All right, I really have to finish this. I didn't make the deadline of this Monday, when The Blacklist returned after a long winter break. My weekends, normally reserved for relaxing and having fun, were too full of things I had to do. Actually, they're supposed to be reserved, but there's always something.
After this, I have only five more days to write, even though I should have been done by today, the day The Blacklist finally returns. I loved this challenge, but it was impossible to keep up with. I could have had I not decided to make GIFs for quite a few of these and had I noticed that it started a week earlier. Next time I say I'm doing a 30-day challenge, for the love of EVERYTHING, please help me see the crazy before it overwhelms me. So anyway...
Still catching up on this challenge. I got far behind because of Christmas and I didn't even know it existed until more than a week after it started. Even though I'm addicted to The Blacklist and other shows, I was away from Tumblr for too long. I just let my queue take over.
*As usual, all screencaps belong to NBC.
Day #16: If you had to choose between being a member of Team Red or being a part of the Federal Agency, what would you choose?
I already made these gifs for an earlier post. Time saved. Woohoo!
Both are dangerous jobs, so I'd rather be on the team that has more fun, more cash...and more hugs. ;) It's also the one that has Red, one of the most compelling characters ever on TV. He's dangerous and unpredictable, you say? All the better. Gotta keep me on my toes. Team Red all the way. (Edit 1/18/18: But Team Fed has Aram. He's adorable and sweet. Hard choice, all these seasons later, now that I know him.)
Day #17: Share your favorite couple on The Blacklist and why?
I have to say Red and Liz, but as a partnership with a lot of questions on Liz's side and unexplained and intense feelings on Red's side. I'm still not convinced (by the Tumblr community) that they aren't related. My favorite idea beyond a father-daughter relationship, though, has always been that he saved her as a child, maybe from her real father, or he accidentally put her in harm's way and felt obligated to protect her; all of which were simultaneous ideas I had during their first meeting and Red smiled at Liz with this mix of joy and pain. Anyway, I'm repeating myself, because I didn't know this question had been posed before I answered it in another post.
Day #18: Who do you believe is the biggest Bad Ass on the Series?
I saw someone else say "everyone" and I agreed. All are different bad asses in their own ways. Red took a beating from Anslo and could have died from what the worst doctor in the world injected into him. He has also survived the criminal world for more than two decades after something terrible happened to him and he had to abandon his life. Liz went cuckoo bananas in the pilot and unexpectedly stabbed Red in the neck. In "Anslo Garrick" she took charge and grew as an agent. Ressler can handle himself in a fight...unless he's attacked from behind in an elevator. Hey, you can't win them all, and I wouldn't want anyone to be unrealistically infallible. I know nothing more of Meera Malik as a person than she's good at torture. I would want to keep a safe distance from her. Cooper didn't flinch when Anslo threatened everyone. Didn't even seem to care that Luli died and certainly didn't care that it hurt Red. Very cold. I could even say Tom. Don't know what he's doing, but he's messing with Red's future. That's a dangerous position to be in. And last, but certainly far from least, Dembe. He has an intimidating presence, but needed very few words to make us care about him. We weren't prepared to lose Red's closest friend and we were ready for a riot.
Day #19: What would you change about the show so far?
Only little things, such as more screen time for Meera, Ressler, and Aram. I want to know more about them, but first I want to get through Red and Liz's story. Their relationship is the beating heart of the show. We need to know how it began. I don't want the writers to rush anything to get to the other characters. If it's going to be a number of seasons before we are given concrete answers (something I don't think will happen) then, yes, please sprinkle in more secondary character development when there is room. So far the most important elements have been there, so I wouldn't change anything about the first episodes.
Day #20: Share your favorite quote from The Blacklist.
"A farmer comes home one day to find that everything that gives meaning to his life is gone. Crops are burned, animals slaughtered, bodies and broken pieces of his life strewn about. Everything that he loved taken from him...his children.
One can only imagine the pit of despair, the hours of Job-like lamentations, the burden of existence. He makes a promise to himself in those dark hours. A life's work erupts from his knotted mind.
Years go by. His suffering becomes complicated. One day he stops. The farmer, who is no longer a farmer, sees the wreckage that he's left in his wake.
It is now he who burns.
It is he who slaughters.
And he knows in his heart he must pay."
This is the most important moment for me, the one that catapulted The Blacklist from a cool, fun, interesting show into one of the best shows in my life. The way James Spader delivered the speech, with barely restrained rage, told me all I needed to know about his character, that this was a man who was not just a husband and father who abandoned his family, not just a jaded, immoral criminal, not just a traitor because the price was right, but a man who had been hurt terribly and who had hurt in retaliation. A character I could not just like, but one I could love completely, with all his faults and bad deeds, because he is not a monster. He is human, stripped to the bone and broken. Spader could not be more essential in this role. There was no better choice.
| The Freelancer (No. 145) [HD]
| Wujing (No. 84) [HD]
| The Stewmaker (No. 161) [HD]
| The Courier (No. 85) [HD]
| Gina Zanetakos (No. 152) [HD]
| Frederick Barnes (No. 47) [HD]
| General Ludd (No. 109) [HD]
| Anslo Garrick (No. 16), Part 1 [HD]
| Anslo Garrick (No. 16), Part 2 [HD]
| 
Day #11: Who was your favorite Blacklist criminal and why?
Anslo Garrick was the most important to the story and revealing more of Red's character. But my favorite had to be The Stewmaker. The episode cemented my love for the show. He was so creepy and gave us our first glimpse into what drives Red. And that speech was as great a moment of television as when Gus Fring killed his own man in Breaking Bad's "Boxcutter." Not sure why I thought of that specific moment, since Fring (guess how many times I have typed his name as "Fringe") was silent and cold as ice while Red's words were filled with rage and pain. I think it was staring-into-your-soul quality of each character. Brilliant moments, both. Intriguing, stunning, and mesmerizing.
Day #12: Name your favorite supporting character.
Ressler. I don't understand people complaining about him being hard on Keen. She made rookie mistakes and he was right to call her on them, seeing as he was the one with experience in the field. But I didn't really have the opportunity to care for him since all the focus was on Liz and Red. That is until he was injured in "Anslo Garrick," an outstanding episode in a season full of excellence. And I was impressed and delighted to see Red being selfless and risking his own life to save Ressler.
Day #13: If you were able to meet one member of the cast, who would you choose?
That would have to be James Spader. While the whole cast is great, I would love to tell him how incredible he is, because he seems too nice and humble to recognize his ability to rip our hearts to shreds, then delicately stitch them back together, only to do it all over again with just a look, a tear, a shuddering breath. That's not a trick. The camera and the audience aren't doing most of the work. Of course, nothing intelligible would come out of my mouth. Maybe, just maybe, I would be able to say, "Hi. You're swell... Shit. What the fuck did I just say?" Yeah, that sounds more like me. Completely embarrassing. But the rest of it is embarrassing, too, so maybe I shouldn't open my mouth at all.
Day #14: Share a song that reminds you of the series.
There have been so many. I had to buy Radical Face's album "Ghost," because I think of The Blacklist every time Pandora plays me "Welcome Home," which is quite a lot. There were such emotional moments in "General Ludd" and the show in general. But I'm assuming this means one that hasn't been in the show. There have been a few I can't think of right now. ~Oh, wait! The first song that reminded me of the show was Bastille's "Overjoyed" because of the lyrics "Oh, I feel overjoyed when you listen to my words." I always picture Red and Liz talking.
Edit: And now as I'm looking through my notes, I see I wrote down songs when they reminded me of The Blacklist so I could make a playlist. Guess I have more than one. In no particular order...
Bastille ~ Weight of Living, Pt. I: "There's an albatross around your neck. All the things you've said and the things you've done, can you carry it with no regrets? Can you stand the person you've become?" // This made me think of Red. He certainly has regrets, and I don't know if he can really stand the person he's become. He pretends and wears that mask of a criminal so well, but he didn't ask for it...as far as I know.
Mumford & Sons ~ Hopeless Wanderer: "Left a clouded mind and a heavy heart. But I was sure we could see a new start." // Even when not every lyric lines up with a character or show, which they often do not since they weren't specifically made for it, I still find words that fit perfectly. "Clouded mind" reminds me of the knotted mind part of Red's speech in The Stewmaker, and "heavy heart" just reminds me of Red in general. Also, the title describes his never in one place too long lifestyle.
Ellie Goulding ~ Dead in the Water: "If I was not myself and you were someone else, I'd say so much to you. And I would tell the truth, 'cause I can hardly breathe." // Just wow. Those opening lines seem made for Red. He's so evasive when it comes to the truth about Liz.
Greg Laswell ~ Comes and Goes (in Waves): "This one's for the lonely, the one's that seek and find, only to be let down time after time." // Seeking and finding, being let down, being torn down - lyrics like this will always remind me of this terrific show.
Mumford & Sons ~ Hold on to What You Believe: "Hold on to what you believe in the light, when the darkness has robbed you of all your sight." // Red has held onto the memory of his former life through two decades of darkness. This song I've been listening to for quite a while has taken on a new meaning.
The Oh Hello's ~ Hello My Old Heart: "Every day I add another stone to the walls I've built around you to keep you safe." // And again I think of Red, but instead the walls are slowly coming down.
Lifehouse ~ Broken: "I'm falling apart, barely breathing. With a broken heart that's still beating." // Mandy Patinkin's final episode of Criminal Minds used this song brilliantly, and now it also brings to mind The Blacklist. I picture Red in the minutes and hours after whatever happened to him, and then the turning of the months into years.
The Cinema ~ The Wolf: "I played the wolf and left it to the sheep to figure out." // Very little correlation between this song and the show, but that phrase just keeps bringing me back to thinking of Red and Liz, though I am not yet a shipper. Need more definite relationship information before that will happen. I love the pair of them no matter what happens.
Day #15: Do you think Raymond Reddington can be trusted, why?
I can't know what's going on in his head, but I know his heart, his weakness, his strength. They're all the same: Elizabeth, the child he lost, his friends. Even if he is a liar and a traitor and a murderer, he will risk his own life to protect others. I don't know what he's specifically after, and I don't know why Liz is key, but he cares about her. He can be dangerous, selfish, arrogant and cold, but it's what he became to survive. And who doesn't share these traits at some point or another? Who wouldn't be that in the right situation? I would trust him implicitly to be there for me if he were a friend, but I would never trust that he was telling the truth. It's just who he is.
| The Freelancer (No. 145) [HD] | Wujing (No. 84) [HD] | The Stewmaker (No. 161) [HD] | The Courier (No. 85) [HD] | Gina Zanetakos (No. 152) [HD] | Frederick Barnes (No. 47) [HD] | General Ludd (No. 109) [HD] | Anslo Garrick (No. 16), Part 1 [HD] | Anslo Garrick (No. 16), Part 2 [HD] |
Day #6: Share a scene that made you cry.
One scene? Ha! There's no way I could pick just one. Like Day 3's favorite male character, I could gif multiple scenes from every episode if only I had the time.
I don't know that I've cried that much, but I've often been on the verge of tears, I have gasped, had a catch in my throat, felt an emptiness in my chest when something was devastating, a warmth if it was joyous. This show more than most does that to me on a regular basis.
Someone at Tumblr started this, but I love it so much I had to make it available here, too, not just link to it. I missed the first 8 days because of computer problems and then more because of Christmas. Now I'm getting further behind making gifs to accompany nearly every answer.
Day #1: Introduce Yourself and share your thoughts about the first time you watched the Blacklist and what made you continue to watch.
Hi, I'm Erin. I watch far more TV than I should, far more than I have time for. But I get really involved in only a few, my favorite series being Fringe, with Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Supernatural, Agents of SHIELD, and Breaking Bad, among others, also being as close to the top of my list as you can get. I like variety and I crave great performances.
This season I had so many shows to watch already that I only tried The Blacklist because of James Spader. I didn't even know about it until a few weeks before it aired. What made me continue to watch? The intriguing story...and James Spader delivering Red's carefully chosen words and, more importantly, the words he kept to himself. He so quickly pushed The Blacklist into all-time favorite shows territory that I had to question my sanity. Then I realized he was just that perfect in the role of Raymond "Red" Reddington. I would thank him if I could.
Day #2: Who is your favorite female character?
Liz. The second she started screaming at Red in the pilot, she had my attention. I realized then that Megan was a great choice and I really looked forward to many more interactions between them. I remember reading something about Liz being written like a stereotypical hysterical woman who falls apart in a tough situation or whatever the bullshit complaint was. Excuse me, but if she was calm facing the man she thinks is trying to destroy her life, who quite recently pulled the rug out from under her, then I would be worried about her mental state. She should be angry. She should be out of control.
Day #3: Who is your favorite male character?
No doubt the answer is and always will be Red. Spader is masterful in every scene. Whether he's amusing, scary, beaten and weary, or gut-wrenching, every moment is spot-on. And those suits...damn.
Day #4: Who is your least liked character?
If I have to choose, I guess I'll say Meera Malik. I don't dislike her, but I don't know enough about her yet to really form an opinion. Or maybe Cooper, because he didn't waver even a bit when Garrick threatened Luli, Dembe, and Liz. Red was willing to give his life for theirs, but Cooper wanted only to protect his asset. Although, being the one in charge, he has to make the tough calls, so I respect him for it.
Day #5: Share a scene that made you laugh.
There are so many. Red is delightfully witty. I think my favorite is...
"Your witness is dead, you lost Lorca, and he took Agent Keen. I'd say my meeting with Lorca might be the equivalent of you falling on your ass and landing in a pile of Christmas."
| The Freelancer (No. 145) [HD] | Wujing (No. 84) [HD] | The Stewmaker (No. 161) [HD] | The Courier (No. 85) [HD] | Gina Zanetakos (No. 152) [HD] | Frederick Barnes (No. 47) [HD] | General Ludd (No. 109) [HD] | Anslo Garrick (No. 16), Part 1 [HD] | Anslo Garrick (No. 16), Part 2 [HD] |
