Solomon (Edi Gathegi) and The Director (David Strathairn). Then there are the bad guys: an international covert organization called “the Cabal.” The two primary players this season seem to be Mr. There are the good guys, represented by the FBI, led by Donald Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff), with his two primary subordinates Aram Mojtabai (Amir Arison) and Samar Navabi (Mozhan Marnò), and ex-division chief Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix). In that respect, “Marvin Gerard” did, among all the disparate parts of the episode, manage to introduce the players to the seasonal plot. The more imaginative the individual elements and actions, the better, but be it people or physical objects, the action they express to move the plot along has to be essential to their character. There is a direct parallel between these plot mechanics and the physical mechanics of a Rube Goldberg machine.
The story arc of an entire season involves characters as much as actions: switched allegiances, unexpected conflicts, allies become enemies, enemies become allies. With a few exceptions, the characters’ roles are consistent throughout each episode. In a traditional crime drama, a crime happens, clues are gathered, and the crime is solved. There is a major difference between the plot structure of each individual episode and arc that develops over the course of the season. Tracking these clues through the season is part of drives the viewer’s interest.
But like any Rube Goldberg machine, the importance of the information only becomes clear at the end. As the episodes continue, the viewer gets more information. The same principle that generates entertainment in each episode is also reflected in The Blacklist’s season-long story arcs. All of these parts are strung together by Elizabeth and Red to not only evade capture but to secure an ally: Marvin Gerard (Fisher Stevens). Sandwiched between is a cargo ship, a car chase, a gun fight, a hostage stand-off, a hidden elevator, two telephone calls, a text message, two hoodies, a philandering ambassador, an abusive man with two broken ribs, a prisoner stripped to his underwear, two shotgun blasts, and an adulterous news reporter. The episode ends with Raymond “Red” Reddington (James Spader) pointing out the North Star to her. The episode begins with Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) handing herself off to the Russian embassy by claiming to be double-agent Masha Rostova. “Marvin Gerard”, the second episode of season three, significantly exceeds this measure.
The more outlandish and inventive twists, the better. The best episodes of NBC’s The Blacklist use the same principle: plot twists and complications that bop and pop throughout the episode like a 60-minute Rube Goldberg machine. The seduction of these contraptions is that the objects are used in absurd, non-economic ways the more absurd the better. The episode ended with artist Joseph Herscher lining up the items so that one triggered another, ending with a wire mesh basket being lowered on to a mouse. In the segment, three volunteers were given 25 objects, including a bowling pin, a scale, a wire mesh trash can, a potted cactus, a basketball, a stack of books, cinderblocks, a cane, a yoyo, a ball of string, a plate of cheese, and a baseball bat. “Common Sense” featured a segment on Rube Goldberg machines, which started out with half a dozen or more seemingly random objects to be put together in a certain sequence to perform a simple task.
The blacklist season 3 episode 2 series#
The National Geographic channel kicked of its fifth season of that series with an episode entitled “Common Sense.” The series focuses on the perceptual quirks of the human mind, with each episode presenting different puzzles and challenges with which the viewer can participate. In watching the latest episode of The Blacklist, I couldn’t help but think of Brain Games. Roald Amundsen (first person to reach both the North and the South Poles)