One thing about The Blacklist that has bugged me since at least Season 5 is that this show doesn’t really have a clear plot-driven endgame. Not “What’s the plan for how the show will end?” But more of: “What needs to happen for the show to reach a meaningful and proper resolution?”
Usually this comes in the form of a goal that needs to be accomplished; a bad guy that needs to be defeated; and/or a question that needs to be answered. These are almost always set up in a show’s pilot.
Some other shows, for examples:
- In Battlestar Galactica (newer version), the Cylons destroy the main characters’ homeworld in the pilot; thus, the show’s finale had the characters defeating the Cylons and finding a new homeworld.
- In the pilot for Lost, the passengers are stranded on an island; and the finale showed all of them either finally getting off the island or choosing to stay.
- In the pilot for Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aang realizes that the world is out of balance, and he’s the only one able to put it right by defeating the Fire Nation / Fire Lord Ozai, which he does in the four-part finale.
- Murder-mystery shows or seasons, like BBC’s Broadchurch, for instance, thrive on answering the question “Who’s the killer?” (the murder is set up in the pilot), with the show or season being resolved when the killer is caught/identified.
Now, granted, this is not a hard-and-fast rule. Not every TV show does this. Grey’s Anatomy, for instance, doesn’t have any overarching goal or bad guy or question to be answered. Neither does BBC’s Sherlock or The Last Airbender‘s sequel series The Legend of Korra.
Like The Blacklist, maybe they have conflicts or bad guys that are specific to a given arc or season, but a show like Grey’s Anatomy can continue indefinitely so long as the main character is still alive. These are more “character shows,” and are very much driven by the main character’s various adventures and development, rather than a specific conflict introduced in the pilot.
The Blacklist, though, is a conundrum to me, because, I can’t really tell what has to happen for the show to have a proper conclusion. Because, there were two things that TBL gave us in the pilot that could indicate its endgame ingredients: the actual Blacklist itself and the connection between Red and Liz.
Except that, as TPTB have said, the numbers on the Blacklist are arbitrary and, theoretically, could continue indefinitely. It’s not like Red showed up with a list of 100 people, and thus, we know the show will end when all 100 people have been caught. Most of these people Red didn’t know about until AFTER he turned himself in to the FBI in the pilot.
And, that’s the beauty of a procedural. Just like with Grey’s Anatomy: as long as Ellen Pompeo renews her contract, the Shondaland writers can keep bringing on new doctors and new sick people for them to treat. Likewise, as long as James Spader renews his contract, The Blacklist writers can keep making up Blacklisters all the way down to 300 or whatever.
(For reference: I looked it up on The Blacklist Wikia, and the lowest number we have is 192, and of the 192 “on the list,” about 70 percent have been seen in an episode, although not all of them have been captured/killed and could theoretically pop up again. And, granted #192 is a villain from one of the comics. So, in-show, the numbers have gone down to #184. And, even then, we still have 30 percent of the current Blacklist spots unaccounted for.)
This means that, really, the writers probably aren’t operating under the logic that once all the Blacklisters are addressed, the show is over. Because Season 7 could be the last season, and there could still be slots on the list left unfilled.
So, that means that, for the Blacklist to have a significant and proper ending, it has to address the connection between Red and Liz, and the Mystery of The Night of the Fire.
And, I’m not entirely sure if the show set out to do this – hang the entire resolution on answering the question “Who is Red to Liz?” I feel like I remember S1 interviews where they said that question wouldn’t be answered until the finale. But, to drag a show on for seven seasons without giving the main character or the audience any answers to *THAT* question is ridiculous, for several reasons, including:
1) People have way too much time on their hands to theorize about this. See: Tumblr.
Say the viewers correctly guess your theory; by the time you get around to revealing it, they will either be unimpressed or underwhelmed. Like, “Yeah, we called that two years ago.” This is exactly what happened in the Blacklist’s S3 finale, when even the most casual of fans had guessed that Kirk was Liz’s “dad,” that Liz had faked her death and that Kaplan had helped.
Or, if the answer you give them doesn’t satisfy their curiosity or doesn’t fully answer their questions or has plotholes or flawed logic or is just straight-up dull in comparison to some of the wild theories that are out there… people are going to be pissed and/or disappointed. See: the bulk of the Star Wars fandom after The Last Jedi. Or fans of Lost.
2) The fallout from answering the question might be more interesting than the build-up to the question itself.
Let’s take a look at BBC’s Broadchurch again. That show did it correctly, because, as a miniseries, it was able to ask and answer the question of “Who’s the killer?” in a shorter window of time (8 episodes in S1, IIRC). That way, fans didn’t run themselves ragged trying to figure it out or get bored waiting for answers. And, even more impressively, once they’d answered the question in the first season, they addressed the fallout of the revelation in the second season. We got to see how the killer’s identity, arrest and confession affected the lives of the other characters. Not a lot of shows are willing to do that, I think, and I really like the direction they took with it in S2 and S3.
3) The question has to be broad enough that you can play around with it for multiple seasons.
Let’s look at another show: ABC’s “Forever.”
This show was, unfortunately, very short-lived – lasting only one full season – but I think it has a lot of similarities to The Blacklist in terms of feel and set-up. It was also a crime procedural with a unique twist and a pretty talented cast. It thrived both on the dramatic, plot-driven moments but also on the small, quiet character-driven moments.
In the pilot, we are introduced to Dr. Henry Morgan who is immortal, and we quickly find out that he’s not the only one. In the pilot, he’s contacted by a fellow immortal, Adam, who says that they’re both looking for death.
Now, it’s pretty clear from the pilot what the resolution for the show, if it had ever gotten a real one, would’ve included: answering the question “How did Henry and Adam become immortal?” and having them find a way to die; Adam (who is Henry’s antagonist) would need to be defeated; and Henry would either need to die finale or find a way to die whenever he wished down the road.
So, rather than simply asking the question “How did Henry become immortal and can he die?” the show also set up an antagonist for Henry to defeat (Adam) and a goal for Henry to achieve (death).
But, when comparing that to The Blacklist, the same ingredients for a resolution are pretty shaky: the list itself, as we’ve discussed, is arbitrary and could theoretically go on forever; and Liz and Red’s connection seems to point us back to The Night of the Fire, which we get bits and pieces about every now and again, but we really should have more answers by now.
With Forever, it was different, because neither Henry nor Adam knew how they became immortal or how they might be able to finally die.
With The Blacklist, the frustrating thing is that Red is clearly withholding vital truths from Liz, and the information that he has hinted that he needs her help to attain hasn’t been addressed and probably WON’T be until they establish Red and Liz’s connection first.
I guess, there is a possible solution and that is: the show’s finale won’t be Liz learning the truth, but rather her coming to terms with the truth by embracing whatever we find out her connection to Red is.
So, then, assuming S7 will be the final season, what needs to happen in that time for the show to come to a meaningful and proper resolution?
Maybe, unlike many of the shows I’ve discussed above, The Blacklist‘s endgame elements are plot-driven but character-driven.
From a character perspective, we know what needs to happen by the series finale: our two leads have to reach whatever they set out to find (either together or separately) in the pilot.
In the first episode, Liz longed for a family. She had a husband; she wanted them to adopt a child. Right now, she’s had to temporarily let Agnes go. So, she needs to get Agnes back and create a safe and stable life for her daughter. Would that include a husband/father figure?
In the pilot, Red hinted that his greatest desire was a home, saying, “I haven’t been home in years.” Is he hoping to find some sense of peace and belonging after being hated and hunted for decades?
I imagine you’ve already guessed where I’m going with this line of thought…
My real point is, though, that the Blacklist has gotten hung-up on a question that, IMO, it should’ve answered or at least partly answered a long time ago. I think that this show would’ve been stronger if there’d been an established goal or Big Bad, and – if they’d decided to hang the endgame on answering a question – at least pick a question that doesn’t involve one character constantly withholding information from another because not only is it frustrating for the audience, but it will make for very formulaic and static interactions between your two leads.
If Red and Liz’s relationship is going to evolve, then they need to be on equal footing. Or at least more equal footing.
Ah, so maybe my notion that we should be looking for plot-driven elements to properly resolve this show was flawed. After all, there is no goal to accomplish, except for maybe covering the entire Blacklist. And, the question “Who is Red to Liz?” will have been sort of answered by this point – again, with the argument that maybe Liz has to come to terms with that revelation, etc. And, of course, there is no overarching Big Bad whose defeat would signal that the show is over because the main conflict would be resolved.
Or is there?
Because, when you think about it, Raymond Reddington (James Spader’s character) checks off a lot of the requirements of a Big Bad.
Let’s take a minute and compare Red to a Big Bad from another show, Avatar: The Last Airbender.
In that show, the overarching antagonist is Fire Lord Ozai, whose defeat in the series finale signals the end of the show as the instigating conflict has now been resolved.
Even though his face isn’t shown until the third and final season, his presence hangs over the whole of the show. He’s the one who scars Zuko and sends him into exile to find the Avatar; he’s the one who’s hoping to conquer the Earth Kingdom; he’s the one who sends Azula after Zuko, the Avatar, etc.
And, as the show’s Big Bad, he is… big and bad. (Big not meaning physically large, but rather prominent and influential.)
Ozai is one of the most powerful benders in the ATLA universe; he’s also the ruler of a very powerful nation. This means it won’t be easy for Aang (the hero) and his allies to defeat Ozai and his forces. Ozai is also ruthless as well as ambitious, and he’s set on world domination.
He’s also very cunning, manipulative and has no qualms about deceiving people – especially if it means he gets what he wants. Again, that’s why Aang (the most powerful being in his universe) is the only person who’s able to defeat him. Because not only is Ozai physically powerful, but he also knows how to outmaneuver people both psychologically and politically.
These are traits Big Bad-type characters have almost universally. (Emperor Palpitine from Star Wars and Voldemort from Harry Potter are other examples.) They have to, in order to be imposing and a large enough threat that it would take several seasons or books or movies for the hero(es) to defeat them.
Now, this isn’t a requirement, but something I find compelling is that Ozai is closely connected to at least one of the show’s main characters. (He’s Zuko’s father). This type of dynamic tends to make the ongoing conflict between a show’s hero(es) and villain(s) more meaningful – if there’s some kind of shared history.
Maybe they’re family members (Ozai and Zuko), former friends (Naruto and Sasuke from Naruto), former teacher/student (Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader from Star Wars), or maybe the villain inflicted some kind of previous injury on the hero. (I’m thinking of the DCAU’s Darkseid who, at one point, had brainwashed Superman into becoming his servant.)
So, could Raymond Reddington be a Big Bad?
As other people have discussed before, Red is a very complicated and nuanced character. One minute he’s patting a little kid on the head and buying a vending machine for a rundown DMV; the next, he’s killing a roomful of people seemingly without batting an eye.
And, let’s be clear, Red definitely has a persona. He wants other criminals to fear and respect him; and whether he actually enjoys having all this power or not, he certainly has gone to some questionable methods to achieve it.
But, encompassing his persona into it, Red is an imposing and powerful man who can be ruthless, cunning, manipulative, and has no qualms about deceiving people when it benefits him – such as when he doesn’t correct Liz about misconceptions she has that would require him to divulge a truth he wishes to keep from her.
And of course, Red’s presence has loomed over the Blacklist since the pilot, albeit in a more direct and obvious way than Ozai in ATLA. Even though Red’s not officially part of the Task Force – he’s only supposed to pass information along to them – he oftentimes plays with them like puppets. For instance, in episode 5×17, he literally admits to STEALING A WITNESS FROM THE TASK FORCE, and the only consequence of that is Liz and Cooper getting a little miffed, and neither really takes action to ensure that Red isn’t the one making the Task Force’s decisions any more. For someone who’s only supposed to be an informant, Red runs the damn place.
And, like with Ozai, Red has personal ties to one of our main characters. He definitely knew Liz’s parents, as he stole her bio-father’s identity, and seems to have been responsible for saving her life the Night of the Fire. Ultimately, both he and Liz are connected by what happened The Night of the Fire, which impacted both of their lives – for better or for worse.
Now. Don’t twist it and start thinking that I believe Red is a villain. He is, overall, an anti-hero. He and Liz have been antagonistic at times, yes, but they’ve been on the same side for about 75 percent of the show thus far. But, we should all definitely be able to realize and admit that Red has some villainous qualities. But, as an anti-hero, he should.
So, if Red is the Big Bad of the show like I theorize, does that mean that he has to be defeated in the series finale to have a proper ending, as I said previously?
Well, yes.
It’s occurred to me several times before that the series finale will be the Number 1 name on the Blacklist, which I conjecture will be Raymond Reddington (or, perhaps our Red’s real identity).
All the way back in Season 1, I theorized on social media that the ideal ending would be something reminiscent of the anime Code Geass’ “Zero Requiem” scheme.
For those of you who haven’t seen it, Code Geass’ finale involved the main character Lelouch setting himself up as a villain for the entire world to unite against. Then, he had his friend Suzaku kill him and thus bring about world peace.
And, for a long time, there was a popular Code Geass fan theory that Lelouch, after supposedly dying in the finale, actually survived. (This was proved correct in the series’ sequel movie Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection.) Lelouch had gained some powers over the course of the series, and other characters were shown to be able to “die” but then resurrect themselves, essentially.
If I were writing The Blacklist, I would write something similar to this ending.
But let’s step back for a second. Because if you want to write the ending to a show, book series, movie series, etc., you really have to look at its beginning.
Let’s look at an example: one of my all-time favorite shows, 30 Rock.
In the pilot, we are introduced to Liz Lemon (Tina Fey’s character) and Jack Donaghey (Alec Baldwin). Liz, much like our Liz on TBL, is hoping to start a family but must find a work/life balance. Jack is looking to climb the corporate ladder and eventually become CEO of General Electric, and wants to innovate and improve things. And, they are initially antagonistic with each other.
However, by the finale, Liz has finally gained the family she’s always wanted (two adopted kids and a husband), but now struggles with the WORK part of her work/life balance. Jack, after becoming CEO of KableTown (which took over NBC after GE), finds himself unsatisfied in life, and sets off to sail the world. He quickly turns around, however, after immediately coming up with an idea for clear dishwashers, and is last seen working as an executive for a new company (although it’s never specified which one). And, they have become the closest of friends, finally admitting out loud that the platonically love each other.
Basically, the characters went full-circle from where they set out. Liz finally got everything she wanted; Jack realized that power and ambition aren’t everything; and they became great friends after initially being enemies.
Now, as we touched on a little bit earlier… what did we learn about Red and his goals from the pilot? What does he have to accomplish by series’ end?
The VERY FIRST THING that’s said on the show is Gray telling Red, “Must be good to be home again, sir,” and Red responds that they will find out. This already tells me that, by the end, Red will need to have found a home or a sense of “home.” It’s also one of the first things he tells Liz: “You get back home much? I haven’t been home in years.” Already, the show is establishing a connection between Red, Liz and the idea of home/a family.
Red makes the comment to Liz: “Everything about me is a lie; but if anyone can give me a second chance, it’s you.” Again, this notion of the truth about Red and Liz being able to trust him (maybe love him?) are tied together in this line of dialogue during their first encounter. So, he wants Liz to find out the truth about him? Or, at the very least, he wants Liz to give him a second chance.
He also says, “Here you are, about to make a name for yourself, about to capture Ranko Zamani. I’m going to make you famous, Lizzie.”
So a few things to unpack here: we ARE given some things that need to happen, either plot-wise or character-wise in/by the series finale:
1) Red needs to find a home or a sense of home.
2) Liz needs to find out the truth about Red and/or give him a second chance.
3) Red needs to make Liz famous.
And considering that “Raymond Reddington” isn’t his real identity, even though he believes he now embodies it more than the RR ever did, it makes sense that Red would want Liz to give him a second chance as John Smith (or whatever his real name is). But Red also indicates to Liz that he’s going to make her famous by helping her to catch criminals. And who’s a bigger criminal than “Raymond Reddington”?
That’s why I think a Code Geass / Zero Requiem ending would fit very well.
Red has told people on several occasions that he deserves to pay for what he’s done. So it makes sense that a possible series finale would have him dying, but again, we have to look at the beginning of the show to see what a significant and proper ending would be.
Does Red really need to die to pay the price for what he’s done? Especially considering that the pilot sets him up as someone who wants redemption and a sense of home.
No. I think that the criminal, the persona of “Raymond Reddington” has to die, and our Red will either take up his old name and identity again, or take on a new one entirely.
Maybe he will fake his death WITH the help of Cooper, Liz, Ressler, the FBI, etc. Or maybe, he’ll fake his death WITHOUT their help, so that even Cooper and Ressler won’t be looking for him anymore. And, if he arranges it so that it looks like Liz was responsible for finally stopping him, then he will have made her famous, just as he promised.
Could you imagine if, in the series finale, Red arranges his death so that it’s public – for all to see. There are hundreds of officers on scene, news helicopters flying overhead. He needs people to see and know that Raymond Reddington – one of the most wanted criminals in the world – is finally dead. Potentially at the hands of FBI Agent Elizabeth Keen.
Just like with Lelouch in Code Geass, he would make sure that his death (whether supposed or actual) was very much a public display.
And, again, I keep harking back to Red’s line: “I’m going to make you famous, Lizzie.”
Yes, Liz definitely became an infamous criminal after killing the attorney general and going on the run in S3a. But infamous and famous aren’t really the same. They’re related, but very much different. He didn’t promise he would make Liz an infamous criminal herself; no, he promised he would help her CATCH criminals. And, again, of ALL the Blacklisters we’ve encountered throughout this show, no one seems to be more notorious or as ‘big of a fish’ as Raymond Reddington.
As I’ve discussed before, Red is very much like a Byronic hero. The most famous Byronic heroes (IMO), Edmond Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo and Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre, BOTH are seen as semi-villainous in a way. They aren’t perfect, and have to change over the course of the story. With Dantes, he’s become so caught up in his revenge, that he has to take a step back, realize how far he almost went, and then try to set himself right before he sails off with his much younger love interest for his “happy ending.” Likewise, with Rochester, he has become so caught up with finding his happiness, that he deceives the woman he loves and nearly leads her into committing a grave sin/crime. Later, he ‘pays the price’ for his deception by losing Jane, his home, his wife and his sight. And only after he’s become humbled does he find his happy ending with Jane.
To put it more plainly, Red as the Big Bad of the show wouldn’t need to die.
He would simply have to be defeated.
Just like with Ozai in ATLA. A major discussion in and leading up to the finale is that Aang won’t take Ozai’s life because of his belief that all life is sacred. And, in the end, Aang finds a way to defeat Ozai and leave him powerless forever WITHOUT killing him.
Another example is how, in Naruto, the Big Bad is Sasuke. At the end of the show, he and Naruto come to a sort of stalemate in their final battle and he lives to reform his ways and help Naruto keep the world safe.
So, in my theory, Red fakes his death, and then he and Liz ride off into the sunset?
Yeah, pretty much.
Again, with all Red’s parallels to the Byronic hero, they would both be able to find what they were ultimately looking for in each other. Liz would find the family she’s always wanted through Red, and Red would find his home or sense of home in Liz and Agnes.
Remember Red’s second goal from the pilot: Liz is the ONLY person who can give him a second chance. He can’t find his home or his happiness with anyone else.
So, assuming this whole theory is correct, there are really are four possible scenarios for the series finale, and some I see as more likely than others:
1) Red well and truly dies in the finale, and there’s no question that he’s dead. – I give it a 5% chance of happening.
2) Red dies, but his death will be ambiguous. Maybe there would be a shot of Liz and Agnes on the island Red mentioned in S4b, and off to the side will be a man in a hat or something. And there will be all these fan theories that Red didn’t die, and there will be all these posts pointing out the evidence that he really did; and ultimately, TPTB will say it’s ambiguous on purpose. (Much like what happened with Code Geass.) – 25%
3) Red “dies” for all the world to see, but a few characters know that he’s actually alive and has taken on a new identity. What will be ambiguous will be whether he ends up with Liz as a romantic interest. Maybe there will be a shot of him and Liz walking through the park with Agnes, each one on either side of her, but no one will ever explicitly say that they’re “together” now. And, of course, fans will argue that there was sufficient evidence to assume that they are together, but it will still be JUST ambiguous enough that no one will be able to say for sure, because TPTB will try to keep everyone happy and not really confirm it one way or the other. – 40%
4) Red fakes his death and he and Liz are definitely a couple in the finale. Kissing. Holding hands. Maybe with some wedding rings. And Agnes calls him “dad.” He and Liz both “ride off into the sunset” as much of a couple as Dantes & Haydee or Rochester & Jane. – 30%
So… in summary: I think the series finale will have Red figuratively dying in the series finale as the show’s default Big Bad. He will ditch the “Raymond Reddington” persona, and in doing so, somehow make Liz famous. After faking his death, he will find his home and second chance with Liz (and Agnes). And Liz will find the family she’s always wanted with Red.
Thanks for reading this whole damn thing again. When I get to writing about The Blacklist, I just can’t keep it short. 🙂