S02.E08: The Decembrist

[formerlyfreedom]

Red’s motives for Berlin take a sudden turn when he learns Berlin was manipulated by the latest Blacklister to avenge Red. Red and Berlin travel to Moscow to track down a high ranking Russian official who they believe is responsible. Meanwhile, Liz struggles to keep her secret from unraveling.

 

 

[ottoDbusdriver]

Did I fall asleep for a season or two and the Januarist, the Februarist, the Marchist, the Aprilist, the Mayist, the Junist, the Julyist, the Augustist, the Septembrist, the Octobrist, and the Novembrist already used up as Blacklister names ?

 

Berlin and Red are BFFs now in pursuit of the guy that really faked Berlin into thinking that Red Fedex his daughter back in pieces.

 

Lizzie continues to be boring. Oh noes, her secret is unraveling and Lizzie is struggling -- who cares ?  Either that or it's fishing season and the boat has to put to sea.

Edited November 8, 2014 by ottoDbusdriver

[Julia]

The Decembrists were a faction of imperial russian officers who tried to overthrow the czar in the early 1800s. No idea what that has to do with Red, although they do seem to be pointing us more and more towards the former soviet union this season.

[Danielg342]

Someone should rename this the “Raymond Reddington Show” because Red has everyone by their throat, and his grip is so hard, he'll choke everyone out of existence in a heartbeat. I mean, great that Berlin and Red have become BFF on some “eternal quest” but the way Red did it is beyond belief.

How come Berlin, with all of his contacts, never thought to see if he could find his daughter himself? How come not once Red ever thought the knowledge that Berlin's daughter was alive was of no use to tell anyone, let alone Berlin himself after Berlin had kidnapped Red's wife? Why is the FBI so willing to simply go along with whatever Red says and allow itself to be an instrument of Red's personal interests? Why doesn't anyone on this show have any goals or motivations outside of Red?

So many questions...and I don't know if I care to see them resolved. I saw Scandal for the first time last week, and I was thoroughly impressed. I'm thinking I'm going to switch to that and catch this show at some other time- if I bother to watch it, that is.

[paigow]

Red + Berlin = Murtaugh + Riggs = Maverick + Goose

[AimingforYoko]

Damn, they blowed up Alan Alda gooood!

I love how these nefarious conspiracies always have these exotic objects that everything depends on. So now we'll meet some of the others in the quest for this 'Fulcrum'.

[ottoDbusdriver]

So, Tom worked for Berlin but had a side deal with Red ?

 

Alan Alda's character went out with a bang.  and Berlin is now dead.  So who are the people that are now coming after Red ?

 

Lizzie continues to be an idiot.

 

So now we'll meet some of the others in the quest for this 'Fulcrum'.

 

So what can 'The Fulcrum' be ?  If it's technology, it's 25 years out of date.  If it's classified info, what could possibly be so important that 25 years later Fitch still held a grudge about it ?  Aliens ?  UFOs ? Who shot Kennedy ?

[Danielg342]

That actually felt like...a finale. Red kills Berlin and Fitch, Lizzie resolves the situation with Tom and then Red tells Tom to bugger off. Aside from the whole "father" thing...all the storylines were wrapped up in a neat bow.

...and it was fantastic. Really, it was.

(Aside from some strange audio problems I had at the beginning where the voices were only faint echoes...but I digress)

Perhaps where the show goes from here is some kind of redemption story for Tom...surely Tom's comment to Liz that she had the wrong answer to "did I really love you?" leaves a lot of doors open...I'm not sure I trust the writers enough here but if it's done well it could be a nice story.

Of course, what's likely is that the post-Super Bowl episode will feature an all new threat and serve as a "second" pilot...but, for the first time in a while, I can say that I'm actually looking forward to it.

Boy...Thursday will be a tough one to figure out. :P

[CatMomma]

Aw man. I wanted to watch a show with Alan Alda and James Spader. Sorta like an "Odd Couple Secret Agent" show. But, Alda got blowed up. Boo.

 

Oh, and something happened with Lizzie and I'm supposed to care.

[alias1]

So Alan Alda wanted off the show.

 

Don't share a bottle of Vodka with Red.

 

Tom working for Red was kind of an anti-climax.

 

Writers are still struggling to have the show make sense.  The Fulcrum?  Oh, how intriguing!  

 

I'm actually looking forward to State of Affairs.

[ottoDbusdriver]

That actually felt like...a finale.

 

It really did.  No cliffhanger, it just ended with Red sending Tom out of Lizzie's life forever.

 

Maybe they will kickoff Blacklist 2.0 after the Superbowl by killing off Lizzie -- would make the show a whole lot better.

 

Taking the Blacklist off the air for nearly 12 weeks never worked out for other shows before, not sure why they think this is a good idea.  It worked out so well in the past for shows like Revolution.  </snark>  I suppose they need to move it to fill the gaping void in the schedule on Thursday at 9pm since both Bad Judge and A to Z were canceled.

[thuganomics85]

Damn, they bring back Fitch/Alan Alda, kill him off, and kill off Berlin, as well?  I guess they're just cleaning house in the bad guy department, and going to bring in some fresh blood February.

 

So, Tom was working for Red all this time?  I have no idea what to think of that revelation.  Except, of course, Red figured it out and Tom would find a way to be freed.  Because it's Lizzie: she can't do anything right.  Nothing new there.

 

So, this show is going to go away for a while, because NBC wants State of Affairs to be the next Blacklist (because, they think Katherine Heigl=James Spader?  Math doesn't add up...), and it's going to, first, get the post-Super Bowl slot, but then be on Thursdays at 9 p.m., against Scandal?  That's.... a risky choice there, NBC.

[Nadine]

 

 

So, Tom was working for Red all this time?  I have no idea what to think of that revelation.  Except, of course, Red figured it out and Tom would find a way to be freed.  Because it's Lizzie: she can't do anything right.  Nothing new there.

 

Only thing I could think of is Red had a few tails on Liz (after the finale last season) and found the hideaway and Red being Red paid the guards to check out who was inside the ship. So a deal was made - of course that being said they all had to rely on the hope that Liz wouldn't kill Tom in the meantime.

 

Curious to see where they go with the second half of the season.

[Chas411]

It really did. No cliffhanger, it just ended with Red sending Tom out of Lizzie's life forever.

Is Eggold still a series regular? If so I'm assuming he'll be back. I hope so. I find the back and forth between him and Liz a hundred times more interesting then any of the Liz/Ressler anvils they're dropping.

[torqy]

The Fulcrum=The Maltese falcon=the stuff dreams are made of.

 

Who stayed behind and fed Berlin into the wood chipper?

[NorCalNut]

 

Is Eggold still a series regular? If so I'm assuming he'll be back. I hope so. I find the back and forth between him and Liz a hundred times more interesting then any of the Liz/Ressler anvils they're dropping.

 

Glad you're speaking for yourself as those anvils are hot, hot, hot and Liz/Ressler would be made of awesome.  They spark as they get closer and closer.  

[buttersister]

So Redd had Tom look after Lizzie? Ew. Redd could blow away Berlin, no problem? Ok, what took you so long? Alan Alda could have been a Spinal Tap drummer? Too bad. Lizzie sucks. No question there.

[ottoDbusdriver]

The Fulcrum=The Maltese falcon=the stuff dreams are made of.

 

They had to call it 'The Fulcrum' -- 'The Diviner' was already taken. </snark>

 

How come Lizzie wasn'y bitching out Ressler about his drug problem ?  That seems to have been completely forgotten, and will probably never be mentioned again in the back half of the season.

[Julia]

I thought all along Red knew about Tom and played possum because a chained-up man with peritonitis slipping into hypothermia is pretty much the level of opponent she can safely handle, as long as she has a large man with a gun standing behind her. It kept her out of trouble. If he thought she had a chance of getting any information out of Tom this would have been over weeks ago.

What startles me a little is that the righteous agent Ressler is OK with discovering that his partner is a psycho.

Katherine Heigl=James Spader?

Katherine Heigl is to Megan Boone as Alfre Woodard is to James Spader, JMO, but I don't see the math either.

[Nadine]

Katherine Heigl is to Megan Boone as Alfre Woodard is to James Spader, JMO, but I don't see the math either.

 

Or Katherine Heigl is to Claire Danes as Alfre is to Mandy Patinkin.

[morgankobi]

I hope they don't try to imply Tom has been with/under Red the whole time. It sure would make that scene outside the hospital odd.

[FireFoxy]

Red continues to prove he is the one in charge. 

 

Ressler continues to be pretty.

 

Lizzie continues to be useless. 

 

Katherine Heigl is to Megan Boone as Alfre Woodard is to James Spader, JMO, but I don't see the math either.

 

Nah. KH is actually a good actress. 

[mertensia]

Fulcrum? Anyone else having Chuck flashbacks?

If they want me to enjoy this more I think they should import a few of Chuck's characters. I bet General Beckman can hold her own against Red.

[Caria]

The fact that Tom was working for Red caught me by surprise and it's definitely interesting, but they need to seriously explain how it was that Red searched around the globe looking for Berlin trying to learn his identity, all the while his guy Tom was in fact working for him. And please, let it be a good explanation, not some cheesy contrived thing they come up with for convenience.  I actually like evil Tom better than good Tom and think that if handled well, future storyline between him and Lizzie could be a good one. 

 

Something that really bugs me though is the total glossing over of what transpired between Ressler and Red.  That whole sequence was one of the best moments of the entire show and I cannot believe that they're just treating it as a one-off event never to be addressed again. Those two shared an incredibly intimate and intense time together, during which Ressler was brought back from the brink of death by a master criminal who jerry-rigged a blood transfusion to give his own blood!  How could that not change their relationship, especially for Ressler?  The best parts of this show for me has always been outside of this week's big criminal, i.e., Ressler and Red musing as they're about to die; Red sending off Lili after her death; Lizzie discovering Tom is not who he is.  In other words, characters are far more interesting than the criminal of the week and I sincerely hope that they do a better job of developing it going forward.

[Danielg342]

The Fulcrum sounds like an...“enhancement” pill. Perhaps this is why Red wants it so badly. :p

[nutty1]

I think I am one of the few here who love this show! I still think MB is a terrible actress, that I will agree.

I actually thought last night's show was really good. I hope Tom doesn't disappear. I enjoy his character.

I called Alan Alda exploding in the middle of telling red something important. Will next season be about Red looking for that? That explosion was pretty gross.

[Primetimer]

The Blacklist pulls rugs from underneath us until it ruins the hardwood floor.

Read the story

[ottoDbusdriver]

I went back and took a look at the scenes with Tom at the end of last season's finale.  After Tom died, Lizzie went back to the Post Office to talk with Ressler and Aram when they discovered that the injured guard in the hospital was Berlin -- and Ressler and Lizzie rushed to the hospital to find that Berlin had escaped.   And that was followed by a scene with an FBI cleanup team arriving at the apartment, with Tom's body conspicuously missing.  All 3 of these events occurred late in the afternoon on the same day (based on the sun hanging low in the sky when Red shot his way into the apartment).

 

So when did Lizzie have time to drag Tom down to a car (whose car it is, we don't know because they never showed how Tom got the drop on Lizzie and managed to get her to the apartment in the first place, the entrance to which was quite a way in from the street), drive like a madwoman to some mystery location where Ellie (do we know who she is ?) spent several hours operating on him to fix his gutshot condition (since a gunshot to the gut is a little more complicated than a bandaid and some polysporin), followed by Lizzie transporting him to the boat in the harbor and having her conversation with Meera's old CI (who became Tom's  fulltime bodyguard).  It's a little hard to believe that she accomplished all of this in under an hour and somehow managed to get none of Tom's blood on her clothes while transporting him away from the apartment before heading back to the post office to meet with Ressler and Aram.

 

It's the ultimate retcon, with emphasis on the word 'con' because it feels like we've been conned by the writers who were pulling this shit out of their collective asses.

Edited November 11, 2014 by ottoDbusdriver

[shura]

Alan Alda's character went out with a bang.  and Berlin is now dead.  So who are the people that are now coming after Red ?

 

Maybe it's Putin. Come on, show, go there! That'd be big. Inventing another "Big Bad" who clearly is less than nothing compared to Red will be just as disappointing, pointless and stupid as this Berlin business.

[Lorimac]

You guys are probably too young to have actual memories of the original "Dallas" and, of course, I was just a wee tyke, BUT I recall vividly my father turning off the TV set when Bobby walked out of the shower and stating quite firmly that he had had enough of this bullshit. Well, I have turned into my father... I'm outta here on this show.

[alias1]

It's the ultimate retcon, with emphasis on the word 'con' because it feels like we've been conned by the writers who were pulling this shit out of their collective asses.

Exactly.  That's why the Tom/Red connection felt so anti climactic. 

 

I agree with the reviewer when he said, "I'm just too exhausted by the gotcha-gotcha-gotcha storytelling and the obvious fact that we will never learn anything real. We'll just keep getting teased with one "shocking" secret after another that turns out to be a red herring."  

[pcta]

I think I am one of the few here who love this show! I still think MB is a terrible actress, that I will agree.

I actually thought last night's show was really good. I hope Tom doesn't disappear. I enjoy his character.

I called Alan Alda exploding in the middle of telling red something important. Will next season be about Red looking for that? That explosion was pretty gross.

I'm with you. This is one of 3 shows that I actually watch weekly (there will be 4 when the Mentalist returns at the end of Nov for its brief swan song). As long as there is a decent amount of Red in an episode, I'm happy. Tho' I disliked Tom as the hubbie, I am finding his character increasingly interesting. Wish they would have less FBI and more of Red's posse. I'm actually intrigued by the seeming new direction of the show and hope it puts Red more front and center. Edited November 11, 2014 by pcta

[NorCalNut]

 

How come Lizzie wasn'y bitching out Ressler about his drug problem ?  That seems to have been completely forgotten, and will probably never be mentioned again in the back half of the season.

 

 

I wondered about the same thing.  Apparently he tossed the pills down the sink and that's the end of that.  We shouldn't worry that a week earlier he broke his own thumb with a car door...Lizzie has so much going on, she doens't have time to nag him any longer.  Ressler is just that strong that he'll kick it on his own.   I hope we do get more on this.  I was really, really hoping for a "Mr. Kaplan rehab" for Ressler.  That would have been SO much fun.  Love me some Ressler.

 

Something that really bugs me though is the total glossing over of what transpired between Ressler and Red.  That whole sequence was one of the best moments of the entire show and I cannot believe that they're just treating it as a one-off event never to be addressed again. Those two shared an incredibly intimate and intense time together, during which Ressler was brought back from the brink of death by a master criminal who jerry-rigged a blood transfusion to give his own blood!  How could that not change their relationship, especially for Ressler?  The best parts of this show for me has always been outside of this week's big criminal, i.e., Ressler and Red musing as they're about to die;

 

 

I'm in total agreement with this!  There should be a bond between them that is growing, not fading.  There should also be much more of a bond with Ressler and Liz (at least the show is very slowly addressing this) but the Red/Ressler stuff was so compelling and so poignant it made me long for more of the two of them as well.  These scenes are indeed the best part of the show.  I also kind of hoped Ressler and Mr. Kaplan would have some scenes with the little issue of his drug addiction.  

 

 

Fulcrum? Anyone else having Chuck flashbacks?

If they want me to enjoy this more I think they should import a few of Chuck's characters. I bet General Beckman can hold her own against Red.

 

Oh my, oh my how I miss "Chuck."   I do admit that I keep expecting Col. Casey to show up on TBL.  That would be so much fun to bring those characters into this show.  Silly, but fun.  Wasn't there talk about the possibility of a Chuck movie?  I would think now would be the time for that.  Sigh...miss that show...

[Jamoche]

So, this show is going to go away for a while, because NBC wants State of Affairs to be the next Blacklist (because, they think Katherine Heigl=James Spader?  Math doesn't add up...), 

They seem to think that saying "from the producers of The Blacklist" is a draw, not realizing that it's a negative that's only just barely balanced by the overwhelming positive of James Spader. And Heigl's as much a negative as Spader's a positive, so this cannot possibly end well.

[Happytobehere]

Let me get this straight. The amazing Alan Alda is blown to chunks BT the ode to uselessness that is Lizzie remains. What makes it worse is that Lizzie came off particularly bad this episode, totally entitled and arrogant.

[iluvobx]

You guys are probably too young to have actual memories of the original "Dallas" and, of course, I was just a wee tyke, BUT I recall vividly my father turning off the TV set when Bobby walked out of the shower and stating quite firmly that he had had enough of this bullshit. Well, I have turned into my father... I'm outta here on this show.

LoL, that is when I stopped too!  I was surprised in a couple of spots but over all, the episode was lacking.

[DrLar]

Fulcrum? Anyone else having Chuck flashbacks?

Here here! too bad Boone isn't Strahovsky, I'm guessing Tom is Chuck?

For a second I thought Fitch was making it, say the device de-activating, but no. boooom!

[roomtorome]

Sigh.  I miss Chuck - that was such a fun show (well, did not like them killing off his dad but….) - it was just fun, clever and goofy - nothing like it on now.  And, it was always struggling which I never understood.  

 

All these newer shows are doom and gloom and none of the writers are really good enough to inject some humor where they can all use it.  Spader brings it with his delivery but - the only show I can think of that does get some humor into it is Person of Interest and that is minimal but it still works for me when they do it.  All these oh, so bloody serious dramas are boring me to death - and, god, I wish they had cast someone other than whatshername for Lizzie - the entire show could be so different with an energetic, talented actress.  Oh well.  

[Dowel Jones]

Well, I for one thought it was clever, planned or unplanned, that they timed Berlin's demise for the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

Who are these people who can drink half a bottle of vodka and still be conscious, let alone functional?

 

And why do  they always use enough explosive to blow a tank tread off in order to kill someone?  Definitely will be a closed casket funeral.  Oh, and by the way, Cleanup on Aisle 3!  At least the bomb tech didn't follow the usual tv trope of protesting and insisting he could disarm it.  "Okay.  I'm outta here!"

 

So, after 3 months onboard the boat, Tom has a raggedy beard, yet does he shave it off?  No, he gets it trimmed to the oh-so-cool look of the 5 o'clock shadow.

 

Was the editing blunder of the young girl's body early on in the show also on the original episode?  She distinctly moved her eyes to the right as her head was being turned.

[Danielg342]

Well, I for one thought it was clever, planned or unplanned, that they timed Berlin's demise for the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Quite the insight...totally slipped my mind. I'm also thinking it does, in a way, bring the Cold War to an end, with the Red/Berlin battle being the last one.

[kaygeeret]

The writers and producers have never cared about continuity.  It's almost as if they believe they can change course every episode or so and no one will care because Spader will save the day.

 

Worked for me for a while, but I gave up after the first epi this season.  It killed me because I love Spader, but I can only take so much.  If they played it all for laughs or the rest of the cast were up to irony and sarcasm maybe it would work.  But when only the guest stars can go toe to toe with Spader, the show's complete lack of focus is boring.  They don't even do "crook of the week" very well.  And I got tired of wrenching my neck at every head spinning plot change!

 

Heigel's new show is getting the worst reviews of the year - and there were some bad shows that debuted this year.

[Kelda Feegle]

Perhaps where the show goes from here is some kind of redemption story for Tom...surely Tom's comment to Liz that she had the wrong answer to "did I really love you?" leaves a lot of doors open...I'm not sure I trust the writers enough here but if it's done well it could be a nice story.

 

I simply do not care if he loved her at all  ever  or not. 

[missbonnie]

I think I am one of the few here who love this show! I still think MB is a terrible actress, that I will agree.

I actually thought last night's show was really good. I hope Tom doesn't disappear. I enjoy his character.

I called Alan Alda exploding in the middle of telling red something important. Will next season be about Red looking for that? That explosion was pretty gross.

You aren't alone, I am right there with you and so are about 70% of my friends. We all love this show and were totally shocked to see Alan Alda blow up at the end.

[Danielg342]

You aren't alone, I am right there with you and so are about 70% of my friends. We all love this show and were totally shocked to see Alan Alda blow up at the end.

I was disappointed. Fitch was one of the few characters that could stand with Red so it's sad to see him go.

[BookThief]

I was surprisingly disturbed by the bomb because it was similar (though not as bloody) as a real-life incident that happened in my city, though it could make a great title for a Blacklist episode, "The Pizza Bomber."  But it was a truly horrible story--a pizza delivery man had a bomb attached around his neck, he was forced to rob a bank, and eventually was killed in the middle of a busy road in front of rescue personnel when the bomb went off, killing him. 

 

In other news, I really don't pay attention to this show at all.  I thought I was but if you asked me to explain anything I realize I can't.  I'll keep watching for now, but I'm not at all dismayed about a 2.5 month break. And I definitely won't be watching State of Affairs--it looks dreadful.  "How many laws do you want to break?"  "How many lives do you want to save!!"  Ew.

[rubyred]

Megan Boone. Megan Boone is beautiful woman. Her cheekbones are works of art. I know this because of the constant closeups of her cheekbones. What is also revealed in these closeups, however, is that her eyes are dead. DEAD.

 

Megan Boone is not a good actress. She is not a middling actress. She is not a poor actress. She.is.not.an.actress. And retconning her into Action Girl this season has not done her any favors. That look she thinks is enigmatic? Looks simple. The tough girl dialogue? Cannot be saved by shouting it. She is an energy drain on every scene she's in.

 

But mostly the character is a moron. What was she planning to do with Tom? It didn't occur to her that she'd have to kill him? Did she really think she could? I knew she couldn't, and it didn't take me four months to come to that startling revelation. Meanwhile that poor harbor police dude gets murdered by Tom -- a chained Tom -- and Lizzie can't stop it, and then leaves the body festering in that boat for how long? She's incompetent to a lethal degree.

 

Red, the sociopath, deserves better for a daughter than this chick. But the show has doubled down and doubled down again on Megan Boone, so she's here to stay. At least the wig is gone. Small mercies.

[kieyra]

My favorite part was the way she kept saying "December-ist" instead of Decembrist. Bless her heart.

[Jlina]

LOLing.  I think she always (subconciously? does she have a subconscious?) figured Red would somehow "fix" the Tom thing as he does all her problems, sadly. 

 

Tom would've had lice after 4 months, not just a beard to shave.  Anyway, if he ever does show back up, I couldn't care less if he ever loved anyone; but I'll be interested to see what it will do to Red and his adoptee protege.  Hmmm, protege sounds like prodigy, not. But you all know what I mean.

[2KllMckngBrd]

I like this show. I like it for what it is. Its fun. For me this one doesn't have to make sense. And most of the time it doesn't. It's just fun.

 

Megan Boone is beautiful. Never saw it when she was wearing the Daniel Boone Fez Parker on her head. But now I look at her like a different person. She is not a great actress. But I do think she is improving. James Spader is a good actor, becoming a caricature. However, for the purposes of The Blacklist and Red it works. Ressler has grown on me. Although his drug addiction cured in a commercial break bugs. But I digress. Lennox is wasted. Samar is made of win. And can I please be the one to shoot the husband from hell in the eye? Pretty please?

 

Word to all the posters who said BOO to being gone for 12wks. Seems like a recipe for a cancelled show. NBC really wants Katherine Heigel to happen again, but I think that boat has sailed. Iggy Stevens killed her career, and a string of ill advised rom-coms buried it. Oh well. I guess her show and The Blacklist can become shows we discuss in the gone too soon forum.  

 

 

I was surprisingly disturbed by the bomb because it was similar (though not as bloody) as a real-life incident that happened in my city, though it could make a great title for a Blacklist episode, "The Pizza Bomber."  But it was a truly horrible story--a pizza delivery man had a bomb attached around his neck, he was forced to rob a bank, and eventually was killed in the middle of a busy road in front of rescue personnel when the bomb went off, killing him. 

OMG. Omg is soooo overused, but it's completely appropriate here. I had completely forgot about the pizza man w/the necktie bomb. I loved Alan Alda go click click boom. But you are right. If I had remembered the real life incident it wouldn't have been as "good".

 

 

My favorite part was the way she kept saying "December-ist" instead of Decembrist. Bless her heart.

Thank you for the "bless her heart". Shoutout to my Great Grandma (she's passed...said passed out of respect to others on forum...but if you knew her, you would know..."old girl been gone long time" would crack her up). Anyways. "Bless her heart" was what she said to your face. You dumb _____, would have been what she said when you were gone.

[Jack Kerouac]

Nah. KH is actually a good actress.

No - she's terrible, much like this episode.