The Blacklist 5x09 Thoughts
Jan. 5th, 2018 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaRuin
+ I enjoyed Liz's violent 'Home Alone' take down. Her viciousness was absolutely in character (I mean she shoved a pen into Red's neck in the pilot!) and is actually an aspect of her I enjoy. I'm excited to see the show explore her dark side and see where her vengeance goes.
+ The Red/Liz scenes were really nice if much more subdued than I was expecting.
+ I'm really interested in seeing how Red deals with this new Liz. He's obviously very worried her and the direction she's going in but at the same time he has a hard time saying no to her (when it's not about information) and has a pretty loose moral outlook on life. I can see him both enabling her and trying to act as a restraining influence. I wonder if we're going to get a switch with Red having to act as a 'ray of light' for Liz now?
+ Did Red actually 'let go' as Liz asked or did he know exactly where she was and what she was doing? I have a hard time buying that he managed to not keep track of her but if he did that's actually a really great forward movement in how he treats her and the respect it shows for her desires.
+ I liked that Liz did try to do as Red asked. She could have immediately jumped into those boxes and started her quest for vengeance but she let them sit in a corner while she healed.
+ I loved Liz's line that "Men just get in my way". It felt very satisfying considering what brought her to that place were the two most important men in her life (Tom and Red) once again lying to her and keeping her in the dark.
+ As a method to get Agnes out of the way this was a pretty good. Liz struggling to deal with her rage and grief and how disconnected she feels and thus left worried about how it's affecting Agnes makes sense as does her choice to give Agnes up to a safe and happy place until she could be a good mother again. It's a responsible and loving choice. Also considering how genuinely terrible they are at maintaining Agnes presence on the show it's probably for the best. Going forward I only need the show to remember Agnes exists and occasionally have Liz obviously thinking about her or throw in a phone call between them.
The one issue I did have with sending Agnes off is how removed from the decision Red was. For 10 months Red (and Dembe) raised Agnes and by the time Liz woke Red had to have been Agnes's whole world. Red clearly made sure Agnes knew who Liz was and possibly even took her to visit her 'sleeping' mom but did Agnes have any memories of Liz and Tom? For both Red and Agnes it feels far too harsh to tear them apart like that and almost cruel to cut Red out of Agnes life like that. I feel so sad for both of them.
Agnes in particular has had a tumultuous time - she gets taken from Red (what did she call him? Was he papa?) to live with her mom who she's only heard of and possibly can't remember (though I'm sure Red visited often) and then a few months later (or however long it took Liz to heal) she is sent off to live with her grandmother, that she also might never have met. I'm going to choose to believe that post Tom's funeral Scottie and Red came to an agreement over Agnes wherein Red would have custody but Scottie had visitation so that Agnes actually did grow up knowing her grand-mother and isn't going to a stranger.
However, while emotionally I had issues with the choice logically I absolutely understand why Liz chose Scottie over giving Agnes back to Red. Red is Red. He's on the most wanted list, an international criminal with a rebuilt criminal empire who has dangerous enemies and works with the FBI taking down dangerous people. But more importantly Red is in Liz's life and is someone she is probably counting on helping her with her vengeance which she wants Agnes kept away from. Emotionally Red would be the best choice, practically unless Red was planning on leaving Liz he simply isn't an option.
+ I'm glad that we got a tiny wrap up for Redemption and was really happy with the reveal that Tom saved his mom, they reconciled and before he left they were in a good place. It does feels a little appropriate that Scottie, who had her son stolen from her, gets to raise and protect his daughter. I'm choosing to believe that Tom told Liz all about Scottie and that perhaps he even kept in contact with her so that Liz giving Scottie her daughter feels a little more reasonable. Giving her to Dom would have been a better and more stable choice but she still doesn't know about him, Red.
+ I love that Liz called her dog 'Kate'. Poor puppy.
+ I enjoyed Liz's violent 'Home Alone' take down. Her viciousness was absolutely in character (I mean she shoved a pen into Red's neck in the pilot!) and is actually an aspect of her I enjoy. I'm excited to see the show explore her dark side and see where her vengeance goes.
+ The Red/Liz scenes were really nice if much more subdued than I was expecting.
+ I'm really interested in seeing how Red deals with this new Liz. He's obviously very worried her and the direction she's going in but at the same time he has a hard time saying no to her (when it's not about information) and has a pretty loose moral outlook on life. I can see him both enabling her and trying to act as a restraining influence. I wonder if we're going to get a switch with Red having to act as a 'ray of light' for Liz now?
+ Did Red actually 'let go' as Liz asked or did he know exactly where she was and what she was doing? I have a hard time buying that he managed to not keep track of her but if he did that's actually a really great forward movement in how he treats her and the respect it shows for her desires.
+ I liked that Liz did try to do as Red asked. She could have immediately jumped into those boxes and started her quest for vengeance but she let them sit in a corner while she healed.
+ I loved Liz's line that "Men just get in my way". It felt very satisfying considering what brought her to that place were the two most important men in her life (Tom and Red) once again lying to her and keeping her in the dark.
+ As a method to get Agnes out of the way this was a pretty good. Liz struggling to deal with her rage and grief and how disconnected she feels and thus left worried about how it's affecting Agnes makes sense as does her choice to give Agnes up to a safe and happy place until she could be a good mother again. It's a responsible and loving choice. Also considering how genuinely terrible they are at maintaining Agnes presence on the show it's probably for the best. Going forward I only need the show to remember Agnes exists and occasionally have Liz obviously thinking about her or throw in a phone call between them.
The one issue I did have with sending Agnes off is how removed from the decision Red was. For 10 months Red (and Dembe) raised Agnes and by the time Liz woke Red had to have been Agnes's whole world. Red clearly made sure Agnes knew who Liz was and possibly even took her to visit her 'sleeping' mom but did Agnes have any memories of Liz and Tom? For both Red and Agnes it feels far too harsh to tear them apart like that and almost cruel to cut Red out of Agnes life like that. I feel so sad for both of them.
Agnes in particular has had a tumultuous time - she gets taken from Red (what did she call him? Was he papa?) to live with her mom who she's only heard of and possibly can't remember (though I'm sure Red visited often) and then a few months later (or however long it took Liz to heal) she is sent off to live with her grandmother, that she also might never have met. I'm going to choose to believe that post Tom's funeral Scottie and Red came to an agreement over Agnes wherein Red would have custody but Scottie had visitation so that Agnes actually did grow up knowing her grand-mother and isn't going to a stranger.
However, while emotionally I had issues with the choice logically I absolutely understand why Liz chose Scottie over giving Agnes back to Red. Red is Red. He's on the most wanted list, an international criminal with a rebuilt criminal empire who has dangerous enemies and works with the FBI taking down dangerous people. But more importantly Red is in Liz's life and is someone she is probably counting on helping her with her vengeance which she wants Agnes kept away from. Emotionally Red would be the best choice, practically unless Red was planning on leaving Liz he simply isn't an option.
+ I'm glad that we got a tiny wrap up for Redemption and was really happy with the reveal that Tom saved his mom, they reconciled and before he left they were in a good place. It does feels a little appropriate that Scottie, who had her son stolen from her, gets to raise and protect his daughter. I'm choosing to believe that Tom told Liz all about Scottie and that perhaps he even kept in contact with her so that Liz giving Scottie her daughter feels a little more reasonable. Giving her to Dom would have been a better and more stable choice but she still doesn't know about him, Red.
+ I love that Liz called her dog 'Kate'. Poor puppy.
