Spoilers ahead for the midseason premiere of The Blacklist Season 9, called “Between Sleep and Awake.”
The Blacklist returned in 2022 with an episode that didn’t actually involve the task force going after another blacklister, but instead focused on telling Ressler’s story as it unfolded over the time jump. It was clear in the premiere that he hadn’t coped well with Liz’s death, considering that he’d left pretty much everything behind to become a mechanic, and “Between Sleep and Awake” filled in some blanks about what happened immediately after the credits rolled on Liz’s death back in 2021.
The midseason premiere featured a flashback that picked up right where the Season 8 finale left off: with Dembe hustling Red away from Liz’s body and Ressler arriving on the scene, already distraught at finding the woman he loved dead. Now, The Blacklist revealed that Ressler didn’t just stay with Liz’s body after finding her, but took off running after Red, even commandeering a civilian’s car to continue the chase. Very unfortunately, he was under the influence at the time and caused a car crash that seriously injured both himself and another woman, with Dembe and Red getting cleanly away.
Ressler’s car crash showed how it was a new set of injuries that knocked him off the wagon, and he wasn’t struggling with his drug addiction again from the emotional pain alone. He also left his life behind rather than face a disciplinary hearing from the FBI and took off on a journey that involved drug-seeking behavior, falling into a small town life when strapped for cash, and ultimately saving a woman and her son from her abusive husband.
That journey ended, as fans saw with the first episode of Season 9, with him as a bearded mechanic who needed to be talked into returning and rejoining the task force. The episode finally caught up with the present with a clean-shaven Ressler talking to Liz at her gravesite, with Diego Klattenhoff turning in a masterful performance with his emotional monologue, which helpfully summarized everything that happened since Liz’s death, saying:
And Dembe’s an agent. Aram walked away from a tech fortune. Reddington shaved his head, and his new lover’s a shaman. Park had a cancer scare because I borrowed her urine for a drug test and it came back with elevated hormone levels. But I passed and got reinstated even though my old issue with the pain meds is back for an encore performance after I punctured this and broke that in a car crash while I was trying to chase down and kill Reddington right after you died. So I’m working with him again. We all are. Because we think it’s what you’d want. FYI, he’s just as insufferable as ever, so if it’s not what you want, please, you feel free to tell me, and I’ll happily go back to being a mechanic.
It’s probably safe to say that Ressler won’t be going back to his life as a mechanic any time soon, although I’m ready for him to catch a break after he tearfully told Liz that he's happy she’s with Tom, even though he hated Tom, because he wouldn’t want her to be alone. He did seem to get some degree of catharsis, if not closure just yet, so hopefully things will start looking a little brighter for him moving forward.
Season 9 has had to roll with a lot of changes, both in front of the camera with Megan Boone’s absence and behind-the-scenes after the departure of show creator Jon Bokenkamp. It hasn’t thrived in the ratings in its Thursday night time slot, but will move back to Fridays in February. For now, you can find new episodes of The Blacklist on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET, ahead of Law & Order: SVU at 9 p.m. ET and Law & Order: Organized Crime at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.
Why did Megan Boone leave The Blacklist? Maybe you are watching the premiere and wondering that; or, are wondering if Liz is really dead.
In the end, we understand all of these questions and then some. Boone was a foundational part of the show, and we know that the writers and producers technically have brought Liz back from the dead before.
Watch our latest The Blacklist video discussion! There’s a lot to get into here and remember, we’ll be discussing the series throughout the season. SUBSCRIBE to Matt & Jess on YouTube, as you won’t want to miss any of our reviews, previews, and other teases.
Well, here is the bad news: Liz is gone. Pending some enormous shock reveal down the road, she was shot to death at the end of season 8. The entire premise of season 9 is set around her death two years ago, and undoing that could render a lot of the stories at hand pointless. Boone also formally exited the series over the summer, releasing the statement on Instagram that you can view below. Since that time, she has signed a production deal with studio Sony Pictures TV, which suggests that we will see future collaborations between her and the studio down the road.
Could we see a return from Megan in a flashback or a dream sequence? We can’t rule that out, but at the same time there are no plans at present. We could see her potentially back for a milestone episode or a series finale, but there is no evidence that the latter is happening anytime soon. There’s been no discussion that season 9 is the final season.
Boone is not the only person who left The Blacklist after season 8 — show creator Jon Bokenkamp also chose to say goodbye.
Related – Be sure to check out some more news when it comes to The Blacklist, including more details on what lies ahead
Are you still sad that Megan Boone left The Blacklist at the end of season 8?
Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! Once you do just that, stick around — there are other updates ahead that you do not want to miss. [Photo: NBC.]
The following post contains major spoilers for The Blacklist‘s Season 8 finale. Proceed with caution!
Elizabeth Keen’s name was crossed off The Blacklist on Wednesday night — and it appeared to be done in permanent marker.
Just over a week after news of Megan Boone’s imminent exit from the show broke, the NBC drama wrote out her character by killing her via a gunshot in the back. [Read Boone’s farewell to the series here.]
The premise of Wednesday’s Season 8 finale was simple: Red promised to give Liz a letter her mother had left for her, which contained all of the long-awaited answers about Red’s identity and why he came into her life. But before she could obtain the letter, Liz had to kill Red.
With Neville Townsend recently eliminated, Red was certain that numerous other criminals would soon descend, all jockeying for control of Townsend’s empire. And since Townsend learned Red’s real identity before his demise, his potential successors all likely had that information, as well, which would put both Red and Liz in danger once again. The solution, as Red saw it, was for Liz to murder Red — cementing herself as a criminal not to be messed with — and inherit The Blacklist from him, which would give her necessary protection against any approaching enemies. Plus, Red’s mysterious illness, which hadn’t been mentioned in quite some time, is apparently terminal, and Red seemed to welcome the idea of finally surrendering to it.
As Liz collapsed to the ground, she saw her life flash before her eyes — bittersweet memories of Tom, Agnes, Dembe, Aram, Cooper and Ressler that doubled as a tribute to Boone’s years on the show. And when Red returned to Liz after killing Vandyke, Liz looked at him with a curious expression as memories of both Red and her mother, Katarina Rostova, played out in her mind, almost as though she was understanding Red’s real identity in that moment. And as Liz died, a flashback of Katarina kissing Baby Liz on the forehead when she was born was immediately juxtaposed with Red kissing her head in the present day on that street corner.
As is The Blacklist‘s way, it was never explicitly announced that Red is indeed Katarina. But Liz’s combined memories of Red and Katarina seemed to indicate as much, along with other hints Red dropped throughout the finale. “You knew her well?” Liz asked Red at one point, referencing Katarina. “Better than anyone,” he replied. And later, when Liz asked why she couldn’t know Red’s identity until he was dead, he told her, “Because if you knew beforehand, you’d never agree to kill me.” At this point, would it even make sense for Red to be anyone else?
Shortly after Liz’s death, Dembe pulled Red away from the scene and they fled on foot, just moments before Ressler, Cooper, Aram and Park arrived. Though they’d hoped to catch Red and Liz in time to intercept their murder plan, they instead found Liz lying on the street, with Red’s fedora tucked under her head.
OK, Blacklist fans, it’s your turn. What did you think of Boone’s final episode? And what do you make of Red’s possible identity? Cast your vote in our poll below, then drop a comment with your full reactions!
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