Reddington's one true love was Lizzie's mother whose last dying request was that he and not the Russian take care of her forever? Just a guess. I believe in the last episode it was established that the Russian is indeed Lizzie's biological father who needs her (or the baby, Agnes) for a blood transfusion to save his life. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a u-turn in the plot in some future episode and it turns out that was false and Red is really Lizzie's father. Maybe the mother isn't really dead, either.
Jumped-the-shark last season when those clever highway hillbilly bandits outwitted Red last season - but still better than your other choices. I'll checkout when Spader does.
All very good theories. I smell them setting up a potential plot thing 10 episodes from now where Mr. Kaplan will come back, shoot Red, and in his dying breath, he'll confess the truth to Lizzie about whatever mystery he's hiding. It's interesting that Red was not thrown by the revelation that Liz has got her mother's diary and is reading it -- never mind how she manages to read fluent Russian -- and will no doubt uncover some secrets there. It would make it a lot easier to end the season and the series with Red Reddington's deathbed confession, but I believe they're already been picked up for Season 5. It's a little maddening, because the baby has basically been turned into a McGuffin for the show, but I dunno what else they can do. The contrivances they've been doing ("Lizzie's dead! No, she's alive! The baby's safe! No, it's kidnapped!") seem to me like the writers are throwing a lot of sh** at the wall and seeing what's sticking.
The wife & I recently started up on Boston Legal, and so far the first season is super-tight with fantastic writing and pace. It reminds me of those first two seasons of The Blacklist where we couldn't wait to get to the next episodes. The Blacklist has now become almost another show completely, as if the original writers got hijacked and replaced with mediocre rookies. We watch it now only out of curiosity, hoping that we get an occasional good episode. This season seems to be specializing in endless scenarios of bad guys escaping seemingly easy capture.
I like it how everyone seems to have access to a couple of mercenaries at the drop of a hat. I wonder if they have a phone number or web page "www.mercsrus.com"?
I'm still enjoying each week and hope the show goes for 8-10 seasons. Loved the part where Liz is telling Tom on the phone how much it means to her that he didn't trace the video signal and try to rescue the baby while he's in the process of raiding the house with his crew lol .
So true ugh.. with baby makes tv show turn to crap. I wished they would just killed liz off.. This have to be the last season..
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I really agree with you. Just about everything in the last episode was predictable- from Tom going after the baby and Elizabeth's reaction to Tom, and to Mr. Kaplan being chained to the bed. At this point, I'm only watching because I like Spader so much. Another episode like the last one, and I think I'll be done.
The circle Liz>Tom>Red>FBI>Baby can go on forever without any surprise turning a good series into a formulaic one consisting of a continuous hide and seek with the high profile offender of the week.
They've definitely descended into a pretty ridiculous formula. But the ratings are not terrible. I'd point to CSI, Criminal Minds, Law & Order, and NCIS as shows that lasted a long, long, long time sticking to a very predictable formula.
I'll keep on watching, but only for some time to see if the relation between Lizzy and Reddington is finally discovered or made public. I think at this point only Mr. Kaplan can bring some substance to the show.
If you like Boston Legal, as well as Blacklist, do yourself and pick up season 8 of "The Practice". This is the introduction of Alan Shore, and really showcases that character throughout the entire season. It also sets up the segue to Boston Legal. In hindsight, it seems that the creatives at Blacklist have for the most part let James Spader essentially do more of the same in this series, which is show off.
In this past week's ep, we see that the FBI (and numerous associated security guards) are still somehow unable to contain a single perp already within the confines of a fenced-in major gas substation. But then, we wouldn't have had the high-tension ending, including Aram declaring his pacifist values at the most inopportune time.
Spader won three Emmys for that role, so I think he's more than just a show off. He did some very interesting things in The Practice and Boston Legal, and I worked a little bit on the latter show. He was very well-rehearsed and had very, very complicated dialogue day after day and rarely screwed up, so this is not a guy who's showing off on the set -- it's a deliberate performance that stays the same across multiple takes and multiple cameras.