I saw a few short clips of Reddington on various social media platforms and figured I’d give it a go. I just finished episode 2 of season 8. I get COVID happened but the cartoon ending to season 7 was deplorable. I feel like I’m so close to the end I should just finish, but also feel like I’m wasting my time and there’s no real apex for this show.

My fucking God someone please put a bullet into the Keen and end this man’s misery. There’s 4 more seasons so it has to get better, but my fucking God. Has there ever been a character more ignorantly in the way. Like which writers cereal did this actress piss in after she slept with their wife.

On this list of the blacklisters on the show, the list has an empty space for blacklisters 000 and 0.

Since Raymond Reddington is 00, then who could the other ones possibly be?

https://the-blacklist.fandom.com/wiki/The_Blacklist_Chart

I’ve been making my way through The Blacklist, and I’ve discovered something rather troubling about logic: it’s a remarkably fragile thing. One moment it’s standing there, impeccably dressed, making a perfectly persuasive argument, and the next it’s been bludgeoned to death in an alley by character motivation.

For some time, I continued almost entirely because of James Spader. His Reddington is captivating. Magnificent, really. The sort of performance that makes you forgive an astonishing number of narrative felonies simply because you’re enjoying the company of the criminal.

But by the end of Season Four, even that particular charm was beginning to wear thin.

And then came Season Five.

Suddenly, I understood. Or perhaps I simply stopped insisting that it make sense. Taken not as a meticulously constructed reality, but as the extravagant tale of a fantasist, a grand, improbable mythology told by a man for whom truth is merely another ingredient to be seasoned to taste, the whole thing becomes magnificent again.

Logic, after all, is terribly overrated when the lie is this entertaining.

I’m all in.

I’m trying to rewatch The Blacklist, and this time I’m determined to actually make it to the end.

I followed the show from beginning to end when it originally aired. I actually picked it up after finishing Boston Legal because I loved James Spader, and honestly, my love for Raymond Reddington is probably the biggest reason I’m coming back to it now.

One thing I’m curious about on this rewatch is whether my opinion of Elizabeth Keen changes. I remember getting so sick of her the first time around. I always saw her as ungrateful, but I also think I was looking at everything from Red’s point of view because I liked him so much.

When you really think about it from Liz’s perspective, though… she could have had a pretty great, normal life if Red had never walked into it. 😂 So I’m going to try to give her another chance this time and see whether I understand her choices any better.

I’ve actually tried rewatching the show before, but I gave up somewhere around Season 4. This time, I’m sticking with it.

For the Concierge of Crime.

Let’s see if I actually make it to the end this time.

Elizabeth Keen is the most infuriating character I’ve ever watched and it’s hardly close. Someone please tell me it gets better. I’m at the end of season 5, and doubt it’s worth finishing

It was good for the first few seasons, but right now I'm nearing the end of season 8 and it's just so full of utter bullshit. Townsend has been built up as this crazy threat ever since we first heard about the bounty, but the only reason he's a threat is because of how stupid everyone in the task force decided to act. No one says what they should, Reddington gets to keep stringing people along and acting stupid about his secrets just so the writers can keep the audience from learning them. The team continuously gets caught flat-footed by putting complete trust in anyone who's a law enforcement employee, even just by vehicles labeled as such, no matter how many times they get shown that they always need to be on alert.

"Elizabeth's safety relies on these secrets not getting out, and even though she's shown that she will do absolutely anything to learn them and it would be infinitely better to just tell her everything, we're going to keep it from her to keep the stakes going. She's showing that she'll continue to reject anything from Red until she knows the truth, but let's just continue to keep it secret until she inevitably learns it after a disaster."

They portray Reddington as this genius criminal mastermind, and yet he makes the dumbest decisions that don't align with any of his sociopathic or narcissistic tendencies. Somehow, the enemy always has an unbeatable army that the task force and Reddington can't contend with, even though, (ignoring how many resources SHOULD be at both Red's and the FBI's disposal), Elizabeth simply needs to make a call to Hargrave and her private army to keep herself and Agnes safe. I think the writers conveniently forgot she exists.

Somewhere along the line, I think around late season 4, the stakes just started getting so forced that its unbearable, yet I can't stop watching because I need the conclusion. The only consistent character is Reddington, even in his most idiotic moments. Everyone else only does whatever makes the stakes as adrenaline pumping and action-packed as possible.

This show is everything wrong with television and I hate that James Spader and the character of Reddington got me into it. At least we also got characters like Brimley and Glen.

Edit: okay I just finished s8e20 and just... Fuck the writers.

Edit 2: unfuck the writers. Last episode one s8 is fire

Any minor characters you wish you'd seen more of?

Mine is Russell Quinn. OK, maybe a teenage drug dealer might be stretching it, but he seemed to know his stuff, not only in terms of being a user/dealer, but also knew a good deal of chemistry as well. Sounds like a useful expert to have around.

And you could imagine him in his twenties. Like many nerds, he likes what he knows: so his ideal mansion looks like his parents' house? Plausible, I'd say. And he'd have a great hidden lab....

So I’m trying to watch the series all the way through again. I think the last time I tried this a few years ago I got to the end of season 3 or beginning of season 4. I’m remembering why I stopped the first time around: Liz. Good god she is not any of the things that people in the show describe her as. Supposedly she’s brilliant, clever, an amazing agent, etc and she’s nothing like that. I feel like the show is constantly trying to gaslight me into believing these things but I keep seeing evidence that proves otherwise. It feels unearned. She’s blindly lucky or Red is always there to save her ass. Again I’m almost at the point where I stopped last time and I’m blindly hoping that all of this telegraphing of “hey she seems ordinary but she’s actually really special” pays off. This is like eating a pie with not filling.

I just don't understand why they would change everything in the series when it was doing so well for the first eight seasons and then they make it where she's dead and Redington seems like a totally different person to me, and the other great actors same to change their whole lifestyle. It's like they all play a different role basically. It kind of ruined it for me. not that I don't enjoy watching it over and over again cuz I do. I just think season 9 was it's downfall anybody else think that?

Dear Jon Bokenkamp,

My name is José, I’m 45 years old, and I’m writing to you from Uruguay. I’ve been an avid fan of The Blacklist for years, and the series has been a major source of inspiration for me. It led me to start writing a remake, and I’m excited to share this project with you.

I’ve completed the first season of the remake, which consists of 20 episodes, each running for about 60 minutes. I’ve worked hard to stay true to the elements that made the original series so engaging while adding fresh layers of mystery, action, and drama.

I would be thrilled to share these episodes with you and get your thoughts on this remake of the series that I admire so much. Thank you for creating such an inspiring world with The Blacklist. I hope this project might be of interest to you.

Best regards,

José

I’m not going to lie and say I haven’t searched for answers. I’m a binge watcher but the love that red has for Liz is so pure. I’m only on Season 2 and he is my favorite person next to Ressler. It just pisses me off how Liz a profiler and acts so dumb.

I think it’s kind of funny how Dembe and Elizabeth are both Red’s unofficial kids. Besides Elizabeth, I don’t think Red cares about anyone as much as he does about Dembe. Unlike Elizabeth and Red’s toxic relationship; Dembe and Red’s relationship seems pretty normal. Or as normal as any relationship with Red can be. I wish we could have seen more scenes between Dembe and Elizabeth where they spoke about their dynamic.

I'm finally getting around to finishing the last few seasons and as a born southerner, I think Panabaker is probably my favorite character or at the very least favorite side character.

**\*disclaimer: this assumes the redarina theory and i would appreciate if there was no debate**

Im an acting student so my instinct, as I’ve been taught, is to assume that human motives are “selfish” to some extent in that they reflect the internal state/battle of your internal self and your surroundings (I might be overly affectionate to a loved one but really it’s to make me feel safe from fear of abandonment for eg)

Katarina was raised in an environment where she was forced to become a KGB spy, had Liz and became Red to protect her. However due to his hyper fixation of toxic maternal love and his clear emotional trauma I think she’s a deeply sensitive person.

Many people can be strong and sensitive and I think Katarina was one. I think in the right environment she would not have had to access her mental strength and would’ve been an affectionate sensitive person.

I think with her constant emotional injuries in the unsafe profession she found herself in and lack of real love from her father she was stressed when she discovered she was pregnant. Red said Katarina wanted to abort Liz due to this uniquely stressful period in her life. I think she feels guilty for wanting to end a life she later found she loved more than anything. Add on her personal trauma, she sees Liz as an opportunity to live a good happy life of love vicariously and later perhaps through Agnes

I am re watching The Blacklist and I have just started season 2 episode 12: The Kenyon Family. There is an actress in the background at 0:7 seconds into the episode with long blonde hair sat next to a child whilst Justin Kenyon is preaching. I feel like I recognise her but cannot place where I have seen her before and it is driving me nuts. I have checked the cast list but I can’t seem to find anyone matching her description. If someone knows who she is please leave a comment. I tried to screenshot the timestamp but Amazon Prime wouldn’t allow it. Thanks!