Like most “Blacklist” viewers, I had not actually seen the show in years. To be honest, I’m struggling to remember exactly when I stopped watching the series, but it was probably somewhere between the end of season 2 or 3. [I know I didn’t make it to Mr. Kaplan’s “turning” on Red–an event I’m only aware of because I was looking back on the show’s history through Wikipedia.] Of course, that puts me with the majority of “Blacklist” fans since the show had experienced a pretty steep drop off in viewership over the years–which wasn’t as glaring since the entirety of broadcast TV seemed to implode.
So when I heard the series was ending after a decade, I decided to watch the last handful of episodes leading up to the finale, and then enjoy the swan song of James Spader’s iconic Raymond Reddington, the definition of a great character stuck on a (usually) lousy show.
One thing I enjoyed about the home stretch was the absence of Megan Boone’s Liz, a character that was similar to Rose Byrne’s on “Damages” in that she was annoying, tedious, and often sucked up valuable screen time we could’ve spent with the more charismatic, infinitely-more-interesting older antihero (Glenn Close’s Patty Hewes in that show’s case). But even with several charm-deficient supporting characters gone from “Blacklist,” there was still good, old boring Agent Reesler to remind us that a mediocre show can never really overhaul itself (one of the best laugh lines in the series finale was when Reddington described Reesler as a “humorless fellow” to someone). Reesler is a man of such little internal feeling and thoughtfulness, he announced Reddington’s abrupt death as though he was calling a football game.
Still, the final episodes were unusual for the series, as it mostly involved Reddington not really going after worse criminals (you might’ve suspected they’d set up one final confrontation with the “ultimate bad guy” for him), but instead quietly dismantling his own empire, and bewildering every other character on the show. This made the last episodes more interesting but possibly less exciting, as the whole thing had the feel of a slow-motion suicide more than the climactic capper to one of the longest running action series currently on TV.
With Liz and many of his longtime associates dead (a few like Kaplan and Gerard had turned on him), was Red truly just bone-tired and ready for retirement? Or was he dying and knew this was the end whether he wanted it or not? …To be honest, I’m not entirely sure myself. The finale hinted that Reddington wasn’t a “well man” even before his direct blood transfusion to his critical-condition ex-bodyguard and good friend, but never definitively said he was sick with something terminal before the transfusion.
In keeping with “Blacklist” tradition, things that seemed important (like Reddington’s health or what Harold Cooper’s fate is after the task force is disbanded or if the task force will be disbanded after Reddington) were kept maddeningly vague, while things that were completely unimportant (repetitive scenes with his FBI crew wondering if they’re doing the right thing and/or Congressman Hudson barking that he didn’t trust anyone) were shown at length.
I also found it annoying that Red’s FBI co-workers all seemed to have conflicting loyalties about hunting him down (even sentient mannequin Ressler seemed to acknowledge there’s no future for them with the FBI after Reddingon’s gone), and yet tried as hard as they possibly could do it anyway. An almost comically-inept example involved Dembe saying he owed Raymond his life while sitting in a hospital bed after Red’s blood transfusion and then asking Ressler (who had come up with bupkis in his search for Red at a Spanish villa) to check the local market for clues. It’s like “easy there Clarence Thomas, don’t strain yourself selling out so hard.” It was a last reminder that his show had characters routinely do things the plot needed them to do, more than things that actually made any form of sense for them to do–a hallmark of bad writing–such as Dembe calling Red to warn him in one episode, and then trying like a madman to catch him minutes later.
But enough about the bad stuff. Let’s talk about Red, and Spader’s miraculous, squeezing-blood-from-a-stone performance. Let’s be honest and admit that most people watching this show were doing it not for the stale, CBS-procedural around Redding, but for those juicy, all-too-brief glimpses of the great white himself.
Reddington was always an amoral, razor-sharp, contagiously-joyful character to be in the presence of. A man delighted with a world he knew full well to be corrupt, but who maintained his “happy warrior” humor and ruthless elegance throughout. With a shift of his eyes, Spader could make you feel Red’s rising violence (right before he’s about to kill someone) or a heartwarming glimmer of vulnerability. And yes, for me personally, it was nice to see a complex, terrific leading part go to a “larger man” who doesn’t have a superhero physique…for once.
Highlights of the final episodes include Red visiting Harold one last time and saying “let’s have some fun on the way out…catch me, if you can,” visiting with all his longtime associates to give them parting thoughts or gifts, a tender moment with Dembe, a few last great speeches (the toast at the close of his smuggling business or interrupting the AG’s meeting), blowing Hudson’s head off (let’s be honest, you were soooo glad he did), that cat-and-mouse game to leave DC, a quiet stroll or gaze at a sunset, and a romantic tenderness with the last woman he asked to be his girlfriend.
We’ll miss you Red! Truly, I don’t think broadcast TV may ever come up with a character like you again.