S07. E15: Gordon Kemp

[mxc90]

Quote

First Aired: April 17, 2020

A blacklist case forces Liz to choose sides between Red and the Task Force. Meanwhile, Red tries to calm a panicked Ilya Koslov, (guest star Brett Cullen) who believes he is under surveillance.

 

[edhopper]

I am an advocate for very strong gun laws. I think the well regulated section of the 2nd Amendment is the crucial part.

That said, this is a particularly idiotic, preachy episode.which adds nothing to the debate.

 

[rur]

At least Liz was called out on where her loyalties were. Even if it was for just 10 or so seconds. 

[mxc90]

Terrible episode!

The writers must be Duke fans to kill the UNC bound student.

Was Red going to buy cheap wine for Cher or was he going to give it to the underage high school girl?

In the past , we have seen Red appear out of no where and foil a bank robbery with just a long monologue. What was he and Dembe doing during the time the robber was screaming at Sofia and she pleading for her life?  They were armed and still couldn't help her.

Why didn't Red blame the police for approaching with their sirens blasting? That really freaked out the robber. For the length of time we heard the sirens, were the police 5 miles away or driving real slow?

Red, Cher, Dembe, and Glen are partying in the same room. That's a scene!

The guns Red used that accidentally fired and killed two people in previous episodes were made by decent, reputable companies, so he wasn't bothered. Now with Sofia's death, all FineCal guns has to go immediately!

Good for Cooper giving it back to Liz! How dare she walk in and yell at her boss for being "lied" to. She should also be mad at Red for lying to her saying she is the "badass of the bunch".

How would Red feel if his team decided to get in a shoot out with Liz and others?

Red shooting Kemp was ridiculous! FineCal is still in business.

This is the second time Red has found out Liz is going or has gone behind his back. What will Red do to punish her? Have Brimley torture her with a game of "Connect Four"?

 

Edited April 18, 2020 by mxc90

[dwmarch]

Well, this episode did answer one long-standing question and that is how Red chooses the Blacklisters and their numbers. The answer is randomly, as it pleases him to do so.

No offense intended to any Second Amendment fans but I'm Canadian. Go into a place here with a big bag of cash and ask for 30 guns? I don't know if that would get you charged with anything in Canada but the police would certainly be asking you about it.

Lizzie's expensive PI was a waste of money. What is the point of sitting outside of his place in a parking spot where you can't see into his windows anyhow? And because she doesn't bother to lock her passenger door, Dembe hijacks her with ease. Red's torture dude breaks her with board games! Liz, you should ask for a refund.

I hope Ilya's paranoia was sufficient to get Red thinking about the possibility that Katarina (or whoever the hell she is) survived.

Is Red too much of a cinematic purist to watch the remake of The Italian Job? Oh no, they brought three trucks instead of one and they're all heading in different directions! What do we do? We figure out which one is riding low due to the heavy cargo onboard and we follow that one. I'll accept that they didn't have time to set that up but if shell games are for suckers, you got suckered, Red.

On the positive side, Lizzie's sweater game continues to be on point.

[HerkyJerky]

5 hours ago, edhopper said:

I am an advocate for very strong gun laws. I think the well regulated section of the 2nd Amendment is the crucial part.

That said, this is a particularly idiotic, preachy episode.which adds nothing to the debate.

ITA!

[Dowel Jones]

2 hours ago, dwmarch said:

but if shell games are for suckers, you got suckered, Red.

It was kind of nice to see Reddington, the king of chess moves, get genuinely fooled for once.

Best line of the night:  Red:  "I'll get rid of the truck.  I'll sink it in a lake somewhere."

Dembe in a suit!

I agree about the police and their sirens.  Unfortunately, it's a tv trope.

So Red's interrogator told him that Lizzy knows he's not Ilya?  Is that what he said?  Anyway, things are not looking good for her.

Agent Park must have been suspended for a week for beating up that guy in the basement.

 

[ottoDbusdriver]

So, the kid robbing the convenience store was the Blacklister, right  ??
I kid, I kid.

Dembe and Reddington looked good in black tie.  Very sharp.  Very James Bond-like gunning down the robber in their stylish suits.   But somehow I just don't see how Reddington ends up being the guy that brings the bags of ice to someone's retirement party.

I was hoping that blue car had a cloaking device -- just to fuck with Frank/Ilia.

Oh come on, Gordon Kemp is the Blacklister o' the week because he manufactured the gun that killed the convenience store clerk.  That's quite the stretch, and certainly not Blacklister level of evil.  I think the Kings of the Highway were more dangerous.  Of course Lizzie gets on her 'high horse of outrage' over the gun manufacturer because Reddington told her to.  Lizzie is so dumb and gullible.

"We issued a press release condemning the shooting and made a $100,000 donation to the NRA's Safety Education initiative."
That is too funny -- NRA Safety Education Initiative -- they may has well just cut a check directly to Wayne LaPierre for all the good the so-called 'NRA Safety Education Initiative' does.

A 23 year old passes a background check and then proceeds to buy 30 identical handguns -- and no red flags get raised anywhere ?  30 ?  Seriously ?

All I thought when I saw the crowds at the gun show was -- nobody is social distancing.  

FFS !!  All this is because Reddington feels guilty because an innocent was killed.  All the other innocent bystanders killed during his long list of shenanigans and this is the one he focuses on.

And now Lizzie is all butthurt that Cooper lied to her.  Boo-hoo-hoo !!  Nobody cares Lizzie.

Of course all the viewers have completely forgotten that Lizzie has dark impulses.  Oh give me a break.  Nobody cares about her dark impulses.

Of course, Reddington kills Kemp -- saw that coming a mile away.  But won't Kemp's company keep selling cheap guns ?  Killing Kemp really doesn't solve the problem here, it just makes Reddington feel good.

Now that Lizzie knows Reddington is lying to her, and Reddington knows that Lizzie is lying to him -- are they both done with each other now ?  How many times are the writers going to do this ?  It's just infuriating.  Because they will still be doing this by the time we get to Season 17 of the Blacklist (and by that time we still won't know the real relationship between Reddington and Lizzie).

[nitrofishblue]

That was one of the worse episodes I have ever watched. It was so full of inaccurate info concerning guns. Both my husband and I are members of the NRA. I am a 76 year old female, a retired electrical engineer and an Army veteran. I have my conceal carry permit. Whoever wrote that story certainly had a hard on against gun owners and purposely spewed out wrong information. No body would sell a person regardless of age, 30 identical handguns. OK, she passed the test that all gun purchasers must first take but a legit gun seller at a show does not act that reckless. We turned the show off about halfway through. Had to before I threw something through the tv screen. In the past I have been able to overlook such much garbage the show writers put out but this time they went way overboard.

[Loandbehold]

46 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Of course, Reddington kills Kemp -- saw that coming a mile away.  But won't Kemp's company keep selling cheap guns ?  Killing Kemp really doesn't solve the problem here, it just makes Reddington feel good.

It went even farther than that. Red kills Kemp with his own type of gun. Quelle surprise. Not. 

I laughed when Kent told Cooper and Ressler that they are FBI agents and not lawyers. It used to be that most agents were either lawyers or accountants. It's expanded to other degrees, but still a decent number of agents are lawyers. 

If I was Cooper, I would have told Kemp that they couldn't arrest the mother b/c to prove assault, you have to show intent and that's a very high bar to reach. As the judge just told them, they can't bring a case unless they're pretty sure they can demonstrate all the elements of the crime are there (beyond a reasonable doubt). Mic drop. And walk away. 

[Twilight Man]

17 hours ago, edhopper said:

I am an advocate for very strong gun laws. I think the well regulated section of the 2nd Amendment is the crucial part.

That said, this is a particularly idiotic, preachy episode.which adds nothing to the debate.

Even the team was pointing out that Red sells guns to "foreign armies", so it's OK if he does it.

Yeah, we've seen some of the rag-tag militias that he sells guns to.

You honestly don't believe that at least one person in these militias hasn't used his weapon to bully a innocent woman and then abused and raped her. 

Take a look in the mirror before you go throwing stones out of your glass house, Red (or something like that).

Edited April 18, 2020 by Twilight Man

[saber5055]

16 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Terrible episode!

Yeah, but a great post @mxc90.

So are all the writers on strike or was this episode written when their brains were social distancing from their bodies. So much stupid, it was beyond comprehension.

First, Ilya, whomever is in that blue car can see the curtains moving every time you look out. Way to stay hidden, dumbass. Plus what is PI woman learning by sitting in her car on the street. Duh.

Dembe ... when coming to someone's apartment, try knocking or at least open your mouth and let the people inside know it's you. Don't just jimmy the lock and walk in.

LOL that Red was doing a jigsaw puzzle. Future episodes will have him hijacking trucks of puzzles. And toilet paper. And yeast. The guy is on top of current trends.

Best line of the night: Kemp says this about our FBI agents, "What a waste of tax dollars." No sh*t Sherlock!

If you know the truck shipment is going to be hijacked, then fly it for pete's sake. Where were the trucks coming from, the east coast where our FBI Team is headquartered? And the trucks are freaking DRIVING to Chicago? A major city that has two major airports? And why are they going to Chicago? To sell to street gangs? That's another dumbass writing mistake, Chicago has tough gun laws, all the criminals buy in Indiana, where rules are lax. They do not buy at Illinois gun shows or from Illinois dealers. This fact is well known in the Chicago area.

Illinois gun owners are required to have a FOID card, a firearms owner ID. I have one. I can't buy a gun anywhere in Illinois, or ammunition anywhere in Illinois, without showing it. However, I can skip over to Iowa or Indiana (the second is closer for Chicago street gangs) and buy anything I want, no ID required. If I buy a gun at an Illinois shop or show, it's held until cleared by a state inspector or some such. (I've never done it, I just know that happens.)

Yeay to Cooper bitching out Lizzie for a coupla seconds. If he had fired her, that would have made me like this episode for a fraction of a minute.

Red preaching about guns being his tools. A LOL moment. Then he kills Kemp with the gun Red bought on the street for $100, thus keeping that business in business. And killing Kemp was such a ham-fisted and dumbass thing anyway since those guns will continue to be made and sold ad nauseum, until the end of time. Or the end of the NRA lobby. They should have made Kemp some guy who was making 3D guns in his garage, THEN Kemp going missing would make a difference. Or not.

Basically, not.

And yeah, my thought was Red was going to buy that cheap 7-11 champagne to give to the 17-year-old high-school girl store clerk to celebrate her college acceptance, all kinds of wrong. And those sirens went on and one forever, which caused the robber to shoot the clerk. And neither Red nor Dembe checked to see if the girl was really dead or only partly dead. It's nice Red could ID the gun the shooter was using. I guess if it were a Ruger the Blacklister would have been Christopher Killoy instead of Kemp.

Plus Red was all in love with the girl clerk while I was thinking "Get off the freaking phone, you have customers, do your job you big waste of time." Since she was ignoring Red and Dembe while on the time clock.

I guess Red bringing ice to the party makes him like the guy who brings chips to the pot luck ... can't or won't cook, or his contributions are so dreck no one wants him to bring anything except ice/chips.

Bottom line: I hated this episode and everything about it. So stupid, and preaching the wrong gospel all the way through.

Meanwhile ... where is Ressler's brother?

Oh: Originally the second rerun episode was suppose to be Cooper in Iraq, then it got changed last minute to a Dom episode. I guess for obvious reasons. RIP Dom.

[mxc90]

3 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Yeah, but a great post @mxc90.

Thank you!

3 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Dembe ... when coming to someone's apartment, try knocking or at least open your mouth and let the people inside know it's you. Don't just jimmy the lock and walk in.

Wearing the tuxedo and picking the lock, Dembe is letting it be known he is ready to succeed Daniel Craig.

4 hours ago, saber5055 said:

And yeah, my thought was Red was going to buy that cheap 7-11 champagne to give to the 17-year-old high-school girl store clerk to celebrate her college acceptance, all kinds of wrong.

With Red's pull, he would have insisted Cher abruptly leave the retirement party and come over to the store to sing. The puzzled girl would have had no idea who Cher is.

3 hours ago, saber5055 said:

And neither Red nor Dembe checked to see if the girl was really dead or only partly dead. It's nice Red could ID the gun the shooter was using.

Not enough time to check her, but plenty of time for quick thinking Dembe/Red to remove the video system, clean the bottle/other fingerprints, check the gun, restock some shelves, and punch her time card on her behalf. 

Mr. Kaplan would  have been proud!

4 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Plus Red was all in love with the girl clerk while I was thinking "Get off the freaking phone, you have customers, do your job you big waste of time." Since she was ignoring Red and Dembe while on the time clock.

At that point, I was expecting Red to pull out his gun to get her attention.

[Dowel Jones]

2 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Not enough time to check her, but plenty of time for quick thinking Dembe/Red to remove the video system, clean the bottle/other fingerprints, check the gun, restock some shelves, and punch her time card on her behalf. 

It occurs to me that both of their pistols were automatics, and thus eject the shells as they are fired.  The PD, in the real world at least, checks all evidence for fingerprints.  Dembe might not be in the system, but Red is, from the Lizzie-sponsored arrest.  And I'll bet that he didn't think to clean each cartridge as he loaded the magazine that morning.

[CaptainE]

8 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Yeah, but a great post @mxc90.

So are all the writers on strike or was this episode written when their brains were social distancing from their bodies. So much stupid, it was beyond comprehension.

 

Writers on strike?  You’re not new here.  They always write garbage.

I’m used to it.

And rip Dom!

Edited April 19, 2020 by CaptainE

[yourmomiseasy]

14 minutes ago, Dowel Jones said:

It occurs to me that both of their pistols were automatics, and thus eject the shells as they are fired.  The PD, in the real world at least, checks all evidence for fingerprints.  Dembe might not be in the system, but Red is, from the Lizzie-sponsored arrest.  And I'll bet that he didn't think to clean each cartridge as he loaded the magazine that morning.

Maybe Dembe loads Red's guns for him?  He does everything else.

So Lizzie is a bad ass? 🤣🤣🤣

Did Kemp guess who Red was just based on him monologuing?  Like is Red known the world over for his monologues on top of being the concierge of crime?  Or did he say something that would have made it guessable it was him?  I kept rewinding, but also kept zoning out.

[saber5055]

29 minutes ago, Dowel Jones said:

The PD, in the real world at least, checks all evidence for fingerprints.  Dembe might not be in the system, but Red is, from the Lizzie-sponsored arrest. 

Which reminds me ... Red told Lizzie the cops reported the robber had a partner who shot him, but he, Red, was the one who shot the robber. But why would a partner shoot the robber and the clerk, then leave with no cash or even the bottle of cheap vino Dembe left on the counter? And did Red pay for his bag of ice?

It's best not to think too much about details.

But yeah, great job Dembe grabbing the video system while no one, including viewers, was watching.

[UnknownK]

Generally when I think of the cheapest made handguns I think of bad quality and reliability (jamming) so it would have been funny if red pulled the trigger and it jammed so he would have to beat the gun owner to death with it and it falls apart and finally he has to use a real gun to finish the job.

I think the whole point of the episode was that the gun company owner just cared about sales and not who used them. Seems like he made a model of gun targeted at street criminals with little money and even when his sales guy (who probably makes commission of sales) seen the girl was not a collector and didn't want to make the sale the owner made him do it anyway. And the girl that died was smeared so that it would not affect sales even when the fixer complained about not having a real link to gangs. Its like the company would tone down the bullshit and act better with the CEO dead.

Red has some kind of code where he would sell guns to militia fighting the government and also sell to the government to fight the same militia but not to terrorists who kill civilians with it.

[saber5055]

9 minutes ago, UnknownK said:

Generally when I think of the cheapest made handguns I think of bad quality and reliability (jamming) so it would have been funny if red pulled the trigger and it jammed so he would have to beat the gun owner to death with it and it falls apart and finally he has to use a real gun to finish the job.

That would have made me like this episode.

[Dowel Jones]

6 hours ago, UnknownK said:

Generally when I think of the cheapest made handguns I think of bad quality and reliability (jamming) so it would have been funny if red pulled the trigger and it jammed so he would have to beat the gun owner to death with it and it falls apart and finally he has to use a real gun to finish the job.

Or he goes into a monologue about how his uncle developed a perfectly balanced pistol, and they used to go out in the meadow and shoot targets in the spring, in the spring, when all the flowers were blooming and the scents were just overwhelming, and... Kemp finally yells "I can't take this anymore!" and pulls out his own gun and kills himself.

[saber5055]

You guys are why I continue to watch this show. So thanks. I think. Heh.

[Chaos Theory]

This show is the epitome of unrealistic but I don’t really care.   I find it fun entertainment and it is at its best when it either puts Red and Elizabeth as cohorts or as rivals.   
 

Red’s code of honor has always been in flux.   But I always believed he would sell to both sides but give a discount to the side he liked better and maybe even steal back from the side he didn t like.   

[Surrealist]

On 4/19/2020 at 6:58 PM, Dowel Jones said:

Or he goes into a monologue about how his uncle developed a perfectly balanced pistol, and they used to go out in the meadow and shoot targets in the spring, in the spring, when all the flowers were blooming and the scents were just overwhelming, and... Kemp finally yells "I can't take this anymore!" and pulls out his own gun and kills himself.

You reminded me of when Ron Perlman played Luther Braxton and his character hated Red. 

At one point he tells Red, "What are you going to do? Talk me to death?"

I wish the writers hadn't killed off his character and instead, had made him a recurring one.

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by Surrealist

[saber5055]

The capturing of the PI and her subsequent giving up Lizzie as her employer, even before the first game of Shoots And Ladders was finished, made me wonder: Does anyone know why the PI wouldn't let Lizzie turn around and see her in the back of the car? Is the PI some secret-secret person known only by some code name? Is the PI the real Katarina? Or Red?

Edited April 22, 2020 by saber5055