S02.E16: Tom Keen

[shura]

Honestly, I think Cooper needs to be reprimanded just for creating a workplace atmosphere where his charges are comfortable calling him "bitch".

[alias1]

Honestly, I think Cooper needs to be reprimanded just for creating a workplace atmosphere where his charges are comfortable calling him "bitch".

I must not have a sense of humor because I found that whole thing completely unfunny and out of character for Aram.  And if that's the funny part, it still isn't funny.

[Danielg342]

They have been working together for over a year and a half...so I could buy that they have some level of comfort with ech other. So I wasn't bothered by Aram's card.

[wiggiebegone]

The only good thing I got from this 2 parter was Toms' back story. And confirmation that Red killed wiggies parents for having (I think) something to do with his wife and daughters death.

Edited March 21, 2015 by wiggiebegone

[wiggiebegone]

That overly pierced guy looked like one of the many reasons I don't get coffee at starbucks.

[Danielg342]

That would make an awesome series finale -- Lizzie is the #1 Blacklister, and we find out the entire series has been one long con on Red's part.

I've actually thought that would happen right from day 1- I've said it a few times on the forum already. I cringed at the thought because it felt so predictable for me...but given how much hatred Lizzie has been getting, maybe I shouldn't cringe.

[Happytobehere]

I wish they would kill Lizzie off at the end of this season.  Then next season they could have Red and Tom working together to find out who killed her and they could still knock off some black-listers along the way.

Love this. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Megan Boone is just plain awful. She ruins every scene she is in. IMHO, the only good Lizzie is a dead Lizzie. She ruins every scene she is in.

[bluvelvet]

The episode was okay, I didn't think Tom would come back . Red said that Tom inhabits the character he becomes, so as "Tom Keen" he loves Lizzie but his other persona doesn't, I assume the implication is as the judge stated.

Also why does she say ex-husband, they were never really married and I don't recall a divorce. While I'm on that topic why does she still have the fake last name ? Did the show explain and I missed it.

On a shallow note, appreciated shirtless workout Tom.

[morgankobi]

The only good thing I got from this 2 parter was Toms' back story. And confirmation that Red killed wiggies parents for having (I think) something to do with his wife and daughters death.

Yep, Tom's "back" story:

Edited March 22, 2015 by morgankobi

[ottoDbusdriver]

Also why does she say ex-husband, they were never really married and I don't recall a divorce. While I'm on that topic why does she still have the fake last name ? Did the show explain and I missed it.

 

Back at the start of Season 2, they showed Lizzie going through the motions of filing the divorce paperwork and making it official, but she also gave a really lame excuse for why she kept the last name.

[betsyboo]

Does anyone suppose that guy really has all those facial piercings or were they just applied props? I found him sort of difficult to look at. 

I absolutely had to close my eyes and just listen to the conversation.  #creepy

[Johnny Dollar]

I would love for this to turn into the Red/Tom/Donald/Dembe Show with a sprinkling of Aram and the Israeli agent. In other words, Lizzie should die.

[jelaine]

 

I would love for this to turn into the Red/Tom/Donald/Dembe Show with a sprinkling of Aram and the Israeli agent. In other words, Lizzie should die.

To this I would add that Meera wasn't really killed.  She's been in witness protection or a deep cover assignment and then she and Tom could bond.  Okay, scratch that last, but at least between Mosad agent and Meera, Tom could find out what a truly awesome woman is like and be totally confused why he was into Lizzie.

[paigow]

Back at the start of Season 2, they showed Lizzie going through the motions of filing the divorce paperwork and making it official, but she also gave a really lame excuse for why she kept the last name.

Maybe I am mashing up with another show...but did she get the marriage annulled?

[Winnief]

Maybe I am mashing up with another show...but did she get the marriage annulled?

 

 

No you're right-she did get an annulment but kept the name...because whatever.

[Julia]

If I'm remembering this correctly, she decided to keep Keen because it wasn't Tom's real name.

I know. I got nothing either.

[kitmerlot1213]

If I'm remembering this correctly, she decided to keep Keen because it wasn't Tom's real name.

 

I know. I got nothing either.

 

This might be the romantic in me speaking but maybe Liz is keeping the name Keen because that was the last name of the man she was in love with and she prefers to remember Tom the glasses wearing elementary teacher and not the trained killer he actually turned out to be.  Maybe :):)

 

I enjoyed watching Tom being a complete badass--his annoyance when he realized that Red and Ressler have shown up in Dresden was well played.  It wasn't that he was afraid to see them but that he was going to lose his "in" and his cover was blown.  That's actually kind of awesome.

 

And I want to know how Tom got to be #7 on the Blacklist.  Is he only on the list because he married Liz and went off of the plan?  Because was't Tom wroking for Red?  I hope this is explained as the episodes progress.

 

I also loved Cooper reading Liz the riot act that her actions led to an innocent man's death--she's never going to get the blood of that policeman off of her hands.

[Such A Flirt]

That was disappointing; I was expecting a lot more Tom (and his hotness) for an episode that was supposed to be all about him.

 

As always, I fail to see what is so darn great about Lizzie. Spader was awesome in the last scene, at least.

[Caria]

Wow, that speech by the judge was really good. It moved me.  This show actually moved me.  This thing's  been written so poorly for so long that it was a shocking jolt to my system. Not divulging sensitive classified info is a right of any nation, but once you start trampling on people's rights and getting away with murdering your own citizens in the name of national security, well I think you have to ask who's protecting whom and for what.  Really excellent writing and timely to what's happening in our times.

 

ok, end of editorial. 

You know, at first I was incredulous that they would let Tom go but on further thought, what would they do with him?  It's not like they'd send him to an undisclosed black site as they only do that to terrorists and technically, he isn't one.  He's just your garden variety ultra violent criminal. The only other options are state or federal prison and that would for sure jeopardize the secrecy of the task force. Of all the ridiculous, counter-intuitive, and non-sensical things they've done on this show, this one surprisingly kinda made sense.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Caria

[Julia]

You know, I could fanwank this that Red said that to her right when he did because he regrets drawing her into a world where she became a morally-crippled automaton. Because leaving aside the stupid, Lizzie has convinced herself that she's justified in doing whatever she thinks is necessary because she knows what needs to be done and that gives her a right to do it, whatever the cost in broken laws and lives. Which means that (without ever having shown us a character whose decency we can really mourn) Lizzie is on the road to becoming Red.

 

I don't have high hopes for Megan Boone's ability to pull that off. I think she's got a bit more Lennie from Of Mice and Men in her than she does Darth Vader.

[saber5055]

This might be the romantic in me speaking but maybe Liz is keeping the name Keen because that was the last name of the man she was in love with and she prefers to remember Tom the glasses wearing elementary teacher and not the trained killer he actually turned out to be.

 

 

Does anyone know Lizzie's real last name, her maiden name? It's not Reddington, is it? Ha, just kidding. Keen is a good name, though; maybe she liked it better than her own seven-syllable last name? I do know other women who have kept their married last names, even when no longer married plus no kids. They're just used to it, I guess.

 

I thought all of the judge's dialogue, this week and last, was stellar, like it was written by someone else than the regular writers. He said so much of what we viewers think. The detective had good writers, too. Or maybe the acting of those two so outshown Lizzie that I was made to think the writing was better. Who knows?

 

I also loved Cooper reading Liz the riot act that her actions led to an innocent man's death--

 

 

I did as well, until he continued to go on mourning the loss of the sweet and talented girl he hired as Lizzie turned into a cold-blooded killer and liar and thief and kidnapper and abuser of power. Then I hated Cooper because Lizzie needed to be freaking FIRED, stripped of her weapons and passport and put into jail. So I now hate Cooper.

[Julia]

I did as well, until he continued to go on mourning the loss of the sweet and talented girl he hired

 

Who pretty much immediately jabbed a pen into the carotid of a restrained prisoner.

[paigow]

Tom needs to hide in Starling City...as Oliver Keen...

[saber5055]

Thanks for my morning laugh, Paigow.

[sjohnson]

I only watch the Tom Keen episodes now. 

 

The Tom Keen story hinges on Gina Zanetakos. Since Tom has been revealed as a Bad Guy, then in Gina Zanetakos, we see the guy who shot that Yuri the FSB agent kept the gun, then when it was found insisted Liz take him and it into the FBI. Whereupon Gina Zanetakos miraculously appeared in time to take the heat. As a plan by a Bad Guy determined to deceive his target, this makes no sense. All he could reasonably expect to accomplish is to get caught. But Liz appealed to Red, saying she needed Tom to be innocent, and lo, Red's blacklister of the week, and Tom's "innocent." 

 

When Jolene appears, she seems to be just a temptation at a very rough patch when Liz is jerking him around on the adoption and pretty much everything else. He passes, she turns out to be a new Berlin contact. And he shortly ends up killing her. He claims to his handler it was for security but this doesn't make a lick of sense. 

 

We have since learned Red took out a lease on Tom to watch Liz, but Tom was illicitly sublet to Berlin. Berlin wanted to hurt Red but his agent Tom, with whom there's no contact for at least two years (!) never hurts her. 

 

Tom, apparently peeved over the imprisonment/mistreatment thing says he's not helping Liz, but sure enough shows up and confesses all. 

 

Looking back, the explanation is that he's actually learned to love Liz, presumably because the "Tom Keen" persona is a loving one. Caught in Gina Zanetakos, he'd rather be caught and bring it all to an end, but Red saves him to placate Lizzie. Confronted with prospect doing harm at Berlin's behest, he kills Berlin's agent, stalling the day of reckoning. When Berlin finally arrives, he's fighting Red, whose plans for Lizzie Tom believes to be nefarious, so that's OK. But she turns on him. He's pissed and says no, but love wins out, and he confesses to save her. 

 

If this all sounds kind of crazy, it is. But Jacob Phelps and the assuming identity thing suggests a particular category of crazy, a kind of diffuse Dissociative Identity Disorder. As a person suffering from mental illness, who therefore actually has a reason for all this bad behavior, Tom is probably the nicest character in the show now. 

[Danielg342]

I suppose it makes sense, at least in that he change characters at will and immerse himself in that character. The only question I have is- what spurs the change? When he was in Germany he had no reason to “become” Tom again- he could have just reverted to his instincts and fled.

[swtrgrl]

what spurs the change? When he was in Germany he had no reason to %u201Cbecome%u201D Tom again- he could have just reverted to his instincts and fled.

He was done with the German persona since Red outted him. Maybe when he's finished with his jobs, he reverts to Tom Keene as a way to justify his actions...school teacher, loving husband.

Fanwank central over here, I know.

Tom seems pretty busy working out shirtless a bunch, which is important to the plot. The plot of my erotic fan fiction, anyway.

Hell yeah...and thank you for the pictures and gifs, everyone. I'll be in my bunk.

I would hit that with a vengeance.

Get. In. Line.

LOL

[sjohnson]

I suppose it makes sense, at least in that he change characters at will and immerse himself in that character. The only question I have is- what spurs the change? When he was in Germany he had no reason to “become” Tom again- he could have just reverted to his instincts and fled.

My guess is that his inner child Jacob Phelps likes "Tom Keen" the best. If they make up some sad back story it would make sense.

 

Except that his affair with Gina Zanetakos contradicts the "I Luv Lizzie" story. Unless the lover story really refers to something horrible. like Tom/Gina was kiddie porn abuse. 

[SunnyBeBe]

Why is it that the more I learn about the characters on this show, the less intrigued I become with them?  I've held in there for Red all this time, but it's becoming more and more difficult.  

[Gracie615]

I stopped watching somewhere in the 2nd season ... I wanted resolution of Tom's character and it just keeps going on and on. Now that it's on opposite Scandal, I don't even bother. Are they still holding out on who is Red to Lizzie? Is he her real dad or what? And please, Tom was the only thing that kept me interested, but not for long enough ... Last time I watched, she had him hidden in some old building? Sorry. My interest died a  long time ago. Every week seeing Red shoot someone in the face got old.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Are they still holding out on who is Red to Lizzie? Is he her real dad or what?

 

We still don't know for sure.

[DarkRaichu]

No you're right-she did get an annulment but kept the name...because whatever.

Based on the level of writing, it probably took the writers months and months to come up with the name "Agent Keen".  They could not just give that up as logic and plot (haha) demanded

 

Also, name changes for the main characters will be confusing should the show go to syndication