S05.E21: Lawrence Dan Devlin (No. 26)

[MostlyC]

Quote

Samar lands in the crosshairs of an unconventional Blacklister; Aram and the task force spring into action to find her before it's too late; Red journeys to Costa Rica to prevent the duffel bag of bones from being sold at an underground auction.

 

If they kill Samar....

[NeenerNeener]

Yeah, I was afraid she was going to flatline as he put the ring on her finger, and I'd be mad at both Blacklist and Lucifer.

[saber5055]

50 minutes ago, NeenerNeener said:

Yeah, I was afraid she was going to flatline as he put the ring on her finger,

I was totally expecting that. And surprised (and glad) she didn't.

But WTH Aram, Samar freaking CALLS you and tells you she's in a van going underwater and you stand around all verklempt because she said she would marry you. So how much time was wasted by NOT yelling out to the others about where she was?

I have to give it to the team for making it to West Virginia from wherever they were in a fraction of a second. I've been to West Virginia and it takes all day just to go a few miles in that state.

And where was a handy helicopter that could look for the van in water from the air? It could have been easily found since it kept going lower and then higher in the water each time it was shown.

Was that lug wrench in the back of the van all along? Alrighty then. But good on Samar for using some of her skills on the bad guy. That part was pretty cool.

Aram, get ready for that engagement ring to disappear. There's a reason no jewelry is left on hospital patients, especially ones in comas. Putting it on her finger was another stupid thing you did this episode. Your Stupid List is getting longer. You basically are responsible for a guy's death and everyone is all "whatever."

I hope Aram did some mouth-to-mouth with Samar while we weren't looking. Because a couple weak chest compressions then talking doesn't do much to bring a drowning victim back to life. From the outside, there was enough head space in the van for Samar to breathe for a full week. But that would have ruined the story line I guess.

Best line of the show: Red telling Lizzie how great it would be to fly back in his private jet ... then telling her she wasn't invited. Burn!

With the bones or whatever is in the duffle changing hands (and countries) so much, who's to say what's in the bag is what is suppose to be in the bag. There's a reason police evidence is bagged, tagged, sealed and secured so no one can fool with it. Anyone could put any old bones (or whatever) in there. For all we know, Tom's bones are in there by now. (Twist!)

Edited May 10, 2018 by saber5055

[paigow]

Birmingham is the next guy "holding the bag"....but he is not the next Blacklister...or is he?

Edited May 10, 2018 by paigow

[Neiman]

I wasn't all that impressed with tonight's episode.  Seemed like deja vu at times...Samar running through the woods reminded me of Mr. Kaplan and her captor.  Aram with Samar at the hospital was like Lizzie being on the respirator a few seasons ago.  Same old plot with different characters, but I do hope we can put the duffel bag to rest soon.

[MostlyC]

1) Tom

2) Mrs. Kaplan

If they kill Samar off, it will be three Strikes and I'm out.*  Show, you have been warned.

* (who am I kidding, I mod this show), but I will be very, very upset.  

[Just my 2 cents]

I was touched by Liz standing around at the hospital with her team watching over Samar.  Oh yeah, that didn't happen.  Can they make the character anymore self-centered and unlikeable.  MB is by no means in the same acting league as James Spader so the least they could do is make her likeable.  I'm so sick of those bones I could scream.  And quite frankly if that idiot Liz went with Mr. Kaplan instead of getting out of the car last season she would have known the secret. 

2 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Aram, get ready for that engagement ring to disappear. There's a reason no jewelry is left on hospital patients, especially ones in comas. Putting it on her finger was another stupid thing you did this episode. Your Stupid List is getting longer. You basically are responsible for a guy's death and everyone is all "whatever."

It totally annoys me when they do this on tv.  Anybody with a brain knows this is going to happen.  I had a grandmother lose a ring while she was staying in a retirement community.  We left it on her since her husband and my dad were there every day to with her, but them being men didn't notice although we kept asking about the ring.  We later found out the thief was my dad's sister.

Oh well, I guess we can say that Aram has truly graduated and become an FBI agent.  Ressler kills someone and then hires a cleaner that blackmails him.  Liz is chronically stupid.  If that doesn't make him a valuable member of their team I don't know what will.  I can only deduce they're in contract negotiations with Mozham Marno and I hope to see the only competent agent on the team that isn't originally FBI.

[Mysteyman]

Well, Samar is not dead.

but it looks like it could be a long way back.

[ottoDbusdriver]

5 hours ago, Mysteyman said:

Well, Samar is not dead.

but it looks like it could be a long way back.

I laughed at Samar's series of unfortunate events in this episode -- tries to escape but gets easily recaptured, causes a car accident only to get impaled by a tire iron, tries to use the tire iron to pry her way out of the back of the van but the tire iron snaps in 2, a bear kills her kidnapper (that she had previously stabbed), the bear then rolls the van into a river where it fills with water and Samar drowns.

Laughed even harder at Aram's multiple attempts to unlock the cage door in the van.

How does this two-bit fixer rate No. 26 on the Blacklist ?  I think they added the dead bodies in the woods/medical experimentation (which was never really explained) just to pad his Blacklist resume.  Because as a Blacklister he kinda sucked -- way worse than even the Kings of the Highway.

The travel shenanigans were pretty bad this episode -- DC to West Virginia apparently takes minutes to drive.

According to Lawrence Dane Devlin's driver's license he weighed 227 lbs. -- I seriously doubt that.
Devlin is a thanatologist -- look at the big brain on Lizzie with her million-dollar words.  I somehow suspect that Lizzie had just looked that up in the dictionary and decided to show off to Cooper.

All the nonsense with Red was just that -- nonsense.  Someone else has the coffee can of bones (or whatever the bones are in now).  Really ?
This payoff for following these bones had better be huge, but I suspect it will be underwhelming (which is SOP for this show).

Aram may quickly discover that his decision to give that bible to Moore may have severe repercussions, now that Samar is recovered. 
Who am I kidding, Lizzie shot and killed the Attorney General and got her job back so Aram should be just fine.

What are the odds that Aram would stop his car at the very exact point on the road where the van rolled over, and was then rolled into the river by the bear.
And looking at the area where Aram found that glass there were so many trees there's no way there was a clear path for the van to roll down and into the river.
Even when they showed Aram jump in the river for the rescue, there's no way that van rolled through that area.
Of course for a minute there, Samar was living in a van down by the river.  

To borrow a phrase from Seinfeld, what exactly is the coma etiquette in this situation ?  Because you have to respect a good coma.
Aram's bedside proposal is pretty stupid -- if Samar wakes up she won't remember it and he will have to do it again.  Come on Aram, you can do so much better.

Was there even an Agnes reference this episode ?   There was certainly no sign of the dogs -- but we did get a bear, so we'll call it a push.

[TheGreenWave]

2 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

I laughed at Samar's series of unfortunate events in this episode -- tries to escape but gets easily recaptured, causes a car accident only to get impaled by a tire iron, tries to use the tire iron to pry her way out of the back of the van but the tire iron snaps in 2, a bear kills her kidnapper (that she had previously stabbed), the bear then rolls the van into a river where it fills with water and Samar drowns.

Laughed even harder at Aram's multiple attempts to unlock the cage door in the van.

How does this two-bit fixer rate No. 26 on the Blacklist ?  I think they added the dead bodies in the woods/medical experimentation (which was never really explained) just to pad his Blacklist resume.  Because as a Blacklister he kinda sucked -- way worse than even the Kings of the Highway.

The travel shenanigans were pretty bad this episode -- DC to West Virginia apparently takes minutes to drive.

According to Lawrence Dane Devlin's driver's license he weighed 227 lbs. -- I seriously doubt that.
Devlin is a thanatologist -- look at the big brain on Lizzie with her million-dollar words.  I somehow suspect that Lizzie had just looked that up in the dictionary and decided to show off to Cooper.

All the nonsense with Red was just that -- nonsense.  Someone else has the coffee can of bones (or whatever the bones are in now).  Really ?
This payoff for following these bones had better be huge, but I suspect it will be underwhelming (which is SOP for this show).

Aram may quickly discover that his decision to give that bible to Moore may have severe repercussions, now that Samar is recovered. 
Who am I kidding, Lizzie shot and killed the Attorney General and got her job back so Aram should be just fine.

What are the odds that Aram would stop his car at the very exact point on the road where the van rolled over, and was then rolled into the river by the bear.
And looking at the area where Aram found that glass there were so many trees there's no way there was a clear path for the van to roll down and into the river.
Even when they showed Aram jump in the river for the rescue, there's no way that van rolled through that area.
Of course for a minute there, Samar was living in a van down by the river.  

To borrow a phrase from Seinfeld, what exactly is the coma etiquette in this situation ?  Because you have to respect a good coma.
Aram's bedside proposal is pretty stupid -- if Samar wakes up she won't remember it and he will have to do it again.  Come on Aram, you can do so much better.

Was there even an Agnes reference this episode ?   There was certainly no sign of the dogs -- but we did get a bear, so we'll call it a push.

AMEN to your entire post.  A bear.  A F***ING BEAR?!?!??! 

I felt so bad for Samar - if her character is going out, I'd rather her go out in a blaze of glory.  Instead we get the series of unfortunate events...resulting in a coma.  How pathetic.

Also, I know that they like to play around with Blacklist numbers, but having this rando as 26 was really perplexing.

[paigow]

5 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Laughed even harder at Aram's multiple attempts to unlock the cage door in the van.
 

Titanic homage....Aram should be playing "Come And Get Your Love" in their PRIVATE ICU room...

Edited May 10, 2018 by paigow

[saber5055]

5 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Someone else has the coffee can of bones

Okay, this made me LOL, which I needed so thanks. So much to snark on, made watching this episode worthwhile. It was comedy gold. I had forgotten about the bear. Because a black bear will just run over and kill a guy standing there. Not. And maul a van to get at whatever is inside because it's so hungry after killing/eating an entire guy. Never.

5 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Of course for a minute there, Samar was living in a van down by the river.  

I see what you did there. Nice one.

5 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

if Samar wakes up she won't remember it and he will have to do it again.

Or not do it again. There's always that.

12 hours ago, Mysteyman said:

Well, Samar is not dead.

but it looks like it could be a long way back.

It took Lizzie 10 months after falling off of a chair, so yeah, this comma could last the entire next season.

37 minutes ago, paigow said:

Titanic homage....Aram should be playing "Come And Get Your Love" in their PRIVATE ICU room...

Odd that IT specialist Aram has to play his tunes on a laptop. Doesn't own anything smaller, like what every kid in American uses for a playlist?

[milkyaqua]

Speaking of Aram playing his music, unless they were in a private ward somewhere that was awfully loud...  And yes, I had the same thought about the ring but we're talking Aram and he does keep getting dumber the longer this show goes on.  Also, I guess I'm asking a lot but I guess no one x-rays evidence for any potential hidden items because maybe they'd have found the pill?  But hey, as has been said, everyone on this task force has killed someone and not really suffered the consequences for it so why not Aram?

As for the bones, I'm waiting for a damn good justification as to why an entire season has been devoted to this nonsense but I don't trust TPTB to actually come up with a legit payoff.  Based on the previews though, it looks like our Lizzie continues her string of boneheaded moves so there's something to look forward to...

[Such A Flirt]

Come on, like Samar couldn't have kicked that guy's butt a hundred times.

 

And I usually like Aram, but he was creeping me out in the last scene. Dude, I don't care what she said earlier, she can't consent! I was cringing the whole time. At least she didn't magically open her eyes when he put the ring on.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

21 hours ago, paigow said:

Birmingham is the next guy "holding the bag"....but he is not the next Blacklister...or is he?

Yes-under his real name.

[Just my 2 cents]

15 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

I laughed at Samar's series of unfortunate events in this episode -- tries to escape but gets easily recaptured, causes a car accident only to get impaled by a tire iron, tries to use the tire iron to pry her way out of the back of the van but the tire iron snaps in 2, a bear kills her kidnapper (that she had previously stabbed), the bear then rolls the van into a river where it fills with water and Samar drowns.

It shouldn't have been hilarious, but it was.  It was like one of those children adventure books where they set out to do a task and everything goes wrong.  It was ridiculous. 

[VinceW]

A real letdown of an episode for the most part given how Red and Liz are now feuding. The "blacklister" was of no significance, yet he was able to keep control over Samar for so long.  She should have been able to easily overpower him at any time especially when she stabbed him after he tracked her down in the woods. She has lost many of her kick butt Mossad agent skills from the past. When the music started playing at the hospital, I assumed that Samar would be killed off, but it looks like another female FBI agent in a coma over summer hiatus. It seems unlikely that the writers would kill her off without also dropping Aram from the cast as well. IMO.

Aram was really not in stupid mode looking for Samar, but rather just desperate enough to move him towards the lead in finding her. The task force has tortured people on several occasions, but no one wanted to do that to save Samar's life. Red offering Cooper such a strange torture scenario was just ridiculous. As for Red taking no interest in saving Samar, recovering the duffel bag has top priority. Nicholas T. Moore was an evil man who killed multiple people and then chose suicide to end his predicament.  I doubt that Aram will suffer any repercussions over the incident. Just a very disappointing episode before finale. 

Edited May 14, 2018 by VinceW

[Johnny Dollar]

Way to go show!  Having the highly trained, bad ass female agent have to be rescued by the nebbishy male tech nerd. Welcome to the 19th century!

[paigow]

We have learned that Costa Rica needs a wall more than the USA....How many murderers, thieves, drug lords etc... were attending that auction????? [including Red & Liz]

On 5/10/2018 at 12:19 PM, saber5055 said:

It took Lizzie 10 months after falling off of a chair, so yeah, this comma could last the entire next season.

 

Auto correct played 50/50 and lost...

Edited May 11, 2018 by paigow

[misstwpherecool]

Ummm, didn't Lizzie finish last season on a respirator?  And Aram just happened to notice there was accident involving that poor tree. His claiming he used the book as a negotiation tact might save his job, they might discipline him but it did lead to something. 

And correct me if I am wrong but I thought basic first aid says don't pull an object out of you because it could make things worse and/or allow for bleeding it's stopping. I doubt Samar would've survived beyond a few minutes after pulling it out.

[Ottis]

I started fast forwarding through all the Samar scenes as soon as she escaped from the van. healthy and I injured, and RAN AWAY from her captor. A trained FBI agent? She should have decked him. 

It isn’t that I don’t like Samar. I like her more than Lizzie. I just had little interest in unrealistic twists and turns. 

Our only hope is that whoever nabs Liz next week, offs her. 

[Just my 2 cents]

29 minutes ago, Ottis said:

I started fast forwarding through all the Samar scenes as soon as she escaped from the van. healthy and I injured, and RAN AWAY from her captor. A trained FBI agent? She should have decked him. 

I can't be the only one that thought, "Isn't that the same breathing equipment Liz had earlier this season?  I hope they cleaned that filthy, dusty thing off and it's taped away from Samar's mouth."

[mxc90]

On 5/9/2018 at 10:26 PM, MostlyC said:

1) Tom

2) Mrs. Kaplan

If they kill Samar off, it will be three Strikes and I'm out.*  Show, you have been warned.

* (who am I kidding, I mod this show), but I will be very, very upset.  

Number one for me was when they killed Agent Meera.

[mandigirl]

Not sure how I felt about this one. I love Aram and Samar, so on one hand, I was pleased that we got to see some of that relationship play out. They have shown way too little of Aram/Samar so far for my taste. 

On the other hand... a BEAR? Seriously? It's like the now infamous storyline on 24 with a cougar. 

As many others have pointed out, Samar is extremely formidable, so I was bummed out that she wasn't able to disarm her captor who didn't seem to have any training at all. I can fanwank it that she had a concussion, but she was talking quite coherently and came up with a couple of plans to escape (cutting her ties, the flare, prying out the back window), so I just don't believe that she couldn't take him. 

On 5/10/2018 at 3:46 PM, Such A Flirt said:

And I usually like Aram, but he was creeping me out in the last scene. Dude, I don't care what she said earlier, she can't consent! I was cringing the whole time.

I was going back and forth on this one-- whether the 'engagement' was weird cute or just weird creepy. Aram's expression at the end sold it, and so I've decided on weird sweet. I hope they play At Last at their wedding. I wonder how long they're going to have Samar in a coma. 

Re the jewelry on a coma patient, I would think the fact that she's an FBI agent and being visited frequently by FBI agents would be a good deterrent! A vintage ring isn't worth getting hunted by the FBI! 

On 5/9/2018 at 9:13 PM, ally said:

And quite frankly if that idiot Liz went with Mr. Kaplan instead of getting out of the car last season she would have known the secret. 

Thank you Ally!! ITA 100%.  That was really the moment where I have never been able to like Liz again.  Her and Red facing off to get the bag is ridiculous and obnoxious because she never cared before. Liz wanting to know everything now is way too little too late. 

[Shades of Scarlet]

We enjoyed this one a lot and thought it was another good installment of the arc resulting from Garvey's actions.  True, the SOUE experienced by Samar was just that, unfortunate, and over the top a bit.  But I enjoyed Aram's rescue and how contrastingly calm Elizabeth, Ressler, and Harold were throughout.  Not to mention Samar.  Cool customer.  

I went with "she's suffering concussive aftereffects" as well to explain why Samar didn't just tee off on Devlin.  But given the usual complaints about how she's an impossible badass, etc., etc., I would think her inability to get away would have been thought more realistic.  

MB did a very good job in this one.  And the writers did an excellent job with Reddington's dialogue and Dembe's speech about terrorism plundering Muslim heritage.  

[dwmarch]

On 5/12/2018 at 4:08 PM, mandigirl said:

On the other hand... a BEAR? Seriously? It's like the now infamous storyline on 24 with a cougar.

I suppose it could have been the Blacklister's specially-trained body disposal bear. And I have to thank this show for not going the gory route after showing us the extensive collection of insects the guy had. I guess if you don't like rats this episode would have been pretty horrible but at least no one got eaten alive by bugs!

On 5/12/2018 at 4:08 PM, mandigirl said:

Re the jewelry on a coma patient, I would think the fact that she's an FBI agent and being visited frequently by FBI agents would be a good deterrent! A vintage ring isn't worth getting hunted by the FBI!

Of course knowing this friggin' show Samar could have a hundred FBI agents guarding her and a bad guy will rip a loud fart at the other end of the hall. All 100 agents go running off, the bad guys make off with her ring.

On 5/11/2018 at 2:22 PM, misstwpherecool said:

And correct me if I am wrong but I thought basic first aid says don't pull an object out of you because it could make things worse and/or allow for bleeding it's stopping. I doubt Samar would've survived beyond a few minutes after pulling it out.

Seriously, schools should use this scene to teach this lesson. See how there's an object stuck in there but no blood coming out? And see now, once the object is pulled out, how the blood gushes everywhere? I had about five minutes of first aid training twenty years ago and even I know that one!

[Drusilla]

What the frick is it with this show and saving women? If it's not Save Drippy Lizzy every week, now we have Save Samar, the most capable woman on the planet who needs no saving. And they're relying on the Task Force to save her? Christ.

[saber5055]

On 5/15/2018 at 1:59 PM, Drusilla said:

And they're relying on the Task Force to save her?

More like they were relying on the IT guy to save her.

On 5/15/2018 at 12:10 AM, dwmarch said:

Of course knowing this friggin' show Samar could have a hundred FBI agents guarding her and a bad guy will rip a loud fart at the other end of the hall. All 100 agents go running off, the bad guys make off with her ring.

My thought too, except there's no fart, the FBI guys just wander off looking for coffee and/or doughnuts. That ring is history.

[cameron]

On 5/11/2018 at 7:46 AM, Johnny Dollar said:

Way to go show!  Having the highly trained, bad ass female agent have to be rescued by the nebbishy male tech nerd. Welcome to the 19th century!

Can't believe that a Mossad trained agent couldn't have taken the guy down especially since there is a stray lug wrench in the back of the van where she is locked up.