S02.E03: Dr. James Covington

[Tara Ariano]

The team tries to track down a sinister doctor and uncover his black-market operation. Meanwhile, Red tries to take advantage of a new opportunity in Indonesia, leaving him in a vulnerable position.

[Danielg342]

Meanwhile, Red tries to take advantage of a new opportunity in Indonesia, leaving him in a vulnerable position.

 

Ha! The way this show is going, I'll believe Red is vulnerable when I see it.

[paigow]

Red still has 1 Hellfire missile left = Not Vulnerable.

[AimingforYoko]

This show is at its best when it reminds you of a very simple fact: Raymond Reddington is not the good guy.

[milner]

Conveniently there was no mention of where the "good" organs were coming from---those going to the children and to the renters in the first instance.  Keane's feeling that they were saving children's lives and losing a bad guy was a fair trade off didn't address the fact that someone died initially to provide the heart, lungs or whatever.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Why is Lizzie living in such a shitty motel, and making no efforts to be covert ?  I thought that was the whole point that she couldn't go home.

 

And of course the charming English guy she frisks turns out to be the guy that's stalking her -- for being a board-certified psychologist, she is so bad at reading people.

 

I was kind of bored by this episode and instead just listened for when the Red bits were on and then watched.

[paigow]

Why is Lizzie living in such a shitty motel, and making no efforts to be covert ?  I thought that was the whole point that she couldn't go home.

 

 

Red has all the fancy hotel rooms booked as decoys / plan b sites / housing for the "Red Army" of pilots and killers.

[HappyDancex2]

Are the guys that good looking hanging around fleabag motels?

Wiggy sucks.

The whole Red double doublecross was ridiculously telegraphed. The only thing I thought that didn't happen was that I thought Red put the gun on the table to bait that guy, who i thought was going to lunge for it and find it empty.

What? No gratuitous pill shots for Ressler?

Pee Wee Herman looks good in dickies. Snicker.

[paigow]

Conveniently there was no mention of where the "good" organs were coming from---those going to the children and to the renters in the first instance.  Keane's feeling that they were saving children's lives and losing a bad guy was a fair trade off didn't address the fact that someone died initially to provide the heart, lungs or whatever.

It seemed that Covington harvested opportunistically, relying on coroners to retrieve organs from random murder victims.

[thuganomics85]

So, last season, Red has a henchman played by Charles Baker a.k.a. Skinny Pete from Breaking Bad.  Now, he apparently has a henchman played by Paul Reubens a.k.a. Pee Wee Herman?!  There sure is some creative casting going on in that department!

 

It would be an understatement to say that this was one of the most unmemorable Blacklisters ever.  He was barely on the screen, it felt like.  The whole thing felt like just a throwaway.

 

It was way too obvious that Red was double-crossing his partner's attempt at a double-cross.  At this point, Red is untouchable. Don't even pretend, show.

 

Since they went out of the way to get the actor playing Tom to show up in a dream, I'm now 99% sure Tom is alive, and will be back.  I'm guessing mid-season finale or so.  Assuming Lizzie doesn't get herself killed, since she apparently has attracted some mysterious sniper dude.

 

Probably not a good episode, when it my favorite moment was Aram's attempts to flirt with Red's Mossad agent. Although, I would certainly root for that over any of Lizzie's potential relationships.

Edited October 7, 2014 by thuganomics85

[buttersister]

I'm too cheap to have a DVR and Comcast is too evil to enable the FF feature On Demand. Maybe I should start checking my Twitter feed on the smart TV--because having to sit through the scenes that don't involve Spader is getting too painful.

 

I'm rooting for the cutie-assassin, but then, I was on Tom's side, too.

Edited October 7, 2014 by buttersister

[Artsda]

Pee Wee Herman? Wasn't expecting to see him, was distracted by the fact it was him in all his scenes.

[Julia]

Was I the only one who thought they were trying for creepily shippy with that little scene of Red at Lizzie's bedside asking what she really wants? Because it made me want to scrub my frontal lobes with Brill-O™, just in case.

 

Also, they stole the plot about the transplant surgeon making patients pay maintenance fees for illegal hearts from Almost Human, down to the opening with a desperate businessman trying to flee.

[RealityGal]

Conveniently there was no mention of where the "good" organs were coming from---those going to the children and to the renters in the first instance.  Keane's feeling that they were saving children's lives and losing a bad guy was a fair trade off didn't address the fact that someone died initially to provide the heart, lungs or whatever.

I thought the good organs came from the ME when someone would die, but the death was such that the organs could still be harvested and used.

Probably not a good episode, when it my favorite moment was Aram's attempts to flirt with Red's Mossad agent. Although, I would certainly root for that over any of Lizzie's potential relationships.

 

I thought that was adorable.  I like them together.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

BTW - am I the only one amused that the psychologist has problems with Lizzie going back to work?  That wiped the look of smug superiority right off her snotty little face.

Edited October 7, 2014 by RealityGal

[ottoDbusdriver]

Also, they stole the plot about the transplant surgeon making patients pay maintenance fees for illegal hearts from Almost Human, down to the opening with a desperate businessman trying to flee.

 

That was the other reason I was bored with this episode, since I had seen it before -- and very recently to boot.

[shura]

Was I the only one who thought they were trying for creepily shippy with that little scene of Red at Lizzie's bedside asking what she really wants? Because it made me want to scrub my frontal lobes with Brill-O™, just in case.

 

Also, they stole the plot about the transplant surgeon making patients pay maintenance fees for illegal hearts from Almost Human, down to the opening with a desperate businessman trying to flee.

 

My mind went there, too, with Lizzie's dream about Red. If that was intentional on the writers' part, that is, if that is where Lizzie's subconscious is, then I say we have finally got some complexity right there. Not sure I want to watch that though.

 

I liked that Aram asked the obvious question whether it is, in fact, possible to reuse a transplant after "repossessing" it. I had a little problem with the answer that it's not the point and that the doctor just wanted to instill fear into those still paying the fee. There is no reason to be gruesome like that to instill fear, simply killing the guy could suffice, I would think. Besides, since this "business model" only makes sense if his other patients know about it, what is there to prevent these criminals from simply getting rid of the doctor after they got their hearts and lungs? Lizzie and Ressler found him and barged in easily enough. I didn't see Almost Human, was this handled with more sense there?

 

Pee Wee Herman was really unsettling and weird.

[Guest Accused Dingo]

I don't take this ahow the least bit seriously which is why i love it so. PeeWee Herman made me giggle. I actually liked this weeks organ harvesting storyline and the "for rent" idea. Plus the idea that Lizzie ideals are darkening.

Edited October 8, 2014 by Accused Dingo

[pcta]

 

Also, they stole the plot about the transplant surgeon making patients pay maintenance fees for illegal hearts from Almost Human, down to the opening with a desperate businessman trying to flee.

I know - that was unsettling. (Loved AH). But it worked well.

Loved Pee Wee Herman's character. Love Mr Kaplan

Perhaps toward the middle of the season, I may be the new and harder assed Lizzie. But, not yet.

Love me James Spader (since sex, lies and video tapes)

[Julia]

Mr. Kaplan dating some guy's sister was the best thing pretty much ever. Yet another secondary character with next to no screen time who's more interesting than Lizzie is.
 

My mind went there, too, with Lizzie's dream about Red. If that was intentional on the writers' part, that is, if that is where Lizzie's subconscious is, then I say we have finally got some complexity right there. Not sure I want to watch that though.

Oh, do not want. Do not want so much. That character is like a slightly animatronic real doll. I don't think I can bring myself to watch her trying to play an emotionally incestuous crush.
 

I didn't see Almost Human, was this handled with more sense there?

 
They avoided the issue by making them mechanical hearts.

[ottoDbusdriver]

They avoided the issue by making them mechanical hearts.

 

If I remember correctly, the mechanical hearts were fitted with an expiration time -- if you didn't pay up, the timer expired and people simply dropped dead

[Primetimer]

Liz is starting to get the hang of this shades-of-grey thing, except not.

Read the story

[desertflower]

Poor Dr. Covington didn't get a catchy nickname like most of the blacklisters. How about The Harvester?

Seeing Tom in the dream made me realize I miss him. I found his character and his relationship with Liz to be the most intriguing thing on the show, after Red of course.

[paigow]

Covington aka The Organist

[kaygeeret]

Terrific recap - thank you!

[Brattinella]

Did you notice Tony Soprano's father?

[Lorimac]

OK, "Blacklist" writers - you finally did it. This last episode ended my romance with this show. It just went from a "Cannot Miss" to a "Ehhh...if I'm home and only some NCIS show is on, I'll watch you."

[leisawoo]

The scenes with PeeWee were like some weird adult version of "PeeWee's Playhouse". I kept waiting for Jambi to pop up over someone's shoulder. PW's expressions were just campy, like a big, weird kid playing at being a bad guy. That said, I was glad for the comic distraction!

[Jack Kerouac]

I liked Red's reaction to PeeWee Herman most of all. "Get him a chair before he faints!" Also the way Red stands in front of the guy he just killed so PeeWee doesn't have to see the blood - funny stuff.

 

Hated Liz yet again. She is simultaneously the stupidest AND most arrogant character around. Not only does she exhibit a sense of undeserved smug superiority, she is stupid enough to miss TWO guys who have come into her life who are not what they seem.

 

Even Reese called her on her stupidity this episode.

[Irishmaple]

That dream sequence at the beginning was probably the stupidest thing I've ever seen on this show.  Liz should never sleep again if this is what her subconscious chucks up at night.  I knew the guy at the motel was more than just a guy at the motel because of his non-reaction when Liz jumped him.  An armed woman, wide-eyed with paranoia, goes through his bag and he doesn't call 911?  Only because he has more to hide than she does. 

 

The Reddington parts were the best parts of the episode as usual and Aram is adorable when he's flustered.

[2KllMckngBrd]

Aram has a crush on new girl, huh? He really was serving up adorable nerd this ep. And Lizzie already hates new girl. Maybe Moussad lady should just take Lizzie's old wig out for that drink. Good times.

 

So here's my issue. There was a show last season where there was a little boy whose Dad was the "blacklist-er" of the week. The guy was some sort of Dr or scientist, who was doing all his "black-listey" bad shit to save his sons life. At the end Lizzie caught him trying to inject his son w/the lifesaving whatever. And she had the choice to kill him or let him save his kid. If I'm remembering all this correctly, and lord knows I might not be, she killed his ass. So why did she let the Dr go ahead this time? And if she learned something from last time, was I supposed to assume that? Couldn't that have been explained/discussed? Or am I linking two opposite things together? And all that goes to Ressler's very point?

 

Or hell, it could just be me. I want this show to be more than a Spader procedural, but they gotta give me something to work w/.

 

 

Pee Wee Herman? Wasn't expecting to see him, was distracted by the fact it was him in all his scenes.

I'm always happy for a Pee Wee sighting (that sounded way less creepy in my head-sorry). The problem is I always, like most posters, just see Pee Wee. Other than the movie Blow, I have never been able to see him as anything but himself. I think that if the Blacklist wants to use him as more than stunt-casting, it has to be every week, for me to eventually forget "ooh, there's Pee Wee".

[Julia]

Covington aka The Organist

You win the internet.

I really liked PeeWee in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (the movie) as the minion of evil with the half hour death scene.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Julia

[willow2tree]

Yes, Lizzie is at once the most stupid and most arrogant person around.  Please kill her.  Please.  So, Ressler is magically over his pill addiction?  Okayyyyy....

 

Yes, I knew Red was going to come out on top of the attempted coup.  But watching him do it with such panache and style is so very highly entertaining.  I so want Red for my new bestie, until I remember that, yeah, stone cold killer.

 

So, taking bets now on who Lizzie has behind the locked door.  My guess is not/hubby Tom...

Edited October 7, 2014 by willow2tree

[Dowel Jones]

 

And Lizzie already hates new girl.

I rather liked that exchange:

"You're right about that"

"But you're wrong about this"

"You're wrong about me being right but you're right about the wrong thing"

 

Or something like that. 

 

That had to be the world's slowest motorcycle for Keen and Ressler to catch up on foot.  I'll never understand the trope of the guy fleeing looking back to see if the pursuers are still in pursuit.  This time it cost him. 

 

The machinations of Reddington and Co. are starting to get to me.  One of the things that drove me away from Revenge was the impossibly complicated series of events that would occur, and at the end Amanda would nod and say "That's exactly how I planned it".  Same here.

[Danielg342]

I was right about Red not being vulnerable, although I thought the takedown was done pretty well. I suppose if this was a first season episode I would have enjoyed it more, but the whole "Red is always one step ahead of the game" is getting tiring. We get it, Red's a smart dude, but he ain't invincible. It's times like these where I miss Anslo Garrick, since he was the only one who really threatened Red in any shape or form- this Berlin guy just seems content with posturing.

 

So Elizabeth Keen from last year wouldn't have traded another adult's life for the kid's life? Thanks for telling me, Agent Ressler, because I sure didn't see that. Besides, with all the shady criminal proceedings you seem to put up with allowing Red to solve the cases for you, I'm not sure you're a fine one to talk about ethics. Case in point- Mr. Kaplan inspecting the dead body just so they have "proof" to get Dr. James Covington's organ harvester...it's illegally obtained evidence and no one so much as bats an eye?

 

Surprise, surprise, random dude Keen frisks at the motel isn't so random after all. I was disappointed about that...I just wanted the guy to be a random, since it's getting so predictable that all these guys are "not as they seem". The only redemption I would have in this case is hoping this guy is actually on Red's side, because then it would be too predictable that the Seemingly Random Dude is working for Berlin.

 

Overall, though, I did actually enjoy the episode- if I look at this as some "comic book" madcap adventure about Red and wave away the implausibilities, it's quite fun. The only thing I wished about this episode, in the grand scheme of things, was that Covington actually played a bigger part in the plot, like the account manager did in "Monarch Douglas Bank". I'm with others who lamented it was a throwaway, especially considering it could have been an interesting storyline.

 

ETA- Read the Previously.TV recap...love the idea of Red and Vargas...I think I'd tune in. Although I tend to think "Red and Aram" would work well too.

Edited October 8, 2014 by Danielg342

[Julia]

So Elizabeth Keen from last year wouldn't have traded another adult's life for the kid's life? Thanks for telling me, Agent Ressler, because I sure didn't see that.

I didn't see her do that here either. Whosever lungs they were is already dead, and apparently they were pulled from that person's dead body by the ME. She didn't trade lives. There was only one life on the table. His argument was that the Doctor's illegal organ transplants to bad people made the kids' transplants the guy funded the fruit of a poisoned tree, and he's not wrong about that.

What I think he was wrong about is thinking that the moral choice would be to stop the operation and let the lungs, and the kid, die. If the kid was one of the bad guys who was going to get to kill again, and who knew what the Doctor was doing to get funds, sure. There's no reason to believe a man as secretive as the doctor would have told the family, though, which means at most they were guilty of unknowingly benefiting from the desecration of a body.

What does that deter? Are the bad guys going to clutch their chests and go down? The man's going to prison. There aren't going to be more surgeries. All there is is a live kid or rotting lungs and a dead kid.

All the same, if Ressler truly believed that, it's a shame there wasn't an armed FBI agent with a working cell phone in the room.

None of which gets Lizzie off the hook for allowing organs harvested from a dead man against protocol be transplanted into a child, also against protocol, knowing that the doctor lost his license for performing the same experimental operation on a child, because the doctor said it would be OK. Well, sure. Because he's not just a serial killer and the enabler of serial killers, he's a dedicated doctor who cares and not at all insane.

All of which gets her charged up enough to flirt with some guy who inexplicably let her rough him up. Never change, Lizzie. He looks like exactly your flavor of second husband material.

Edited October 8, 2014 by Julia

[Danielg342]

I didn't see her do that here either. Whosever lungs they were is already dead, and apparently they were pulled from that person's dead body by the ME. She didn't trade lives. There was only one life on the table. His argument was that the Doctor's illegal organ transplants to bad people made the kids' transplants the guy funded the fruit of a poisoned tree, and he's not wrong about that.

 

Well, in a sense, by allowing the operation to go through Lizzie is essentially saying that Covington was right to kill the donor just so the kid could live. It's not like the donor willingly gave the kid his lungs, thus the dilemma- if you go through with the operation, you're essentially saying that the donor's intentions don't matter.

 

That's a nitpick though- my greater point was that Ressler seems to think that last year, Lizzie wouldn't have sacrificed the rule of law "just to do the right thing" when last night she did just that, when I seem to recall last year that Lizzie channeled her "inner criminal" more than a few times. There was the torture scene with Tom, the time she had to steal someone's credentials to get into an embassy (a job that Ressler was in on) and then right there in the pilot, Lizzie stabbing Red's neck with a pen just to get him to talk. So I have a hard time believing that Lizzie has become "depraved" as Ressler seems to think. Of course, it could be an indicator that Ressler isn't all well but I still don't think the observation is apt.

[Julia]

Well, in a sense, by allowing the operation to go through Lizzie is essentially saying that Covington was right to kill the donor just so the kid could live. It's not like the donor willingly gave the kid his lungs, thus the dilemma- if you go through with the operation, you're essentially saying that the donor's intentions don't matter.

I don't think Covington did kill the donor. The donor, as far as I know, was the dead guy whose lungs the ME harvested when he was asked to do the autopsy. Mr. Kaplan found that his lungs were missing.

I think Lizzie is always exactly as ethical or unethical as the plot requires (like her martial arts skills and her IQ), so I'm not sure what her behavior would be inconsistent with.

Edited October 8, 2014 by Julia

[RealityGal]

Honestly - the premise of this episode seemed odd to me.  Not for nothing, but this seemed like a needlessly complex operation.  For one, who would agree to pay $500k a year for an organ?  It would make more sense to pay a million, two million or whatever, outright for the organ, why "rent" them if they can't be reused?  It just doesn't make sense, "renting" organs means that you have to incur the extra expense/exposure of potentially having to get them back.  and then what are you going to do with it once you get it back.  It's like renting someone running shoes for $20 per month, what in the world are you going to do with those shoes when I return them in 6 months, resell them?  After I've run down the tread on the shoe?

 

And never mind the strange business model, but thats a million dollars every 2 years.  I know that other countries have very relaxed organ donor laws, so why not take your $2 million dollars there and buy yourself an organ?  I mean, especially if you're a bad guy with no morals.  You think there aren't other doctors in other countries that can do transplants?

[Bort]

Mr. Kaplan inspecting the dead body just so they have "proof" to get Dr. James Covington's organ harvester...it's illegally obtained evidence and no one so much as bats an eye?

They just wanted to make the M.E. squirm and get what they wanted out of him, not use it as evidence.

[Eolivet]

I remember an article last year that talked about rumors that James Spader couldn't stand working with Megan Boone (or it was blind gossip implying as much). I thought of those with this episode, as they seem to be trumping up a non-Lizzy related storyline for Red in every episode this year. Last season, they were working together more and this season, they seem to go off, do their thing separately and then reconvene at the end. Lots more phone calls, less in-person visits. It's like the show is now two separate shows: "Red Does Shady Stuff" and the Lizzy (and Ressler?)-based crime procedural.

 

I understood it when Spader's filming schedule meant he had to have his own scenes, but it's a weaker show by isolating Spader in his own Spader-plot (as it generally means 35% Spader and 65% FBI plot of the week). Hoping these last few are just an anomaly. I think the show is much more interesting when Red is more involved in the week's cases.

[RealityGal]

I remember an article last year that talked about rumors that James Spader couldn't stand working with Megan Boone (or it was blind gossip implying as much). I thought of those with this episode, as they seem to be trumping up a non-Lizzy related storyline for Red in every episode this year. Last season, they were working together more and this season, they seem to go off, do their thing separately and then reconvene at the end. Lots more phone calls, less in-person visits. It's like the show is now two separate shows: "Red Does Shady Stuff" and the Lizzy (and Ressler?)-based crime procedural.

 

I understood it when Spader's filming schedule meant he had to have his own scenes, but it's a weaker show by isolating Spader in his own Spader-plot (as it generally means 35% Spader and 65% FBI plot of the week). Hoping these last few are just an anomaly. I think the show is much more interesting when Red is more involved in the week's cases.

35% Spader and 65% FBI plot of the weak. Heh.

 

Did the article say why he hates working with her?  I just wonder if its personal or he just thinks she is a terrible actress.

[Julia]

The article I think you're talking about is this one, but if you look at what they know and what they're spinning out of nothing, the only actual fact in it is that the Enquirer published an article about it.

 

What is interesting is that Megan Boone has given a lot of interviews about how awesome Spader is to her and how well they get along and how he respects her work and seeks her out, but they don't appear to do interviews together, and the only quote I could find where he talked about working with her was "Megan is incredibly eager and game, and with very little experience — and very open about that," he says. "Our relationship is a function of the relationship of the characters in the show. So it works pretty well for both of us."

 

Unless we're watching completely different shows, that reads to me like "Megan is a little bit dim and I have to carry her."

[RealityGal]

The article I think you're talking about is this one, but if you look at what they know and what they're spinning out of nothing, the only actual fact in it is that the Enquirer published an article about it.

 

What is interesting is that Megan Boone has given a lot of interviews about how awesome Spader is to her and how well they get along and how he respects her work and seeks her out, but they don't appear to do interviews together, and the only quote I could find where he talked about working with her was "Megan is incredibly eager and game, and with very little experience — and very open about that," he says. "Our relationship is a function of the relationship of the characters in the show. So it works pretty well for both of us."

 

Unless we're watching completely different shows, that reads to me like "Megan is a little bit dim and I have to carry her."

 

I wonder which portion of her wide filmography he respects? Her riveting performance as Claire in Step Up: Revolution or her tour de force as Allie in Sex and the City 2?  Or maybe it was those 7 captivating episodes of Law and Order: LA where she played the DA?

 

Maybe its all perfectly innocent, but it seems a bit presumptuous to tell a reporter, or in this case many reporters that a seasoned actor seeks you out, because he respects your work.  Especially when it seems widely acknowledged that that is the actor carrying the show.  I have seen no billboards with Megan Boone promoting Blacklist, they are all James Spader.  It would seem more reasonable to say that she seeks him out because she respects his work.  I mean, if he was really all that into those 2 episodes of Bluebloods you were in, I'm sure he would let reporters know.

 

Although I certainly agree, that his answer seemed like the kindest insult one person can give another.  

Edited October 8, 2014 by RealityGal

[Julia]

I wonder which portion of her wide filmography he respects? Her riveting performance as Claire in Step Up: Revolution or her tour de force as Allie in Sex and the City 2?  Or maybe it was those 7 captivating episodes of Law and Order: LA where she played the DA?

 

I totally watched the first fifteen minutes of Step Up: Revolution to see if she was as bad as I think she is. It's a very small role (she represents conformity as the stuffy sister of the would-be dance empresario/dancer who's trying to convince him that her sister-in-law makes $3k/week working from home or something like that), but at one point she had to take part in a conversation. It was downright creepy watching her try to decide after each line what her face would be doing if she was reacting to something.

[RealityGal]

I totally watched the first fifteen minutes of Step Up: Revolution to see if she was as bad as I think she is. It's a very small role (she represents conformity as the stuffy sister of the would-be dance empresario/dancer who's trying to convince him that her sister-in-law makes $3k/week working from home or something like that), but at one point she had to take part in a conversation. It was downright creepy watching her try to decide after each line what her face would be doing if she was reacting to something.

You should watch the last 15 minutes, I bet she comes around in the end and realizes that all you need in life are your dreams, and that they can save the community center after all, and that the precocious kid who makes the snappy comments is really a math genius AND an amazing dancer.

 

I can almost hear the internal dialouge now "I'm sad, right? mouth turn down, eyes scrunch....thats it Megan, you are really doing sad now! Oh shit, this line I'm angry?  okay mouth, time to go to frowny line! eyes to slits! yes Megan, look at you giving them angry!"

[Brattinella]

 

It was downright creepy watching her try to decide after each line what her face would be doing if she was reacting to something.

 

Thanks, julia!  Snorting now!!

 

 

"I'm sad, right? mouth turn down, eyes scrunch....thats it Megan, you are really doing sad now! Oh shit, this line I'm angry?  okay mouth, time to go to frowny line! eyes to slits! yes Megan, look at you giving them angry!"

 

FROWNY!  Hahaha! Thanks, RealityGal!

[seacliffsal]

Okay, my big question is where was the dog?  When she went back to her hotel at the end of the day, the dog should have been front and center welcoming her back.  Perhaps Berlin has dognapped the dog and that's why she wants to find him....  Free the dog!

[Dowel Jones]

The dog is currently doing voiceover work for an upcoming remake of Must Love Dogs, and will be unavailable for a few episodes.

 

All this time I thought it was Mrs. Kaplan, which always intrigued me as to how she (now he) came into Reddington's orbit.  Also the character is played by an actress.

[shura]

Although I certainly agree, that his answer seemed like the kindest insult one person can give another.

 

I'm not sure it's all that kind, actually. "Our relationship is a function of the relationship of the characters in the show. So it works pretty well for both of us" reads to me as "I only talk to her when the script makes me, and I think it's best because otherwise I would have said to her things we'd both regret."  I hope it's not what he meant, it is pretty insulting and he didn't have to say it, he could have just gone with "it's all good, we make it work." Even if she is, in fact, that irritating, and Spader is now requesting less screen time with her to minimize even the "relationship of the characters in the show." Hey, wait a minute, maybe that's what the dog is doing now, too...

[Brattinella]

I'm not unhappy with that interpretation.  If it means perhaps that her character will be killed off and replaced, I'll be even happier.