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Spoilers The Blacklist - Season 8 Discussion Thread

Procutus

Procutus

Admiral
Admiral
With his back against the wall, Raymond Reddington (James Spader) faces his most formidable enemy yet: Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone). Aligned with her mother, infamous Russian spy Katarina Rostova, Liz must decide how far she is willing to go to find out why Reddington has entered her life and what his endgame really is. The fallout between Reddington and Keen will have devastating consequences for all that lie in their wake, including the Task Force they helped to create.
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And that sets the stage for the beginning of Season 8, set to debut on NBC on Friday, November 13 at 8:00 P.M. My understanding is that because last season was cut short because of the pandemic, Season 8 will begin with the unseen/unused ideas from last year - as the half live-action, half animated ep we got as a finale was never intended to be the Season 7 finale. That alone has me intrigued enough to see how this one will start off and if we will be able to discern just where they had originally intended to end.

One of the biggest unanswered questions, aside from Red' s true identity, is the fate of Dom with the passing of Brian Dennehy. It will have to be dealt with at some point and I for one, sincerely hope that they don't just simply recast the character. I have never been big on that and it would not serve either the character or the actor who brought him to life any justice.

So we shall see.

Hope to see some familiar faces in here once the show gets underway.


:techman:
 
Season 8 promo:

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Just a reminder to anyone who might care to watch that the premier is tonight at 8:00 P.M. Eastern. Hope I'm not the only one around.

:D
 
^
Yeah, there seems to be a limit to they way they can write her character. I mean once again, after everything Red has done for her and protected her and literally saved her ass on numerous occasions - she's siding with someone who claims to be her mother and seems far more bloodthirsty than Reddington has been.
 
Blacklist has become the show the last few seasons that I watch out of habit but as I’m watching the episode I get sucked back into the show and remember why I like it so much. Then we wash/rinse/repeat the next time there’s a new episode on my DVR, and I say to myself I guess I need to watch this show again...

So next week the biggest reveal ever (again) hope it’s something without substance that won’t be undone or proven false in a year or two as NBC seems to write The Blacklist a blank check for every year to go do a new season. Do they actually have an endgame in place if this is the final season?
 
I had forgotten that Brian Dennehy, so I was confused when he wasn't Dom.
I can definitely agree that Liz constantly going rogue is getting a bit old.
I was a little surprised how quick she was to turn against Red. I understand she's pissed he lied to her about his identity, but she was awfully quick to trust her mother over him with all of this.
The whole thing with Red's identity is also starting to get kind of annoying. First he was her father, then he was Ilya, and now he's not Ilya. They need to just make up their minds and stick with an identity once and for all.
 
If you think about it though, Red has never said that he was any of those things. He denied being Liz's father when she asked him directly, and he certainly never claimed to be Ilya. The only identity he's ever claimed is that of Raymond Reddington - and there's still the vague possibility that he could be.

At the moment, the theory I favor is that he's Dom's son, from an earlier marriage (or no marriage at all). This would make him and Katarina half-siblings and it would make him Liz's uncle. Which would explain a great many things, such as why he's so overwhelmingly concerned about her well-being and the complete disconnect he had with Jennifer (daughter of the real Reddington).
 
Reddington is Reddington. He gave the clue away last season in an episode when he was talking to Liz. He told her "I'm Popeye the sailor man". The real Reddington was in the Navy, a sailor man. Very quick, throw-away line in a show that has intricate details scattered throughout.
 
With all the wheel spinning this show does, at this point it doesn't matter who Red really is. If he turns out to be someone they introduce in the final season before the reveal, it'll be a major letdown. If he turns out to have been Red all along, they haven't given any reason for why he has to continue to hide it. And we know this show isn't capable of building up the reveal through bits and pieces scattered throughout the seasons.
 
Procutus said:
If you think about it though, Red has never said that he was any of those things. He denied being Liz's father when she asked him directly, and he certainly never claimed to be Ilya. The only identity he's ever claimed is that of Raymond Reddington - and there's still the vague possibility that he could be.
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That's a good point, but from a real world perspective it's still kind of annoying that the writers keep making us think he's one person, only to say oh no, he's this guy.
Once or twice is fine, but we're now on like the third or fourth time they've done that.
At the moment, the theory I favor is that he's Dom's son, from an earlier marriage (or no marriage at all). This would make him and Katarina half-siblings and it would make him Liz's uncle. Which would explain a great many things, such as why he's so overwhelmingly concerned about her well-being and the complete disconnect he had with Jennifer (daughter of the real Reddington).
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That would explain a lot.
Photoman15 said:
Reddington is Reddington. He gave the clue away last season in an episode when he was talking to Liz. He told her "I'm Popeye the sailor man". The real Reddington was in the Navy, a sailor man. Very quick, throw-away line in a show that has intricate details scattered throughout.
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I thought they pretty much proved with 100% certainty that the real Reddington is dead?
 
They need to wrap things up. This is getting absurd.

I assume the FBI will just let Liz back on team and investigate cases like nothing happened. And work with Red like nothing happened.
 
^

I'm not so sure of that. I hate to use the old cliche, but I think last night's episode was something of a game-changer, in more ways than one. Clearly, Liz's main agenda now will be to take down Red in any way possible, as she believes that he just killed her mother right in front of her.

Which brings me to my first speculation, that being that what we say (and by extension, Liz) may not be exactly as it appeared. Red seemed almost hesitant to kill Katarina, despite all the trouble she's caused him (not to mention being essentially responsible for Dom's passing), and I can't help but wonder if this wasn't some elaborate ruse to once again, make it seem as though Rostova was dead, but that this is some way to once again make her safe... In exchange for her silence.

It's out there, I know, but we've seen a number of far-fetched things on this show. I really think there's more to it than what played out on the screen. It also seemed to me (and the rather long break until January) that these first two shows were really in fact, what had been intended for the end of Season 7. Let's just say that Season 8 officially gets underway in January.

After witnessing Red's reaction to Dom's death, I am now firmly in the belief that Dom was his father. The gentle kiss on the forehead certainly struck me as a son saying goodbye to his father. Certainly, the two had a father/son type of relationship.

Is Red really N-13? I think not, as for one, it's just too damn convenient, and Dom specifically said to Keen that saying that name too many times would get her killed - by N-13 himself, no less. Red would never kill her, no matter how many times she fucks up and disappoints him. Or asks too many stupid questions. My wife thinks that Ilya is N-13 and while it's quite possible, I don't think he fits the description of a cold-blooded killer of that ilk. Ilya is more spy than assassin.

Finally, it struck me very odd that when Dom called out for Lena and the doctor asked who that was, Katarina responded with 'She's his wife', not 'She's my mother.' If I'm right about this, it re-affirms that she and Red may in fact, be half-siblings, with her possibly never knowing that she had a brother.

Like Liz, I want some answers, damn it!

:brickwall:
 
There are still people convinced that Red is Katarina and they go through a ton of mental gymnastics to validate that. Maybe Red is Katarina, maybe he's not, but this show does not do elaborate setups with future payoffs, so there's a lot of grasping at straws here. The biggest hurdle would be all the crap they'd have to explain as to why fake Katarina thought she was Katarina in the first place.
 
At this point, I really don't see that as a realistic possibility.
I read an interview with the showrunner the other day, and I think he did say that it wouldn't be right back to business as usual after this week's episode.
As for Liz siding with her mother over Red, I realize that it basically just that she's tired of Red's bullshit, and as far as she was concerned Katerina was her best way to cut through it and get to the truth.
I was shocked they actually killed Katerina, I was expecting the whole Katerina & Liz vs Red conflict to go on through more of the season.
Not to surprised Red was M-19 (or was it N-19?), that was pretty obvious.
I felt sorry for poor Dembe, he really was stuck between aa rock and a hard place when it came to Liz and Red.
It will be interesting if anything more comes of Liz and Ressler's kiss, or if that was just a one time thing.
 
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