The Blacklist Season 1 Finale: Meets Keyser Soze

A superb Season One final for The Blacklist tonight, which leaves us with -

• Meera is dead.
• Tom is very likely dead.  Why just likely?  Lizzie tells Red that Tom is dead, but she asked him to leave the room after she shot Tom, and she has some reason to want to keep Tom alive.   Also, though Tom was shot a bunch of times, it wasn't in the head.  Still, he's likely dead.  Just not definitely.
• Either Berlin or Red is Lizzie's father.   They both have a picture of someone who almost definitely is her, when she was a girl.  I guess it's more likely Berlin who's her father, but Red has shown he's more than willing to dissemble when he sees that as protecting Lizzie.   Red also assured Lizzie that her father is dead - died in the fire.  Which means either that Berlin isn't Lizzie's father, or Red is lying.  But if neither Berlin nor Red are Lizzie's father, then who? Someone we haven't met before?   That wouldn't be as good a solution as either Berlin or Red being Lizzie's father, and since both of those possibilities require Red lying to Lizzie, I still prefer thinking that Red his lying to her along about not being her father.  I mean, why else would he be so devoted to her?  The very last scene clearly shows Red with scars from being burned.   So either he's the devoted friend who brought her to Sam, or he's Lizzie's father, who was burned but didn't die in the fire.  We'll see in the seasons ahead.
• Berlin is a great Keyser Soze character, the best I've seen so far on television.   But Red is a Keyser Soze kind of character, too.   They both run constant circles around the best police and their efforts.   As I was watching the season finale tonight, I realized that The Blacklist has both been inspired by The Usual Suspects - one of my all-time favorite movies - and has taken some of its cues from that movie, not easy at all to do on television, especially network TV.  And come to think of it, James Spader and Kevin Spacey both have that quirky, irrepressible power on any screen they're on.

See you back here in the Fall, with Season 2.

See also The Blacklist Debuts: Alias Meets Jay Z ... The Blacklist 1.2: Mysteries ... The Blacklist 1.3: Construction Site Heights ... The Blacklist 1.6: Truth and Enigma ... The Blacklist 1.7: Natural Immunity ... The Blacklist 1.8: The Father and the Husband ... The Blacklist 1.9: Field Transfusion ... The Blacklist 1.10: Those Words ... The Blacklist 1.11: Red's Retribution ... The Blacklist 1.12: The DNA Meister ...  The Blacklist 1.13: Red Writ Large ... The Blacklist 1.15: The Husband's Other Shoe ... The Blacklist 1.16: True Colors ... The Blacklist 1.19: Leveling the Scales? ... The Blacklist 1.20: Unanswered Questions

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The Blacklist 1.20: Unanswered Questions

An interesting Blacklist 1.20 last night, which seemed to move the major story of Lizzie and Red along a bit, but actually did not, or only barely.

Indeed, the best part of the episode concerned the villain de jour - the Kingmaker, played by Linus Roache, who brought the same presence and power to the role that he does for King Ecbert on Vikings. The other significant part of the episode involved Red's interactions with the Fitch (Alan Alda) nefarious group. Anything that peels back a little more of Red's ultimate doings on The Blacklist is a good thing.

But not much was revealed or moved forward regarding Lizzie and Red in this episode.  Yes, she finds out that Red killed her adoptive father and calls Red a monster for this, even though Red explained himself pretty well.   But we still know zero about Red's relationship with Lizzie, and, most crucially, whether he's her father or other blood relative or whatever.

In other words, here, in the final episodes of this first season, we still know next to nothing about what has been motivating Red in his relationship with Lizzie.  It's a mostly protective relationship, in which he usually is looking out for her interests, but not always.  For example, although he warned her about Tom, why didn't he do more than just express misgivings and irritations?   He was so sure that Tom was "the good guy" he said he was - whatever that is - that Red was ok with his beloved Lizzie asleep with this guy every night?   Or was it because Red had and has some interest that supersedes his protection of Lizzie - perhaps saving his own skin?  No, that doesn't quite jibe with what we've seen, either.

The Blacklist moves towards concluding its first season as one of the major mysteries on television today.

See also The Blacklist Debuts: Alias Meets Jay Z ... The Blacklist 1.2: Mysteries ... The Blacklist 1.3: Construction Site Heights ... The Blacklist 1.6: Truth and Enigma ... The Blacklist 1.7: Natural Immunity ... The Blacklist 1.8: The Father and the Husband ... The Blacklist 1.9: Field Transfusion ... The Blacklist 1.10: Those Words ... The Blacklist 1.11: Red's Retribution ... The Blacklist 1.12: The DNA Meister ...  The Blacklist 1.13: Red Writ Large ... The Blacklist 1.15: The Husband's Other Shoe ... The Blacklist 1.16: True Colors ... The Blacklist 1.19: Leveling the Scales?

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The Blacklist 1.19: Leveling the Scales?

The Blacklist 1.19 was back with an excellent episode on Monday night - and a significant, maybe game-changing development in Lizzi's relationship with Red.

It all hinges on what Tom says to Lizzie at the end of her interrogation:  "I'm one of the good guys. Reddington is not who he seems to be, and I can prove it."

Let's unpack this.  Have we seen Tom do things that are not good?  Let's take lying to Lizzie off the table, since Tom is apparently saying that his years-along intimate deception was for her own good. But we've also seen Tom do things to other people that are not good - like killing Jolene.   Was that also for Lizzie's own good?  Possibly, but it seems more likely that Tom killed Jolen for Tom's own good - because he didn't want that loose cannon out there, compromising whatever he had going on with Lizzie.

Tom's "proof" that he's a good guy and Reddington is not is in a bank box, he says, for which he gives Lizzie a key.  The last scene and the coming attractions for next week show that Lizzie is indeed disturbed by what she sees.   This does not necessarily prove that Tom is a good guy, but it does strongly suggest that Red is indeed not who he says he is.   My guess is that both are true:  Red has indeed deceived Lizzie about something very important, but Tom's deception was not done in the interest of helping or protecting Lizzie.  The differential diagnosis is that Tom set up whatever was in the bank box as a failsafe to incriminate Red and disqualify him in Lizzie's mind as her protector.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the episodes ahead, and whether we'll get any final closure on the Tom story this season.

One other point about episode 1.19.  Lizzie understandably expresses how outraged she is about Tom wanting her to adopt a baby.  But think about how much more powerful this story line would have been had Tom made Lizzie pregnant.   I wonder if this occurred to the writers, but the limitations of network television obliged them to go in a tamer direction.

See also The Blacklist Debuts: Alias Meets Jay Z ... The Blacklist 1.2: Mysteries ... The Blacklist 1.3: Construction Site Heights ... The Blacklist 1.6: Truth and Enigma ... The Blacklist 1.7: Natural Immunity ... The Blacklist 1.8: The Father and the Husband ... The Blacklist 1.9: Field Transfusion ... The Blacklist 1.10: Those Words ... The Blacklist 1.11: Red's Retribution ... The Blacklist 1.12: The DNA Meister ...  The Blacklist 1.13: Red Writ Large ... The Blacklist 1.15: The Husband's Other Shoe ... The Blacklist 1.16: True Colors

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The Blacklist 1.16: True Colors

Well, it's been clear throughout The Blacklist that there was something wrong with Elizabeth's husband Tom.  Last week, we found that he was indeed a fake, an agent whose "target" was Elizabeth.  And this past Monday, in episode 1.16, we find out just what kind of agent:  brutal, effectively overpowering, outwitting,  and killing two people, Jolene and  Lance Reddick's formidable character - who, at a steep price, was doing's Red's bidding.

Reddick's character at least figured it out - too late to save his life, but in time to alert the audience - about the kind of agent Tom is.   And now Tom is Elizabeth's and Red's problem.

Actually, he's been Elizabeth's problem throughout this first season.   Far more interesting, as it is always, is what's going on with Red vis-a-vis Tom.   If Red had an inkling of how deadly Tom is, why would he have allowed Elizabeth to keep living with Tom?  And if Red was clueless about this, or had little more than the distrust of Tom he revealed from time to time, then why was that?   Surely, regarding anything that important about Elizabeth, Red would have been more proactive, as he's been in many other matters.

Meanwhile, while this intrigue was partially unfolding, we got a good story about the other villain in 1.16, played by Hoon Lee of Banshee renown.  In The Blacklist, unlike Banshee's Job, Hoon Lee plays Mako Tanida, who's just bad and ruthless, with no redeeming humor at all.   This is the difference between a hero - which Job is - and a villain.  Tanida indeed kills Ressler's love,  and this sets Ressler off in one his best story lines in the series.  Red takes care of Tanida, but I would have liked to have seen more about how he did this, rather than Ressler just getting Tanida's head in a box.

But the overall episode was excellent, and the unmasking of Tom promises some more excellent episodes ahead, and I'm looking forward.

See also The Blacklist Debuts: Alias Meets Jay Z ... The Blacklist 1.2: Mysteries ... The Blacklist 1.3: Construction Site Heights ... The Blacklist 1.6: Truth and Enigma ... The Blacklist 1.7: Natural Immunity ... The Blacklist 1.8: The Father and the Husband ... The Blacklist 1.9: Field Transfusion ... The Blacklist 1.10: Those Words ... The Blacklist 1.11: Red's Retribution ... The Blacklist 1.12: The DNA Meister ...  The Blacklist 1.13: Red Writ Large ... The Blacklist 1.15: The Husband's Other Shoe

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The Blacklist 1.15: The Husband's Other Shoe

Well, The Blacklist 1.15 finally let the other shoe drop on Elizabeth's patently no-good husband - or maybe it was one of his shoes that dropped - in a revelation which was so obvious from the outset as to be the biggest anti-climax of the television season.

The script and the direction of the series has shown us there was something wrong with Tom Keen from the beginning.   Good acting by Ryan Eggold - his subtle facial expressions - as well as what he said and did made this nearly apparent.   Red has been warning Elizabeth about Tom from the start.   Only Elizabeth didn't see this.

Why?  It's not as if she's been portrayed as so deeply in love with her husband as to be blind to his secret agent treachery.   And she's certainly not stupid.   But unless some other reason is revealed - Tom was secretly drugging her? - her acceptance of Tom for so long certainly weakens her character.

We'll see what happens with this couple next week - at this point, only the audience knows the truth, and likely Red, or most of it, anyway.

Which raises another, obvious question: who sent Tom to spy on Elizabeth, to the point of accomplishing this by marrying her?  I wouldn't put it past Red to be behind this, with his criticism of Tom to Elizabeth just proffered to make sure she wasn't too much in love with Tom, and certainly not adopting a baby to raise with him.

And this, in turn, focuses the spotlight once again on the biggest question is this series: is Red in fact Elizabeth's father?  He sure seems to be - his fatherhood of Elizabeth being more obvious than Tom's deceit - but then why is the series at the same time telling us that Red is something else?

If The Blacklist is nothing else - and the individual episodes including 1.15 are quite good in their own own right - the nature of Red's relationship with Elizabeth makes this series one of the most intriguing hide-in-plain-sight stories I've ever seen.

See also The Blacklist Debuts: Alias Meets Jay Z ... The Blacklist 1.2: Mysteries ... The Blacklist 1.3: Construction Site Heights ... The Blacklist 1.6: Truth and Enigma ... The Blacklist 1.7: Natural Immunity ... The Blacklist 1.8: The Father and the Husband ... The Blacklist 1.9: Field Transfusion ... The Blacklist 1.10: Those Words ... The Blacklist 1.11: Red's Retribution ... The Blacklist 1.12: The DNA Meister ...  The Blacklist 1.13: Red Writ Large

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The Following 2.4: Psycho Families and Trains

Family loomed large in The Following 2.4 tonight, in a whole bunch of intersecting ways.

Lily Gray, as we found out last week, is the mother of the twins, and she presides over a family that includes other psychos including Gillian - whose sheer love of killing makes her one of the most dangerous of the following we've encountered so far - and Emma, who deep down wants to be part of a family, including a mother's love, second only to her wanting Joe.

On the other side, we have Ryan and his niece Max, who, I've got to say and even though there's no need for comparisons, I'm beginning to like better than Lizzie in The Blacklist, because Max is more straightforward, not whiny and neurotic, and not marred to Lizzie's lamo husband.  But, in any case, Ryan and Max make a great team, and her getting on train with Gillian was a great way to end the episode, with sounds of the train track echoing into the black tunnel and screen and Ryan's fears.

Meanwhile, there's yet another family connection - this one a mix of good guys and killers.  I don't like the new FBI woman on this case at all - so far she's been an annoying, uncreative martinet - but the stunner that she and Jennifer share a family, including joint custody of kids, which Joe has just been embracing as he makes his way back to New York, was another reminder that we can take nothing for granted on this series.

This FBI-psycho connection, by the way, could cut both ways - to the detriment and death of Agent Martinez, or the same for Jennifer, or both.  And, if Martinez gets the better of this, she could even get a pathway straight to Joe via Jennifer.   Maybe Mandy, who's shaping up to be sagest killer of all, was right when she wondered if Joe would do well to kill Jennifer.

Back to the train, and speaking of NYC, I also thought that the entire Grand Central Terminal chase and scene was great television, with a train mix that Alfred Hitchcock would have enjoyed.  The Following this year has more cinematic power than ever, which, given its subject, makes it powerful indeed.

See also The Following Is Back for Its Second Season ... The Following 2.2: Rediscovering Oneself ... The Following 2.3: Coalescing

And see also The Following Begins ... The Following 1.2: Joe, Poe, and the Plan ... The Following 1.3: Bug in the Sun ... The Following 1.4: Off the Leash ... The Following 1.5:  The Lawyer and the Swap ... The Following 1.7: At Large ... The Following 1.9: All in a Name, Or, Metaphor in the Service of Murder ... The Following 1.13: At Last Something of a Day for the Good Guys ... The Following Season 1 Finale: Doing Dead

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The Blacklist 1.13: Red Writ Large

Whew, a crackerjack Blacklist 1.13 tonight, in which Red continues to do what he does best - getting to the root of his problems, identifying his enemies, and dealing with them, no matter how powerful, in the only way he reliably can: killing them.

Tonight that enemy would be US Assistant Attorney General Diane Fowler - played by Jane Alexander - identified by Red as the true rat who almost killed him and Lizzie. Fowler's rage when she learned there was a double agent in the FBI's ranks was a clever ploy to throw suspicion on someone else.  We learn early in tonight's episodes that it's not Malik, and in fact Red is able to use her to get the goods on Fowler. All of that build-up is good.  But when Red shoots Fowler dead, with no warning before that first shot, we get a taste of a character we haven't quite seen before on television.  Not even in previous episodes of The Blacklist.  Red - or, at very least our knowledge of him - is a dangerous work in progress.

Meanwhile, Lizzie also has an important transforming moment.  She realizes she can't adopt a baby with that creepy husband.  The ostensible reason was the case tonight, in which a mad scientist impregnates women he has kidnapped, and then sells the babies on the adoption market.  This is another good, even excellent, bio-crime story.   But the real or deepest reason Lizzie doesn't want to adopt a baby has likely more to do with the unease she feels with Tom.   And, indeed, that's in effect the reason she gives him when she tells him that she doesn't want to go ahead with their adoption plans.  Good for Lizzie.

Meanwhile, Lizzie and Red are racking up points with the FBI.   Shutting down this baby ring saved a lot of mothers' lives.   Red will need all the support he can get when word of Fowler's killing gets out. Although his cleaner may be masterful, she can't clean the minds of everyone who may have an inkling of what Red is really up to.

See also The Blacklist Debuts: Alias Meets Jay Z ... The Blacklist 1.2: Mysteries ... The Blacklist 1.3: Construction Site Heights ... The Blacklist 1.6: Truth and Enigma ... The Blacklist 1.7: Natural Immunity ... The Blacklist 1.8: The Father and the Husband ... The Blacklist 1.9: Field Transfusion ... The Blacklist 1.10: Those Words ... The Blacklist 1.11: Red's Retribution ... The Blacklist 1.12: The DNA Meister



Like biological crime stories?  Try The Silk Code

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The Blacklist 1.12: DNA Meister

A close to science fictional Blacklist 1.12 tonight - which in my book is always a plus - as Lizzie and the team hunt "the alchemist," a guy who makes people disappear by putting their DNA and other biological evidence into the bodies of people he's murdered.  The FBI etc then think the people with the original DNA are dead.   This is in effect a witness protection program par excellence - except the protected are criminals that the police very much want to capture.  I'd say this is one of the best story set-ups thus far on The Blacklist, so good it could have been the basis of a movie, and maybe someday will be.

It also makes quite an episode on The Blacklist, which is good in other ways.  First - or last - we have the revelation at the end of episode of Meera as the FBI mole.  This was pretty obvious for a while, but it's good to see it out in the open - or, at very least, in Red's huge bank of knowledge.

And we also have another nail in the coffin of Lizzie and Tom's marriage.  It's an impossible marriage, can't work, and would be that way even if Red liked Tom.   Lizzie is way too committed to her work - which she should be - for a marriage with Tom, who, though he gives lip service to understanding the importance of Lizzie's work and her need to do it, doesn't really care too much about that at all.   His having an affair with the presumptuous photographer is almost a relief, even if he gets cold feet at the last minute, which is also a possibility.

But if Lizzie and Tom can't work, whom will she have?  I'm betting Ressler, even if he does seem to be getting back with his girlfriend.  And as far Tom - I'm still thinking, in fact more than ever, that before this series is over, he'll wind up on Red's blacklist himself.

See also The Blacklist Debuts: Alias Meets Jay Z ... The Blacklist 1.2: Mysteries ... The Blacklist 1.3: Construction Site Heights ... The Blacklist 1.6: Truth and Enigma ... The Blacklist 1.7: Natural Immunity ... The Blacklist 1.8: The Father and the Husband ... The Blacklist 1.9: Field Transfusion ... The Blacklist 1.10: Those Words ... The Blacklist 1.11: Red's Retribution

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The Blacklist 1.11: Red's Retribution

The Blacklist was back with a good episode - 1.11 - for Red tonight, in which we get to see another, tougher side of him, or a side we knew existed, but up until now had not seen in such back-to-back, vivid evidence.

Red was nearly killed in the last episode, and we couldn't expect him to take that lying down.  Indeed, we'd expect him to unleash just the reign of retribution and terror that we saw on the screen tonight, as he methodologically hunts down and eliminates just about everyone responsible for the depredations he and Elizabeth and the FBI suffered in December under Anlso's onslaught.

So as the team hunts down the serial killer of the title - the Good Samaritan killer, with some crucial advice from Red - we get a gruesome killing spree from Red himself, which could be considered serial killing the way it's supposed to be, with the victims being people who contributed in crucial ways to the near miss Red and his loved had with death in 2013.   This also showed Red for what already knew him to be, but only saw occasional evidence of:  someone unafraid to snuff a life in an instant, but only if justified, and very much enjoying the process in the bargain.

Meanwhile, we also get a startling revelation about Fitch near the end: he's not only a bad guy, but someone important enough in the government to sit across a table from US Assistant Attorney General Fowler and hold his own with her.   In addition to being a pleasure to see Alan Alda and Jane Alexander in the same scene, this tells us our government is a lot more involved with Red and who knows what else than we've so far seen.

And last, for now, there's Liz's husband, who's off on a job interview in Nebraska for most of the episode.  As I've been saying, and will say again - I think he's a bad guy, with a nefarious story we have not yet seen, and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

See also The Blacklist Debuts: Alias Meets Jay Z ... The Blacklist 1.2: Mysteries ... The Blacklist 1.3: Construction Site Heights ... The Blacklist 1.6: Truth and Enigma ... The Blacklist 1.7: Natural Immunity ... The Blacklist 1.8: The Father and the Husband ... The Blacklist 1.9: Field Transfusion ... The Blacklist 1.10: Those Words

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The Blacklist 1.10: Those Words

The Blacklist 1.10 concluded the two-part episode that began last week, with a sharpening of everything already in place, a new major player, and some words at the end by Red to Lizzie which preserve what we knew and didn't know, and set the agenda for the resumption of the series in January.

Let's start with those words.   When Lizzie asks Red point blank if he's her father, he answers no.  The question is more than warranted from Lizzie, since she's just seen Red put his own life at risk to save her, after he brilliantly staved off the bad guys when he was locked in that transparent enclosure.   But he uses the same ingenuity to get out of the enclosure, and give the bad guys what they want - himself in their custody - all on behalf of saving Lizzie.  So her question is eminently reasonable.

But is Red's answer truthful?  I'm still thinking it's not.  And this pitches the question into why would Red lie about this?  I'm guessing this is the central question of at least the first season, and, whatever the answer is, we'll see that Red was unable to answer to truthfully because the lie was necessary to keep Lizzie safe.

And, as I've also said before, I'm thinking that Lizzie's husband has something to do with this.  Red reminds us to be suspicious of the husband by warning Lizzie about him.    He has yet to do anything overtly to put Lizzie in peril, but there's something about him that's wrong,  and I'm betting it will just be a matter of time until we see  his true colors when the series resumes.

Indeed, the scene with Ressler and his former wife in the hospital makes me think that in the end it will be Lizzie and Ressler that we'll see together.   Not only did Red save Ressler last week, but Ressler gave up the code tonight - against his superior's orders - to save Lizzie.   It's not completely clear what she is now feeling for him, but he definitely cares a lot for her.

And it was great to see Alan Alda as the soft-spoken head bad guy on the scene - Fitch - introduced tonight.   My guess is he knew that Red would get the better of Anslo in that room.  Maybe he even would have given Red those little scissors, if Red hadn't obtained them another way (come to think of, when did Red them in his hands?)  Anyway, a soft-spoken powerful antagonist is the perfect foil for Red.

Another fine piece of writing - by Lukas Reiter and J. R. Orci.

See also The Blacklist Debuts: Alias Meets Jay Z ... The Blacklist 1.2: Mysteries ... The Blacklist 1.3: Construction Site Heights ... The Blacklist 1.6: Truth and Enigma ... The Blacklist 1.7: Natural Immunity ... The Blacklist 1.8: The Father and the Husband ... The Blacklist 1.9: Field Transfusion

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The Blacklist 1.9: Field Transfusion

The Blacklist 1.9 is the first half of a two-part Fall finale, and put up the most powerful show of the series thus far.  It showed us something you don't usually see on television - Red giving the badly wounded Ressler a field transfusion of blood from Red's own arm - and much more from Red.

James Spader gives an even more inspired than usual performance, highlighted by an instantly classic Red soliloquy about why he wants to live - drink the wine (two bottles), sleep like a baby, make hot love on cool sheets, and more - that Shakespeare would have enjoyed.   And the loss of life is a very real possibility, as Red witnesses one and likely two FBI agents shot dead by the bad guy, right before his eyes.

What all of this is building up to is a gun to the head of Lizzie, which we know not only Red won't abide, but not Ressler either.  The coming attractions pretty much show that he comes to in time to give the bad guy the code so the door can be opened, and Red apprehended.

Now we know that neither Red nor Lizzie can die in this story, but everything else is up for grabs or at least change.   If Ressler survives, he'll have to be grateful that Red saved his life.  And Red's giving himself up to save Lizzie can't be overlooked by her.   So what we'll have to look forward to when the series returns for its second half is a rearrangement of the loyalties and passions we've  seen thus far in the Fall.

I like series that re-set themselves - it was one of Alias's strong suits, which The Blacklist in many ways resembles, and Person of Interest just did that to searing effect last week.   But we'll know more about how this plays for The Blacklist next week, and I'm looking forward.

See also The Blacklist Debuts: Alias Meets Jay Z ... The Blacklist 1.2: Mysteries ... The Blacklist 1.3: Construction Site Heights ... The Blacklist 1.6: Truth and Enigma ... The Blacklist 1.7: Natural Immunity ... The Blacklist 1.8: The Father and the Husband

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