The Blacklist Thoughts

[iaria]

I've gone back and listened to the man and woman fighting in the background of Liz's memories. Some of what I heard and what I think of it.

I think it's pretty obvious that the woman was Liz's mother. During the first section their entire argument is about Liz and comes off very much like a domestic dispute.

W: Where is she?
M: You shouldn't be here.
W: I'm not leaving without Masha.
M: Her name is Elizabeth. ... She's not going back with you.
W: How could you steal her from me?
M: You wouldn't let me see her. Get out!
W: Get your hands off me. Did you think you'd get away with it? That I wouldn't find you?

Yup, definitely Liz's mother. And she's likely Russian. She had physical custody of Liz, her father (or the man it makes sense to assume is her father) stole her away because her mother wouldn't allow him to see her. Possibly for other spy related reasons. He renamed her Elizabeth or perhaps she always had an English and a Russian name? It also seems like he might have been in hiding with Liz.

Then we have the next section of the argument between them which switches tracks a bit. The woman tells him he's in trouble, he says because of her which she confirms because she 'told them'. She defends herself that it was her job and he accuses her of spying on him. She says "Yes. No. I didn't want to. I tried to protect you." which is really interesting.

I wonder if she worked for the Alliance? If she's still alive could she be the Russian woman on the Alliance 'council'? It seems though that she was conflicted about her role. Did she go into their relationship, like Tom with Liz, as a spy or did that come after? I'm also curious about who he is that people would go to such extremes to spy on him.

Then there's a lot I couldn't really hear though at one point it sounds like the woman says something about "instead they framed Masha" or "they threatened Masha", with the latter making more sense in this situation. I think he says something about 'that's how you justifies yourself'. It ends with her saying "Because I love her!" (... or "I love you"? A bit of a difference but I'm unsure.)

After that we get a break from the memories and when Liz goes back the first exchange we hear is the woman telling the man "they'll kill you if you don't give it back to them" and him replying "they'll kill me if I do"

That's followed by the woman saying "Did you really think I'd let this happen? That I wouldn't come for her? That I wouldn't find you?" He tries to say something several times but she talks over him/it's indistinct. The first thing he says sounds kind of like "she's not who you..." ...very curious about how that sentence was going to end. Not who you ... want? think she is? really care about?

Liz mentions the Fulcrum at this point but I don't hear either of them mention it. This memory flash does end with him saying very distinctly "It's the only thing keeping me alive." which I assume is the Fulcrum.

Back in real life Red shows up and decides to continue the memory retrieval and the next memory starts with men entering the house and the man demanding to know who they are. The woman ignores him and starts giving the men orders starting with telling them to split up and start searching the house, sending them to the basement and the attic. She is very much in charge during this sequence.

After that it gets difficult to hear again with Red talking over the memory and Liz's panic but it's clear that it's turned into a fight between the two. Red tells Liz to turn away, that she doesn't want to see 'this'. It sounds like the man says that she's not taking her (Liz) and she asks him "are you crazy". The next thing that stands out:

"Stop! Get away!" the woman yells. Then it kind of sounds like she says "Raymond, let go!" and then there's a gunshot. ???!!! I've listened to it multiple times but I can't tell if it was 'raymond' or not.

Was it Liz's mom who died that night not her dad? Did she perhaps see her dad kill her mom? Did Raymond kill her mom?

We know the memory was messed with and is all mixed up so... perhaps Red was trying to force her to leave without Liz? Or he was holding her back while the other man was fighting one of them who came with her? We know Red was there - was he there to help her recover Liz?

During the final sequence someone pulls young Liz from the closet and through the burning house. She sees a man lying injured face down on the floor but moving not yet dead and young Lizzie calls out "daddy, no". There's a shot of what looks like two men helping a third one out of the house.

It's all pretty interesting but confusing. Really confusing and I don't really have any solid theory about what's going on.

Comments

[paceus]

Thank you so much for writing down what exactly happens in this episode! I watched it and didn't really get much out of it, and I didn't go back to take a closer look because I thought it's so confusing that you can't really make out any of the dialogue... but clearly the writers have wanted to give us clues and that's really cool. I did catch the man saying it [the Fulcrum] is the only thing keeping him alive. But it's great to read all of these other lines and your speculation.