The Blacklist Declassified

@A.M. I speculated that Red was an imposter, too, just based on the way Diane Fowler addressed him when he showed up in her home, like “”Red.”” You could just see the quotation marks hanging sarcastically in the air. Still, that’s slim evidence. Maybe her tone was just meant to convey contempt.

I’ll take any spoilers I can get. I assume the actors are told exactly what they should or shouldn’t expose. I’m glad to know the writers are working so hard, harder than we are. They, after all, are getting paid. I assume they are still working out the parameters of how much disbelief we are to suspend. I thought they went over-the-top in The Alchemist, suggesting a person can be transformed physiologically into another – but have done better since.

Spader can be a force to contend with when it comes to character integrity. According to the April Rolling Stones article on him, his concerns led to rewrites and production delays over the breach of the Post Office http://rol.st/XJRtDS. More power to him. He is a perfectionist. He is on our side.

Dickens’ books came out in serialized segments back in the 19th Century http://dickens.wpi.edu/

history.html. Must have been a similar experience. He had London transfixed for years on end and his compassion for the lower classes led to real reforms. I hope the talented writers and showrunners of The Blacklist own up to such responsibilities and continue to offer up critiques of important issues even as they develop the show’s overarching mythology.

I came across this quote from Søren Kierkegaard: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” Each time I try to think about The Blacklist going backwards, it seems richer. This is highly immersive art – adding almost a new interactive dimension. I hope no one’s missing the writers’ and actors’ tweets esp during the broadcasts. [I set up a Twitter list you can use if you want to dodge some of the spam: http://bit.ly/1E7TeLy%5D

@Susie It’s possible, but the scene is so poignant. It’s after Ressler has lost Audrey. Red has implored Ressler not to follow the path of revenge and to abandon the search for Mako Tanida:

“Searching in the desert for a drop of vengeance to slake an unquenchable thirst is a lonely walk, my friend…. Go home. Turn back from this and go home.”

Unable to dissuade Ressler, Red has Tanida’s head delivered to Ressler, tastefully nestled in a bed of excelsior. That way Red diverts Ressler from the path of revenge – performing the crime and taking on himself its legal & emotional burden. It’s a selfless act, a redemptive act. Included with the box containing Tanida’s head is a note which Red’s voice reads over the music of “Swan Lake”:

“Donald, I want you to know that I do understand how you feel.
There is nothing that can take the pain away.
But eventually, you will find a way to live with it.
There will be nightmares.
And every day, when you wake up, it will be the first thing you think about.

Until one day It will be the second thing…”

This beautiful, terribly sad scene is connected with some huge loss Red has suffered concerning a child. The scene is so laden with emotion that it must have a marked a pivotal moment in Red’s journey. A sister – perhaps – but only a sister with whom he was deeply bonded and who invokes a similar sense of tragedy.

[cross-posted at WSJ Speakeasy]