The Blacklist: How does the series end with James Spader?

Warning, the following paragraphs contain spoilers for the latest episode of The Blacklist. If you don’t want to know anything, go!

After 10 years on the air, The Blacklist bowed in the US on Thursday, July 13. It was because of the double finale episode, in which Redd escaped from the FBI agents with whom he worked for 10 seasons, that the detective series directed by James Spader came to an end. Did Red manage to elude the authorities once again? Answer in the following paragraphs.

Red is facing fate

The FBI agents spent much of the first episode wondering if they really wanted to work to arrest Red, given their complicated relationship with the criminal. But the task force finally decides to do its job and find out about it.

In turn, Arthur Hudson discovers, thanks to CCTV footage, that it was Dembe who alerted Red that his plane was located. A discovery that leads to an agent’s arrest.

But while the latter and Ressler are being transported to FBI headquarters for questioning, Red and his men interrupt the transfer and ram their cars into their cars.

Disoriented by the accident, Hudson points the gun at Dembe and shoots him, severely wounding him in the throat. Enraged, Red shoots Hudson in the head, killing him instantly. He then takes his friend to a nursing home for treatment.

Fortunately, Dembé escaped injury, but by the time Cooper and his teammates arrived to see him, Red had already run away. After Hudson’s death, Agent Nixon gives chase and announces that he will shoot him.

But red is already far away. The criminal actually flew to Spain, near Villa Lobo in Andalusia (the first for the detective series to be filmed in another country for the first time), where a friend named Angela helped him recover. But he is suffering from an unknown illness and seems to have only a few months left to live.

After a peaceful walk around the ranch, Red comes face-to-face with a wild bull. When the animal rushes towards him, he decides not to move and chooses the ultimate escape: death.

Moments later, Ressler arrives on the scene in a helicopter, but he can only see Red lying dead on the ground, trampled by the bull. As for the task force, we assume that it has been disbanded. The attorney general decided not to file charges against Dembe for helping Reddy escape, but he was fired from the FBI.

Reddy’s true identity revealed?

It’s a mystery that has haunted The Blacklist since the series began: Who really is Red? If the end of the series did not necessarily give a clear answer to this question, it still provided a final clue that tipped the scales.

For several seasons now, fans have been convinced that Raymond Reddington is actually Katarina Rostova, the mother of Liz (Megan Boone). Becoming a man would really be Katarina’s only chance to hide, build a powerful empire, and be close to her daughter again.

Over the seasons, many hints of this theory have been dropped in episodes, especially the finale, as director Christine Gee revealed last May.

While Reddy is on the phone with Agnes (Sammy Bray), he says to his grandfather, “You are a real mother!“, to which he replies:You know I can’t help it.” A line that probably refers to the feminine side of red.

Confirmation in Halftone, which greatly disappointed fans of the first watch. Many suspect that those in charge did not want to reveal that a trans character was at the helm of such a popular series at the risk of alienating a large portion of their ratings. Therefore, it is now up to the viewers to decide which theory they prefer.

The first nine seasons of The Blacklist are now available on Netflix. The date of transmission of the 10th season is not yet known.