The Blacklist S3 Recap

There's just less than 12 hours til the most anticipated season premiere of They  Blacklist tonight at 10/9c on NBC. Season 3 blew the roof off like no other show! Let's take a short, quick recap of last season.

It was a real roller coaster at speeds that doubled at the beginning of last season. Liz and Red are just beginning their run from the law as Liz is wanted for murder for killing Tom Connolly. So, instead of leaving the city, they will stay until things cool off. They do it most fabulously: dress up as cops, steal a car, take a redesigned cop car, break into a place for some clothes and a new hairstyle, and be on their way to a guy with a shelter in his bar.

Liz had to make a couple of sacrifices to save her, and by the time she ran into the Russian Embassy for safety. But she would be safe there for much longer as Ressler and Red had to work together to save her from the Russians as she had a bounty on her head.

She does get saved, and from Red, the two are off on a trip I would call an adventure of a lifetime, but calling it gathering the pieces to fight the Cabul. There were those moments when Ressler and the FBI team would get so close to the two, but Liz and Red were two steps ahead.

Meanwhile, Cooper, out of his job, teams up with Tom Kean to help save Liz by finding the man who framed Liz.

But all the running that Liz and Red have done must end as Liz gets caught by Ressler and taken in. The Director and his team have been working with the FBI near the midseason finale, trying to capture and finish Liz.

The episode The Director, Concussion was the one that could stand out the most from that point. One of the moments was as Liz was in the safe box, The Director finally got his guy to break the code and make her suffer. Aram, being the only one there, does everything and gives him the code to release her out of the safe box. Aram runs in front of them with a gun and demands that they release her, and thank god he did because Ressler and company saved her life.

Liz still had to go through a trial, and that's where Red and his Team of 11 come in and do their version of Ocean's 11 to help save Liz and finish The Director for good.

As soon as Liz was free, she learned that she was pregnant and that it was, of course, Tom's. So the two try again to be together, and Red doesn't think he is an excellent person to be with once again.

Tom and Liz get married with a gun blazing as a new force comes to take Liz away. Everyone was on at hand to protect Liz, but when Liz and Tom made their get, things didn't look promising as Liz started to bleed. She was taken to a secure location where Red and Mr. Kaplan had a team to care for her. Soon, a baby girl was born. But Liz's health had worsened, and they had to move her. For that, they needed to get to the hospital, but it was too late, and in front of Red, she died.

We see Red, in a significant defeat, walk off and then go by himself to a place in Cape Cod to get his thinking straight until he sees someone running towards the water. She was trying to kill her, but he saved her and took care of her. Whoever this person was wasn't real, not even the bad guys that were after her. Everything he had seen and heard was through his mind, like the stay of Gone Girl.

It took Red a while to get back; thanks to Aram for turning in Red's debut that he owns him. And now the team seeks revenge on who killed Liz. It all came down to a woman named Susan Hargrave, who ordered the hit or, should I say, kidnap Liz. When Red got her, she gave the name Alexander Kirk, one of Red's most dangerous friends.

Gargrave helped Tom as the two teamed up for an ES coming later in midseason.  

When they got how to get Alexander Kirk out of his secret place, the pieces for Red were in place to shoot him on site, but he didn't come as he was still in his home. The foolish thing was Tom escaped his protection and flew to Cuba, where Liz was waiting. The death of Liz was a plan from Kaplan from the time the baby was born, and boy, when Red knew about it, he was so pissed.

Liz being alive might be one of the shocking moments, but it came when Kirk kidnapped Liz and her baby. Liz is tied up in a dark room with guards, and soon Kirk comes in; he talks and tells her that he is her father.....

There have been so many twists and turns this past season that have opened a flood of stuff for the new season that no one seems to tell. Hell, the promos and trailers are former clips of the past three seasons, with only a few for season 4 with Red and Dembe.

You can catch the season premiere of The Blacklist tonight at 10/9c on NBC.

Opening Up: Blindspot "Heave Fiery Knot"

The team is on the edge when it comes to working together as each member deals with their feelings for one another and to stopping a cartel from blowing up something big.

Jane relives another memory that has had her with a army team trying to stop someone, but when they get there a woman comes out, her team goes in and the place blows up. Jane tries to escape with the woman in the helicopter but that too explodes, leaving Jane to die there.

Jane tells Nas and Weller about it as she was with Roman and Sheppard. She learns that Orion was the name of the rescue mission sort to say and that the government gave a small memorial stone for their remembrance. But also that Sheppard wanted her to solve another tattoo this one with a cathedral looking building with bullets for open windows.

Patterson and Zapata looked it up and found that the place has been apart of the Mexican drug cartel where DEA agents got killed and also that DEA agents have been taken evidence and exchange them for much more profitable like major drug cartels, etc.

They find one DEA agent that has been doing these things, Valentine. When they went to pick her up, the team still doesn't think that Jane should be on the field with them, but they got to keep their head down and move on. When seeing men with tats in suits, they figure they're after Valentine an rescue her and bring her in. When they bring her in they pushed the questions of why she was there and who could be setting her up.

She finds out from Nas that her boss and mentor was the one to order the hit on her, because she knew a little bit too much to know and that she was going to report what was happening. So she joins the team and tries to take her boss down, but with Weller, Jane, Zapata and Reade there Valentine stayed put outside until she spotted him and tries to take him but failed by getting shot.

After this point the team really breaks into a couple of minutes to vent, which I feel they really need. I do agree from Zapata that it felt like being yelled by the principal. But the team came together and after sharing feelings to one of the members it looks like they got their focus.

Weller still has hard feeling about his dad, who killed Taylor. Jane still upset about the team given her to the CIA, Zapata and Reade doesn't want to work with Jane, and Patterson and Nas butt heads because Nas has some really cool toys that she doesn't have, which I think she should.

Finally, Patterson finds out where the truck with the weapons went as it was heading to the East Side of the city. But not to mention that five cartel members entered the US that day and look to be in gun exchange. So the team heads off and later figures that the cartel wasn't going to blow up the East side but blow up a plane that has someone very important  people.

Weller and Jane takes down the guys handling the missile's projection while Reade and Zapata take down the guys with rocket launchers. After a nice couple of fights, one getting slammed on his back from Jane and Weller tackling another, Jane saves and projects the missile from the plane to the East river.

The team feels happy of the events that they prevented from happening. Zapata and Jane seems to be working slowing of trust. In the middle of the episode, we saw Dr. Borden asking out Patterson for dinner after given her a disk for The Oregon Trial computer game (AWESOME!!!!). Reade, who's been trying to get Coach Johnson case moving, rethinks of why he didn't remember anything when he was with the coach.

And the cherry on the cake or should I saw two cherries on the cupcake, Weller finally gets ride of his dad's stuff and as he walks in Allie comes in, she has some news...she's three months pregnant. Holy crap!! Also as Jane was looking at the memorial, she gets drugged by her crazy-ass brother, Roman.

This was a very good well paced, well action episode. I loved how the team struggles with their feelings about Jane and other things that has messed up the team during this episode. But Weller, a leader, takes control and get them on the right track. I still mixed about Nas even when she was lying to Jane about listening to case files as she was listening to her conversation with Borden. Speaking of Borden, I was wondering when Patterson and Borden are going to be a couple or have a relationship.

Overall, I give this episode an 8.5/10.

You can catch Blindspot Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC.

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Chicago PD Season 3 Recap and S4 Preview

With less than six hours to go until the most intense season premiere of Chicago PD yet airs. With everything that transpired in the season finale in May, let's recap what happened throughout season 3, which was Chicago PD at its best.

In the beginning, Erin has left the intelligence unit after the death of her best friend (Nadia) death. She was hanging with her mother, Bunny. Of course, being with her mother isn't the best role model to be around. But when Voight and Co. get a case that went south when Halstead is taken, hostage.

Erin comes in and helps the team out. After being such a badass, he takes those guys down and saves Halstead. After that, she wants to get back in and takes Voight's Road to New Life, where she stays with him until she's well enough.

The Halstead-Erin relationship grew this season. We hoped for a road trip episode, but the two didn't happen due to creative discussions. So they scrapped that and added a crossover episode with SVU, which brought two of the most hated criminals in the last couple of seasons; one of them was Gregory Yates, and it got the Law & Order SVU team to help because it happened under their show.

Yates and Erin had a standoff as he tried to mess with her, but ultimately, she shot the man in his childhood home. I know it's creepy, right? It was that excellent and raw emotion played through that episode for Erin.

Meanwhile, Voight has had some stuff happening to him. Not only taking care of Erin but when an ex-con was released from prison, the one thing he was going to do was take Voight and his family out. Voight was at his Voight mode of attack. Voight and Al take him back in.

In one of the biggest crossovers of the season, both Fire, Med, and PD engaged when a house fire of a cancer patient who didn't have cancer, to begin with, has the staff at Med scratching their heads when they find more and more patients with the same condition, Voight and Co. comes in and looks through the details of each patient and found out that the doctor who treated them was the one that treated Voight's late wife.

 Through that one episode, we saw Voight in a way we had never seen before. The emotional toll that brought him and Erin is so understandable. I heard stories and even saw videos, too. And not to mention that his son Justin had a twin brother who died at birth.

Season three also brought in the Law of Chicago as the cast of Chicago Justice made its Network Debut when Burgess and Roman get attacked, and she shoots what she thinks was the suspect, turning Chicago upside down again. Burgess and Roman were at the beginning of a relationship besides being partners as Burgess and Ruzek broke off their engagement because he couldn't comment.

After the shooting, it took Roman a while to get back, and Burgess got some inteexcitingexciting. But in the end, when the CPD decided that Roman could no longer be a beat cop, he moved to San Diego, CA. Burgess chooses not to go, which breaks their relationship.

Let's talk about the season finale; Voight has been hearing about his son being in town without hearing from him. He confronts him when Justin, his wife, and the baby are there having a family meal with Erin, too. Things look bright for Justin until during a case of a mother's death that had Justin's contact info.

That led Voight to get hold of Justin, but nothing. But when Erin and Voght got word of the suspect's car, they went after it. But what they found was Justin lying in the truck, lifeless. From that point on, Voight went a total 180 with rage. That led Voight to go rogue and try to find this guy until he got word of his whereabouts and misled the team as he took in the suspect, thanks to his fellow former cops.

When Halstead tells Erin about the false bust, she knows what is happening and drives to Voight's spot as he had the suspect digging his grave. He tries to confess, but Voight tells him to explore. Erin gets there and tries to ask him to bring him in, but the look on Voight's face in the rain gives such a look that he is gone and going to do this.

He tells Erin to get it so she doesn't get in trouble for this. She drives off as fast as she can, tears coming down. The suspect tells Voight about it all as he stops digging. That only made Voight walk up and shoot him. As Erin was driving, she could hear the gunshot go off.

Now we're into season 4. Will Lindsay tell Commander Crowley about Voight taking an act of vengeance after the death of his son, Justin? How will the team adjust to this, too?

"They're not excusing anything that Voight did, but they're also a little but appreciative," said executive producer Matt Olmstead in a TVLine preview. "Because when it all went down, he had them go (on) a goose chase across town to seal them off so they wouldn't see anything. In their minds, he protected them, and then he did whatever he did. So, for the most part, the unit is back to work, albeit on eggshells a little bit."

With that, Voight will have a more careful watch on Erin to see how or what actions she may or may not take against him.

"He cares for her. He doesn't want to pressure her to do anything she doesn't want to do," Olmstead describes it.

Whatever happens, it will take Season 4 to a new level of drama.

You can catch the return of Chicago PD tonight at 10/9c on NBC.

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Forking Awesome!: The Good Place: "Pilot' & "Flying"

The Good Place premiere last night, and it was a forking awesome!!

We meet Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell), who had just died and is in what Michael (Ted Danson) calls The Good Place. There, it's like a magical place where everyone exists happy, has a soulmate, and can't die. The problem is that Eleanor is not supposed to be in The Good Place, and Michael messed up on the calculation. They think she's another person who has done many good things.

With that in mind, Eleanor meets her soulmate, Chidi Anagoyne (William Jackson Harper), an ethics professor. He learns about Eleanor's situation and tries to figure out that maybe it's a test to see how good of a person Eleanor is, but if we've seen who Eleanor was and still is, a person who gets away with things and acts irresponsibly.

We meet other characters like Tahani Al-Jamil (Jameela Jamil), a British-Indian woman who's wealthy, and her soulmate Jianyu (Manny Jacinto), who's a silent Buddhist monk. Not to mention the creepy, hilarious Janet (D'Arcy Carden) as the go-to-person guide for all the information.

As Eleanor tries to adjust to the new place, Tahani throws a party for the entire neighborhood. At the party, she and Chidi see that everyone doesn't have a wrong side to them and that everyone is good. When she returns to her tiny home (for which I would love to live), she tells Chidi her story that she came from a divorced family at a young age.

But as she goes to sleep, she wakes up to the sound of chaos as giant bugs walking around, giraffes, flying shrimp, and giant frogs. This whole thing freaks out, Michael. Everyone wears yellow and black striped outfits except for Eleanor, who is the one who has caused the chaos.

When Michael calls a town meeting, he starts freaking out and thinking that if you sweat, you lick it off or wipe it and then lick it off, which was one of the funniest moments in the episode. But soon, everything went back to normal.

For Day 2, Michael had the idea to give the people of The Good Place something to live a little. So they flew in simulation suits, but before anyone could go zipping and soaring, Tahani had the idea to clean up the mess from the weird event. Almost everyone wanted to volunteer to help, and Eleanor wanted to go flying, but Chidi raised and called them to do it, proving that Eleanor could do some good instead of evil.

As everyone was flying, Eleanor was cleaning up, looking jealous, until she took her last bag to the trash. It ripped, and with only five minutes left, she dumped the garbage everywhere, from inside a home to bicycle baskets. She gets the suit on, and as she flies up, a thunderstorm of trash is dumped in the neighborhood.

It comes to Chidi that Eleanor isn't worth helping to become a good person. It takes a while until she dreams of a night at the bar as the designated driver and blows off her friends to have sex with the bartender. Eleanor wakes up and picks up the trash in the neighborhood. Later, Chidi comes, and after seeing what she's doing, he helps her until Janet comes.

The next day, Eleanor and Chidi begin the long process of being a good person. Soon, a note slides through the door saying, "You Don't Belong Here." Who could it be? Who knows that Eleanor isn't who they think she should be?

An excellent first two episodes. I loved it from the moment Bell and Danson scene where we learn a bit about what's going on. It's undoubtedly a different kind of comedy with the imaginative side of things, which I love.

The different curse words from "fork," "bullshirt," and "mother-forker" are just so clever that I might have to use them now. Bell and Danson are incredible, as are the rest of the cast. The writing of these two episodes was excellent. Michael Shur has done it again!!!

Overall, I give these two episodes 10/10.

You can catch The Good Place at its regular time on Thursdays at 8:30/7:30 on NBC

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