The identity of the bones in the duffle bag was finally revealed in the season 5 finale, “Sutton Ross,” and it’s definitely a game changer, albeit one that the fans called ages ago. The Raymond Reddington we’ve known since the beginning of the series isn’t actually Raymond Reddington, that’s who the bones belong to. So season 6 will feature Liz trying to find out who Red really is, and what happened to her father.
So lets talk about Liz. Time and time again she’s lied to the Task Force, Red, and everyone who cares about her for selfish reasons. She doesn’t seem to care that people have risked their lives to protect her, Red most of all. In “Sutton Ross” she took advantage of his love for her once again. She made him think that Ross had kidnapped and tortured her, even going so far as to have Ross make Red offer his own life for hers.
All of this was to get Red to reveal his secret, something that she and everyone else who died trying to discover it should have just left alone. Every single person who died in pursuit of this secret did so of their own free will, yet Liz still somehow finds a way to blame Red for it. Now that she knows the Red we’ve come to know isn’t really Red and therefore isn’t her father, she’s hell bent on taking him down, but why? What has Red ever done to her besides try to protect her and keep her safe? Even though he isn’t Raymond Reddington, the Red we know still cares about Liz. He would still give everything up to protect her, and all that goes out the window just because Liz knows he isn’t her dad?
Liz’s major flaw is that she can never admit that she’s wrong. The most truthful thing that came out of her mouth during “Sutton Ross” was when she apologized to Red for putting him in this situation and said that she should have left Red’s secret alone. She told Red that all of the deaths surrounding the secret weren’t his fault, and finally accepted responsibility for her actions, but we found out later that she was just acting. She doesn’t actually accept any of the responsibility and still blames Red for everything. Frankly, Liz doesn’t deserve help or protection from anyone on the Task Force or Red ever again, and I hope they don’t give it to her.
Besides, how does Liz know that her real father, Raymond Reddington, was a good person? How does she know that the Red we know didn’t do something to her father in order to protect her? She’s passing judgement on Red and labeling him as an enemy without even waiting to find out the real story. Right now she says she wants to bring him down, but I guarantee once she finds out Red’s real identity she’s going to see that he did all of this to protect her and she’s going to have to apologize once again, for real this time.
Personally, I don’t care that the Red we know isn’t really Raymond Reddington. He’s still the man who’s worked with the Task Force, he’s still the man who Dembe would die to protect, he’s still the anti-hero we’ve always known and loved. Yes, Red’s secret did have relevance to Liz because it involves her real father, but why does any of this matter? It doesn’t change everything she’s been through with Red, and it doesn’t change anything the Task Force has been through with him either. Like Liz said when she was “acting” she and everyone else should have just let it go.
In other news from “Sutton Ross” thank god Samar woke up! If we lost Samar in this episode right after having to deal with Liz’s antics I would have been really upset. Thankfully though, Samar is awake and was finally able to accept Samar’s proposal, so hopefully we’re looking at a Samar and Aram wedding in season 6?
Now that Red’s secret has been revealed, we’ll just have to see where everything goes from here. His relationship with the Task Force is probably changed for good, if Liz tells them what she found out that is. Knowing her she’ll probably keep it a secret until it all explodes out of nowhere and the Task Force gets dragged into her personal vendettas once again.
As far as the characters on The Blacklist are concerned, I’m only here for Ressler, Samar, Aram, Harold, Dembe, and even Red to a certain degree. Liz on the other hand can do whatever she wants with her life, I don’t care anymore. She’s lied to The Task Force one too many times and she doesn’t deserve them. Jennifer can have her.
Well that’s it for season 5 everyone! Time to settle in for the long hiatus as The Blacklist won’t return until 2019.