The Blacklist 7x10 Thoughts
Dec. 19th, 2019 03:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaKatarina Rostova [No. 3]
+ Sigh. Oh, Liz.
My biggest issue with Liz's actions this episode is that she was so credulous about everything Katarina told her. Katarina offered no proof but Liz so quickly accepted it all as truth. I mean a lot of it is the truth (as far as we the audience knows) but she doesn't know that! I don't get why she would trust Katarina to tell her the truth. Katarina who lied her way into Liz and Agnes's lives and has been lying to her since, Katarina who killed someone while taking Agnes to the park and tried to guilt Liz into thinking it was her fault Agnes was drawing dead bodies. Even with the weird immediate openness to Maddie when she showed up this is too much. Especially to believe her so immediately over what Dom and Red told her. It doesn't work for me as shown. I don't get it from Liz's side. We needed more.
I think how they positioned Liz -> Katarina before this, especially last season, with Liz seeing Katarina as a threat to Agnes and herself (for some reason) and being so angry over the part Katarina played in her father's death has also made this harder to swallow. If we'd had Liz sympathising for the place Katarina had been put in and if Liz had spent the last season and a half longer for her mother then her being taken in so easily by Katarina's manipulations and her urge to help her would have made more sense, would have had more of a base to build upon. Like, I can get there with 'Liz actually meeting her mother in person, and having gotten to know her unknowingly, has changed her feelings' but frankly the show should be doing a better job of getting there itself.
And it annoys me so much because they absolutely have all the pieces there to make it work! This: "I can't figure it out but maybe she can. Maybe she can figure out everything that you're trying to hide from me." Yes. That works. From the very beginning Liz has been looking for answers. That has been everything. So her deciding to team up with her mother to get the answers that Red has been keeping from her, and from Katarina, makes complete sense. I just really wish the lead up to this choice worked better for me. Hopefully this team-up with a family member goes better than the last one did.
+ "This Reddington has watched over me my entire life. ... If you can’t be on his side, I can’t be on yours." This was a really lovely sentiment but it would have had more meaning if she hadn't immediately believed everything Katarina told her and helped her escape a couple minutes later. Sigh. This was the other aspect that really bothered me. Distrusting Red has always been a part of Liz's relationship with Red because him keeping things from her has also been a cornerstone of their relationship but I thought we'd somewhat moved past that.
We've been here before! Like, literally last season. Liz teamed up with a recently found female family member to discover the secret Red was keeping from her. I'm getting deja vu. That time Red was almost executed and in that moment Liz realised that Red was more important than his secrets. She eventually got an answer she was satisfied with to a degree but it led to the unintended consequence of Katarina coming back out in the open. What does she imagine the consequence of freeing Katarina and keeping her being alive could bring? Especially to Red who she's already seriously harmed? I'm sad that once again Liz is betraying Red's trust.
I hope they do something different with this Liz/Katarina team up then we got from Liz/Jennifer. At the very least it would be nice if it wasn't Liz actively working against Red/with Katarina.
+ Katarina's set up of her death was really well done. That was great. Why couldn't Ilya and Dom have just done that 30 years ago (or however long it was)?
+ "To be at peace. I welcome that one day." :| So, yeah, he's dying and it seems like he's actually making peace with that now and it makes me sad. It makes me wonder if the end game is going to be Red dying?
+ Ressler using Skovic to erase Krilov's memory was brilliant. I love it so much. Ressler tells Adina that it's been "a slippery slope" and it really has. This is frankly the perfect punishment for Krilov. The only negative is that it makes it even more unlikely that we'll learn more about those memories he took from Liz back in season 3 and who hired him.
+ I did find it very curious that Adina was right there with Ressler at the end. If that's a slippery slope for him then this is jumping into the deep end for her. What happened to the woman complaining about how the Post Office works? (If Frankie was originally supposed to be in this role it makes a lot more sense.) Also she's only been working with them for a couple months at most and that is a lot of trust to have in her.
+ I really love that Harold knew the truth. That he knew she was lying about the lead/what happened to her and from that deducted exactly who Maddie really was and why Liz did what she did. He's smart and knows her really well and I'm glad they let him be that. I liked that he was sympathetic to her but also not willing to just go along with this latest choice by her.
+ I liked seeing Liz sit at Dom's bedside and I wish we'd had a quick scene of that in a previous episode to show that it's something she's been doing all along. It would have given everything a lot more emotional heft. [And this is something the show regularly fails at with Liz - with Agnes, now with Dom - that would be so easy to do better at.]
+ Red not even realising that Adina was sitting in the car with him made me laugh, as did him unceremoniously kicking her out. At the same time it's a bit worrisome!
+ I liked how all the name connections came together. How Aram got the name Berdy was too coincidental but him remembering it and Adina putting it together with the neighbour she interviewed made sense.
+ I appreciate that Liz refused to let them bring Ilya in the escape because it's clear that they actually could have physically taken him and she did it specifically to save him.
+ I love that Liz and Tom chose that apartment because there was a secret underground tunnel, and that Liz subsequently created a secret entrance to make it even bigger.
+ Liz assuring Katarina that she could keep a secret ("I'm a Rostova") would work a little better if she hadn't spent this season spilling Red's biggest (as far as she knew) secrets to her co-workers. As is I rolled my eyes a little.
+ I'm glad that Liz didn't respond to Katarina's 'I love you' with her own because it really wouldn't have worked.
+ It's so strange to see Red's relief when he told Liz that (Katarina) had been killed and then think back to Cape May and how he was with his hallucination of her. He could have tried to save her but didn't after very little urging from Dembe and I really want backstory on their relationship and how they got to this place. What happened to them?
+ Sigh. Oh, Liz.
My biggest issue with Liz's actions this episode is that she was so credulous about everything Katarina told her. Katarina offered no proof but Liz so quickly accepted it all as truth. I mean a lot of it is the truth (as far as we the audience knows) but she doesn't know that! I don't get why she would trust Katarina to tell her the truth. Katarina who lied her way into Liz and Agnes's lives and has been lying to her since, Katarina who killed someone while taking Agnes to the park and tried to guilt Liz into thinking it was her fault Agnes was drawing dead bodies. Even with the weird immediate openness to Maddie when she showed up this is too much. Especially to believe her so immediately over what Dom and Red told her. It doesn't work for me as shown. I don't get it from Liz's side. We needed more.
I think how they positioned Liz -> Katarina before this, especially last season, with Liz seeing Katarina as a threat to Agnes and herself (for some reason) and being so angry over the part Katarina played in her father's death has also made this harder to swallow. If we'd had Liz sympathising for the place Katarina had been put in and if Liz had spent the last season and a half longer for her mother then her being taken in so easily by Katarina's manipulations and her urge to help her would have made more sense, would have had more of a base to build upon. Like, I can get there with 'Liz actually meeting her mother in person, and having gotten to know her unknowingly, has changed her feelings' but frankly the show should be doing a better job of getting there itself.
And it annoys me so much because they absolutely have all the pieces there to make it work! This: "I can't figure it out but maybe she can. Maybe she can figure out everything that you're trying to hide from me." Yes. That works. From the very beginning Liz has been looking for answers. That has been everything. So her deciding to team up with her mother to get the answers that Red has been keeping from her, and from Katarina, makes complete sense. I just really wish the lead up to this choice worked better for me. Hopefully this team-up with a family member goes better than the last one did.
+ "This Reddington has watched over me my entire life. ... If you can’t be on his side, I can’t be on yours." This was a really lovely sentiment but it would have had more meaning if she hadn't immediately believed everything Katarina told her and helped her escape a couple minutes later. Sigh. This was the other aspect that really bothered me. Distrusting Red has always been a part of Liz's relationship with Red because him keeping things from her has also been a cornerstone of their relationship but I thought we'd somewhat moved past that.
We've been here before! Like, literally last season. Liz teamed up with a recently found female family member to discover the secret Red was keeping from her. I'm getting deja vu. That time Red was almost executed and in that moment Liz realised that Red was more important than his secrets. She eventually got an answer she was satisfied with to a degree but it led to the unintended consequence of Katarina coming back out in the open. What does she imagine the consequence of freeing Katarina and keeping her being alive could bring? Especially to Red who she's already seriously harmed? I'm sad that once again Liz is betraying Red's trust.
I hope they do something different with this Liz/Katarina team up then we got from Liz/Jennifer. At the very least it would be nice if it wasn't Liz actively working against Red/with Katarina.
+ Katarina's set up of her death was really well done. That was great. Why couldn't Ilya and Dom have just done that 30 years ago (or however long it was)?
+ "To be at peace. I welcome that one day." :| So, yeah, he's dying and it seems like he's actually making peace with that now and it makes me sad. It makes me wonder if the end game is going to be Red dying?
+ Ressler using Skovic to erase Krilov's memory was brilliant. I love it so much. Ressler tells Adina that it's been "a slippery slope" and it really has. This is frankly the perfect punishment for Krilov. The only negative is that it makes it even more unlikely that we'll learn more about those memories he took from Liz back in season 3 and who hired him.
+ I did find it very curious that Adina was right there with Ressler at the end. If that's a slippery slope for him then this is jumping into the deep end for her. What happened to the woman complaining about how the Post Office works? (If Frankie was originally supposed to be in this role it makes a lot more sense.) Also she's only been working with them for a couple months at most and that is a lot of trust to have in her.
+ I really love that Harold knew the truth. That he knew she was lying about the lead/what happened to her and from that deducted exactly who Maddie really was and why Liz did what she did. He's smart and knows her really well and I'm glad they let him be that. I liked that he was sympathetic to her but also not willing to just go along with this latest choice by her.
+ I liked seeing Liz sit at Dom's bedside and I wish we'd had a quick scene of that in a previous episode to show that it's something she's been doing all along. It would have given everything a lot more emotional heft. [And this is something the show regularly fails at with Liz - with Agnes, now with Dom - that would be so easy to do better at.]
+ Red not even realising that Adina was sitting in the car with him made me laugh, as did him unceremoniously kicking her out. At the same time it's a bit worrisome!
+ I liked how all the name connections came together. How Aram got the name Berdy was too coincidental but him remembering it and Adina putting it together with the neighbour she interviewed made sense.
+ I appreciate that Liz refused to let them bring Ilya in the escape because it's clear that they actually could have physically taken him and she did it specifically to save him.
+ I love that Liz and Tom chose that apartment because there was a secret underground tunnel, and that Liz subsequently created a secret entrance to make it even bigger.
+ Liz assuring Katarina that she could keep a secret ("I'm a Rostova") would work a little better if she hadn't spent this season spilling Red's biggest (as far as she knew) secrets to her co-workers. As is I rolled my eyes a little.
+ I'm glad that Liz didn't respond to Katarina's 'I love you' with her own because it really wouldn't have worked.
+ It's so strange to see Red's relief when he told Liz that (Katarina) had been killed and then think back to Cape May and how he was with his hallucination of her. He could have tried to save her but didn't after very little urging from Dembe and I really want backstory on their relationship and how they got to this place. What happened to them?
