I thought everyone knew who the bones were. The skeleton is Katarina Rostova, Liz's mother. That's why Red doesn't Liz to know about them. I think she went to find Liz, against Red's orders and he killed her to keep Liz safe. That's why Kate knew everything, she was there the entire time.

@candie1230 said:

I thought everyone knew who the bones were. The skeleton is Katarina Rostova, Liz's mother. That's why Red doesn't Liz to know about them. I think she went to find Liz, against Red's orders and he killed her to keep Liz safe. That's why Kate knew everything, she was there the entire time.

Right. And Red believes Liz may not forgive him if she found out he killed her mother, no matter what the reason. And he may be correct. Liz has a habit of swearing him off, declaring him a monster she wants nothing to do with. And strangely, despite the many, many times and ways Red has risked his own life to keep her safe, or just to be near her, she always cycles around to the position that he doesn't really care about her at all, that he is only around her or is only helping her in order to get something he wants.

Frankly I think they overplay that meme. Liz couldn't still feel that way, not after all Red has done which prove his affection for her. I get tired of her saying the same thing over and over.

@write2topcat said:

Right. And Red believes Liz may not forgive him if she found out he killed her mother, no matter what the reason. And he may be correct. Liz has a habit of swearing him off, declaring him a monster she wants nothing to do with. And strangely, despite the many, many times and ways Red has risked his own life to keep her safe, or just to be near her, she always cycles around to the position that he doesn't really care about her at all, that he is only around her or is only helping her in order to get something he wants.

Can anyone ever forgive the killer of their mother? Even if the killer spends the rest of his or her life trying to make up for it? If the mother was a really evil incorrigible person, perhaps?
But if she was killed because she went looking for her baby Liz, against the wishes of Red, well, then the same would apply to Elizabeth. She went looking for Agnes, and Red didn't want that either.

It seems like she (and Tom) were the exception(s) to his rule: "Obey or die".

I cannot imagine forgiving someone who killed my mother. For sure Liz would appropriately feel a flood of negative emotions toward Red. I don't have an issue with that. And Red knows this of course.

My point was that the formula with Liz is that, even when a situation is unclear, and when Red is innocent, she reflexively pivots to the posture of the betrayed victim, and she views Red as an opportunistic monster who is only using her; that formula doesn't fit anymore. Perhaps at first this was a prudent assumption, that he only pretended to care about her, before she had known him very long.

But after years of being with him, seeing how devoted he is to keeping her safe, seeing him spare no expense to act on her behalf, putting his life in danger of death to try to protect her, and witnessing his affection toward her, she continues to pivot to position that he cares nothing for her, that it is all an act, that he is only using her to get something he wants. Even after she learned he is her father, just a 2 or 3 episodes ago, she repeated that same refrain; 'you're not helping me because you care about me, or because you want to catch Tom's killers, you're only pretending to care so you can get back the item they took from Tom'.

I know there will be another episode of "That's it. We are done. You're a monster. I want nothing to do with you" etc. coming when she finds out what Tom found out, that Red killed Katarina. I expect that, and it makes sense.

But I would almost bet she will repeat some version of "you don't really care about me, you only care about...." thrown in there as well.

And THAT bugs me. It is part of the formula the writers have for Liz. It has become predictable, but not because the facts suggest it. I only expect it because they have written that stuff for Liz so consistently throughout the series.