The Blacklist 4x08 Thoughts
Nov. 15th, 2016 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaDr. Adrian Shaw, Conclusion
• Oh whatever show. I sincerely don't buy that Red is Liz's father and honestly if he actually is her father and this is true I am going to be super irritated with the show.
1 - The entire basis of the Red/Liz relationship is that Red doesn't lie to Liz. It's a cornerstone of the show. With that in mind - he has told her straight out that he is not her father and has confirmed that she shot and killed her father accidentally. Now maybe they're going to do some word meaning play here: Red never raised Liz nor was called her father - first it was Constantin, then perhaps the man who took her and she shot, and then it was Sam. Red even mentions Constantin and Sam when Kirk is hounding him over the question and how it (his genetic relationship to her) doesn't matter.
It would fit with Red's deep love of telling the truth but not the exact truth while also obscuring the truth as best he can and that would work with the last Red/Liz scene where she muses that she wanted her father to be a part of Agnes's life and Red says "he would have liked that too" whiles smiling at Agnes, which did feel rather pointed (ie: arrows pointing at Red 'here is your father holding your daughter'.) But I'd find it a cop out if the show went there. Oh, he wasn't lying because he never raised her and thus was never truly her father? Bullshit show. It would also make me super pissed off at Red for playing these games with Liz. It would put him in such a bad light.
2 - Red says to Kirk: "What do you want me to say? Yes? Is that what you want me to say? Yes, Elizabeth is my daughter." I find it very suspicious. It comes off less like Red admitting the truth and more like Red telling Kirk what he thinks Kirk wants to hear in order to survive.
3 - During Kirk's last conversation to Liz Kirk says: "It doesn’t make much sense, but sometimes you can feel too much, hold on for too long. It poisons you." and as he does the camera is firmly on Red. Then Kirk tells Liz he should have let go of her but "you were my child" and the camera is firmly back on Kirk. Possibly it means nothing but it could also be a very big hint.
4 - Kirk literally just had a DNA test done for himself and Liz so if he wanted to know beyond a doubt whether Red was Liz's father than why the hell didn't he simply do a DNA test for them? That's the big hole in the 'Red is Liz's father' question.
• There was a lot of really great Red/Liz stuff.
- "It's Elizabeth." ♥
- "Ripe apple falls, it doesn’t know what else to do." Because for Red there is only protecting Liz, no matter the cost. Oh Red.
- Liz pleading with Kirk to let Red go.
- I loved Liz's "I'll come for you. I'll come for you." to Red as she was escorted out of the garage.
- Liz's reaction when Red walks in alive. She is so relieved! That beautiful hug and Red's reaction to it. The way he leans into her, eyes closed. Her big smile. Her immediately and happily handing Red baby Agnes. Also the fact that Liz kept Red's hat.
• What the hell did Red tell Kirk? The only thing that makes sense to me is if Red revealed that Katarina was alive. But then that hits the problem of Red telling Liz her mother was dead. And honestly even if the whole 'Red doesn't lie to Liz' thing is proven false, the episode 'Cape Fear' showed, imo, that Red genuinely does believe that Katarina committed suicide. So I have no idea. Did he learn something afterwards that changed his mind? I can't remember the specifics of those episodes. Hmm.
• I was a little surprised that Tom didn't actually have that much to do plot-wise - yes he fought at the hospital, he chased after Liz, he captured patient zero (Dembe could have done that) - but there was no effort to set up his spinoff at all. Is he going to be in the next episode? Are they going to have him be on both?
• My love of the Red/Kaplan relationship is relieved that at the very least Mr. Kaplan doesn't appear to be on the path of attempting revenge against Red and in fact seems to understand completely why he shot her. And Red asked Dembe for forgiveness. All positive signs for their future relationship.
• I liked Kirk's goodbye to Liz. He did raise her for the first few years of her life and I'm glad that despite not being genetically related to her he still considers himself her father because of that.
• Ressler torturing Kirk's minion, and showing no emotion over it, really took me aback. I'm not a fan of it but if this is an actual storyline for Ressler it could be interesting. Ressler has really struggled with Red's way of doing things and that came to head last season when Red was going to assassinate Kirk and Ressler made the decision to let him. If this is part of an actual character arc for him I'd be interested in it.
• Oh whatever show. I sincerely don't buy that Red is Liz's father and honestly if he actually is her father and this is true I am going to be super irritated with the show.
1 - The entire basis of the Red/Liz relationship is that Red doesn't lie to Liz. It's a cornerstone of the show. With that in mind - he has told her straight out that he is not her father and has confirmed that she shot and killed her father accidentally. Now maybe they're going to do some word meaning play here: Red never raised Liz nor was called her father - first it was Constantin, then perhaps the man who took her and she shot, and then it was Sam. Red even mentions Constantin and Sam when Kirk is hounding him over the question and how it (his genetic relationship to her) doesn't matter.
It would fit with Red's deep love of telling the truth but not the exact truth while also obscuring the truth as best he can and that would work with the last Red/Liz scene where she muses that she wanted her father to be a part of Agnes's life and Red says "he would have liked that too" whiles smiling at Agnes, which did feel rather pointed (ie: arrows pointing at Red 'here is your father holding your daughter'.) But I'd find it a cop out if the show went there. Oh, he wasn't lying because he never raised her and thus was never truly her father? Bullshit show. It would also make me super pissed off at Red for playing these games with Liz. It would put him in such a bad light.
2 - Red says to Kirk: "What do you want me to say? Yes? Is that what you want me to say? Yes, Elizabeth is my daughter." I find it very suspicious. It comes off less like Red admitting the truth and more like Red telling Kirk what he thinks Kirk wants to hear in order to survive.
3 - During Kirk's last conversation to Liz Kirk says: "It doesn’t make much sense, but sometimes you can feel too much, hold on for too long. It poisons you." and as he does the camera is firmly on Red. Then Kirk tells Liz he should have let go of her but "you were my child" and the camera is firmly back on Kirk. Possibly it means nothing but it could also be a very big hint.
4 - Kirk literally just had a DNA test done for himself and Liz so if he wanted to know beyond a doubt whether Red was Liz's father than why the hell didn't he simply do a DNA test for them? That's the big hole in the 'Red is Liz's father' question.
• There was a lot of really great Red/Liz stuff.
- "It's Elizabeth." ♥
- "Ripe apple falls, it doesn’t know what else to do." Because for Red there is only protecting Liz, no matter the cost. Oh Red.
- Liz pleading with Kirk to let Red go.
- I loved Liz's "I'll come for you. I'll come for you." to Red as she was escorted out of the garage.
- Liz's reaction when Red walks in alive. She is so relieved! That beautiful hug and Red's reaction to it. The way he leans into her, eyes closed. Her big smile. Her immediately and happily handing Red baby Agnes. Also the fact that Liz kept Red's hat.
• What the hell did Red tell Kirk? The only thing that makes sense to me is if Red revealed that Katarina was alive. But then that hits the problem of Red telling Liz her mother was dead. And honestly even if the whole 'Red doesn't lie to Liz' thing is proven false, the episode 'Cape Fear' showed, imo, that Red genuinely does believe that Katarina committed suicide. So I have no idea. Did he learn something afterwards that changed his mind? I can't remember the specifics of those episodes. Hmm.
• I was a little surprised that Tom didn't actually have that much to do plot-wise - yes he fought at the hospital, he chased after Liz, he captured patient zero (Dembe could have done that) - but there was no effort to set up his spinoff at all. Is he going to be in the next episode? Are they going to have him be on both?
• My love of the Red/Kaplan relationship is relieved that at the very least Mr. Kaplan doesn't appear to be on the path of attempting revenge against Red and in fact seems to understand completely why he shot her. And Red asked Dembe for forgiveness. All positive signs for their future relationship.
• I liked Kirk's goodbye to Liz. He did raise her for the first few years of her life and I'm glad that despite not being genetically related to her he still considers himself her father because of that.
• Ressler torturing Kirk's minion, and showing no emotion over it, really took me aback. I'm not a fan of it but if this is an actual storyline for Ressler it could be interesting. Ressler has really struggled with Red's way of doing things and that came to head last season when Red was going to assassinate Kirk and Ressler made the decision to let him. If this is part of an actual character arc for him I'd be interested in it.
