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Think there’s any correlations to be made between the “Apple Eating Surveillance” guy and Tom Keen being a teacher?
(Kaplan, by the way, is another fairly recognizable word in the teaching world….)
Chime in!!
–Baby Z
By: Baby Z
1. Why was Red so insistent/determined to save Ressler’s life. At one point I almost got a father/son feeling between the two - now THAT would be a twist. They did have the same very rare blood type.
2. Anslo knew about RR’s immunity deal with the FBI - who else knows and what will this mean for his ability to continue assisting?
3. How’d Anslo know about RR’s deal? Double agent in FBI?? The “songbird” Red spoke about perhaps?
4. Red’s extensive knowledge of medical skills: blood transfusion, cutting into his leg to cauterize his artery, etc.., - - how?
5. The fire… who caused it, is this the one that caused scar, who was the man holding the bunny in her room?
PARTIALLY answered earlier question: Ressler had a fiance who left him due to his 5-year obsession with finding Reddington
By: Baby Z
So tvguide.com recently had a Q&A session with The Blacklist’s Creator, Jon Bokenkamp, and its Exec. Producer, John Eisendrath, about some of the plethora of unanswered questions surrounding the show. I didn’t want to just link to the article (which is a bit long & contains more…BUT WAIT! We didn’t get ANY juicy stories with Luli and Red… so does that mean that they just decided to kill her off for shits and giggles when they had more planned for her? Does that mean that by some weird stretch of the imagination she actually lives? That would be some weird symmetry if Red tries to kill Anslo and fails and Anslo tried to kill Luli and fails… I’m not holding out hope but it seems like they may have changed course between this interview and 01.09?
That’s hilarious because after she was shot (and, I mean, from the looks of it, she had no head left……) one of my first thoughts was about this interview & I was like, “Those FUCKERS!” ;)
(Source: thetvtimes, via irish-buzzsaw)
By: Baby Z
So tvguide.com recently had a Q&A session with The Blacklist’s Creator, Jon Bokenkamp, and its Exec. Producer, John Eisendrath, about some of the plethora of unanswered questions surrounding the show. I didn’t want to just link to the article (which is a bit long & contains more than just the questions about the show….) so I hand-picked what I thought were the most interesting questions they addressed here, and (OF COURSE) I had to add my little bitchy snark where appropriate too:
TVGUIDE: Did Sam, Liz’s adoptive dad, know that Red was going to kill him? It seemed like he had prepped for it because he thanked Red after having that goodbye phone call with Liz.
Jon Bokenkamp: I don’t want to dodge the question, but those are the kinds of things that make it interesting, to be able to have a conversation about that after the fact: Was it a mercy killing because this guy was sick? Or did Red have an agenda and murder this man, somebody he obviously cared a lot about? So that’s the sort of a grey area that to me is fun to sort of swim in. We certainly have our answers for it, but I think to answer for the audience is not quite as fun. I won’t say it won’t ever be answered, but I don’t think it’s one of the burning questions.
John Eisendrath: One of the things we are pleased with is that we feel we haven’t left the audience dangling too much. We’ve given, we feel like, concrete answers. Like when we reveal the relationship between Red and Liz’s adoptive father. We show that Red killed her adoptive father. We answer certain questions, like, “Oh my God, he knows him!” and ask others like, “Oh my God, why did he kill him?”
BABY: Yes, exactly, you did precisely what I have been saying is that with every episode we are left with 142 more questions!! ;)
TVGUIDE: How soon will at least one of the main mysteries be revealed? Is Red actually the father of Liz? And what is up with her husband Tom?
Eisendrath: A lot of the back half of the season will be about answering questions about Tom. Who is he? Ultimately, helping to answer the question: Is he good or is he bad? Always giving the audience concrete answers, but hopefully opening up other ones. Also, the back half of the season will be a lot about Tom and Liz. And then also the question about whether or not Red is Liz’s father is one that we will be giving concrete answers to even as we may leave the ultimate answer for later.
BABY: Annnnnd by “we may leave the ultimate answer for later” you mean “not this season, bitches!” right?
TVGUIDE: Are Tom and Liz still going through with the adoption process?
Bokenkamp: Yes it’s still in play. It’s a story line that we have to come back to, and we will return to that and address that. It is one of those story lines that has been unanswered thus far.
BABY: You mean one of the 6,437 story lines that has been unanswered thus far, right Bokencamp?
TVGUIDE: Speaking of Apple Man, we’ve seen him and that other man he talks to. Are there only two in that surveillance room spying on Tom and Liz?
Eisendrath: In the near future, you will learn much more about them: Who they work for, why they’re there. That will be one of those questions that we’re not going to leave the audience dangling about.
BABY: Well paint me fucking green & call me Gumby!!! An answer to one of the show’s biggest mysteries is coming? Shut the front door.
TVGUIDE: How much of it is a coincidence that Liz’s scar resembles the carving on Tom’s box and that other box we saw?
Eisendrath: We leave that to the audience’s imagination for the moment.
BABY: Fuckers!! (Also? What a moronic question - how much of it is a coincidence? Um, precisely zero of it.)
TVGUIDE: How soon will we find out about the woman seen on the ViCAP? Is there any connection to the woman we saw in the Stewmaker photo?
Bokenkamp: Oh yes, the woman in the ViCAP program, Lucy Brooks. There were a couple names listed on the screenshot there. Again, that’s one of those things that I think are left better unanswered. She is making an appearance soon. That is one of those things that is also sort of a story that is ramping up, the story of this woman.
BABY: *Squeals!!*
TVGUIDE: Did Red save Dembe from the Eberhardt cartel?
Bokenkamp: Wow, look at you!
Eisendrath: Nice! Yeah we liked that he had that scar, and there was the scar that Floriana (Isabella Rossellini) gave people. No one had ever asked us that before.
Bokenkamp: That is something within the mythology of the show that we’ve talked about in terms of why Dembe has an allegiance to Red. In that second episode, we reveal that he had the scar. So yes, he was part of the cartel and yes, Red had helped facilitate his escape.
BABY: I KNEW IT!! I actually meant to address Dembe’s scar in EP2 and forgot, although I couldn’t tell at the time if it was the cartel branding or if it was the same symbol from Tom’s (and Gina Zanetakos’) boxes.
TVGUIDE: Is there a similar story coming up for Red’s other helper, Luli Zheng, to explain her loyalty to him?
Bokenkamp: Thereare some really deep and exciting stories coming up with Luli that are going to be great between Red and Luli. But as far as their backstory, we don’t have anything quite as specific as Dembe and Red.
BABY: Good, I don’t like her - she needs to keep her paws off Red. ;)
TVGUIDE: What’s the best, but off-base, theory you’ve heard about this show?
Bokenkamp: Well, one soap opera[-like] one that I read that was pretty juicy was that Liz was not Red’s daughter, but that Tom was his son. But that is wrong.
Eisendrath: For this year anyway. We reserve the right to change anything.
BABY: Ooooo - I hadn’t even thought of that one, that would’ve been a great twist!
TVGUIDE: What are some of the strongest reactions to the show you’ve gotten?
Eisendrath: People do come up and ask you questions. And apparently, the actors tell us that they get questions when they’re just walking around in New York. To Megan Boone, people will say, “Is he your father?” Or people will say to Ryan Eggold, “Are you good or bad?”
Bokenkamp: Yeah Ryan Eggold is getting put through the wringer. As much as he is the most charming, sweet, handsome guy you can find, people hate this guy. It's crazy.
BABY: Me included. Amongst the Tom-haters.
TVGUIDE: Do you know how many criminals are on the Blacklist? The highest number I’ve seen so far is for the Stewmaker, No. 161.
Eisendrath: However many episodes we get, that is the exact number of people on the Blacklist.
BABY: Haaaa!! Awesome. If the show stays as good as it is, I’m good with thousands on The Blacklist. James Spader will still kick ass when he’s 80. Of course, we probably still won’t have confirmation at that point if he’s Lizzie’s father or not.
Who’s as excited as I am for tonight’s new episode????!!! Hit SNARK US above & we can talk all things The Blacklist!! (Or just about how brilliantly sexy Spader is, whichever ;) )
Have a tutti fuckin’ frutti day fellow Blacklisters!
–BZ
By: Baby Z
Well, what would a new episode of The Blacklist be without, now, an additional 149 new questions? Here’s mine:
1. Uhhh…. Lizzie’s “father” calls her at the beginning of the episode, she’s super concerned about his health, the platitudes between them, him calling her little cutesy “names” (butterball) - - THE FUCK?
2. RR knew about her father’s declining health condition/cancer return - how?
3. Who’s June and - Nebraska? (ANSWERED - Sam refers to June as Lizzie’s aunt during a phone convo between the 2 of them.)
4. Since we now know that Sam adopted Lizzie when she was 4 - what was with her pontificating early in the season about how she basically raised herself, didn’t have a good childhood, etc.., etc..?
5. Lizzie & Ressler were just BLASTED by a plane explosion but walked into FBI headquarters shortly thereafter completely fine, not a scrape on them/not dirty/etc.,
6. When Cooper informed her (IMMEDIATELY AFTER A PLANE EXPLODED BEHIND HER) that all flights are grounded, Lizzie was surprised and asked why…. I mean… really?
7. RR & Sam: Sam says he has 6 weeks to live, he has to tell Lizzie the truth, RR is adamant that he doesn’t, Sam said she deserves to know. WHAT TRUTH? What is their relationship, both RR’s with Sam and with Lizzie?
8. RR’s comment to Tom “He’ll always be there for her, standing in the shadows, keeping her safe.” - - so he was really speaking about himself in this scene, I’m assuming. He also said, “Watching thru her eyes all those who get close. He’ll always be there.” This is clearly a thinly veiled warning to Tom, but again - is that because he’s her biological father or because of the mystery relationship he had with her adoptive father, Sam, whom RR was obviously very close to and had genuine caring feelings about.
9. Who is Lucy Brooks? When Reddington enters the mysterious number he got as payment from Wujing into the FBI’s Violent Criminals Apprehension Program database, it brings us to details about a 30 year old woman named Lucy Brooks. Is SHE the daughter Reddington abandoned in 1990? Why is she in this particular FBI database on violent criminals and how does Lizzie factor into this entire plotline dammit? What connection is there, if any, to the picture he took from The Stewmaker’s book? Also, the database states her address as having been Fulton, MD and the house Reddington blew up last week was in Tacoma Park, MD - about ½ hour away…..
By: Baby Z
I feel like every new Blacklist episode brings 73 new questions and NO FUCKING ANSWERS! ;) I love every single second of it though, truth be told.
1. This will probably be a question every week but - WHO IS RAYMOND REDDINGTON? What happened to his family? Did something happen to them before or after he turned to his life of crime?
2. Does Lizzie really trust Tom now 100%? The fact that she couldn’t tell Reddington to walk at the end of the episode leads me to believe she does not.
3. Was the little girl Reddington reminisced about at his old house Lizzie? Or could it be the girl whose picture he removed from The Stewmaker’s book?
4. Isn’t it weird that, if it’s true that Tom is really who he says he is and is completely innocent, he’s not mad as hell / hurt that his wife thought he was a murdering double agent a week ago? To the point that she turned him over to the FBI even? He’s being WAY too understanding about the whole thing and it wreaks of guilt in my opinion.
5. Where was the apple-eating surveillance dude this week? Also - when Tom removed everything from their living room to remodel/paint, how did he not come across something from the people surveilling him/them/her? A camera, a bug? Or perhaps he did and that’s why we didn’t see anything from the apple-eater this week?
6. Reddington tells Lizzie Frederick is a man he understands because of Frederick’s willingness to burn the world down for the one person he cares about. He later burns his old house down. Irony or hint?
7. How old is Lizzie Keen? At his old family home, when he removes the paneling revealing the height marker, it appears to stop at Age 3, which would make his daughter 26 currently if we factor in his disappearance in 1990. If the secret number he received from Wujing IS in fact his daughter’s birth date, she would be 30 this year. (Although, why would that number represent his daughter’s birthdate, this is a number he received as payment for his services, I’m assuming he already knows his daughter’s birthdate.) Regardless - - given the 3 years old height marker and his disappearance in 1990, this would assume his daughter was born in 1987-ish and I think this would rule Lizzie out as being his kid.
8. What happened at his old home that Reddington said he tries every day to forget? Just the fact that he once had a family or did something awful happen there?
9. I wonder if there’s any correlations between the fire that caused Lizzie’s scar and the fact that he used the “burning the world” term AND then blew his old house up?
10. Isn’t it odd that Barnes’ ex-research partner hadn’t heard about the horrific train incident that killed 37 people that morning until Lizzie brought it up? And that all the victims died from apparent symptoms similar to the rare disease HER CHILD has?
Feel free to come discuss these (and all the earlier Unanswered Questions Volumes) either by clicking “Snark Us” above or on our Facebook page!!! https://www.facebook.com/thetvtimes
Have a tutti fuckin frutti day,
BZ
By: Baby Z
Moving forward, I’ll focus more on episode specific type questions. With regards to the unanswered questions about the show overall - please see Unanswered Questions Vol. 1.
Regarding episode 5, “The Courier”:
By: Baby Z
“The Blacklist” is that specific type of show that from the pilot episode, viewers are reeling with a million questions. Since the list of questions just seems to continue to grow, I thought perhaps I’d cover some of the main questions that I have.
1. Obviously, one of the most major unanswered questions about The Blacklist is surrounding the true identity of Tom Keen. Is he who he says he is and Reddington is setting him up for some reason? Is he the double agent mentioned in the Angel Station case reports? If so, who does he work for? Is he a good guy or a bad guy?
2. Along the same lines of identity, who is Raymond Reddington to Elizabeth Keen? The writers sure seem to want the viewers to think he’s her father, but are they being too blatantly obvious in attempting to make us think this so they can bamboozle us later with a completely different plot direction?
3. Who is Tom Keen TO Reddington? Have their paths crossed before? Why is Reddington so insistent that Lizzie think Tom is actually a criminal/double agent/whatever? If she’s his daughter, it makes sense that he’s trying to protect her/look out for her but he’s been keeping tabs on Lizzie for quite a long time so if his intentions were to protect her, seems he’d have done so - I don’t know - prior to her marrying the guy?
4. Why is Lizzie so important to Reddington’s long term agenda with suddenly working with the FBI? What role will she play in this agenda, or what role is he hoping she’ll play?
5. What’s the deal with Lizzie’s scar? She tells Reddington she got it when she was 14 and it was a fire, but then she tells General Riker’s daughter in the first episode that when she was a little girl her scar made her brave because it was from her daddy. Also - have you noticed that the scar matches the symbol on Tom’s secret box?
6. Who is monitoring Lizzie & Tom Keen’s home and what part do they play in the plot? Are they monitoring Tom? Lizzie? Are they good guys or bad? What are they hoping to gain by the 24/7 surveillance?
7. Who is the woman in the photograph that Reddington removed from The Stewmaker’s photo book? There’s a date on the photograph of December 1990, which is when Reddington disappeared into thin air, leaving his wife and daughter behind, could this woman’s disappearance be what prompted him to turn to his life of crime? And why didn’t he want Lizzie to see this one photo in the book?
8. 042983 - In the Wujing episode, Reddington’s “payment” for services was a piece of paper with just this number on it - what is its significance? (Unrelated, 4/29/83 is the actress who plays Elizabeth Keen’s birthday in real life!)
