#tbl spec

I love how in this ep Liz repeatedly says how much she works but we see precisely 0 second of her doing any actual work (or basic reasoning bc what’s the point of making a show of thoroughly vetting nanny candidates when you leave your kid alone w/ a stranger who just appeared next door?) It is so... typical of how she is generally written, all talk no walk (and no sense). she is ~special~ but how exactly? Red can’t even be bothered to protect her anymore. she is said to be a great profiler, too. well, I sure would love to see it one day. and now she is this overworked single mother whom we can’t even see working, and these all come together to form my main issue:

her connection to Red has been diminished to the point of irrelevance. All those things that were meant to grant her ~special~ status in Red’s orbit are just not there: Red now talks to and confides in anyone but her. Her profiling skills that could give her unique insight into his real identity are def not there and she has to trick or force info out of him like any other character who wants info from Red. And the emotional bond that once made her his kryptonite is broken now, as well, thanks to all that crude backstabbing she resorted to.

She is supposed to be the protagonist in this “chosen one story” but as things stand right now, you can switch her w/ almost any character (and they have, in fact, switched her) and you would watch the same show, a show that’s composed of loosely connected situations (crossing people off a list within a teflon-y mystery box format where nothing ever sticks) and not an actual story where the protag is the linchpin struggling towards a meaningful goal while undergoing a necessary transformation.

I empathize with your confusion - so much so, in fact, that I will happily redirect you to a recent post made by @alyblacklist that I believe might help clear things up a bit. It would be a disservice to you if I were to try and explain for myself because, trust me when I say, I’m no better off than you here. 

if you ask me, “It doesn’t make sense” should be this show’s official tagline, anon. And this won’t get better in S7, I’m afraid. her sister had no idea what she was getting into, and after suffering through some near-death situations, she called it quits and haven’t been back since. That much I can understand. Liz, however, has been yoyo-ing through the episodes, randomly alternating btw wanting ~~Answers~~ at all costs & burying her head in the sand. and this truly peaks in S7. She no longer has any integrity as a character, no values or goals of her own – she’s just a malleable plot device the writers shape into whatever they need in any given episode, which just ruins the viewing experience.

I think I can’t decide that for anyone and I don’t want to, either, but I do share your bitter disappointment in this show.

The writing is simply atrocious at this point. Liz is a plot device, plain and simple, and the plot is rapidly becoming pointless amidst all the obnoxious mysteries that make the characters and the story itself v hard to connect with. This is my #1 complaint after having tried to get through 7a. For example, Red had a promising mystery cure for his mystery illness, which mysteriously failed yet the reveal that he is still mysteriously dying (mysteriously w/o exhibiting any symptoms) has no real weight bc Liz is naturally not allowed to know bc ~~Compulsory Mystery~~ and hence she cannot react and make this development more tangible/accessible, and those who are allowed to know basically shrugged it off like… what is the point of revealing such a huge turning point and, at the same time, let it fall so flat? and since it’s also the show where everybody fake-dies at least once per season, even if we get to see Red “die”, it won’t hit that hard emotionally bc of the engendered expectation of it being, well, fake and 100% reversible like literally everything else that happens on this show these days. Red dying should be a true high-stakes situation filled w/ rich emotion and pathos but this cowardly, lazy, non-committal writing reduces everything to a fleeting non-event.

Liz is firmly clutching the idiot ball, anon, so I can understand those who are getting pissed off. My frustration is not really w/ the character here, tho, but w/ the writingbc it’s oh so clear they are once again switching off her brain to make way for “Random Fun Idea” that otherwise wouldn’t fly. Sadly, this isn’t new. She’s often forced to serve ~cool plot points~ and ~surprise twists~ and always at the expense of her own development. But I find it equally ridiculous that Red doesn’t already know K has infiltrated Liz’s life. Mr. Paranoid Control Freak has eyes and ears everywhere except for Liz’s home? esp after what happened to Dom? please. And I am not even gonna get into that Aram Bond nonsense but it’s yet another good example of this show clumsily forcing sth ““cool”” at the detriment of characterization. Unfortunately, 703 seems to have an excess of this.

Generally speaking, I agree that Red leaving Liz in the dark is not a feasible way to go if they are to reach any meaningful destination in their relationship. It’s getting rather stale and frustrating as a tactic and it’s backfired one too many times before, too, but as long as Liz continues to demonstrate that she cannot be trusted w/ sensitive information, I cannot quite fault Red for playing it close to the vest. It’s maddening and shitty behavior but his character can get away w/ it bc her characterization practically invites it.