I think we all agree that S1 is the best out of all.
But in these episodes, the writing, the cinematography, the way Spader brings life to every word he says is immaculate.

"You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can by its first few chapters, and most certainly by its last"

"I want the warmth of a woman in a cool set of sheets"

"Most of all, I wanna sleep. I wanna sleep like I slept when I was a boy"

"That's why I won't let that punk out there get the best of me, let alone the last of me"

This is likely gonna be my final post in r/TheBlackList since I’m done with the show (all seasons, all episodes). I was missing Spader and suddenly, lo and behold! There is Spader as a human avatar of Ultron in the newly released VisionQuest on Disney+. Though he is sporting glasses, mustache, and a beard, his dialog delivery is unmistakable, and it felt so, so good, like suddenly seeing an old friend!! That’s all.

Might be my 5th post now, but my god she is insufferable. Like honestly how could the writers mess up this bad?? Who thought this was a good idea? If I have to hear her blame Red for the deaths of Tom, her sister, her FAKE mother, her team and whoever else died during her little tantrum, one more time I might just skip to the scene where she dies cuz I just can’t stand it. Literally almost everything bad since idk maybe season 5 maybe 6 has been because of her. She won’t listen to the one person who has had her back and literally TRADED his life for hers on numerous occasions but takes the word of some random old bag across the hall that she’s her mother and Red is a Russian spy? WHAT?! And don’t get me started on the task force, they can’t make up their dam minds who’s side their own, one seconds it’s Liz (even though she’s a actual terrorist now and betrayed them in unimaginable ways, the next it’s Reddington but then they crux”oh no Reddington is a criminal” like no shit he is that’s why you work with him and what the hell would you call Liz? Hospital bomber? Domestic flight terrorist? Cooperator murder? And so on and on. No one on the FBI including Liz has any facts or proof of the nonsense they spit out.

I am one of those people who did not watch The Blacklist during its original run and only finished it recently. And after I finished it, I went through this very weird phase where nothing I tried picking up seemed interesting anymore. You know that feeling when you have spent so much time with a character that moving on from them feels almost impossible? Also a character like RR? That brings so much depth and layers.

Until I think I followed someone's advice here, or read about it here, and renewed my Hotstar subscription to start watching Boston Legal.

And my, oh my. Alan Shore walked so Raymond Reddington could run.

I genuinely cannot imagine another actor bringing so many quirks, idiosyncrasies, and little behavioural touches to these characters the way James Spader does. And the commonalities between Alan Shore and Raymond Reddington are just... eerie.

The way they talk about women. The way they describe people and situations. Those long, winding monologues that somehow hold your attention from the first word to the last. Alan's closing statements in Boston Legal, and Raymond's speeches in The Blacklist, especially when he is passionately making a point, going toe-to-toe with someone he is about to shoot, or revealing something that changes the entire context of a scene. That particular way of speaking, the pauses, the expressions, the almost playful amusement with which they can say the most outrageous things.

And then, just like that, they can turn serious and make you feel like you have been let into a part of them that nobody else gets to see.

I mean, James Spader has such a distinct way of inhabiting a character that you can see the little similarities without feeling like you are watching the same person twice. Alan is Alan, Raymond is Raymond, and yet there is something so unmistakably Spader about both of them.

It is also making me feel like I missed out on so much by not watching Boston Legal earlier. But then again, I don't know if I would have appreciated it the way I am appreciating it now. Maybe some things find you when you are finally ready for them.

And then there was this episode, Smile, I think Season 2, Episode 15, where there is this young girl who cannot smile. By the end of the episode, she draws a picture of Alan Shore walking with her. And the man she draws, who is supposed to be Alan, is wearing a fedora. Except, as far as I can remember, Alan hasn't worn a hat or a fedora in the show until that point.

And I don't know why, but that little detail got to me. It was such a strange, almost is this a glimpse of the future? kind of moment. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but it felt oddly significant, especially knowing the character Alan eventually becomes and the kind of larger-than-life presence Raymond Reddington would later be.

Or maybe I am just enjoying the experience of discovering all these little connections and echoes between two characters I have come to love.

Anyway, I just needed to put this somewhere because OH MY GOD, IS IT GOOD.

And if James Spader has ruined other television characters for me now.

Please feel free to drop suggestions on what to watch next.

Adding an ss of that drawing from Boston Legal

I watched episode 2 tonight. AI Ultron acts just like Reddington.

I remember when I started watching the show when season 1 aired. I was instantly hooked and I dreadfully waited to watch it episode by episode, season after season, but at some point, like with Suits and other really good series I watched, life happened and I forgot about it. Now years later, a week or so ago, I decided to finish where I had left off and oh man- this was hard. Bawling my eyes hard. Part of me kinda wishes I hadn’t, because I grew so fond of Reddington over the years, and now, the more mature me really related to and clung onto so many things he said.
I’ve taken a few minutes to skim over posts here, and I saw some people say the ending was bad, but I disagree. The entire season 10 was a proper funeral to the series, and it was the best thing they could have done for the fans of the show. Red’s death was worthy of him, going on his own terms, embracing death as an old friend, although the imagery of it broke my heart. I just wish they would have added a few minutes to honor him in the story line, instead of ending it abruptly like that - maybe a funeral, something.. But I do understand the choice, artistically speaking.
I envy series that go on for tens of seasons, and this is one I wish had done so, because Spader made Reddington a timeless, lovable and brilliant character.

I love these two soo much !

ig @ art.bye.nate

Ok so I've watch this show multiple times. I enjoyed it very much honeslty because it was different than the copy and paste of CSIs, Law & Order, NCIS and Criminal Mind type shows which I love to watch too.

But Blacklist was at least for me almost the reverse of these shows. The look from the inside of the criminal perspective in a different way. Also Red has almost like a moral code so its hard to see him as "bad" sometimes if that makes sense. Because he typicallt wouldn't hurt women and children but would shot and ask questions later if it was to save those few he cared about or his own behind.

But the part that's got me confused is when he takes Lizzy to the "Blacklist " HQ and she has this weird flashback story moment with people who were in the show like her "mom" who wasn't actually her mom but the pretend version of Katarina that was still being hunted.

So I guess my question to y'all is WHO IS RED REALLY? In your opinion. And is was it deliberately vague so people could come up with their own thoughts, opinions and conclusions. Also I want to read the dang letter!!! I feel like honeslty that's why we never see the contents of the letter 1st hand. Even after its brought back out again and they make an entire season out of Lizzy and her death and the impact on a bunch of the characters and how it really happened and who all was involved. Also I call bull in Dembe giving her the letter early because no matter how much he disagreed with Reds tactics or what he was doing he never betrayed him by going against his strict orders. Just my take there.

I will leave my opinion in the comments but it has some holes and I think that's what bugs me most. LIKE WHY CAN'T THEY BE LIKE GOT AND GEORGE RR MARTIN and give us some scraps like with Hodor. So frustrating! Becuase truly i did enjoy the show. Thanks cant wait to read others takes on this!!

I highly recommend because Spader speaks, uses the same metaphors, etc. Its great.

So let me know if I’m crazy but did they never touch back on Reds mysterious illness? Like they free a blacklister to make him antidotes/treatment. Next thing you know he’s “giving up” then a bunch more seasons go by without ever touching on it again?

This is a rant.

I am still in season 7 and don't want spoilers please🥲

Every single time she lies and betrays and reddington just blindly believes her again. Im sick of her holier than thou attitude!!!

Edit: i am a little Reddington biased, but i think the major point of his character is that hes extremely morally gray where the "right thing" and "greater good" are philosophical and subjective concepts. This is a heavily recurring theme in the entire show where people are extremely conflicted about him, whether to leave or stay, praise or punish. And anyways i am annoyed at Elizabeth's constant missteps and reds trust and forgiveness when he knows better.

What the hell was even that??

This is like my third post in 2 days about her but I just cannot fathom how bad the writers made this. She is infuriating to watch almost unbearable I love the show but I’m this close to tapping out. If I have to hear “she was my mother” or “he killed my mother” one more time. After all they have been through, even with the withholding of truth from Red she has some audacity to want to kill him over this fake Katarina nonsense. The fact she even believes that women was her mother is beyond stupid of her, she was ZERO proof and then just believes everything this woman tells her. When she says “I know about the Sikorsky archive” (which turns out to be real) but she says it with such certainty, like no lady you know nothing, just what some women who is manipulating wants you to know. But what really gets me is Red (whoever he really is) has been there her whole life looking out for her, risked being caught to be part of her life, has saved her and her friends’ lives numerous times, even traded himself for her safety countless times, clearly he loves her but NONE of that matters all because some random woman she just met says “I’m your mother” and that all goes out the window and means nothing to her. Even if she was her mother, where was she? What has she done for you other than ruin your life and abandon you, even if she is your mother she really should be NOTHING to you, yeah her life was in danger but guess who else’s was? RED’S! Yet here he is looking out for you. Hell she moved in right next door and was out and about with your child, clearly she had some leg room to move around the world and be present at least sometimes but nope she only came to Liz cuz she needed her for her own agenda, not even to help Liz but to help herself, but that’s the person you will chose over Red? It’s disgusting. I could rant about this forever (and probably will again soon)

I'm on my second full rewatch (currently at S3 E18) and I keep coming back to Mr. Kaplan. Did the show ever give us more insight into who she is as a person?

When she's not organizing clean crews for Reddington or setting up operating theaters in warehouses, what's her life like?

Does she have a family of her own?
Is she someone's nice grandma?
Does she play bridge with the old ladies on Thursday evenings?

I need the deets! Any backstory, hints, or fan theories are welcome, and spoilers for the whole series are fine. If you know which episodes dig into her character, please point me to them.

My bad: Meant to write Mr. Kaplan; can’t edit the title

That sounds like quite a hassle filming a show for 10 years while essentially blind. I wonder how did he pull that off?

My GOD Liz is the frigging worst tv character I think I have ever seen! This woman just tried to blow up a dam hospital, and couldn’t be ignorant to the fact that someone else would be in that room, a doctor, a nurse a police officer, ONE OF HER OWN TEAM! Literal terrorist shit. And again all of this over SOME RANDOM WOMAN WHO SHE HAS NO IDEA ABOUT IN REALITY!! Then the team doesn’t just say “go to hell Liz you went too far; cooper tried to justify her actions?! And then the whole nonsense of “I’ve seen how reddington does it, I can do it too” like really?! REALLY?!! You’ve been fooled, tricked and manipulated by EVERYONE on the show cuz you’re that stupid and yet you know how to out maneuver REDDINGTON? The dude who no one could catch with all they got?!? Go to hell Liz you ruined a great show

So let me get this straight…. Dumbass Liz just believes this random woman that she’s her mother. Without any proof of whatsoever, after she endangered her friends and daughter and tried to kill Red, the only person in her life looking out for her, then betrays Red personally and kidnaps Dom, lying to the task force in the process and yet the task force is mad at Reddington? The same guy who has saved each one of them countless times, made them the high profile top tier task force that they are and sides with crazy delusional Liz? I just can’t with this show

Never noticed the similarity until just today, even though these screenshots have been on my phone for years. There's always something new to discover and think about.

So, what is being shown that is not exactly said? Perhaps...

An adopted non-binary child > that child imagines through pictures of a mother/father > leading to and culminating with The Blacklist.

Thats my interpretation. What's yours?