Tom Keen: Shadowy Ex-Husband Guy

[mad_typist]

Tom Keen: too good to be true? Secret evil agent sent to seduce/marry Elizabeth in some long con?

Honestly his relationship with Elizabeth is one of the worst things on the show. Either he's evil, in which she's stupid for giving up on her suspicion so easily, or he's not, and he's stupid for forgiving her for turning him into the FBI for torture and harassment.

[Brattinella]

The moment she found his stuff under the floor would have been IT for me.  Jeez, how stupid/desperate is she to forgive?  I so want her to kill him off.  Or he her, whichever will be, will be.

[CatLady]

Tom was dull as dirt as the bookish doormat.  Tom the bad guy is a lot more interesting.  But I'm afriad he will have to die.  Red will never let him hurt Liz. 

Tonight should be a tension-filled episode with the knowledge Liz has now.

[SilverPoet]

I'm interested to see how the acting goes down...I somehow simply don't believe that Lizzy can con the con she's been married to.  

[WasntMe]

I'm interested to see how the acting goes down...I somehow simply don't believe that Lizzy can con the con she's been married to.  

yes!  I fear poor Liz cannot even come close to pulling this off. He's been on this gig for 2 years at least, I do not have high hopes for her.

On that note, he's been married to her for 2 years right- so he's been targeting her for longer.  And he's there because of Red's interest in her.  But Red didn't show up in her life until recently (I don't know how long in show time, but it's certainly not 2 years), so Red's "interest" in her must have been discovered elsewhere?  Or am I mixing things up?

[kaygeeret]

Oh WasntMe, it doesn't matter if you are mixing things up.  The show has never had coherent plot progression or consistency.

From the first episode where Liz is totally badass to the second where she is a naïve little kid, everything is good for that one episode and that episode only.  Many of the knowns will change next week!

I mean why would Tom want a kid that much...is he really so rotten he would potentially ruin a kid's life?  Maybe so, but the answer will change in time.  We all have our own favorite examples of head swiveling changes in direction and character that happen w/o explanation or development.

Just hang on for the ride.

Tonight promises a few laughs anyway as Boone tries to show some emotion.

 

 

 

[Tigris Tv]

I think Red has popped out of the woodwork the way he has BECAUSE Tom found her.  I think she was nice and safely hidden and then Red found out who Tom was and took steps to get inserted into her life and undermine Tom's influence.  And because he's dramatic and could use their resources, is using this Blacklist method to do it.  I think Tom is there not because of her connection with Red (not directly) but because of who Lizzie is or who she might be (ie. related to whether Red or someone on Red's blacklist) and how that can be used.  Except Tom tries his best to get Lizzie away from Red and guilt her out of her job in a way, so that implies to me that they're not really using her to get to Red, but right now are trying to keep her away from him.  Looking forward to finding out more.

[IWantCandy71]

Tom Keen is the only reason I'm bothering at this point.

I decided: I really don't like Liz. LOL And I want Tom to get away. Now personally, I think "dream Tom " in Liz's dream is on to something. I still think there's far more to Tom than we know. I don't think he's as bad as it might look.

[JohnnyBravo]

Never really figured out exactly what Tom was all about.

[IWantCandy71]

I think that's all the more reason why he needs to stay on as a character. At this point, he's more mysterious than Red IMO. And he's more interesting to me than Lizzie and sometimes even Red himself, and certainly more interesting than the rest of the supporting characters. I want to know more.

[betsyboo]

Have we ever had confirmation that Red was his boss at the time he married Liz? I think they've purposely made the Red/Tom connection ambiguous. Even the confrontation at the winter break is muddy. He's ordering Tom to stay away from Liz, Tom says "I didn't tell her about us" and there's obviously emotion there on both their parts. But what does that mean? Could mean lots of things, which is why the speculation is fun.

Unless I missed it though, they've never clarified Tom "worked" for Red when he married Liz. In fact, I always assumed Tom was ordered NOT to have anything to do with it (if indeed Tom worked for Red at the time). I always figured Tom went "rogue" and married Liz on his own, which is when he and Red went on the outs. Hence, why Red sent the hitman to their house, etc.

I'm moving my reply to Tom thread. I thought (and i admit to not necessarily paying close attention) that Tom worked for Berlin, with some unkown end game on behalf of Berlin and the daughter he thought Red had killed. When they acknowledged they knew each other, I just assumed it was because Red knows everyone and had run into him during his shady past.

 

I'm guessing Berlin sent him to marry Liz in a long con to get to Red....?

[Wynterwolf]

I'm moving my reply to Tom thread. I thought (and i admit to not necessarily paying close attention) that Tom worked for Berlin, with some unkown end game on behalf of Berlin and the daughter he thought Red had killed. When they acknowledged they knew each other, I just assumed it was because Red knows everyone and had run into him during his shady past.

 

I'm guessing Berlin sent him to marry Liz in a long con to get to Red....?

 

Ha, yes, I need to go back and rewatch basically everything.  I think that is the short answer, but I had wondered at the time whether Berlin hiring Tom could also have been set up as part of someone else's larger agenda that Berlin wasn't aware of.  In true spy-family dysfunction, I had thought it could have been Lizzie's mother, since it didn't appear to be Red (based on the scene at the hospital) but the waters are definitely very murky around all this stuff.  **claps hands together in glee**

[Winnief]

OMG, am loving Tom's backstory, (he's now my show favorite-sorry Red!!)

 

Like that we finally get an explanation...Tom WAS working for Red, (probably on some non-Lizzie related assignment.) but Berlin made a better offer

[IWantCandy71]

Eh, I'm disappointed. It seems too easy. :(  And not all that exciting, TBH.

But I guess that's better than the explanation being so convoluted that it's unbelievable.

 

I will agree Tom has surpassed Red for me, but honestly JS's shtick got old for me in the middle of the first season. I don't think I'd still be watching if not for Tom.

Edited March 16, 2015 by IWantCandy71

[formerlyfreedom]

I am anxiously awaiting the gif of Tom's shirtless workout. Thanks in advance!

[JoeSchwike]

After that last scene, I think Red hired Tom to keep track of Lizzie.  His soliloquy about being the 'secret benefactor' makes me believe Red wouldn't have let Tom get near her unless it was on his orders.  

Then Berlin outbid Red to get Tom to feed info to him on Red.  And I think Tom fell in love w/Liz and wanted to get her out of the FBI (maybe the Nebraska stuff was genuine attempt for them to start over).  

[willow2tree]

Um, didn't Tom get shot last season?  Are there any scars?  Not that I don't enjoy Ryan's torso just as it is...

[luvly]

I am anxiously awaiting the gif of Tom's shirtless workout. Thanks in advance!

 

Why settle for one gif when you can have an entire giftset?

 

[pnkj1208]

Does anyone remember when Tom and His so called brother had the conversation in the bathroom while Tom was shaving ? They were talking about a car accident in Arizona they have never alluded to it again I wonder what that is all about??

[bluvelvet]

Wonder if he will get those tattoos removed when he has his next assignment.

[Winnief]

Does anyone remember when Tom and His so called brother had the conversation in the bathroom while Tom was shaving ? They were talking about a car accident in Arizona they have never alluded to it again I wonder what that is all about??

 

 

Tom's 'brother' Craig was talking about how Liz had been asking questions about how "their parents' supposedly died in a car crash in Tuscon.  Basically it was all part of Tom's cover story. 

 

Wonder if he will get those tattoos removed when he has his next assignment.

 

 

They might be removeable tattoos as is-and there is some kind of laser treatment to remove permanent tattoos as well.

 

And thank you so much for those gifs!  Yowza.

[sjohnson]

There's the question of when Red grew suspicious of Tom. My guess is that he was hoping Tom would just be a noble memory after the first episode. But I don't know if his plan was to sacrifice Tom all along, or he came up with it because he no longer trusted Tom to carry out his orders? The notion that Red couldn't cook up a convincing accident to ensure he was working with the Widow Boone seems implausible, given Red's Godlike powers. 

 

But when they confronted each other outside the hospital in Nebraska? I can't find any way for that conversation to make any sense now.

[JoeSchwike]

There's the question of when Red grew suspicious of Tom. My guess is that he was hoping Tom would just be a noble memory after the first episode. But I don't know if his plan was to sacrifice Tom all along, or he came up with it because he no longer trusted Tom to carry out his orders? The notion that Red couldn't cook up a convincing accident to ensure he was working with the Widow Boone seems implausible, given Red's Godlike powers. 

 

But when they confronted each other outside the hospital in Nebraska? I can't find any way for that conversation to make any sense now.

Your post got me thinking about that meeting too, and the sequence of events.  The only way I can make sense of it is if Red hired Tom (thru the Major) anonymously, to keep tabs on Liz, and Tom never knew Red was the one behind it.  Tom seemed not to know who Jolene was initially, and I would imagine in an organization like the Major's where everyone is trained to always be someone else, there was little direct contact with any of the clients.  However, Red knew who Tom was, and was getting his reports.  

 

Somewhere along the line (possibly right before he turned himself in) he realized that he had been double-crossed, and could no longer trust Tom, that he had been compromised by Berlin.  So he turned himself in to pull Liz directly into his orbit, and keep better tabs on her.  He couldn't kill Tom outright without tipping Berlin off that he knew he'd been double-crossed, and without making Liz suspicious of him, so he tried to make her suspicious of Tom instead.  The conversation at the hospital was Red's way of warning Tom that he knew something, and Tom may have sensed that Red was a threat (or may have even heard of Red's reputation, due to dealing in those circles), but didn't realize Red was his original client.  

 

Doesn't make perfect sense (not much on this show does), but that's as close as I can understand it.  

[Drusilla]

I still think he's a CIA operative