Why do you think levi was killed with a plastic bag as opposed to.. other options such as a gun?
oh wow, people be asking me for interpretations now? okay.
I guess the thing is that Newton’s betrayal and Levi’s betrayal are kind of similar on some level. And the two immediate victims of these betrayals (Luli and Samar) were both important to Red.
Obviously Levi was intimately close to Samar because he was her ex boyfriend and for a short time it looked like they might get back together.
Now as for Newton: We didn’t have time to further explore Red’s and Newton’s relationship before the latter “looked out on the water” for the last time but the way they talk to each other at the end of The Good Samaritan, the way Red is obviously hurt on a personal level - that tells me they were quite close as well. Not as close as Red and Dembe of course, but considering the three other people on Red’s “team” that we get to know early on are all intimately close to Red one way or another - Dembe (his brother from another mother), Luli (his girlfriend/lover at the time) and Mr. Kaplan (his own sin eater, if you will) - I don’t think it’s far fetched to assume Red and Newton had a somewhat close relationship, too. Newton wasn’t just a business killing. Both him and Luli (who died bc of Newton’s betrayal) were two of Red’s closest acquaintances. This was personal.
Red was operating on his code (see his conversation with Liz in 6.20) when he killed Newton and he inflicted that same code upon Levi. Why? Because this was personal, too! Samar was Red’s friend. Red has gone out of his way multiple times to help Samar when her own past was coming back to haunt her. When Liz left the Task Force after Tom’s death who was the agent he worked cases with? Samar. I think Red absolutely adored her both as the incredibly good agent and as the “saucy minx” that she was (and still is, somewhere out there). So he followed his code to avenge a friend, just like he avanged Luli.
And suffocating someone with your own two hands as their instincts kick in and they try to fight you off with all they got - that’s a very intimate way of killing. Much more intimate than shooting someone. So it’s only fitting that he (or rather the writers) chose this method for Newton and Levi.
Note that when Red gave Newton the plastic bag treatment he did so because Newton asked for it to look like an accident (so his wife wouldn’t know he was involved in criminal business) and since Red already had the plastic bag at hand which previously held Luli’s ashes that was his weapon of choice in that moment. And also… Killing the man responsible for your lover’s death with a plastic bag that’s still coated in her ashes? Wow. Poetic cinema!
For Levi he actually brought the plastic bag with him so he made that choice beforehand. If I had to take a wild guess then I’d say he wanted to make Levi suffer and see his final breath (which stands in contrast with Newton’s murder whom he suffocated from behind so he couldn’t see his face). In Newton’s case the plastic bag was the last bit of mercy Red was willing to give because however cruel, it allowed for Newton’s legacy to remain untainted so his family would be able to remember him as a good man (asphyxiation can be made to look like an accident; gun shot wound - not so much). But for Levi the plastic bag was the opposite of mercy. As far as Red was concerned Levi didn’t deserve a quick and painless death. A bullet to the head would’ve been too nice.
I don’t know if my thoughts were coherent at all, I’m tired and I’m not that good at these things. But bless you for having the confidence in me lol hope you like it.
