The Blacklist Season 5 Episode 17 Review: Anna-Gracia Duerte
Lisa Babick
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Samar should be everyone's hero. Not only is she a badass, but she's a badass guardian angel.
She understood Anna-Gracia's plight on The Blacklist Season 5 Episode 17 and wasn't about to let the girl suffer anymore.
Even if she didn't have a personal experience with child marriage, Samar would've have fought for her anyway after hearing the girl's horrific story because that's the kind of woman Samar is.
Would any of the other members of the Task Force have stood up for Anna-Gracia the way Samar did?
When Samar brought up the idea of dropping the case, Harold made an interesting observation. Even if they found the whole idea of child brides sickening, murder was being committed. There was no room to question the moral issue of what was happening to these girls.
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Tara's husband, Dale, tried to justify his marriage to Ressler by telling him she was the one who wanted to get married, that her parents approved it, and that they were happy.
Harold: Keen, talk to Reddington to see if he knows anything about this. Ressler, Navabi, talk to the girls. Press them for details on this "guardian angel."
Samar: We could. Or we could forget we ever heard about it. Is it so wrong what she's doing? These are adult men marrying children.
Harold: It's murder. That's all our job description allows us to consider.
It was as disturbing to hear as it was to watch him get in bed with Tara. The first thing that came to my mind was that he was molesting his daughter.
It wasn't until Rava said she was Jerry's wife that it all started to click. It would have been easy for The Blacklist to give us a cliched story about child abuse, but they took a different route. Child marriage is still child abuse -- it's just a legal way of doing it.
There are some shocking statistics regarding child marriage. It doesn't seem like it should be an issue in the U.S., but according to Girls Not Brides, more than 248,000 children were married between 2000 and 2010 and many of these were young girls married to much older men.
Even an October 2017 BBC report asks why we have so many child brides in this country. Watch the video. Browse the website. It'll turn your stomach.
Samar couldn't do anything to help her 15-year-old cousin from being forced into marriage and the fact she never saw her cousin again made it more devastating.
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It wasn't surprising that this case would stir up those feelings because how could you ever forget something like that? Even if she didn't have personal experience, hearing Anna-Gracia's story was enough to make anyone see red.
Being forced to marry a man who raped you to save the family from embarrassment is infuriating. Someone needs to find Anna-Gracia's parents and teach them a lesson.
I can't even begin to understand the horror that poor girl went through. She tolerated it as much as she could and finally had enough.
Some people might say she could have gone to the authorities, but it would have done her no good because she married her rapist and that allowed him be free and clear. And if her parents approved the marriage, there was nothing she could do.
The only power she had to free herself was by murdering him. And while the act was liberating for her, she also was aware that what she did was wrong in the eyes of the law but that didn't stop her from helping other girls like Rava and Tara.
Think about how much they had to have hated their situation to have someone commit murder for them. Powerless children who finally had someone who could free them from their bonds.
Think about Tara's face when her sicko husband climbed into bed with her. Did that look like the face of a happy bride to you?
Had it not been for Samar, things could have turned out differently for the girl. Being tried as a juvenile was huge. If she would have been tried as an adult, she would have spent her life in prison or possibly even faced the death penalty.
It's annoying that the Attorney General just stood there like a dolt as Samar sold him on the idea of being a hero by charging Anna-Gracia as a juvenile.
Where was the outrage?
Liz didn't hide her rage when she figured out that Red was behind Tony's kidnapping, but it didn't last long. I don't think she's ever going to be able to stay angry at Red.
Red: I hope you have indigestion.
Liz: No. But if it makes you feel better, I'm in a bad mood.
He came up with a reasonable excuse for making a deal with Garvey and it satiated her. He has every intention of killing Garvey, he just wants the bones.
Has she even asked what's in the duffel bag? I can't remember because that would be the first thing I'd be asking. But she trusts Red so much right now that she's not going to dig too deep.
Besides, she knows that Red isn't going to give her a straight answer.
I loved the three of them digging through the trash for the ledger. Who would ever have thought Red would be one to go dumpster diving? But now he has something that's going to push Garvey right over the edge.
It's time for Garvey to go and whatever Red has planned for him better be worth it. The best thing would be for him to let Liz do the deed but she might not get the opportunity. I wish he would have said she could kill him instead of him saying he's going to do it himself.
If Red is the one to kill Garvey, it's not going to be pretty, but it's not going to be satisfying. I just can't imagine Liz will be happy with a dead Garvey unless she's the one who did it.
Over to you guys!
What did you think of "Anna-Gracia Duerte"? Did the Attorney General make the right decision regarding Anna-Gracia? What do you think will happen to Tara?
How much did you love Red taking on the white supremacists? What's Garvey's next move?
Should Aram have proposed to Samar?
Hit the comments and share your thoughts! If you need to catch up, you can watch The Blacklist online right here via TV Fanatic!.
