đ´ Analysis of Memory Recall Session
Produced by Nan (WSJ Blacklist blog)
March 29, 2015
Nan, who contributes generously to the WSJ Speakeasy blog, has (with the help of her talented sons) produced a high tech transcript of the argument Liz/Masha hears on the night of the fire during her dream recall session in 2:10 Luther Braxton, Part 2. This is a much more complete version than the other two versions I posted earlier http://wp.me/pDKwi-CD. It is very helpful in interpreting what happened on that fateful night. The link for this discussion is: http://on.wsj.com/1ydAfLs
Below, I included the comments in their original form as they appear on the WSJ blog, though I did omit some paragraphs unrelated to this topic. (To navigate the WSJ blog, I go to the episode and do a page search for the name of the commenter or search on the date stamp.)
Nan also helpfully provided two versions of the transcript, one including only the voices from the past and the second including also voices from the present â in particular the voices of Red and Dr Orchard who is managing the session.
This scene is one of the best in the series so far, with both James Spader’s and Megan Boone’s performances being Emmy-quality in my view. The scene is also a key moment in the unfolding to the overall mythology of the series and understanding its main question and the raison d’etre of the series: What is Liz and Red’s true relationship?
Note: My editorial comments are indicated by square brackets [ ] or “â”
3:20 am March 26, 2015
From Auriandra [aka @BlacklistDCd]:
@Nan I am extremely grateful for your willingness to let me repost your transcription of the argument scene on my my blog. I will do what I can to let my followers know how valuable it is and how to find you at WSJ Speakeasy. And I’ll post the link to the entry here when I have it.
2:43 pm March 25, 2015
From Auriandra:
@Nan Your new transcription â with the technology you used to produce it â is amazing and convincing. Would you mind if I reposted in on my blog ( http://bit.ly/1CmPlW0 )? I now find your conclusion about the mother’s and father’s voices very convincing.
Just one question: Why do you think Red’s shooting of the mother was “accidental”? [ See response at end* â Auriandra ]
Thank you. And thank you @everyone for reminding me that Liz did not herself kill the harbormaster.
1:33 pm March 24, 2015
From Nan:
@Auriandra âŚMy one son translated the Lizzie dream recall sequence using professional audio equipment from the track posted on this blog.
Another son who works for IBM used the voice recognition software which banks are installling to identify customers who call for information, to compare the male voice on the track with actor’s voices. Apparently, voice imprints are as unique and reliable as fingerprints for identity purposes. Voice imprints may be slightly altered by a cold or other ailment affecting the vocal chords, producing only partial points of reference like a partial fingerprint.
The track begins with the “father” putting Masha/Lizzie into the closet, telling her to “stay here sweetheart”, then the mother and father argue over whether her name is “Masha” as her mother calls her, or “Elizabeth” as her father insists. Her mother continues to insist her name is “Masha”. Only a mother would continue to insist her daughter’s name was the one given at birth after the father informed her, “Her name is Elizabeth.”
The father’s voice matches the voice of the person who put Masha/Lizzie in the closet and the voice of the male person throughout the conversation. Once you take away all the background conversations between Masha/Lizzie and adult Liz, and between Liz and the doctor/Braxton/Red, this is the complete transcribed conversation that is heard. The parts that are garbled are reported as garbled. If you put on a pair of good headphones and listen to the track while following the transcription, you will see that it matches.
TRANSCRIPT 1 â with only voices from the past (omitting Red, Doctor, etc):
Father: Okay, stay here sweetheart. No matter what happens, you need to stay here and not come out until I come get you. Understand?
Mother (to Father): Where is she?
Father (to Mother): You shouldnât be here. You canât… (garbled)
Mother (to Father): Iâm not leaving without Masha.
Father (to Mother): Her name is Elizabeth.
Mother (calling): Masha!
Father (to Mother): Sheâs not going back with you.
Mother (to Father): You canât take her… (garbled)
Mother (to Father): (garbled) …feel is for him.
Father (to Mother): You wouldnât let me see her.
Mother (calling): Masha!
Father (to Mother): Get out. Now!
Mother (to Father): Get your hands off me.
Mother (to Father): Did you think you could get away with it?
Mother (to Father): I wouldnât find you?
Mother (to Father): I wouldnât find you?
Lizzie (yells what her Mother says to her Father): Where is she?
Father (to Mother): Okay. Youâre not here for her.
Mother (to Father): Listen, youâre in trouble.
Father (to Mother): Because of you.
Mother (to Father): Yes.
Father (to Mother): You told them.
Mother (to Father): Yes, I did. I told them.
Father: Lizzie, Lizzie
Mother: Lizzie, wait!
Father (to Masha in drawn-out voice): “Stay here. Donât go anywhere.”
Mother (to Father): “It was my job.”
Father (to Mother): “It was your job? To spy on me?”
Mother (to Father): “Yes, yes. No, I didnât want to. I-I tried to protect you.”
Father (to Mother): “Is that what you call it?”
Mother (to Father): “Did they threaten Masha?”
Father (to Mother): “Thatâs what I just…” (garbled)
Mother (to Father): “…because I love you.”
Mother (to Father): “Theyâll kill you if you donât give it back.”
Father (to Mother): “Theyâll kill me if I do!”
Father (to Mother): “Sheâs not here.”
Mother (to Father): “Did you really think Iâd let this happen? That I wouldnât come for her?”
Father (to Mother): “Hey!”
Mother (to Father): “That I wouldnât find you?”
Father (to Mother): “Get away from there! Itâs not here.”
Father (to Mother): (garbled) “…is the only thing keeping me alive. Who the hell are they?”
Mother (giving orders to unknown people): “Split up. Start with the basement; the attic…”
Mother (giving orders to unknown people): “Take it apart comb every…” (garbled).
Father (to Mother or someone else in the room): “Itâs not here!” (garbled)
Liz (hyperventilating mimics someoneâs voice – [father to Red?]): “Let me go! Get away from me!”
Father (to Mother or someone else in the room): (garbled) “…not here.”
Father (to Mother or someone else in the room): “Youâre not taking her!”
Mother (to Father or someone else in the room): “Are you crazy?”
Mother (to Father or someone else in the room): “Stop!”
Father (disgustedly to Mother or someone else in the room): “…double…” (garbled, sounded like agent!)
Mother (most likely to Masha): “Get away! Right now!”
(As Masha screams) Mother: “Raym…let go ah!” (Gasps as sound of gunshot is heard)
…
â Masha (little girl) sees man sprawled on floor with fire raging around him. She screams “Daddy! NO!!!” as she is being led out of the house by a different man. [ Added by Auriandra ]
During the last four lines, Red tells Liz,”Lizzie, turn around. Go back. You donât want to go in there.” Then more insistently and desperately, “Lizzie, turn around and go back! Go back! Go back!” Red would not know what happened in the room that night unless he was there. He knew exactly when to tell Liz to “Go Back!”
[ Nan: ]
Exclamation marks are used where voices are raised or yelling. I believe Red entered when the agents came to search the house. As the Mother gives orders, most likely the Father is telling the person who entered the room, “Let me go! Get away from me!” and “Youâre not taking her!” (must refer to Masha who has come in).
Assumption: it’s the Mother who, while trying to free Masha telling her to “Get away! Right now!”, then gasps after being accidentally shot by “Raym…let go-ah!” As Red didn’t want adult Liz to relive that tragedy, he told her repeatedly “Go back!”. I believe Liz now remembers seeing Red shoots her Mother. She may not know the woman is her Mother if she hadn’t seen her Mother in a long time after being taken by her Father. However, the woman’s insistence at calling the girl by her given name, “Masha”, indicates she was Masha’s mother.
Assumption: Sam had been in Lizzie’s life since she was born. In describing Lizzie, Red tells Sam, “She’s got a fire inside she got from you.” and “You will always be her father, Sam.” In The Kingmaker episode Red tells Lizzie, “I’ve been friends with Sam for all of yours and most of my life.” In the conclusion of Berlin, Liz tells Red, “The only memory I have of my father…is from the night of the fire. I remember him pulling me out of the flames…saving me” to which Red replies, “Yes.”
Questions:
If we agree Red doesn’t lie to Liz, then she was rescued by her father, not Red – unless Red is her father. [ Note: I disagree based on additional line of dialogue; see “â” below â Auriandra ]
When Liz tells the little girl in the pilot episode “her father” gave her the scar on her wrist, is Liz referring to her biological father, her step-father, or her foster father? Are these three different and unrelated people? Or are two of these people the same person?
8:05 pm March 15, 2015
Nan wrote:
@Jim – to follow up from my previous comments, here is the transcript of everything that was said during Liz’s recall of the night of the fire. I’ve included the speaker of each comment and to whom the comment was made. At the end of the transcript, there is a possibility that a third party entered the room to join Masha’s father and mother, who had been arguing. [ Three men are seen exiting the house in the fire scene. â Auriandra ]
Otherwise, either Masha’s father shot her mother or vice versa. If that’s the case, it seems more like Masha’s father shot her mother. The mother does address her final comment to “Ray…let go” but most of the comment is garbled. So either Ray is Masha’s father or he entered the room at the end. Definitely sounds like Masha’s mother was shot. Stay tuned for my next post about possible theories.
P.S. I indented all the exchanges between Lizzie and Masha to keep them separate, and also separated the different exchanges between the doctor/Braxton/Red and Lizzie and the Mother/Father/Masha. I also refer to Masha as the little girl and Lizzie as the adult Masha. Masha was her real name. Her real father changed her name to Elizabeth and took her into hiding with him (Masha being a Russian name.) [ Note: Masha is a diminutive for Mary. ]
TRANSCRIPT 2 â with voices from the past and present (including Red, Doctor, etc):
Doctor (to Lizzie): Three, two, one. What do you see?
Lizzie (to doctor): A little girl â hiding.
Father: Okay, stay here sweetheart. No matter what happens, you need to stay here and not come out until I come get you. Understand?
Doctor (to Lizzie): Are you with her?
Lizzie (to doctor): Yes.
Mother (to Father): Where is she?
Father (to Mother): You shouldnât be here. You canât… (garbled).
Lizzie (to Masha): Hey, whatâs your bunnyâs name?
Mother (to Father): Iâm not leaving without Masha.
Father (to Mother): Her name is Elizabeth.
Mother (calling): Masha!
Father (to Mother): Sheâs not going back with you.
Mother (to Father): You canât take her… (garbled).
Lizzie (to Masha): I know youâre scared but itâs okay. Lizzie, can you hear me?
Mother (to Father): (garbled) …feel is for him.
Father (to Mother): You wouldnât let me see her.
Mother (calling): Masha!
Father (to Mother): Get out. Now!
Mother (to Father): Get your hands off me.
(Lizzie starts to hyperventilate.)
Mother (to Father): Did you think you could get away with it?…
Doctor (to Lizzie): Whatâs happening Elizabeth? Tell me.
Lizzie (to doctor): Theyâre shouting.
Mother (to Father): …I wouldnât find you?
Doctor (to Lizzie): Who?
Braxton (to doctor): Whatâre they saying?
Lizzie (yells out what her Mother says to her Father): Where is she?
Father (to Mother): Okay. Youâre not here for her.
Mother (to Father): Listen, youâre in trouble.
Father (to Mother): Because of you.
Mother (to Father): Yes.
Lizzie (to Masha): Donât be afraid.
Father (to Mother): You told them.
Mother (to Father): Yes, I did. I told them.
Masha (to Lizzie): Comeâon!
Lizzie (to Masha): Wait!
Masha (to Lizzie): Comeâon!
Lizzie (to Masha): Lizzie!
Masha: Comeâon! (leads Lizzie to Christmas tree lot searching for bunny. Jingle Bells playing.)
Masha (to Lizzie): Comeâon!
Lizzie (laughing to Masha): Whereâd he go?
Masha (to Lizzie): Whereâd he go?
Lizzie (to Masha): I donât know. (laughing)
Braxton (to doctor): Whatâs that?
Doctor (to Braxton): She might be having a tangent memory. Her brain is trying to replace a bad memory with a good one. (Lizzie continues laughing).
Masha (to Lizzie): Over there, there.
Father: Lizzie, Lizzie
Mother: Lizzie, wait! (Jingle Bells music fades out.)
Doctor (to Lizzie): What is it? What do you see?
Lizzie (mimics what Father says to Masha in drawn-out voice): Stay here. Donât go anywhere.
Mother (to Father): It was my job.
Father (to Mother): It was your job? To spy on me?
Mother (to Father): Yes, yes. No, I didnât want to. I-I tried to protect you.
Father (to Mother): Is that what you call it?
Lizzie: What are they fighting about?
Masha: A deal… (garbled)
Masha: Itâs a secret.
Lizzie: Whoâs Masha?
Masha: You are.
Mother (to Father): Did they threaten Masha?
Father (to Mother): Thatâs what I just… (garbled)
Masha (to Lizzie): Donât go out there. You canât go out there. (They leave the closet.)
Mother: Because I love you.
(Lizzie and Masha leave closet.)
Masha (to Lizzie): Turn around Lizzie. Go back. No. No. Donât. Youâre not supposed to come out.
(Sound of russling, approaching footsteps, Masha screaming.)
(Lizzie hyperventilates and gasps for air.)
Doctor (to Braxton): Okay. Weâre done. Her blood pressureâs through the roof. Sheâs in vtach. She needs Lidocaine. (Lizzie continues to gasp for air.)
Braxton (to doctor): What do you think youâre doing? (Lizzie continues to gasp for air.)
Doctor (to Braxton): We wonât find what youâre looking for if sheâs dead.
Lizzie (gasping to doctor): My father. My father was there.
– Break –
Doctor (to Lizzie): Nod if you can hear. Good. Now follow my voice and tell me where you are.
Lizzie (to doctor): The closet.
Doctor (to Lizzie): Whatâs happening?
Mother (to Father): Theyâll kill you if you donât give it back.
Father (to Mother): Theyâll kill me if I do.
Lizzie (to doctor): Theyâre arguing.
Doctor (to Lizzie): What are they arguing about?
Father (to Mother): Sheâs not here.
Mother (to Father): Did you really think Iâd let this happen? That I wouldnât come for her? (Voices are clearer.)
Father (to Mother): Hey!
Mother (to Father): That I wouldnât find you?
Father (to Mother): Get away from there. Itâs not here.
Lizzie (to doctor): The Fulcrum. (Sound of footsteps.)
Father (to Mother): (garbled) …is the only thing keeping me alive. Mother (giving orders to unknown people): Split up. Start with the basement; the attic.
Red arrives. (to Lizzie): Can you see it? Can you hear me, Lizzie.
Father: Who the hell are they?
{ Mother: Government agents … }
Mother (giving orders to unknown people): Take it apart comb every… (garbled).
Father (to Mother): Itâs not here. (garbled)
Red (to Lizzie): I need you to tell me where it is. Where is the Fulcrum, Lizzie?
Lizzie (hyperventilating she mimicks someoneâs voice – Father/Mother/Masha?): Let me go! Get away from me!
Red (to Lizzie): Sh! You donât want to see this. What you want to see, what you need to find is the Fulcrum.
(Sound of lots of footsteps)
Father (to Mother): …not here.
Red (to Lizzie): Where is it Lizzie? Can you see it?
Father (to Mother/third person in room): Youâre not taking her.
Mother (to Father/third person in room): Are you crazy?
Red (to Lizzie): Lizzie, turn around. Go back.
Mother (to Father/third person in room): Stop.
Red (to Lizzie): You donât want to go in there.
Father (to Mother/third person in room): …Double… (garbled, sounded like agent!)
Mother (to Father/third person in room/Masha): Get away. Right now.
Red (desperately to Lizzie): Lizzie, turn around and go back. Go back. Go back.
(As Masha screams) Mother: Ray me…a let go a! (Sound of gunshot!)
(Lizzie gasps for breath. Gradually, breathing becomes more normal.)
Red (to doctor): What happened? Whatâd she see?
(Sound of raging fire.)
Lizzie (to Masha): Listen to me. You have to say something. Thereâs a fire. I know you saw something out there, and you donât want to go out there, but you canât stay here. You have to scream, do you hear me? As loud as you can, you have to scream. You have to…
(Lizzie and Masha scream! Sounds of raging fire with lullaby continuing to play in background.)
(Lizzie comes out of trance.)
â Masha (little girl) sees man sprawled on floor with fire raging around him. She screams “Daddy! NO!!!” as she is being led out of the house by a different man. [ Added by Auriandra ]
Lyrics of the Russian lullaby playing at the beginning and end of Lizzie’s memory: [only the music, not lyrics, are heard, but the lyrics sure are creepy â Auriandra ]
Close your eyes now.
Someone’s walking outside the house
And knocks on the door
The nightbirds are chirping.
He is inside the house
To visit those who can’t sleep.
He walks, He is coming … closer.
Can you hear him closing in?
Lurking around the corner
Staring right at you.
The silent night hides everything.
He sneaks up behind you
And he is going to get you.
He walks. He is coming … closer.
*Nan’s response to why she thinks Red shot Lizzie’s mother accidentally (if it was Red who shot her:
12:16 am March 26, 2015
Nan wrote:
@Auriandra – sorry I posted this reply earlier but it didn’t appear. It seems the monitors thought my answer too long or involved, so here goes again. Yes, please do use the transcript above. It’s much clearer and more complete than the two appearing on your website.
@Auriandra – Why do I think Red shot the Mother accidentally? Red and the Mother were both on the same side. Red wasn’t there to rescue the Father. When Red enters the room, the comments infers he is holding Masha/Lizzie as a hostage and threatening to take her unless the Father reveals the location of the fulcrum. While the Mother is directing the agents who are searching the house for it, the Father is protesting to Red it’s not there. Liz (as either Father or Masha) yells loudly to Red “Let me go. Get away from me.” The Father protests, “Youâre not taking her!” (being Masha/Lizzie). The Mother asks, “Are you crazy?” demanding “Stop!” and most likely orders Masha, “Get away! Right now!”, while the Father mutters “…double…” (could be double agent or cross). As Masha screams, the Mother shouts “Raym…let go ah!” (gasping as a shot is heard). If the Mother and Red were on the same side, I don’t think Red intended to kill the Mother. Red had only intended to scare the Father into revealing the whereabouts of the fulcrum. When the Mother intervened to free her daughter, she was shot. However if Red was on the Father’s side, he may have intended to kill the Mother.
How do you get motivation for your site…?