Just finished my first watch of it. I would fight a bear to protect S4.

First, it has one of the funniest line readings I’ve seen, when the task force finds out Liz faked her death and express divergent emotions about the whole thing. Cooper concludes the discussion by declaring, “I’m delighted and outraged,” with the exact same intensity Harry Lennix has brought to every other line he has delivered in the series. Some things you can depend on.

Then we get some episodes where Red drags out Kate’s inevitable punishment out of a combination of expedience and rage, with Kate going along for reasons we don’t — yet — know. Finally Red takes her off and shoots her, but it’s immediately obvious he’s been sloppy — I said to myself the instant she dropped: no double-tap? no inspecting the body? — and also why he’s been sloppy. It just hurts to do it.

And after that, Requiem. My God this silly show can break your heart sometimes. I just love this episode. Joanna Adler is perfect as Young Kathryn. Adler’s uncanny resemblance to Megan Boone adds something to the vibe too. I love seeing Adler and Verbeeck develop the relationship between Kate and Katarina. I loved/cried over the romance with Annie. The cuts to present-day Mr. Kaplan were well done. Young Kate falling in love with Baby Masha against “orders” and then being given orders about how to manage her future relationships with Liz and Red really bring home the force of the coming tragedy. Like I say, heartbreaking.

The finale is up to the task of fulfilling Requiem imo. Gale’s arc is interesting because Gale’s the guy Ressler only thinks he is. Because of that, Gale threatens to undermine the entire premise of the show as it has developed: viewed from outside the confines of the Post Office, the task force really does look like a group that has lost its way.

Then Red heeds Liz’s demand to show mercy and make peace, but Mr. Kaplan, who got into this predicament by putting Liz first as she was supposed to no longer can. Aagh! My feelings! I want everybody to be friends but they can’t!

And then Liz confronts Red with the results of the blood test and what she thinks they mean, and Megan Boone, a good actor, plays it perfectly, and James Spader, a brilliant actor, plays it perfectly.

I just loved the whole thing.

So… for those of you that know her, what was up for that. Liz let her go and had this little talk with her about needing people like her in the way Reddington always has people for him but then….. nothing. She’s never even name dropped again. Even though for all intents and purposes she seemed like she was being set up to support Liz when she needed help or advice. Did they figure after the fact that she was redundant?

Glen Carter - played by Clark Middleton - was phenomenal as a skip tracer for Reddington at the DMV. His banter and witty replies putting Reddington in his place is one of my favorite side characters on the show.

I'm a first time watcher and loving Blacklist - currently on Season 4.

While he has a more main reoccurring role as costar, I would put Carter next to Tim Kang who played Kimball Cho on The Mentalist as a scene stealer for every scene both are in. Both characters are so enjoyable to watch.

87th Precinct

As a big fan of police procedurals both on film, TV shows and in books, I just read Ed McBain's first book in the 87th Precinct series (amazingly well written right up there with John D MacDonald's Travis McGee series), it's called Cop Hater.

And there was a character there called Danny the Gimp who really reminded me of Glen Carter's character. Anyone else read Ed McBain and see the similarities?

Im going to use the mentalist and white collar as they come to mind when thinking of cat and mouse shows where the 2 leads are working with and against each other.

1. Give keen a solid trigger to work against Red, this ones for the directors if they gave the audience solid rationale to work against red instead of being wishy washy treating him like a gumball machine that she twists the knob anytime she wants a treat and kicking it if she doesnt get it quick enough for her liking, keen would have been more likable. Jane had red john and caffrey had his gf and sometimes a hiest that was too juicy.
2. Megan should have tried to add some lightness to her character i dont think i ever laughed or even smiled a single time keen was on screen shes just too serious and comes across as a kill joy i know its what the script dictates but a little smirk when red is being goofy or a subtle body language cues when he goes of on a tangent would have went a long way. Lisbon would privately find jane hilhilarious while publicly scolding him, and peter had some funny reactions to Neill being goofy or stepping out of line.

I think if the sshow runners nailed keens character this show would have been on a different level cause red had to carry it alone.

NO SPOILERS PLEASE As the title says, I’ve began watching this show and am mid-way through season three right now.

I initially only began watching it because I finished How To Get Away With Murder and after a quick Google search of similar shows, I stumbled across this one.

If I’m being honest, I didn’t entirely enjoy it at first, just letting the episodes drag on and becoming more and more exhausted of it all. But I soon began to appreciate the show and became hooked to the unending mysteries surrounding the characters. I have my eyes glued on my screen now!! (Which is terrible because final exams are right around the corner)

I am rewatching the show with my partner who has never heard of the show. We are loving it. I am particularly interested in rewatching it knowing the truth of James Spader's character "Red" being Katarina. The first go of it, I completely missed everything. Didn't for a moment suspect it. (hence the title of the thread) When I started reading the "fan theories" I thought they made sense but I was shocked that it never occured to me.

My partner said "I'm pretty sure Red is Liz's mother" maybe 3 or 4 episodes into the first season. I laughed so fucking hard that she's already suspected it. We're at Season 3 now, and it's crazy just how obvious Red's identity seems now.

There was a particularly powerful scene for me in the Luther Braxton conclusion of season 2. (Where he kidnaps Liz as well as an expert on memory blocking/retrieval and forces her to restore Liz's memories so that he can get the Fulcrum for the Cabal) When they rescue Liz, she regains a mistaken memory that James Spader was a stranger who had entered her house the night of the fire to retrieve the Fulcrum, resulting in her father's death. As usual, Red avoids both truth and lie and replies "It's not that simple" as well as "The memories of a 4 year old are... unreliable." He reaches for her to console her and she tears away from him, shouting to leave her alone and she leaves. Watching her leave, Red notices the other rescued captive, the Doctor, being reunited with her child as well. A parallel. (Mother and child) James Spader, the master class actor he is, gives such a subtle yet powerfully pained expression while watching the mother and son hug and kiss each other, overwhelmed with relief that the other is okay. Red stares for a long moment, wearing every inch of his pain and envy on his face. A look he so rarely ever shows, that of complete powerlessness and desperation.

Anyways, I just wanted to barf this out somewhere! It brings me great joy to "rediscover" this show as well as relish in my partner's much superior analysis. It really does change the experience drastically, knowing Red's truth, because the clues the writers left early seasons are plentiful and delicious.

NO SPOILERS PLEASE!! just have a few things to say :)

Tom or whoever he is, is super suspicious but until now (i’m still in s1) they’ve revealed nothing about him, Liz is either Red’s daughter or one of his targets, and i would really like to find out the entire reason behind the blacklist itself, from what i can tell until now is that he either wants revenge or wants something from the target. and yeah that’s it

As the title suggests what's your best quote from the series?

I'll start!

My top 3 are: "We're all puppets, Harold. Some of us just have more strings than others." - Red

"The truth is a weapon, my dear. Wield it with care." - Red

"Forgiveness is a luxury not everyone can afford." - Red

I kinda wish I have a grandpa like Red. Not from the criminal side but his wisdom is bwoaaah

Why do I think he and Raymond would hit it off? Or be instant enemies?

I do want to say that I think Redarina is undisputable and obvious. But anyway here are my thoughts.

1. The Quiet- this episode has some of the longest streches without speaking in the whole series... just images or montages of the time between the Rostovas. And it is beautiful. Red, Liz, and Agnes all get the most screen time by a mile in this episode and it only makes sense. Red, besides revealing his identity, is willing to answer basically everything because he knows he is going soon to hand down his empire (little does he know).

2. Liz's Death is NOT ONLY a plot twist, NOT ONLY a completion of 3 character arcs, NOT ONLY an emotional moments, BUT ALSO symbolic of the whole story. Lets talk about Neville.-His whole character was made to kill Reddington. We have not seen that since Berlin/Cabal in the first 3 seasons (everyone else just wanted answers or leverage Red or get blood cells or reveal the truth to Elizabeth)... his arc did end up with him dying, but his mission was complete. Red watched Liz die, and Neville's nightmares are over. Liz's arc is complete. All series, Red has warned that answers come with a price, and sure enough, her desire for answers brought back Townsend and got her killed. And Red's refusal to tell Liz the truth got her killed. Sure, Liz knowing could have been disastrous, but she was working with Neville so it was long overdue. I also do not think s9/10 are canon because it was Bokencamp's story (and s9 just rewrote this whole episode which I hated)... so for me, Liz died without answers- a punishment for her crimes (but she also probably suspected at the very end).

3. Music- I love the music in this episode. So peaceful but also melancholic.

Top 2 Episode (You can argue that season 5, Episode 8 is better, but it is CLOSE).

I personally prefer the episodes where they get along and are almost partners in crime. Rewatching this episode made me realize how much better they are as a duo than enemies.

For context, my mom spent the better part of a year telling me I HAD to watch this show and knowing her dry taste in shows, I shrugged it off a hundred times to the point where it was starting to get on my nerves.

Long story short, 6 seasons later I wished I had listened to her because this has been a journey , albeit an unhealthy one where I’ve lost a lot of sleep staying up binging.

I’m about midway through season 6 and starting to lose a bit of steam and motivation to see it through but I know that once it’s over I will be searching for something that gives me the same feeling as watching Spader play “Reddington”

Season one Red says something to effect of, “He wouldn’t know his ass if he handed on it in a pile of Christmas.” Was a super witty line and my brain can’t let me not find it. TIA

Nicolas Lundy did some great set design. What's your favorite set or Red hang out design?

I’m four episodes into S4 and something that’s increasingly amusing me is how the task-force headquarters seems to shift between NYC and DC as convenient. I’m not talking about how the show was always filmed in New York, even for scenes pretending to be set in the DMV. And I know how the Acela Corridor works. I live there! Lots of people, including federal employees, shuttle regularly between the two cities. But that takes at least some time! It seems like at some point the writers decided, “Fuck it. You can get from “the Post Office” to the Hudson River easily because sometimes the Post Office itself teleports to Manhattan.

That doesn’t seem to start happening until sometime in S3 or maybe later S2.

Mines is season 5 episode 3 ending. Reds sitting somewhere with his new jet that he has no pilot or fuel for, but he has Dembe and Glen. Glen chooses to stay with him and dembe for a crappy hot dog and a cold beer.

Reddington gets this look like he truly appreciates their loyalty, they’re not there out of a want of money but because they genuinely want to be and are loyal to him. They’re happy to sit with him in a mosquito ridden field having a drink and a bite.

I just started 10*4 right now, and I'm already feeling really happy. Like, every episode with Robert vesco is a great episode, so it's nice that we're getting another in the last season. I hope he gets the some of the fortune or whatever, just want to see the guy retire. Hoping nothing bad happens to him 🤞. Anyways, anyone else who just LOVES him?

I just wanted to check if an objective dna test was ever done concluding that Elizabeth was related to Raymond Rettington . I don’t recall an objective one done .

Towards the end of season 8 , things seemed to be sorting out. Red finally telling Liz all the secrets, Liz accepting them , it almost seemed like a happy ending until Red asked her to kill him in exchange for the final true. Tho i was happy that Red didnt die in the end but I was also sad that Liz did and they couldn’t coexist as Mother-Daughter. Would have been a nice arc.

Is he katarina? Why?

A farmer comes home one day to find that everything that gives meaning to his life is gone. Crops are burned, animals slaughtered, bodies and broken pieces of his life strewn about. Everything that he loved, taken from him. His children. One can only imagine the pit of despair, the hours of job-like lamentations, the burden of existence.

He makes a promise to himself in those dark hours. A life’s work erupts from his knotted mind. Years go by. His suffering becomes complicated. One day he stops. The farmer, who is no longer a farmer sees the wreckage he’s left in his wake. It is now he who burns. It is he who slaughters. And he knows, in his heart he must pay.

The narrative speaks to the deep emotional and existential transformation of a person who has lost everything dear to them. The farmer's life, once full of meaning through his work, his family, and his connection to the land, is destroyed in an instant. The destruction of everything he holds precious leads to an intense despair that drives him to make a promise—a vow to exact a form of revenge or justice, or perhaps simply to survive and regain some sense of control.

As time passes, the farmer's suffering evolves into something more complex, perhaps a drive for power, vengeance, or survival that distorts his sense of self and morality. In the end, he becomes the very force of destruction he once mourned—the one who now burns and slaughters. This turn signifies a deep personal metamorphosis, suggesting that in seeking to cope with his loss, he has become consumed by it, perpetuating the cycle of violence and destruction.

The final realization that he must "pay" hints at an internal reckoning or recognition of guilt—an acknowledgment that in the process of seeking revenge or restoring order, he has lost his humanity and become the very thing he despised. The narrative may explore themes of vengeance, the cost of obsession, the cyclical nature of suffering, and the moral consequences of letting grief or rage define one's actions.

A farmer comes home one day to find that everything that gives meaning to his life is gone. Crops are burned, animals slaughtered, bodies and broken pieces of his life strewn about. Everything that he loved, taken from him. His children. One can only imagine the pit of despair, the hours of job-like lamentations, the burden of existence.

He makes a promise to himself in those dark hours. A life’s work erupts from his knotted mind. Years go by. His suffering becomes complicated. One day he stops. The farmer, who is no longer a farmer sees the wreckage he’s left in his wake. It is now he who burns. It is he who slaughters. And he knows, in his heart he must pay.

The narrative speaks to the deep emotional and existential transformation of a person who has lost everything dear to them. The farmer's life, once full of meaning through his work, his family, and his connection to the land, is destroyed in an instant. The destruction of everything he holds precious leads to an intense despair that drives him to make a promise—a vow to exact a form of revenge or justice, or perhaps simply to survive and regain some sense of control.

As time passes, the farmer's suffering evolves into something more complex, perhaps a drive for power, vengeance, or survival that distorts his sense of self and morality. In the end, he becomes the very force of destruction he once mourned—the one who now burns and slaughters. This turn signifies a deep personal metamorphosis, suggesting that in seeking to cope with his loss, he has become consumed by it, perpetuating the cycle of violence and destruction.

The final realization that he must "pay" hints at an internal reckoning or recognition of guilt—an acknowledgment that in the process of seeking revenge or restoring order, he has lost his humanity and become the very thing he despised. The narrative may explore themes of vengeance, the cost of obsession, the cyclical nature of suffering, and the moral consequences of letting grief or rage define one's actions.

A farmer comes home one day to find that everything that gives meaning to his life is gone. Crops are burned, animals slaughtered, bodies and broken pieces of his life strewn about. Everything that he loved, taken from him. His children. One can only imagine the pit of despair, the hours of job-like lamentations, the burden of existence.

He makes a promise to himself in those dark hours. A life’s work erupts from his knotted mind. Years go by. His suffering becomes complicated. One day he stops. The farmer, who is no longer a farmer sees the wreckage he’s left in his wake. It is now he who burns. It is he who slaughters. And he knows, in his heart he must pay.

The narrative speaks to the deep emotional and existential transformation of a person who has lost everything dear to them. The farmer's life, once full of meaning through his work, his family, and his connection to the land, is destroyed in an instant. The destruction of everything he holds precious leads to an intense despair that drives him to make a promise—a vow to exact a form of revenge or justice, or perhaps simply to survive and regain some sense of control.

As time passes, the farmer's suffering evolves into something more complex, perhaps a drive for power, vengeance, or survival that distorts his sense of self and morality. In the end, he becomes the very force of destruction he once mourned—the one who now burns and slaughters. This turn signifies a deep personal metamorphosis, suggesting that in seeking to cope with his loss, he has become consumed by it, perpetuating the cycle of violence and destruction.

The final realization that he must "pay" hints at an internal reckoning or recognition of guilt—an acknowledgment that in the process of seeking revenge or restoring order, he has lost his humanity and become the very thing he despised. The narrative may explore themes of vengeance, the cost of obsession, the cyclical nature of suffering, and the moral consequences of letting grief or rage define one's actions.

A farmer comes home one day to find that everything that gives meaning to his life is gone. Crops are burned, animals slaughtered, bodies and broken pieces of his life strewn about. Everything that he loved, taken from him. His children. One can only imagine the pit of despair, the hours of job-like lamentations, the burden of existence.

He makes a promise to himself in those dark hours. A life’s work erupts from his knotted mind. Years go by. His suffering becomes complicated. One day he stops. The farmer, who is no longer a farmer sees the wreckage he’s left in his wake. It is now he who burns. It is he who slaughters. And he knows, in his heart he must pay.

The narrative speaks to the deep emotional and existential transformation of a person who has lost everything dear to them. The farmer's life, once full of meaning through his work, his family, and his connection to the land, is destroyed in an instant. The destruction of everything he holds precious leads to an intense despair that drives him to make a promise—a vow to exact a form of revenge or justice, or perhaps simply to survive and regain some sense of control.

As time passes, the farmer's suffering evolves into something more complex, perhaps a drive for power, vengeance, or survival that distorts his sense of self and morality. In the end, he becomes the very force of destruction he once mourned—the one who now burns and slaughters. This turn signifies a deep personal metamorphosis, suggesting that in seeking to cope with his loss, he has become consumed by it, perpetuating the cycle of violence and destruction.

The final realization that he must "pay" hints at an internal reckoning or recognition of guilt—an acknowledgment that in the process of seeking revenge or restoring order, he has lost his humanity and become the very thing he despised. The narrative may explore themes of vengeance, the cost of obsession, the cyclical nature of suffering, and the moral consequences of letting grief or rage define one's actions.

Out of curiosity, how far do y'all go on rewatches? I'm at the part where Faux-Katarina faked her death and Liz is about to betray everyone and begin deceiving everyone for her own purposes (more so than she usually does).

Based on some posts, I know some people stopped watching around this time due to various levels of frustration.

I’m on my first rewatch. How does Liz tell Judge Denner that Reddington hired Tom in the episode before Tom tells her he was hired by Reddington?

Location Rotterdam 🇳🇱