Fone Bone
Matt Zimmer
This season's been pretty good. No need for a snarky talkback title this year.
The Blacklist "The Skinner"
I liked that Dembe is in the FBI.
Is it just me or with Liz dead, is the show much less insufferable? Ressler's still pretty bad though. And he DOES look like a mess.
Aram's stuff was funny. Harold is the worst boss ever.
I laughed at Harold speaking in Ebonics after the car crash.
Like Red's new bald look.
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised I was all right with the episode. Liz was the entire problem with the show and had been for seasons. With her gone it's gonna suck less. By definition. ***.
The Blacklist "The Skinner, Conclusion"
Red as the new Skinner? Good plan.
The kiss was both hysterical and surprisingly hot.
SO glad Liz is gone. Maybe the show will stop sucking. ***1/2.
The Blacklist "The SPK"
It's amazing how much easier the show is to take without Liz. They should have killed her off five seasons ago.
I love that the second Red agrees to the supervised visits, Harold goes and gets Agnes in the next room. That is a REALLY cool thing.
Vesco is quite amusing. I love when Red kissed him. I think Red doesn't really understand where he stands with Dembe. He thinks Dembe is his man in the FBI. And Dembe knows he isn't. I don't think Red will actually grow to resent this, but I don't think he understands it yet.
For the record, Ressler can get off his high horse. We the viewers have witnessed him do multiple things skeevier and more unethical than Dembe has ever been shown to be doing. It's infuriating to hear the guy complain about Dembe's ethics in the very episode he's trying to cheat a drug test. I'm guessing Ressler is gonna fill the show's d-bag power vacuum with Liz gone. It actually won't be a stretch. He was already the second worst character on the show after her.
Other than Ressler, that was good. ***1/2.
The Blacklist "Avenging Angel"
The end was super dumb. It was so dumb it insulted my intelligence. Red asks for the Angel's blood type, and says she looks about the right size for the heart transplant, and then he shoots her. That's not how donor matches are decided. It's so freaking stupid.
What bums me out is I really liked Red's idea that a person shouldn't be judged by their worst day, but by all the other days. I wish that cool insight hadn't come in such a dumb episode.
The stuff with Ressler and the urine? Dumb. I'm sensing a theme.
I did dig the 90 year woman who was the lead singer of a death metal band. That is very this show and very the company Red Reddington keeps.
But my brains hurts from how stupid that was. **1/2.
The Blacklist "Benjamin T. Okara"
I thought Park and her husband learning they lost the baby before they even knew they had it was cruel in the worst way this show tends to be cruel. Not on-board with that.
Speaking of which, the people at the lab can detect testicular cancer or pregnancy from a urine sample but can't determine to the gender of the giver? Not buying it. But perhaps I should have complained about that bit last week.
Never seen Red so mad at Dembe. But I'm glad he didn't make him go through with it.
The ending confused me.
I like Red's new female bodyguard. It's so much fun watching her and Red get the upper hand against criminals inferior to himself. It's ruining his business though. But oh, yeah, he's the Skinner. Almost forgot about that bit.
Annoying week. **1/2.
The Blacklist "Dr. Roberta Sand, Ph.D."
Interesting way for Red to choose a therapist.
I am not loving the stuff between Red and Dembe simply because I think both of them are wrong. And it would be easier for me if I could pick a side. But I think if Dembe gave the letter to Liz after promising he wouldn't, that's not cool. On the other hand I think Red is a bit paranoid and crazy to believe that did harm to Liz. There is no way to know if Liz would have survived that night. But Red DID. And apparently he might not have if she hadn't read the letter. I get that Red valued Liz more than himself. Can he possibly understand Dembe didn't feel the same way? That he thought it would be best for Red himself if Liz knew the truth so she wouldn't kill him? That he didn't betray Red for Liz's sake, but for Red's own good?
I'll tell you what I do like. I like that Red is talking to Sands and explicitly saying he fears his anger about the situation and losing control. Things might have been better for everyone if he had done the same thing during the ordeal with Mr. Kaplan. Red makes mistakes when he isn't thinking clearly. And his thinking is most muddled when he perceives a betrayal by a friend. And like Mr. Kaplan, I don't actually think Dembe was thinking about what he did in terms of a betrayal.
I'll tell you the real betrayal that Dembe did. He should have owned up to it after the fact. Frankly, it's out of character that he didn't. I'm actually most skeptical about this entire plotline because it's unlike Dembe to have this specific type of secret hanging between him and Red, even if he now works for the FBI. I'm half-convinced something else is going on.
The guy telling Harold somebody was obviously framing him was good to hear. It also means the anonymous blackmailer at the end is the real killer. Of course if Harold isn't a complete dope, he'd know it. For the record, the fact that that conversation was recorded is crazy suspicious. It also tells me the guy who supposedly covered the evidence is the actual murderer and framer. Why I can't say. But Harold would be a dope to not immediately suspect him after that phone call. In fairness to me, Harold might in fact be a dope.
I do not care about the drama between Park and her husband even one little bit. It's weird that the show thinks I should.
I like that Red knew something was wrong because Agnes revealed Liz said good things about him. During the last year of her life she reviled him, so if she said anything definitively good to Agnes it must have been the night she died, and AFTER reading the letter.
But let me tell you something. My biggest anger last season over Liz dying is that she apparently never learned the truth. I never believed she deserved to, but the producers shoved down my throat how important it was to her and her arc. And her dying when she did pissed me off like nothing else. And not because I personally didn't learn the truth myself. I feel better in hindsight to find out she actually DID learn the truth, and we just didn't know or learn it ourselves. It makes me feel a LOT better because Liz WAS the worst character on the show and it's definitely better with her dead and gone. And learning her arc DID actually pay-off, even if we didn't witness it ourselves is the last and biggest loose end about that sociopathic hot mess.
My favorite small moment in the episode was between the guest cast. I liked Sands asking indignantly if the mob boss was threatening her, and him breaking out into a big grin and owning up to it like a man instead of the evasive weasel many fictional mob bosses are when asked that exact question. He owns his bad behavior, and considering what she does for a living, she not only deserves that level of honesty, she also should be able to handle it. Ned Eisenberg has always been a solid character actor (I know him best from Law & Order SVU) so it was fun to watch that scene.
It was a good episode, but I'm concerned where things go from here. It's not outside the realm of possibility a competently written show could go somewhere interesting, or even great, with the Red and Dembe conflict. This however is NOT remotely a competently written show, and has never delivered even once, so I'm nervous instead. ***1/2.
The Blacklist "Between Sleep And Awake"
It was a nice but imperfect episode. I thought the break from the main narrative was lovely, and I really liked the guest cast. It was also good to get some of the gaps filled in from between the end of last season and the beginning of this one.
My negative note is that Ressler is a jerk. And he has been since the first episode. For an episode with such high emotional stakes and pathos, I can't really get invested in Ressler's pain as long as he's such a buttmunch. And he always has been. And frankly I don't understand why he is. It doesn't make his character or the show better. The show needed an antagonist for the team, and it randomly picked him. And now emotional, touching episodes with him don't work as well as they should. That's on this show. To be blunt, there are ways to have a character be a group complainer without either the character being a jerk or the audience hating them. But that's actually difficult and requires a lot of work and writing skill, and Ressler was not a character the writers of this show believed was important enough to put in that effort. In my opinion, there is no character you should put more effort into than The Resident Complainer. They are often the make or break character for any given show. Brainy Smurf literally broke The Smurfs. My Complainer character in Gilda And Meek (Bernadette) is amazing because I care about her and put in the work to make her amazing. You can't just shove a butthole in the middle of the heroes and expect the audience to simply accept that character by osmosis. That's not how it works. And while I don't want to see that kid crushed or disappointed by Ressler leaving, I don't think the kid is worse off when he does, which is a failing of the episode and the show. That was not the intended moral. But because Ressler is a butthole, it's the one I got.
For the record there is no way in hell any doctor would knowingly prescribe Oxy to someone they knew had a drug problem. The only way the show could think to get Ressler back to being an addict is by making it not be his fault. But there is no doctor in the world who would actually do that so the show is being fake instead.
It was a very well-put together episode. Focused on the wrong character. ***1/2.
The Blacklist "Dr. Razmik Maier"
Random thoughts about a passable episode.
I knew the nice and helpful guy was the bad guy. He was too nice and helpful.
Aram is a good interrogator.
Episodes like this are why I hate Ressler.
I was as disappointed in Dembe as Red was. Didn't for a minute believe Red's anger at him would be justified, but it totally was.
Okay. ***.
The Blacklist "Boukman Baptiste"
I'm glad Red and Dembe achieved a level of peace, but to be honest, Dembe is still on thin ice with me. His brutal honesty and willingness to own up to his mistakes makes me forgive a lot, but I'm not sure I can ever forgive him killing a kid.
I'll tell you what I didn't like. I didn't like Gerard being in this episode. Just because I know how mysteries like this are constructed on TV. Gerard has been used less and less in the later seasons, so when he appears in the very episode Red learns a source must have betrayed Liz's location on the night of her death, it just means I'm sure it's him. And I don't like that about television. Mysteries shouldn't be able to be solved ahead of time by looking at a guest cast list. And that is a very real weakness of all television. About the best thing I can say is that it's not just this show this problem affects.
I was very pleased with this episode otherwise. I very much liked the show dealing with the controversy of black men becoming police officers, and how pride and taking care of your community is a big part of that. Not all of the politics of this show are the same as the real world (Trump was never President there) but it's good that BlackLivesMatter matters to this show and is real in this fictional Universe.
I thought the episode was very solid. I am happy with this season so far, and it's literally been years since this show has made me happy, so I'm taking notice. I am SO glad Liz is dead. She was poison, ruined the show, and it's totally fine now with her gone. ****.
The Blacklist "Arcane Wireless"
That was a very well-constructed episode.
The teaser starting it off was great. I love Heddy.
It was a very visible fail for the task force, and I liked seeing every way they got fooled. It was like one of those phony "Greg Weisman-explain-everything exposition reveals", but it's a mission report instead of a villain brag, so it's actually credible that it's happening. I love that. It's showing us how they did the magic trick without actually ruining the joy of said magic trick. That's rare. And coming from a show I had been coming to detest as recently as last season, that's good.
The part of the mystery that doesn't hold up is that Red could have achieved this exact outcome simply by being a whistleblower and telling his associates how the phones worked. Hell, he could do this for ALL criminals using the phones, and he wouldn't have had to waste this much manpower and effort.
But I like that Raymond used that specific threat at the end for Heddy's sake. It struck me as a card he could only play once, and I thought it was awesome he used it for her. And by him doing that we can see why she was loyal to him to begin with. Maybe that's the actual reason he put in that specific effort. Maybe that's the only reason he needed.
And I like that the Task Force failed because Red designed them to fail. Arcane Wireless was actually only a threat to him.
I find it funny how much Aram hates his mentor, as well as utterly befuddling. The guy seems so sweet and genuine. Yeah, I get why Aram is intimidated by him. I just don't get why Aram would immediately suspect him of being a traitor because of the discrepancy he found.
Gerard is telling Red to drop investigating who killed Liz, which is another definitive thing that proves it's him. I hate television for this reason. All you have to do is look at a cast list to know who the actual culprit is. It's why Law & Order hasn't delivered an unpredictable episode in decades.
But that was surprisingly great otherwise. Getting rid of Liz turned a terrible show into a good one. It's as simple as that. *****.
The Blacklist "The Conglomerate"
Not into it. I can't stand Park (and never could) and I'm tired of the show asking us to accept all of the horrible things she's done because she's attractive and a woman. That's basically her entire defense, which makes it very clear why she considered a mess like Liz a role model. She's not even witty or funny or particularly smart to make up for that. She's just kind of hot and the show thinks that's enough.
It's not. She sucks and so does the show whenever it focuses an episode on her. I can't believe we lost a solid character like Navabi to this. *.
The Blacklist "The Skinner"
I liked that Dembe is in the FBI.
Is it just me or with Liz dead, is the show much less insufferable? Ressler's still pretty bad though. And he DOES look like a mess.
Aram's stuff was funny. Harold is the worst boss ever.
I laughed at Harold speaking in Ebonics after the car crash.
Like Red's new bald look.
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised I was all right with the episode. Liz was the entire problem with the show and had been for seasons. With her gone it's gonna suck less. By definition. ***.
The Blacklist "The Skinner, Conclusion"
Red as the new Skinner? Good plan.
The kiss was both hysterical and surprisingly hot.
SO glad Liz is gone. Maybe the show will stop sucking. ***1/2.
The Blacklist "The SPK"
It's amazing how much easier the show is to take without Liz. They should have killed her off five seasons ago.
I love that the second Red agrees to the supervised visits, Harold goes and gets Agnes in the next room. That is a REALLY cool thing.
Vesco is quite amusing. I love when Red kissed him. I think Red doesn't really understand where he stands with Dembe. He thinks Dembe is his man in the FBI. And Dembe knows he isn't. I don't think Red will actually grow to resent this, but I don't think he understands it yet.
For the record, Ressler can get off his high horse. We the viewers have witnessed him do multiple things skeevier and more unethical than Dembe has ever been shown to be doing. It's infuriating to hear the guy complain about Dembe's ethics in the very episode he's trying to cheat a drug test. I'm guessing Ressler is gonna fill the show's d-bag power vacuum with Liz gone. It actually won't be a stretch. He was already the second worst character on the show after her.
Other than Ressler, that was good. ***1/2.
The Blacklist "Avenging Angel"
The end was super dumb. It was so dumb it insulted my intelligence. Red asks for the Angel's blood type, and says she looks about the right size for the heart transplant, and then he shoots her. That's not how donor matches are decided. It's so freaking stupid.
What bums me out is I really liked Red's idea that a person shouldn't be judged by their worst day, but by all the other days. I wish that cool insight hadn't come in such a dumb episode.
The stuff with Ressler and the urine? Dumb. I'm sensing a theme.
I did dig the 90 year woman who was the lead singer of a death metal band. That is very this show and very the company Red Reddington keeps.
But my brains hurts from how stupid that was. **1/2.
The Blacklist "Benjamin T. Okara"
I thought Park and her husband learning they lost the baby before they even knew they had it was cruel in the worst way this show tends to be cruel. Not on-board with that.
Speaking of which, the people at the lab can detect testicular cancer or pregnancy from a urine sample but can't determine to the gender of the giver? Not buying it. But perhaps I should have complained about that bit last week.
Never seen Red so mad at Dembe. But I'm glad he didn't make him go through with it.
The ending confused me.
I like Red's new female bodyguard. It's so much fun watching her and Red get the upper hand against criminals inferior to himself. It's ruining his business though. But oh, yeah, he's the Skinner. Almost forgot about that bit.
Annoying week. **1/2.
The Blacklist "Dr. Roberta Sand, Ph.D."
Interesting way for Red to choose a therapist.
I am not loving the stuff between Red and Dembe simply because I think both of them are wrong. And it would be easier for me if I could pick a side. But I think if Dembe gave the letter to Liz after promising he wouldn't, that's not cool. On the other hand I think Red is a bit paranoid and crazy to believe that did harm to Liz. There is no way to know if Liz would have survived that night. But Red DID. And apparently he might not have if she hadn't read the letter. I get that Red valued Liz more than himself. Can he possibly understand Dembe didn't feel the same way? That he thought it would be best for Red himself if Liz knew the truth so she wouldn't kill him? That he didn't betray Red for Liz's sake, but for Red's own good?
I'll tell you what I do like. I like that Red is talking to Sands and explicitly saying he fears his anger about the situation and losing control. Things might have been better for everyone if he had done the same thing during the ordeal with Mr. Kaplan. Red makes mistakes when he isn't thinking clearly. And his thinking is most muddled when he perceives a betrayal by a friend. And like Mr. Kaplan, I don't actually think Dembe was thinking about what he did in terms of a betrayal.
I'll tell you the real betrayal that Dembe did. He should have owned up to it after the fact. Frankly, it's out of character that he didn't. I'm actually most skeptical about this entire plotline because it's unlike Dembe to have this specific type of secret hanging between him and Red, even if he now works for the FBI. I'm half-convinced something else is going on.
The guy telling Harold somebody was obviously framing him was good to hear. It also means the anonymous blackmailer at the end is the real killer. Of course if Harold isn't a complete dope, he'd know it. For the record, the fact that that conversation was recorded is crazy suspicious. It also tells me the guy who supposedly covered the evidence is the actual murderer and framer. Why I can't say. But Harold would be a dope to not immediately suspect him after that phone call. In fairness to me, Harold might in fact be a dope.
I do not care about the drama between Park and her husband even one little bit. It's weird that the show thinks I should.
I like that Red knew something was wrong because Agnes revealed Liz said good things about him. During the last year of her life she reviled him, so if she said anything definitively good to Agnes it must have been the night she died, and AFTER reading the letter.
But let me tell you something. My biggest anger last season over Liz dying is that she apparently never learned the truth. I never believed she deserved to, but the producers shoved down my throat how important it was to her and her arc. And her dying when she did pissed me off like nothing else. And not because I personally didn't learn the truth myself. I feel better in hindsight to find out she actually DID learn the truth, and we just didn't know or learn it ourselves. It makes me feel a LOT better because Liz WAS the worst character on the show and it's definitely better with her dead and gone. And learning her arc DID actually pay-off, even if we didn't witness it ourselves is the last and biggest loose end about that sociopathic hot mess.
My favorite small moment in the episode was between the guest cast. I liked Sands asking indignantly if the mob boss was threatening her, and him breaking out into a big grin and owning up to it like a man instead of the evasive weasel many fictional mob bosses are when asked that exact question. He owns his bad behavior, and considering what she does for a living, she not only deserves that level of honesty, she also should be able to handle it. Ned Eisenberg has always been a solid character actor (I know him best from Law & Order SVU) so it was fun to watch that scene.
It was a good episode, but I'm concerned where things go from here. It's not outside the realm of possibility a competently written show could go somewhere interesting, or even great, with the Red and Dembe conflict. This however is NOT remotely a competently written show, and has never delivered even once, so I'm nervous instead. ***1/2.
The Blacklist "Between Sleep And Awake"
It was a nice but imperfect episode. I thought the break from the main narrative was lovely, and I really liked the guest cast. It was also good to get some of the gaps filled in from between the end of last season and the beginning of this one.
My negative note is that Ressler is a jerk. And he has been since the first episode. For an episode with such high emotional stakes and pathos, I can't really get invested in Ressler's pain as long as he's such a buttmunch. And he always has been. And frankly I don't understand why he is. It doesn't make his character or the show better. The show needed an antagonist for the team, and it randomly picked him. And now emotional, touching episodes with him don't work as well as they should. That's on this show. To be blunt, there are ways to have a character be a group complainer without either the character being a jerk or the audience hating them. But that's actually difficult and requires a lot of work and writing skill, and Ressler was not a character the writers of this show believed was important enough to put in that effort. In my opinion, there is no character you should put more effort into than The Resident Complainer. They are often the make or break character for any given show. Brainy Smurf literally broke The Smurfs. My Complainer character in Gilda And Meek (Bernadette) is amazing because I care about her and put in the work to make her amazing. You can't just shove a butthole in the middle of the heroes and expect the audience to simply accept that character by osmosis. That's not how it works. And while I don't want to see that kid crushed or disappointed by Ressler leaving, I don't think the kid is worse off when he does, which is a failing of the episode and the show. That was not the intended moral. But because Ressler is a butthole, it's the one I got.
For the record there is no way in hell any doctor would knowingly prescribe Oxy to someone they knew had a drug problem. The only way the show could think to get Ressler back to being an addict is by making it not be his fault. But there is no doctor in the world who would actually do that so the show is being fake instead.
It was a very well-put together episode. Focused on the wrong character. ***1/2.
The Blacklist "Dr. Razmik Maier"
Random thoughts about a passable episode.
I knew the nice and helpful guy was the bad guy. He was too nice and helpful.
Aram is a good interrogator.
Episodes like this are why I hate Ressler.
I was as disappointed in Dembe as Red was. Didn't for a minute believe Red's anger at him would be justified, but it totally was.
Okay. ***.
The Blacklist "Boukman Baptiste"
I'm glad Red and Dembe achieved a level of peace, but to be honest, Dembe is still on thin ice with me. His brutal honesty and willingness to own up to his mistakes makes me forgive a lot, but I'm not sure I can ever forgive him killing a kid.
I'll tell you what I didn't like. I didn't like Gerard being in this episode. Just because I know how mysteries like this are constructed on TV. Gerard has been used less and less in the later seasons, so when he appears in the very episode Red learns a source must have betrayed Liz's location on the night of her death, it just means I'm sure it's him. And I don't like that about television. Mysteries shouldn't be able to be solved ahead of time by looking at a guest cast list. And that is a very real weakness of all television. About the best thing I can say is that it's not just this show this problem affects.
I was very pleased with this episode otherwise. I very much liked the show dealing with the controversy of black men becoming police officers, and how pride and taking care of your community is a big part of that. Not all of the politics of this show are the same as the real world (Trump was never President there) but it's good that BlackLivesMatter matters to this show and is real in this fictional Universe.
I thought the episode was very solid. I am happy with this season so far, and it's literally been years since this show has made me happy, so I'm taking notice. I am SO glad Liz is dead. She was poison, ruined the show, and it's totally fine now with her gone. ****.
The Blacklist "Arcane Wireless"
That was a very well-constructed episode.
The teaser starting it off was great. I love Heddy.
It was a very visible fail for the task force, and I liked seeing every way they got fooled. It was like one of those phony "Greg Weisman-explain-everything exposition reveals", but it's a mission report instead of a villain brag, so it's actually credible that it's happening. I love that. It's showing us how they did the magic trick without actually ruining the joy of said magic trick. That's rare. And coming from a show I had been coming to detest as recently as last season, that's good.
The part of the mystery that doesn't hold up is that Red could have achieved this exact outcome simply by being a whistleblower and telling his associates how the phones worked. Hell, he could do this for ALL criminals using the phones, and he wouldn't have had to waste this much manpower and effort.
But I like that Raymond used that specific threat at the end for Heddy's sake. It struck me as a card he could only play once, and I thought it was awesome he used it for her. And by him doing that we can see why she was loyal to him to begin with. Maybe that's the actual reason he put in that specific effort. Maybe that's the only reason he needed.
And I like that the Task Force failed because Red designed them to fail. Arcane Wireless was actually only a threat to him.
I find it funny how much Aram hates his mentor, as well as utterly befuddling. The guy seems so sweet and genuine. Yeah, I get why Aram is intimidated by him. I just don't get why Aram would immediately suspect him of being a traitor because of the discrepancy he found.
Gerard is telling Red to drop investigating who killed Liz, which is another definitive thing that proves it's him. I hate television for this reason. All you have to do is look at a cast list to know who the actual culprit is. It's why Law & Order hasn't delivered an unpredictable episode in decades.
But that was surprisingly great otherwise. Getting rid of Liz turned a terrible show into a good one. It's as simple as that. *****.
The Blacklist "The Conglomerate"
Not into it. I can't stand Park (and never could) and I'm tired of the show asking us to accept all of the horrible things she's done because she's attractive and a woman. That's basically her entire defense, which makes it very clear why she considered a mess like Liz a role model. She's not even witty or funny or particularly smart to make up for that. She's just kind of hot and the show thinks that's enough.
It's not. She sucks and so does the show whenever it focuses an episode on her. I can't believe we lost a solid character like Navabi to this. *.