S08.E07: Chemical Mary

[paigow]

Airdate: Feb 19 / 21

The task force must race to stop simultaneous danger presented by two blacklisters; Cooper approaches a congressman for intel.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Seriously, that's the name of this week's Blacklister ?  Chemical Mary ?  That just seems lazy by the writers.

Was Kings of the Chemical Highway already taken ?

[paigow]

The Chemical Brothers is a definite no...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5FyfQDO5g0

ETA: Just in case some teenager thinks I am making shit up...

BTW These wigs are better

Edited February 19, 2021 by paigow

[milkyaqua]

Just looked up my tv listings and as usual forgot this was coming on.  Oh well, I'll do my usual flipping back and forth and relying on the primetimer posters to keep me updated, lol.  I wonder if we'll get another epi without a Liz sighting?

Cooper's asking a congressman for intel?  This better not be about Agent Keen...  Oh, who am I kidding?

[ottoDbusdriver]

On 2/18/2021 at 7:45 AM, paigow said:

The Chemical Brothers is a definite no...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5FyfQDO5g0

ETA: Just in case some teenager thinks I am making shit up...

BTW These wigs are better

I remember that video, was certainly low-budget and trippy.

[NeenerNeener]

Hmmm...what if Harold Cooper is N13? He turned out to be the bad guy on Dollhouse, so it's just typecasting for the actor. Or it could be Panabaker, since they keep talking about how it could be someone close to the government. Raymond as N13 is probably just a "Red" herring.

It has to be someone we're familiar with but wouldn't expect, and Lizzie is undercover to drive them out. Katarina is still alive and Red is hiding her until Liz can flush out N13.

Edited February 20, 2021 by NeenerNeener

[mxc90]

Another week with no Liz (just her high school picture) !!!!! Sweet!!!!! If the writers keep this up, soon word will spread and the ratings might increase! Let's go for four in a row!!!!!!!!

The main and most important question Cooper should have asked the congressman: How the hell did this show get renewed for season 9?

Cooper knows the story about N-13 and the image of Red never entered his head after his discussion with the congressman???? Anything Harold?!

I see the show gave Laila Robin's stunt double face time to play Chemical Mary.

Why bother have the Freelancer freed Liz? Was he really necessary to your plot to get Chemical Mary? You could have kidnapped Mary a long time ago or arranged a simple meeting. Now Liz has to spend wasted time to bring down Mary's anger for being abducted/locked up and gain her confidence. Liz still has ways to go to be a master criminal.

I hope Mary has some leftover poison handy and politely ask Liz to hold her keys.

Red didn't seemed too worried the Freelancer was supposed to be out trying to get him. He and Dembe were strolling to different places care free. A bomb at the apartment building or the cleaning place and no one would have noticed. Liz may have missed some great opportunities to get rid of him.

I am not sure which is worse for Cooper: him still in denial about Liz or he doesn't immediately wash glasses after someone took a drink in his office (edit: glass was on his desk for hours until he realized he can get fingerprints).

Now we have Rakitin the McGuffin!!!??

Now Liz has assembled a team of thugs? Esi wasn't enough for her?

Park is already on Red's payroll. Did he really have to rub it in and have her swear allegiance? Park did a really god job getting all that blood off of her before Red arrived. But the fool couldn't destroy the phone before he got there? She told Red it has pictures of her and Red tells her don't touch it, he'll take care of it (with a devilish , I gotcha grin). Shame on me for thinking Park was smart.

According to Cooper: now Liz "has passed the point of no return" by attempting to have planes go down. I guess Liz sending a bomb to blow up a hospital didn't bother Cooper or she embarrassing herself by sleeping with Ressler didn't ruffle his feathers!

Has Aram forgotten he works for the FBI? Why is he automatically recommending Red can find the arsonist to Park?

Aram should have taken all the credit for the flashdrive. Cooper would never have known it was is NSA friend. 

That's considered "Isolation" in the Turkish jail? That cell looked pretty nice/comfy. No wonder he turned down the proposal.

The Freelancer didn't get the memo to stop calling her "Agent Keen"?!!!?

I see Red doesn't pay Dembe well enough for him to laugh at most of his jokes. That "masturbation" joke didn't impress him on bit. 

Nice to see the show put big CGI money in the airplane scene.

Ressler and Park are the worst agents. They just let passengers walk by them and not go in the plane themselves to inspect. They just took the word of the pilot (who could have been in on the scam). Maybe the shooting and the jet lags from travelling US/Turkey and US/Paris in 30 minutes made them lazy.

Mary is good at chemicals but she can't pick good personal assistants. That woman crumbled quickly and started shooting. They had nothing on her!

At least the show made the two French cops more oblivious than Ressler and Park. Plus the French airport security has footage of a woman being abducted and they and the people walking pass this did nothing. Not a good day for France on the Blacklist.

French lady cop spoke English well.

Did Aram really have to ask "what's happening? Are the passengers dying?" 

Kim Jong-nam??!!!! LOL

There were some relieved Albanian henchmen glad the boss didn't pick any one of them to go to the trunk. Mary took a stupid risk, what if the boss volunteered to go to the trunk (he would have died and her pay day would be gone).

Who told the Russian: Cooper has the flash drive? Is there a leak in the Post Office? Maybe the guy who passes out explosives has a side job being a mole. 

My Closed Caption seems to not be working correctly......... Mary said "boar" but it should have been spelled "bore".

Edited February 20, 2021 by mxc90

[KaveDweller]

1 hour ago, NeenerNeener said:

Hmmm...what if Harold Cooper is N13? He turned out to be the bad guy on Dollhouse, so it's just typecasting for the actor. Or it could be Panabaker, since they keep talking about how it could be someone close to the government. Raymond as N13 is probably just a "Red" herring.

It has to be someone we're familiar with but wouldn't expect, and Lizzie is undercover to drive them out. Katarina is still alive and Red is hiding her until Liz can flush out N13.

That would actually be a really good twist. And it would be a way to let Liz stay on the show if they want to do that.

I am actually starting to wonder if the reason they aren't showing Liz do all these terrible things is because she's not actually doing them, or there is more to the story. Otherwise, it is just weird that they keep not showing her when her actions are driving the plot. 

And were they showing Harold accessing the drive at the end? I couldn't really tell.

[edhopper]

So Liz put two planes in jeopardy because she knew they would stop the crash seconds before it happened?

And she needs a convoluted scheme to get a woman who will work for anyone to work with her?

Can we please end this season.

 

[paigow]

1 hour ago, KaveDweller said:

And were they showing Harold accessing the drive at the end? I couldn't really tell.

Yes. The biometric lock was opened. Now he has to Google Translate everything...or call Colonel Angus

[dwmarch]

Kind of funny that Russian spies put their own equivalent of an FBI warning on their secret flash drive.

This episode was 99.7% Lizzie free! The FBI still spends too much time chasing their own tails but at least we don't have Lizzie's whining as the soundtrack to it.

Chemical Mary is not big on safety, poisoning her own keys and all. Yes she has leather gloves on. But leather, being a skin, is porous. And she showed off her deadly toxin by pouring it on a pig, the skin of which is basically untreated leather. Maybe she has special gloves that are lined or something but she's still being awfully careless with her proximity to deadly toxins.

She also has a fake face prosthetic that includes an eye that blinks and moves in coordination with her good eye.

Aram is back to being the butt monkey of the team. Sorry Aram, no baguettes for you!

So Lizzie's plan was to bring down a Blacklister who was already in jail? Yeah, sounds like something she would do.

[milkyaqua]

Couldn't Liz have just paid Chemical Mary?  Of course that would have been to simple and obvious for this show.

And yes, Harold doesn't believe in cleaning dishes if he can lift Red's print off of a dirty glass...

Now we have N13 and whatever other herrings this show wants to pull out of its butt.  Ugh.  I can't believe this show got renewed for another season.  Although, heck if they keep up the no Liz thing going forward it might not be so bad.

[paigow]

Guess who gets a spot on the Blacklist??? The insidious hacker Rakuten that wants to reward your online shopping for classified data....

One of the fake passports should have been for Christine Pike

Edited February 20, 2021 by paigow

[Dowel Jones]

Cooper:  "You're saying Keen is working with a mass murderer and a war criminal?" Me:  "No, she left the FBI two episodes ago.  She's on her own, now."

Why didn't the other plane have a Collision Avoidance System warning?

Did anyone else see the Paris assistant coming up with a gun and causing a shootout?  Everybody?  Alrighty, then.

I wonder how Aram was able to hear passengers cheering on a plane since the noise would have to go from the cabin to the cockpit, through the crew's radio to the Paris tower, somehow out of his headphones, and then over the phone link from Paris to DC.

[Suzysite]

Say what you will about Lizzie (or Megan's acting) but I find the episodes without her to be incredibly boring.    I began watching many years ago primarily for the interaction between her and Raymond, and between her and Tom.   After Tom was gone it lost a little spark, but without her it's just another dull crime show. 

[tljgator]

12 hours ago, NeenerNeener said:

Hmmm...what if Harold Cooper is N13?

That was my thought while watching -- he had some "interesting" facial expressions there and he didn't seem especially baffled when the Russian text appeared on his screen after opening the super-special-classified-thumb drive; also, he's known Red since back in the day, right? (That comes up as needed on occasion, if I'm remembering correctly.)

7 hours ago, paigow said:

The insidious hacker Rakuten that wants to reward your online shopping for classified data....

Heh -- I kept thinking, if they just pronounce it correctly, they can claim their cash...c'mon, dumb-asses, try again!

I'm kinda hopeful that we just keep the idea of Lizzie, without actual Lizzie -- so.much.better.

[Neiman]

An interesting moment was when Red said he wasn’t Lizzie’s father and Denver didn’t seem surprised at all. What is his connection to her? An uncle? Is she N13? She had the fulcrum and didn’t even know it. Maybe she has other intel hidden somewhere for safe keeping.  I’m convinced she’s got a microchip installed under her skin that contains all sorts of data on it from when she was younger. Can’t think of any other reason for Red to constantly keep tabs on her if he’s not her father. (Obviously, not embracing the theory that’s been mentioned here about Red being the mother 🤣).

When the assistant went for the phone, I knew no good would come of that. At the very least, she might have called with a signal to let Mary know they are on to her. That assistant must have had a great salary and benefits to put herself on the line like that.

Seems like Harold would’ve had Red’s fingerprints stored somewhere without having to lift them from the glass, and shame on Aram for not thinking of trying it out with Red’s fingerprints. That guy can be so smart yet so not very smart.

[Neiman]

Loved not seeing Lizzie again this week. ❤️

[saber5055]

I spent last night watching a Hawaii Five-O rerun, and turned over to BL during commercials, so I saw a wee bit ... but then kept turning back to watch the commercials on ION, just a few minutes of this show was too much for me.

I do love the recaps of @mxc90, which have me LOL, and I have to say, I started laughing when I saw the pic @paigow posted, even before I read his post. I might actually have to go back and watch this episode now so as to fully appreciate all the posts here. You guys really crack me up and make my Saturday mornings fun.

[edhopper]

So Chem Mary shows the poison's effectiveness by killing a henchman. Now said henchman could have been the boss' brother or son or cousin. But apparently TV criminals all get their henchman from Dr. Chaos' clone vats.

 

I guarantee this, when they get around to reveal the real relationship between Red and Liz, it will contradict at least a dozen plot points from the last 8 years.

[Dowel Jones]

So, does she have a serial murderer cousin named Bloody Mary?

[paigow]

10 minutes ago, Dowel Jones said:

So, does she have a serial murderer cousin named Bloody Mary?

And the super arrogant Proud Mary...

[ottoDbusdriver]

Hold on -- is Paris air traffic control so incompetent that their radars didn't indicate that 2 planes were about to collide head on ?  Seriously ?  And the thumb drive controlled the radars on the other plane and apparently controlled Paris air traffic control -- because when the thumb drive was removed all of a sudden everything started working right.  That is some Class A bullshit right there Blacklist writers.

This was such a snoozefest - Lizzie is just not capable of complex plans like this because she's just not that bright, and any interest I had in N-13 has already waned.  Wouldn't they already have Reddington's fingerprints when he was processed in the series premiere -- so why would Cooper need Reddington's glass ??

But it was great having yet another Lizzie-free episode.

Reddington confirms to Dembe that his is not Lizzie's father -- further confirming my theory that Reddington is, in fact, Lizzie's mother.

Park/Ressler traveled DC to Turkey to DC to Paris to DC.  At least Ressler mentioned jet lag.  We haven't seen that much world travel since Reddington traveled from the US to Australia and back -- TWICE in once episode.

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

Edited February 21, 2021 by ottoDbusdriver

[paigow]

58 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

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

You mean Test Subjects  X257 -> X260.... 

[Utpe]

Oh, that poor piggy!

I'm enjoying these Liz-less episodes, but know it won't last long.  I can feel the disappointment right around the corner when she inevitably returns.

[paigow]

2 hours ago, Utpe said:

I can feel the disappointment right around the corner when she inevitably returns.

[misstwpherecool]

I'm wondering if Red's lawyer friend who he tortured is out for revenge on him and Lizzie by framing her and taking Red out at the sametime. 

[Such A Flirt]

4 hours ago, Utpe said:

Oh, that poor piggy!

I know it wasn't real, but I had to look away. And then I had bad "Homeland" flashbacks with the henchman.

There were way too many elements in Lizzie's "plan" for it to work as perfectly as it did, so it was beyond ridiculous.

Did Megan Boone quit and they just don't know what to do, so they're not announcing it yet? It's so weird.

[ottoDbusdriver]

16 hours ago, Such A Flirt said:

Did Megan Boone quit and they just don't know what to do, so they're not announcing it yet? It's so weird.

Maybe Megan Boone quit and nobody noticed.  Or cared.

[mxc90]

On 2/20/2021 at 12:30 AM, paigow said:

Now he has to Google Translate everything...or call Colonel Angus

Yes. Harold Cooper...please use google. You may call but I never want to see you perform it.

Did Liz kidnapped the right person? Seems Mary is good at transmitting the poison but the guy that perfected it could be the true genius and the FBI arrested him.

1 hour ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Maybe Megan Boone quit and nobody noticed.  Or cared.

I acquired an exclusive drawn picture of Megan Boone (and some salty words for NBC Executives) after contract negotiations stalled a few weeks ago.

Edited February 22, 2021 by mxc90

[BrownBear2012]

Liz is not essential to the show and really this character is useless at this point. I hope she's gone for good.

[Brian Cronin]

1. Hire the Freelancer to crash Chemical Mary's plane.

2. Kidnap Chemical Mary and gain her trust by telling her how you just saved her from being in a fatal plane crash.

3. Give a tip so that the Freelancer is found.

4. Get the FBI to avoid the plane crashing.

Sooooooo....if Liz actively made sure that the plane wouldn't crash, then what did Liz save Chemical Mary from? Why would Chemical Mary be in her debt? It doesn't make ANY sense.

[preeya]

4 hours ago, Brian Cronin said:

Sooooooo....if Liz actively made sure that the plane wouldn't crash, then what did Liz save Chemical Mary from? Why would Chemical Mary be in her debt? It doesn't make ANY sense.

Where Liz is involved; has it ever made sense??

Edited February 22, 2021 by preeya

[Brian Cronin]

And this, of course, is on top of the general "Chemical Mary is a freelancer who will work for whoever pays her, so why did you need to come up with an elaborate scheme to get her to work for you?"

The worst, though, is a standard Blacklist problem, which is that they continue to TELL us how great Liz is, without ever actually showing it, by having Dembe tell Red that Liz's absurd and pointless plan reminds him of one of Red's (almost always awesome and successful) plans and Red clearly doesn't disagree, despite it plainly being untrue. 

Perhaps one day they'll just put the effort in to actually make Liz do something cool rather than not having her do anything cool and everyone just SAY she did something cool. Perhaps...

[KaveDweller]

14 hours ago, Brian Cronin said:

1. Hire the Freelancer to crash Chemical Mary's plane.

2. Kidnap Chemical Mary and gain her trust by telling her how you just saved her from being in a fatal plane crash.

3. Give a tip so that the Freelancer is found.

4. Get the FBI to avoid the plane crashing.

Sooooooo....if Liz actively made sure that the plane wouldn't crash, then what did Liz save Chemical Mary from? Why would Chemical Mary be in her debt? It doesn't make ANY sense.

Also, she is currently holding Chemical Mary is a locked basement or something, right? Chemical Mary sure seemed pissed and not in her debt.

It seems like she could have just offered the women money to do whatever she is going to use her for.

But I still think they are doing all this as a fake out, because it is just too stupid otherwise. And why not show Liz putting her big bad plan in action if she is really pulling off some master plan?

[paigow]

10 minutes ago, KaveDweller said:

Also, she is currently holding Chemical Mary is a locked basement or something, right?

Double down on Ethan Hunt gaslighting... Liz will send another group of actors to break her out by "killing" the guards... Mary will then run to N-13 for help... 

[Ceindreadh]

On 2/20/2021 at 11:00 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

Hold on -- is Paris air traffic control so incompetent that their radars didn't indicate that 2 planes were about to collide head on ?  Seriously ?  And the thumb drive controlled the radars on the other plane and apparently controlled Paris air traffic control -- because when the thumb drive was removed all of a sudden everything started working right.  That is some Class A bullshit right there Blacklist writers.

 

I'm guessing that the thumbdrive was affecting the one planes transponder and showing it in a different position than it actually was. 

The air traffic control would see it in a safe position, the TCAS on the other planes would see it a safe position, and the affected plane's instruments would see it as being safe.  And then once the thumbdrive was removed, the transponder would start giving the correct location and air traffic control would be able to see the danger. 

(why yes, I do watch a lot of episodes of Mayday, why do you ask?)