S07.E01: Louis T. Steinhil

[TigerLynx]

Dembe is still damn fine.  Yummmm!!!

Megan Boone is still a terrible actress, and I hate Lizzie.

I love that Katerina is intelligent, feared, and dangerous.  However, I'm wondering is Katerina the blond who is torturing Red, or is she really looking for the actual Katerina Restuva.

I want Mr. Kaplan to make an appearance.

[milkyaqua]

Does this Katerina even have a Russian accent or does that matter?

So Lizzie is looking for a nanny for Agnes but where is Agnes?

Edited October 5, 2019 by milkyaqua

[ottoDbusdriver]

Oh nooooesssss !!! Lizzie is having nanny issues for Agnes.  

I figured out the "hospital" was a fake about 3 minutes into the episode.

That ID for Michael Hansen was bad -- the props crew need to get on the ball there.  Driver License's.  Seriously.

Katerina Rostova's fake hospital monitoring crew are even worse at their jobs than the FBI.  There's only 1 camera in the entire room.  That's it.

Lizzie: "A man I've grown to like."
I'll give her until episode 4 before she's 'done with Reddington'.  Again.

The Illusionist/Louis T. Steinhil -- sure, whatever.  He sure sucks at his job.

And the cat is out of the bag regarding who "Reddington" really is to Cooper and Aram -- only that will turn out to be complete and utter bullshit about 8 episodes in at the mid-season cliff hanger.

And for good measure, Reddington gets a good old blood letting to end the episode.  Where's the Barber of York when you need him ?  Not available, we'll get the "nurse" to do the job.

Still no sign of Agnes or the dogs or Robert Vasco's cat -- not in Paris or Annapolis.
 

1 hour ago, TigerLynx said:

Megan Boone is still a terrible actress, and I hate Lizzie.

Apparently Megan Boone couldn't afford acting lessons between seasons.

[Manda317]

Can this lead to us finally learning what this convoluted bs has all been about please? I really want to know the secret so I can let this go

[mxc90]

4 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Lizzie: "A man I've grown to like."

Copper had a puzzling look on his face after she said that. I'm sure the word "moron" was crossing his mind as she walked away.

How can Elizabeth say "once you hear the story, I don't think it will matter to you"? Sure Cooper just ignore the facts an ex KGB agent stole an identity and has been lying to you all these years.

Who knew a glare could knock out the entire picture.

Mila struggling to get away from Red as he is on the ground, holding her leg with one hand and the other handcuffed to a wheelchair was the comedy I needed to see. It was like seeing a damaged Chucky doll trying to bring down an adult. A kick to the face from Mila would have ended it.

Mila had a chance to escape Red but stayed, cut off the camera, drugged the Illusionist and helped Red get out. Why? The gun was safely tucked under Red's ass. He couldn't be that quick to shoot her. Or was she seduced by Red's charms and promise of drinking and dining later? Katarina will kill her next week.

How can Ressler say Michael Hansen is one of the best? The FBI (as inept as they are) caught on to his identity and home address in no time. He didn't think the FBI would have a picture of the real Briaux or call the French government. Katarina should have hired Ethan Hunt for this job.

So Red's confession that he will never betray Katarina didn't earn him any points with her. She is really out for "blood"!!!!!!! 

After Cooper asked Liz for an update on the Illusionist, she had the fucking nerve to tell  him she is looking for nannies (using the government computer). 

Katarina and the Illusionist must have deep pockets to hire all those struggling out of work actors. 

Edited October 5, 2019 by mxc90

[preeya]

7 hours ago, Manda317 said:

Can this lead to us finally learning what this convoluted bs has all been about please? I really want to know the secret so I can let this go

At some point we'll find out that Reddington was dreaming all this bs and when he awakens he'll be Alan Shore pleading a case to the Supreme Court.

[Loandbehold]

7 hours ago, mxc90 said:

How can Ressler say Michael Hansen is one of the best? The FBI (as inept as they are) caught on to his identity and home address in no time. He didn't think the FBI would have a picture of the real Briaux or call the French government. Katarina should have hired Ethan Hunt for this job.

When Red was in the "hospital", I thought the IMF would have done a much better job of gas-lighting him. And was disappointed we didn't get the theme song.

[TigerLynx]

2 hours ago, preeya said:

At some point we'll find out that Reddington was dreaming all this bs and when he awakens he'll be Alan Shore pleading a case to the Supreme Court.

That will probably be better than any explanation the writers do come up with especially since Red coming out of hiding and requesting to work with Liz, and sending Tom to stalk/watch her is what put her in danger in the first place.  Although they will probably retcon that at some point.

[Dowel Jones]

8 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Katarina and the Illusionist must have deep pockets to hire all those struggling out of work actors. 

But enough for only one camera.

I don't get the bloodletting, unless it's for sheer torture.  Removing blood won't make Reddington eager to talk, and they can't kill him in the process without getting their information.  With all the setup for the hospital and the paralytic drugs, you would think they would have access to some neurotoxin that  would completely alter Reddington's mind and senses so that he would talk. 

[mxc90]

8 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

But enough for only one camera.

Katarina wanted to stay under budget and cut the costs for additional cameras. The Illusionist promised her this wouldn't be a problem when negotiating the terms of their agreement. With the glare and Red escaping, Katarina will deduct this from his next payment and the Illusionist will take her to court (claiming the camera worked and not responsible for the glare). It will get nasty.

Edited October 6, 2019 by mxc90

[PBnJay]

2 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

I don't get the bloodletting, unless it's for sheer torture.  Removing blood won't make Reddington eager to talk, and they can't kill him in the process without getting their information.  With all the setup for the hospital and the paralytic drugs, you would think they would have access to some neurotoxin that  would completely alter Reddington's mind and senses so that he would talk. 

Back in the Old Days, doctors used leeches to heal people. So removing some of Red's blood should have made him healthier. Still, it would have been easier to just make up some truth serum to inject him with if they wanted him to talk. Every other tv clinic has some of that, Katarina should have borrowed some from another show.

[TigerLynx]

Call me crazy, but good old fashioned physical torture has been known to work even on people trained to withstand torture, so all the yak yak yak, I'm going to do this to make you talk, just annoys me.  Try pulling out a few fingernails, and see how tough the person in question really is, then simply up the ante.  Once you start chopping off body parts, lots of people get very cooperative and chatty.

[paigow]

4 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Katarina wanted to stay under budget and cut the costs for additional cameras. 

Katerina: 1 camera, more money for CGI dragon...

[paigow]

Have they abandoned the meaningless episode titles?

ETA: Louis T Steinhill (#27) aka The Illusionist 

Edited October 9, 2019 by paigow

[ItCouldBeWorse]

So Red was beaten within an inch of his life by a very careful street gang who left no visible marks on his face, arms, hands, etc.

Why is Katarina calling Ilya "Raymond"? Red came to her, so what's her issue? How do all the Annapolis fake hospital actors know she is Russian when she speaks perfect English? Does she know where Dom is?

Agnes should go back to Grandma.  Liz is looking to hire a stranger to care for her daughter around the clock?  Or will Liz leave the office by 5 or 6, no matter what's going on?

Edited October 7, 2019 by ItCouldBeWorse

[mandigirl]

On 10/4/2019 at 10:31 PM, Manda317 said:

Can this lead to us finally learning what this convoluted bs has all been about please? I really want to know the secret so I can let this go

I know this is super, super random, but it occurred to me that our Raymond is actually Katarina. That there was no IIlya or if there was, he didn't assume Raymond's identity. Is that even physically possible??

It was the way Raymond said that Katrina was an illusion and that betraying her would be like betraying himself.  Clearly the red-haired Russian 'Katrina' that kidnapped Raymond is not the real Katarina. She referred to Liz as 'Keane'.

Any way, decent episode. Liked the continuity with the shout out about Scottie. Interested to see what happens with the story.  

Edited October 7, 2019 by mandigirl

[xtwheeler]

On 10/4/2019 at 11:33 PM, mxc90 said:

How can Ressler say Michael Hansen is one of the best? The FBI (as inept as they are) caught on to his identity and home address in no time.

This is one (ONE!) thing I think the show got right. Robert Hanson (I'm assuming this is who we are all actually referring to) spied on the US for the Soviet Union and then Russia from the '70s to 2001, and is generally considered the worst intelligence disaster in US history (at least among ones that we're willing to admit). He and Ames compromised many ops and people, leading to numerous executions of US assets abroad. For a show that is handwaving Lizzy and Red's behaviors, this was actually surprisingly accurate.

[Cardie]

On 10/7/2019 at 7:20 PM, mandigirl said:

I know this is super, super random, but it occurred to me that our Raymond is actually Katarina. That there was no IIlya or if there was, he didn't assume Raymond's identity. Is that even physically possible??

It was the way Raymond said that Katrina was an illusion and that betraying her would be like betraying himself.  Clearly the red-haired Russian 'Katrina' that kidnapped Raymond is not the real Katarina. She referred to Liz as 'Keane'.

Any way, decent episode. Liked the continuity with the shout out about Scottie. Interested to see what happens with the story.  

That is a long-standing theory that seemed to be disproved by the Ilya flashback but you make a convincing case. This Katarina does not seem to have the same relationship to Red that we see in the past. 

[mxc90]

6 hours ago, xtwheeler said:

This is one (ONE!) thing I think the show got right. Robert Hanson (I'm assuming this is who we are all actually referring to) spied on the US for the Soviet Union and then Russia from the '70s to 2001, and is generally considered the worst intelligence disaster in US history (at least among ones that we're willing to admit). He and Ames compromised many ops and people, leading to numerous executions of US assets abroad. For a show that is handwaving Lizzy and Red's behaviors, this was actually surprisingly accurate.

Ressler wasn't talking about real life Robert Hanssen. 

Michael Hanson was the man hired by the Illusionist to dupe Cooper and, did a poor job and got caught by Liz and Dembe.

[xtwheeler]

2 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Ressler wasn't talking about real life Robert Hanssen. 

Michael Hanson was the man hired by the Illusionist to dupe Cooper and, did a poor job and got caught by Liz and Dembe.

Well, you can tell how much I was paying attention! Thank you! 

[mxc90]

7 hours ago, xtwheeler said:

Well, you can tell how much I was paying attention! Thank you! 

No problem. I totally understand.

[paigow]

Did "Red" fire 7 shots from a Six Shooter?

[paigow]

16 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Michael Hanson was the man hired by the Illusionist to dupe Cooper and, did a poor job 

Maybe he is #999 on the list.....

[saber5055]

I finally watched this last night and wondered why I bothered. But I learned Cooper served with Reddington in the military. WTH. Did we know that before?

Cooper is freaked that Lizzie shot/killed her dad. WTH. He knows she's killed a bunch of people, yet hires her back after she skips town and goes on the lam, a wanted criminal. No questions asked. It's fine with him that she goes "offline" and leaves to "save" Red before he says she can, because, well, she can. And it's also okay for her to use FBI computers and Aram to do research on babysitters. Where I work, you can get canned for even doing personal emails.

I don't think that blond woman is Katarina. I think she wants to know where Katarina is so she can ... well, do whatever.

So Lizzie tells Aram who Red really is and sums up six seasons of this dreck show in a couple sentences. Six years of time wasted. Did this show think we really cared who daddy was? I guess not. This season (and the next five) will be all about finding mom I guess.

So Red was beaten within an inch of his life? Yeah, not. But I guess no mirrors so Red didn't know he didn't have a mark on him.

Even a fake hospital room should have had some fake announcements over the fake PA system, "Calling doctors Moe, Larry and Curly" in French. There were sure a lot of fake actors in hospital and cop clothes though. Big budget!

The end where Red is hung up and being drained of blood ... really? That will make him talk when all his blood is gone and he passes out/dies. Great move lady. Still, maybe Red's blood type is extra special and she just needed a couple pints to sell to the local blood bank. And how many blood banks take blood from the neck and not the arm? None? Yeah, that's what I thought.

[saber5055]

On 10/4/2019 at 9:14 PM, TigerLynx said:

I want Mr. Kaplan to make an appearance.

Now THERE'S the perfect nanny/babysitter for Agnes. And maybe Mr. Kaplan coming back might make me care about this show again. Of course, Lizzie had to screw that up too.

Dembe rocks though. At least there's that.

[ottoDbusdriver]

17 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I finally watched this last night and wondered why I bothered. But I learned Cooper served with Reddington in the military. WTH. Did we know that before?

I don't think Cooper has ever mentioned that before.  If that's the case couldn't Cooper quiz Reddington about their shared time in the military -- to determine if he is the real Reddington or not.

[saber5055]

5 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

I don't think Cooper has ever mentioned that before.  If that's the case couldn't Cooper quiz Reddington about their shared time in the military -- to determine if he is the real Reddington or not.

Not just that, but Cooper would have wanted to reminisce about (the good and funny) things that happened when they served together, like "Remember that great restaurant we all went to in Seoul ... what was its name? And I've been trying to think of that one guy who kept getting letters from his ex ... what was his name?"

Instead we get seven years wasted wondering if Reddington is the real Red. And Cooper never pipes up that he worked with Red "back then." Plus one thinks Cooper MIGHT have mentioned he served in the military with the guy who's No. 1 on the FBI's Most Wanted. Interesting detail to leave out, show, especially since this ep stressed that Cooper is straight and narrow.

I did appreciate the people walking away from Red when he started in on his endless soliloquies. I'll bet they had wished his mouth was paralyzed, not just his legs.

[Dowel Jones]

On 10/10/2019 at 10:17 AM, saber5055 said:

I don't think that blond woman is Katarina.

Maybe she is/was Reddington.  Maybe Reddington is/was her and she wants her identity back.  Or maybe they're Boris and Natasha and they're looking for Moose and Squirrel.  Hell, I don't know.  My head hurts.

[saber5055]

12 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

Maybe she is/was Reddington.  Maybe Reddington is/was her and she wants her identity back.

Now you made me think about this show again, darn you all to heck. The point of Red being taken (I think) was to force him to tell where Katarina is. But if the blond woman he kissed, then got stabbed by, is Katarina, everyone knows where she is since she is running the hospital con. I "assumed" Red thought she was Katarina when he kissed her. Then at the end, there she is draining Red's blood (so stupid) so Red can see where she is, and so can everyone else. Why go through the big hospital ruse to get Red to talk?

I didn't get this episode at all, it was so full of bogus nothings. I think it would be cool if Red were really Katarina except I'm positive this show would never go there.

I'll bet Dembe knows though.

[andipandi]

When cooper got the bloody shirt to do the DNA test, it was because he remembered being in a shootout with the original red before the fall, right? So there have been references to red's past military service before. They could have served together without being in the same unit going to the same bars.

If this is katarina, she doesn't jive with young katarina at all. Too harsh and unsympathetic. So many henchmen's lives could be saved if they would just all be straight with each other!

[Dowel Jones]

More explanation in later ep.

[Happywatcher]

Red sure gets caught a lot now that the writers ran out of plot ideas.

Plus Kat is annoying.