NBC's "The Blacklist" (Season 10)

[demonbeast]

I haven't watched the latest episode will do tonite and post my review afterwards.

Blacklisters what do you hope to feature in the last(double episode). I think it's quite obvious that Raymond will die due to his illness when he was at death's door a few seasons ago. The current writers likely forgot this or ignored this story and will repurpose it for the finale. It's also clear that the many plot & storylines left unanswered will also never be resolved.

Personally given this I hope to see some of the familiar faces who are still alive both in the show and real life.

Teddy Brimley, ideally or his nephew or both the family of torturers who use a surprising array of animals to extract the information Raymond needs. They have always been a lighthearted addition to the show despite their 'work'.

Baz Raymond's commander of his assault groups highly capable got Shot by Mr Kaplin and then just sort of disappeared. I'm not sure if he died or was wounded he just vanished.

Chuck, became Raymond's chief bodyguard after Baz vanished but was around before and is often shown leading assaults or securing assets for Red. Unfortunately, not a massive number of appearances was sidelined by Weecha & her sister.

Heddie Hawkins is one of the two circus people that Red used to move money around and a logistics expert. After a fake-out death, last season just vanished. Always a decent character not sure why after becoming more regular in appearances just vanished.

Tadashi Ito, Red's young & and somewhat uncooperative computer expert again more of a lighthearted character just vanished.


Characters who are alive but I don't really want to see their return.


Aram, sadly becomes more insufferable the longer the show went on last was the director of the FBI. Nothing can erase that disco episode in season nine.

Samar Navabi, I guess money is the reason she was decent early on but the romance with Aram was basically unwatchable cringe. Hunted by Mossad who knows her fate.

Agent Park, Started off well the Blacklist does what it does to most of the primarily female cast and made her a background character with no real development.

Scottie Hargrave, An old character mainly from the spin-off Blacklist Redemption Tom Keen's mother who crossed over in the main show and also looked after a young agnes. Famke Janssen costs too much and the show wisely in my opinion has quietly forgotten about the terrible spin-off.

Mierce Red's lover/bodyguard unfortunately the only real scenes in season nine to feature James Spader who is in his winibagoo mainly with Mierce and her sister. Awful season and frankly crap character went off in a huff hasn't been seen since.

Weecha, see above surprisingly turned back up this last season as a booty call for Red even though she was the main bodyguard and Red was in love with her sister. I'm not sure why they brought her back as I doubt the many characters fans want to see again she or her sister are the ones people want to see again.

I'm sure I've missed many can you think of any I've missed or would like to see again?

[BudBaxter]

I think a few of Red's 'associates' you mention above pop up in the latest episode. I can never remember half the names.

Thought that was one of the better written episodes of this season by quite some margin. It actually felt like someone had put some thought into it, & Spader seemed more committed than he had been for a long time. I was quite engaged throughout.

Loved the Jimmy Hoffa gag, & the Brat Packer cameo made me smile. Pity they didn't drive off with the Psychedelic Furs playing on the stereo...

I'll be going into the finale with suitably low expectations, but after that episode, I'm now somewhat curious how it'll end.

[demonbeast]

Originally Posted by BudBaxter

I think a few of Red's 'associates' you mention above pop up in the latest episode. I can never remember half the names.

Thought that was one of the better written episodes of this season by quite some margin. It actually felt like someone had put some thought into it, & Spader seemed more committed than he had been for a long time. I was quite engaged throughout.

Loved the Jimmy Hoffa gag, & the Brat Packer cameo made me smile. Pity they didn't drive off with the Psychedelic Furs playing on the stereo...

I'll be going into the finale with suitably low expectations, but after that episode, I'm now somewhat curious how it'll end.

James Spader did seem uncharacteristically involved in this episode he's managed to power through last season doing almost nothing and now the end was in sight maybe he'll roll back the years again and give a decent performance in the finale. Let's be honest 99% watch the show for his performance anyway.

'Pity they didn't drive off with the Psychedelic Furs playing on the stereo... For the longest time I couldn't think why the show felt different and it's because they don't use real songs anymore at least nothing like the show used to do. Now we just have that awful music in every episode which is normally mixed to high or awkward transitions between songs.

The wheels were coming off in season five as for the final well I don't hold out much hope.


'Arthur Hudson'


Well, Blacklisters seems my hope of seeing some of Raymond's long-standing associates again has come true. Tadashi Ito (he looks older now but don't we all do) It's surprising given how lively he was in the previous appearances that he doesn't have any lines in his scene a bit subdued not like really like his character he seemed really bored.

Heddie returns in a brief scene in possibly the smallest set yet on the show. We get the budget isn't there anymore but while nice to see her get closure it could've been much better.

Teddy ( no nephew sadly) has a slight inconsistency or an in-joke that didn't really land he says to Raymond 'I don't know about animals while Red looks on at a snake. The only man I know who uses ducks & camels to torture someone. Needless good to see him probably the only thing the showrunners have done right this season is bring back these characters before it finishes.

Other than that the episode maintained the same level as has been unfortunately showcased throughout this season. Jonathan Pritchard, you remember him right? 'no' ok how about Ressler's friend 'Oh yeah' Well he OD's after telling Donald about the phone tap. I didn't even know his name of course this generates almost zero emotional response from the audience why because no one cared about this storyline. Even Donald doesn't seem to bothered

Speaking of the phone tap Siya says 'We can't tell how long it's been active' to the team but Dembe tells Red it's been live for weeks. Hudson & his FBI guy take over the post office and seize all the assets inside we see the FBI take all the hard drives even though Raymond told them he wiped all mention of himself from them with the McGuffin from a few weeks back.

Herbie Hambright ah useless Herbie gets questioned by the FBI at not one point do they bring up the fact he has no official status to be part of a covert FBI team on a black site. The fact is without proper accreditation he's been gathering forensic data to use as evidence. Clearly from the last episode he doesn't have the equipment to collect or gather materials in accordance with the chain of custody. I'm convinced he's related to someone on the show hence why he got added to it.

Siya, Some amateur-level delivery from Anya Banerjee with 'their people on board' when telling Hudson about the plane being blown up. Didn't recall any extreme close-up on her face this episode at least they've sorted that out. Sadly Siya does little else which is not unexpected for the show can't really fault her too much the showrunners couldn't make up their mind what she was going to do on the show badass MI6 agent, tech support replacement for Aram or lap dog for Raymond.

Hisham Tawfiq is definitely part-time these days we're lucky if he has two scenes an episode now. He did get to have the best line in the show for a long time through his integration with the FBI guy 'How did you come to join the FBI'? Dembe 'I applied' at least that's one mystery solved then.

The task force is shut down then five minutes later re-activated to hunt Raymond meanwhile Hudson does his best impression of Dick Dastardly shame he doesn't have a moustache to twirl to really sell it.

Weecha returns to go off for a new life with Raymond the showrunners do know that he was in love with her sister right?

Great to see the old characters so for that three Blacklisters for them alone otherwise one for Raymond's little story

[djgeneral]

Series finale is TONIGHT!

[By_His_Strypes]

any chance of this getting a complete series BD box set? I am still waiting on The Americans to get a BD release.

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by djgeneral

Series finale is TONIGHT!

And what a crap finale it was.

So who was Raymond Reddington -- noone, we will never know. Definitely NOT how to end a series. These writers took lessons from the guys who ended LOST.

So glad I stopped watching back when Harold was being framed after Liz died and Red met some woman and was living with her. This is not how you end a series. Why did Dembe not become Red, or Ressler, or Harold for that matter. If Red was to be anyone or no one passing the mantle would have made more sense.

Series should have ended when Liz was killed off or at that time. Glad to see they brought his health issues back, Bull was poetic but, just not what I would have chosen for an ending.

Series still gets props for first 5-7 seasons or so, best intro to a character I can ever remember. But the writers did not seem to have an endgame and it showed.

[50strat54]

On the other hand…I really liked the two part ending.

It was fitting Ressler and Reddington were in the last shot he has been chasing him even before the series began.

The actor playing Dembe should get an Emmy for his final scene in the hospital.

Arthur Hudson what a tool, his story ended well.

R3P0 is right that the series stopped being good after season 6. Without the Mossad agent that was the beginning of the end. Season 9 and 10 really sucked but the last few episodes in 10 were decent and the ending was very good.

It was Megan Boone’s decision to quit but it didn’t matter the downhill slide could not be stopped. But this series will be Megan’s greatest career moment. She is an adequate actress who was lucky enough to be working with excellent actors like Henry Lennix, Mozhan Marino who played the Mossad agent and James Spader. Any average actress could have been Elizabeth Keen, Megan was lucky enough to be picked.

The whole who is Reddington story got so convoluted as to eventually be meaningless.

I’m glad it’s over. It was like the second half of The Mentalist season 6 and the final season 7, it limped along until the great series finale episodes.

Person of Interest did it right from beginning to end.

[djgeneral]

Honestly, probably one of the worst series finales in history lol. I guess the
"real" ending was season 8.

I'm just shocked we didn't get any more answers/clarification about Red, no fan service cameos/flashbacks, and the way Red died... just ridiculous lol

[50strat54]

Originally Posted by djgeneral

Honestly, probably one of the worst series finales in history lol. I guess the
"real" ending was season 8.

I'm just shocked we didn't get any more answers/clarification about Red, no fan service cameos/flashbacks, and the way Red died... just ridiculous lol

Ok I've read some articles online and posts from fans and

1. The ending of Season 8 when Keen is dying there are shots of Keen holding Agnes, Keen's mother holding her and then Red holding Keen as she is dying all intercut as a montage. This is suppose to be a clue.

2. This line from the series finale: Agnes said “You’re acting like a mother, Pinky” and Red responded “I guess I can’t help it.”


As has been speculated for a long time and it's a real twist, Red is Katarina Rostova Keen's mother and underwent sex change surgery to become a man.

In the TLM 2023 thread I've said the best way to put these issues in films or TV shows is to do it subtly. Boy if true this is subtle, under the radar.

If it is true Red is transgender, it's a real twist.

I discounted this theory for years but given 1 and 2 above I'm having second thoughts.

Did it look like Ressler picked up Red's hat to place over his face as the camera was panning back?

Red knew what Ressler had done for Keen, there was no way he would ever kill him. Red always had a lot of fun needling him although I never felt Ressler warmed up to Red and was always wary of him.

I know the show went to sh!t but I'm gonna write about it as this will be my last NBC show unless something really great comes along.

It's just CBS now with NCIS, NCIS Hawaii, Young Sheldon and So Help Me Todd [the premise is wearing thin though, we'll see if it can keep it going] and Sheldon is getting too old now, series should end soon.

I watch nothing on ABC except for the NBA Finals and some playoffs games

[djgeneral]

Originally Posted by 50strat54

Ok I've read some articles online and posts from fans and

1. The ending of Season 8 when Keen is dying there are shots of Keen holding Agnes, Keen's mother holding her and then Red holding Keen as she is dying all intercut as a montage. This is suppose to be a clue.

2. This line from the series finale: Agnes said “You’re acting like a mother, Pinky” and Red responded “I guess I can’t help it.”


As has been speculated for a long time and it's a real twist, Red is Katarina Rostova Keen's mother and underwent sex change surgery to become a man.
games

I did catch this, and it did make me wonder... but still, that is way too big of a loose end to be kept ambiguous to me anyway. Oh well lol

[50strat54]

Originally Posted by djgeneral

I did catch this, and it did make me wonder... but still, that is way too big of a loose end to be kept ambiguous to me anyway. Oh well lol

Some mysteries are left for us to contemplate and figure out.

Red being Liz's father has been a red herring from the very beginning.
The mother theory started to come up in the middle of the series from online posts and from posts from members on here.

I'm leaning toward Red was Keen's mother.

Generally it is a mixed reaction to any series finale.

I found the AG letting Dembe off kind of absurd although maybe Red sent the AG a letter that he had incriminating evidence on him.

All of the task force members will not be prosecuted since Ressler will bring in a dead Red. AG didn't specify alive.

I still think it was great Ressler and not Dembe was there at the end. The finale allowed Ressler to finally get his man or woman if you believe Red's Keen's mother.

Everyone who stayed loyal to Red became multi-millionaires.

Many of the Season Ten episodes showed Red giving his money away to the people who helped him along the way. I'm sure there is something for Villa Lobo

Dembe I'm sure got some money and has had money for all his time with Red

Harold Cooper gets the lion share of Red's estate as he is the caretaker of Agnes, Keen's daughter and Red's granddaughter [?]

I wish something would bad would have happened to that a$$hole FBI agent. The other agent tried to tell him the truth about what went down at the car crash that hurt Dembe.

I truly wouldn't be surprised if Red left something for Ressler and Malik. He did give Malik the info on her mother and Red had a real soft spot for Donald.

[demonbeast]

Originally Posted by 50strat54

Ok I've read some articles online and posts from fans and

1. The ending of Season 8 when Keen is dying there are shots of Keen holding Agnes, Keen's mother holding her and then Red holding Keen as she is dying all intercut as a montage. This is suppose to be a clue.

2. This line from the series finale: Agnes said “You’re acting like a mother, Pinky” and Red responded “I guess I can’t help it.”


As has been speculated for a long time and it's a real twist, Red is Katarina Rostova Keen's mother and underwent sex change surgery to become a man.

In the TLM 2023 thread I've said the best way to put these issues in films or TV shows is to do it subtly. Boy if true this is subtle, under the radar.

If it is true Red is transgender, it's a real twist.

I discounted this theory for years but given 1 and 2 above I'm having second thoughts.

Did it look like Ressler picked up Red's hat to place over his face as the camera was panning back?

I don't think it was subtle the show stated that Raymond is Katarina Rostova. The elephant in the room was Raymond was intended to be Liz's father; the problem is that almost everyone worked it out immediately.

The showrunner, production company or network decided that the 'twist' was up so decided to change him to her mother. If you go back to the flashback episode it doesn't make much sense. To make it fit such as does the writers twisted themselves in knots many times breaking established facts.

This has been one of the problems of the show for a while remember when Red was poisoned and it turned out to be Dembe even though it almost killed him? What about Raymond's illness that meant he was at death's door? How many storylines were either just abandoned or had no meaningful resolution?

The show was a victim of its own success and that is where its problems began. The network clearly wanted to expand the franchise and we got the spin-off. The problem was both shows were intrinsically linked sharing cast with its cancellation they clearly had to re-work whatever storyline they had planned. while the show didn't go off the rails already by season four there were issues.

I suspect Red's terminal illness in season seven. I might be wrong was likely due to the behind-the-scenes turmoil likely due to the show's creator and main star Megan Boothe intending to leave. I think the story had to change if Red was to die the show would have lost both its leads. Again, many established characters suddenly changed or their behaviour didn't make much sense. Even season nine antagonist Marvin Gerard because he didn't think Liz was worth inheriting his 'legacy' was a good story probably why season nine is considered the worst of the show

When the original showrunner left the budget & production clearly changed for the worse it had been noticeably reduced but a big drop in quality occurred at this time and a number of characters were written or killed off. The main issue was the standard of the writing just wasn't up to the earlier episodes. Think the Kabal, the stew maker or Alexander kirk or Berlin so many decent Blacklisters now in the final season the main antagonists in some episodes aren't even Blacklisters. Another explanation which makes no sense is the Blacklister number the show states this is how much danger the person/s posed to Liz. With Liz being dead it could be to Agnes but they don't say that and anyway with the non-blacklisters being numbered filler it just doesn't make any sense.

'Raymond Reddington part 1'

Sadly the first of a series double episode finale is basically filler dealing with the events of the previous episode which means it adheres to the general low-effort template we get the obligatory Harrold office scene, Dembe & Siya side-by-side shot and a group briefing scene. Most of the episode is taken up with where Raymond was or isn't this allows us to see some of the characters who were missing from last week's show. As nice as it was to see Chuck & Glenn's mum again does anyone care about the estate agent? At the very end, we get a standoff which completely lacked any sort of intensity or energy however Dembe gets shot is he dead?

I noticed something I rewatched it to make sure at the start when Dembe is in the mosque Chuck asks if it's Dembe Zumba as if he doesn't know him? Chuck is one of Raymond's closest security guys I'm sure he's been in scenes with Dembe and they already know each other well. I'm sure Dembe's called him up before like many things this didn't make sense.

One issue that has plagued the show certainly over the last season is the terrible music and the weird transitions & inconsistent volume I have to admit I don't recall it being an issue in this episode.

'Raymond Reddington part 2'

Dembe isn't dead a quick transfusion & a plaster he's good to go. I know that the FBI agent & Harold's confrontation is for tension but there's no way Harold would tolerate his behaviour, especially in front of everyone in the post office.

Dembe & Harold have a moment lamenting or chewing through the scene about Raymond he's not dead yet! meanwhile, Donald goes to Spain and flashes his FBI badge like it means something. A bizarre choice is the wanted picture he uses is the original wanted picture I'm sure people might think it's a callback but knowing the production they couldn't find one of the updated pictures and left it at that.

Raymond's fate I'm sure it's meant to have a metaphorical meaning but as we only found out he wanted to return the Mcguffin earlier in the episode and he doesn't seem to have it with him it's basically a load of old bollocks.

The last half of the episode doesn't really feature many people it might be cynical to think the show used a large portion of the budget on the helicopter

Overall while I didn't expect that exact method of death the finale was as leaky in its writing as every other episode in the last couple of seasons. It's a sad reflection that even with two episodes never mind the rest of the season many plots people wanted answers about never attempted to be resolved. In a way it's like prior to season nine anything unanswered would remain so.

I've watched every episode and even bought a couple of the early seasons on blu ray but I'm glad it's over it's about four seasons overdue. I like many watched for James Spader's Raymond and his mundane monologues with people before he shot them in the face.

[50strat54]

That’s a hulluva critique and analysis. I barely remember any of the earlier shows and I’m sure there were a lot of inconsistencies but I usually just watch and mostly forget.

I don’t fault anything you’ve written. I watched every episode and was satisfied with the series finale.

We do agree that after Season 6 the show deteriorated.

The whole who is Red to Keen thing was convoluted and too drawn out and I believe most of us were a little frustrated and eventually just didn’t care.

Obvious or not, I do believe Red was Keen’s mother. It might have made for more interesting stories if they went with that for Seasons 9 and 10.

They should have just replaced Megan Boone. Season 9 a bomb goes off in her car and she survives and has plastic surgery and a new face. People might be pi$$ed but she’d only come back at the end of Season 9 (Keen Lives) finish out 10 with the mother angle.

Gotham replaced Carmen for the Series Finale because they didn’t think she looked old enough which was complete BS.

[demonbeast]

Originally Posted by 50strat54

Gotham replaced Carmen for the Series Finale because they didn’t think she looked old enough which was complete BS.

Is it terrible to say I watched that show and don't even know who that character is

I'm glad you enjoyed the finale it was just inconsistent nonsense for me despite knowing they weren't going to answer anything.

Totally agree about Red & Keen's relationship was just convoluted as they added more potential characters. I know it's down to the budget but you'd think they'd have Agnes' grandmother have some sort of relationship with her or mention her. Famke Janssen was in the show another missed opportunity.

[50strat54]

Originally Posted by demonbeast

Is it terrible to say I watched that show and don't even know who that character is
.

Camren Bicondova is the actress' name, she played Selina Kyle Catwoman although in the series she wasn't Catwoman yet.

[Ben_C]

Well, I doubt anyone would have had that particular ending in mind for Red in the “how will The Blacklist end?” sweepstake

[Samus Aran]

James Spader seems to think it was a good ending.

https://apnews.com/article/blacklist...5f4503ba72eaed

“I was very, very glad we were able to end it exactly the way we wanted to end it. It was deliberate and we weren’t taken by surprise in terms of when the ending was going to come,” he tells The Associated Press. “You’ll see that the ending has conviction and we commit to it.”

[BudBaxter]

Enjoyed part 1 more than part 2, but I kinda liked the ending with Red going out on his own terms.

Glad the smug senator got his. Would have liked a better (or any) conclusion for his angry FBI pal.

I was surprised they didn't have some kind of montage showing what happened to the rest of the taskforce. (though to be honest, at this stage I've kinda lost interest in most of them, so no real loss) Presumably most of them went to prison for treason?

Liked that Donald finally got his man. Sort of. The bit with the hat was a nice touch too.

Budget wise, I'm sure the helicopter was expensive, & the use of actual songs on the soundtrack probably ate up a few bucks too.


The last 3 episodes were better than the rest of this final season's episodes combined. Was it a satisfying conclusion to a once-great show? Not really, but it's more than I hoped for given the mess it became.

Adios, Mr Reddington. I can't say I'll miss you, but we had some fun along the way.

[demonbeast]

Originally Posted by BudBaxter

Enjoyed part 1 more than part 2, but I kinda liked the ending with Red going out on his own terms.

Glad the smug senator got his. Would have liked a better (or any) conclusion for his angry FBI pal.

I was surprised they didn't have some kind of montage showing what happened to the rest of the taskforce. (though to be honest, at this stage I've kinda lost interest in most of them, so no real loss) Presumably most of them went to prison for treason?

Liked that Donald finally got his man. Sort of. The bit with the hat was a nice touch too.

Budget wise, I'm sure the helicopter was expensive, & the use of actual songs on the soundtrack probably ate up a few bucks too.


The last 3 episodes were better than the rest of this final season's episodes combined. Was it a satisfying conclusion to a once-great show? Not really, but it's more than I hoped for given the mess it became.

Adios, Mr Reddington. I can't say I'll miss you, but we had some fun along the way.

The post office switcharoo was the best episode this season for me it probably doesn't stand up to a repeat viewing but it was at least unpredictable. To be fair to the showrunner the Wujing story idea was actually decent it was let down by its awful execution. I'm still convinced that they had either budgetary issues or scheduling conflicts as its resolution came out of nowhere but surely they could've got some better Blacklisters

On-location shooting in Spain & the licensed songs plus the helicopter defiantly ate the budget.

I expected that we wouldn't get any answers but the lack of any conclusion for the team was a terrible choice. You know things are bad when the only sort of conclusion was for late addition Herbie who most fan's cared little for.

What happened to Chuck? would it really have taken up much time to have a scene between Raymond's last remaining lieutenant?

Siya goes back to MI6? Who knows?

Donald would have been nice at the start of the episode if there was some sort of resolution about what just happened to his friend in the previous episode. I mean he sort of had a shocked face when he found him that's it the sum total of his emotions about his friend who killed himself for betraying him

Harold & Dembe's scene didn't make much sense imagine if after Resser had found Raymond and told Harold the news then that scene played it would have made it more coherent and had some real emotional resonance. Occurring before when Red wasn't in danger out shopping for melons was just bad editing.

Imagine if Red had used his Computer McGuffin to not only remove any trace of him from the various databases but put Hudson as the owner/ operator of all those companies that Red gave up. A scene at the dinner table with Agnes and Harold then the letter is given to Harold to be given to Agnes when she's old enough which explains everything yes we viewers won't see it but in show logic it would make sense as much as the current show does. Hudson's arrest is shown on TV Red announces his work is done and that he's going on a trip the task force is shuttered. Siya announces she's been recalled to MI6 Donald needs to take some personal time to work out his pal's death. Harold knows Raymond's sick and likely won't come back the letter signifies this. Red says to Dembe I need to go back to where it all began and then drives to the house by the ocean. An emotional scene occurs between these two with flashbacks to the episode where Katarina Rostova escaped the KGB and the formation of the Raymond plan started. Reds walks gingerly coughing the fog closes in and his hat is gently bobbing on the foggy ocean. Cue pictures of Katarina, Raymond, Ilya, Liz & Agnes & fade to black.

What do I think about James Spader saying it was all planned I bet it was planned for him to have a nice holiday in Spain on the production budget

[50strat54]

Dembe’s emotional scene had to come before Red’s death because Ressler deserved and was the logical choice to be with him at the end given their history and Donald’s relationship with Keen. I think Ressler was the only one on the task force that was on assignment before the task force was formed to capture Red before he gave up.

I liked the scene, Ressler gave him respect with the hat but had a contentious relationship with Red throughout the series..

Everyone who counted to Red and were loyal got enough money to last a lifetime, even Chuck although they didn’t show it.

and you’re right it was a chance for Spader to get a free vacation on Sony and Universal.