The Blacklist 1.10 Review: Separation Anxiety

For all those that have yet to watch last night’s episode of The Blacklist, entitled ‘Anslo Garrick (No. 16) Conclusion’, then now is a great time for you to go and do that. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Well, we got our conclusion to Anslo Garrick storyline this week, including a very nicely executed death scene that Red carried out. There were a lot of great moments to this episode, but for the most part I just found myself confused. I mean, who was the guy that was talking to Red? What does Red have on them? Have we met them before? So many questions that it was almost difficult to enjoy this episode.

That being said, there were some good points to this conclusion. We got to see a lot more Aram, similar to last week’s episode, which was great. We also got to see Keen take down that man in the building across from hers effectively well. More suspicion, at least for our eyes, arose surrounding her husband, which is a tantalizing story I look forward to investigating further. Also, Dembe is most assuredly alive, and that is something I am very happy about. Getting to see Ressler kind of happy when his engaged ex-fiancé visits him in the hospital was almost worth the pain he went through. And one other thing was how comically good that team “Mr. Kaplan” used to take out that warehouse. They were really good. So, really, there was a lot of great stuff to this week’s episode, it just didn’t all seem to fit cohesively together as much as it normally does. The story was kind of a mess.

Overall, this episode was just messy. I did enjoy Aram and Keen working together, and getting to see Red say goodbye for now to Keen, with his parting words being to watch her husband. Again, the oddity of Ressler smiling was astounding in that he’s always the broody, dramatic character, and I definitely want to see more of that, particularly with interactions with Keen. I still have yet to see Cooper evolve into a fully formed character; for the most part he seems like a leader that doesn’t really have any more to him. The cameras in Keen’s apartment came to a head a lot earlier than I expected, and I’m not sure how I’m feeling about this series going forward, but I do think that of all ten episodes, this is merely the weakest, and I’m okay with that. Still, I have one question, and that’s was Red lying when he said he wasn’t Lizzie’s father, or was that a definitive answer? It didn’t sound like one to me, so I’m hoping he was lying.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“If you can’t save her, you’re of no use whatsoever.” – Red tells Ressler, after having saved his life.

“Anslo, what are you doing here?” – Red questions the man, knowing he was there all along.

“But I suppose I could make us a copy.” – Aram says to Keen, knowing it will be breaking the rules.

Okay, I’m off to review The Originals in a minute. Afterwards check back in for reviews of Supernatural and Trophy Wife.

The Blacklist 1.09 Review: Allies Today, Enemies Tomorrow

Anyone that has yet to watch yesterday’s episode of The Blacklist, entitled ‘Anslo Garrick (No. 16)’, now would be a good time to go and do that. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Now, wasn’t that just an intense hour of television? That’s two Monday night series that involved hostage-like situations (the other being Almost Human). Except, this one gets carried over to next week, something I’m not so sure I care about. I understand doing a two-part episode, but I’m not sure they couldn’t have wrapped this up well in this one episode. Or, at least, this episode could’ve ended a little differently. I get that cliffhangers are an exciting endeavor, but it feels a little cheap the way they did it on this series.

So, with this week’s episode we lost at least one character. One of Red’s bodyguards was killed and another possibly killed as well. I’m really hoping Dembe isn’t dead because, while I hadn’t grown attached to Luli, I have grown to like Dembe, so I’m really hopeful that that was someone else getting shot, not him.

Also, Ressler’s leg was shot, and there was a whole mess of having to cauterize his artery, which knocked him right out from the pain. Now, I know – or at least desperately hope – that they won’t kill him, there’s too much chemistry between him and Keen, but there is a chance he could lose his leg. I really hope that he doesn’t because that means desk job for him most likely and no more fieldwork. I think that would honestly be sad and wrong of the series not to use his untapped potential.

By the end of it, it seems as though Keen has also been caught. You’d think she’d have been smart enough not to leave her back open to multiple entry points. And while I do agree that splitting up does make things faster, it also makes this more dangerous. Now all there seems to be is Aram to save the day and take out the other devices blocking out calls. While I love Aram, and am so glad he also hasn’t been killed yet, him being their only hope does bode well, even if the other men hadn’t seen him and may stop searching after grabbing Keen.

All in all, this was a great episode intensity wise, but not exactly up to par with how the rest of this series has been going. What I’m trying to say is, this was a good episode of television, just not necessarily a good episode of this series. It was a little too all in one place, and not exactly fitting the tone of this show. That being said, I am excited to see how it goes next week.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Allies today, enemies tomorrow; the world is a complex place.” – Red explains to Ressler.

“I’ve only shot at paper.” – Aram states. “Pretend their paper.” – Keen shoots back.

“Kay, I think we’re cool.” – Keen mutters after throwing the device on the ground.

Okay, apologies for not posting this yesterday, but my sister need some help editing an assignment she was writing and it took longer than I expected. So here this is. Check back soon for reviews of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Originals, and Supernatural – not necessarily in that order.