#so avoid

First there was the lizzington thing about Red’s reaction to Liz saying she felt filthy for sleeping with Tom, attacking it on the father level. Now I’ve seen some keen2 evaluation of that scene and the entire situation, basically saying it’s Red’s fault for not telling Liz that Tom was in love with her. 

So, here’s my take on the issue. 

The reason I don't find Red's reaction out of bounds is, well, a couple reasons. 

First of all, for him, he's been seeing this as awash in filth for three years now. Pretty much since the moment Tom crossed that line. She’s already neck deep in it. 

Now, near the end, with land in sight, Liz has to wade through one more puddle of filth before they can nail Tom's employer and finally begin to wash clean. Red doesn’t like it, but it’s the last stretch of filth from his perspective. Whereas Liz is just now beginning to see it that way. 

Red’s feelings towards Tom are pretty much summed up in him sending Zamani to twist a knife in his gut. I’m surprised he didn’t tell Zamani to film it so he could watch it every Christmas. 

Secondly, I don't believe Tom was in love with her the whole time. I think that's something they came up with once they decided to keep Tom's character. And maybe not even, because Tom himself doesn't claim that he got with Liz out of love.

Gina may have been dumped for Tom’s mark, but I don’t think it happened right away. I think when Red calls Gina “Tom’s lover” he uses the present tense for a reason. Gina is, at the least, recent history. 

I think it much more likely that Tom falls in love with Liz over time. And that Red believes this is possible because of what happened with Katarina. Keen2 people tend to think that Red is mad at Tom because of Katarina. I tend to think that the Katarina situation works more in Tom’s favor.

In season two, Red believes what he believes because that's what the Major told him. But he doesn't care. So what? 'The lying sociopath who betrayed me and aligned himself with my enemy loves my daughter, I guess I better be nice to him now and work with him so they can live happily ever after, because goodness knows she can’t do any better.' ? 

Previous rant on the “Tom aligned with Berlin because love!” here. 

I don’t find Tom “getting with Liz out of love” at all virtuous. It actually makes it worse in my eyes. 

The reveal that Red hired Tom I have no problem with. But the way the writers justified Red not killing Tom was insufficient. “Cuz Liz loved Tom and Red wouldn’t hurt her emotionally by killing him!” Really?

Previous post on that - 

Ya know who else Liz loved? Uh, Sam. Her father, Sam. She loved him.

Red killed him.

Red loved Sam, but he killed him because he was going to tell Liz something that would put her in danger.

Red hated Tom, but didn’t kill him even though he had put Liz’s life into the midst of a “confluence of peril” and was himself a danger.

Makes total sense. /s

So here’s my rationalization for the whole situation. Why Red handled it the way he did - 

Red fires Tom.

Expecting that Tom will go away (be re-assigned) at this juncture, Red does not kill him.

A short time later, Red discovers that Tom has not left, he has in fact gotten closer. Red discovers that Tom has been hired by his mysterious enemy.

At this juncture, Red does not kill Tom because it’s too late. His enemy is already aware of Elizabeth’s existence. To remove Tom would be too exacerbate the situation, and to put Liz in further danger at the hands of anyone else that his enemy might send. Red bets on his enemy’s patience.

Red’s enemy does not care about Liz. He is merely interested in using Liz to learn more about and have leverage with Reddington. So Red doesn’t go in guns-a-blazin’ at this point. He hatches a plan, talks to Marvin Gerard, and watches from the shadows until Elizabeth Keen’s first day on the job. Immediately he has Zamani attack Tom, and so it begins.

First and foremost, it’s about getting Liz out of that situation. But Red also uses the FBI to back him up, to gather information and defeat this enemy altogether.

Red believes that Tom has true feelings for Liz. He just doesn’t give a crap. All the same, a calculated risk was taken that if worse came to worse, Tom would not fatally harm Elizabeth. The same could not be said for anyone else on Berlin’s payroll.

You sound like an actuary.

I am, in a way.

Why wait three years? Why not dispose of the filth immediately? Well, see some of the previous rationalization. 

I think the “surrender to the FBI” plan was far from Plan A. I would call that more of a last resort. And a last resort that required some preparation once it was decided upon.

I think Red first tried to find Tom’s new employer through other means. Had him followed, surveilled, etc... And I think there was a gap between when Tom started seeing Liz and when Red found out. And possibly a gap between Red firing him and finding out that Tom had betrayed him. So that shaves maybe six months, maybe more, off the total time before Red crashes into her life. 

On another note, look at Red’s attitude while Liz is locked up with the Cabal gunning for her. He’s smiling, flirting with Samar, joking about apples. To the outside eye, he’s not terribly concerned. But he is. And he’s planning. 

His enemy is patient. Red is patient. He’ll use Tom and try to use Jolene and other things to find out who this enemy is. All while flirting with Madeline, continuing to do his business, getting high and wandering around naked in the desert, etc... 

Red’s goal is to find out who Tom’s employer is and destroy that threat. He ends up having to resort to turning himself into the FBI to do it. Use their resources, get close to Liz.  He strongly suspects that this threat is related to the Katarina threats. He immediately starts asking Liz what all Tom knows about her as a child, about the fire.

Tom is a middle man whose job isn’t to hurt Liz. Red keeps an ever watchful eye on him, but is interested in getting at the power behind him more than anything. So until that happens, Tom is more useful alive.

Once Red knows more or less who Berlin is, it’s time to shoot Tom in the head.