S08.E22: Konets

[Ceindreadh]

On 6/24/2021 at 3:05 PM, paigow said:

Candidates for least believable action:

• Ressler figures out the master plan and staggers / runs to the restaurant faster than Cooper can drive there
• Van Dyke admires his killshot instead of finishing RedArina / KataRed
• Aram has only done the helium voice once at work

We don't know the respective locations of the task force headquarters, the hospital and the restaurant.  If the hospital was significantly closer to the restaurant, it could be feasible.  Especially if the team got stuck in traffic and had to run the last part of the journey.

 

I loved the scene with the helium balloons.  Especially Dembe's comment about it being childish, heh!

[IndiaCat]

If Red is really Katrina, and assuming Liz isn’t well and completely dead, the most fitting series finale would be for Red to die and and Liz return after surgery having transformed into Tom … or maybe into the new Red (ala The Dread Pirate Robert from “The Princess Bride”). We could start all over with Agnes as the new Liz. 

[Such A Flirt]

See, I just knew there was a reason I liked Vandyke so much! And yes, I cheered.

[Mlle. Kitty]

On 6/26/2021 at 9:25 PM, CaptainE said:

Yes, I fast forwarded through all the Lizzie life flashing bullshit.  My thought was that Red had someone in the background ready to shoot him, as he anticipated Lizzie not being able to.  This was a better finish though. 
 

Why Harold, Aram and Ressler suck up to her is unexplainable.  And the jumping into the hospital bed?  Fifth grade creative writing ,at best.

So Red is so close to dying of some mysterious bullshit disease that he is ready to be shot.  And the explanation for his being around next season will be............

writer’s amnesia.
 

 

IIRC, Dembe said Red’s treatments were working, and he was “getting better, not worse.” The reason Red wanted Liz to kill him was to “protect” her - by killing him publicly, he surmised there would be a photo in every major newspaper of her standing over his body with a gun in her hand, thus making her the only person to successfully take down the notorious and powerful Red Reddington.  This would ostensibly transfer his power to her and keep her “safe” (I don’t think that would’ve worked, but I am but a lowly viewer, unacquainted with the rules and regs that govern the criminal underworld…) 😇

[dwmarch]

On 7/8/2021 at 3:56 AM, Mlle. Kitty said:

I don’t think that would’ve worked, but I am but a lowly viewer, unacquainted with the rules and regs that govern the criminal underworld…

I'm not sure but Red obviously doesn't watch Jeopardy. The contestant who defeated Ken Jennings was defeated the very next episode. I feel like that is how it would go for Lizzie in the criminal underworld.

[CaptainE]

On 7/8/2021 at 3:56 AM, Mlle. Kitty said:

IIRC, Dembe said Red’s treatments were working, and he was “getting better, not worse.” The reason Red wanted Liz to kill him was to “protect” her - by killing him publicly, he surmised there would be a photo in every major newspaper of her standing over his body with a gun in her hand, thus making her the only person to successfully take down the notorious and powerful Red Reddington.  This would ostensibly transfer his power to her and keep her “safe” (I don’t think that would’ve worked, but I am but a lowly viewer, unacquainted with the rules and regs that govern the criminal underworld…) 😇

I disagree he was done living and healthy, and ready to die to protect her from what exactly?

Add to that the fact that there would be no motive for her to kill him, thus any half brained criminal  would assume it was faked, no matter what video was out there.

[Danielg342]

On 7/8/2021 at 6:56 AM, Mlle. Kitty said:

IIRC, Dembe said Red’s treatments were working, and he was “getting better, not worse.” The reason Red wanted Liz to kill him was to “protect” her - by killing him publicly, he surmised there would be a photo in every major newspaper of her standing over his body with a gun in her hand, thus making her the only person to successfully take down the notorious and powerful Red Reddington.  This would ostensibly transfer his power to her and keep her “safe” (I don’t think that would’ve worked, but I am but a lowly viewer, unacquainted with the rules and regs that govern the criminal underworld…) 😇

I respond with the caveat that I think there's very little the show has done that has made a lick of sense. So don't get too wrapped up trying to understand the show's logic because I'm not sure even the show understands its own logic.

That said, I do believe you have it right. Red's idea was that, in having Liz killing him out in the open for all to see, Liz would gain the respect and the fear of the criminal underworld, because she killed Raymond freaking Reddington. Considering that, even during the course of the series, so many had tried but failed to do that exact job, someone actually succeeding in doing so would be considered a "big deal" in the criminal underworld.

I mean, you can't earn more prestige for yourself than if you took down- literally- the "big boss".

That was supposed to be the idea.

With that out of the way, I'll indulge in my own analysis maybe just to further the point how little the show itself actually thought this idea through. Having studied enough history, I know that snuffing out the Emperor doesn't, in turn, make you the Emperor- it just makes you a target for those who supported the Emperor, and creates a power vacuum that touches off a series of messy conflicts as others battle to fill the void.

So what would we be left with? Liz killing Red might draw some people to her- but then there would be others loyal to Red (and not in on his plan) who would put a target on her back because she killed the one they liked.

Then there would be Red's enemies, seeing that he's gone and thus seeing an opportunity to move on his empire. They would be a considerable threat, which would be even more dangerous if those opposed to Red actually banded together (which would be no small feat in itself).

Which means that Lizzie would be engulfed in a multi-front war that she would somehow have to navigate and find a way to come out on top of. Granted, if she comes out victorious after that war, she'd easily cement herself as Red's replacement, because winning that war would definitely earn respect.

Now we can quibble about whether or not Lizzie would be capable of winning such a conflict...but, wouldn't that conflict sound like fun? You could really build an entire series detailing the war between criminal factions. That conflict is a multi-layered story that would have tons of themes and narratives to explore, all of which would have natural progressions and ample opportunities to build upon them. You'd also need years to really give that kind of story the depth and exploration it deserves.

...but, we're not going to get that. Instead, I just chalk it up to yet another set of missed opportunities for this show. The amount of storylines and other angles that could have bore a lot of fruit and yielded years of stories that The Blacklist has missed out on is just staggering.

It just reinforces my view that there was an interesting series inside of this show's universe...the show just never found it.

 

[KeithJ]

I'm a bit late to the party but I just binged all of season 8 in about a week.

I think Reddington is actually going to turn out to be the actual Reddington.  I don't think he will end up being her mother.  Remember, he did the nasty with Anne a few episodes ago.  I'm not a woman but, if I was and I laid down with a man only to find out he didn't have anything down there, I'd probably be pretty damn upset and would probably have thrown him out.

 

[catherinejane]

Red is a master manipulator, i am sure he could have explained stuff to Anne as "an injury in the war" and made up for it in other ways!

[judyri]

I agree with the above, I don't see how Liz killing Red would have assured her as his successor.  First, he should have been grooming her for YEARS for this, she doesn't know his contacts, what favors he's owed and owes, etc.  It was a stupid plan no one would believe.