#anti-tom

[enbydindjarin]

Here’s a Tom-free triple frontier poster for all my fellow Tom haters 🥰

[meetmeatthecoda]

I know that you haven't seen the s9 eps, which I totally get. But in e7, they show Liz's gravestone. By golly was it sad. Not for the reason you'll think. First of all, it was a R*ssler eps. The amount of red flags that eps had *exhales*. Anyways, they made it so that she was buried next to T*m. Aaaaaand they had T*m's stone read yk he's name, lifespan, that he was a husband and father. The usually stuff. The stuff you'll expect on a stone. Or whatever. But for Liz? Pfft! She got her name, lifespan and.... Yup that's it. Nothing about her being a mother, wife, etc. Nothing else.

Well all know that Red would've given her the works. But I bet R*ssler was the one in charge of it all 🙄.

Hey there, anon!! 👋 Ah, thank you for being understanding of my complete & utter rejection of season 9!! 😁 Buttttt yeah, I unfortunately saw a pic of her headstone briefly while doom-scrolling on Twitter & I could only look at it for about 0.4 seconds bc my initial reaction was something like ohmyfuckinggodareyoufuckingkiddingmewhatthefuck. But then that was quickly followed by 'WELP... IDK WHAT I EXPECTED ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ'. But honestly, it just goes to show how little of a shit they gave about her character in the end... they stuck her in the ground next to her abusive fraud ex-husband & couldn't even be bother to photoshop something decent on the headstone in the editing room lmfao 🥲 Also, sidenote, I would estimate TPTB have approximately the same amount of shits to give about Liz as I have about their new golden boy: I couldn't give a singular rat's ass about the Hilariously Ridiculous R*ssler Retcon 2k21/2 & I want to know absolutely nothing about his uTtEr ReLeVaNcE & ePiC lOvE sToRy (that I apparently blinked & missed) oh & of course his fAsCiNaTiNg ChArAcTeR dEvElOpMeNt that makes me want to scream laugh with tears streaming down my face as I clutch Lizzington photos to my aching chest just to remember who the actual main characters of this show used to be... *ahem* Anyway, just, ya know. Sidenote. 🙃 ANYHOO thank you muchly for this hella relatable lil update ask, anon, I do appreciate it, & much love to you, my friend!! ❤️

[meetmeatthecoda]

It's funny to me that people ship Liz

with Tom, who lied to her, manipulated her, held her at gunpoint (on numerous occasions), beat her up (on numerous occasions), said that he pitied her but not loved her, told her their marriage and his desire to adopt a baby was "just a job" for him, took her to the man he knew was going to kill her aka fake Berlin, used her as a shield and generally made it abundantly clear that he would always - and I mean always - put himself first, even and, especially, over her and that he had no qualms about hurting her emotionally and physically for his own benefit ( as opposed to Red, who's never intentionally hurt her or put her in harm's way, who would rather die than hurt her, who would always - and I mean always - put his Lizzy first, even and, especially, over himself, who traded his freedom, his well-being, his life for hers on a number of occasions, who devotedly waited ten months for her to wake up from her coma, barely leaving her side, I imagine, who always forgave and staid by her side no matter how much she hurt and/or betrayed him, who was more worried about Liz's mental and emotional state than his own life when she made her repeated attempts to kill him... should I continue? )

or

with Ressler, who's always been like a brother for Liz more than anything - which shows in the way they supported each other when they had problems with their respective partners, in the way Ressler asked Liz's advice about his relationship with Audrey, in the way Ressler offered to beat Tom up for her, in the way they always looked out for each other in a completely platonical way - ( as opposed to Red, who repeatedly told Liz that he is not her father - and he never lies to her, that much is unquestionable - and who is clearly not her mother for a number of reasons I don't feel like it's necessary to list ).

Yet they call us - Lizzingtons, the fans of the most healthy relationship in the whole show - hurtful words like perverts etc.

Just... isn't it obvious how utterly ridiculous it is?

In other words, anon? It's 1000% obvious... At least to us 😒😒😒 You summed things up really perfectly, I'm not sure what else I can add honestly... T*m was unhealthy & dangerous for Liz, R*ssler is brotherly at best, & we're still the disgusting ones 😐 I know the lines have always been blurred with this show (& that's TPTB's fault btw) but the fact that we receive so much hate for shipping Liz with the ONE male character that loves & protects her with his whole self & NOT the abuser OR the mannequin? K 🙄 Long story short, anon, I agree with you, & thank you for this 🥺 Much love to you, my friend!! ❤️

[meetmeatthecoda]

Do you know what irks me sometimes rewatching earlier seasons? It's the clear Lizzington arc the writers had put in. The one that they somehow had a memory wipe or retconned themselves and suddenly daddygate is the plot line. Like it makes no sense. Why introduce and start the Lizzington overtures if you weren't going to finish the damn symphony. Why write the poetry if you were just going to burn it halfway through? Why lay down the foundations for what probably would have been important information later on only to not come back to them ever again or give some half-assed explanation (i.e. Red's back scar and Liz's hand scar).

And the entirety of Tom's presence on the show irks me too. What was the logical point of keeping Tom around for god knows how many seasons, but it was about ten seasons too long. He would have worked fine as a background character staying as the manipulative, lying, betraying double agent that he is and staying dead. He was treated as the lynchpin for Liz to the family and life she wanted. But how can that be when that was all a lie and not genuine? The taskforce is her family. They could have focused more on that, the taskforce as a support system for Liz. They were as normal as it could have been for her. They didn't have to put her against them.

Tom was portrayed as Liz's desire to continue that "normal" life. And that he was a saint, a redeemable character who deserves a second chance, forgiveness and redemption from Liz. How did he get elevated to such high standards. I would have thought that's Red's department, Liz being his second chance and all that. Instead of providing Liz with character development, they went backwards and tore her character apart season by season.

I sometimes sit wondering why the writers jumped ship and started writing nonsense. Like if this was their way of keeping the mystery alive or throw red herrings, it's absolute pig's ass.

YES, ANON, PREACH 👏👏👏 Seriously, so much great stuff here, I agree wholeheartedly with everything you've brought up!! 🙌🙌 Diving in with issue #1: YES, THAT LIZZINGTON ARC. That bold, innovative, original, special, beautiful arc that was so firmly established in the pilot & the entire first season?? That gorgeous arc that went slowly by the wayside, dying a slow & painful death over the course of eight, long, endless seasons??? That arc???? Yeah, the only thing sadder than the quiet decimation of Lizzington is the way they've tried to pretend it never existed in the first place 🥲

(Oh & anon! I have to say I love your analogy of "why introduce the Lizzington overtures if you weren't going to finish the damn symphony?" As a musician, the BEAUTIFUL accuracy of this really resonates with me: the function of an overture, after all, is to establish the musical themes for the audience so they will recognize them when they return later throughout the symphony... which is very much like laying the canon, mythology, & symbolic groundwork for the upcoming theories & relationships in a piece of media. Buttttt TPTB clearly didn't watch that Sweeney Todd episode of The Office where Darrell perfectly explained this 😒)

ALSO yesss anon, the rushed & half-assed "explanation" for Liz's scar that we got in 8.22?? Yeah, not satisfying in the slightest & - mOrE iMpOrTaNtLy - the fact that Red's back scars were never addressed again?? When it could have been one of the most beautiful, emotional, fulfilling interactions in the show between the two main characters??? Not to mention the thing that probably would have pushed us over the edge into a long-awaited Lizzington kiss???? Yeahhh I'll never not be bitter about that 🙃

AND OMG YES. The fact that TPTB used T*m as the representation of Liz's "normal, long-desired, family life" when he was originally supposed to die in the fucking pilot - is hilarious. And you make such a good point, anon: the task force could have been a much stronger & more believable group if TPTB had leaned into it & just let them be a family. It would have brought a lovely, emotionally fulfilling depth to the crime procedural basis & given us more reason to root for the characters, especially Liz. In fact, I think my favorite episode of the show is that one (can't remember titles lmfao) where the whole team goes to Paris for some op & they all work together in a cafe to get the info they need - Liz, Ressler, Samar AND Aram!! And it's unusual that I even care about scenes Red isn't in, but I remember so thoroughly enjoying that scene & episode bc it showed that kind of light-hearted camaraderie that we got so little of with the task force. So, if T*m had just been killed of in the pilot as intended... just think of the development we could have had amid the task force AND between Red & Liz!! It's... just so sad to think about. Oh & lastly? Yes: Red should have been Liz's second chance, just as she was his. What a deep, emotional, full-circle, satisfying, beautiful story that would have been 😭

In conclusion, dear anon, I (clearly) sometimes sit & wonder the very same things as you - "why did the writers jump ship & start writing nonsense" - which makes it very validating to receive this ask, so I thank you so much!! 🥺 I appreciate you & your thoughts, & much, much love to you, my friend!! ❤️

[meetmeatthecoda]

You know, I've got this theory that Tom knew/suspected that Agnes is actually Red's daughter.

And that's exactly why he kept both her and Liz close (because, sorry, but it's very hard for me to believe that he was with them without some ulterior motive and only because he loved Liz because it's hard for me to believe that Tom actually loved Liz after everything he's done to her; and, to be honest, I'm surprised that Liz believed him and got married to him after, if we count just what happened in the 1st season, he beat her up twice, held her at gunpoint twice, told her he pitied her but not loved her, told her their whole marriage was "just a job" for him, took her to the man he knew was going to kill her aka fake Berlin, used her as a shield and made it very clear that he would always put himself first, even and especially over her) because that way he: a) made sure that he would be untouched and even protected by Red because he's close to Liz and b) had a leverage over Red (and beside the woman Red loves with all his heart what is a better leverage than Red's own daughter?).

Perhaps, he even let Red hold Agnes after Liz's 'death' so that Red could form an emotional connection with her and/or would understand/confirm that Agnes is his, Red's, daughter because that would up her value in Red's eyes.

Oooooh, anon 👀👀👀 I'm for sure loving this theory!! I mean, physical & mental abuse & gaslighting were pretty much T*m's defining qualities imo - along with lying & murder, ofc - so it is super hard to swallow the whole ruthless-deep-cover-killer-falls-for-his-mark routine. So, the ulterior motives you describe seem pretty consistent if you ask me. It would totally make sense to keep Liz & Agnes close if T*m did indeed suspect & just the THOUGHT of T*m purposely letting Red hold newborn!Agnes to use her against him later makes me f u r i o u s and not at all surprised, bc honestly? That checks out 😒 So, while we'll probably never know for sure, know that I certainly wouldn't doubt that you're right, anon!! 😓 Thank you for sharing this, I'm loving all this Agnesgate content to keep me going in the long wait before 8.21!! 🥲 Thanks again & much love to you!! ❤️

[meetmeatthecoda]

Proof that Lizzington is real #100000000000...:

Red – at least once – described himself as being powerless against Liz, which – considering his famous "that's what love is, being powerless" quote – is a very interesting choice of a word.

Very interesting, indeed 😏

Oh, anon... very interesting word choice, indeed 😏😏😏 I got this a few days ago (I'm sorry, I've been working on my fic!!) but I think this was inspired by a T*m K**n gifset that was recently going around, something to do with their wedding day... & honestly, that whole speech of Red's about awe at Lizzie's beauty on her wedding day is just gut-wrenching. It's my personal headcanon that he fell in love with Liz when/shortly after/gradually starting from when he met her again at the blacksite, but seeing her at her wedding?? A beautiful adult woman?? Who had eyes only for a lying, gaslighting double agent?? Yeah, I'm sure that didn't help matters 😂😭 Anyway, I totally agree with you, anon, this is one parallel in a list of about 4 million that points to Lizzington as the only sensible endgame & - in a way - I'm so thrilled the show is effectively over & I can just ignore the huge retcon of seasons past & ship in peace. It is... strangely liberating 🥲 Anyway, thanks again, anon, & much love to you, my friend!! ❤️

[meetmeatthecoda]

All right well...

... I didn’t think I’d be making any more posts about The Blacklist any time soon but hey, life has a way of surprising you that way (see: the current American political climate). So I have some feelings about tonight’s ep (WHAT ARE FEELINGS I BARELY REMEMBER) and, believe it or not, they’re mostly good! So, in case there’s anybody still out there who gives a shit about this show and/or my opinions about it, here’s a summation of my current state of mind.

Fair warning: This is a long-ass post.

Okay so last week’s ep was complete shit. The whole “WE HAVE A BIG SURPRISE CAUSE OH NO A MOLE WHO COULD IT POSSIBLY BE OH WHOOPS WE SPOILED IT IN THE PROMO BUT OH WELL WE’LL JUST PRETEND WE DIDN’T” fiasco with nary a scene with both Red and Liz in a room together because, what, like that works? Whatever, you get it, it was crap. But I’m gonna talk about THIS week because my sanity is important to me.

So. I actually thought it was really pretty good (I know, how are pigs not flying and meatballs not falling from the sky). As long as you ignore the vomit-inducing Keen2 playing house and “repairing their relationship” bullshit. (That was physically hard to type btw.) There was actually an interesting, if initially slightly creepy, blacklister story, no completely boring post office team shit, Red displaying some very interesting goals and behavior (ohhh, don’t worry, we’ll get back to that), and some actual Red/Liz interaction. Shocker. So, obviously, I’m gonna focus on Red & Liz because.... well, what the fuck else is there? Okay, so.

First of all, let this lizzington rant be prefaced by the fact that, yes, I know Tom still exists, unfortunately, but he is leaving for the blessed spin-off in February hopefully after a Jupiter-sized blow-up fight with Liz that will make him never come back. Ever. This hope is inspired by the stupid, god-forsaken promo that I accidently saw on NBC the other night where Tom says into a phone, “A second chance. That’s all I want.” Didn’t he already get this? You know, when Liz took back her abuser and started a family with him? Why would he need another (fifteenth) second chance? Did the whole “perfect family” thing with Liz fall through? Why, oh why, would that be? A discrepancy about parentage of one little girl perhaps? (second filming in the shipping container anyone?????? Pleaseijustreallywantthattocometosomethingcanyoublameme) Well whatever. I don’t care what drives Tom away so long as something does. So with the spin-off, I’d like to think we’re pretty much guaranteed that, at least for a little while (dare I type it?) So with that in mind, I’m just gritting my teeth through the Tom scenes for now. Okay, moving on. Also because I apparently have nothing better to do than watch this stupid show out of the corner of my eye while pretending to be on my computer and not let this shenanigans affect me at all

So. Back to where we all want to be: Red&Liz. Based on this ep, they seem to be on pretty interesting footing. Liz thanked Red. Maybe it was a bit of a backhanded compliment. Oh well. I think we’ve come to expect that from Liz. At least she mentioned it. I’ll take it. I was, however, surprised by Red’s rather frosty reception. He’s not groveling at her feet for scraps of attention as he once did. As @ihaveyoulizzington graciously reminded me, Red & Liz still haven’t really talked since Liz faked her death and Red was wrecked. So yeah. Some residual hard feelings are to be expected. Since being reminded of that, Liz’s cheerful, friendly attitude is a little ridiculous, per usual. But I think she is trying to be nice, with the whole Red asking to see her new place (CUTE BABY) and her kindly saying, “not yet, maybe someday” (some DAY?! Not some TIME?! Are you SHITTING me?!) and Red’s cute pouty lip and “welp, okay then, whatever” expression. In summary, I think they’re trying. (The puzzle piece was also very symbolic, I thought. As soon as Liz said “someday” and Red accepted that, the last puzzle piece fit right into place. Maybe with that promise from Liz, Red can start putting himself back together again, just like that puzzle. At least that’s what I got from it.)

And now back to Red’s behavior. From the beginning of this ep, I thought that it was a little strange. The first scene or so of the ep was depicting Tom and Liz’s “blissful home life” (a la the pilot) and then they went to Red in that weird all white apartment, freaking out the real estate lady, when he usually goes to such lengths to put innocent non-criminals, especially women, at ease around him. And for the whole ep, he was obsessed with the white carpet and how there was no stain. Red is usually not stuck on one topic for that long. But he just kept raving on about it with a weird look in his eye. I think he was trying to block out the guilt he still feels (and Dembe is still inflicting) over Kate’s “murder” (in quotes bc she’s still alive bc no one dies on this show). This manic, obsessive behavior coupled with trying to complete an all-white puzzle in an all-white apartment throughout the whole ep was, I though, really meant to represent his current mental state. Kind of shell-shocked, not processing everything that’s happened and affected him more than he’s willing to let on, in denial about a lot of his feelings, feeling distanced/never really reunited with Lizzie, and just his ever present mountain of guilt. Just call him Atlas, amiright? Sorry, I’ll stop. So yeah, I think Red is really lost and hurting and it looks like that’s gonna come to a head real soon and I couldn’t be more glad that they’re actually showing that. ALSO, DEMBE. THAT PRECIOUS CINNAMON ROLL. I HAVE MANY FEELINGS. Firstly, when that underling Red manipulated into betraying his boss asked Dembe, “Could you shoot your boss?” and Dembe said, “I don’t know.” WHAT. NO. DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE TPTB. DON’T YOU DARE RUIN THE MOST PRECIOUS, INNOCENT, HEALTHY, AND SOLID RELATIONSHIP ON THIS SHOW WITH YOUR BAD CHOICES. NO. DEMBE LOVES RED LIKE A FATHER AND RED LOVES DEMBE LIKE A SON. DON’T YOU DARE RUIN THAT. I WOULD NEVER FORGIVE YOU. IS2G. *ahem* Sorry. I mean I get that Dembe has some hard feelings about Red “killing” Kate, that’s only to be expected, cause I imagine Kate was the only mother Dembe ever really knew. So I get it. But Red is also the only father Dembe knows and Dembe would never hurt him. Never. It was much more in character and exponentially pleasing to me to see Dembe go to Liz about Red instead. Like yes. That is straight out of fanfic and I’m fucking here for it. And before Dembe mentioned the whole “Red ‘killed’ Mr. Kaplan btw I don’t think you knew g2g bye” I was ALL FOR Liz going to Red because SHE’S THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN HELP HIM and saying, “Red… I’m here. Come back to me. I need you to be here.” Etc. Don’t fucking get me started, I can reference a list of approximately 894 fanfics where this happens and I want to see every single one play out on screen. Anyway. In reality, it’s probably going to be an angry confrontation but I’m actually looking forward to it. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that there will be tension and anger between the two of them because of a NEW ISSUE. NO FATHER DRAMA OR “I WANT ANSWERS” BLAH BLAH this is a new thing that hasn’t been addressed before that has strong emotional connections for both of them and I’m here for that ensuing argument like

Liz: “Red, how could you?! She was only trying to help me! And she loved you! How could you not at least try to forgive her?!”

Red: “She took you from me! I almost died when I lost you and she was behind it all! I cannot forgive that, not even for her!”

Like yes. That’s some good-ass drama and some feelings may come to light and I’m here for that shit. Yes.

Anyhoo, before I get too carried away with that (even though restraint is kind of a lost cause at this point in this endless post), let’s just touch on that promo, shall we? Undercover-thief!Liz. Sign me up. That shit has potential. And with that above argument leading into Liz just snapping, “I’m going undercover. Don’t try to contact me. I think it’s best that we spent some time apart anyway. Goodbye Red.” And then Liz goes undercover to be a younger, hotter, more criminal Liz all while Red looks on with that anger and tension bubbling underneath and he can’t help but find himself even more hella attracted than usual to this especially sexy version of Liz that is all of a sudden a lot more like him. Yus. Gimme some of that, please and thank you. This is practically fanfiction writing itself. I have about 57 scenarios running around in my brain, half that I’ve read in fanfic already and half that I definitely want to read asap. Example: Red not listening to Liz and bursting in on the undercover scene and taking out his frustration with her by introducing himself as her bf or husband or some kind of sexual relation and they get rid of some of that tension by acting sexy for the others cause they gotta sell that fake relationship so Liz doesn’t get made, right? No I don’t have a favorite trope of course not why do you ask Anyway, what I’m saying is this could actually go somewhere, ya know? I’m kinda excited.

Sooooo believe it or not, I will watch next week and hopefully enjoy it. Here’s hoping for a good time. Also PLEASEEEEE for the love of god please let this spawn some undercover-thief!Liz and interfering-criminal!Red sexy fanfic. Please. Okay, thanks bye.

(Also, if you made it to the end of this shit-ass post, you deserve an award. K.)

[kiss-my-freckle]

“How can the web of lies get more tangled? The cast gives us a first look at the new season.”

This line they threw on their fb post goes along with Red’s statement to Liz in Leonard Caul’s episode. Tom’s marriage to Liz. She thinks it couldn’t have all been pretend. It was. Tom didn’t betray Red once, but twice. A closer look. Red hired Tom to be a friend of a friend. Told Major to make sure he doesn’t cross that line. Tom betrayed him, got intimate with Liz. Red responded by firing Tom. He should’ve removed him, but he didn’t. She was already in love with him. So basically, Red’s lack of taking further action allowed them to continue dating. Had Red wanted him dead at that point, he would’ve killed him, not fire him first. This gave Tom no reason to fear him. Tom’s second betrayal came in Devry’s episode. Tom married her over his objections once. Yes. That’s when Red left in a rage - wanting to kill Tom. The words they chose for such in Leonard Caul’s episode -

inextricable intimacy and commitment

This goes straight to Kate’s statement to Red in The Debt Collector. Red supposedly holding Liz emotionally hostage. 

Inextricable: impossible to disentangle or separate. Impossible to escape from.

He wanted to be intimate and committed to her. We need to get married. We never got married. I don’t wanna be anyone else but your husband. There’s a difference in these two betrayals. The first one was to test Red’s response. The second was to get an even larger response. Tom basically married Liz because getting fired wasn’t enough. He needed to pull Red out of the shadows for Berlin. It allowed for Berlin to start tracking him with Jolene. Until then, Red was a ghost. So ...Red hires Tom. Berlin finds out Tom is working for Red. He hires Tom and pays Major to look the other way. Berlin finds out what he was hired by Red for, then tells Tom to get intimate with Liz. Like Garvey, it’s about leverage against Red. Let’s see how Red responds to you dating her. Red fires Tom. His failure to remove him is like silence. It’s basically telling Tom he can continue dating her. Why not, you’re not removing me. Now let me try this again. Berlin tells Tom to marry her. Out comes Red - you’re not doing this to my daughter. 

Tom’s marriage to Liz was a job. Berlin had him push Red out of the shadows. So Red reentered Liz’s life to push Berlin out all the same. Let’s end this. You’re not getting my daughter. 

There’s more... it’s coming. It’s gonna take me a while to gather it all