Showing posts with label tom keen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tom keen. Show all posts

Monday, January 26, 2015

30 Days of Fangirl-ism - Day 13: Another freebie

Since the prompt for today is "The best cosplayers of your fandom that you’ve seen; the ones you consider to be real-life versions of your favorite characters, OTP, etc." I've decided to do a freebie as I don't really follow anyone who does cosplay. It's a cool part of fandoms, sure, but just not my thing.


So I'm just going to sit here and gush about one of my favorite actors on one of my fravorite shows - Ryan Eggold as Tom Keen in The Blacklist. This comes from basically me watching and fangirling over him in Sons of Liberty where he plays the mild-mannered Bostonian Doctor, Joseph Warren. It just gave me more appreciation for an actor I've enjoyed watching over the last year play an incredibly complex and mysterious character.
gif by dirtyfootballangel on tumblr.
Tom Keen was introduced to us as Elizabeth Keen's somewhat nerdy, but overly adorable and adoring, husband. He is a teacher by day, and a double agent by night... but we didn't know that at first. We just thought he was Lizzie's hubby who got caught in an impossible situation (dude was attacked and nearly died!)... but all that changed as Red gives Lizzie a heads up that Tom is not who he appears to be. We spent all of Season 1 watching Liz deal with the emotions of trying to figure out who and what to believe. We spend ALL seasons trying to figure out just what and who Tom Keen is. I love and hate that last fact all at the same time.

I want to know, so badly, who Tom Keen is. WHAT IS HIS STORY?! We won't get any answers to that when The Blacklist returns Superbowl Sunday. But Tom will be back in the picture at some point in the second season, and I can't wait.  

Ryan Eggold is a great, nuanced actor. He can say more with a look than most actors say in an entire script. As Joseph Warren he's compassionate, quiet, and trustworthy with a moral center. As Tom Keen he plays both sides of the coin to a T... and I'm convinced that he truly loves Lizzie even when he tries to convince her he doesn't. There are so many layers to that onion, and Eggold plays each one as good if not better than the last. 

Like I said, I can't wait to see him come back to The Blacklist...

Friday, January 23, 2015

30 Days of Fangirl-ism - Day 10: Favorite scene/moment from a favorite fandom

Again, I won't choose a Neal centric scene from Once Upon A Time as I did that in a previous blog post. (Also amusing is I whined about Michael Raymond-James not giving details quick enough for his "new project" in that blog post - and this weekend said project is premiering on The History Channel. I am so excited, and I really truly hope that he is right that this project IS special and his career is blessed by it! He deserves it, great guy and actor.)

So I will choose to feature MRJ's Sons of Liberty costar to feature. Ryan Eggold as Tom Keen has been such an interesting persona in The Blacklist, and the scene that is one of my favorites from the series was the one where Lizzie confronts Tom and he goads her into making a crucial mistake. NBC is stupid and won't let people post clips on youtube, I wish they did because I'd love to just rewatch the fight sequence again. It was quick and fast and I remember being on the edge of my seat during the entire back and forth they had.

The relationship of Tom and Lizzie Keen is what keeps my interest in the show. Just who hired Tom when to do what where she's concerned. And, was it just a job? To me it seems Tom does love Lizzie and is torn by his "mission" (whatever it is) and how he's grown to care for her. Is it a healthy/safe relationship, heck no, so I don't see the show having them end up together, but I want to know who Tom Keen really is and what his whole story is.

And I doubt highly Lizzie or Tom is done with each other.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

30 Days of Fangirl-ism - Day 7: OTP(s)

Oh dear, I should've read this meme more thoroughly before deciding to participate. I am not someone who ships a whole lot. I mean when it's something like "Snowing" on Once Upon A Time that's one thing - we all know that there's no way Disney'd let Adam and Eddie screw up THAT love story - but I normally don't ship characters until it's well established...

...or I get caught up in a past relationship that they tell that's over by the time the present day of the show happens (Oliver and Laurel in Season 1 of Arrow.... Emma and Neal, though I didn't like them originally)

But I do get on board with a few (and this probably means they're doomed).

For Arrow:

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"Olicity" - I fought this hard. But this season I'm starting to really love Felicity and Oliver - I think because it's going at a natural pace... and because Oliver is less of a manwhore this season. It makes him much more likeable and deserving of someone as awesome as Felicity Smoak!

I also love Tommy and Laurel... too bad that didn't end happily. RIP Tommy Merlyn.

For The Flash:
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"WestAllen" - Because I love the idea of the best friends being more than that. Because Iris and Barry are adorable. Because, because, because...

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BROTP would be Barry and Joe - I ADORE their relationship. The episode that aired tonight gave me a lot of "feels" for this Father-Son like relationship. So I think it counts as a brotp.


For The Blacklist:

gif by fuckyeahtheblacklistedits on tumblr.
"The Keens" - as I said before I know they aren't going to end up together (latest interviews have the creators saying that they don't want to push a dangerous/unhealthy relationship, and I get that but...) but I love Lizzie and Tom together. Even though he was sent to ruin her life (and kill her!) I think he does love her and she does love him. It's a twist on "Mr. & Mrs. Smith"... and if THOSE assassins can make it, why can't the Keens?!

For Reign:
gif by sfelicitysmoak on tumblr
"Frary" is my favorite. I know I'm supposed to like Bash and Mary more, according to the fandom at least, but I like the royal duo. And I hate how the show is writing them into a split. It's lame! DON'T DO IT!

Bash & Kenna - they were thrown into a marriage neither one wanted by a demented king, but they are working through it. I love how Bash made an effort to court his wife and do right by her. Giving up his pining after his brother's wife. I know, it's complicated though.

For Once Upon A Time:

gif by shadownightfall on tumblr.
"CaptainFloor" - probably my favorite ship of all time. It was created as a fandom joke, and the show has embraced it. Colin falls better than anyone else on the show (except maybe Michael Raymond-James, who falls just standing still waiting to say his lines!)

BROTP definitely goes to "CaptainFire" aka MRJ and Colin - their characters may have been rivals, and their fans may go for blood when dealing with each other, but the two seem to genuinely care about each other. I love their friendship. Cracks me up! Wish MRJ was still on the show just so we get more BTS photos and vids of the two of them!



So there, I guess I do have a few ships! WHO KNEW?! ;)

Thursday, January 15, 2015

30 Days of Fangirl-ism - Day 2: Current Fandom


I'm actually going to cheat and list two as I'm active in both of these fandoms and I am super excited for them to come back from Hiatus. The first I'll highlight is Arrow. Like I said in yesterday's prompt I got into this fandom because I a friend kept suggesting it, and I needed another show to take my mind off of Once Upon A Time (a fandom I'm less a part of these days but I can't fully let go of yet). OUAT killed off one of its main characters and it affected me in ways I didn't see coming. So I needed to let it go and move on. I moved on to a TV show based on a comic book that I had no knowledge of (and honestly I still don't) and immediately fell in love with the story and the cast of characters.

I love me a good family angst story - and Arrow is full of it. From Oliver Queen's promise to his father that he would right his wrongs, to his reunion with his mother and sister... and of course the Laurel angle. I LOVE Oliver's relationship with his sister Thea. LOVE.IT. Can't get enough of him being a big brother.

And then that first season they had Tommy Merlyn. Oliver's best friend, a new love interest for Laurel. Someone trying to get out from under everyone's shadow. He's completely in the dark about who The Vigilante is - until it's revealed in order to help save Tommy's father. And the bff angst begins. I loved Tommy from the pilot episode all the way through - and still do. But they killed him off in the first season's finale. I had just dealt with the loss of a favorite character on another show, and I lost another one! I have a tendency to pick "the wrong guy"...

Now it's rumored that with all of the time Colin's spent on set that he can't just be doing a flashback scene or two. That somehow they've brought Tommy back - I HOPE SO! - but even if the rumors are wrong, I will still love each and every episode they bring Tommy back in flashbacks. Because he's awesome.

This whole show is awesome. As I said before - I love John Diggle and Felicity Smoak. My two favorite characters in the series. They are funny, intelligent, and keep Oliver from losing himself.

I can't wait to see what the rest of this season holds - and I can't wait for season 4!



My other current fandom is The Blacklist. Though I don't wear the Fedora and go around worshiping everything about James Spader, I do LOVE this show. Lizzie is complex and a pretty bad-@$$ heroine. She's a strong and intelligent woman who doesn't seem to compromise her integrity though she is playing in a very grey area (and her moral center is skewed this season - I mean did you see what she did with Tom?!) but there's still something right and just about her.

Meanwhile Spader plays the most entertaining character on Television right now with his role of Ray Redington. The man is an enigma. You can't quite figure out what his intentions are. Is he Lizzie's father? What is his connection to her if he isn't - AND WHY ARE HE AND TOM KEEN WORKING TOGETHER?!

Tom Keen, though, is why I watch this show. I loved him as her slightly nerdy, innocent, hubby in the first season and I was DEVASTATED when they began having problems in their marriage due to her job. Then we find out the heartbreaking truth that he was employed to watch her and possibly kill her. I called the season finale where it he was shot and everyone presumed him dead. My family was so sure of it that they mocked me and said "well, there goes another one of Toni's favorites. You're bad luck!" but I was convinced that because we didn't see a body that he was not gone for good.

I also had the idea that Tom was somehow a double agent and not only working for Berlin - aka the man after Redington - but was also somehow working for Red. And now I'm not sure Tom was working for Berlin at all. I'm completely perplexed by the character - even though I can typically guess what is going to happen with him, I still feel as if I know absolutely nothing about him.

Except I do believe he truly cares for Lizzie. Even when he says the hurtful and evil things he does about her only being a mark - there's something in the way he hitches when he says it. Something about the way he doesn't just agree with Red when he's told to leave her alone and stay away from her. Something about how every time they've physically fought and he's won he can't do away with her even though that is what he's been told to do.

I know the show is pushing Lizzie to be with Ressler, and that's probably how it will end up being, but I really have hope for the Keens. If nothing else I just want Tom Keen to be figured out and that he gets to stay alive... so that I can safely say I don't jinx all of my favorites.



So those are my two fandoms that I am very active in...