. elements and black ops spies etc. playing out a long-threaded arc/conspiracy within week-to-week stand aline episodes - and that has done this much better imo.

squonk

Yeah the writing is sloppy. I reckon they just started out with The Blacklist thinking vilian of the week and then once it proved popular, had to tack on some more depth. The best shows have a clearly defined plan on startup. This really just makes it up as it goes along. Seeing Alan Alda in the cage reminded me of the first few episodes from S1 when Red was in there. It seemed like a tighter show then. He got off the leash very quickly!

Gongoozler

I found the first series generally quite good. I've started on the 2nd series now, on the 5th ep next I think, and it's a disappointment so far. As ye've all said, it's way less interesting. She's much more cocky or something that's annoying. It's bitty, here and there, going nowhere kinda feeling.

And they're breaking after which episode? I'll have to try space them out. Hate when they do this sh!t. They'll lose viewers doing that kinda thing, I don't get it.

bpb101

Gongoozler wrote: »

I found the first series generally quite good. I've started on the 2nd series now, on the 5th ep next I think, and it's a disappointment so far. As ye've all said, it's way less interesting. She's much more cocky or something that's annoying. It's bitty, here and there, going nowhere kinda feeling.

And they're breaking after which episode? I'll have to try space them out. Hate when they do this sh!t. They'll lose viewers doing that kinda thing, I don't get it.

espisode 6 they break , its on a break now till the Superbowl(which i know is a sunday), then after that , the following Thursday i believe they start again week after week

bpb101

Worth a watch
catch up and behind the scenes
good refreshed
Episodes back on Sunday
http://www.nbc.com/the-blacklist/video/behind-the-blacklist-season-2/2840995?onid=137781#vc137781=1

bpb101

returns tonight

Agent Coulson

Back tonight I would expect them to go all out with this episode having The Super Bowl as it's led in.

bpb101

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Back tonight I would expect them to go all out with this episode having The Super Bowl as it's led in.

Yeah, its makes an extra 20 million possible fans in one night of the show.
it can really make a show. Im glad they have thrown a newish but strong show

Patty O Furniture

bpb101 wrote: »

Worth a watch
catch up and behind the scenes
good refreshed
Episodes back on Sunday
http://www.nbc.com/the-blacklist/video/behind-the-blacklist-season-2/2840995?onid=137781#vc137781=1

Not available to watch in ROI :mad:

Ageyev

Total mess of an episode.

The air duct to the boiler room is apparently 20cm wide or whatever and then you see Megan Boone crawling along inside with enough room for a half dozen Bruce Willis'.

The baddies get into the server room by simply shooting the lock and then you just see Boone casually open the boiler room door handle to let Red and his buddy in. The explosion was supposedly deadly enough to potentially blow up the entire facility and kill anyone in the room but there ya are a few mins later and Red and Keen are still alive.

And then more teasing of 'is he or isn't he Keen's father'.

Big Ron was alright in it though.

FloatingVoter

Ron Perlman and David Strathairn. Can't complain. Still as think as twelve planks but brainless fun nonetheless. It'll give me something to laugh at on Friday mornings.

squonk

I was only half watching. Seeing it back reminded me of how just not very good this show is now. The sad thing is that it was a more 'balls to the wall' episode than usual. It's kind of hard to take the show seriously now though when it seems everybody who's anybody survives not only a 'very dangerous' boiler explosion and also a missile strike designed to take the place out. It's annoying because the show started out pretty well in Season 1 and has just descended into pure farce at this point. If that was their market stall to get new viewers to buy into the show then I'm afraid it made Scorpion look factual!

JP Liz V1

It has been renewed as if it was ever in doubt

Ageyev

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

It has been renewed as if it was ever in doubt

Just had a quick glance at the ratings on Wikipedia. It looks like their viewer numbers had been sliding this series (though held up with DVR) but they got 25 million viewers for the Sunday episode.

FloatingVoter

Ageyev wrote: »

Just had a quick glance at the ratings on Wikipedia. It looks like their viewer numbers had been sliding this series (though held up with DVR) but they got 25 million viewers for the Sunday episode.

That's an aberration. Basically anybody in the US who doesn't give a toss about the Superbowl or were so drunk they forgot what channel it was on.

bpb101

Ageyev wrote: »

Just had a quick glance at the ratings on Wikipedia. It looks like their viewer numbers had been sliding this series (though held up with DVR) but they got 25 million viewers for the Sunday episode.

I like the show but it's sometimes very hard to follow the physical "blacklist"
Can somebody tell me, who are they chasing at the moment ???
If dvr is keeping them up, their new day may turn them dvr into live ratings this week

Ageyev

bpb101 wrote: »

I like the show but it's sometimes very hard to follow the physical "blacklist"
Can somebody tell me, who are they chasing at the moment ???
If dvr is keeping them up, their new day may turn them dvr into live ratings this week

The wikipedia episode list shows the number and name of the Blacklist. This week was #21 Luther Braxton played by Ron Perlman.

The numbers do not follow in chronological order. Iirc the highest number was one hundred and something. Red gave no rhyme or reason as to why these people are on the list and why he wants to and/or is willing to take them out.

There are fan theories a plenty of course particularly wrt assigning value to the numbers with #1 being the most valuable/important.

Alfred Borden

Right, watched the first six episodes of this and dont find it remotely interesting. Does it get any better? Worth continuing?

bpb101

Raf32 wrote: »

Right, watched the first six episodes of this and dont find it remotely interesting. Does it get any better? Worth continuing?

what was the last thing that happened?