silver linings

Sorry I'm slow getting to my inbox. Like all of you, I am grieving for what might have been.

What was the point of any of it?

That's the question I keep asking myself over and over. Liz's death rendered the entire show meaningless. Red's "mission" was an abject failure (and even more so if you accept that there was seemingly never any greater purpose to the whole thing than him protecting Liz and hiding Katarina/himself who the hell knows.) What a waste of a life. Better he should have left Liz with Sam, or later to her life with Tom, and gambled that things might have worked out better for her in the end. How does a seemingly good man like Dembe stand by and watch this happen? How does anyone? The fact that even at the end Red couldn't speak the truth...

And don't get me started on Ressler. I can't imagine how he picks himself up after this. What's his purpose now? Avenge Liz and protect Agnes?

Ressler deserved better.

Keenler deserved better.

Red deserves everything he got and everything coming to him. As Dom said many seasons ago, what a selfish prick. How dare he condition the truth after all Liz went through.

And in the end, she’s the one who lost it all.

—

Jon Bokenkamp to CarterMatt Nov. 13, 2020

You know we have to highlight this pic, for science… :-)

I’m in love with the shape of you. We push and pull like a magnet do. Although my heart is falling too. I’m in love with your body.

Bonus Happy Liz after having the whole damn gingerbread loaf the night before - 

Febressuary Day 08 - Ressler in casual clothes from any Episode/Scene

ELIZABETH KEEN: the blacklist

Ressler & Liz ~

Seasons 1 - 8

Hugs & Hands

Ressler: “Look, I care about you. And there’s nothing wrong with me saying that.”

Febressuary Day 06 - Ressler and Liz from any Episode/Season

I agree that it was very much in our faces this past episode.  But if you’re implicitly asking me if it changes my view on Red being Liz’s actual parent, no, it doesn’t.  I remain of the view that he is not her biological father or her mother (or any blood relation actually).

However, I think the writers have continued to paint Red as a “parental-type figure” of sorts to Liz for quite some time, including most deliberately in 6.20, when Liz told him directly that he won’t stay angry with her because he’s basically a father to her and a grandfather to Agnes and always will be.

What are your thoughts on that ? Sorry for the long ask !

I felt like Ressler finding the sock and handing it to Liz was a symbolic way for him to wish her good luck as she embarks on her quest. And I loved how she held his hand and squeezed it tightly when she took it back, basically saying a silent thank you. I think the thank you on her part can be interpreted as her acknowledgment of that, but also as a quiet thank you for their night together, even as she verbalized the “thanks for letting me stay” right after.

I felt like her later conversation with Agnes on the jet was more a reference to her success in escaping with her and with the resources they need to continue Liz’s quest. Liz’s plan was such that she really had to read everyone correctly to have everything fall in place, and it worked. I consider her phone calls with Ressler and the information she fed him about Marvin to have been part of that, but not their actual night together. I think that was a genuine moment of Liz before she left and it wasn’t manipulative.

I also interpreted the unicorn reference generally as a callback specifically to Liz talking to Red about her personal code (”love wins”) while watching Agnes ride a unicorn on the carousel back in 6.20.

She's at war now, but I think deep down she still wants peace. She knows how formidable an adversary Red is so she needs luck as much as skill to get anywhere on her quest, but I hope in the end she finds her way back and that love will win, for all their sakes.