The Blacklist Season 9 review: Raymond Reddington finally gets to the bottom of who killed Elizabeth Keen

3/5

Story: Two years after former FBI profiler and potential heir to Raymond Reddington’s (James Spader) criminal empire Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) was gunned down; he returns from a self-imposed exile to figure out the events that led to her unfortunate demise. The task force is also invested in finding out the who and why of her murder. Whoever pulled the strings, though, has covered his/her tracks well and it takes a while for Reddington to finally figure out the truth. But at what cost?

Review: When Megan Boone, who played FBI profiler Elizabeth Keen for eight seasons on The Blacklist, decided to leave with no scope of a return, the showrunners followed routine in such scenarios – they killed the character. But in doing so, they also ensured that it would be the key that leads into season 9. Keen was gunned down by a Townsend operative, but was he operating on his own or was someone else controlling the narrative? Season 9 opened with that premise. Devastated by the loss of Liz, who Reddington was hoping would take over his criminal empire, he had disappeared for two years, leaving his attorney, Marvin Gerard to take care of matters in his absence.

Viewers may remember that Red’s decision to hand over his ‘business’ to Liz hinged on the fact that he was severely ill and possibly dying. Yet two years later, he returns with a renewed vigour and no indication of any life-threatening health scares, which he attributes to the care he gets from Mierce Xiu (Karina Arroyave), a spiritual healer, who is also a romantic interest. Red’s single-minded focus to get to the bottom of Liz’s murder, though, does not bode well for their relationship or the functioning of the task force.

In the initial few years, The Blacklist was not too bad, despite its utterly laugh-worthy premise – the FBI’s most wanted criminal becoming an informer while continuing to run all his nefarious deals. It is quite amusing how most procedural dramas always have a leading law enforcement agency seeking external help (from writers, psychics, zombies, etc.). At least here, Raymond Reddington is a master criminal himself and would know the inner workings of others like him. What doesn’t sit well is that in all these years, no one’s got a whiff of the fact that many are now in jail or dead because he snitched on them. That is finally set to change following the events of the season 9 finale. Stranger still was that Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq), Reddington’s right hand man for decades became an FBI special agent in the time his former boss was away. Is it really that easy to get into the FBI?

The impunity with which Reddington continued to function after striking this deal by which he would provide the FBI with a list of dangerous criminals, seemed okay only on the strength of his portrayal by James Spader. Sadly, though, that novelty began wearing off a few years ago, when the showrunners stretched out the ‘Who is Reddington’ storyline forever and still haven’t given ardent viewers a satisfactory explanation.

Season 9 made it even worse. Red is in no physical discomfort, has taken charge of his business again and spends an entire year (spread over 22 episodes here) chasing whoever was responsible for killing Liz. The final reveal was disappointing, to say the least, and it really seemed like the writers were clutching at straws with the ‘Could it be Mr Kaplan?’ angle. It is time to rest this show before it literally goes to the dogs. Some of the cast members realised this a while ago. First Mozhan Marno (Samar Navabi) left, followed by Meghan and now we hear that Amir Arison, who’s played Aram Mojtabi for nine seasons, and Laura Sohn (Alina Park) have also left the show. That leaves Spader, Henry Lennix (Deputy director Harold Cooper), Diego Klattenhof (Special agent Donald Ressler) and Tawfiq from the original squad still around to pick up the pieces. Yes, there are going to be pieces – The Blacklist has been renewed for a 10th season. Despite my reservations, I guess I will be back to watch Reddington take on his new set of foes. That’s all the showrunners need – people like me.

Verdict: Much as I love James Spader (I watch Agengers: Age of Ultron just to hear the man’s voice), The Blacklist has run its course. Now that it has got a 10th season, they should just wrap up all loose ends and bow out with dignity. This season really tested my patience.