calipiano81

It seems to me that those who are still not convinced Red is not Lizzie's dad is because they actually WANT Red to be the dad. But why? Wouldn't love by choice be so much more amazing and powerful (not to mention interesting) than love by familial obligation/default? Why is it implausible for Red to care for Lizzie the way he does without being her father?

Sam had terminal cancer and was in a lot of pain, so Red killed him partly to put Sam out of his misery, but also, as Red told Lizzie, to protect her from finding out the identity of her real father (which, according to Red, is what Sam was going to tell her).I think Lizzie let it go because a part of her wouldn't have wanted Sam to suffer. Also, as much as she hates to admit it, she's grown emotionally attached to Red and she probably saw how much it affected him when he was explaining to her how killing Sam was the most difficult thing he'd ever done.

But then we would lose the actual relationship between Red and Lizzie. Lizzie has her issues, but the way Red loves and cares for her unconditionally is very appealing (and intriguing as to why) to a lot of fans who then look forward to when Lizzie reciprocates.

I was not a Nastia-Derek voter (I like them, but I root for another team ), but that edit made me so angry for them. If what Derek wrote in his TV Guide blog is true, the package was a piece of fiction. According to Derek, the producers kept asking Nastia about something completely unrelated to the show, which is why she kept saying, "I don't want to talk about that." But then they cut and pasted that phrase to make it seem like she was refusing to respond to them asking her about her feelings towards the rehearsal. Nastia and Derek were stunned by the package because they hadn't had an argument, they hadn't had tension...the producers just decided to manipulate Nastia at the end of a long rehearsal day. It's one thing to take a conversation that was actually had or something that actually happened and put a spotlight on it, but to completely make something up is crossing the line. To me, that's dishonest, not reality, and completely unfair to sabotage a hard-working couple's chances for the sake of "drama." ETA: link to Derek's blog http://www.tvguide.com/news/dancing-derek-hough-blog-week8/

For as much criticism they get, notice that the female celebs didn't start dominating until Ballas/Hough came in. But regardless, I am always happy for a female celeb to win, because generally, IMO, they are expected to do way more actual dancing, more difficult choreography, and are held to a higher standard than the male celebs (again, generally) by both the judges and audience. Also, females are more naturally inclined for dancing...so a great female celeb dancer most of the time is going to get a lot closer to looking like a professional than a great male celeb. Put her with one of our amazing male pros and you get a season full of great dancing (as opposed to someone being a pole for the female pro to dance around).

Oh, the Blacklist folks have done interviews with the prominent media outlets as well (e.g. Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide) throughout the season. Those few are just the ones where I had links handy.

I enjoyed Megan too. I loved the scene at the end with her telling Red about finally remembering and the way she seemed to look at him with new eyes. In this ET Canada interview and this podcast with Larry King (at 23:53), Megan Boone confirms that Red is not Liz's father. In this Hollywood Reporter interview, Jon Bokencamp says that "Red is heartbroken that, [despite] everything he's tried to do in this season to protect her from this horrible truth, she has discovered it." In the finale, when Liz tells Red what she remembers, Red doesn't correct her, he answers "Yeah" and "I tried...but I failed," and looks genuinely pained. Now, there are definitely many other questions to be answered about that night and it's certainly possibly the writers could twist and retcon events in the future, but as things currently stand, Red is not Liz's father.

I am a little torn on the Jackson/April situation. On one hand, Jackson needed to shock April like that a little bit, because clearly she has not been listening or even caring about what he needed. OTOH, I don't think ultimatums are ever helpful. April may end up choosing Jackson, but will probably resent Jackson for making her choose (and we will have the MerDer storyline all over again).

I loved it too and it was one of my favorite scenes of this episode. It showed Cooper's trust as well as recognition of Red's experience and abilities.

No matter how one feels about the character of Elizabeth Keen, the show cannot get rid of her. Lizzie is extremely important to Red and the majority of his motivations (and the Blacklisters he chooses to go after) have to do with her. The Liz-Red relationship is at the core of the show and there are many fans of that relationship. As far as Megan Boone, even though she may be the portrayer of Lizzie Keen, she is not the sole person involved with how this character comes across on screen. The writers, directors, showrunners...they all play a role and getting another actress may not necessarily get people to like the character better.

I've thought this could be a possibility as well...maybe the Cabal faked test results and records and Cooper was given medication to make him feel ill so that Connolly could trap him. A panelist on the Afterbuzz Blacklist After Show Review also made this prediction.

The current People Magazine issue has an article on Noah, where they have interview quotes from his two ex-wives. He does have 3 children...I believe 1 from his first marriage and 2 from the second. ETA: I see several people already addressed this. Sorry for the redundancy!

Was it really necessary to spend episode time flashbacking again to Victoria's relationship with her mother? Just having one of the character's saying "Victoria's used her mother's body" would probably have been enough. And did the body need to be her mother's? Wouldn't any corpse have sufficed?

I don't see it as a big deal either. In speech, we often used "heart" as equivalent to one's soul or spirit, but the heart organ is just a functioning object. So, whether or not Emanda got Victoria's heart seems moot to me since Emanda surviving is the bigger deal. But my view is that the scenario was just what it was shown to be...a nightmare and not real.

"Poppet" was actually Louise's nickname when she and Victoria first met at the Claremont psychiatric institution back in Episode 1 of this season.

I was good with everything up until the point where Victoria shot Emanda back, but then everything afterwards made me go WTH? Even though I wanted a happy ending for Team Clarke, the back half of the episode seemed so disjointed and strange. It's like they tacked it on when they found out the show was cancelled. Even though Louise finally came back around, man is she wishy-washy! Good for her to see the truth, but she is seriously not to be trusted.

Karakurt was a known assassin for the Russian regime. The Cabal used him because it would make it look like the bombing was a Russian attack. They also counted on Karakurt's reputation to draw Lizzie out so they could plant the virus on her and frame her for the senator's death.

I remember four trios with the same gender pro as the celebrity... William/Cheryl/Tony (S14 Paso) Roshon/Chelsie/Sasha (S14 Paso) Apolo/Karina/Sasha (S15 Jive) Sadie/Mark/Emma (S19 Foxtrot)

I remember last season for the switch-up week, Mark and Bethany included Sadie and Derek in their hip hop routine by having them sit at tables and having brief interaction with them at the very beginning and the very end. I didn't overly mind Derek, but I would have preferred that degree of inclusion for Nastia's Charleston.

Sorry, but I just have to make this correction...Corky said on Afterbuzz that he and Shirley were teaching together that morning when SHIRLEY said she heard there was going to be a shocking elimination. They were not with Willow and Mark.

Forumfish, that theory has crossed my mind as well.

Even though it may be unrealistic for a story like Revenge to have a happy ending, I don't watch TV for reality. Real life is depressing enough. So in these next 2 episodes, I want Emanda exonerated, everyone on Team Emanda safe and happy, and the rest of them either to get a clue or deal with what's coming to them.

There is a Catch-22 with these dance-offs. One the one hand, you'll look bad and could lose votes if you choose someone obviously weaker (Aly Raisman got a lot of flack for picking Andy Dick even though it was all pre-arranged), but if you go up against "someone your own size," you put yourself at risk of losing out, not only against your direct challenger, but against the winners of the other dance-offs as well.Because, for example, Noah's total judges' total for this week (38) is now actually higher than Riker's (37) because Noah won the 2 extra points for his dance-off and Riker did not. What if, because of that, Riker ends up going home?

I’m a little worried for Willow…she was a little under the radar this week (save for maybe the extra rib and Bruno calling her hot). I hope the Willow/Mark supporters will vote hard this week!

For me, Willow is absolutely up there with Rumer, Nastia, and Riker and there is no need to judge her on a different level. I love her performance quality and her commitment to the characters Mark gives her. Technique-wise, she is improving, but I also think Willow has some strengths going for her (and it's not like the Top 3 are without their own technical issues). She has great posture and she does create some really nice shapes and lines. While some may comment on Mark's use of themes, costumes, and production, in spite of those things, he really has been giving Willow proper content and she has been handling everything well IMO.