Assignment One

Kaylah Wright

Figured World: A figured world is a large social structure that has specific rules and

conventions for appropriate behavior. Figured world is the thing that is IN the community of

practice; the objects, people, and groups in the community of practice is what makes up the

figured world. An example would be what I am doing my assignment on, The Blacklist and the

“0rules and conventions” that go along with this figured world. The rules and conventions would

be the things that are acceptable and unacceptable, considered normal or abnormal when it

comes to this specific figured world. Below you will find a description of my figured world:

The figured world that I have decided to observe is a show called The Blacklist. I

chose this as my figured world because I am interested in how this TV show portrays the

criminals they encounter and the way the show portrays the Federal Bureau of

Investigations (FBI), as well as other intelligence units. Specifically I will be observing the

way the FBI interacts with the different criminals that they interacts with. Though I believe

that the way this show portrays is very dramatic, I do believe that there is something that

can be learned from The Blacklist and I intend to let my audience understand what that

something may be.

The Blacklist is a TV whose plot is a notorious criminal, Raymond Reddington, who

has turned himself into the FBI the same day a new FBI agent, Elizabeth Keen (also known

as Lizzie by Reddington), will be starting her first day also. In the beginning of the show,

Reddington claims to have a list of criminals that isn’t on the FBI’s radar and promises to

help them catch them, but will only deliver this information through Lizzie, of course the

FBI is concerned and confused since this is the first time Lizzie will be joining the FBI and

she says that she has never encountered Reddington before. The show’s main setting is at a

black site (hidden place for chosen FBI agents to their place of business), though the agents

do leave the black site to catch the criminal, the black site is the main place where they

conduct their business and meetings therefore it is a place of business.

When it comes to the rules and conventions, there are some very abnormal actions

that would not be otherwise acceptable if the criminals were in the “real” world and in

“real” time. Reddington is the informant of all their cases, essentially, he believes that he is

entitled to all of his rights. With that being said, it is very normal for him to be out in the

“real” world and not locked up because of the crimes he committed. He is allowed to leave

the country, carry weapons, have a bodyguard, commit other crimes (such as murder), etc

and there are not any consequences for these actions and crimes that he commits. Along

with his behavior being part of the acceptable norms and behavior, the communication that

is acceptable would be Reddington only speaking with Lizzie for at least the first season,

cell phones (smart phones as well as flip phones), satellite radios, talking face to face

between other bureaus, violence is also another form of communication and so is money.

When in the world of The Blacklist, and you are an agent dealing with the cases, it is

acceptable to carry a gun around because when you pursue one of the blacklist criminals

you put your life at risk when it comes to the black market crimes.

Some unacceptable behaviors in this figured world would be involving innocent

people because the main characters of the show do not agree with casualties in their cases.

Lastly, I expect to encounter different communities of practice, one being the agents that

Commented [KW1]: When describing your figured world, you are very descriptive but I feel like you need to go back and reread it. It seems as if you repeat information throughout your description of what a figure world is and how The Blacklist is a figured world. Be also more specific as to how The Blacklist is a figured world (Andrea Levi)

Commented [KW2]: What did he do? What is he notorious for? I know he is a criminal but what makes him stand out? (Madison Popoff)

Commented [KW3]: I like how you tied the Blacklist with the real world. It makes it possible for the reader to make connections within the 2. Even if the show and real life are total opposites. (Andrea Levi)

Commented [KW4]: I found this part a little confusing. Maybe if it was reworded it would flow a little better. I still like that you mentioned all the phone types. (Madison Popoff)

work continuously on the blacklist, the criminals that we encounter throughout the show,

and more temporary ones throughout the show. Communities of Practice: Communities of a certain practice is not just members of the same

team, or a group of doctors who happen to be colleagues. In order to be considered a community

of practice, the members have to be learning from each other and teaching each other to become

a stronger community. The things and the tools that the member use together and how they share

their knowledge with each other is how they learn from one another is what distinguishes them

from just a group of friends to a community of practice. An example could easily be a Spanish

Club because not only are they sharing their passion for the Spanish language but they are also

expressing new ways to show that love and ways to teach that language to other people outside

of their community of practice. Communities of practice is also the combination of the domain,

the community, and the practice.

The blacksite: This blacksite is an exclusive network where Agents Cooper, Keen,

Navabi, Ressler, and Mojtabai work and, not including them or Reddington, only a few

other people know about it. These agents work collectively to try to solve all cases that

Reddington brings to them, these are high security profile cases that need to be taken care

of immediately and the team works tirelessly to make sure that the problem gets solved

and sometimes at all costs.

Practices of the Community: Because there are different people in the community, this means

that there are different wants to practice what they have in common and what they want to share

with each other. These different practices, these different interactions, is what allows this

community to be able to globalize and communicate with people in different parts of the world

who share the same goal or interests. What defines this word is the way that the community

expresses their community and what they learn from it and what they contribute to the

knowledge of others.

Undercover work: More than 85% of the show, the agents are going undercover in the

episodes in order to catch the criminals. Sometimes they go undercover in direct contact

with the criminal or they go undercover to uncover things about the criminal from known

associates; associates of Reddington as well.

Catching the criminals: This is a part of the team’s everyday work and so you can

imagine that this plays more than a major role in the show. The ways that they catch the

criminals are different each time because they have to be creative because of the different

types of criminals they encounter.

Domain: The domain is the interest that the community is interested in and what the root of that

interest is. Sometimes the domain is not recognized by other people and it must be developed

within the community of practice. Whether or not it is identified and recognized by other groups

in entirely up to that community in how they wish to identify themselves.

Reddington’s blacklist: Reddington’s list of criminals is essentially why the blacklist

still exists and the reason why they are able to have such a high success rate in catching

them. This is the team’s main interest and they all have a desire to catch these notorious

criminals to stop from destroying lives and sometimes even starting World Wars.

Artifacts: In a figured world, or community of practice, artifacts are physical objects, ideas, and

or emotions that play a significant role in the figured world. The Blacklist has some artifacts that

are made known to the viewers and they are things that are frequently showed throughout the

entire series. Some of the artifacts, and their significance, are listed below:

Commented [KW5]: This section was a little confusing when reading it. It felt as if everything was jumbled up into a paragraph. Maybe just reward some of the sentences and move them around. (Andrea Levi)

Commented [KW6]: I think you did a really good job here. This honestly gave me a better understanding of how to explain domain. It shows you know what you are talking about (Madison Popoff)

Reddington’s hat: Reddington’s hat is definitely important because he wears the same

one, or similar to the same one, every episode and he rarely takes it off. If he does take it

off, the viewers can usually tell it’s because he is upset and is getting ready to kill

someone. This does not mean every time he kills someone his hat is off, but rather when

he has time to think about his actions and what he wants to do, he does take it off. Since

Reddington has been on the show since the Pilot episode, he has also had the hat and it is

always on unless he takes it off physically or he is forced to take it off when he is held

captive, which happens sometimes.

Agent Keen’s scar from the fire- When Agent Keen was a little girl, she was in a fire

with her parents which resulted in the alleged death of her mother and father. She

obtained the scar when she was rescued from the fire by her father who later died. Agent

Keen described in the first episode, Pilot, that the scar was her brave scar and whenever

she felt like she needed help or was in trouble, she would rub it and it will make her brave

again. She was using this as a tactic to save a little girl that the team was dealing with that

episode.

Literacy Practice: Literacy practice refers to the ways of communication that are established in

the figured world. Ways of communication can be different things such as phone conversations,

texting, newspapers, media, reporters, etc.Body language can even be a way of communicating.

Literacy practices in The Blacklist are as follows:

Phone calls: There is always constant contact between agents that work at the blacksite

because they are constantly finding new information and need to be able to inform the

team when they have new information. When one of the Agents, or even Reddington

sometimes, doesn’t pick of their phone, it usually means something is wrong. For

example in season 2, episode 6 (The Mombasa Cartel (No. 114)), when Agent Ressler

didn’t answer his phone, the team called for back-up at the local sheriff’s department so

they could go find him because they knew something was wrong.

Actors and Actresses: Actors and actresses are people and characters that play a significant role

in the show and who can bring knowledge and different techniques to the community of practice.

In The Blacklist, there are several actors and actresses that come into play and who all, someway

or another, play a very important role when it comes to catching the criminals. Below is the list

of people who imperative to the everyday operations of the show:

Elizabeth Keen: Elizabeth, also known as Lizzie to Reddington and Keen to her

colleagues, is a former FBI profiler who is transferring to the blacksite because she felt

like she needed a chance and this is what she wanted to do since she was a little girl.

Keen is not a only a main character in The Blacklist, but she is vital to the show has she

acts as the messenger between her, Reddington, and the rest of her team, since

Reddington demands to speak to her and only her. Keen also has an important and

specific artifact that is well know in the series: her scar on her right wrist from the fire

when she was a little girl.

Raymond Reddington: Reddington is a notorious criminal who has been on the FBI’s

10 Top Most Wanted list, ranked at number 4, who turned himself in after hiding from

the FBI for 20 years, now we know that he turned himself in so that he can work with

Keen and be close to her. Like Keen, Reddington also has a special artifact that is

significant to him, and to is made apparent to the viewers as well: his hat and the

significance will be made. Reddington is described to others as being careless,

Commented [KW7]: I like how you connected it back to the show to show that you know what you are talking about. I especially like that you referenced the season and episode. It was easy to follow. (Madison Popoff)

Commented [KW8]: I really like how descriptive you get with each actor. You really go in depth in describing how each one is and how they play a role in the figured world. It makes the reader grasp a better idea of how the actors intertwine within the show. (Andrea Levi)

inconsiderate, reckless and other things. Throughout my observations, you will find some

of these things to be true, some of these things to be true at time, and some maybe not

true at all, in one’s opinion. Reddington also has a personal bodyguard by the name of

Dembe who Reddington trusts the most. In the episode that I will be observing first, we

will find out some information about Dembe’s past. He can be seen as both a protagonist

and an antagonist.

Harold Cooper: Cooper is the Director of the blacksite and oversees that all

investigations are thorough and completed to the best of the unit’s ability. Cooper

initially interviewed Keen to try to understand why Reddington only wanted to speak

with her, but as said before, she had no idea either. Outside of being the Director, he is

also a husband but that role is not shown often. Close to the end of season 1, Agent

Cooper was choked and almost killed and thankfully recovered but he now has to use a

cane because of the injury the incident caused. We also know that he has some life

threatening illness that has not yet been learned by the viewers yet.

Donald Ressler: Ressler works very close with Keen, though they bump heads in the

beginning of the series because Ressler does not like change. He sees Keen as a little girl

new to the FBI who doesn’t know what she has gotten herself into. Ressler can get very

involved in cases, especially ones that involve people that he cares about, for instance, his

ex-fiance was killed by a criminal who they were tracking down called Mako Tanida.

Also close to the end of season 1, Ressler was wounded and was prescribed to take pain-

killers which we see he gets addicted to, which can also be names as an artifact. His role

is just as a collegeau to Cooper and Keen, and he tries to develop a relationship with

Reddington but as we know he only wants to speak with Keen.

Samar Navabi: Agent Samar Navabi is a mossad agent from Iran and her new position

with the team was due to the death of another agent working on a case. Navabi “found”

Reddington, so she thinks: Reddington really found her and why he did so has not

became clear. Since she is new to the team, she is finding it really hard that no one really

trusts her so she trying to earn their trust. What we do know about Agent NAvabi is that

she is out for revenge for the man that was responsible for the mission of a bomb that

killed thousands of innocent people including her brother. Navabi is good at what she

does and she also has a sentimental part about her too, especially when it comes to her

team and fighting for the people that she cares about.

Aram Mojtabai: Aram Mojtabai play a different role in the team. He is the computer

analyst for the team and he is the person, besides Reddington, who can give them all the

details to someone with the touch of a keystroke. Mojtabai is very sweet and kind to

everyone and he trusts everyone. He does not have the same training as everyone else so

when tactical things go wrong, he is a little clueless as to what to do.

Observation One

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 2, episode 6: The Mombasa Cartel (No. 114)-43 minutes)

The Blacklist Background (Season 1): The Blacklist is a show about criminals being caught and

told on by one of the most notorious criminal in history, Raymond Reddington. In season 1, we

saw Reddington set the rules of how things were going to go if the agents that ran the blacksite*

wanted his information that he had to catch the criminals. Reddington told the other agents that

he would only consult with a brand new field and new to that division in the FBI, Elizabeth

Keen, the reason behind his reasoning for that has not yet been discovered. Reddington knows

everything about this Elizabeth Keen, as he calls her, Lizzie; he knows that she is married (and

that the marriage isn’t really what she thinks), that she was in an awful fire when she was a child,

where the scar is from the fire, etc and Lizzie does not understand why or how he knows these

personal things about her. What is clear about Reddington’s obsession with Lizzie is that he

cares for her deeply and he would do anything to saver her and keep her from harm’s way. Also

in season 1, we discovered that Lizzie’s husband, “Tom Keen”, is an assassin hired by

Reddington’s assumed enemy, Berlin, to kill Lizzie. Lizzie was in denial until Reddington put

the truth in front of her and she had no choice but to believe the crucial truth. The season finale

of season 1, showed Lizzie shooting Tom and the viewers were to believe that she actually killed

her husband, which we find out fairly soon in season 2, that she didn’t though she told

Reddington and he coworkers that she had. In midst of all this background drama, the FBI

encounters some of the most clever, notorious, infamous, criminals that the viewers has ever

seen. We see them deal with murderers, embezzlers, kidnappers,etc. and all of them have never

been heard of my the FBI or any other intelligence units and Reddington has access to all of

them. (blacksite*= a secret government place where the location is not to be disclosed to anyone

so that the cases they work on are not to be compromised)

3 minutes: In the first few minutes of this episode, it shows a scene from 29 years ago in Koidu,

Sierra Leone of a little boy feeding animals and his family doing other tasks. A few seconds

later men in trucks came with guns, one of the men asked for the other man’s name and and “I

heard you have a big mouth” and then a second later, the men slaughtered the entire family.

When the men were done slaughtering the family, including the women and cattle, they noticed

the little boy was cowering over by the trees and decided to take him with them. They picked

him up and through him in the truck and sped off. After that, it shows present day Paris, France

and we see a man getting choked by a man who was bringing him breakfast for the day. The next

scene begins with Reddington showing Lizzie an article of the incident and claims that this work

is being done by the Mombasa Cartel because of the details of the murder.

8 minutes 30 seconds: This scene begins with a women walking into a cottage and saying

“Matthew, that’s the best one yet. He’s beautiful.” The women was talking about the man from

the 3 minute snippet; he’s taken out his eyes and replaced them with black eyes, stuffed his body

and made it look like he was just sitting and staring, keeping in mind that the body of that person

is actually a corpse. Since Reddington believes this is the work of poltures, he is setting up

Lizzie up a meeting with one of the guys who is a strong advocate for protecting animal life, his

name is Jeff Pearl. After he explains the relationship that him and Jeff Pearl have, which is not

much of a real relationship as Reddington says to Lizzie, “We’re not buddies, I don’t have

buddies”. Afterwards, he tells Lizzie what her name will be when she meets with him because

Commented [KW9]: Maybe in this background information you could add the setting. It could help if you said where this all took place. Another thing you could add is if this is modern day or is this set in older times. I like that you said Elizabeth's nicknames to help us follow it better. I also liked how you said how people were related to another. (Madison Popoff)

he does not want Jeff to know that Lizzie is an FBI agent. After he fills Lizzie in, he asks if she is

okay because she is acting strange.

14 minutes 53 seconds: The woman from the second observation description is talking to her

other son, the one who killed the man in the first observation, and she is telling him to go find

another “friend” for his brother, the one who stuffs them and replaces their eyes. As she is telling

him to go find another friend for her brother, she slaps him because he is complaining about how

he “...does all the dirty work and takes all the risks” while those two sit at home. After that

incident, the mother explains to him that he should be proud of what they do because of who

their father is and how they help him and his brother. The scene ends with the two hugging, and

that son’s name being revealed as Peter.

24 minutes 21 seconds: Ressler has traveled to Nebraska where he interviews Peter and his

mother. When Ressler is talking to them, he hears something in the cage on the back of Peter’s

truck and asks to take a look, knowing there is a person in the cage instead of an animal, Peter

responds, “Just watch your fingers, he bites”. As soon as Ressler moves the blanket covering the

cage, Peter bent his hand and knocked him onto the ground, knocking him out.

29 minutes 11 seconds: This is an important scene because this is when it is clear to the viewers

that the women and her sons, Matthew and Peter, are the family of Jeff Pearl, who knows that

these killings are going on and is not being truthful about his role when it comes to the poltures

and what he really believes. The women is telling him that Peter had to capture the FBI agent

(Ressler) because he knew what they were doing and he was going to arrest them. Jeff instructs

them just to get it done and leave no evidence, the last thing he said before the scene ended was,

“Tell Peter to call me when it’s done”, indicating that he knew about what they were doing and

he wasn’t going to do anything to stop them, but he was encouraging them. After Jeff got off the

phone, he went to down stairs only to find Reddington standing in his living room with a gun

with a silencer on it. When the rest of Ressler’s team discover that he isn’t answering his phone,

they realize that he may have been compromised so they went to go search for him. When they

got there, the local police department was there filling them in on the people that has Ressler,

they were telling Keen and the rest of the team that the son that has been stuffing the bodies was

kept a secret from the town. Meanwhile, Reddington is talking with Jeff to explain to him that he

knows what he has been doing and the viewers can tell that Reddington is upset as he does not

like to be lied to. Ending this scene, Lizzie found Ressler and everything that he had, including

his pain medication that he is become addicted to. They also find the Peter, who is shot by police

and the mother who kills both herself and Matthew by throwing a radio in the bathtub that she’d

put Matthew in after he came home from trying to hunt Ressler but ended up getting stabbed

himself with an arrow.

38 minutes 26 seconds: Reddington is telling a story of a boy, who turned out to be Dembe,

whose family was slaughtered 29 years ago in Koidu, Sierra Leone and he was sold into sex

slavery, branded and left for dead at the age of 14 when Reddington found him. When

Reddington found him, he saw to it that he went to school and graduated at a university. Dembe

did graduate at a university with a Bachelors of Science in English Literature and can speak

several languages and “get by” on others. The reason for Reddington telling this story is because

the men responsible for the imprisonment of Dembe and slaughtering of his family was the

Mombasa Cartel, which Jeff is, more or less, a part of. At the end of the story Dembe says,

“Raymond, don’t. That was then, it serves no purpose to kill him now” Reddington does say

anything for a while and then tell Jeff that Dembe is a good man and shoots Jeff in the chest,

watches him die then leaves with Dembe.

41 minutes 45 seconds: Agent Keen is seen going into what looks like a cellar, and says “I’ve

been thinking about what to do with you, to tell you the truth I haven’t made a decision yet”, and

we can see who she is talking to, who she has been keeping captive: Tom Keen.

Observation #2 (Season 2, episode 7: The Scimitar (No. 22)- 43 minutes)

September 24, 2015

2 minutes 56 seconds: The first few minutes of the show started with a bang. The setting was

Dubai, United Arab Emirates and it showed Agent Navabi in a Israelian club and she was sitting

there with a drink in her hand when a gentlemen walked over and claimed that she was staring at

him and they flirted and he bought her a drink. Seconds later it showed a clip of the two making

their way, to his room kissing each other and, assumingly, going into the hotel room. Also

seconds later, the man that Agent Navabi was with, was out of the window and he’d landed on a

car, falling from the hotel window above. The clip ended with Agent Keen questioning Tom

about where she could find Berlin because she wanted answers about why he put Tom into her

life and find out what else he knows.

5 minutes 32 seconds: Dembe, Reddington’s bodyguard, tells Agents’ Keen and Navabi to

come meet him at a music store. Navabi asks Keen if she is upset by it because Reddington

asked her to come, Navabi expressed it as “...I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes”. When they

entered the store, Reddington began telling them about a Persian man who went into a bar and

minutes later he was falling from a 12-story building, referring to the man Agent Navabi was

with the night that she went into the same bar and was with the same man. Since she is also a

Mossad agent, Navabi says that she is not allowed to talk about assignments that she does for the

Mossad. The reason Reddington has called them there is because that man that “committed

suicide” was a top scientist in Iran, the Iranian government had planned to retaliate by sending

someone to get rid of all of their top scientists and that they needed to act fast because “he is

already on American soil”, and he goes by the name The Scimitar.

9 minutes 23 seconds: This scene starts off with Lizzie getting a phone call from the man that is

watching Tom saying that people around the boat asking questions. When Lizzie got there the

man was explaining to her that they either needed to move Tom or move the boat. Lizzie

responds and says that she will deal with it then she goes in the boat where Tom is being held

and gives him the bag that she was carrying that contained warmer clothes for him. Tom is angry

and is asking if she met with the guy that he suggested she meet with. The scene is ended with

Tom yelling that she can’t hold him captive forever, Lizzie slams ignores him, slams the door

and leaves.

13 minutes 19 seconds: When Agent Keen gets back to the blacksite the team tells her that

Aram found something pertaining to the case. They came across an accountant who is working

for the government, who happens to be Iranian, who was also voice recording whatever was

going on and he had it linked up to a special location. When the team got the location, they were

able to bring other special forces with them to evade the place. When they arrived, they found

information on the top scientist and they were able to get to him before the assassins did. When

Agent Keen and Ressler got the scientists, who was posing as a government worker, they

attempted to hurry and put him in the car but when they were speeding away, their window was

shot out by the people who were trying to kill and him and a flash bomb was thrown into their

car, making them crash. When they woke up they were in a hospital and the scientists was

nowhere to be found.

19 minutes 44 seconds: After Agent Keen and Ressler get into a car accident with the the

scientists, Keen wakes up to find herself in a hospital and unable to move her arm, she also sees

that Ressler is unconscious in the bed across from hers. When she realizes that she is in the

hospital, she asks to use the phone so that she could call her boss to let him know that her and

Commented [KW10]: When reading this observation I felt like I was literally watching this show myself on Netflix. It all flows very well. You put a lot of detail and it is super easy to follow. (Andrea Levi)

Ressler survived the crash, but Ressler wasn’t looking too good. When the nurse who is taking

care of them starts to act a little “off”, Keen goes to look at Ressler’s chart and notices that the

pages are blank and that this is a fake hospital and realizes that she needs to leave Meanwhile,

Reddington is having lunch with a young girl who works at a food truck, the audience is made to

believe that it could be Reddington’s daughter, but we later find out that’s not the case. She starts

talking about how she has hasn’t heard from her father in 20 years and says that she doesn’t want

to because he caused her so much pain. After that conversation, she starts to feel a little sick and

she soon realizes that Reddington has drugged her, he takes her and has Dembe put her in the

car, and this is the ending of the scene.

25 minutes 36 seconds: Agent Keen manages to get the nurse to tell them where they are and for

her to admit that this is a scam. When she tries to call for the doctor, Agent Keen put her in a

sleeper hole and knocked her out. Meanwhile, Agent Navabi was summoned by Reddington for a

personal matter, but also involving the case they care currently working on. Reddington claims

the man who is going after the scientists is also the same man who was responsible for the bomb

that killed thousands of innocent people, including her brother. Reddington also claims that the

man who is responsible will go to one of his contact that Reddington knows in order to get out of

the country if all should fail, and the scene end with them ending up at that guy’s house with a

gun to his face and threatening him.

30 minutes 25 seconds: The man who also happened to be the “doctor” that was taking care of

Agents Ressler and Keen, is the Scimitar and is the one who is going after the scientists. He

breaks into the hotel room where the last remaining scientist is and he tells her that she is going

to help him before he kills her. The team figures out that he is going to the hotel so they make it

to the hotel in time to find the Scimitar and the scientist, who was stuffed in a suitcase. They

almost arrest the Scimitar when a car pulls up and starts blasting guns so everyone hit the floor

which gave the Scimitar the opportunity to get a way in the getaway car. The scene end with him

going to his contact so that he can get out of the country, and of course Agent Navabi,

Reddington and Dembe are there waiting on him. He is Agent Navabi’s “gift” from Reddington

and he leaves the man who is responsible for her brother’s death and her, alone.

37 minutes 24 seconds: When the team is called back out, they are called out because someone

spotted a dead body and when the team arrives they determine that the man who was shot

execution style was the Scimitar, who was last seen with Agent Navabi. We are to assume that

Navabi is the reason behind his death, but that is not made known to the local police.

40 minutes 12 seconds: The episode ends with Reddington, meeting with his “arch” nemesis:

Berlin. As said, the Reddington and Berlin have been at odds with each other because Berlin

believes that Reddington killed his daughter over 20 years ago. When Reddington gets out of the

car, after he is searched by Berlin’s men for weapons, he says to Berlin,”....I did not kill your

daughter”. Of course Berlin doesn’t believe him, but the girl that Reddington drugged and put in

the car walked out, and it was Berlin’s daughter that Reddington was following and hunting

down so that he could prove that his daughter is not dead and he did NOT kill his daughter and

whoever told him that, lied for an unknown reason.

Observation #3 (Season 2, episode 8: The Decembrist (No. 12)- 43 minutes)

September 26, 2015 3 minutes 10 seconds: This episode starts off 4 months ago when Elizabeth originally shot Tom

and was ordered to kill him by Reddington. Instead of killing him, she got him medical attention

by their friend Ellie (from season 1) and then she took him to a boat where she has been

questioning him and holding him captive for 4 months illegally. She’s been asking him questions

about Berlin because she wants to know why he hired Tom to be apart of her life and hire him to

pretend to love her and to pretend to be in a loving marriage with her. The scene ends with Tom

telling Elizabeth to make sure that when she kills him, she looks him in the eyes when she does

it, knowing that she will not be able to.

5 minutes 56 seconds: This scene is between Reddington, Berlin, and Berlin’s daughter and

Reddington is wanting to know why he thought his daughter was dead and who told him that.

Berlin told him that it was after a bombing in the Soviet Union, and someone had told him that

his daughter was named as a traitor and sentenced to prison. When Berlin found that out, he tried

to rescue his daughter and he became imprisoned and for the months and years that he was in

prison, someone would send him bones of his daughter’s body, and he assumed it to be

Reddington. His daughter says that someone helped her get away by saying that they could keep

her safe from her father. She never knew his name but his associates and the people around him,

called him The Decembrist and now Reddington wants to find him.

6 minutes 4 seconds: An older officer who got a complaint about a boat, went to go check it out

and it just so happens to be the boat where Agent Keen is keeping Tom held captive. When she

sees the man, she says that she is “...looking for fugitives that escaped from Cumberland the

night before”. The audience knows that she lied because she does not want anyone to know that

she has Tom captive because he is assumed dead by everyone. Lizzie gives him a card and says

that if he “sees or hears anything. to give her a call”. At the end of the scene Reddington finally

tells Lizzie that he is working with Berlin to find the man who set him up.

9 minutes 53 seconds: The man who was investigating the boat incident heard something on the

boat and when he looked to go see what it was, he found Tom.

13 minutes 23 seconds: Agent Keen gets a phone call from the person that watched Tom when

she is working and he says that they “have a situation”. When she arrives on the boat, she sees

the man that she told earlier that she as searching from people who’d escaped from Cumberland

and she saw that he’d met Tom. Everyone began debating weather or not they should kill him

because he knew too much. While they were arguing, Tom lifted himself up with his handcuffs,

put them on top of a pipe and lifted himself up, and put his legs around the man’s neck, choking

him to death which led to his death, The whole time Liz was trying to get him to stop but Tom

would not listen, he said he was doing it for her because if she didn’t then she would get put in

jail for kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment and a list of other things. Meanwhile, Reddington

and Berlin teamed together and flew to Moscow, Russia to find The Decembrist. When they

think they found him, they cornered him the an elevator by killing his men from above, leaving

nothing but him in the elevator then Reddington and Berlin went in and started asking him

questions, While they are questioning him, they find out that he is not The Decembrist but in fact

someone by the name of Alan Fitch, the Assistant Director of National Intelligence. After they

find out that information, Berlin shoots and kills him in the elevator.

24 minutes 56 seconds: When the teams find out the Assistant Director of National Intelligence

has been kidnapped, it is their job to find him, but they do not know that he is The Decembrist.

Reddington comes to the blacksite and tells Lizzie that he needs to talk to her. When they go into

her office to talk, he tells her that he knows she didn’t kill Tom and that he is alive and he knows

that she is keeping him captive somewhere. After Reddington tells Lizzie how disappointed that

he is in her for not telling him about Tom, he instructs her that she needs to find out from Tom

where Berlin kept all of his safe houses because Alan may be at one of them. Elizabeth goes

back to see Tom and Tom says that in order for him to tell her where Berlin is keeping Alan, she

must let him go, hesitantly, Liz agrees to do so. When she let’s him go, he goes to a pay phone

and speaks to Berlin and the afterwards he is given an address that he then gives to Ressler and

Liz. Ressler does not trust Tom and does not like him for what he put Liz through and says “Hey

buddy, when this is over, I’m coming for you.” Tom replies and says “Good luck”. The scene

end with Tom walking away from Liz and Ressler and them and other agents finding Alan with a

bomb of some sort around his neck and not able to get it off.

31 minutes 14 seconds: This scene starts off with Berlin and his daughter having lunch and

talking. Belin is trying to make her feel as comfortable as possible, he even asks for his guard to

leave so that they can be alone. After a couple minutes, Reddington walks in with Dembe and

Reddington gives Berlin’s daughter and envelope with “...passports, tickets, and eternal

gratitude, after that exchange, she leaves. This was just a trick so that Reddington could sit down

with Berlin and ask him how to undo the bomb that is tied to Alan’s neck. Though Alan may be

The Decembrist, he is also Reddington’s friend. The scene ends with Reddington holding a gun

to Berlin’s head.

35 minutes 45 seconds: Leaving without an answer from Berlin about how to stop the bomb,

Reddington goes to talk to Alan and he brings up something called the fulcrum. Alan is giving

Reddington instructions about who to contact and he says that there is a safe in St. Petersburg

and he needs to go there. Before Alan can tell Reddington what apartment number to go to, the

bomb goes off and it makes Alan explode.

38 minutes 56 seconds: After Alan died, Reddington went to find Berlin, when he finds Berlin

they drink a whole bottle of Vodka together and after the bottle is finished, he shoots Berlin 4

times and kills him for Alan and other unsaid reasons.

41 minutes 27 seconds: This episode ends with Reddington meeting up with Tom at a little

restaurant and gives him an envelope with everything that he needs to get out of the country

(money, passports, etc). He also tells Tom that he is never to see “her” again, referring to Lizzie.

When Tom is walking out, he says to Reddington “You know for what it’s worth I spent four

months on that ship chained up, and I never told her about us. Not one word.”

Interview: The Blacklist

Assume these questions are strictly about the second season of The Blacklist and the person

conducting the interview does not watch the show so therefore isn’t familiar with it.

1. Tell me what you think about you think about Lizzie’s secret that she’s keeping

from everyone.

I think she is still in love with Tom and she is holding him because she thinks he

has all the answers.

2. Why do you think, out of all people, that Lizzie decided to keep Tom a secret from

Reddington? Do you agree with Reddington that she kept him a secret because she is still in

love with him?

I do believe that she is still in love with Tom but I don’t think she told Reddington

because she knew that he did hire Tom at one point so she didn’t really trust him enough to tell

him that she hadn’t killed Tom.

3. Explain to me what your theory is about Reddington, if you have one, and why do

you think he is so invested in Lizzie.

Ooooo this is a good one, my theory from day one is that I always thought

Reddington is her birth father but for some reason does not want her to know that.

4. Tell me how Lizzie could have handled the situation with Tom better.

I don’t think she could have. He is a trained assassin so she did what she thought

and probably would should have been done.

5. If you were Lizzie, what would your reaction be if you found out your husband

wasn’t really who he said he was?

I would feel betrayed, hurt, and pissed. To be honest, I don’t think I would have

handled it as well as Lizzie did.

Interviewed with: Ashleigh Nicole, fan of the show