We’ve seen Liz lie to the Task Force plenty of times, but she went way beyond what she’s ever done before this time. Instead of just asking for their help, Liz told the Task Force that Red had given them a blacklister when really she just needed their help following a lead in her search for Red’s real identity.
She went so far as to give Ressler a fake phone number so she could reach the blacklister first to get information out of him. She then proceeded to let the man kill himself so the Task Force wouldn’t find out what she’d done.
No matter if you agree with Liz’s vendetta against Red or not, the actions she took in this episode should get her kicked out of the FBI forever. Not to mention that she completely underestimated Ressler, as usual.
She really thought he wouldn’t find out that she had given him a fake phone number? For one brief shining moment Ressler caught her in her lie and called her out on it and I was so proud of him…and then proceeded to lie to Cooper for her the next minute.
I used to be a big fan of the Keenler ship, and that part of me would have loved Ressler lying for Liz, but the logical part of me now absolutely hates it. After all the times that Liz has lied to the Task Force and taken advantage of their love and trust I just don’t believe that Ressler would have enough faith in her to keep something like that from Cooper.
Ressler believes in justice and following the law before everything else, and I just don’t think his conscience would allow him to lie to his boss about Liz obstructing an investigation.
Maybe he has another reason for lying to Cooper right now other than trusting Liz that we’ll find out later, or maybe he really is that loyal to Liz and I’ve totally misunderstood their relationship. I hope not though because Liz doesn’t even come close to deserving him anymore. Not after all the times she’s lied to him and the rest of the Task Force.
My main take away from all of this, though, is I guess I underestimated how much everyone hates Red.
Since the show started and the Task Force has been working with Red for so long, I thought their relationship had changed. After everything they’ve been through and how many times Red has saved each of their lives during an investigation I thought they had moved past their personal feelings for him.
I guess I thought that they could all see the bigger picture. Yes, Red is a criminal but he has helped the Task Force save thousands, even millions of lives, and this is the point I keep coming back to. So he’s been posing as someone he’s not, why does it matter?
Why does everyone care so much? I just don’t get it. Maybe when it’s finally revealed why Red has been posing as Raymond Reddington for all these years it will make sense, but for now it’s just extremely frustrating.
I guess I’m tired of all the lies, especially from Liz. The Task Force used to be a cohesive unit that worked to make the world a better place, but it just doesn’t feel like that anymore. I really do think that it’s because Cooper and Red are the only ones who can see the bigger picture.
They understand that the work they’ve done is more important than anything else. Liz is so caught up in her personal relationship with Red that she’s forgotten what her job as an FBI agent is. Ressler might be so loyal to Liz that he’s going to end up doing the same thing.
Maybe it’s just because James Spader plays the role with so much charm and gravitas, but I’m team Red all the way and I am completely done with Liz Keen.
Next week looks like it will be a little bit of a deviation from the Red and Liz drama, giving us a creepy blacklister case involving deadly bugs. I usually hate anything involving gross bugs, so next week probably won’t be very fun.
Check out the synopsis and watch the trailer for next week’s episode below.
Synopsis:
While Red and Dembe enlist Glenn’s help in stacking the jury to Red’s advantage for his upcoming trial, the Task Force investigates a series of mysterious deaths resulting from weaponized insects.
The Blacklist airs Fridays at 9/8c on NBC.