The Blacklist 4x17 Thoughts

[iaria]

Requiem

Wow. The episode itself was great but I'm really not sure how I feel about all the information we got. We got some (maybe) solid answers for once but they left me with even more questions and uncertainty.

+ I was clinging to hope in the last episode that Mr. Kaplan wasn't really behind everything, and while I'm sad that she was this episode did a great job in selling not only her turning on Red but her choice last season to help Liz run. Emotionally it never made sense to me that Kate would go to war against Red like this and now I absolutely believe all of Kate's choices. It finally makes sense. So that part of it was great.

The part that isn't working for me is how this works with Mr. Kaplan's interactions with Liz in the previous seasons. I remember thinking in the first episode they interacted that I kind of loved how little patience/interest Mr. Kaplan had in Liz. I haven't watched it in years but I'm pretty sure that's basically how their relationship proceeded for next couple years. I definitely remember being surprised by how concerned Mr. Kaplan was during the episode last season where Liz died. So this retcon is - eh. That said, with this new background I am excited to see how the Kate/Liz relationship plays out from this point on.

+ Mr. Kaplan change of opinion on Red works okay. Pre-shooting Kate seemed almost accepting of the fact that Red would kill her and trapped in the hut she defended him and seemed understanding of why he did it. Her remembering her true purpose – to keep Liz safe above all else – and it stoking her anger towards Red and changing her view on the situation worked for me. The head injury also helps.

What is not working so well is: what exactly is Kate’s plan is here? She wants to keep Liz safe and it’s apparently once again her number one priority. We already know that Kate thinks that Red is a danger to Liz but even if she thinks he’s the biggest danger he’s also Liz's most powerful protector. We, and Kate, know that Liz has other enemies out there. That was the whole point of creating Red’s criminal empire! So if she tears it down doesn’t this simply put Liz in more danger? Doesn't putting Liz in the crossfire of her war with Red put her in more danger?

Kate entering the story now as a new parental figure to Liz could be a very interesting story especially in the ways it pits her against Red but I'm not sold on her going all out to take Red down.

+ I'm really sad about the destruction of Red and Kate's relationship. I loved them. They very clearly loved each other. Kate was devoted to him and she was one of the few he depended on and trusted. Those twenty years forged a great bond and I'm sad it's probably gone. I wish there was some way out of this that could lead them to reconnecting but I don't it considering how betrayed both feel.

There were two points I did love: 1) the fact that Kate/Red started with a fairly antagonistic relationship and that Kate ended up being won over and falling under Red's spell as we've seen countless people do before, as Liz has been warned against by multiple people. 2) that decades working so closely with Red has turned Kate into someone just as dangerous and ruthless as him.

+ Kate judging Red is a bit rich considering all the blood on her hands - both the bodies she cleaned up for Red and the ones she's caused herself. I'd have preferred the war to entirely be over Liz and their differing opinions on what's best for her.

+ The casting of young Mr. Kaplan was phenomenal. Joanna Adler absolutely nailed Mr. Kaplan. I was really impressed.

+ Kate’s anger at Red for not backing away from Liz’s life has so much more depth to it now. Kate raised Masha till she was 5 and loved her as a daughter but when she had to stay away from Liz to keep her safe she did it. Even after Red re-established contact Mr. Kaplan kept her distance. So it must have been a very bitter pill to have Red insert himself into Liz’s life like that. I can buy Kate holding a low-simmering anger towards Red for years over it and I can’t blame her. It also really encapsulated how selfish Red’s love for Liz can be by contrasting it to Kate’s deeply selfless love.

+ The Katarina/Kate interactions were really strange. The acting choices and dialogue were oddly stiff and stilted. It was weird. Yet despite that I ended up really loving them. Kate becoming Katarina’s confidant, her closest ally, for years; the fact that they raised Masha together and were a team worked so well for me. In the end they loved each other. Katarina’s last words to Kate being “I love you, Kathryn” and Kate brokenly telling Annie “I think she was my best friend” really got to me. Also now I kind of ship it.

+ I absolutely love the Kate/Katarina reveal for the simple reason that if Katarina is in fact alive it is going to be amazing. My fondest hope for the season finale now is that it all comes down to a showdown of Red vs Kate, with Liz there of course perhaps trying to broker a peace between them, and then suddenly in strolls Katarina. Credits. It would be amazing. Both Red and Kate loved Katarina and had a strong connection to her. It would be fascinating to see how things would play out between the three of them.

+ One issue I’m going to be interested to see them deal with is that now that Mr. Kaplan is firmly against Red what exactly is stopping her from telling Liz everything? Both Dembe and ex-wife Naomi have encouraged Red to tell Liz the truth. Kate has to know the truth and now has no reason not to tell her. Are we actually going to get more answers?

+ I loved the quick glimpse we got of Kate and her relationship with Annie, and the origin of Mr. Kaplan (sad).

+ Mr. Kaplan having a metal plate in her skull would help to explain how she survived. I feel like Red had to have known about it which convinces me even more that his choice to shoot her there was him subconsciously trying not to kill her.

Questions:

For all that we appeared to get a bunch of answers this ep I’m left with even more questions and just as much uncertainty.

+ The first thing to be established is whether or not the ‘flashbacks’ are to be completely believed. We went into each one as Kate remembering the past and considering she’s had two traumatic brain injuries it’s possible that she is remembering wrong. I’m actually only questioning their validity because in a couple points they directly contradict information already established.

My biggest issue with these flashbacks was over how the fire/Sam adoption situation played out. We know that Red took Masha to Sam – he told Liz this and more importantly Sam and Red mentioned it when they talked. So there are only a couple options here a) the writers are retconning that point of history, b) Kate was remembering wrong, or c) Red/Sam were remembering wrong. I’m hoping it was option b but I’m thinking it’s going to be a retcon and that just really annoys me. It may not seem like a big retcon in the scheme of things but it seems huge to me. Does this put into doubt then Red’s assertion that he never lies to Liz?

Another point that doesn't appear to work with these flashbacks was Mr. Kaplan telling Red "... to keep Elizabeth safe. Just like you asked me to all those years ago, when you first put her in my arms as a baby girl." back in 4x02 when she was defending what she did. But then in the flashbacks Kate doesn't meet Red until Liz is with Sam and he certainly didn't put her in Kate's arms. Considering that is from this season and thus written when they probably already had this backstory worked out I'm mostly left going '?????' Was there a massive screw-up in continuity here or is it a hint that we can't take the flashbacks at face value?

+ Then there’s the fire situation which doesn’t actually get any clearer this episode. We see Katarina leaving to take Liz back from her kidnapper (who she thinks is Raymond) and we see her return to the motel room with Masha directly post-fire. But, for me, the actual events of the fire aren’t any clearer. Did Red ever say that he rescued Liz from the fire? It was certainly implied with his burns and Liz’s ‘memory’ of a man taking her from the fire. Though to be fair Liz’s memory is the most unreliable. It’s entirely possible that Red still saved Liz from the fire and then gave her to Katarina.

Masha certainly appears to have shot someone and Katarina is upset as she reassures her daughter that ‘he was a bad man’. We know from her journals that she loved him and he died (shot by Masha?) ...Except if Red saved Masha from the fire and gave her to Katarina then he can’t be the man Liz shot (that Katarina loved). So there is going to be some retconning happening here. Either Red is the father that kidnapped Masha and was shot by her and then Katarina thought he was dead; or Red wasn’t the one who kidnapped Masha nor was he loved by Katarina, he wasn’t shot and went on to save Masha. Both of these can’t be true but I don’t know which one and either way it goes it feels like there will have to be some retconning happening.

+ I also have further problems with the whole Sam situation. Katarina chose Sam to raise Liz because she knew and trusted him and because he couldn’t be connected back to her. But he was also connected to Red. So if Red kidnapped Masha why would Katarina send her to someone connected to Red?

+ Then there’s Liz’s amnesia. Liz doesn’t remember any of her childhood but when and how did that happen? I thought it was because of the trauma of the fire and what happened that night but now in this flashback we see her with Kate in the weeks afterwards with her full memory and surprisingly little trauma considering how traumatised adult Liz was over remembering. Was the amnesia of her past induced, likely by Red? We know that he messed with her memory of the events of the fire but I thought it was to help her with her ptsd over the night and to keep certain knowledge from that night hidden. I didn’t think he took her whole childhood from her! Also I just had a thought – if Red came in and had Masha’s past erased from her memory Sam had to have known and allowed/agreed with it which feels even worse.

+ I can’t believe its season 4 and I’m still not sure which way the ‘who’s the daddy’ question is going to go. Ugh. I’m once again back to ‘Red probably is the father. Maybe. ???????’ I really don’t know. In previous mentions of the past I thought that Katarina’s American lover/Liz’s father wasn’t Red because he told Liz that her father was dead. But this time Katarina directly connects ‘the American’ with the name ‘Raymond’… so Red is her American lover? She couldn’t have two lovers named Raymond, right? I could buy her having more lovers/marks but not two Raymond’s. So now I’m confused again and wonder exactly how they’re going to play this. Did Liz shoot Red during the fire (and he got the scars because he couldn’t escape fast enough not because he rescued Liz)? Is there a third man that Liz shot? I literally have no idea at this point. But I swear this show better give a completely clear cut answer by the finale.

+ Another (nitpicky) issue: during Liz’s induced flashbacks in season 2 the argument she overheard the night of the fire had the people calling her both Masha and Elizabeth. But that had no connection to Sam. So how did Masha become Liz? I suppose Sam could have asked little Masha what she wanted to change her name to and she chose Liz. But why would she chose the name her kidnapper gave her?