S08.E05: The Fribourg Confidence

[mxc90]

Quote

Air Date: 02/05/21

The task force investigates an organization of bank robbers with a special expertise in stealing from other criminals; an old blacklist case resurfaces.

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by mxc90

[mxc90]

If having Liz be a criminal means less screen time for her, I am all in this!! 

I was surprised there wasn't a scene of Cooper, Aram and Ressler talking to a grief counselor about their precious Liz.

Keep practicing Cooper........ it's "Elizabeth" now. Stop saying "Agent Keen".  

Now the 3 blind dopes have roped in Park to start believing in "protecting" Keen mantra. What "double edged sword" you speak of Park? I see no problem with you arresting Keen.

Finally Cooper tells Panabaker about Liz. Knowing Cooper, his version of events from the beginning will lead Panabaker to feel sorry for Liz and request the President to issue an order of "protection" for Liz.

Carl thought by answering the door nude, wearing a pink eye mask, will prevent the police from showing up the next time the alarm goes off? Red really trusts this man with his money?

Marvin is still working for Red after the torture and telling Red "screw you" last week????? 

Dembe immediately had a hunch it was Elizabeth and this thought never crossed Red's mind before he mentioned her? The man is slipping!

Ressler has all of Liz's aliases memorized? 

What a surprise, the coffee cup was missed by Ressler and Park. Back to surveillance training on Monday for you two.

How sweet! A father's joy watching his daughter crack a safe in less that 4 minutes. 

Good to see Red is not all lost. He loses Liz and gained a friend in the park. In a few weeks, she'll be trained to be a good assassin, clean his money, hide bodies and be an excellent spy (she already has binoculars). 

Edited February 6, 2021 by mxc90

[redfish]

So now Keen is assembling her own army of Blacklisters to kill Red?

[preeya]

What was Vassily's criminal specialty?

[mxc90]

13 minutes ago, preeya said:

What was Vassily's criminal specialty?

He's an assassin.  He disguises his target's kills in accidents the police won't suspect (plane crash, train crash, etc.). A lot of innocent people have to die to get to the person he's after.

[dwmarch]

So Ann the Birdwatcher has to be a player, right? She wouldn't get speaking lines if she was just some friendly stranger. I hope she's an ally of Red's because I just cannot swallow Liz's sudden omnipotence.

It took everyone way too long to put two and two together with Liz's nefarious scheme. Only she can keep the bad guy (who can kill anyone and make it look like an accident) in jail and for some weird reason she has no interest in doing that. Could she have possibly figured out that the only way she's going to kill Reddington is if she can talk him into eating food that she has prepared and since that's not likely she's decided to contract out? Nah, she's still into justice and shit. She'll be there.

Harold's laptop has no USB ports on it (I mean technically it has a USB-C port but no USB 3 ports, of which it should have at least one or two)? He plugged an adapter in to read Reddington's secret files. And of course these files are simply password protected and laid out with a nice big graphic to let us know there is secret Russian info in there. The password is FBISUCKS.

The one thing I did like was when Harold found Lizzie's secret apartment and Dembe was the one who opened the door. Are you starting to figure out why the FBI is having such a hard time catching her, Red?

Red seems to be lacking in urgency as well. She took off on a private jet. Gee, guess that means she's gone. Shucks, that's too bad. Did you swipe some powerful pain meds from your old thief buddy there Red? I know slow and steady wins the race but it seems like you're hardly in the race at all here.

[paigow]

Did Red kill old Abe anyway?

Jennifer needs to read all the Perp!Yelp reviews about Ressler... Any deal you make with him turns out bad...

[preeya]

16 hours ago, mxc90 said:

He's an assassin.  He disguises his target's kills in accidents the police won't suspect (plane crash, train crash, etc.). A lot of innocent people have to die to get to the person he's after.

So Keen is going to use this guy to assassinate Reddington at the expense of a lot of innocent people. She really has hit rock bottom.

Edited February 6, 2021 by preeya

[anthonyd46]

5 hours ago, redfish said:

So now Keen is assembling her own army of Blacklisters to kill Red?

That's sure what it seems like. 

[paigow]

Obviously, once Cooper plugged the flash drive in, an alert was sent to Red. So Liz Einstein essentially gave Red back the most valuable item... 

[NoReally]

3 hours ago, paigow said:

Obviously, once Cooper plugged the flash drive in, an alert was sent to Red. So Liz Einstein essentially gave Red back the most valuable item... 

Yeah, I was also wondering what kind of virus or other invasive files might be on that flash drive.

[saber5055]

1 hour ago, NoReally said:

Yeah, I was also wondering what kind of virus or other invasive files might be on that flash drive.

I know, right? You find a flash drive someone put in your vehicle and so of course you take it back to FBI headquarters and plug it into your networked laptop. What a dumbass. Especially when Aram is right there. It would have been more fun if a big splash screen had come up saying "Your Entire Network Has Been Hacked by Blacklister No. 1, AGENT KEEN! Thanks For The Access!" or something.

Poor Aram, all verklempt about AGENT Keen maybe really being bad. I can't remember anywhere I've ever worked where co-workers really gave a care about anyone else. At least not to the extent of lying and breaking the law for any co-worker, this by people sworn to uphold the law and always tell the truth.

I'm no lawyer but the reasoning behind letting that convict killer go free was pretty much some idea pulled out of the air (or somewhere else) by the show's writer. Or show's writer's teen kid. None of it made sense to me.

And yeah, Bird Watcher Ann is some new player. I'm guessing on AGENT Keen's side. It would be cool if Red really DID recognize her/know who she is and played her back. That I'd be in for.

And YES vote from me that less AGENT Keen is a plus. Hoping Park can save the dumbasses hunting AGENT Keen, but not counting on it. Being holed up in the Post Office seems to cause brain failure and loss of logical thinking.

[paigow]

1 hour ago, saber5055 said:

Hoping Park can save the dumbasses hunting AGENT Keen, but not counting on it. 

Looks like Park is forced to go Team Red next week... Maybe she will find that idiot Skip who thinks that hanging around D.C. with briefcases full of money is the best way to hide from Reddington.

Hopefully, the assassin will make a better deal with Red.... 

[Dowel Jones]

1 hour ago, saber5055 said:

"Your Entire Network Has Been Hacked by Blacklister No. 1, AGENT KEEN! Thanks For The Access!"

"And I'm DONE with you, too!"

1 hour ago, saber5055 said:

And yeah, Bird Watcher Ann is some new player.

Maybe she's the real, real Reddington.

For the life of me (pun intended), I can't see the purpose in Keen's plan to use that assassin to kill Reddington.  His specialty is kill mobs of people around his target to make it look like an accident.  So when does Reddington surround himself with mobs of people?  Or maybe he's planning to have him mauled to death by a couple of dogs and a cat?  The FBI is stumped!

[milkyaqua]

Once again I flipped back and forth while this was on but unlike last week at least I remember it was coming on.

Another vote for no sign of Keen on screen is a good thing.  But releasing a mass murderer?  Just how does this figure into her hair-brained scheme of taking down Red because as has been said, being in crowds of people is not his thing.  I guess she's just given up on the trying not to have any more casualties than necessary to take Red out?

Also, who the heck plugs in a thumb drive (I'm pretty sure most Government agencies ban their use) without first letting IT check it out first?  I'm also pretty sure that Government agencies have annual training on IT protection so Cooper is even more of an idiot.

I liked the judge.  Liz has to know the can of worms she's opened up but it's all about taking down Red for her so screw everyone else.

Cooper, Aram and Ressler really need to stop trying to protect Liz and take her out but of course the magic of Lizzie is too strong...

[preeya]

17 minutes ago, milkyaqua said:

Also, who the heck plugs in a thumb drive (I'm pretty sure most Government agencies ban their use) without first letting IT check it out first?  I'm also pretty sure that Government agencies have annual training on IT protection so Cooper is even more of an idiot.

This ↑ was my first thought when he started "finagling" with his laptop. He's just as stupid handling technology as he is with his subordinates.

[ottoDbusdriver]

This episode was worth it because it was Keen-free, but it was still a terrible episode.  And yeah, quit calling her Agent Keen.

The nonsense to release the Blacklister was just that --- nonsense.

Ressler, Park, Aram, etc.  are all still really terrible at their jobs.  Like really, really bad.  Aram's ham-fisted acting to plant that bug was awful and should have sent those 3 Friburgers, Fribourgers, whatever running.

Still no sign of the dogs or Robert Vesco's cat. 

Agnes gets a pass since she was in too much of last week's episode.  Shouldn't Agnes have been adapted by that other couple by now ?

[paigow]

48 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Shouldn't Agnes have been adapted by that other couple by now ?

deprogrammed

[edhopper]

Worst trained FBI team ever. Can't even do a surveillance/pick up right, lets players out of their sight to get rid of evidence.

And the master criminal Red, who is always two steps ahead of everyone, can't out think novice criminal Keen?

I won't even get into the absurdity of the Judge's rulings.

[paigow]

4 minutes ago, edhopper said:

I won't even get into the absurdity of the Judge's rulings.

If Aram tries to use the Whistleblower Act for ratting out Cooper, this idiot judge would out Aram...

[saber5055]

1 hour ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Shouldn't Agnes have been adapted by that other couple by now ?

Except last week we saw Agnes Leavin' On A Jet Plane with mommy and her lucky socks. So she lives to appear in future episodes.

[ottoDbusdriver]

53 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

Except last week we saw Agnes Leavin' On A Jet Plane with mommy and her lucky socks. So she lives to appear in future episodes.

Oh yeah, it was so memorable that I completely forgot about it.  :)

[NeenerNeener]

I still can't wrap my head around Lizzie doing all this because Red "killed" a woman she barely knew; a woman who killed her own father (Lizzie's grandfather, who she had a relationship with for a few years) and had tried to kill Liz at least once.

It doesn't make sense. But things about this show stopped making sense quite a few seasons back, I guess. I'm waiting for the reveal that Katarina is still alive and Red actually shot her with a tranquilizer.

[saber5055]

5 minutes ago, NeenerNeener said:

I'm waiting for the reveal that Katarina is still alive and Red actually shot her with a tranquilizer.

That's actually been my thought all along. Hence, the easy clean up in the park, no blood. How hilarious if Katarina is the Real Red and Fake Red Spader is the Real Katarina.

Well, not hilarious, but you guys know what I mean.

[Dowel Jones]

3 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

And yeah, quit calling her Agent Keen.

Okay, cue Johnny Rivers guitar riff...   Secret..Agent Keen, Secret Agent Keen.

[mxc90]

4 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

Okay, cue Johnny Rivers guitar riff...   Secret..Agent Keen, Secret Agent Keen.

Or maybe Liz wants to be our "James Bond". I guess Liz is the she the song was referring to or the couple prefers that tune to put them to sleep.

To me, Liz is Dr. Oh Hell No!

Edited February 7, 2021 by mxc90

[mxc90]

19 hours ago, preeya said:

So Keen is going to use this guy to assassinate Reddington at the expense of a lot of innocent people. She really has hit rock bottom.

She has more space to go before the crash. There's still a season 9 coming.

Edited February 7, 2021 by mxc90

[M Flow]

Just came on here to note how much better I like the episodes in which Agent Keen does not appear!

Also:

How bad a criminal would you have to be to accept Elizabeth Keen as a credible leader, now or in the future?

What is up with all the loyalty the FBI shows Keen?  I haven't seen that kind of loyalty in people for those who DESERVE it and certainly not Keen, who is a terrible agent (and actress), has used and abused all of her team, and isn't particularly likeable.  Wouldn't any ordinary FBI team feel unbelievably betrayed by a fellow agent (a) planting a bomb that almost kills one of their own (using materials she obtained by stealing Aram's forms); (b) tricking them into stealing a witness (Dom) and getting him killed; and (c) getting a mass murderer out of jail.  Maddening!  And yet they all are so conflicted about arresting her and no doubt are willing to bring her back to the team without regard to her illegal activity and complete disregard for her team and the rules.

The FBI is just so incompetent at every turn.  If this is true to life, it would explain a lot.

[paigow]

19 hours ago, mxc90 said:

She has more space to go before the crash. There's still a season 9 coming.

Could we be so lucky that Season 8 finale has Liz trigger an acid bomb booby trap... after reconstructive surgery she comes back looking EXACTLY like:

• Natalie Portman
• Kate Winslet
• Rachel McAdams
• Morena Baccarin

Edited February 7, 2021 by paigow

[milkyaqua]

Speaking of Agnes, wouldn't have just been easier to leave her with her other grandmother?  She's just as crooked as the rest of this family.  Surely she could keep her from Red.

[preeya]

1 hour ago, paigow said:

Could we be so lucky that Season 8 finale has Liz trigger an acid bomb booby trap... after reconstructive surgery she comes back looking EXACTLY like:

• Natalie Portman
• Kate Winslet
• Rachel McAdams
• Morena Baccarin

I'll take Kate Winslet for the sinking ship scenario.

[mxc90]

6 hours ago, paigow said:

Could we be so lucky that Season 8 finale has Liz trigger an acid bomb booby trap... after reconstructive surgery she comes back looking EXACTLY like:

• Natalie Portman
• Kate Winslet
• Rachel McAdams
• Morena Baccarin

Don't be too quick to get to the operating table Liz, the acid might be an improvement to your looks.

If a doctor can turn Liz into Morena Baccarin, this person deserves all money she stole from Red.

Damn! It will be Diego Klattenhoff and Morena Baccarin from Homeland all over again.

[saber5055]

20 hours ago, paigow said:

Could we be so lucky that Season 8 finale has Liz trigger an acid bomb booby trap... after reconstructive surgery she comes back looking EXACTLY like:

• Natalie Portman
• Kate Winslet
• Rachel McAdams
• Morena Baccarin

I think a bigger improvement would be if Lizzie came back looking like Ryan Eggold.

So a bigwig FBI guy like Cooper doesn't lock his car? If he lived in Chicago, that car would have been jacked within minutes and he'd be out of a ride. And the thumb drive.

[Writing Wrongs]

They made me hate Keen even more and she wasn't even in the episode.

On 2/6/2021 at 2:51 PM, edhopper said:

And the master criminal Red, who is always two steps ahead of everyone, can't out think novice criminal Keen?

I feel like he is only half-heartedly trying. I miss my sharp, quick-witted Red. 

On 2/6/2021 at 2:51 PM, edhopper said:

Worst trained FBI team ever. Can't even do a surveillance/pick up right, lets players out of their sight to get rid of evidence.

From the pilot episode until now I have to utter the words, "Worst FBI agents on tv" during each episode.

I really am not sure where they are going with this season. How can Liz come back from this? Is she leaving the show and a soft reboot is happening next season?

[momo]

On 2/6/2021 at 11:19 AM, milkyaqua said:

Also, who the heck plugs in a thumb drive (I'm pretty sure most Government agencies ban their use) without first letting IT check it out first?  I'm also pretty sure that Government agencies have annual training on IT protection so Cooper is even more of an idiot.

I think I saw on a show once, that law enforcement had some special laptops that aren't connected to their network, jic

[paigow]

20 hours ago, Writing Wrongs said:

Is she leaving the show and a soft reboot is happening next season?

Maybe there will be a 20 year time jump... Agnes will be starting her first day at the FBI and Liz will walk in to surrender....

[saber5055]

6 minutes ago, paigow said:

Maybe there will be a 20 year time jump... Agnes will be starting her first day at the FBI and Liz will walk in to surrender....

Soaps did time jumps all the time. But for this next season, someone will leave a big duffel bag in front of the Post Office. Ressler, Park and Cooper will approach it, guns drawn. Aram unzips the bag and a nude Keen steps out, tattoos covering her body, head to toe, the biggest being REDDINGTON, on her back. "I, I ... I don't know who I am," the confused former agent Keen stammers. "I don't remember anything. And what ... what are all these tattoos?" "That's for us to figure out. Come with me," replies Cooper, taking the amnesiac Keen in his arms (finally) and walking her toward the Post Office.

This show is so easy to write for.

[paigow]

29 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

"That's for us to figure out. Come with me," replies Cooper, taking the amnesiac Keen in his arms (finally) and walking her toward the Post Office.

The final shot is Dembe and Marvin laughing and drinking in a bar across the street....

[Dowel Jones]

1 hour ago, saber5055 said:

tattoos covering her body,

Most of which are of a long gone Blacklist.

[rr2911]

Like most people here, I'm not liking where this is going. I guess the show's writers either want to throw us a curve ball or they think we are all Keen fans that her killing Red is what we've been wanting all along!  

This is what I think will happen with the Keen storyline. Keen has probably put many criminals away, so she has enemies in prison. She will eventually meat her match and in a desperate move, call Red to help her out. After saving Keen, Red will make an important decision and tell Keen everything, every little secret she always wanted to know. It will be revealed that Katarina is not her real mom (her real mom probably died a long time ago) but knew Keen as a little girl. Everything will be revealed. At the conclusion of the series, we will find Keen and Red working together and still helping Cooper's team. The End!  

[seacliffsal]

So many things just don't make sense, but for me (in this episode) it started with how upset the bank manager was when he thought the police were coming to his home due to the alarm and he thought he would teach them a lesson by answering the door nude.  Hmmmm, maybe it's just me but wouldn't he want them to come quickly if there was a real danger instead of taking their time as they "don't want to have to look at that again..."?

I am so rooting against Elizabeth and the FBI (well, maybe not against Parker yet).  What is this "if you just saw her you would want to help her" stuff?  I really hope that those she believes are closest to her take the money and run.

[KaveDweller]

 

On 2/9/2021 at 7:48 PM, paigow said:

Maybe there will be a 20 year time jump... Agnes will be starting her first day at the FBI and Liz will walk in to surrender....

If they recast Liz, but managed to keep Spader, that could actually work better than anything else.

I don't see how they can have Liz come back from this either, but the fact that Cooper is still trying to protect Liz and not tell the rest of the FBI what's going on has me concerned.

[Writing Wrongs]

On 2/5/2021 at 9:00 PM, mxc90 said:

Good to see Red is not all lost. He loses Liz and gained a friend in the park. In a few weeks, she'll be trained to be a good assassin, clean his money, hide bodies and be an excellent spy (she already has binoculars). 

"Hello, I'm Raymond Reddington. I'm No. 1 on the FBI's most wanted list, but I still like to stroll around in public freely. I only get noticed by law enforcement if someone calls in an anonymous tip. So, you like birds? I was once having lunch with Alfred Hitchcock in a quaint little restaurant in London when I happened to mention I was reading this fascinating story by Daphne Du Maurier".

[ottoDbusdriver]

16 hours ago, Writing Wrongs said:

"Hello, I'm Raymond Reddington. I'm No. 1 on the FBI's most wanted list, but I still like to stroll around in public freely. I only get noticed by law enforcement if someone calls in an anonymous tip. So, you like birds? I was once having lunch with Alfred Hitchcock in a quaint little restaurant in London when I happened to mention I was reading this fascinating story by Daphne Du Maurier".

Good thing Reddington didn't encounter a hot dog vendor in the park.

[Brian Cronin]

On 2/6/2021 at 3:51 PM, edhopper said:

Worst trained FBI team ever. Can't even do a surveillance/pick up right, lets players out of their sight to get rid of evidence.

And the master criminal Red, who is always two steps ahead of everyone, can't out think novice criminal Keen?

I won't even get into the absurdity of the Judge's rulings.

The agents are typically bad, but yeah, holy shit, missing the coffee cup doesn't even make the SLIGHTEST bit of sense. 

And yeah, best not to even think about the nonsense of the judge's ruling.