Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS are ahead for the series finale of The Blacklist.
The Blacklist came to an end on NBC in the 2023 TV schedule with a finale that started in what was really the only way that made sense: with Reddington on the run as the task force’s very last Blacklister. Fans have known all season that the show would conclude with the tenth season, and the episodes haven’t been shy about dropping hints that the end was nigh in some form or other for Reddington. The two-part series finale finally ended Red’s story, and his final bow really only hit home for me in a good way due to one scene with a speech by none other than Dembe.
How The Blacklist Said Goodbye To Reddington
Red was on the run when the finale began, with Congressman Hudson and his allies within the FBI determined to track him down. Cooper and Co. were reluctantly on board (and Ressler extremely reluctant after last week’s tragedy), while Dembe was set on following the letter of the law and bringing his old friend in despite previously warning him that Hudson was closing in.
Dembe was ultimately arrested when Hudson learned that he’d tipped off Red (although Cooper learned that Dembe had truly done it to prevent a bloodbath), and he was set to be taken to FBI headquarters for questioning. He would never make it, however, as the mini convoy of SVUs transporting him, Hudson, Agent Nixon, and Ressler (among others) was quite literally crashed by Reddington and his men, with Red determined to rescue Dembe.
Dembe tried to refuse to go with his old friend, which caused enough of a delay that Hudson grabbed the unconscious Nixon’s gun and aimed it at Reddington. Despite Dembe’s attempts to cool everybody down, Hudson pulled the trigger… and shot him in the neck, prompting Red to fire back and kill the congressman with one bullet. He then emptied his clip into Ressler’s bulletproof vest to make sure that the agent couldn’t follow them, and hurried Dembe away for treatment, which involved donating his own blood straight into Dembe.
And while that saved Dembe’s life, blood donation didn’t exactly help the health of a man who was already ailing. With what energy he had left, Red escaped to Spain (where The Blacklist actually filmed for the finale) and spent his final days shopping at a local market, getting one last call in to Agnes, and going on what would be his very last walk. He found himself facing a bull on his walk, and seemed to finally accept that he was going to die.
Thankfully – for me, anyway – The Blacklist didn’t actually show Reddington being gored by the bull, but his death was confirmed when Ressler arrived on the scene and discovered James Spader as the longtime Concierge of Crime looking like… well, looking like he’d been gored by a bull! In a touching final moment, Ressler picked up Red’s hat and replaced it on the body… and thus ended The Blacklist.
Now, like what I’m sure are plenty of Blacklist fans after all the clues about Red being unwell over the years, I’ve been convinced that the series finale would end with Reddington being killed off in some form or other, and it was just the question of whether it would be due to natural causes like an illness or some kind of incident.
Being gored by a bull was a symbolically fitting way for him to die, but also outlandish enough that I initially thought the bull was just a vision that Red saw in his dying moments and Ressler would find the body of a man whose health just gave out. It was not a vision of a dying brain, however, and I’m pretty confident that I wouldn’t have been entirely on board with Red dying in a field after an encounter with a bull if not for a powerful earlier scene that already had me ready to go along with however the ride would end for Raymond Reddington.
How One Scene Made Red’s Demise Work For Me
The scene in question came with less than fifteen minutes left to go in the entire series, with Cooper paying a somber visit to Dembe in his hospital room while Red went on what would be his final walk over in Spain. I of course knew that something emotional was going to happen as soon as Raign’s version of “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” started to play, and The Blacklist didn’t disappoint.
Cooper dropped that news on Dembe that even though no charges will be filed against the agent, he has also been relieved of duty. Dembe was at peace with the decision, saying that it was time for him to get out from in front of and behind guns. Dembe then went into a speech about Red’s fearlessness in the face of death and belief that how people live is much more important than the inevitability of death. He always loved Red for refusing to “go quietly into that good night.”
For his part, Cooper recognized the reference to the poem “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas, and quoted another line from it: “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Beginning to tear up, Dembe spoke about Red choosing to embrace life:
Imagine. Raymond, a man surrounded by death in so many ways, so passionately committed to embracing life. He could have surrendered a thousand times over in the end, some end. But instead he chooses to rage. To rage against the dying of the light. To rage against the bad guys that would do us all harm. Rage to protect those people he loves. To find moments of peace and joy and fun, even though he knows the light is still dying. To live a most passionate life, knowing it will still lead to the same inevitable end is perhaps the most deeply moving choice one can make. It is the lesson at the very core of my time with him.
“Knocking on Heavens Door” by Raign playing, Dylan Thomas' “Do not go gentle into that good night” being quoted, Dembe showing how much he still cares about Red just as Red still cares so much about him, and Hisham Tawfiq absolutely crushing the delivery? Of course I was ready to go along with the emotional flow for the rest of the episode!
Dembe seemed to be addressing the audience more than Cooper for most of the scene, but Tawfiq’s performance made it work for me, and that scene working for me is why I’m willing to shrug and go along with Red’s death happening because he was gored by a bull in a random field in Spain. I can roll with a bonkers plot twist if the characters are selling the emotions of the story! For all that they barely shared any scenes, Red and Dembe’s relationship felt like it was the heart of the two-part finale, and that was a fitting way to end the show after ten seasons.
After all, after the death of Liz, Dembe and Agnes were arguably those who he felt the most deeply for, and I was happy that Red and Dembe were the ones to get the biggest emotional beats of the final episodes. I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to be ready to rewatch the tear-jerking finale, but it will be available via a Peacock Premium subscription! You can also revisit earlier seasons of The Blacklist streaming with a Netflix subscription.
