The Blacklist: Redemption - General Discussion

[djinn]

Solomon and Tom fighting in the apartment was gold. Bet Scottie's boy-toy is a spy and I wouldn't be surprised if something shady is going on with her assistant too. Scottie herself appears shady and Tom's father too. Not sure where the show is going.

[Danielg342]

18 minutes ago, milkyaqua said:

Also, a dark site in NYC?

At least the show admitted through Dumont's line that it was a weird location.

Also...I could be wrong, but I think this is actually the first time all series that Dumont's name has been mentioned on screen.

[paigow]

Every time I heard Whitehall, I said:  "Just find Reed Diamond ya morons!"

[saber5055]

Are Blacklist writers writing this? WTH with all the baby-daddy drama in this show, too? I could care less. Like, I can REALLY care less. All I can do is stare at Scottie and think no way is she Tom's mom. Maybe it's the plastic face. And yeah, what's up with Tom's extended departure (read: dead-beat dad) from Agnes? I hope he's set up a trust fund for her with a direct deposit from Team Leader.

[milkyaqua]

16 minutes ago, paigow said:

Every time I heard Whitehall, I said:  "Just find Reed Diamond ya morons!"

Oh man, for the days when seeing Reed Diamond in the credits didn't mean he was the bad guy like back in the day on Homicide:  Life on the Street.

11 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

Are Blacklist writers writing this? WTH with all the baby-daddy drama in this show, too? I could care less. Like, I can REALLY care less. All I can do is stare at Scottie and think no way is she Tom's mom. Maybe it's the plastic face. And yeah, what's up with Tom's extended departure (read: dead-beat dad) from Agnes? I hope he's set up a trust fund for her with a direct deposit from Team Leader.

I keep forgetting about Agnes but you think her dad would at least look a little misty thinking about the tyke now and then before going about on one of his assignments or dealing with his crazy dad.  I get Famke probably needs to step away from the fillers but age-wise, she is old enough to be Eggold's mom.

[paigow]

2 minutes ago, milkyaqua said:

Oh man, for the days when seeing Reed Diamond in the credits didn't mean he was the bad guy like back in the day on Homicide:  Life on the Street.

A good guy - for now - on Designated Survivor...

[milkyaqua]

9 minutes ago, paigow said:

A good guy - for now - on Designated Survivor...

And I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop on that...

[mandigirl]

2 hours ago, milkyaqua said:

I don't care about the Whitehall thing and I do think while it would make sense for Tom to just tell Scottie he's her son, between his dad and Red's warning to not tell her Tom's got to be hesitant but this nonsense can't go on forever. 

Not telling Scottie just comes off as being overly-complicated for no reason. I hate narrative conflict that could be cleared up with one short, truthful conversation.  It feels contrived. Red didn't give Tom any reason not to tell Scottie and Howard only gave crazy reasons.

Not only is it annoying that they keep the truth from Scottie, its vaguely cruel as well. Scottie genuinely seems to be searching for her son, calling into serious question Howard's claim that she had something to do with the disappearance. 

1 hour ago, milkyaqua said:

I keep forgetting about Agnes but you think her dad would at least look a little misty thinking about the tyke now and then before going about on one of his assignments or dealing with his crazy dad. 

That's what I'm saying! They should have had Tom make a cleaner break from TBL if they weren't going to integrate his family into this show.  It's just bizarre.

[Princess Lucky]

20 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

Blah. This was the first miss, which I can basically sum up this way:

Show, if you're going to go at a frenetic pace, have things blow up and give us some fights. Not talking. All that talking tonight just put me to sleep.

I did like that Brian Mayhew was innocent, so that was a nice twist. Oh, and Solomon and Tom "fighting" in the apartment...those two continually crack me up.

Which pains me to see Solomon being sent after Tom...I hope they can make up, not continue to fight.

Not sure I care enough to comment on Scottie's baby drama...that's just...yeah...

Episode Grade: C-. Some good moments at the warehouse, but this was way too talky!

Agreed. A total dud. Unfortunately. I did like some of the fight scenes and the shot of Tom/Nez pulling out their guns in sync, but the episode was not fun at all. Too generic. I had gotten used to the more action-packed and out there scenarios of the previous episodes. The "7 keys" premise was fun, and interesting, but nothing in that storyline landed. Boring acting, boring sequences, minimal payoff. I didn't care.

The Trevor thing is also unnecessary, as is Scottie's assistant, but I do agree he'll be revealed as some sort of spy. Problem is, I don't care.

I do care (slightly) about Scottie's search for her son, but I wish it weren't included in every single episode. We get it. I hope she puts in on the backburner for a while, now that she thinks she's hit a dead end.

The Tom/Terry O'Quinn stuff is still holding my interest, but this week was a total downgrade. After "omg your mother is a Russian sleeper agent and also a replicant!" you can't move to "there's a black op and, like, a warehouse? I think?" and pretend those revelations are equally riveting.

14 hours ago, vb68 said:

The best scene in the whole ep was indeed Tom and Solomon's racist improv act.

That was hilarious. Both the characters and the actors play really well off of each other. More please.

2 hours ago, paigow said:

A good guy - for now - on Designated Survivor...

How weird is it that I've seen (and posted) love for Reed Diamond on two separate threads for two separate shows in the same week? And he's only appeared in one of those shows, heh? He's awesome. Honestly, Designated Survivor and The Blacklist Redemption are currently my two favorite shows (because I have excellent taste, and also because I need something to hold me over until Prison Break returns). And by "favorite" I mean "the ones I enjoy the most", or "the ones I look forward to." I'd actually recommend Designated Survivor to fans of Redemption, i.e. people with questionable taste, who enjoy good acting, laughable "twists" and action.

[Kelda Feegle]

17 hours ago, david gideon said:

They showed a dossier on a guy named Leonid Something While talking about him as Victor Something. 

 

Yes - I saw this, rewound to make sure, how lazy is that! You can't even read the right name that is on screen. Flaws in continuity like that make me crazy.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Has Tom even told his father that he's a grandpa ?  Because that seems like something he would already know. Maybe I fell asleep during that portion of the show.

Tom not even mentioning Lizzie or Agnes, (or the dogs) is kind of ridiculous.  Then again the dogs have been long forgotten on the mothership.
I wonder if Tom's fake wife in Independence took their dog with her before they blew up the town.

I thought Tom's behavior in the apartment even before he started fake-fighting with Solomon was just bizarre -- he acted like he as off his meds.

They have to give Scottie's baby drama a rest -- it's just such a drag, and no one cares (I know I don't).
'Dan' -- if that his real name -- and the assistant is just so dull.
At least Dumont's brother was somewhat helpful to the story.

So is this show just turning into an NBC version of CTU from '24' ?

4 episodes in, and I'm not feeling any redemption yet.
Also, disappointed that there isn't any actual Blacklist on this show -- just saying.

[Guest]

I guess I'm alone in this, but I don't need characters to bring their private lives to work. But I'm old, think Barney Miller old . . .  

[calipiano81]

Tom mentioned Liz in the last episode...I also don't feel like he needs to bring his family up every week (or at all, actually).

Speaking of family, while Scottie has not seen her son in 30 years, neither has Howard. Howard manages to track Tom down, yet he doesn't seem to care at all about reconnecting or catching up on lost time with him?

Edited March 19, 2017 by calipiano81

[misstwpherecool]

An improvement. Tom confessing in shower deep inside enemy territory, umm-nah. As soon as they said drink bottled water only-ding ding-drugs in water.

It definitely an interesting plot line that could be used in future episodes on Redemption and/or the Blacklist-was Red replaced? Or someone else since Liz is from a spy family.

Not taking it too seriously yet, bubble gum tv

[misstwpherecool]

Tom goes from cold blooded sociopathic mercenary/spy to a guy that says something like 'cool' when NSA secrets will be revealed or pursued by framed/imprisoned hacker guy?

[Double V]

Anyone else think that Blacklist: Redemption is just recycling old scripts that the network bought in the 1980s, sloppily adapting them to the 21st century, and adding two or three brief scenes to weave it into the Blacklist setting?

[ottoDbusdriver]

What the hell was that ?  Seriously ?

Obsessive former boyfriend murders at least 4 people on the ground plus a plane full of people (at least he thought he did, if not for Tom) as part of a gang of high tech secret cargo thieves ... because of love.  FFS !!

So many stupid things in the episode -- that cargo bay was remarkably well lit.  That safe in Scottie's closet was way too easy to break in to.  

Was there no investigation after the plane landed ?  How long was Solomon on the ground ?  How long was that guy naked in the woods and not manage to freeze to death ?  Were Tom and Solomon apparently the only 2 flight attendants on the plane ?

[ItCouldBeWorse]

This was aired out of order.  Tom was introduced to James McDaniel in this episode, but the latter appeared in last week's episode.

Did Tom steal the comic book from Scottie?  Won't she notice?

[ottoDbusdriver]

9 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

This was aired out of order.  Tom was introduced to James McDaniel in this episode, but the latter appeared in last week's episode.

Did Tom steal the comic book from Scottie?  Won't she notice?

I think he went and bought a copy.

None of the ad wizards/producers thought anyone would notice that little continuity slip up.  Are they phoning this in ?

Edited March 24, 2017 by ottoDbusdriver

[ItCouldBeWorse]

30 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

This was aired out of order.  Tom was introduced to James McDaniel in this episode, but the latter appeared in last week's episode.

 

30 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

None of the ad wizards/producers thought anyone would notice that little continuity slip up.  Are they phoning this in ?

It wasn't a huge deal, but what's interesting is that I just realizedthe Whitehall/Scottie/Trevor drama isn't out of order so the episodes weren't switched.  It's confusing.

Agnes did get a mention or two this week-even Howard showed mild interest.

[ottoDbusdriver]

There were some serious travel shenanigans -- Tom traveled from New York to Seattle, took a brief circular flight from Seattle back to Seattle, then flew back to New York, then flew back to Seattle with Nez to find the LZ and Solomon, and back to New York.

If Letters 1-6 were FALCON, how did they know that 14 to 26 were KMPQRSTUVWXYZ ?  Would that make letters 8 to 13 be BDEGHIJ ?  That doesn't seem particularly stealthy or secretive or tough to crack.  In fact it seems kind of lazy.

Did anyone else notice the glaring error in Aldon Braddock's military ID -- the Issue Date was 1970AUG12 and the Expiration Date was 1980AUG11 ?
His alias had a birth date of 1985.  So, does Aldon Braddock also own a time-travelling Delorean in addition to the Here Fishy, Fishy II ?

Scottie really needs to unwind that knot in her phone cord.

Corner ground floor apartment park and flower -- that house where Howard was living was a LONG way from the corner of Park and Flower.

So we heard Scottie give the go ahead on the op over the phone, presumably for Solomon to snatch up Howard.  
How long had Howard had that code in his possession ?  Since he faked his death ?  Which means that Scottie has known all along that Howard faked his death.

Edited March 24, 2017 by ottoDbusdriver

[dwmarch]

Resident British Columbian here to mention the complete geography fails in this episode. They said the LZ was near Osoyoos, which is an actual place. However, it's not in northwestern BC, it's in southern BC in an actual friggin' desert. It does snow from time to time but not like it was depicted on the show. And they leave the abandoned mill (that is not what a mill looks like either!) and they're on the coast instantly. From Osoyoos it would be at least a 4.5 hour drive and that's just to Vancouver while the show seemed to be saying they also somehow crossed the border into the US!

The less said about snake-eaters on a plane the better. This show has had some decent plots thus far but this episode must have been a pinch-hit from the Blacklist team. Dumbass bad guys interrogating the spy lady as if she was going to hand-draw them the schematics they were after! If she has such plans, they'd be on a USB drive or something, no? Asking her for the plans is just weird.

Tom's moment of honesty: I haven't been honest with you. My wife sucks and she's a real pain in the ass. Scottie: that's no secret Tom. We all knew that, all along.

[mertensia]

Okay, props for an airline name that sounds good. 

I'll sort of buy a guy who's so obsessed he does all this for her. 

Just finish with the whole family subplot, please.

[paigow]

Episode title is:  Borealis 301

Do Boeing & Airbus initiate in-flight hull breaches during real world testing?

Edited March 24, 2017 by paigow

[Princess Lucky]

Now that's what I'm talking about!

I loved this episode. I still don't like the Trevor/Kat storyline, and the fact Scottie is giving him all this legitimate, usable information (why would she explicitly mention "Whitehall?"), but everything else worked for me.

I remain interested in Tom's parents. I honestly don't know which one of them is good and which is bad. Howard was right, of course, and you know Scottie is shady, but I'm curious to see the payoff for this. The three actors are keeping me interested (Ryan Eggold was especially great both times he almost told Scottie the "truth", and when Howard asked about Agnes). And I did love the twist of Howard being in Scottie's hands, from now on. Those wacky apartment scenes with Tom started off fun, but they were getting old. I'd love to see Terry O'Quinn acting opposite Famke or Edi Gathegi.

Speaking of Edi Gathegi/Solomon, decent backstory. Believable and not a total sob story meant to make him sympathetic. Not every thirteen-year-old would commit murder to help his mom. Solomon had that in him, perhaps. Which fits with what we know about him. Oh and that bit on the plane was AMAZING. The way he clipped himself on the unconscious guy's parachute? Damn!

I'm always partial to plane-related stories, and this delivered. It kind of reminded me of that Person of Interest episode, 4C. Plus another of my favorites, the Wesley Snipes classic Passenger 57. And Tom was also giving off some major John MacClane vibes. One down, four to go? Hell yeah.

That said, I loved that they didn't have Tom be the unbeatable, macho hero all the time. He was clearly scared shitless while he was flying the plane. I liked that he immediately deferred to the pilot, as soon as she woke up. "Why don'you land this thing and I'll tell you all about it" was a great line. And I loved that Jennifer rescued him in the end. Both women, by the way. Way to go, show!

I must admit, I remain confused about Jennifer. The James McDaniel character said she was a deep cover asset, blah blah blah. And she was flying to Beijing. But then we were made to believe she didn't know anything, and her SEAL ex/stalker made it all up to kidnap her? And she acted all innocent? But then she was smart and feisty enough to turn on the distress beacon, and to escape her ex via a paddle to the head? And to shoot him, to save Tom? So what is the truth? Is she a CIA asset or not?

10 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Obsessive former boyfriend murders at least 4 people on the ground plus a plane full of people (at least he thought he did, if not for Tom) as part of a gang of high tech secret cargo thieves ... because of love.  FFS !!

I wouldn't call it love, he was just crazy. I have no problem with that as a motivation, lol.

I mean, when he told her "sweetie, if the plane crashed, and all these people died, I want you to know that I don't blame you"? And then they did a close-up of Jennifer, and the actress was giving the most hilarious "WTFFFFF???" look? That was comedy gold. That moment alone made that storyline worth while.

10 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

This was aired out of order.  Tom was introduced to James McDaniel in this episode, but the latter appeared in last week's episode.

Scottie just said "you know Tom Keen", meaning she was reminding James McDaniel's character who Tom was, I think. The show has two standalone story arcs, a) the Trevor stuff (useless, until the inevitable twist) and b) Howard's revelations about Scottie. Both stories have been airing in the correct order (last week's Howard craziness directly led into this week's stuff, and now he's been captured). They could be isolating those standalone scenes and inserting them in different episodes, but I personally think the airing order is probably correct. Tom's "almost confessions" this week happened in case-related moments, so they couldn't have been added later. He almost told Scottie he's her son, but then Dumont said "we found Solomon", which means this scene (directly stemming from this week's Howard shenanigans) was originally meant to air with the Borealis storyline.

OK, why did I put so much thought into this show? Anyway, this episode was awesome.

[TobinAlbers]

4 minutes ago, Princess Lucky said:

I remain interested in Tom's parents. I honestly don't know which one of them is good and which is bad. Howard was right, of course, and you know Scottie is shady, but I'm curious to see the payoff for this. The three actors are keeping me interested (Ryan Eggold was especially great both times he almost told Scottie the "truth", and when Howard asked about Agnes). And I did love the twist of Howard being in Scottie's hands, from now on. Those wacky apartment scenes with Tom started off fun, but they were getting old. I'd love to see Terry O'Quinn acting opposite Famke or Edi Gathegi.

Yeah, the actors are selling their individual anguish and pain, although poor Howard is so in the weeds to expose Scottie that he's very abrupt in his father-son bonding time. Ryan Eggold really sold for me Tom's anguish when he saw Howard being led away by Solomon. You could tell he was kicking himself for not believing and really worried about what would happen next.

I had to laugh that Tom only brings up Liz when he's using her as a cover and it's the plausible 'We're having issues.' But man did he light up when Howard mentioned Agnes. He really does love his little girl.

Tom and 'Phil' as flight attendants was made of win. Not just because they both were rather fetching in their uniforms, but they even had the comforting demeanor down and Tom was working that smooth, calming loudspeaker voice.

4 minutes ago, Princess Lucky said:

That said, I loved that they didn't have Tom be the unbeatable, macho hero all the time. He was clearly scared shitless while he was flying the plane. I liked that he immediately deferred to the pilot, as soon as she woke up. "Why don'you land this thing and I'll tell you all about it" was a great line. And I loved that Jennifer rescued him in the end. Both women, by the way. Way to go, show!

Amen. Tom is happiest when he's reunited with his gun (as we saw the big smile when he found the shotgun case in the hold) but he's not a superspy. He comes across as much more relatable when he shows he doesn't know everything. Solomon though has the bragging rights in clipping himself to an unconscious body to be sucked out of an airplane. And Edi Gathegi is a great storyteller. You knew the outcome of the story, but boy can he hold your attention.

I binged last weekend to catch up on this show and I gotta say, it's a lot more fun than mothership which I dropped two seasons ago. And the cast is fantastic. This team is a lot more interesting to watch. Ratings aren't great but I'm mollified that if it does get cancelled we can see resolution to Tom's family story on Blacklist.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

They seem to have dropped the Nez drug story this episode.

Dumont: "Tom, no time, get on the controls."  How did Dumont know that Tom had escaped from the hold and was trying to awaken the pilot?

Edited March 24, 2017 by ItCouldBeWorse

[milkyaqua]

Yeah, obsessive boyfriend plans to take down a plane and kill hundreds of people because he doesn't understand the words "no" or "restraining order" annoyed me.  But it did have it's funny parts namely Tom and Solomon and yes, that story about his mom and the loan shark, it all made perfect sense for the character.

So, Nez wasn't sniffing this week.  How exactly is this going to work?

Scottie and her boy toy and the contract and phone...  What!?!?

I've loved Terry O'Quinn since Millennium so I'd prefer he not get killed off but I am looking forward to some kind of resolution between he and Scottie.  I also thought it was funny when Howard mentioned Agnes to Tom.  It was like, finally someone remembers Tom has an actual human being he's supposed to be responsible for.

[saber5055]

I thought the plane stuff was pretty good and it kept my interest (since this show usually makes me fall asleep). But WTH when the side door got blown off and all the passengers stayed belted in? And they were breathing what to keep them alive yet unconscious? But Tom and the pilot could breathe just fine in zero oxygen? The reveal that the bad guy went through that ELABORATE plot just to kidnap his girlfriend was just stupid. Why not just knock on her door some night and drag her away in a panel van. Done and done. Bad guy in the snow ... did he have a broken back? It supposedly was just a broken leg, so why lie there and hypothermiate w/o moving? This ep made a point of Agnes being 11 months, which mean she's walking and has been saying "Dada" for several months now. Last we saw her, she was a tiny thing being carried, the size of a two-month-old. So Tom has been gone one long time. Yeah, he really REALLY cares about his kid (and dogs). And STFU Tom about how comics can't be code books. What a moron.

[Guest]

My guess is Kat will be the evil genius, the one behind Whitehall.

[Brian Cronin]

They're usually a bit more competent than not noticing that five of the passengers were Navy Seals that served together and that one of them was the mechanic who serviced the very plane that they were on and was supposed to be in Dallas and not on his way to China. All of that stuff seems like things you would have found out BEFORE the flight took off, no? 

[kassygreene]

This show has so many elements that would make me kra-kra if the cast, and to a certain extent, the character interactions, weren't so good.  Dumont is a type I hate, but he doesn't go in the field and is instead the HQ support.  Tom is a chameleon, as is consistent with his background and experience.  Solomon is charming, even while telling you the most cold-blooded stories.  Scottie is very smart but also has emotional needs that are probably going to destroy her.  Nez takes a week off from her relapse.  Howard is perfectly played as the crazy guy who knows he is smart and almost sells it OR the smart guy who knows he sounds crazy and is frustrated that he isn't selling it and I can't think of many actors who can do that as well as Terry O'Quinn.

BUT, the Blacklist franchise as a whole don't do real geography, and is trying hard to be worse than the X-Files at this.  

And as for the plane - ok, they got the flight time from Seattle to Beijing right.  And there is an implication that the ex-SEaL who piloted the plane (presumably east to get over Canada) also took it low enough so that when they blew the door they could make a controlled exit from the plane.  And Solomon does seem like the kind of guy at some point in his life to have gamed out what to do if he needed to exit a plane without his own parachute. 

But c'mon, spend some money!  I just did a quick look on Flightaware, and the first dozen flights I found from Seattle to Beijing were all wide-body; a flight that long will have at least one relief crew, and a helluva lot more than two flight attendants; the ceilings in the passenger compartment were too high; the cargo area seemed too empty; the cockpit seemed spacious; an entire passenger list with not even a speeding ticket; who can import two shotguns into the People's Republic of China?; and whatever was in the O2 was non-lethal, apparently for plot purposes, so that the show could do a sensible thing, and have a pilot recover enough to help recover control and eventually land the plane instead of spending half an act on the white-knuckle landing that Tom makes under Dumont's guidance?

All this silliness and I still enjoyed it.  It's much easier to watch then the mothership.  I don't completely blame Megan Boone as Lizzie is so badly and inconsistently written, but which came first, a less than interesting character to create/write, or the less than impressive actress who plays her (and who possibly can't gen up enough fire in the writers to do anything more interesting than Crisis Of The Week)?

I want those guys as the flight attendants on my next flight!

[vb68]

On 3/24/2017 at 10:28 AM, Princess Lucky said:

And Tom was also giving off some major John MacClane vibes. One down, four to go? Hell yeah.

Yeah, the whole sequence on the plane was very Die Hard-lite.  

Tom's expressions when Howard pulled out the comic book were gold.

I think Howard and Scottie are both crazypants. 

Yay for having a female pilot. You usually don't see that on tv.

Edited March 25, 2017 by vb68

[Brian Cronin]

5 hours ago, vb68 said:

 

Yay for having a female pilot. You usually don't see that on tv.

Bull did a good episode on that very topic earlier this season.

[paigow]

9 hours ago, kassygreene said:

And Solomon does seem like the kind of guy at some point in his life to have gamed out what to do if he needed to exit a plane without his own parachute. 

Point Break 1.0 

[mandigirl]

I agree with other posters.  I was actually digging this episode... up until the "plot" by the obsessed ex was revealed. Just beyond stupid. That has to be the most elaborate stalking in the history of the world. 

Enjoyed finally hearing some of Solomon's backstory. Hopefully we get more. Edi Gathegi is just doing awesome with the Solomon character.

Scottie's boy toy "Trevor" is definitely some kind of plant IMO. I still think Kat is Howard's mole, but Trevor is up to no good too. 

On 3/24/2017 at 0:38 PM, saber5055 said:

So Tom has been gone one long time. Yeah, he really REALLY cares about his kid (and dogs).

Seriously. I was glad that someone mentioned Agnes. Eggold did a great job with that scene-- Tom had such a lovely expression on his face when he talked about Agnes. But let's be real. Tom has shown zero urgency at all to get back to D.C. Like none at all. He hasn't put a clock on his time in New York. He has seemed willing to play things out with Scottie for as long as it takes. So yeah, his words rang pretty hollow to me.  

[ItCouldBeWorse]

What if the mole works for Red?

[Princess Lucky]

4 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

What if the mole works for Red?

What if Scottie truly is a Russian sleeper agent, and she's not Tom's mother, but she is Lizzie's mother? i.e. Katarina Rostova?

And Red knows that, because he may or may not be Lizzie's father (which we will never find out for sure, because the show will be cancelled before that reveal)?

(disclaimer: I only remember Liz's mother is Russian and possibly dead, no more details. I barely pay attention to these shows.)

[ItCouldBeWorse]

2 minutes ago, Princess Lucky said:

What if Scottie truly is a Russian sleeper agent, and she's not Tom's mother, but she is Lizzie's mother? i.e. Katarina Rostova?

What if she's somehow both their moms? That would explain Red telling Tom not to tell Scottie who he is.  Poor Agnes!  (This is a joke, for those who enjoy the Scottie/Tom "vibe".)

[paigow]

Tom can cheat on his half-sister-wife with his mom???? The corresponding Circle Of Hell has not yet been drawn!!! 

[Johnny Dollar]

I'm pretty sure that Scottie is everyone's mother, including Howard's. It will be a Lost tie-in. 

Do most sleeper agents go searching for their long lost fake kid and keep said fake kid's handprint in their Staples brand safe?  Just because Scottie uses a Green Lantern decoder ring to encrypt her messages doesn't mean that Howard isn't crazy and that this isn't just a simple power struggle for the company. 

I would watch the "Hanging with Mr Solomon and Tom" show eight days a week. 

[Princess Lucky]

For those wondering who's watching Agnes, while Tom is off in Redemption land, Ryan Eggold has the answer (40 seconds in):

Quote

Our dog.

(I love how he follows that up with "our dog... disappeared!")

[TobinAlbers]

11 hours ago, Johnny Dollar said:

I would watch the "Hanging with Mr Solomon and Tom" show eight days a week. 

Me too!

11 hours ago, Johnny Dollar said:

Just because Scottie uses a Green Lantern decoder ring to encrypt her messages doesn't mean that Howard isn't crazy and that this isn't just a simple power struggle for the company. 

I feel like it'll be the opposite. Real Howard is dead. Fake 'Howard' will drop the crackpot facade to reveal a ruthless sleeper agent who has been playing Tom for a chump and he'll team with Scottie to take him down. If no S2 of Redemption happens, Fake Howard becomes a Blacklist mothership villain that Liz/Red and Scottie/Tom have to team up to take down. Solomon brings the friction.

[TobinAlbers]

I do appreciate the show not trying to play the shot goes off and we wonder if Tom was hit cliffhanger. But it did show us that Solomon is really itching to off Tom, LOL.

I laughed so hard at Tom's jump off the roof. His form was so odd like he was jumping off a pier into water.

Tom being hip to Nez's drug issues but not saying anything I believed. Loved that in the end she decided to get clean. The Tom and Nez hug was surprisingly nice. It also shows how the team is going to split - Nez is with Howard and Tom while Solomon is firmly Team Scottie. DuMont is Scottie but you can tell he's torn.

Scottie showed herself to be not such a grieving widow in electroshocking Howard.

BTW Howard, I think the honor for one decent person on your family goes to Agnes. I love Tom and would never kick him out of bed, but your boy does have blood on his hands so.....

Next week looks ah-mazing. Glad they didn't save it all for the finale and we're getting good stuff next week.

Edited March 31, 2017 by TobinAlbers

[ItCouldBeWorse]

Glad the Tom=Christopher deception is over.  Assuming that it's true.

[mandigirl]

What was that?? No seriously, what the HECK was that? I'm not saying this show was rainbows and sunshine, but this episode barely resembled the previous episodes with their light-ish, caper/heist vibe. The show went several shades darker, and it wasn't a good look. I'm not sure the writers know what tone they want to go with this show yet, but keep on lookin'. Thanks, but no thanks.

It is WAAAY too early in the show to be splitting the team. It was disheartening to see Solomon so willing to kill Tom.  All joking and banter aside, he was going to shoot him.  Scottie ordering the hit on Tom- no discussion, no interrogation, nothing. Knowing his has a young daughter. When is the Redemption part of this show starting again? 

Really, one of the few things I liked about this episode, besides Scottie finally knowing about Tom, was:

3 hours ago, TobinAlbers said:

Tom being hip to Nez's drug issues but not saying anything I believed. Loved that in the end she decided to get clean. The Tom and Nez hug was surprisingly nice.

All the Tom and Nez scenes were great this episode. 

I'm beginning to feel that these characters aren't gray, they're just inconsistent. I have no idea where the show goes from here. And not in a good way. 

[vb68]

She's been hit or miss for me, but Famke Janssen sold the emotion at the end.

1 hour ago, mandigirl said:

I'm not sure the writers know what tone they want to go with this show yet,

Yes, I believe that's true.  It all got pretty muddled.

[Princess Lucky]

Okay, this episode was amazing. More shit happened in the last 10 minutes than the first 4 seasons of The Blacklist.

I never expected Tom to reach out to Nez (especially because they'd be going against Solomon), but in retrospect the "Howard got me clean" storyline was the perfect way to do it. They planted the seed about Nez's loyalty to Howard, and it paid off. Surprisingly smart storytelling. And the way she asked for help with her addiction? And Tom hugged her? Their camaraderie was believable, because the show built it up with that case in Russia. Those two actors have a lovely, easy chemistry. Everyone does, really. Such a solid cast.

Every single scene between Scottie and Howard was gold. I honestly can't tell what's what. At first she acted like he was crazy, then she electrocuted(!!!) him, then she acted all calm and collected, when she thought she had discovered his "mole". I loved everything about that. And the final reveal? So well-acted. Famke was perfect when she found out about Tom (and in the subsequent phonecall with Solomon), but I loved Terry O'Quinn even more. When he said "he's our boy" you could see the glee. He was doing it to save Tom's life, but he was acting like he knew Scottie is a sleeper agent, and she'd have to maintain her cover as a worried mother. He was acting like he "knew" her emotional reaction would be fake. So subtle.

My reaction to Tom calling Howard "dad" showed that I somehow care about those fools. I blame Ryan Eggold and Terry O'Quinn.

I also liked the case of the week, strangely. I loved all the twists, and the fact Tom and Cantara bonded over their daughters (great acting there, too). I even liked that Tom explained to him what happened with the case, and who that insurance guy was. That's usually missing from procedurals. It's a small detail but I appreciated it.

Solomon in the woods with a turtleneck? I love him. And I'm warming up to Dumont, too. His reaction when he saw it was Tom in the footage was telling. And I liked that he called Tom "sweetheart," by the way. His type of babble is a lot better when you know it isn't sexist.

My favorite thing, though, is how everybody has loud, confidential conversations in the middle of public places. That guard at the medical facility was practically yelling. He was like, "Hey, guy sneaking around, did you get that? Howard's in room 5, and I'm about to go on a break! I'll be gone for thirty minutes!"

[TobinAlbers]

7 hours ago, mandigirl said:

Scottie ordering the hit on Tom- no discussion, no interrogation, nothing. Knowing his has a young daughter. When is the Redemption part of this show starting again?

They saved the confrontation and interrogation for next week.  For this week they wanted to have the drama of Scottie and Howard having their confrontation and he dropping the bomb while Tom was in 'peril'.

The more effective way for that reveal would've been exactly as you said - Scottie brings Tom in and has Solomon interrogate/beat him, Scottie threatens him and his family and Tom doesn't break. Or maybe he does and admits he was working with Howard and is her son once she threatens his family, but Scottie doesn't believe him and she goes back to Howard and taunts him with finding his mole, shows him a live feed of Solomon with a gun to Tom's head and is about to give the kill order unless Howard comes clean about Whitehall when Howard then confirms that Tom is indeed their son and she realizes with horror that the one person in the world she wanted back she's effectively obliterated that reunion bridge.

Then her 'Redemption' story truly begins. But for them to go that dark (and logical place) leaves no room for Tom or Scottie to rebuild any kind of familial relationship.

2 hours ago, Princess Lucky said:

My reaction to Tom calling Howard "dad" showed that I somehow care about those fools. I blame Ryan Eggold and Terry O'Quinn.

Me too! Sad thing is I do think Howard is playing them both because this guy isn't Howard. Howard really did die on the plane and his doppleganger who works for another nefarious group was put in his place to out Scottie through Tom. That way Tom and Scottie are bonded together with the goal of avenging Howard if there is a Season 2.

[saber5055]

This was a pretty good episode, until I started to think about it too much. Of course Dumond has software that will take a blurry, distorted, pixellated frame and turn it into a razor-sharp image that can be facial recognized with Tom's ID photo. And Tom jumps off that building (yes, like he was jumping into a pool, so funny!). I was waiting for Howard to jump off after him. Then Scottie orders Solomon to kill Tom and he decides to use a sniper rifle from the second story of their own building? WTH? Why not just walk up to Tom and shoot him since it will be clear Solomon snipe/killed him anyway. Of course, we needed the suspense of "will he, won't he, can he, can't he" until Scottie called it off. But that story line was stupid. Why wouldn't Scottie interrogate Tom since if he's helping Howard there has to be others, right? Oh well. I guess we get that next week. Then there is Solomon in his "Yeah, Baby" Austin Powers 1960s white turtleneck. Really? Is that look coming back? And yeah, they saw him up in the woods since that turtleneck was glaring like a beacon up there. Then what was up with the bad guy murdering the driver? How did THAT instill confidence that the hostages would be exchanged w/o harm? I did laugh when Tom was driving the family away and the dad kept telling the kid to "shut up." Way to be a caring parent after your kid goes through kidnap trauma. On the bright side, I did LOL when Howard told Scottie to eat more since it takes a lot of energy to be a bitch. Best line of the series so far.

I find it irritating that Agnes keeps being brought up. Yeah, she's 11 months. We learned that last week. And the rescued guy did not ask her name, Tom. You asked his daughter's name (which we already knew), then you just volunteer "Agnes." WTH? And the captured guy was bleeding out like crazy hanging like a ham in that warehouse. Then he just walks away after rescue, la-de-dah. Okay then.