S01.E19: The Pavlovich Brothers

[ElectricBoogaloo]

THE PAVLOVICH BROTHERS ARE BACK IN TOWN – The Pavlovich brothers specialize in abductions of high value targets and according to Red, they are planning their next hit. While the team tries to protect the next target, Red has a job of his own for the Pavlovich Brothers. Elsewhere, Liz patiently tries to uncover the truth about Tom.

[AimingforYoko]

You've got to give it to the Pavloviches, not many teams can break off in the middle of one extraction and take on another at the last minute, with pros no less and pull it off.

[nutty1]

So what was in the orange envelope in the bank box???

[JavaBlue]

I think Red killed her real family. She was collateral damage and he took her to her adopted dad to raise.

[SilverPoet]

I'm agreeing with Javablue so far.  I think it's entirely possible that Red killed her family, maybe even without knowing she was there, felt a connection to her due to the daughter he lost himself, and decided to take care of her.  That doesn't mean that I think Tom Keen was a 'good guy' though - I think it would be too easy to think that.  Lizzy is obviously the pawn here - but in what game is the question.

[picklesprite]

That's a really good theory to explain things, JavaBlue. Fits the preview, too.

[LittleIggy]

Lizzie needs a refresher in Interrogation 101. She misses the part about thumbs and handcuffs. Should have broken the arches of his feet, or maybe his knee caps...

[Jlina]

That's totally what I thought - he killed her Daddy - when I saw it, and I haven't watched from the beginning.  It seemed so obvious. Tom makes me throw up in my mouth a bit...too bad Lizzie's so damn stupid. There's never been an espisode I watched where Tom didn't skeeve me out, and I came in before the reveal.  I so hope he gets Red's brand of vengence no matter what.  "I knew I had you," from his shoe?  Gahhh.  His ego is bigger than his oversized eyes!

[Julia]

She drew a heart on his dusty shoes on the fourth date. Nope, that's not creepy at all.

[JavaBlue]

To speculate further, perhaps it was her real dad/family that took Red's family from him?

[mertensia]

My first thought was photos of Red killing her foster dad. My second was a photo of Red kicking a puppy.

[nutty1]

I guess I am in the minority that has always thought Tom was cute…….

[IndependentMind]

This sums it all up.

http://www.tv.com/m/shows/the-blacklist/community/post/the-blacklist-season-1-episode-19-the-pavlovich-brothers-review-139813733695/

[olivia1]

His ego is bigger than his oversized eyes!

 

Thanks for the laugh! They seemed even buggier than usual while he was handcuffed to that chair. I hope he meets his demise soon and I don't have to look at him anymore. I thought he was creepy in that commercial too. 

[cynthia187]

Tom was in the area when Red visited Liz's foster dad at the hospital.  I think the picture is of Red snuffing out the foster dad, though it looked as if it were an agreed-upon deal.  The man was already dying.

 

I have to hand it to Red to hire the guys that the FBI were trying to find, to stop in the middle of their work and track down Tom and gift package him to Lizzy.  That's some dedication.

[pcta]

Liked the TV.com review. But for me the problem with Lizzie is that she thinks she's hard ass (remember her description of her self in the pilot) but she's just incredibly over emotional, self concerned and not too bright. Maybe in the hands of a more competent actress she could seem multi-dimensional, layered, conflicted. It could be the show runners really do want her to seem like an overaged teenager (hence the hair) who is going thru some bizarre coming of age story.

Hubbie better not turn out to be "one of the good guys" but then in the world of espionage . . . good guy is a fluid notion.

[picklesprite]

pcta:

the problem with Lizzie is that she thinks she's hard ass (remember her description of her self in the pilot) but she's just incredibly over emotional, self concerned and not too bright. Maybe in the hands of a more competent actress she could seem multi-dimensional, layered, conflicted.

I think that's true, and I think there's also something screwy going on with the writers if Lizzie is their idea of a modern heroine. They should read some female private eye stories and Young Adult heroine stories if they want to grok smart, brave, and heroic female characters. Also, she could use a sense of humor.

When LIzzie turned her back on Tom last night and then talked strategy right in front of him, my eyes rolled far enough out of my head to watch that volcano erupt in Peru.

[kaygeeret]

And, sadly, I laughed in her emotional confrontation with Tom when she semi pathetically yelled 'And you are the man I wanted to

adopt a baby with" Or words to that effect.

Seriously how much screen time did we waste on Lizzie balking and refusing to adopt when Tom supposedly really, really wanted a kid.

Lord a mercy - where is my fainting couch at the lack of continuity, good writing and any sort of believable emotion from our gal Liz.

The other jaw dropping moment was lil' Liz being all tough and torture mastery and then being taken down in a matter of seconds.

What in god's name convinced anyone on this show that we would believe liz is a master questioner

Oh, the other laugh out loud moment - she is talking to Red and is mad at him for not telling her about Tom and how she feels all dirty because they had sex...his answer makes no sense and then she says "Oh and I need a lead". Just jaw dropping, again!

Question..she acted like she had no suspicion of Tom when she continued to stay with him and have sex even tho' she didn't want to. Why is she all mad at Red for not telling her - she knew he was a bad guy based on the last few episodes. I am confused by this

[Subrookie]

Sure Tom, you're the good guy. He killed what? 2 people and masqueraded as Lizzy's husband for 2 years. I don't know why they really included the story about the Chinese germ scientist other than a plot point to get the brothers available to kidnap Tom.

[milkyaqua]

Once again Red has to tell Lizzie how to figure how to catch the bad guys.  How does she function?

And the broken thumb, considering that Person of Interest pulled this same trick months ago just to name one show, come on TPTB and get some new schtick.

I've never found Tom interesting no matter what hat he's worn.  Of course, after Lizzie finds whatever is in the box (how does she not know he didn't just plant something?) no matter how mad she may be at Red, I predict little brainless Lizzie will soon buy whatever Red's selling.  Otherwise, there's no show because asking TPTB to reset and start from another point would probably make their heads explode.

[JoeSchwike]

Once again Red has to tell Lizzie how to figure how to catch the bad guys.  How does she function?

Hard to understand how she even graduated Profiler school, much less be seen as a promising star.  At one point, when she is crying to Red about how Tom had fooled her all these years, she goes on about how she never saw it, even though he was living right there in front of her.  She finally comes out and says "What does that say about me?"  I wanted to shout at the TV "It says that you are a terrible profiler!" 

At least she (and the show) don't seem to be pretending that she's figuring this stuff out anymore, she just blatantly tells Red "we're stuck, we need a lead", and even tells the whole Post Office crew she's going to go call/see Red whenever they get stuck.  

It would almost be more realistic if she were somehow Red's interpreter, while he spoke some rare language or psychically or something, then at least she could show some skill in understanding and translating.  As it is, even when he gives his cryptic clues or his long, cartoonish Reddingtonese stories, HE still is the one to translate into plain English for her - "Look where they have been, Lizzie".  

[Brattinella]

Ugh, where to start?  Turning her back while questioning him?  I was screaming at the tv!  Breaking a THUMB instead of a kneecap or two?  How does this woman even wipe her butt?  When she questioned her job choice, I was hollering "Go flip burgers!  Be a teacher!  This job AIN'T IT!"  I do blame lazy writers too, though.   That wan't the finale, was it?  If not, she BETTER take care of Mr. Betrayal!

[roughing it]

I noticed that after Lizzie broke herself away from the stair baluster, both wrists were fine.  If she had really pulled hard enough away to break the baluster, her wrists would have been at least a little red.  Just a lil tidbit.

[txwatcher]

NEVER break a thumb when someone is handcuffed. Street-smart (FBI trained) Liz should have known better. She should have went for the nose ala Chinatown or an eye. Her total lack of appreciation for Red gift wrapping Tom for her was outrageous. And her total trust in Tom's "clue' was equally bad.  Indeed, how does she know Tom's "clue' is fake. I guess we will find out next week. On the other hand Red proves once again that HE is the BADDEST Blacklister!

[picklesprite]

I think what happened long ago is that Liz's mom or dad said to Red, "Please look out for our little girl. She's not very bright."

[txwatcher]

NEVER break a thumb when someone is handcuffed. Street-smart (FBI trained) Liz should have known better. She should have went for the nose ala Chinatown or an eye. Her total lack of appreciation for Red gift wrapping Tom for her was outrageous. And her total trust in Tom's "clue' was equally bad.  Indeed, how does she know Tom's "clue' is fake. I guess we will find out next week. On the other hand Red proves once again that HE is the BADDEST Blacklister!

[catalogrrr]

This episode was so frustrating. The entire hour passed, and nothing happened.

 

I'd checked out of this show for a while but saw some commercials teasing Tom's real identity so I tuned back in. I really liked the previous episode, where lots happened.

 

Lizzie is ridiculous. How on earth is she the FBI superstar profiler and how does she even keep her job when she just takes off and lies to her superiors? Absurd.

[caseylane]

I realized why this episode dragged, very little Ressler and much more Lizzie. I don't mind her in small doses, or with Ressler or Red, but she isn't strong enough to to carry a scene by herself. Seriously, I would rather watch Red and Dembe' talk about changing the car's oil at that little place in the Swiss Alps, you know, the one with the lovely café next door.

 

The Pavlovich Brothers were pretty skilled. Here, we'll stow this kidnapping victim away while we go snatch another. Oh, and btw, we'll deliver him to the person looking for us. Not that they knew that or anything.

 

Somehow this show has left me conflicted. It is interesting but the FBI stupidity and Lizzie's inability to recognize a clue when she trips over it has me banging my head against the way.

[Danielg342]

Sometimes I wish the show would take a break from its "Case of the Week" format just to have an episode to focus on its mytharc and this episode was a great example. This was supposed to be the "big Tom episode" yet all we got was posturing and answers that put us no further than we were in Episode 18, all because the show just had to have a throwaway story about The Pavlovich Brothers kidnapping a Chinese scientist. I mean, aside from the Archimedes clue, did the Chinese scientist plot really provide anything memorable? Furthermore, if Red shows that he's willing to hire The Brothers for a job, why couldn't he do it anyway, without them having to be conducting another unrelated kidnapping first?

Having said that, I hope we have a "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" storyline where we find out that Tom and Red are really both being played by Fitch to perhaps go after the same target (Liz, or maybe just the FBI in general), with Tom and Red realizing they're being played and it's beneficial for the two of them- and "Berlin"- to work together. This way, Red stays a "good guy" and Tom can be redeemed in the eyes of the audience, without losing his "villainous" ways- and perhaps allowing him to maintain his marriage to Liz after all.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

As if we didn't already know, Elizabeth Keen is the worst agent ever. After Reddington specifically tells her that he has multiple people following Tom, she jumps out of the car and runs after him LIKE AN IDIOT.

 

My biggest fear was that Tom was going to kill the dog. I'm glad he just left the dog in the entryway and ran off.

 

I laughed SO HARD when Elizabeth petulantly told Reddington that she was going to find Tom with or without his help. Girl, what are you talking about? You can't find your own ass with two hands even when Reddington is helping you, so how in the hell do you think you're going to get anything done without his help? Tom is clearly part of an organization that trains its people very well, so finding him wasn't just a matter of checking out his favorite coffee shops to see if he's still hanging around. Unless she's willing to tell the FBI ran off and convince them to help her, then her only resources for manpower, research, etc. all lie with Reddington.

 

I hate how Reddington always holds back information. Instead of saying, "If you want to find where the Pavlovich brothers are, you need to find out where they've been," why didn't he just tell her to investigate the helicopter more? At least he admitted to her that he knew Tom killed Jolene and that he found the body.

 

Hee, I love that the skateboarder was named Preston. I also loved Elizabeth coming home and finding the Pavlovich brothers drinking wine with Tom tied up in the kitchen.

 

Again, Elizabeth is so stupid. Tom was only tied to a flimsy wooden kitchen chair but she kept turning her back on him so she could talk on the phone to Ressler and Reddington. Why was it so hard to answer the phone while facing towards Tom to keep an eye on him? I kept waiting for him to bust free while she was on the phone and then conk her on the head. And of course, she once again proved her stupidity by breaking his thumb. I loved that he told her that if you're going to handcuff someone you shouldn't break their thumb. Hahahaha! She thought she was being such a badass only to be told in not so many words that she had helped him escape.

 

In theory, I have felt really bad for her since she found out about Tom not being who she thought he was. I can't imagine what a huge betrayal that must be, to know that the person who you thought you loved most in the world was just pretending, that being with you was just a job. And I can't imagine having to pretend you don't know, to keep saying "I love you," to look at this person without disgust on your face, to keep yourself from asking why. When she told Reddington that she felt filthy after having sex with Tom after she found out, I really felt for her. But she has been so blank and wooden all season that I don't feel as bad for her as I know I could.

 

When she realized that Reddington still had his people following Tom, I just rolled my eyes. OF COURSE he wasn't just going to drop Tom off at your house and wash his hands of the whole situation. Obviously he knows how incompetent she is and he knew it was just a matter of time before Tom escaped so he had his people waiting to keep following him.

 

On a positive note, I really have to hand it to the Pavlovich brothers. They can intercept an FBI transportation of a Chinese scientist, stop to kidnap Tom with no time at all to come up with a plan (unless "blow up a dumpster and then chase Tom" counts as an actual plan), drop him off at home, have a leisurely glass of wine while waiting for Elizabeth to get home, and then continue with their plans to export the Chinese scientist in a crate without missing a beat. They would probably be great event planners if they ever consider changing careers.

Edited June 28, 2014 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Julia]

It just boggled my mind that what amounts to a nuclear asset - one a number of agents have been killed over - is being smuggled out of the country, and Lizzie walks away from the investigation so she can accept delivery from the smugglers of her husband the mole, who's also been involved in a number of murders, and have a nice long talk about her feefees. 

 

How could you? Really? That's what you want to concentrate on here, you whiny stonefaced dimwit?

[picklesprite]

I keep thinking of Elizabeth from The Americans and how her jaw would drop at the stupidity of Lizzy on Blacklist. Dumber than Stan when he's dealing with women!  In a confrontation between the two Elizabeths, we know who'd come out mincemeat. This probably should be a thread of its own, lol.

 

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ha, Elizabeth on The Americans would have LIzzie in a bodybag without even breaking a sweat! I can only imagine the look of disdain Elizabeth would give to Lizzie before kiling her.