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Reviews
New Amsterdam (2018)
A Staggering Fall From Grace
It is absolutely surreal how this show went from top tier broadcast network TV to something unrecognizable. My overall 10 star rating has changed to 5, and I feel that's being generous.
Season 1 - 10 stars, excellent
Season 2 - 10 stars, beautiful
Season 3 - 6 stars, they meant well but very few of the episodes are rewatchable.
Season 4 - 2 stars. A star for the cast and a star for the crew members. "Love Heals" they scribbled in blue on a promotional photo of Ryan Eggold as Max Goodwin. He's always been the face of the show where he's arguably the least developed character. "More Joy" was thrown around as well. Cue up the meme saying "That was a freaking lie." The powers that be in the writer's room or NBC turned the show into something else entirely. But we weren't supposed to notice.
Season 5 - TBD, outlook is bleak af.
Ever hear how Community Season 4 is referred to as "the gas leak season"? Community ain't got nothing on the gas leak dumpster fire explosion that was New Amsterdam season 4. It took away nearly everything that made the show special and may have even killed my desire to rewatch the first two seasons. Across the board, everything feels tainted and sad now. I have no faith season 5 will make any part of the fanbase feel okay without how everything played out, unless it ends with Max bailing and going to London to be with Sharpe. That might almost make some people a smidge less unhappy. Definitely not me, but some shipping obsessed viewers would view it as a happy ending.
The wonderfully talented Freema Agyeman will NOT return for the shortened final season and you know what my first thought was? Good. Good for her for getting away from this dumpster fire. She is a phenomenal talent and they wasted her. They pretty much wasted everyone but the person who got it worst was definitely her. They turned the lovable, strong, warm, caring character of Helen Sharpe into a bizarre, detached, cold, unrecognizable shell of a person and they did it seemingly overnight. Max and Helen together should have been excellent, but the writers had no idea what to do, so becomes Sharpe dead set on moving to London. They really couldn't come up with any other drama? I could have emailed some ideas that wouldn't have trashed her character. Then an evil new boss lady comes in that NO ONE listens to Max about, and way too many things conveniently go her way. All Fuentes is missing is a top hat and mustache to twirl. Underdeveloped lead Max is Sharpe's trophy boyfriend who is way more in love with her than she is with him. Iggy became an insufferable jerk and I hope his husband gets primary custody of the kids. Kapoor's "surprise" death is used as an excuse to get Sharpwin temporarily back from London. Reynolds becomes a shell of the man he once was to facilitate a terrible storyline where he has insta-love with a married woman who ends up pregnant and strings both men along. A new, totally unnecessary holistic specialist wastes screentime and makes me cringe. If someone had told me last year that this was what season 4 would entail, I would have thought they were joking. There is nothing feasible about how season 4 played out. The good things like stellar guest stars, what little we see of the always excellent nurse Casey, Max playing with his daughter or actually getting to BE a doctor, the addition of Dr. Wilder, and the few other bright spots aren't enough to forgive the glaring problems that plagued the season.
Character assassinations are unforgivable, especially when half it happens to multiple characters at the same time and we're still supposed to root for them. The only main characters who don't feel completely ruined after the blasphemous season 4 are Max and Bloom, and Max remains woefully underdeveloped. The other main characters were trashed beyond recognition. It was like watching invasion of the pod people or something except they had no motive and no one ever figures out that they're imposters. I seriously ended up hating Iggy and Sharpe. The smooth and cool Reynolds became pathetic and I couldn't be moved to pity or dislike him. Reynolds can be salvaged, I'm just done with Sharpe and Iggy. The writers either don't care, are embarrassingly oblivious as to how bad this is, got terrible feedback and interference from NBC, or they're on the take to ruin the show for some sadistic reason.
Some viewers are upset they seemingly won't get their Sharpwin happy ending. I'm upset they ruined the entire show and thought they could get away with it simply because they put the two of them together. What should have been a good, strong, healthy relationship ended up a toxic mess. Sharpe refuses to communicate with Max, but expects him to fulfill her every whim. Some people are blinded by their devotion to a FICTIONAL COUPLE to see how bizarrely executed that relationship was. Not only is Sharpwin a disaster, Sharpe's interactions with patients and so called friends almost always come off insincere or like she really could not care less. That dealing with these people is a chore. Sharpe didn't feel like the same character anymore. Funnily enough, no one seemed too upset that she was leaving. They were all far more openly sad about Max leaving. Sharpe knew everyone way before Max ever stepped foot in the hospital. Why was everyone borderline indifferent to her exit and only asking Max to stay? I can't be the only person who sees all these problems that suddenly came about with the writing for her character. They literally could have said an evil twin came back from London at the end of season 3 instead of Sharpe, and that would have made more sense than the person she randomly became.
It really felt like this season was written by a bunch of spiteful people who wanted to punish viewers who liked the show. It's like watching someone cultivate a fantastic restaurant you enjoy visiting but after a few years, the boss suddenly decides to only let the chefs make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with onion and mayonnaise.
Something must have went wrong behind the scenes here. Horribly, frighteningly wrong. So wrong I almost want to look on social media to see if there's any feasible rumors that offer insight as to what happened. Freema leaving feels like a huge scary red flag and I can't help but wonder how far in advance the writers/network knew. Did they know when they wrote the season finale? Did this factor into the show's cancellation and shortened season? Why leave so close to the end? Creative differences? Pay dispute? Was her contract simply up and she opted to find something better? Hostile work environment (there are so many reasons my heart couldn't take that one), maybe she wants to go back overseas? She has the right to do what's best for her without judgement from strangers, I'm just genuinely concerned given how ridiculous the show turned in such a short amount of time.
I wish the best for the cast. I hope Freema Agyeman gets a great role where they don't butcher the character in the third act. I hope Jocko Sims turns up in movies or a good character drama. I hope Janet Montgomery turns up somewhere interesting, playing another Bloom type character. I hope Tyler Labine does something fun or another horror type project. But most of all, I hope somebody finally figures out what to do with Ryan Eggold because he's a lot more versatile and capable than I think most viewers realize. It's a bummer that his best big role to date has been as a supporting/tertiary character that the show (The Blacklist) eventually had no room for.
New Amsterdam's two seasons created a thought provoking, compassionate show I looked forward to watching every Tuesday. Wouldn't have missed it for the world. The catastrophic fourth season bears only a physical resemblance to the New Amsterdam I loved. New Amsterdam likely won't be remembered for the great show it started out as, it will be remembered for the mind boggling, frustrating disappointment it became.
New Amsterdam: Two Doors (2022)
A turning point or a fluke?
This episode was almost the New Amsterdam I used to look forward to every Tuesday. The cloud of dread that has been hanging over the last several episodes feels like it's thinned out just a tiny bit. It wasn't a top tier episode, but it was better than the last several. Why, could this be because Max was actually in New York? The fact that almost immediately we had glimpses of sneaky Max and angry Max (shallow moment, sneaky Max and angry Max is soooo hot.) Could it be there was less "Sharpwin" interactions to endure this week? Was it that we didn't have Malvo, draining the soul out of Reynolds? Bloom was barely present but when we saw her, she was actually happy! Could it be the fact that Casey exists again? Or that we got to see Sandra and she was her usual funny, sarcastic self? Or that the writers remembered Max and Reynolds are friends and Max has things in his life that are important to him besides nuSharpe? Could it be the fact that it felt more like a legit medical drama than a melodramatic parody of pre-mob General Hospital? Or is it that the last four episodes are so headache inducing and frustrating that this one looked really good by comparison? I'll credit it to a combination of these things.
I am not a prude, you should see the variety of smut in my Kindle, but I could have lived without the phone sex stuff. Probably because I just hate "Sharpwin" as a couple. The only way to make me not hate them as a couple at this point is for them to break up, spend some time apart, and when they get back together they behave in a way where they'll actually communicate with each other and it won't be a horribly lopsided, unpleasant, toxic thing to watch. I stand by my assessment, there's been no substance between these two on screen. No important talks about what they BOTH want, barely any meaningful conversations, nothing that makes me root for them. It's just two unbelievably pretty people kissing and saying they love each other. None of the past chemistry and connection they had as friends shines through with them as a couple. I blame the abrupt personality change of Sharpe and the fact that Max has no backbone. So excuse me for not getting all hot and bothered by the writers pandering to the part of fan base that only wants to see them bang. And honestly, how dense are nuSharpe and Max to not come up with an idea as to what hours would be most logical to attempt dirty talk on the phone? You're adults, you know how timezones work. And Max can't take a hint. If he could take a hint, he would have realized how bad of an idea this relationship was in 4×01 when nuSharpe says "I never should have let you in" right after they hook up. So many bad moves by the writers this year, so, so many. By the way, it says a lot about them that Max has a special ringtone for nuSharpe and on her phone he just gets a generic ringtone. More proof that Max is way more invested and in love than nuSharpe. I'm kind of joking in regards to the ringtones, but I feel like there's a valid point.
Moving on, We're treated to delightful season 1 RPDR style Vaseline filtered flashbacks of a younger Veronica with bad bangs to cover the fact that Michelle Forbes isn't 25. This is supposed to give us some insight as to why Veronica is the way she is. I was not the least bit moved by any of this. I think Michelle Forbes is a phenomenal actress. I've seen her play a fantastically delicious villain in other programs. But they botched this story and I just want it to end.
I have to disagree with Iggy this week. That kid should honestly get as far away from his toxic delusional father as possible. It's going to do a lot of harm to him in the long run staying around somebody that delusional. At some point, you have to accept the fact that your father as you loved him is no longer the same person and it's just not worth putting yourself through the stress and trauma of being around the man. It would always be on my mind that he believes the biggest tragedy in my life to be a hoax. Love ya, Iggy but this is one of those times where I just don't like your advice. It's exhausting that we live in a world where those of us who accept reality are encouraged to appease the delusional who eagerly drink any old Kool-aid sitting around.
Next up, Wilder, Mia, and the dying man. I tried but this story ended with me rolling my eyes. I love Wilder. The actor playing the dying father was really good. I still can't take Mia and when this show attempts to highlight spirituality, it comes off weird and over the top. They had a season 2 episode where it worked, but it was more subtle and abstract. God I miss season 2. Anyways, this wasn't as bad as the episode earlier in this season with the refugee girl having a "religious experience" (it was a seizure, ffs!) and hallucinating her brother (?) but I didn't care for the holistic approach and really didn't think we needed to spend a few minutes watching this man hallucinate his daughter's wedding. Sorry, even with great acting involved the scene did nothing for me. But hey, spending time on scenes like that keeps the writers from having to write meaningful conversations between characters that are supposed to be the love of each other's lives.
As I predicted, everybody's like "Screw you, Max. You left." And you know what, I don't entirely disagree. Gladys came off unexpectedly snobby though. Sandra was awesome, I miss her. But my favorite nurse, the invaluable Casey said it best. Max is just going to leave again and that sucks. Okay, I paraphrased that but Casey speaks the truth as always. I would have blamed nuSharpe too, it's not squarely on Max who I firmly believe is unaware of his own abandonment issues and PTSD. Maybe it's just how Ryan Eggold plays it, but it seems like you get glimpses where Max knows London isn't where he belongs and you can see the doubt in his eyes. Homeboy seems to be in denial but he's too in love to realize that he'd rather be in NYC. There's a lot of nuance going on that never gets explored because Max is the least developed main character in the show.
In between enduring Veronica and a brief exchange of loud words with Max, Reynolds works behind the scenes. Reynolds manages to get the much missed supporting characters to agree to help Max with his plan and the clinic. It was like the characters were themselves again this week. Except nuSharpe who's still annoyingly London obsessed. I feel like this episode proved the show works without her. I never in a million years would have thought I'd be saying that. It proves how badly the character has been warped this season. Nothing against the insanely talented Freema Agyeman, but the character as she has been written this season has been a complete and total buzzkill. I missed gloomy Bloom way more than I missed nuSharpe.
As fun as it is watching Max scheme with Brantley and a lot of the supporting characters come together, the dread is still there. Max is still going to leave again. He's going to propose to a pod person. Reynolds was with Malvo in the preview, that's another bummer.
Shout-out to the director of the episode, the multi-talented Ryan Eggold who gave an especially nuanced performance this week. He always brings it, but it was nice that he was able to express a wider range of emotions this week than what we've seen most of this season. He can sell anything and they really should make the most of him and the rest of the spectacular cast because time is ticking for New Amsterdam.
Will nuSharpe accept Max's proposal? Will Malvo make me roll my eyes out of my head? Will we get any Casey and Bloom interactions? Will Veronica burst into flames and take Mia down with her? Will Iggy follow up with the unusual 8 year old from 4×14? Hopefully the answers are, no, no yes, yes, yes, yes. Time to enjoy the brief amount of denial I've been afforded before I watch the next episode and possibly take up drinking.
New Amsterdam: ...Unto the Breach (2022)
Another frustrating episode
In this exciting installment: Veronica sticks Bloom with a patient who's as insufferable as he is rich. But this patient unwittingly drops a few breadcrumbs that could spell the end for Veronica. Reynolds sees himself in a young patient and is forced to make a tough decision when he suspects the child is being neglected at home. Iggy reflects on his recent choices after running into an old colleague who's life is in shambles. Max discovers Helen's been hiding something, a brain tumor diagnosis. This explains her personality shift, but her unwillingness to discuss her options puts Max on edge. In an effort to build the resistance, Wilder trusts the wrong person and faces serious consequences.
...nah just kidding. They killed off Kapoor so his death can be used to lure people back to New York. I hate what this show has become.
The episode starts with a funeral scene for Kapoor. Instead of being sad or touched by what his friends say, I'm just angry. Later in the episode, Bloom says something that hits real close to home for me. While talking to the pod person I've dubbed nuSharpe, Bloom pours her heart out. She states something to the effect of "This whole place feels like a trigger for me. Not for my sobriety, but my sanity. I want to leave." Same girl, same. Was this line written by a writer who wants out because they know the show has been destroyed?
What the show gets right, it gets really right and it's almost enjoyable but with this dark cloud of stupidity that's been hanging overhead since 4×08, everything feels tainted.
I'm so over this season. I'm over the one dimensional character of Veronica. I'm over the sudden appearance of holistic medicine woman Mia, she eats up screen time that would be better used on almost anyone else. I'm over everyone being surprised by Veronica's actions when Max told everyone what she would do. I'm over Max being surprised that things are so bad, when he knew firsthand how badly things would end up going. I'm tired of nuSharpe, and feeling like I'm watching a robot programmed to take a human's place every time she's on screen. This is not a comment on FA's acting, but the unforgivably bad characterization. I'm over the fact that they built an excellent show and decided to wreck it for funsies and relationship drama. Anyone remember before the season started there were taglines about "Love Heals" and "More Joy?" If what we're seeing this season indicates how these writers feel about love and joy, they may be more emotionally disturbed than I am. This isn't good drama.
I think we were supposed to see this episode as a tribute to a fallen character, and a heartwarming reassembling of the group that we once loved. As with the last several episodes, things just felt too wrong to fully appreciate anything that managed to be enjoyable. Almost everything feels off. Bloom and Iggy are still fine. Reynolds is okay at times especially since Malvo isn't around. Get Max away from nuSharpe and he's capable of being compelling. Wilder is a diamond in the rough of a horrible season. Shout out to her interpreter as well, I love that guy. A lot of the characters seem to have the enthusiasm for their jobs that I have for the show at this point. There's no joy, there's no love, there's no healing, it's just a big stupid mess that was completely unnecessary. Can't wait until the next one when I'm betting everything that's wrong at the hospital ends up being blamed on Max. He hasn't been anyone's punching bag for the last couple episodes so it's overdue to put him down because as the only straight white guy main character he = person everyone and anyone can always blame for everything.
We don't even really get a solution as to what went on with Iggy and his patient, an 8-year-old boy who wanted to get legally emancipated from his parents. Seems like an awfully large amount of time was spent on something that we don't even get to see the parents side of or any feasible conclusion for. Yeah, this was used against him later in the episode, but you'd think they would have focused on the drama of Kapoor's son instead. It wasn't until nearly the end of the episode when Iggy's story shifts to Kapoor's son, who attempted suicide. Was anything particularly bad about this? No. But there's been a sincerity and heart lacking at times throughout the season, and this feels like it was tacked one because last minute somebody remembered Kapoor was estranged from his son.
Veronica refuses to accept Wilder's resignation because she makes too much money for the hospital. So the one pure ray of sunshine this season is being held hostage in this now horrible place. Iggy gets demoted. Bloom is let go. Reynolds is outed as the one who ratted out Operation: Morgue and I'm not even shocked because he is possibly the second most bafflingly destroyed character this season. But hey, Mia gets a second chance and keeps her unnecessary sham of a job. I fear I'm going to have to take up drinking if I'm going to finish this series.
My biggest gripe of this episode is the ending. First, Max says something about he thought he left the hospital better off. No dummy, you did not. You knew better but the writers are even dumber than they like to make you. Then Max doesn't even get to decide he wants to stay. NuSharpe tells him he has to stay. Why can't he make any decisions for himself? This is so toxic. Max comes off like somebody who grew up in an incredibly neglectful/emotionally abusive household. Now as an adult who tragically lost his wife who he always could have better communicated with, he's now afraid to do anything that his girlfriend might not like because she'll leave him. And she makes all the decisions and shuts him out when he wants to be there for her. What about this says romantic? He's her pet, not her partner. I don't buy her as loving him or caring about anything outside of London. It feels like she's putting on a show when she interacts with people. It's like I'm watching a robot trying to not get caught by a bunch of humans, but not putting a whole lot of effort into the charade. This is not a portrayal of a strong woman, it's the destruction of a character I one loved dearly. If someone in my life suddenly changed the way this character has changed since 3×14, I'd be seriously concerned about her emotional well-being, is there a medical condition causing this? I'd be desperately trying to help figure out what is with the sudden personality shift? But this is a TV show so there's no mystery, only bad uninspired writing.
NuSharpe tells Max he has to fix things, and he has to salvage his legacy as well as hers. I can not deal with her anymore. She no legitimate concern for that hospital and her so called friends. She's all about legacy. She tells Max he could never lose her. It feels like she saying "silly American trophy boyfriend, you can't lose me, no one else would ever put up with my pod person shenanigans!" This is insulting to how the show used to be. So again, everything will be up to Max to try and fix things but everybody will probably end up berating him for half an episode first. NuSharpe leaves, episode ends. I wish the next one would start with a phone call to Max informing that there was a plane crash and no survivors, but I know better. And it still wouldn't fix the terrible issues that have plagued other people and stories this season. I might have given this episode a 7/10, but the end scene frustrated me to the point where now a 7 feels too generous.
I want to love this show so much again that it hurts. The good stuff isn't good enough to make up for the infuriating stupid stuff. Get rid of Veronica. Send Mia away, I think her only purpose was to suspect she'd be a traitor when they decided to saddle Reynolds with that mess instead. Give Reynolds and Sharpe their original personalities back. Don't have Iggy ruin his marriage. Help Bloom get her self together, I can't believe my once least favorite character is now one of the highlights of the current mess of a season. Bloom and Casey need to patch things up, he needs to be on the show again. Let Max have a backbone and be more than nuSharpe's pet. If the genders were reversed, people would be having a massive fit at a man treating a woman the way nuSharpe treats Max. You don't need to punch down one gender or group in order to lift up another, the writers don't seem to understand this.
I have a tiny glimmer of hope that maybe this show will turn things around and it's final year. Maybe Max will be written with agency of his own and a more fleshed out backstory (EVERYONE ELSE HAS ONE) and there's a genuinely happy ending for him and his daughter. Maybe Reynolds will be free from the messy Malvo and find happiness that doesn't feel wrong and crush his soul. Maybe Bloom can find some kind of peace and meaning in her life and have totally outgrown her oblivious entitled characteristics. Maybe Iggy will finally stop trying to sabotage his personal life. Give us good things for Wilder too, she's a better character than the show deserves at this point. Maybe the pod person who took over Sharpe's life will go back to their home planet. Sadly, I'm not holding my breath.
20 episodes to go before the show ends. Forever. Because this season totally lost even the audience members who stubbornly held on during season 3's well meaning but not always well done lectures. Will the writers salvage their legacy? Or will this show fade into obscurity? I'm going to start trying to will a new show into existence for Ryan Eggold and hope to god it turns out better than this one. The whole cast deserves better.
New Amsterdam: Family (2022)
Another frustrating episode
Parts of this felt like the show I used to love. Wilder and her brother, Iggy, Reynolds having something to do aside from fret over Malvo, hospital stuff going on, Max helping people who don't berate him simply because he exists. But like every episode since 4×08, big character things end up tainting my enjoyment.
Wilder has to deal with her brother's mental health in this episode. This was by far the strongest story. You could have plugged this into an old episode and it would have fit right in, back when the show was much better written and handled in general. Wilder continues to be amazing, 10 stars for her.
Bloom and Reynolds work to help a family plagued by tragedy. It was nice to see, but a bittersweet ending. Bloom also decides she'll leave the hospital so Leyla doesn't have to. I was just glad Leyla didn't forgive her, Bloom needed a wake up call. I'd give this stuff a solid 8.
Iggy needs a new assistant. I know nothing physical has happened, but I have the feeling something stupid is going to happen soon and I will totally be on Martin's side when it all blows up. I really don't know why Gladys had to be fired. I know we didn't see a whole lot of Gladys, but I really liked what she brought to the show. She was a good friend to Iggy and he needed that since Kapoor is gone. Now we have to deal with Iggy having a flirtatious assistant who, I don't think for one minute that guy didn't realize Iggy was gay. It didn't come off sincere when he was playing the "I didn't know" card. The wife comment was made as a way to test the waters. Anyway, nothing in Iggy's story was detrimental to my enjoyment of the episode. Just the impending doom of this flirty assistant nonsense. I guess a 8/10 for Iggy.
Moving on to Max. I really enjoyed him helping the random guys he befriended in the park. It was nice to see him help somebody without getting yelled at first. Remember when he wasn't everyone's punching bag? Remember when he had a backbone? Good times. Then Max makes the mistake of trying to be a supportive, albeit late to lunch boyfriend. We'll get back to Max in a minute.
Sharpe, who I have dubbed nuSharpe because she doesn't really seem to be the same character as she was for the first 94% of seasons 1-3, was a mixed bag. It was great seeing her confront her vile mother about the lies and the damage it did to her. Unfortunately, that was the only part I enjoyed about her this week. I'd like to reiterate that I absolutely adore Freema Agyeman and loathe what they have done with the character of Helen Sharpe. At this point, they could literally reveal that she has a personality altering brain tumor and I would accept and forgive things if it meant writing the character decent again. Everything has felt off with Sharpe since 3×14 and gotten progressively worse since.
After nuSharpe storms out on her mother, Max is too dumb to realize that staying for lunch with this woman is so not the thing to do. I'll say this is realistic, because men can be totally oblivious to things like this. Doesn't make him staying any less frustrating. That being said, nuSharpe didn't exactly communicate with her dense trophy boyfriend. If this were a sitcom, there would have been a hilarious moment of her walking back and dragging him with her but since this is an unevenly written drama, Max has lunch with the vile mother instead. We don't get to see this lunch play out, but Max seems to think it went well. Considering how dense he can be, I'm betting the vile mother is already bad mouthing her daughter's ridiculous American boy toy to anyone who will listen.
We're treated to an argument between Max and nuSharpe that highlights what I find wrong and unpleasant about their relationship. Yes, Max was dumb and let nuSharpe leave alone. But did she make any effort to try and communicate with him? No. Max actually stands up for himself for a minute, that was refreshing. NuSharpe tells him to stay out of her family's business. Max says he thought that they were family. That right there, that shows the lack of communication and lack of substance with these two. The writers poorly tell with very little showing. They employ convenient time skips so they don't have to show a relationship developing. Have we ever seen these two have a deep discussion about what they both want? It's been all about what nuSharpe wants and how Max makes HER feel insecure (because he didn't instantly announce their relationship in parade around the hospital like an idiot. If he had, she would have told him how humiliating it was that he was announcing their private business to their entire hospital). Everything is her way, end of story.
NuSharpe accuses him of throwing this London move in her face when all he did was stand up for himself for once. Max didn't throw it in her face, he simply stated the obvious. He left a ton behind and moved across the world for her, and she doesn't even think of him and his daughter as her family. Give me a freaking break. How am I supposed to root for these two? What is wrong with these writers? I also love how now they conveniently mention part of why nuSharpe wanted to move was to be closer to her mother. A mother she had recently realized deceived her her entire life and didn't make much of an effort to reach out to since she's been back. All she said initially was "I can't be myself in New York." That feels like a weird line someone tells another to ditch them after a one-night stand. Aside from one mention to Iggy, I don't remember nuSharpe saying anything about her mother (or niece) before they moved. Sharpe endured a serious childhood trauma because of this horrible excuse she has for a mother. It's a serious, life changing scar she never discussed in the least with the guy she was dating and expecting to move across the world for her. She doesn't have to tell him everything, but it certainly seems like she barely tells him anything at all.
I know nuSharpe needs to deal with her vile mother on her own terms, but it just continues to highlight the weaknesses in the writing this season. It's a disservice to a once well-written character. They have done this entire cursed relationship a disservice. NuSharpe admits she doesn't know what she wants, and I want to scream. This entire story with her mother could have been handled without this ridiculous uprooting to London. If they wanted her to have a powerful career shift, she easily could have transferred to another hospital in New York. This London plot was a mistake and I have pretty much no faith left that the writers even realize this or why a good chunk of their viewers have dropped off entirely.
The argument is interrupted by ringing phones. I think Max's phone rang first, but he ignored it because he was trying to have what must be a very rare discussion with his pod person girlfriend. NuSharpe has no desire to communicate with him and answers her phone. We don't hear any other side of the conversation, but spoiler alert: Kapoor died.
The beloved Dr. Kapoor, a very vital part of the best seasons of the show, has been killed off as a plot device to drag nuSharpe and Max back to New York. Is it wrong that this doesn't make me sad, just angry and disgusted? This is another example of how this season has frequently felt really off, especially since 4×08. I don't think I would have been angry if they had killed Kapoor in season 3 as a result of covid. It would have been sad, but it would have felt like an understandable thing to do. I would have cried in my heart out and I feel like they would have handled it well but apparently in season 3 the only thing that mattered was lecturing the audience. So instead of using an unexpected cast exit to make a poignant point about covid changing lives and taking people we love and care about, he suffered off screen for more than a year and died when it was a convenient time to bring Max and nuSharpe back from London. That's season 4 of New Amsterdam for ya, you either suffer from a massive IQ drop (Max, Reynolds, Iggy), suffer from bizarre new characterization (Sharpe, Reynolds), are evil for the sake of evil (Veronica), get fired (Casey, Gladys), or you die as a plot device.
At the end we see Max and nuSharpe back at New Amsterdam. They're home for now, but everything still feels wrong. I can't help but wonder where Max's daughter is. Pretty sad that her manipulative holier that thou grandparents are the best case scenario at the moment. When someone (I can't remember which character said it) they didn't have to come all the way to NY, nuSharpe says "Of we course we did. We're family." Are you, though?
It rang so hollow to me. NuSharpe had seemingly no struggle or issue leaving this so-called family behind. The other characters didn't seem to care much that she'd be leaving, I can't blame them considering what a stranger she has become. Everyone showed far more upset about Max leaving. So the "We're family" line coming from her meant about as much to me as it would have had Veronica said it. The line was delivered without any warmth, it's like the chemistry Sharpe once had with everyone has evaporated as a result of this crummy writing. The sincerity wasn't just lacking, it was non-existent.
Despite the good parts and how much I enjoy watching Max actually get to be a doctor for 5 minutes, this is the sixth straight episode to leave a bad taste in my brain. Thanks to thinly veiled online spoilers in article headlines, I figured out Kapoor was being killed off a week before this aired. I predicted his death happens to get the television's most disappointingly executed coupling to visit. And I already know nuSharpe soon returns to London alone but Max is supposed to hurry home to her ASAP.
Aside from Wilder, can we please make season 4 a bad dream?
New Amsterdam: The Crossover (2022)
The unremarkable deconstruction continues
Just to reiterate, I loved this show with my whole heart. I accepted it, flaws and all. I was never crazy critical, it was an enjoyable medical show that showed the kind of doctors you'd wish you could have on your side. Always felt like the writers meant well even though things sometimes went in a ham-fisted way or were outright fantasy like. The fantasy aspect was a little bit of the charm of the show, and it never used to be so outrageous. With that out of the way, now I will attempt to discuss the episode. I just watched it, I know I'm a few months late but better late than never? Debatable.
We start off with Max attending virtual job interviews. I love Max, but I'm seriously wondering if he suffered brain damage when he was getting the experimental cancer treatments. Or maybe it was during 03×12, the toxic spill episode (a highlight of the series). It would explain A LOT. I still love him but I'm exhausted. Anyway, imagine the surprised Pikachu face here because Max can't find a job in England! This is a concern I vocalized at my TV many months ago when I was convinced they'd realize how dumb an idea London is. Silly me thought both characters would realize it's a dumb plan or come to some kind of compromise but no they just abandoned life in NY for this stupid, forced, poorly thought out London plot. The only thing that matters is what Sharpe wants. That's not a partnership. And I know both Max and Sharpe will be all surprised Pikachu face at how terrible things are back at New Amsterdam, because everyone on this show has lost massive IQ points this year. Anyway, best girlfriend ever Helen fired Max in the last episode. I just have no love left for this woman. She went from being tied for being my favorite character and now I wish they'd write her off. She can come back to New York in the very last episode and maybe then she and Max could ride off into the sunset (a New York sunset) in a way that wouldn't make me want to throw up. My apologies to Freema Agyeman, still love her dearly but Helen Sharpe can take a leap into the Thames and stay there for all I care.
Sharpe knew what she was getting into with Max but still seems surprised at the stuff he does. She does not seem the least bit concerned or bothered that he is seemingly unemployable for the time being. It's like "whatever, not my problem. I have a job and my career is the only thing that matters now so you just keep looking pretty and worshipping me, American trophy boyfriend." Sorry that's the vibes she gives off. It's literally like she is a new, tertiary character who was only just introduced instead of somebody who was established from the beginning. I should start calling her nuSharpe because this is not the same character I watched the first three seasons. I'm not begrudging her for having career ambitions, but the way all of this has been written and played out feels insincere, forced, and just plain stupid. This whole move to London feels like it was a big career thing for nuSharpe and Max is along to be her trophy prize from America. Max doesn't notice though, he's head over heels in love with somebody who seems to treat him like a pet. It's really unpleasant to watch. I'm frustrated with how much I dislike nuSharpe, and I'm frustrated with how much of a pushover Max is in regards to her. Anyway, Max is unemployable, and nuSharpe has to hire someone to fill an important position. She won't hire Max because she's sleeping with him, which is definitely a conflict of interest. She also could not care less that he's unemployed in a foreign country and has a young child to care for.
I'm sorry to say I just couldn't get invested in her plot about trying to hire someone at the clinic. I tried, I really try to go in every episode with a positive attitude in the hopes that things will improve. It's stagnant and no matter how hard I try, I tend to be quite annoyed whenever nuSharpe is on screen. I feel like I'm watching a pod person who took over a human's life and no one noticed. Fun fact: a pod person storyline pretty much happened in season 4 of Doctor Who, except The Doctor noticed and it was an awesome episode.
Again, the highlight of this episode was Dr. Wilder who is just sunshine and I love her dearly. She is sneaky, smart, charming, and has the right idea. I wish we'd had her on the show sooner, when it was better written amd all. I really hope we get to see her interact with Max again in the future. Wilder is now in my top three characters, hopefully she sticks around until the series ends and they don't taint her like they have half the main characters. But not even Wilder has softened my opinion of the annoying unnecessary holistic medicine woman. She's unsettling and I wouldn't trust her one bit, especially considering Veronica is the one who insisted on giving this woman her own department at everyone else's expense.
Another highlight was again the maybe 8 minutes sprinkled throughout the episode where Max is trying to treat a patient on the street. I enjoyed when he was being sneaky and stealing supplies from the clinic to help Sid. We haven't seen a ton of Sneaky Max, the last truly sneaky thing he may have done was help a guy fake a heart attack in season 1, but at this point I'll take what I can get. Someone please tell me Ryan Eggold is working on another project while doing the show this year so I might have something to look forward to watching. Nothing's on his imdb, but I still have hope. May I suggest a show where he plays a sort of morally gray double agent trying to make up for his past sins and find answers about his mysterious past? I'd watch that... Sorry I got off topic again, no one's reading this anyway.
I liked the scenes with Iggy and the police officer.
Iggy did good this week! His wish to make a difference and help the police department with their traumas was touching to me. I'm sure lots of people had a problem with it, but I liked it and with so little to like on the show these days, I'll take what I can get.
Bloom trying to help her patient with his unusual addiction and depression was sadly relatable. Bloom used to be my least favorite, I'm sure she'll do something to annoy me again soon but right now she's okay. If only she'd wake up to her own privilege. I sorely miss Casey, he and Bloom had a great friendship.
I struggle to care about Malvo. Her entire ordeal is a disaster and I have no sympathy for anyone involved. I wish they would do a test and find out the baby is Baptiste's. Maybe Reynolds could be freed from this mess. I used to love Reynolds. He used to have such a good personality and brought a lot to the show. Now his entire life is this uncompelling, dishonest woman and competing with her husband. Except this time he does something good and lets the husband take credit. I am exhausted. I can blame Max's newfound stupidity on possible brain damage but I don't know what happened to Reynolds. All his own goals, wishes, and principles out the window for a married woman who lies and refuses to do a DNA test. And he took the biggest steps towards this mess during that lazy time jump at the end of season three. This is not romantic, believable, or compelling. It's simply awful writing.
I would have rather Reynolds ended up leaving with Evie then be in this Maury Povich mess. Again, I freaking loved Reynolds the first three seasons and was very bothered at the prospect of him leaving to be with Evie while she starts a new job. I liked Evie, I just didn't like that she'd rather work across the country. Sadly the writers were really fond of the "the guy leaves entire life behind to follow girlfriend" plot and recycled it this season but unlike Reynolds and Evie, this was executed in a lopsided, toxic way. God I miss seasons 1 & 2.
I gave this a 6/10 because I wouldn't say it was any better or worse than the prior episode. It was another weirdly forgettable installment. To recap: I've renamed Sharpe into NuSharpe and she does nothing for me. Not enough Max, but I appreciate that he was able to help somebody this week without getting yelled at. It's like the writers got rid of his cancer and haven't quite known what to do with him since. He's a mostly a verbal punching bag and trophy boyfriend. They also forget he has a kid, but since she's not nuSharpe's kid who cares?! Max should leave her with her grandparents and move on! Reynolds situation is annoying and I wish they'd wake up and realize how awful it is. Bloom and Iggy are doing alright, for now. Dr. Wilder is my new co-favorite character.
I have an idea as to what happens in the next free episodes, but I don't know exactly what episode is next. I'm sure I'll probably want to rant about it into the void. I know it will probably go something like this: "Season 4 is a dumpster fire, no wonder the show got canceled but also how dare you NBC?? Why are the writers ruining their once special show? Do they have any idea how bad many of us have found this season? Do they care or do they just think we're disagreeing with their morals or whatever? Bad character stories are tainting everything. Who can I email to talk to about this? Why is Max so willing to stand up for everyone but himself? Will he ever get a more fleshed out backstory? Why is Ryan Eggold only in this episode for like 6 minutes? Someone should reboot Redemption without all the Blacklist baggage. Wilder is possibly the only pure and good thing to come from this disaster of a season. NuSharpe is making me mad, someone find real Sharpe and send away this pod person. Free Reynolds!" Or maybe it will be a high quality, meaningful episode reminiscent of the show I once loved! Not holding my breath. Cast and crew get 10 stars. The writers do not.
New Amsterdam: Talkin' Bout a Revolution (2022)
Forget Jump the Shark, "Gone to London" is the new idiom
I don't know why this show is the way it is now. Used to love it, I mean really love it. Now I'm done making excuses and being nice about it. Ever see the amazing Yvette Nicole Brown on Talking Dead with her notebooks about TWD and her unbridled enthusiasm for that show? That was me for New Amsterdam. I may not have sat on social media and talked about it 24/7, but I was super invested. I read everything I could about the show, I watched episodes repeatedly during hiatuses. I bought the seasons on digital every year. I was a New Amsterdam encyclopedia. I'm not trying to say I'm anything special, just paint a picture of how passionate a fan I was. After the last episode, I took nearly a 6 month break from watching simply because the idea of watching something I once loved be twisted into a badly written romance novel featuring medical side plots, well it ticked me off. For the record, I enjoy well written romance novels, but that's not what most of us signed up for with this show. The writing isn't good enough to make the toxic and insipid plots enjoyable.
It's especially frustrating because I don't find the episodes themselves to be too bad, but the direction they've taken the characters and makes me want to scream. It taints the whole thing for me. It's not character development when characters have to change personalities in order for plots to work, and these plots aren't even working. The London plot is absolutely terrible. They have made Sharpe into a different person and they've made Max into a spineless dope for her. Reynolds/Malvo/Baptiste are ridiculous. Reynolds has been morphed into someone else for this story. Malvo has no chemistry with either man. No one wanted to see a baby thrown in this mess. Iggy and Bloom aren't horrible yet, but I guess it's harder to wreck them given Iggy's sometimes weird judgement and Bloom having always been oblivious and entitled. Not digging the holistic medicine woman at all. I tried with her, but the whole thing rubs me the wrong way. Hope she goes away with Fuentes.
Wilder is a bright spot, as well as the what, two minutes of screen time where Max tries to accomplish something with patients. Was Ryan Eggold filming something else at this point? I kind of hope so, I'd happily watch it. It seems he's barely on the show some weeks. As much as I adore the main & supporting cast, he's the only reason I haven't completely walked away from the show now. I think I'd have more fun rewatching him old Blacklist at this point even though I know nothing on that show led anywhere (if someone's reading this who hasn't seen it, boy did that show thoroughly defecate the bed in season eight).
I hate seeing Max turned into Sharpe's trophy boyfriend. The writers put no substance into their romantic relationship, they clearly don't know how to write an engaging, healthy relationship between two adults who respect each other and want what's best for each other. The two were really great when they were written as unexpected BFFs, but I guess the shippers have blackmail and the writers gave in without giving the relationship enough care. We were rewarded with a hollow, unbalanced coupling. It's honestly baffling to me how badly they have screwed up "Sharpwin" as the season goes on and made them unpleasant to watch together. The chemistry WAS great, the build-up was there, the execution has lacked any meaning. Max may as well have started dating a brand new character because none of the history or chemistry shines through with them together. I just don't get why they went this way. It's not the actor's faults, not in the least. It feels like I'm watching something written by teens who don't know what a healthy relationship looks like.
Veronica Fuentes isn't the villain of the show, it's the writers. I think they underestimated the demographics of their viewers. We're not all obsessive shippers, and the drop in overall show quality is reflected in the drop in ratings. Yes, NBC seems to have stopped promoting the show. NBC also killed the Twitter, and the scheduling has been absolutely horrid. All of that is awful and I hate NBC for it, but I think it's more the change in the style of the show itself that was the final nail in the coffin. The turn they took is depressing, and I can't believe this is the same team that brought us the first two seasons. This season could have been a fresh start, could have won back a good deal of the audience that they scared off with all of their lectures last season. You know, the lectures they favored instead of actual character development? But I guess pandering to what turned out to be a much smaller percentage of their audience than they anticipated seemed like the way to go. Kissing and love scenes do not make a show or a relationship good. It just gives people something to gif and gush over while making those of us who see there's no substance here roll our eyes and want to tune out. I'll stick with the show to the end, but I'm a little relieved that it's going to end sooner than later. Sad, because things should have been better. Scared at how badly the last season might end up, the writers may just keep pandering to the shipping crowd since they might think they're the only ones left. Relieved that it won't be on as long as the once watchable Chicago PD which is also bogged down by badly written, hollow relationships.
Hey writers, you turned a superfan into a reluctant disappointed viewer. Turn things around for season 5 and maybe you can salvage your show enough that it won't ruin your reputation with viewers who pay attention to writing credits. Because as of right now, I wouldn't want to watch anything these writers worked on in the future. Except for Shaun Cassidy, I like the shows he creates even though they never last. Anyway, New Amsterdam isn't the show it used to be. I guess shame on me for expecting better. I can roll with almost anything except character assassinations. All these character changes and dopey plots about London, a throuple, and a woman who can't understand why her girlfriend is upset that her career was being built on a bribe, it kind of kills my enthusiasm for the show. It's a shame because this episode wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't tainted with stupid character direction. I thought networks had to approve scripts and overall stories. I honestly don't think NBC has paid any attention to this show since season 2. They didn't notice anything until the ratings sunk so bad that they decided to pull the plug. It's like a parent paying no attention to their kid all school year, letting them do whatever they want and then being shocked when the report card is all C's, D's and F's. So shame on NBC too.
Join me next time as I rant into the void about a show I once thought was capable of peak ER quality devolving into what it would look like if the CW had a medical drama ten years ago.
New Amsterdam: Death Is the Rule. Life Is the Exception (2021)
So conflicted
It was a good episode, but like many episodes this season I find myself annoyed. It's odd to say "Oh it was great but I'm frustrated." I do worry about the creative direction of this series. Of course, I like seeing the doctors having personal lives and struggles, it helps them feel real and makes me care about the characters. The problem is the show is now feeling unbalanced in regards to it being about the hospital/patients vs everyone's romantic inclinations. We have Max and Helen in a long awaited but lackluster relationship where usually he seems far more invested than she is. We have Reynolds involved with a married woman, but he has more chemistry (not romantically) with her husband. Bloom and Leyla would have been fine if she didn't treat Leyla like her pet, there's a difference between helping someone with that person's knowledge and secretly buying the person a job. And Iggy, he's hired a guy who shamelessly flirted with him in a job interview. Not a smart move, I see counseling and maybe a lawsuit in his future but hopefully not. As for the hospital drama this week, I found myself thinking of House. It was enjoyable and felt like there were actual stakes. Then Lyn's pregnancy revelation brought back memories of ER. New Amsterdam is not blatantly copying either show, do not take my comparisons as a strike against NA.
Max and Helen left for real. The London stuff is annoying. Sharpe's reasoning was presented as flimsy. She didn't say, "I want to be close to my Mom, my mom might be sick, I want to help my old clinic, I'd like to be near my niece," all of which would feel like valid reasons. No, she said some "I can't be myself here " weirdness to Max and only mentioned her mom when talking to Iggy about her father leaving. It's flimsy. If it were the man in the relationship suddenly wanting to move overseas and the woman dropped everything for him, giving up her career, home and disrupting her child's life, people would be critical. They sleep together once after an awkward one month time jump and Max is behaving as if they've been dating the entire series, while Helen oftentimes comes off as if this is a fling. I love them both, but the writing for them as a couple is uneven.
The writing for Helen has felt strange. She sometimes seems more plot device than character. London move aside, her characterization has felt off and Max is getting dragged through the oddness with their relationship. I guess it's better than when they write him as too naive for plot's sake, but it's already old. Max often behaves how the plot demands and it's frustrating. It's also odd how Helen seems totally unaffected by this move. The other characters appear far more bothered that Max is leaving and he's the one they kept telling to stay. They've all at least been acquainted with Helen much longer but there's rarely a sign that she's ever been anything other than "Our friend's girlfriend." This season she's suddenly emotionally detached from everyone except Max and it's bizarre.
There were better ways to create non-over the top soap opera type drama for Sharpwin (I prefer calling them Melen) than this London nonsense. They're doing a disservice to both characters and their new relationship. I don't know if the writers just aren't sure what to do now that they're together or if there's a rewarding endgame for this London madness, but I'm sadly leading towards the former. Fuentes is over the top evil and it stopped being entertaining a few episodes ago. Ditching a handful of valuable supporting characters was a huge mistake that I worry may not be amended whatsoever. Taking the focus of helping people (without it being a lecture every week) and making the show too relationship driven is backfiring.
Bring back the warmer but still complex Helen we knew and loved for three seasons. Get Reynolds to wake up and walk away from Lyn for good, do not saddle him with a baby with that woman. They're both very attractive but chemistry isn't there. Have Bloom face some consequences for her entitled rule bending. Don't make Iggy an adulterer. And for the love of Ryan, let Max have a voice for himself. You can be a supportive partner while disagreeing and having your own inclinations. It's not toxic masculinity or problematic patriarchal behavior for him to have a backbone.
My opinions do not reflect how I feel about the cast. They're always stellar, I'd watch most of them do anything but I don't want New Amsterdam to become something I only watch for the cast. I want to keep loving this show as a whole. Thanks to anyone who read this. January 4th we'll see if the next episode warrants a "shout into the IMDb void" rant.
The Blacklist: The Skinner (No. 45) (2021)
I tried. I'm out.
The writers really don't see where they went wrong with this show. Liz was no saint, honestly I wouldn't have wanted her to be but they trashed the woman horrifically in seasons 7 & 8. Her already questionable intelligence dwindled to an alarming point but she was able to outsmart everyone for plot reasoning. But here we are, 2 years after she died and they act like she was an angel on earth. She manipulated and put all of her friends in danger repeatedly for a poorly written grudge against Reddington. Honestly, I think the show was possible without Liz. She was out in season 3 and I thought those episodes were great. The minimal-Liz episodes throughout the series were usually stellar. The problem isn't "Liz is gone, the heart of the show is dead. Everyone's lost without her." No, the problem is the creative team lost their marbles and lied anytime they said they had long term plan. They turned a flawed but decent show into a spiteful dumpster fire. How you can canonize a woman you spent a full season vilifying in the most pathetic and frustrating way? It's baffling to watch. Liz is gone and characters still exist to worship her.
So if you're content watching James Spader do absolutely anything regardless of story quality, I'm sure you'll continue to love the show. He's the writers' "Get out of semi-logical writing" free card and they know it. If Megan Boone wasn't your cup of tea, maybe you'll just be glad to watch it without her. Regardless of whatever drama went on with Ms. Boone behind the scenes, the writers do not get a pass for how convoluted The Blacklist has become. It's not her fault they ran out of ideas and refused to solve any mysteries. For the record, I was never a Liz fan. I tolerated her up until the season 7 BS. Occasionally she impressed me and I'll happily give her credit for those instances. My criticism doesn't have anything to do with her absence. I'll happily rewatch the first 6 seasons and the spinoff, but almost everything beyond that isn't worth revisiting.
Riverdale: Chapter Ninety-Five: RIVERDALE: RIP (?) (2021)
Dumb, even by Riverdale standards
I'm usually a happy Riverdale viewer with no expectations who enjoys the insanity, but this one was so dumb it was more annoying than entertaining. Hiram's out, they just let him walk away even though he should have been locked up and they had the proof to do it. Cheryl's maybe being set up as a potential replacement villain. Very flimsy motivation for Cheryl's latest nonsense, no one should be taking anything Nana Rose says as gospel. So many plot holes, even for Riverdale. Meaningless cliffhanger. We have some goofy 5 episode event coming up that looks like an AU or dream sequence. Forced Sabrina placement incoming. I think the only happy viewers are Barchie shippers or people who are excited to see Sabrina again. Good luck on Tuesdays, Riverdale. I'll catch you on the DVR whenever I get around to it. Please do better next year, and don't tease aliens unless you're going to follow through with it. Aliens and Mothmen turning out to be carbon monoxide poisoning and more murderous Blossoms was a cop out and the new witch craft stuff is simply RAS unable to let Sabrina go or write Cheryl with any shred of common sense.
Big Sky (2020)
Are we watching the same show?
Many these negative reviews sound like they've watched a different program entirely. I think Big Sky is one of the most riveting shows on TV today. The cast is immensely talented, the twists are mostly believable, the action is great, it's a dark mystery suspense drama that really doesn't fit on ABC. Even when something outside the realm of realistic happens, I'm still enjoying the show. If you're looking for a show with strong, smart, female leads and some truly disturbed bad guys, watch a few episodes and see if you're hooked. If you tend to nitpick every single scene, you probably won't like Big Sky or much of any scripted TV. I hope Big Sky sticks with us for a while and maintains it's entertaining qualities.
The Blacklist (2013)
Good until they gleefully jumped the shark
Everyone's "they jumped the shark" moment is different. I'd argue it happens early in season 7, by season 8 they were jetpacking over robotic shark-godzilla hybrids and proud of it. I'd still recommend the show, but with words of warning:
Do not ever expect satisfying answers for much of anything. I didn't, and I'm still beyond disgusted. Make up your own answers, you'll be better off. Do not expect a well written, strong female lead character. Liz was tragically always one of the show's weaker spots and she gets completely trashed beyond repair starting in the seventh season. Do not believe that the writers/showrunner have some great grand plan where it will all make sense in the end. They may have at one point but someone sold their soul to NBC between seasons 5 and 6 and they focus on stretching the story instead of writing things that make sense. If you have any opinion, do not engage with other fans online unless you're ready to experience a level of creepy/crazy that sounds like it's out of a horror novel. Some of these fans have will view you as something pure evil if you don't agree with them, and there's no reasoning with them. Do not watch if you don't like sci-fi, The Blacklist loves to dabble in sci-fi. Do not watch if you want logic because that gets shoved out the window with reckless abandon whenever the plot calls for it. Do not watch if violence bothers you, because at times this show gets delightfully violent.
If you love even just half the cast, the first 6 seasons are pretty great. After that, the main story gets painful with occasional stand alone episodes that are good enough to trick you into thinking you're still watching stellar, quality television. You're not, they're using James Spader to keep most of us around and some people will praise it simply because Spader is there.
Super Spader fanatics will likely fare better with this series. James Spader is NOT who the show was written for or cast around, but he is undoubtedly the main draw. He's of a higher calilber than many of today's movie stars so having him on a weekly TV show is quite the treat. Reddington was seemingly not meant to be the main focus of the show, but they cast Spader and that's what happened. Megan Boone fans will likely have mixed emotions, seeing as she's the secondary lead but Liz is almost always the worst written character. Ryan Eggold keeps you guessing with his nuanced poryrayal of Tom Keen, you'll end up loving him or despising him, there seems to be no middle ground. Harry Lennix is great as the respectable Agent Cooper when they give him good material, but that's something they struggle with as the series progresses. Amir Arison is a delight as Aram, bringing a bit of subtle humor and sunshine to a dreary world. Diego Klattenhoff's Ressler is the by the book good guy. Unfortunately past the first season, he frequently suffers the same odd, stilted writing as Megan Boone's Liz and the poor guy comes off unintentionally awkward more often than not. Hisham Tawfiq plays Red's closest ally, Dembe, a man of few words but brings a lot to the show. There's a revolving door of female agents rounding out the task force, with Mohzan Marnò's highly skilled Samar Navabi sticking around the longest. Tons of fantastic recurring and one off characters make up Red's network of people, enemies, and Blacklisters. You have to see these people to appreciate the humor, the menace, and unexpected things they bring to a semi-serialized crime procedural. The characters, main and recurring, they made this show more than just another procedural. Sadly the writing eventually fails most of them, and you find yourself thankful the past characters aren't being tainted like the current ones.
My unsolicited advice? Try and go through season 6. If you make it to the end of season 6, just cut off the episode after Red turns down a dinner invitation. The two seasons that follow are often soap opera-like and downright insulting to anyone who dared invest or pay attention. I have zero hope that season 9 will right the course. Somewhere they realized as long as Spader's on board, some people will watch no matter how lazy and awful the writing gets. Seriously, he could spend an episode reading a take out menu and there'd be people flooding the site with nine and ten star reviews.
The first six seasons are an easy 8.5-9 stars with occasional 10 star episodes. I laughed, I cried, it was a fun show that was easy to invest in and it didn't seem too predictable. What comes after is a bunch of flies in the ointment.
The Blacklist: Konets (2021)
Au revoir, name redacted.
Up until the very end, this episode felt like an odd fever dream. Everything felt uncanny and off. As someone who was never a huge Liz fan, I will say her death scene was sad. Probably hit me because they showed flashbacks and reminded me of when I cared about Liz, but there was something about experiencing Liz's life flashing before her eyes that hit even my jaded heart.
Elizabeth Keen should have been so much more. Something along the lines of a Buffy Summers type, deeply flawed and vulnerable but strong, smart, relatable, sympathetic, tough, someone you can't help but fall for. Instead, Liz was the single most poorly written female lead I have ever witnessed. Granted, the shoddy writing was probably necessary at times in order to facilitate her keeping Tom around after all his stunts, and working with Reddington at all after basically the first season, and I could forgive all that. They made it make enough sense. What I can't forgive, is the lack of true character development. Liz stalled and went in circles past a certain point. All I can figure is the people in charge are clueless about writing women, because when Liz was at her worst these past 2 seasons, it seems we were supposed to be most impressed.
I could mostly understand the Liz we got the first 5 seasons. I could understand her in season 6 when she secretly had Red put in prison. I believed her remorse when she realized she made a terrible mistake. Nothing was truly unforgivable until that BS in season 7 with blonde not-Kat. She went from being on great terms with Red, to oddly distant after he'd been kidnapped. Why? One week she hates him, the next she's warm and thankful he made it to her daughter's ballet reception. Then she hates him again! In my opinion, this poorly executed, one sided Liz VS Red war was the start of what has ruined the show. They wrote their co-lead into a volcanic pit, and they did it poorly whilst making every other main cast character look dumber than a bag of rocks.
I don't know what, if anything went on behind the scenes to propel this, but regardless, the people in charge should be ashamed. The fans, regardless of what faction they're in, they deserved better. The cast deserved better. How did we go from intriguing and dark crime/spy drama taking down creepy and colorful criminals to a mediocre soap opera with forced feuds, forced sleazy romance (sorry keenler crew, you weren't my cup of tea but you did deserve better), forced stupidity, and an adversary so cartoonishly embarrassing? What the heck went wrong?
Liz never got the answers she so desperately sought. Red would only grant her this knowledge after she killed him. Liz agreed, but when the time came she didn't want to do it, because even after all her misdeeds and painfully stupid stunts, Liz had a heart and Red was family. If she was ever truly capable of killing him, she would have shot him after she killed Anne. Liz didn't want to kill someone who, as damaging as he was, looked out for her, who cared for her daughter while she was in a coma, who wanted to leave her everything he had. Liz was a lot of things, but not heartless. She could not kill a man her daughter lovingly dubbed Pinky. Even if this had been the series finale, it never would have happened, at least not believably.
It's because of Red's ludicrous request, Liz ends up dead. You'd think after everything, Red would have sought out Townsend's remaining ally. Liz surely knew how dedicated VanDyke (?) was to Townsend. Red should have squashed that bug, but much like with Townsend himself, Red was careless and let this guy live because plot demanded it. So this henchman of the worst villain in the series shoots Liz from behind, fulfilling Townsend's wish of having Red watch Liz die. Seriously? By the way, why on earth would Liz want to raise her daughter living even deeper in Red's world? You'd think Liz would want to take her kid and have a peaceful life. Give her daughter stability and a mother she could rely on, but Red's stupid desire to have Liz take over his empire was more important.
A good, respectable enough exit would have been Liz telling Red to take his empire and shove it. She should have demanded he facilitate her going into deep, deep hiding and he should have respected that. Liz should have stood up for herself and her daughter but instead, she goes with Red's dumb request because he has some disease that writers probably can't figure out. I have never seen a show sabotage a lead character the audience is supposed to root for the way Blacklist relentlessly sabotaged Liz. I thought I'd be happier she was gone, I didn't think they'd kill her.
6/10 because they pulled off the amazing trick of making me feel bad for Liz for the first time since season 6. This was a strange episode, that by the way, refused to confirm Red's identity. They purposely fueled the "Redarina" fire, and I doubt they'll ever bring it up again so the audience factions can be in an eternal civil war. No one wins except the "Redarinas". They have likely angered all of the Lizzingtons, the Keenlers, the Daddygaters, the Other Dude theorists, the people who just wanted a good story, we all lost. I'm not mad because "it's not the story I wanted", I'm mad because they took a good, intriguing, fun story with endless potential, and turned it into a dumpster fire.
The Blacklist: Nachalo (2021)
Retreads and a few confirmations. Massively overhyped.
If you enjoyed this episode and found it satisfying, good for you. Read no further and go on your merry way, friend. If you're increasingly disenchanted and have hated the story arcs this season, you're not alone. To me this felt like clunky fan fiction. The show has morphed into a parody of itself. It seemed as if the people in charge had a checklist of things the dedicated fanbase would like addressed. Tacoma Park, bubble girl, the fire around Christmas, the scar, N-13, all addressed to varying degrees but without the punch or finesse one would hope for.
Did we learn anything all that satisfying or substantial? We learn the Blonde Katarina was not Liz's mother, but someone set up to be targeted in Katarina's place. Sorry, but I don't care about this woman, her vendetta, or anything about her. I knew she wasn't Katarina and that doesn't make me feel any better about her half baked storyline and the convoluted BS that has developed since she appeared. Liz may have become horrifically insufferable, but the fake Katarina is the ground zero for me as to what has sent this series off the rails.
We learn again that our Red is not the original Raymond Reddington. Again, he is not Liz's father. We've been told he's not her father several times, often from Red himself. So we're getting more confirmation of things already hinted at than actual new information.
The presentation of this episode was bizarre. Liz once again converses with figments of her imagination, maybe? It's presented as real Katarina, real Raymond Reddington, Illya, Dom, fake Katatina, and Ivan Stepanov filling in some blanks for Liz. At least half of those characters are confirmed dead. Liz loses focus early on and our Red tells her to focus on the story, thus drowning out the busy office work around her and keeping Liz in a black & white world of memories and conversations with people who aren't there. Why did they have to go to Latvia for this? Okay, Red wanted her to see his super secret headquarters but why couldn't he tell Liz the story on the plane ride there? It's all so goofy.
Eventually the world's worst villain interrupts while Liz presses for an answer about Red that seems painfully obvious but also so incredibly stupid you can't blame the woman for dismissing it. Townsend arrives because Liz had the tracking thing on her. Once again, Liz brings trouble upon herself. Liz gets shot, Red destroys at least part of this place in Latvia in order to take out Townsend, who I hope is dead and gone for good. He is the most pathetic excuse for a villain I have ever seen, and I watched season 4 of FearTWD with the derranged dirty woman poisoning water and doodling on people with a sharpie. At least she was funny. Fake Kat was the ice cream sundae of destruction for this show, Liz was the whipped cream, and Townsend was the cherry on top.
They hyped this up like a big fireworks show, but handed out snakes and sparklers. Perhaps there's a roman candle or three in the arsenal for next week, whether or not you find them to be impressive or duds depends on your personal preferences and what, if any theory you subscribe to. The notion that our Red is real Katarina is laid on so thick I honestly don't know how to handle it. I've been in the quiet "he's another dude altogether" camp and always viewed the sporadic Redarina hints as the writers trolling a sect of the fanbase.
If they go the "Red is Katarina" path, I think I'm done. Not necause of any hate or small mindedness, but because it would be utterly stupid and Jerry Springer-like. I don't care when things don't pan out the way I expected as long as it's believable enough and a satisfying story. There are two versions of The Blacklist. The good Blacklist seems stuck in the Twin Peaks Black Lodge. The convoluted, evil parody version has mostly taken over and is breaking the spirit of many devoted, loyal fans. We'll see what version prevails next week as we supposedly learn who our Reddington really is. I'm holding out a tiny shred of hope the "Redarina" hints are merely a decoy. I'd swallow Red being a time traveling alien over this Katarina nonsense.
I know it's impossible to please everyone but I feel like they're shooting themselves in the foot with all this. Even without the Redarina aspect, I still doubt I would have liked this episode. Still don't have the heart to rate it below a 5.
New Amsterdam: Death Begins in Radiology (2021)
Mixed feelings which sums up the whole season.
After two stellar episodes that felt like New Amsterdam at it's best, we end season 3 in a slightly odd way. Don't write me off as being unhappy with the outcomes, it's aspects of the execution that have me baffled. The one month time skip was jarring. Last week we saw Reynolds sticking to his guns about the open marriage relationship not working for him. This week with the one month skip, we see he's now been seeing Malvo for weeks. Reynolds also gets an offer for a big promotion. Awesome, right? In the single most predictable move I can recall this show ever playing, the man offering Reynolds this promotion is Malvo's husband. I'm suddenly not sure how true her claims were about that open marriage arrangement, we shall see.
In other sudden developments, Helen is in the UK to help her niece get settled for college and Max is leaving a voice mail basically saying "I want you, I want us. We need to do this." Was Helen gone the entire month? Why wouldn't he have told her this before the trip? I don't get it. It's a little awkward is all. Left me feeling like I'd missed something. Them getting together isn't rushed, but the odd way it played out tonight was. Not the very end of the episode, but the time skip. I don't see what purpose that skip served, other than forcing Helen's niece out and shoving Reynolds in bed with Malvo. It made things feel disjointed.
Now for storylines that were unaffected by the one month skip: Bloom has made a big move to ensure Leyla can work at New Amsterdam. A big, illegal, move in the form of bribery. Leyla is oblivious and it will be heartbreaking when she finds out. She believes she was offered this work based on her merits. I do want Bloom to face real consequences for this, both her and the guy she bribed.
Iggy has been away on a camping trip with his family. I could watch a whole separate show about them, they're so much fun to watch. Iggy understandably needed time away after the Chance ordeal. Iggy tells Martin he's done seeing patients. I don't know if that means he's quitting his job, or just sticking to group therapy. We'll find out eventually, but if Iggy's leaving that will be a big blow to the series. The loss of Kapoor has left a huge void, losing Iggy would add to that.
Max can't find his wedding ring and it seems that anyone he tells is like "Big deal, bro. It's a ring. She's dead. Move on." You can be ready to move on without wanting to lose every last piece of a relationship that only ended because of a sudden death. Max should keep the ring in a drawer or box somewhere, it wouldn't invalidate or diminish any future relationship. He can stop wearing it, but he doesn't have to throw it into the fires of Mount Doom, sheesh.
Maybe if they had focused more on telling stories about our doctors instead of over loading us with "very special episodes"- most were well done but too close together, a couple were a bit too heavy handed, the stupidity of 03×11 is in a class all it's own that I pray we never endure again- MAYBE they would have had episodes to bridge the gap between the events of last week's episode and what played out here, instead of forcing a jarring skip that only really effected the Reynolds/Malvo story and the Max/Helen developments. I'm not opposed to the outcomes of how these stories played out, but the way they played out was jarring and felt weird. It felt like I missed 2 or 3 episodes.
List of hopes for season 4:
* Cut back on the very special episodes. I agree with what they're saying, but I don't want to see these episodes utilized as frequently as they were in season 3. Using them more sparingly and approaching the subject matter with more finesse and tact will render these more effective.
* Stop making Max dumb for the sake of "this week's lesson", please. He crossed the line from sweet optimist we love to tragic dummy a couple times this season (looking at you again, 03×11). As talented as Ryan Eggold is, he can't sell Max as being that dumb and he shouldn't have to. Not at all comment on the acting, just the material. Write Max better in these instances and let the guy have a backbone with things like pushy in-laws who kidnapped his daughter. It's still okay for people to stand up for themselves, right? Max needs to stand up for himself as readily as he'll stand up for the people he wants to help. And can every single person he approaches stop blaming him for stuff that happened at the hospital decades ago (03×07)? Don't shoot the messenger who wants nothing more than to help you. People can be disagreeable, but it doesn't hurt to show some lighten up and band together (03×10, 03×13).
* Continue to write mature, adult relationships. Don't think "Sharpwin" happening makes for an instant happy fan base. Write them well and don't simply pander to please the loud internet shippers. Be true to the characters.
* Keep up the great portrayal of LGBTQ relationships, that's been well done and it's wonderful to see. It's important to see and you never know how much of an impact this can have on someone.
* Keep the characters feeling like real people instead of being solely defined by what makes them diverse. Don't morph this into several other medical drama with petty workplace relationship squabbles making adults act like dumb CW teens. Don't go the outrageous disaster storylines route. Keep it fairly real for our characters and the events at the hospital.
I know we can't go back to pre-covid, but if they can recapture the essence of seasons 1 & 2, and the better parts of season 3, the show will be better in season 4. New Amsterdam needs to be more about our doctors navigating their lives while saving the lives of others, not tackling social issues every single week, not pandering, and not giving in to fan service. I love New Amsterdam and have always defended it from harsh criticism, but I'm slightly relieved this well meaning but disjointed third season is over. 8/10. Season 3 as a whole gets a B- from me.
The Blacklist: Godwin Page (No. 141) (2021)
Better than last week, but I'm underwhelmed.
Perhaps I'm jaded, but I wasn't blown away by this installment. It wasn't bad, but it's another one that was missing a touch of oomph or chutzpah. The scene of the security box(?) being airlifted out of the taskforce HQ felt like something meant for a Bond movie, or a cartoon. Perhaps from setting that wasn't the FBI building, it wouldn't have felt too over the top. The appearance of Teddy and his wife Edna was delightful. The actors did great with the material. Townsend is still a hollow villain filled with a dull bark but over exaggerated and unconvincing bite. I don't think it's the writing so much as it is this actor wasn't right for the part, but I'll be glad when the show is finally rid of him.
Elizabeth forever seems oblivious about the gravity of her situation. Red clearly means her no harm. She killed Anne right in front of him and he never so much as mentioned it to her. Townsend is supposedly the most dangerous person ever. He had Liz's group of "super friends" killed, but she is so sold on the breadcrumbs of vague information from the woman who claimed to be Katarina, that she opts to reach out and offer Townsend her help AGAIN rather than cooperate with Red. Red who wants to protect her. Red who wants to tell her everything. At the very least, anyone else on earth would be curious enough to stop sabotaging the man long enough to hear him out. Not Elizabeth, nope. I'm not angry that she opposes dealing with Red. I wasn't nearly this irritated with Liz when she got Red imprisoned and put on death row. It's the way she has been written for the better part of two seasons adding to my argument that she's more of a plot device than a character. Are women THAT hard to write? I could give the showrunners several strong, complex, conflicted fictional females to study spanning many genres of television. For all the flaws, BTVS got so much right in regards to our vampire slaying heroine, while The Blacklist's Liz has become a study of what NOT to do.
Back to the show, Red has decided to tell Elizabeth everything. While I strongly detest Liz's actions this season, I do feel Red let things go too far from his end. We can blame the writers or network or studio for this. The powers that be really hate giving out answers while the show still has a big audience, and instead likes to shed half the audience and force some shark jumping before spilling the beans. Season 3: Red could have told Liz the truth while she was pregnant, this may have helped her understand Red's role in her life and decide how to proceed for the sake of her and her child. Season 4: Red could have told her after the drawn out kidnapping of Agnes, so she could know what potential dangers truly lurk and perhaps she'd make future decisions accordingly, same for after the Kaplan ordeal and the DNA test that said he was her father. Season 5: Red could have told Liz after Tom died in an effort to build trust as they teamed up to track down Ian Garvey. Season 7: He could have told her once the woman claiming to be Katarina made herself known. That's just ideas off the top of my head.
There were ample logical opportunities, none which would have felt forced or "too early" for Reddington to tell Liz something. Not necessarily everything, but anything meaningful enough to assure her he has always had her best interests at heart, that he truly means it when he says the last few decades of his life has been about protecting her. But no, a whole lot of people had to die before Red decided too much had happened and the truth must come out. I highly doubt the truth will make us say "Gee, golly Red! It was so worthwhile to keep quiet about that! I also totally forgive Liz's descent into ungodly stupidity!" especially after the incredible damage done to Liz's character this season, even more so if it's all been in an effort to protect her from some horrible truth about herself. If we're supposed to view Liz as an emotionally stunted, unsympathetic and shallow nutjob, then I will have to re-evaluate this season and give them a standing ovation. Unfortunately think we're still supposed to root for Liz and for plenty of us they've done too much damage to make that a possibility.
Solving a mystery, or even solving only half of it does not mean the show is over. It means you have opened up a door for more story opportunities, but you have to be creative about it. Perhaps I have an over active imagination. Regardless, that doesn't seem like too daunting a task for people being paid to tell stories for a living. At this rate the answers are almost certain to feel underwhelming or absolutely ridiculous. Red tells Liz, and essentially the viewer "Forget everything you thought you knew." It's equal parts horrifying and exciting, but with the uneven way this season has gone, I'm far more concerned than excited. Will the answers restore my faith that they've always known what they're doing? Will they leave me scratching my head and wondering how anyone could think this is a feasible and worthy explanation? Or will we get partial answers and before the most important things are revealed, Townsend interrupts and ruins everything with his over dramatic and campy presence? I'll find out Wednesday, June 16th at 10pm. Until then, I'll be wondering why someone with Reddington's resources and dislike for loose ends would allow the big bad Townsend to live all these years when he posed such a massive threat. See how dumb everything has to be for this plot?
The Blacklist: Balthazar 'Bino' Baker (No. 129) (2021)
Not sure how much more of Liz I can stomach
If you're pro-Liz or looking for Keenler stuff, you'll probably enjoy this one. If that sounds like you, save yourself the stress of reading this week's little rant-view.
After a mostly fun episode last week that rid us of Skip, Esi, and the lingering under developed, shoe horned in half sister, this week is a bland adventure. Starring Elizabeth "Red joyfully murdered everyone I love and everything bad is his fault" Keen, and Donald "I have no self respect or personality outside of longing for Liz" Ressler. Yipee.
This is another episode that I have no desire to ever watch again. I can honestly say before season 8, there were zero episodes that I would skip over in a rewatch. Each one felt integral in some way, be it plot developments, character building, or various fun stuff. This was another season 8 dud. Liz wines about Red and blames him for murdering people who were either killed trying to protect her, or were killed by Townsend because she was stupid enough to get involved with him and drag those people with her. If I have to hear her cry about what a good person Esi was one more time, I might scream. Say she was a good FRIEND, I can live with that. Liz seems to be forgetting about Skip already, and I will happily do the same. Anyway, Ressler gets shot (by the almighty Townsend's people) while trying to transport Liz into custody. The most interesting thing about this is he appears to be bleeding out a rust color substance. So we have a character that has been assassinated to the point of losing all sympathy with a good chunk of the audience trying to save a character they have barely given any personality to over the course of eight seasons. I'd rather watch Aram and Agnes make paper airplanes, Park have another violent breakdown, or Cooper get an eye exam.
Of course Red has a solution to help, but even his go-to guy for this, is terrified of the great and powerful Townsend. I've been over Townsend since his second appearance, but if he kills Liz and then Red spends the next season or 2 hunting him down, I can live with that. Alas, that seems about as likely as Ressler suddenly getting a personality, or Liz taking responsibility for some of the screwed up things in her life.
Liz's confession of something she interprets as love to an unconscious Ressler had no warmth or sincerity to it. It sounded more like someone confessing something along the lines of having broken a toy when they were kids, or having been the one to scratch the car door. There is no romantic chemistry between them. I get that in a way, once upon a time, they could/would have made sense, but with the lack of chemistry and Liz's continued reckless stunts, nothing about this rings true. It feels gross and cheap. It feels like a disservice to Ressler to have him roped into a relationship with this delusional fugitive who has used and fooled him repeatedly all season. There could have been a better way to get them together it wouldn't have made my skin crawl, but instead Liz has been trashed because "Mommy said that Reddington man is bad. Mommy who was supposed to be dead, appeared from nowhere and lied to my face for weeks. She can be trusted!"
No one's saying anyone on this show has to be a saint, that would be dull. It is a deeply gray world on The Blacklist. But they went overboard on having Liz go rogue in this one sided feud with Red. It would be one thing if she took an ounce of responsibility or acknowledged some of this is her own doing, but she continues to blame Red and even name dropped poor dead Tom -at this point I'm glad he and Samar are free of the wonky writing on this show- tonight, mentioning people in her life not being as they appear. I wonder if this is foreshadowing that Liz herself isn't what she appears and doesn't even know it. Perhaps Liz is N-13! And Red is the Easter Bunny! Cooper is Santa, and Ressler is Pinocchio!
Not enough of Red and Dembe to distract away from the tragedy that is Liz and Ressler. Needed more Aram too. Last week's episode felt big and important, this felt like a weird time for filler and awkward fan service for the Keenler shippers. I thought you had to care about both characters in these ships people obsess over. If these people really cared about Ressler they'd want him to have some dignity and self respect. I'd think they'd want him to stand up against Liz's bullcrap instead of "put them together no matter what it takes". Season 3 Ressler was a pain but he had guts! Season 8 Ressler is a sap and a schmuck. It's sad. This season is so uneven it's disheartening. Still can't bring myself to go lower than a 5.
Join me next week as I vent about the answers Red says he's finally giving Liz! We are Charlie Brown, the writers are Lucy, and answers are the football. I'm not even trying to kick anymore, I just enjoy the good and come here to have cathartic rants about the not so good. I likely won't tune out unless they kill off Red or Dembe, but Liz is seriously testing my will to watch without fast forwarding.
The Blacklist: The Protean (No. 36) (2021)
Wild
We still know nothing, but at least we're getting some great episodes again. Liz is still horrible, but things are happening and it doesn't feel predictable or insultingly stupid. This one almost makes up for a lot of dumb stuff earlier in the season. Almost.
The Blacklist: Ivan Stepanov (No. 5) (2021)
One of the best episodes in the last 2 seasons
When "The Blacklist" is good, it's really good. Were any answers actually revealed to the audience tonight? NOPE. Was I expecting them to tell us anything? No way. Do I still hate what they've done with Liz? Big time. Even so, this was a really strong episode. Only way it could have been better is if Townsend had finally been killed. Just watch and enjoy this one. It doesn't make up for the overarching story of the season lacking and being fairly dreadful at times, but this was a well done episode showing that the writers are still capable of delivering excellent chapters of this insane story.
I hope we are blessed with the presence of jewel thief Priya again in the future. She is incredible and her abilities are believable. I want her on Red's team for good. If Blacklist can't or won't use her I hope someone will hire this talented actress, ASAP!!
The Blacklist: Misère (2021)
Misère: Misery. Or a hand that will win no tricks.
If you want to continue from where the infinitely superior episode "Anne" left off, skip to the last 5 minutes of the show and prepare to be annoyed.
"Misère" is a lookback at what Liz has been doing the last several episodes. You know, all the stunts she's pulled and been complicit in. Like the Chemical Mary thing, orchestrating the almost plane crash, Dembe being taken by Townsend's torture doctor, the explosive expert being tortured and badly beaten, all those innocent people getting killed last week, we get to see Liz's side of that. You see, it's okay that she was a part of all this, because she feels really bad about some of it! It's okay that she has embarked on this path of destruction because she has remorse for Dembe getting grabbed and her "avatar" killing Chemical Mary! She even vomitted once, see how bad she feels!!
Liz is still totally a good person. She's just upset that Red won't tell her who he really is and goes to great lengths to tell more and more extravagant lies and because he killed Katarina. Those things completely justify her recent actions, Liz can kill a puppy and claim it's because of what Red did and she'd be absolved of any wrong doing. At least that's what the writers seem to believe and want the audience to believe. Katarina murdered, lied, and kept things from Liz as well, but it's okay for mommy to do those things because this show is a bloody wreck. They botched everything with Katarina that led up to this nonsense. I'd be maybe 50% less disgusted if from season 7 onward, the Katarina story didn't suck so bad. It would also help if Liz was ever written as being intelligent enough to pull off this level of crap mostly on her own. Does Liz absorb the intelligence of others at will? Does she have a psychic link that allows her to take others smarts and leave them dumb as dirt while she pulls off these grand schemes and master manipulations? Or do the powers that be think so little of the audience who has faithfully kept watching all these years?
Liz is accompanied in her journey by the untrustworthy Skip, who I expect to betray Liz as soon as Townsend is fed up with her. If Liz could buy him off, what's to stop Townsend from doing the same? Speaking of which, the ever annoying Townsend is as unlikeable, psychotic, and obnoxious around Liz as he is without her around, but don't worry! Liz finds his actions detestable, so her good moral standing is still in check. How awful of mean old Red to force her to work woth such a dangerous psychopath. I know Red is no saint, but he is not an unhinged freak willing slaughter massive amounts of people the way this Townsend lunatic is. Red doesn't enjoy murder. He may enjoy revenge, but not murder for the sake of murder. Townsend relishes in it, but clearly, Townsend is the lesser of the evils.
Agnes has been pawned off on some random French (?) woman Liz barely knows. Liz would rather team up with a cartoony supervillain and a personality-free henchman than be with her kid, not all that surprising. Liz's decisions are guided by a hallucination or maybe a ghost of the long dead, Mr. Kaplan. Liz can't stick to her guns about all of this on her own, she needs reassurance from a figment of her imagination. I always liked Kaplan's character, even when she was at war with Red, but her inclusion here felt odd. Very, very odd. Liz barely had any contact with Kaplan after the fake out death escape plan went awry, but she has all this insight in what Kaplan would do. Sure, that makes sense.
It wasn't bad enough that they had Red fall for the half baked stunts she pulled that led to Marvin being tortured and Red's bank account being drained. It wasn't bad enough to devote an entire episode to hollow attempts at showing Liz is still a good person, she was simply pushed too far. It wasn't enough that this episode showed the intelligent, fiery, force of nature Anne being manipulated by Liz and insta-trusting a woman who she met through a fender bender. Nope, we got one last "screw you, dumb loyal audience" from whoever is calling the shots. In the last maybe 3 minutes, the episode picks up where "Anne" left off. Liz and Anne struggle, Anne falls down and hits her head hard on the pointed end of a coffee table. Glass breaks and blood flows. We're left uncertain about Anne's fate, but it does not look good. Who knows if we'll find out next week, we might be treated to Liz playing bocce ball with Townsend while the taskforce mourns over how much they miss their super awesome friend, Liz and roll their eyes at Red. I don't know what to expect anymore, and that's not being said in a complimentary way. When it's good, it's fantastic. When it bad, it can get quite abysmal.
I don't like giving low ratings to any show, especially not one I have stuck with for nearly eight years. Regardless of the story content, the cast and crew did their jobs so I'm giving it a 5. Story wise- it gets a 2/10. Yes, I'm annoyed about what happened to Anne, but that's not the main problem here. There have been plenty of great supporting and short term characters written out in ways that were impactful, but not rage inducing. It's why this happened that ticks me off, the convenience coupled with the stupidity of it all. Utterly senseless. A freak lightning strike would have been better than this.
I don't know what behind the scenes drama is going on, there are rumors about a pay dispute and that's why MB has been gone. Some people are mad at her and say the writers are doing the best they can given the circumstances, but the writers have been failing the Liz character for a while and this episode isn't winning her any new fans. This was a very aggravating episode to endure. The only happy viewers are the people with the twisted view of Liz being a 100% right super genius and the shipping faction that wanted Anne out of the picture. The fan theories about what this episode would be were better than what it was.
The Blacklist: Anne (2021)
Another Brilliant Blacklister-Free Episode
Most of the one off, no Blacklister, episodes are standouts and this one is no different. Red is taking a weekend trip to Kansas to spend with Anne. It's revealed Red has spent several weekends with her! Anne is an escape from his own twisted world. Dembe warns Red his behavior will be noticed by Townsend, that he's putting Anne in danger. Dembe wants to come along, but Red dismisses these concerns and goes alone. He has a great time with Anne and her friends. Their relationship has progressed offscreen, but in a believable and sweet way. Their bliss is short lived and soon enough all hell breaks loose. One of the best episodes this season, maybe even in the whole of the series. LaChanze who plays Anne, is an absolute treasure. James Spader brings it every week. Kathryn Erbe was wonderful as well, nice to see her back on TV. The range of these actors is on display and contributes greatly to a stellar episode of an uneven series.
The only downside of this episode is that irksome Neville Townsend character is still breathing. He's no where near as threatening as he should be, and I don't know if it's bad casting, weird writing, or both. He feels more like an ant Red couldn't be bothered to track down and squish rather than a legitimate thorn in the side.
An unseen Liz returns in a way that makes me continue to loathe the character. Next week is all about Lizzie, so savor this episode before the writers seemingly try yet again to make us side with the character they have the worst time writing for. Unless they reveal she's been severely brain damaged or under Katarina's mind control since early season 7, there's no getting me or anyone I know to sympathize with her these days (sorry, Ms. Boone, it is not your fault). Seemingly the only viewers pro-Liz these days are in one of two shipping factions, "Lizzington" or "keenler". God help the rest of us if the writers give in completely and pander to one (or both, ick) of those sects. I'm sure I'll be ranting here next week.
The Blacklist: Rakitin (No. 28) (2021)
Spader's acting was phenomenal.
The story is developing, and that is very much appreciated but it was so great to see Spader given a wider array of emotions to work with this week. He was calm, manipulative, a bit maniacal on the phone with Park, and downright chilling at the end. It's a blast to watch him. As for Rakitin, that little pest is no more. This episode did feel closer to "The Blacklist" I know and love, but something was still off, and no, it's not Liz's continued absence. I get the feeling maybe we're supposed to be turning against Red, or at least more sympathetic towards Liz's endeavor but it's not working. Having the taskforce borderline pledge allegiance to Liz after the offscreen stunts she's pulled feels like a disservice to their chracters. And Ressler has had a way to get in touch with Liz this entire time? Give me a break, they've really dumbed him down and made him a super sap for her. So that stuff is frustrating, but the Red stuff is insanely compelling. Excellent work by the cast.
Call Me Kat (2021)
A fun show with a charming cast
No, I haven't seen the UK series "Miranda", the show this is adapted from. Despite the previews making me think this show would be a completely embarassing trainwreck, "Call Me Kat" is a fun, charming, silly, half hour. The people who think this is the worst show they've ever, seen must not see a lot of TV.
The cast is excellent, not a single weak link. The humor isn't mean spirited or reliant on toilet humor and dirty jokes. The characters support each other and get often into some silly predicaments that make me smile. As Phil, Leslie Jordan delivers the most laugh out loud moments. Kat's occasional "talking to the audience" breaks don't bother me in the least, it's similar to, but done with a different tone than "Malcolm in the Middle". The laugh track is a little distracting. It's not as bad as other shows, but still a teensy bit overdone.
No, it's not groundbreaking. No, it's not the funniest thing you'll see on TV (well, on Fox it is). But it's also not the unwatchable mess many people are claiming. If you like Mayim Bialik and want to see a good hearted, fun show about a group of good, realistically flawed people, then give "Call Me Kat" a chance. It's improving as the season progresses and I hope it manages to stick around for a while.
The Blacklist: The Cyranoid (No. 35) (2021)
Unremarkable. Bizarrely forgettable. Wasted premise.
After a few strong episodes with interesting developments for all our characters (except Ressler and the offscreen Liz), this episode happens. An interesting premise for sure, but the execution was lacking in every area. Anyone with half a brain and a fair attention span could figure out that wasn't Liz we saw in the promo. Instead we were treated to a Cyranoid, a woman with special contact lenses(?) doing Liz's bidding. For at least half the episode, they had the nerve to write the Liz stand in claiming that she was Liz. Were we supposed to believe for a second that this woman was somehow Liz now and if so, how dumb do the writers think we are? I didn't even think about just how stupid all of this was as it was airing, but the more I think about it the more annoyed I become. And the Liz stand in, she looks nothing like real Liz (Megan Boone). Completely different face shape, she seemed taller, they couldn't even be bothered to dye her hair the right shade (or lend her one of Megan's wigs). The actress did a good job, but this whole ordeal was beyond stupid. The best scene was Red repeatedly threatening to shoot the Liz stand in. Red's actually more moral than Liz now, so it turns out the gun was never loaded. But we got to meet the big bad, cartoony Townsend. Whoopee.
I don't know what version of The Blacklist the writers have watched all these years, but I don't think it's the same version that I have watched. Liz has never been particularly cunning or intelligent. Even in the beginning of the series, the fact that she was supposed to be this brilliant profiler was hard to believe. The writers have been failing her since the beginning, and all it has done is turn the audience against her. It doesn't matter how little we know about Red and how bad he can be, we mostly understand his motives. He's infinitely better written, so he's easier to care about and root for.
There's no way the Liz I have watched for 8 seasons would be able to pull off the stunts that have gone on this season. Whereas this episode didn't particularly dumb down any our other characters, it reduced the FBI agents to being naive pawns in Liz's game. I'm tired of the noble and respectable Agent Cooper trying to justify Liz's murderous, ruthless behavior. I'm tired of the chatmingly innocent Aram being hurt, used, and manipulated by a woman he considered a good friend. I'm tired of Ressler, a character I've never been fond of, being reduced to a prop who can be so easily emotionally toyed with because Liz phones in some words of insincere affection. Park is the only one unscathed because she's so new. For the first time, I'm glad Samar isn't around. They couldn't have believably written her into this storyline unless she was the sole voice of reason advocating for Liz's takedown.
Dear producers & writers: MOST OF US ARE NOT ENJOYING THIS. MOST OF US ARE NOT ON LIZ'S SIDE. THERE'S NO WAY YOU CAN CHANGE THAT, not without having Reddington kill Liz's child or something over the top like that. When there are several reviews and comments all over the web celebrating the lead character's absence, and cursing when she "reappears" in this episode, you have a problem. This is not as well developed and complex a conflict as you think. Liz can't come back from the hole that's been dug for her. A lot of viewers don't want her to come back, ever. I truly hope Megan Boone shields herself from the vitriol and is enjoying her time off.
Liz VS Red should have been an exciting development and deviation from the normal Blacklist. With a lousy, half-ass Katarina foundation for the story, Liz suddenly and unrealistically being Lex Luthor levels of genius, and everyone else being stupid just so an offscreen Liz comes out on top, it is slowly killing the show. Even the most devout of us who rolled with every random and convoluted plotline, suffered through several loved characters deaths & departures (Mr. Kaplan, Tom, Samar, Dom, Jellybean, that poor dog Liz had in Alaska), and put up with an astounding lack of answers and backpeddling, it's getting riduculous. Tune in next week and see if the writers are dumb enough to kill off Dembe and make me decide this series ended abruptly after season 6.
The Blacklist: The Wellstone Agency (No. 127) (2021)
A Weird and Beautiful Goodbye
When "The Blacklist" is great, it's really great. Standout, memorable, episodes that stay with you. This is one of those episodes, though I really wish it didn't have to exist. The case was not the main focal point this week. This week was more about the passing of a beloved recurring character. Clark Middleton died unexpectedly last year from West Nile Virus. Instead of writing the Glen character off as on an eternal vacation, or simply never mentioning him again, "The Blacklist" gives a man who appeared in a mere 13 episodes, a very touching sendoff. Clark was a gifted actor who touched the lives of those he worked with and those of us who watched his performances. I always looked forward to seeing what grief Glen "Jellybean" Carter would cause Red next. Glen was initially meant to feature heavily in this episode, but after Clark's passing it was rewritten to serve as a heartfelt tribute. You will smile and laugh, but at the end you may need tissues.
Red and Dembe have to say an unexpected goodbye to Glen after learning from his mother that he passed away from West Nile Virus. Red is initially in shock and believes it to be a prank. Shock turns to anger when Red learns Glen has tasked him with not only spreading his ashes at the Statue of Liberty, but continuing the bizarre charade Glen sold his mother regarding the source of his income, the sports car, and unexpected trips away. Glen had convinced his mother that for the last 30 some-odd years, he was a muse for Huey Lewis. Yes, this was incredibly weird and random. In any other show, this would have possibly felt like an insensitive forced celebrity cameo, complete with a plug for a new album or whatever. But not here, not in the least.
This is far from the strangest thing that's happened on The Blacklist and in regards to Jellybean, it was believable. Red finds Huey Lewis and manages to get him to hear his request. Aside from concealing his own identity and what Glen did for him, Red was more honest with Huey freaking Lewis than anyone else he's met on the series. He tells Huey about Glen's life at the DMV, and how he told his mother tales that he was friends with Huey. Red asks Huey to play along and be at Glen's memorial at the Rockville Maryland, DMV. Huey has no interest in playing at a memorial for a stranger at a DMV, no matter how beloved a regional manager he was. Red tells Huey he'd owe him, and he's a valuable person to have indebted to you. Huey is unmoved, unimpressed, and uninterested. Huey Lewis tells Raymond Reddington to leave, and he does. Huey Lewis defeated Red. Glen would have secretly found this endlessly amusing.
Red seemingly accepted his defeat, much later he and Dembe arrived at the DMV for a lively service celebrating Glen. No one was more surprised than Red when Huey Lewis showed up. Huey played along entirely, sharing stories about his good friend Glen and singing to the crowd. We knew he'd show up, but why'd he change his mind? Red asks and Huey explains he had to know why the most wanted criminal in the country would go through such great lengths for a DMV manager. Add Huey Lewis to the list of random people who totally know who Red is, but is smart enough to not turn him in.
Red is reluctant to explain. Dembe enters and tells them he switched Glen's ashes out with the ashes of a dog. Dembe knows Red would have given in to Glen's wishes eventually, and just took it upon himself to procure the ashes now. Red invites Huey Lewis to accompany them to the releasing of Glen's ashes. At the Statue of Liberty, Huey Lewis and the audience get to hear what made Glen so special and beloved. It's a beautiful tribute not just to Glen, but to Clark Middleton. This was the first time in eight seasons I felt more like I was watching James Spader speak than Raymond Reddington. More than a few tears were shed. This is one of their finest episodes, and given the real life loss, it's undoubtedly the saddest. This was a much appreciated tribute.
Other things happened too. The multi-lingual Aram goes undercover to deal with the Wellstone Agency. Watching Aram undercover is always a delight. Anytime they give Amir Arison something more to do, he shines. Elsewhere, Agent Park loses a close friend in a fire. When the arsonist is unable to be aprehended, she takes matters into her own hands in a violent, disturbing way shown briefly via flashback. Park has to climb off a high horse she so adamantly climbed on earlier in the episode, and turn to Red for help. Red takes care of it, Park lies to Cooper, and no one on this show should ever give a moral highground speech again.
We barely see Cooper this week, I wish they could utilize him better. Ressler appears briefly at the beginning, then he's gone and I can't say I missed him. Liz is still somewhere out there, hopefully keeping an eye on her daughter. Red, Dembe, Aram, and Park carried the episode very well. It wasn't too terribly sad until the very end. I'd recommend any fans of Clark Middleton watch this episode even if they aren't regular Blacklist viewers. You'll see how loved he was and how much he'll be missed. Case of the week and Park's drama, I'd give it a B+. Everything for Glen, A++.
The Blacklist: Elizabeth Keen (No. 1) (2021)
Immensely disappointed
This episode left a bad taste in my brain. The episode synopsis promised Liz's actions would lead to something catastrophic. I expected something tragic, or maybe Liz FINALLY facing some consequences for betraying Red again. Aside from Marvin Gerard being punished for something he didn't do, the only thing tragic thing about this episode was the amount of sheer stupidity.
It felt like bad tumblr fan fiction written by the most pro-Liz fan on earth, desperate to make her seem competent and bad ass. I get the feeling this episode was supposed to make us surprised and impressed with Liz's actions, to view her as a formidable opponent for Reddington. Instead I'm here shaking my head at how badly they had to dumb everyone else down for her to get away with all of this. I have tried to appreciate Liz, but she has been increasingly insufferable since getting Red caught and put on death row. They have kept her as a plot device for 7 years. Instead of the plot unfolding because of Liz's character development and actions, her character does what the plot demands, logic be damned. We're in season 8, it's getting harder to find these weak spots funny instead of irritating.
The opening scene was terrible. The kiss a couple episodes back was bad enough, this was the most nauseating sex scene I've ever seen. Liz and Ressler have zero charisma, aren't very likable on a good day, and frequently imcompetent but hey, they'd make sense as a couple, right? You'd think maybe, but the whole thing comes off gross. Liz is heartlessly using him. If she turns up pregnant, I may quit watching. One kid sge barely acknowledges is more than enough. Ressler is a dumb sap who'd rather get some than try and stop his supposed close friend from the dangerous path she has embarked on. There's also about as much romantic chemistry between them as there is between Dembe and Agent Park.
Liz tells Cooper she's tired of there always being a man saying he wants to protect her. How many times has Red bailed her and her FBI friends out of messes big & small? How much has Cooper done to protect and help her? How many times did Tom go through hell to help her and feds? If this was an attempt at making Liz sound like a strong, independent female being viewed unfairly by Cooper and the other men in her life, IT FAILED. Liz has been a flip-flopping, irrational, especially unsympathetic weasel since her "mother" showed up. The mother who abandoned her. The mother who speaks of Liz as if she's no more than a tool when she's not around. The mother who killed several innocent FBI agents in season 7. Liz lied to Cooper's face when she said Katarina must face justice for those murders, but curse him for still trying to look out for her. Boo! He's totally upholding a damaging patriarchal system that views women as weak! Girl power, Liz and her murderous mommy were never wrong! Since season 6, Liz flip flops depending on who the writers want her to seek approval from that week. Yet they don't understand why the viewers struggle with her chatacter. It's not simply "Liz went against Red. Bad Liz." It's several years of Liz being the worst written character on a show where she's the co-lead. Had she turned fully anti-Red shortly after Tom's death, it would have been far more believable, compelling, sympathetic and conflicting for the viewers (like the Kaplan vs Red ordeal). Instead, they played the Mommy card, and they played it badly.
Red falling for Liz and Skip's scam was the biggest smack in the face. Their scam wasn't even clever. Not for one second did I believe Marvin was the one who betrayed Red. Red is too intelligent to fall for such a half-ass manipulation. I almost think Liz wanted Red to see through it and catch her, but the writers would never give her such nuance or depth. Nope, she's just brilliant because they say so. "But Red's illness, it's distracting him and he has a weakness for Liz". Nope. This is just bad writing.
The episode wasn't all bad. There was a goat! That was fun, until we saw what it was used for. Marvin was awesome, he was one of the few people not horribly dumbed down this week. Aram playing with Agnes was adorable, he's probably spent more time on screen with her than Liz has. There were brief Tom flashbacks! We got confirmation that Red is N13? Who knows, they'll probably change their minds on that within the next eight episodes.
The overarching story/mythology of The Blacklist has been especially poorly handled since the alleged Katarina faked her death during season 7. After this episode, I am officially grading this show on the same lowered scale I use for soap operas and Riverdale. Low to no expectations, just sit back and enjoy the unusual crimes, Spader, and most of the supporting cast. 5/10