The Blacklist Series Finale Recap: What Became of Raymond Reddington and the Task Force? — Plus, Grade the Episodes!
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After 10 years, dozens of captured criminals and more Raymond Reddington monologues than one could count, The Blacklist has come to an end at NBC.
The long-running crime drama wrapped up with a two-hour series finale on Thursday, which found Red running from the very FBI agents he’d worked alongside for the past decade. But did Red manage to evade authorities once again? (The short answer: Yes… by dying!) And what became of the Task Force when this final case was over? (The short answer: It’s done? We guess?) Read on for the details.
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* First up, Hour 1 centered on the cat-and-mouse game involving Red and the Task Force — and the FBI agents spent much of the episode waffling on whether they even wanted to track down Reddington, given their complicated and twisted loyalty to him over the years. But early on in the hour, Cooper asserted that “I want us to find him because that’s who we are,” and the rest of the Task Force ultimately agreed. Even in a phone conversation with Reddington, Dembe told him, “I’m bringing you in, Raymond. I’m serious.” (“I hope you are. For your sake,” Red had replied.)
* With the help of surveillance footage, Congressman Hudson discovered that Dembe was the one to tip Red off last week that he was about to be located at his airplane. Dembe was swiftly arrested for aiding and abetting a fugitive, and in true Dembe fashion, he told Cooper that he wanted to take full responsibility for helping Reddington escape. But! While Dembe and Ressler were being transported to FBI headquarters for additional questioning about Dembe’s involvement in the whole ordeal, Red and his men intercepted the transfer by crashing their vehicles into the FBI’s SUVs.
What followed was intense: Hudson, disoriented from the crash, pulled a gun on Dembe, insisting that he no longer trusted Dembe in this pursuit of Red. Dembe tried desperately to defuse the situation, but Hudson got spooked by a nearby noise and shot Dembe in the neck, prompting him to bleed profusely. In response, Red shot Hudson in the head and killed him instantly; he shot at Ressler several times, too, but only hit his body armor.
* Hour 2 resolved that harrowing ordeal quickly: Red brought Dembe to a nearby nursing home, and a doctor was called in to operate on him. The situation was so dire, though, that Red volunteered himself for a direct blood transfusion to Dembe in order to save him, though that wasn’t advised by the nurse on call. Thankfully, Dembe survived the gunshot wound and subsequent operation — no way they’d ever kill Dembe off, right? — but by the time Cooper & Co. reached the nursing home to check on him, Red had fled. Dembe’s surgeon indicated that Red wasn’t a strong enough donor for a direct blood transfer, and he looked extremely unwell by the time the operation was over. (Not that that stopped Red from immediately traveling again after Dembe had stabilized.)
* Meanwhile, following Hudson’s unexpected death, Agent Nixon doubled down on wanting to find Red, explaining within earshot of the Task Force that he planned to kill Reddington on sight once he finally located the man. Upon hearing that alarming promise, Herbie recused himself from the whole affair, unable to commit to a pursuit of Reddington that he knew full well would result in his friend’s death.
* We eventually learned that Red had flown to Spain after Dembe’s operation — specifically to Villa Lobo in Andalusia, where a friend named Angela helped him recuperate. And though a long sleep seemed to work wonders, Red began to cough up blood into a tissue. (We never did find out the specifics of that mystery illness Red had a few seasons back, after all.) Red spent the next half-hour quite wistful: He walked to a market and bought some fruit. He called Agnes and advised her on how to handle a crush at school.
He also expressed his interest in visiting Andalusia’s famed Miura cattle ranch, and he took a long walk there the next morning; at the same time, Ressler stayed on Red’s heels and eventually tracked him down with help from some vendors at the aforementioned market. After Red had been walking for a long time at the ranch, he turned to find a bull staring at him from several yards away, snorting and salivating. Red walked toward the bull, fearless. The bull paced around for a while during their staring contest — and then, it started running straight at Reddington, who stood in place with no panic.
A while later, Ressler touched down at the ranch via helicopter… and The Blacklist made sure we knew, with zero uncertainty, that that bull had killed Red, who was lying in the grass, bloody (and, frankly, bent in ways a human body shouldn’t be!). “Harold, I’ve got him,” Ressler said over the phone. “I’ve got him.” And he picked up Red’s fedora as he awaited backup.
* As for what became of the Task Force, we’re left to assume it disbanded, though we didn’t get exact specifics on each member’s eventual future. The attorney general opted not to press charges against Dembe for helping Red escape, but he was let go from the Bureau. Cooper and Ressler saw the pursuit of Reddington through to the end, but beyond that, it’s unclear where they went in their careers. And Siya was nowhere to be found in the final act, but she’ll presumably find her job back at MI6 much more relaxing than what she just experienced.
That’s a wrap, Blacklist fans! What did you think of the series finale? Grade it in our poll below, then drop a comment with your full reviews!
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