S01.E18: Milton Bobbit

[radishcake]

 

The team targets the Undertaker, a life-insurance figure who steers ordinary people into becoming contract killers. Elsewhere, Liz and Red try to unearth Tom's secrets.

Original Airdate: March 31, 2014

[AimingforYoko]

Worst game of 'Got your nose' ever.

[kaygeeret]

Gosh I thought we were supposed to learn a few of Tom's secrets.  Instead we get a heavy dose of the crazypants perp of the week.  Oh we got to meet Tom's 'handler'? phony brother.

Oh and when Liz screamed at Red in the beginning to tell her what this is all about...he says that's a distraction???????  But then admits that the reason TOm married her had something to do with him?

I am so confused I am going to bed and hope I don't have any surrealist dreams -

It's sort of like slowing down at a car crash - what will they do next?

On a side note, Megan displayed a smile and happiness at the renewal of vows - 2 more expressions.

Anyone want to be that next week we find out that something happened or she was stricken with the flu and could not have sex with Tom?  'Cause, you know "she can't do this anymore".

Don't worry Red will save the day!

[morgankobi]

As if I couldn't love Spader anymore, then he gushes over Bob Ross.

Edited April 1, 2014 by morgankobi

[IndependentMind]

Megan's acting is improving except when she is supposed to be conveying anger. I am still not convinced.

[NorCalNut]

I loved this episode and thought everyone really did a great job.  We got to see more of Aram.  Parminder got to work with Ressler while Keen was off torturing her brother-in-law with Red.  Megan Boone really did a great job in this episode.  We finally got to see her start to go off the reservation, which I find a bit odd but compelling.  Ressler was brilliant as usual when he just walked right up to the bomb-strapped, no-nosed sick guy and didn't give two fucks about any of it and just lets him blow himself up.  I'm very worried about him and want to see him get involved in the Tom situation.  

Red's quirkiness when he flies off to the other side of the world to greet the DNA expert was annoying.  It's always the same old same old:  "Hello, insert-name-of-person-he-needs-a-favor-from" then some quirky fast talk as he bowls the person over to get what he wants....meh.....but I still love him.  I also liked the vibe that Keen/Red are giving off now as they get involved with all kinds of illegal shit.  She is starting to model herself after him.  I wonder if he's using her to get to Tom and Tom is number one on the list??

So, where are all the TWOPers?  Not too many comments on this ep.

[mertensia]

You know, I watch The Following right before this and between the two shows I am now convinced the FBI couldn't handle a lost kitten in a one bedroom apartment assignment.

I was highly amused that Dembe admired the kitchen paint color- I wonder what he's going to paint?

[molshoop]

I'm happy that Dembe got a line.  Too much Lizzie in this episode.  Not enough of anyone else.

It's amazing that the surprise vow renewal party didn't make Tom suspicious.

[IndependentMind]

Here is a great article about last night's episode. And what is wrong with the show, how awful Megan Boone is and suggested they kill her off and why.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/31/the-blacklist-is-dead-without-the-psychotic-red.html

[luvreddington]

Last night's episode was my least favorite of the season.

[iluvobx]

TWoP forums are still up.

Loved the Deembe remark.  Just unexpected from someone like him.  I don't care much for the Lizzy character.  It seems that the writers just don't know what to do.  

Have to love whoever is casting the "blacklisters".  They seem to find the best, creepiest actor/actress around for whatever part is needed.

[molshoop]

 

Here is a great article about last night's episode.

 I read it and I don't agree that Red is psychotic.  Also, that story he told about his family being killed was made up.  He asked Jane Alexander where his family was before he shot her. Red's version of Jeopardy.

 They need to bring Alan Alda back for an episode.  He can hold his own with Spader and their relationship needs more explanation.

[luvreddington]

Alan Alda only improves with age. Such wide range,he scares me. From dirty-minded, caddish, cynical, sarcastic buffoon to stern, evil, brittle octogenarian and every role he's had in the decades between.

[milkyaqua]

So once again Red leads Lizzie around by the nose (pun intended).  Of course she only figured out the life insurance angle after prodding from Red.

Also, did she make a copy of that key she found?  I'm truly amazed she's had this job this long.

Love the rest of the cast and Red of course.  Dembe got to speak!

[Subrookie]

"So, where are all the TWOPers?  Not too many comments on this ep."

I mostly lurk over there. I'll probably stop now and move here full time.

 They need to bring Alan Alda back for an episode.  He can hold his own with Spader and their relationship needs more explanation.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see him in the season finale again.

I liked the episide and was completely creeped out by the last scene with Lizzy and her husband. Reminded me of a scene in the Nicole Kidman movie "Dead Calm" where she has feignes wanting to have sex with the man who set her husband adrift in the sea so she could try and kill him but gets caught up in the situation and ends up having to. Creepy. 

I read a lot of comments about previous episodes where people complain she doesn't have much range, I'm not saying she's a great actor but she did portray anger fairly well here.

 

Edited April 1, 2014 by Subrookie

[morgankobi]

For a moment, I was thinking the paint color was going to somehow mean something about Tom, which was why Dembe was asking. (I know that's silly.)

I love my brother-in-law, but wouldn't it be awesome if you didn't, and got to beat the crap out of him and blow his cover?! We also laughed at Wiggy's standing in the doorway to the bathroom when Red knocked, and again after she let him in. She was totally giving off a, "I told Dad, and you are soooooo busted," look. It was funny, but sadly it was because it was so poorly acted, so I'm conflicted.

Edited April 1, 2014 by morgankobi

[Tara Ariano]

Mark wrote about how much more he likes the show now that Liz and Tom are at (secret) odds!

[paigow]

Part of Berlin suicide training must include watching the Bourne movies ...The "brother in law" must have graduated at the top of his class.  

[nitrofishblue]

My first venture in previously after all my time on twop.

 

I rather enjoyed the show. A bit more action which was for the better. I get the feeling that the  scripts are written so fast that there is very little story developement. That is hard for me to explain but I feel that things happen way too fast. They get a case that has had people stumped for some time and then boom the team has the answers.

Spader  is great but the rest of the cast is blah.

[kaygeeret]

I get that it seemed that lizzie was showing more emotion and I bought her act during the vow renewal - she was acting her character's acting - .

But I laughed in the beginning when she threw that  minor tantrum at Red and 'demanded' are you my father (or whatever she wanted to know, I forgot already).  And he blows her off with "That's a distraction".

AND she immediately calms down and doesn't pursue her very, very legitimate question.  Just another dumb milquetoast moment.

Her character is still all over the boards - from the badass in the pilot to the dumb milquetoast so far.  The one exception - her takedown of her fake bro-in-law.  Epic!

Honestly, the COTW could have been skipped so we could focus on what I see as the central mystery - TOM.  Or are they going to string us along 'til the end of the season.

And, I have absolutely no interest in whether he is her dad.  Cripes, what a mishandled plot point.  Just answer it already and get on with the show.

[fauxphysician]

Has any one seen her in anything else? I have not, so it's hard to know how much is lack of talent/range on her part and/or how much is poor direction and poor writing. Regardless, it's hard for me to watch her scenes. Replacing her (as suggested in the Daily Beast article) could really make this Show outstanding.

 

[Gregg247]

This is such a good show!  After a few weak episodes, it's really taking off, now that the former-worst-character (Tom) has suddenly become one of the best characters.  I can't wait to see how his mysterious plan unravels.  The whole spy-vs-spy thing works for me.

My favorite scene last night, though, was when Red suddenly blurted out "Oh, how I miss Bob Ross!" while at the art gallery. LOL  Then he started talking about Bob's pet squirrel, and the wonderful painting he could create with just an old putty knife.  I would love to just hang out with Red occasionally (as long as there were no threats of impending doom involved!).

[sncgb]

Spader is so good in this role!  Did anyone else catch Red's comment to the fake brother-in-law about raiding his minibar for the yogurt pretzels and then, when they needed to leave the room after fake BIL jumped out of the window, he told Dembe to not forget the pretzels?  HAHAHAHA!

All I could think about when I saw the would-be assassin (the one the FBI stopped) was "SSHHHHHIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT".  Any "The Wire" fans here?

Edited April 2, 2014 by sncgb

[caseylane]

Every time I think Megan has improved she shuts that thought down with the dramatic-arm-sweep and makes me snort with the absurdity of it all. 

Ressler is becoming one of my favorites. Someone said it's nice that he gets his ass handed to him a lot and I agree. Yet he calmly walked up to the bad guy, arrested the victim and let said bad guy blow himself up without batting an eye. If this keeps up I'm going to start slashing him with Dembé because they are both unexpected (and hot). They can bond over their boy crushes on Red and buy new paint for Dembé's apartment. 

What were those things hanging from the ceiling? I must have missed something because I couldn't figure it out.

[mindbird]

I watch this show but I don't ever have that much to say about it, except that they better not ever show Tom regretting his assignment and actually loving his wife.

[morgankobi]

I watch this show but I don't ever have that much to say about it, except that they better not ever show Tom regretting his assignment and actually loving his wife.

That's one thing I'm still pondering. Evil B-I-L says to Tom while he's shaving for the wedding, something like, "be sure not to fall in love with her again," but it was in such a tone I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or giving him a serious warning. Please be the former!

[fabaa]

I honestly am skipping the "case of the week", which I find really boring. Its a filler with no impact on the main storyline.

These days I am tuning in for Tom Keen's storyline. The spy vs spy has so much potential and I loved how his family turned to be part of the scheme. The show needs to focus more on that and drop the B team (boss, agent meera, agent superman). 

This is such a good show!  After a few weak episodes, it's really taking off, now that the former-worst-character (Tom) has suddenly become one of the best characters.  I can't wait to see how his mysterious plan unravels.  The whole spy-vs-spy thing works for me.

I totally agree. The baby story grated, but Im one of the minority that liked Tom Keen from the beginning. I hope Tom will stick around and become the new "Red" aka informant for "Berlin". I want him to stick around.

[WookieeCookieez]

Tom's fake brother warning him to be careful around Liz because she's so damn smart resulted in a spit take.  Stop telling me she's smart & have her demonstrate it.  At this point it's all just coming across tongue in cheek.

Totally on board with the idea of removing Liz and adding someone who has a shot at being able to keep up with James Spader.  Yogurt pretzels, indeed.

[missbonnie]

I loved this episode and thought everyone really did a great job. We got to see more of Aram. Parminder got to work with Ressler while Keen was off torturing her brother-in-law with Red. Megan Boone really did a great job in this episode. We finally got to see her start to go off the reservation, which I find a bit odd but compelling. Ressler was brilliant as usual when he just walked right up to the bomb-strapped, no-nosed sick guy and didn't give two fucks about any of it and just lets him blow himself up. I'm very worried about him and want to see him get involved in the Tom situation.

Red's quirkiness when he flies off to the other side of the world to greet the DNA expert was annoying. It's always the same old same old: "Hello, insert-name-of-person-he-needs-a-favor-from" then some quirky fast talk as he bowls the person over to get what he wants....meh.....but I still love him. I also liked the vibe that Keen/Red are giving off now as they get involved with all kinds of illegal shit. She is starting to model herself after him. I wonder if he's using her to get to Tom and Tom is number one on the list??

So, where are all the TWOPers? Not too many comments on this ep.

I'm formally TWoP, I had to dvr the episode and didn't get to see it until this morning. I have to agree with whoever said that they are picking out good bad guys. When this week's sat down in the chair in his dirty tighty whiteys and took off his nose I was thoroughly creeped out. I am trying to figure out if Tom knows that Liz is onto him. And whoever he's working for must be a serious badass for the fake brother to take a swan dive out the window.

[Reishe]

I don't think too critically about this show, because of course that would make my head hurt. But I thought the first rule of Knowing Someone is a Bad Guy When He Doesn't Know You Know is not tipping your hand. I mean really--Fake Tom's Brother could be a gold mine of information. Plant bugs in every room of your house in case they're dumb enought to gab in the bathroom while Tom is shaving. Put a tail on the guy. Bug his hotel room. Gather clues, connect the dots. Isn't that what the FBI is supposed to do anyway? And speaking of gathering clues--why have we heard nothing about Tommy's safe house? Dig into the lease and follow the money.

Sadly, I didn't think Red was even that charming or amusing this week.

 

ETA: MrReishe gently reminded me that investigating Tom is an off-book project, so Elizabeth wouldn't have the resources of the FBI at her disposal. But I still feel that she might have gotten more out of Fake Tom's Brother by not letting him know she knew, maybe with Red's resources?

Edited April 7, 2014 by Reishe

[torqy]

 

fauxphysician said: Has any one seen her in anything else?

She played Donnie Wahlberg's interim partner in several eps of Blue Bloods, and she played an assistant DA in Law & Order:LA, although I really don't remember her in that role. To me, she's like Sandra Bullock, in that she seems to play herself.

[JES004]

Okay, so I am not enamored with Spader's sideways head lean.  Drives me nuts.  I've been enjoying the show as a nice diversion.  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Spader's constant headcocking/tilting/leaning makes my neck hurt.

 

On a shallow note, I never need to see anyone lounging around in their tighty whities. The guy taking off his nose did not help matters. Yuck!

 

Tom asking if Elizabeth would renew their vows just smacked of desperation. They've only been married for two years, sheesh! I get doing something like that for, say, your tenth or twentieth anniversary, but after two years?

 

I wonder how things ended after the music box incident in the previous episode. Based on Elizabeth immediately grilling Reddington when she was him at the beginning of this episode, I guess she didn't ask him a damn thing about Tom after the music box bonding. So what happened after the last episode ended? She cried a little bit and then just got up and left without asking Reddington anything? If Reddington has been suspicious of Tom for so many years, how does he still know so litle about Tom's real identity or who he works for? He has all these resources and all he knows is that he bought three passports from a forger a few years ago? That seems highly unlikely.

 

Awesome to see Clay Davis again - sheeeeeeeeeee-it!

 

It must have been really weird for Elizabeth to have to watch video tapes of herself in her own house for clues. I guess the one good thing is that since Tom is a teacher, she knows she can search the house for clues (and secret keys) while he's at school.

 

I've been enjoying Ressler more since he got a little more reckless. I loved that he just strolled up to the undertaker guy and the doctor in the cemetery, despite knowing that the undertaker had explosives ready to blow, and then arrested the doctor.

 

Loved Reddington's reaction to Tom's brother jumping out the window: "Okay then." Ha!

 

The small moments on this show amuse me: Reddington's obsession with the yogurt pretzels in Tom's fake brother's hotel room, the Bob Ross mention, Dembe asking about the paint color, all hilarious.

 

I wasn't clear about whether Elizabeth put the original key under the lamp or if that was just a lookalike. If she didn't know what the key was for, how could she find a replacement?

[rungirl911]

I have been home sick the past day and half and started watching. Just finished this episode and loved the series up to this point. I can't wait to see how this goes on and on!

Edited January 9, 2015 by rungirl911