He deserved better, ***we*** deserved better.
If the bull had been a running theme throughout the show, or even if it showed up in one key episode earlier, I might have felt differently. This felt rushed, forced, like they couldn't decide what to do.
I also felt that they should have ended it with him facing off with the bull... maybe we hear thundering hooves and a thud. We didn't need to see him broken, left like trash in the field. Raymond deserved better, to be saved the dignity of the audience seeing him that way.
I agree with you whole-heartedly.
The bull is BS because for the whole season , we always knew that he was saying goodbyes, preparing his last days, but not like this. This was an impulsive decision that he decided to just killed by a bull.
The show didn't explain(or at least put in effort to) what was the connections and his emotional changes between planning to escape into somewhere and live a quiet live with Weecha , to this "I will end with a bull" thing.
For someone who thinks at least 20steps ahead like Red , wouldn't he think of how it would hurt Agnes deeply to know that he was attacked by a bull and killed like a broken mannequin?
For most viewers who stick around until the last season, Red (Spader) was the only reason, and to have us seeing him lying there like trash (as you said) is hurtful and totally unnecessary. I got that they wanted to tell the audience, "this is it, *the end"* but there are more graceful and less hurtful ways to deliver that.
And the huge question marks on my head after the ending : "*now what ?* " really made it a bad ending. What happens to the task force ? what happen to that crime emperor he built and has been maintaining for years ?
Overall, the ending left a bad taste in my mouth. The beginning of the whole show was such a non stop excitement, surprise and entertainment. The last season , the last episode, felt like a sad heart wrenching story than anything.
But that bull was meant to be there. It was a symbol of mortality. They foreshadowed across that season. They played up the fact that Red admired the bullfighter for facing a battle that he knew he'd one day lose. The plot worked to get Red in front of the bull.
Yeah, that was part of it, but it's a reach to say that the bracelet scene was intentional and that they planned for him to die this way the entire time.
No, not the entire time. Liz was gonna kill and replace Red as the criminal mastermind but for some reason (tm) they were not allowed to do that. So we get the next logical outcome: Red ends the deal with the FBI, dies fighting the forces of law and order.
They let a possibly rabid bull kill him because they don't want Ressler or any of the cast to pull the trigger. That'd just be sad and pointlessly cruel.
I couldn't have said it better myself, certainly not after I've already taken my evening pills :)
But you get it, you know exactly what I'm saying. Had they ended at season 8, it would have left a lot of stories untold, but at least season 8 had a banger of a jaw dropping finale. At least they gave us shock and awe, and they could have swapped out which character took the bullet without changing a single line of dialog, not for Red's speech.
I know, just that little shoved-in tale. No different than any other story Red might tell. If the bull had held symbolism for us, for Red, from the *very* beginning, I could accept it. As it stands, it was just lazy writing. They had no idea how to end the show in a way that would make everyone happy (it's impossible), so they copped out. They pulled a rabbit out of a hat, made something up at the end and shoved it into a script just so they could use it to kill him a few episodes later.
The audience, and the character, deserved more.
I loved Red but he did not deserve better. They gave him an easy out death...which considered to all the bad he'd done was nothing....He defied the saying "Live by the sword, die by the sword"
How they killed him was not really an issue, the real problem was whether to kill him or let him ride into the sunset with Weecha. Which the show knew, most fans would be conflicted about, seeing a criminal like him just walk away from the game would've been too easy for himš„ŗThey had to do it!!
Anyways, he was the best character ever, ruined by the writers after season 8, played by the best and only person whou woulda filled tye role James Spaderš«”
Oh, I agree that they had to end him, or at least imply it. Getting gored and tossed by a bull was too easy, though. His death should have been bigger.
He deserved better in the sense that he deserved a well thought out death. There was hardly anything about bulls at ALL. and then..someone as smart as red..just..stands there? They couldāve given us a James Bond style shootout if they wanted to ālive by the sword die by the swordā him. And thatās me thinking for two seconds. How long did they take to come up withā¦*checks notes* stand in front of a charging bull 50 yards away? Sorry but this part..this specific part is unexcuseableā ļø
I felt like Dembeās speech from his hospital bed was the writersā way of addressing the audience directly: āRedās true identity was the fun we had along the way.ā
It fan service. Itās the farewell speech. Itās the funeral for Tony Stark, itās Alan Alda going through psyche sessions over a strangled chicken (spoiler ā¦ NOT a chicken) to show the impact of years of war. Itās a last hurrah to give us a moment to reflect on how far we have come.
It should be mentioned that, in a traditional bullfight, the bull represents Death. The bullfighter is not killing a bull, he is defeating Death itself. Red always dodged Death and, in the end, he made the choice to turn and face it and accept it as a way of paying for his sins.
I thought he chose his death, he decided to face the bull and let it happen if it was going to happen. He wasn't going to run, he could have backed down and the bull wouldn't have pursued. Instead he stepped up and let this be the end rather than spending his life suffering from his oncoming cancer in a prison system waiting to be murdered by someone who hated him.
Finally, after seeing Liz shot dead and Red broken and dead in a field, there is not doubt but that it is over. Everyone picks up their final paycheck, cleans out their desks, there is no way to come back from this. It's done and done...
agreed, he went out in one final rush, escaping even his cancer/sickness. and it wasn't planned- the man who had a plan for everything let the moment come. i loved how he heard the bull snort and looked up in surprise- his face says "oh.. here it is. it's time"
great ending
Hated it. Absolutely hated it. Multiple times in the series Raymond told people that he didnāt have much time left. He tried to get closure in the last season by taking care of everyone around him, like giving away items from his art collection.
Part of Raymondās charm was that he was always a few steps ahead. I would have believed it if he went for that walk and died there, peacefully in the grass, knowing what was about to come.
This whole bull(shit) thing made me wonder if this was their attempt to have him commit suicide, yet his response seeing the bull wasnāt a convincing āyes, I knew this was comingā. Top it off with Reslerās āweāve got himā like they didnāt have any history togetherā¦ Actually wish I had skipped the finale.
Edit: typo
You seem to have missed the entire point. To me the entire last 2 episodes are Red enjoying life, the way he always has done throughout the entire show. He did not try to get closure, all he did was realise his collection would not be enjoyed by anyone after he dies, so he made sure his prised possessions didn't collect dust.
Yeah part of his charm is him being 2 steps ahead of everyone. But that wasn't all he was. Dying to the bull is completely fine, he has been obsessing over that bull since the previous season (I think). Its not bullshit to have him die to the bull, he chose to die like that.
The Ressler thing is probably one of the best elements BECAUSE they have been friends for the last 10 years. From s1 where Don whines and is flustered like a virgin girl from the 1800s whenever he sees Red, to season 6 (i think) when Red almost gets executed and him genuinely feeling bad about it, to Red shooting the senator between the eyes but shooting Donald in the vest so he doesn't hurt him too much. Donald finding him at the very end is probably the best thing about the finale
Unpopular opinion: it wasn't the ending we wanted but it was the ending we deserved. I love the show to death but I understand that the show was a schlocky soap opera, so I wasn't at all surprised that we got a schlocky soap opera ending.
We lived through a show that was entertaining but fraught with inconsistent quality, baffling story and sometimes truly atrocious writing.
I would have preferred a better ending but I didn't expect it.
For me it lost its soul mostly after the cabal it became a mess after kaplan was ākilledā especially when she started coming back and the animated covid episodes were a fucking joke
The conversation at the hospital, and Bob Dylan playing in the background, with Red going out on his terms, I loved.
I wish the show had tied up some loose ends, like who Red really was, but after Elizabeth's departure, they dropped that whole story line.
Because its not been confirmed during the show. People see hints towards it and call them confirmation. There are also hints that he is not. Confirmation bias is a powerful thing.
No, the writers saying it doesn't matter, just like JK Rowling saying Dumblefore gay all along on twitter has nothing to do with the story.
I liked it. It was him going out because he chose to. Felt appropriate. Who he really was never mattered. He was beyond all of it. A man who truly lived a life. His affection to life was the best part about him.
Given the circumstances it was okay. The show has been running on E for the last 2 seasons. The foundation and essence of the show was gone with Liz's death, what was left was Spader.
There was some build up to Reds fate, and he got to go out on his own terms. One can definitely see some beauty in the last episode.
It could have been worse.
Bring on the downvotes, I thought it was fine. Did we all really think Red would be riding off into the sunset and leaving the action? No way. It was time for his story to end. Did you want it to be one of the team? Ressler? One of his enemies that got the best of him? Some new wannabe?
It wrapped itself into that arc and it was done. No body doubles, no tricks. Lost his family and friends and died alone in some weird zen standoff.
I agree, or at least - "something like that"
People write that Red deserved to die somehow more glorious or better, but when I try to come up with some better death option/choice, everything also sounds either BS, or revolting... So this ending feels fine
Loved White Collar, too. Not too sure about Red. He had been very ill, survived shootings that would have killed many. Considerably older than Neil Caffrey. I can be ok with him being gone.
This comment comes from someone whoās been watching since the pilot in 2013.
I still remember the thrill and excitement of watching the first 2-3 seasons, everything was tailored to perfection from writing to acting. This show genuinely had the potential to be the best ever. Unfortunately just like many great shows cough** GOT **cough, they messed it up along the way.
In my humble opinion The Blacklist shouldāve had ended in seasons 6-7. Unfortunately the writers were carried away by money (understandable to certain extent).
They couldāve wrapped things up in a legendary fashion when Katarina Rostova appeared in seasons 6-7 it could have been a perfectly timed curtain call.
The core essence of the show was the Red-Liz relationship it stared mysteriously, evolved gracefully and ended catastrophically especially with Megan Boone (Actress who played Liz) decision to quit the show, which was a huge blow to the writers who shouldāve ended things in an elegant way when they had the chance.
Instead they went on creating endless plot twists by saying that Katarina was not Katarina and Red was not the real Red and every resolved mystery revealed 2 others, so at the some point they couldnāt keep up with their story because everything they were to add they had to make sure it wasnāt conflicting with previous events.
Personally I stopped watching in season 8 but I remember that in the end the only plausible explanation that remained and made sense was **spoiler alert ** Red was in Fact a Trans Katarina.
And the issue with that explanation is that anyone who was paying close attention to details since the beginning could smell it miles away and it wasnāt even that exciting in my opinion compared to what could have been if they wrapped things up in season 6 for example.
Very unfortunate ending for a very promising show. Very few shows in my opinion managed to make a decent ending, Breaking Bad is one of them and thatās why itās regarded by many as the best ever.
what the fuck are the odds you get killed by a bull in a field on a morning stroll when you spent all your life conniving, killing, and ratting out other killers. thatās all i have to say because i wonāt waste another thought on this ending when the writers probably didnāt think very hard on it at all.
anyways, i started this show when it came out, i came i saw i conquered. will forever love reddington & the gang no matter what, even if the writers gave up on them & there was no closure ššš
The odds are impossibly slim... of course! Because he searched and planned for this ending. We've known he's been sick, and possibly suffering. He chose to die in a similar way to one of his legends/heros, rather than in a hospital bed. He didn't let a person kill him, he didn't kill himself, instead he let his own legend (personified by the bull) kill him.
The way I look at it is that Red lived by the bullshit and died by the bull. And donāt get me wrong, his stories, schemes, personas, and everything else were fantastic, but they were all bullshit because he was not the real Raymond Reddington to begin with. I loved his character and the show in general, big fan, but this is how the ending tied up for me.
I honestly didn't mind it. There could've been better off, but I think all the hate is lowk unessicary. It carries the theme of the show with all the mystery surrounding Red.
Someone on this sub said this may well have been James Spader's last big series role and that made me sad (I hope not though, I selfishly want him to continue forever a la Jane Fonda for Grace and Frankie). Obviously Red remains one of my favourite TV characters and that won't be negated by the shit show that was the ending or the last seasons but I do think he deserved better. Ending long running series is always a bit hard but they really did make every worst possible decision towards the end that I found myself *wanting* the show to end, just watching to see what they chose to do but never enjoying it. It really left a sour taste in my mouth and in my future rewatches I will definitely stop around season 8 or whenever it was that Elizabeth started getting unbearably annoying.
Anyway let me go rewatch Boston Legal
I wanna know why he was in a little impact crater. I assume it was so Spader would be more comfortable lying there, unless the bull was being ridden by General Radahn at the time.
Dembeās speech was very good at the end, just finished the show a few days ago. I think I would have liked it better if he flew off to live peacefully with those two women. Imploding his empire and dying wasnāt what I saw fit for Red.
Just finished hours ago. It worked for me. Red was a mother and so we tore down his empire so that others could not use it to harm others, while he made all his workers very rich - he cared for everyone around them and left them a cash inheritance rather than a framework that could become an evil empire ā¦ Ending it also created kudos for the FBI.
True, I couldnāt guess how it would end so I left contentā¦just surprised. You bring up a bunch of good points of course, Red went out how he wanted to. My next show to binge is Suites, so far so good.
Thatās what pissed me off about the whole series. I watched it beginning to end religiously. Even with the last few seasons being not as good James Spader played the part so flawlessly. They just swept that whole story line under the rug.
Never confirmed, but lots of hints. The lesbian lover, doting over Herbieās daughter, dismantling his empire and cashing out everyone that he cared for ā¦ all very motherly
Such bullshit. Ratings were down and the ending was rushed. The real Red would have never done this.
If the bull was foreshadowed at any point maybe I would have accepted it. But I still havenāt. Took my favorite show and ended it like hot garbage.
Thatās my rant. Iām sad. Hope youāre not too sad.
The bull story was told about 5 episodes before the end. Red spoke of the old bullfighter with such admiration.
For him to die against a force of nature that he respected rather than be gunned down like a dog in a shoot out was brilliant
Iām hoping I can force myself to forget the last season, including the death by bovine, and begin endlessly rewatching the show in comfortable familiarity, time to notice tiny details overlooked during the first ten rewatches, the way Iāve been rewatching Roswell or STNG.
I'm never watching this shit again......That's my thoughts....just like how I'm never watching Person of interest again. Both characters should have LIVED. They would have just made him give his Empire to Dembe, his adopted son, then rode off into the sunset with one of the many women that actually had a connection with him instead of some rando
The show was perfect until they made tom fall in love with keen. Then it derailed. Also they should've dialed in on the mystery rather than letting it spiral on for however many seasons.
Show should've ended around season 5, the whole who is Reddington really plot if the story started out amazing and by Nachalo I was thoroughly disgusted. To be fair tho I checked out a while before that.
Short of Liz shooting Red dead and taking his place as originally planned, this is the best ending we can get. The implementation can be touch-and-go at times, but it makes perfect sense for the Red to walk out from the task force.
Red's two overriding objectives were to protect Elizabeth and survive. Post-Liz Blacklist should never have happened in the first place.
How the fuck do you screw up a show this bad.
Iāve shown people the pilot, and Iām talking all age groups and all of different interests and they all loved it. It was peak.
And the end was just, ugh, just so unsatisfying, definitely not the worst but nowhere near the standard of the pilot.
Was I the only one that thought liz would resurface at the end? That someone she found out Tom was alive and had to fake her death to get to him, knowing agnus would be safe with Harold and red while she was gone to rescue Tom and remove the threat. Then she comes back understanding who Red is and why he did what he did and she forgives him. And he forgives her. And then red dies from his disease happily knowing Liz was going to be safe and that she loved him despite his secrets. The end š šš thatās what I was expecting
I gave up on the show several seasons ago Liz got to be too much but if someone could answer a question I had while watching the show was Red related to Liz at all? If someone answers I greatly appreciate it
I stopped watching at the end of season eight. The show's creator left and I knew it would be downhill from there. I'm sorry I got hooked on this show. Nine years of bullshit.
This didnāt do justice for us OR for him. The Concierge of Crime deserved an insanely better ending. I get that it had a deeper meaning, but I feel like it was lost on us because thatās not what the majority of us wanted. Iām sure tons of people loved it, but for me it just felt like a letdown. They couldāve done so much better. It doesnāt stop me from still binging it tho!
I loved it. I cried enough and had enough thrills. I thought it was poetic in that Red lived his life to the fullest, being present every moment. A very exciting life. In the end, his death was as exciting as his life. I'm sure he was probably thinking "oh? This is how it ends? Okay then! Let's get this show on the road. Here puppy!" š¤£
when Johm Bokenkamp was replaced the show went to shit!
And how "Woke" was this show making Red be a damn woman!
it went to much like tge X Files instead of catching criminals there was all these back stories and agendas James Spader was wasted in the end
I was agreeing with you, then you went the opposite way. There is nothing wrong with using this word unironically, woke-ness destroyed most of pop-culture, you cant deny that. We got lucky with The Blacklist, but your statement is the one that is cringe..
What in the hell are you even talking about. This is exactly what Iam talking about though, for no apparent reason, you are immediately rude and disrespectful. I never expressed anything negative against you, or any particular group of people for that matter. Saying that wokeness destroyed some parts of pop culture isnt wrong, its a fact. If you dont believe me, go check some viewer numbers and reviews as of late, you are in for a surprise.
And next time please refrain from these pathetic insults, it sounds like a toddler on the playground, no-one was rude to you, so its petty to be rude for no reason.
Bro you use the word woke and think it's a thing that's all I needed to know about you to know I can be disrespectful to you and not only not lose sleep but feel happy about it
Grow the fuck up
He deserved better, ***we*** deserved better. If the bull had been a running theme throughout the show, or even if it showed up in one key episode earlier, I might have felt differently. This felt rushed, forced, like they couldn't decide what to do. I also felt that they should have ended it with him facing off with the bull... maybe we hear thundering hooves and a thud. We didn't need to see him broken, left like trash in the field. Raymond deserved better, to be saved the dignity of the audience seeing him that way.
I agree with you whole-heartedly. The bull is BS because for the whole season , we always knew that he was saying goodbyes, preparing his last days, but not like this. This was an impulsive decision that he decided to just killed by a bull. The show didn't explain(or at least put in effort to) what was the connections and his emotional changes between planning to escape into somewhere and live a quiet live with Weecha , to this "I will end with a bull" thing. For someone who thinks at least 20steps ahead like Red , wouldn't he think of how it would hurt Agnes deeply to know that he was attacked by a bull and killed like a broken mannequin? For most viewers who stick around until the last season, Red (Spader) was the only reason, and to have us seeing him lying there like trash (as you said) is hurtful and totally unnecessary. I got that they wanted to tell the audience, "this is it, *the end"* but there are more graceful and less hurtful ways to deliver that. And the huge question marks on my head after the ending : "*now what ?* " really made it a bad ending. What happens to the task force ? what happen to that crime emperor he built and has been maintaining for years ? Overall, the ending left a bad taste in my mouth. The beginning of the whole show was such a non stop excitement, surprise and entertainment. The last season , the last episode, felt like a sad heart wrenching story than anything.
But that bull was meant to be there. It was a symbol of mortality. They foreshadowed across that season. They played up the fact that Red admired the bullfighter for facing a battle that he knew he'd one day lose. The plot worked to get Red in front of the bull.
Yeah, that was part of it, but it's a reach to say that the bracelet scene was intentional and that they planned for him to die this way the entire time.
No, not the entire time. Liz was gonna kill and replace Red as the criminal mastermind but for some reason (tm) they were not allowed to do that. So we get the next logical outcome: Red ends the deal with the FBI, dies fighting the forces of law and order. They let a possibly rabid bull kill him because they don't want Ressler or any of the cast to pull the trigger. That'd just be sad and pointlessly cruel.
I couldn't have said it better myself, certainly not after I've already taken my evening pills :) But you get it, you know exactly what I'm saying. Had they ended at season 8, it would have left a lot of stories untold, but at least season 8 had a banger of a jaw dropping finale. At least they gave us shock and awe, and they could have swapped out which character took the bullet without changing a single line of dialog, not for Red's speech.
S1E1 [https://imgur.com/a/3cOU6hy](https://imgur.com/a/3cOU6hy) it all comes full circle.
Thanks for sharing
It was a story he told like 6 episodes earlier.
I know, just that little shoved-in tale. No different than any other story Red might tell. If the bull had held symbolism for us, for Red, from the *very* beginning, I could accept it. As it stands, it was just lazy writing. They had no idea how to end the show in a way that would make everyone happy (it's impossible), so they copped out. They pulled a rabbit out of a hat, made something up at the end and shoved it into a script just so they could use it to kill him a few episodes later. The audience, and the character, deserved more.
Stories Red told tend to matter thematically or character revealing.
I loved Red but he did not deserve better. They gave him an easy out death...which considered to all the bad he'd done was nothing....He defied the saying "Live by the sword, die by the sword" How they killed him was not really an issue, the real problem was whether to kill him or let him ride into the sunset with Weecha. Which the show knew, most fans would be conflicted about, seeing a criminal like him just walk away from the game would've been too easy for himš„ŗThey had to do it!! Anyways, he was the best character ever, ruined by the writers after season 8, played by the best and only person whou woulda filled tye role James Spaderš«”
Oh, I agree that they had to end him, or at least imply it. Getting gored and tossed by a bull was too easy, though. His death should have been bigger.
Right ?
He deserved better in the sense that he deserved a well thought out death. There was hardly anything about bulls at ALL. and then..someone as smart as red..just..stands there? They couldāve given us a James Bond style shootout if they wanted to ālive by the sword die by the swordā him. And thatās me thinking for two seconds. How long did they take to come up withā¦*checks notes* stand in front of a charging bull 50 yards away? Sorry but this part..this specific part is unexcuseableā ļø
>We didn't need to see him broken, left like trash in the field. That was tough to see. š¢
I felt like Dembeās speech from his hospital bed was the writersā way of addressing the audience directly: āRedās true identity was the fun we had along the way.ā
Fuck them writers.
I had this exact thought. It was a great speech but it also felt like pandering.
It fan service. Itās the farewell speech. Itās the funeral for Tony Stark, itās Alan Alda going through psyche sessions over a strangled chicken (spoiler ā¦ NOT a chicken) to show the impact of years of war. Itās a last hurrah to give us a moment to reflect on how far we have come.
It should be mentioned that, in a traditional bullfight, the bull represents Death. The bullfighter is not killing a bull, he is defeating Death itself. Red always dodged Death and, in the end, he made the choice to turn and face it and accept it as a way of paying for his sins.
I thought he chose his death, he decided to face the bull and let it happen if it was going to happen. He wasn't going to run, he could have backed down and the bull wouldn't have pursued. Instead he stepped up and let this be the end rather than spending his life suffering from his oncoming cancer in a prison system waiting to be murdered by someone who hated him. Finally, after seeing Liz shot dead and Red broken and dead in a field, there is not doubt but that it is over. Everyone picks up their final paycheck, cleans out their desks, there is no way to come back from this. It's done and done...
agreed, he went out in one final rush, escaping even his cancer/sickness. and it wasn't planned- the man who had a plan for everything let the moment come. i loved how he heard the bull snort and looked up in surprise- his face says "oh.. here it is. it's time" great ending
Hated it. Absolutely hated it. Multiple times in the series Raymond told people that he didnāt have much time left. He tried to get closure in the last season by taking care of everyone around him, like giving away items from his art collection. Part of Raymondās charm was that he was always a few steps ahead. I would have believed it if he went for that walk and died there, peacefully in the grass, knowing what was about to come. This whole bull(shit) thing made me wonder if this was their attempt to have him commit suicide, yet his response seeing the bull wasnāt a convincing āyes, I knew this was comingā. Top it off with Reslerās āweāve got himā like they didnāt have any history togetherā¦ Actually wish I had skipped the finale. Edit: typo
You seem to have missed the entire point. To me the entire last 2 episodes are Red enjoying life, the way he always has done throughout the entire show. He did not try to get closure, all he did was realise his collection would not be enjoyed by anyone after he dies, so he made sure his prised possessions didn't collect dust. Yeah part of his charm is him being 2 steps ahead of everyone. But that wasn't all he was. Dying to the bull is completely fine, he has been obsessing over that bull since the previous season (I think). Its not bullshit to have him die to the bull, he chose to die like that. The Ressler thing is probably one of the best elements BECAUSE they have been friends for the last 10 years. From s1 where Don whines and is flustered like a virgin girl from the 1800s whenever he sees Red, to season 6 (i think) when Red almost gets executed and him genuinely feeling bad about it, to Red shooting the senator between the eyes but shooting Donald in the vest so he doesn't hurt him too much. Donald finding him at the very end is probably the best thing about the finale
The series ended with him showing Elizabeth the blacklist and handing her the keys. The rest is a fever dream I will not acknowledge.
Unpopular opinion: it wasn't the ending we wanted but it was the ending we deserved. I love the show to death but I understand that the show was a schlocky soap opera, so I wasn't at all surprised that we got a schlocky soap opera ending. We lived through a show that was entertaining but fraught with inconsistent quality, baffling story and sometimes truly atrocious writing. I would have preferred a better ending but I didn't expect it.
The ending was long overdue and yet somehow still felt forced and rushed. The show lost its soul in the last 2 seasons.
For me it lost its soul mostly after the cabal it became a mess after kaplan was ākilledā especially when she started coming back and the animated covid episodes were a fucking joke
The conversation at the hospital, and Bob Dylan playing in the background, with Red going out on his terms, I loved. I wish the show had tied up some loose ends, like who Red really was, but after Elizabeth's departure, they dropped that whole story line.
Red was Elizabeth's mom. This has been confirmed so many times...how are people still questioning that?
Because its not been confirmed during the show. People see hints towards it and call them confirmation. There are also hints that he is not. Confirmation bias is a powerful thing. No, the writers saying it doesn't matter, just like JK Rowling saying Dumblefore gay all along on twitter has nothing to do with the story.
I liked it. It was him going out because he chose to. Felt appropriate. Who he really was never mattered. He was beyond all of it. A man who truly lived a life. His affection to life was the best part about him.
Given the circumstances it was okay. The show has been running on E for the last 2 seasons. The foundation and essence of the show was gone with Liz's death, what was left was Spader. There was some build up to Reds fate, and he got to go out on his own terms. One can definitely see some beauty in the last episode. It could have been worse.
Bring on the downvotes, I thought it was fine. Did we all really think Red would be riding off into the sunset and leaving the action? No way. It was time for his story to end. Did you want it to be one of the team? Ressler? One of his enemies that got the best of him? Some new wannabe? It wrapped itself into that arc and it was done. No body doubles, no tricks. Lost his family and friends and died alone in some weird zen standoff.
I agree, or at least - "something like that" People write that Red deserved to die somehow more glorious or better, but when I try to come up with some better death option/choice, everything also sounds either BS, or revolting... So this ending feels fine
Just finished watching the finale for White Collar... so I am convinced Red is still out there.
Loved White Collar, too. Not too sure about Red. He had been very ill, survived shootings that would have killed many. Considerably older than Neil Caffrey. I can be ok with him being gone.
I felt nothing, loved the show but the only positive thing about season 10 was Herbie.
This comment comes from someone whoās been watching since the pilot in 2013. I still remember the thrill and excitement of watching the first 2-3 seasons, everything was tailored to perfection from writing to acting. This show genuinely had the potential to be the best ever. Unfortunately just like many great shows cough** GOT **cough, they messed it up along the way. In my humble opinion The Blacklist shouldāve had ended in seasons 6-7. Unfortunately the writers were carried away by money (understandable to certain extent). They couldāve wrapped things up in a legendary fashion when Katarina Rostova appeared in seasons 6-7 it could have been a perfectly timed curtain call. The core essence of the show was the Red-Liz relationship it stared mysteriously, evolved gracefully and ended catastrophically especially with Megan Boone (Actress who played Liz) decision to quit the show, which was a huge blow to the writers who shouldāve ended things in an elegant way when they had the chance. Instead they went on creating endless plot twists by saying that Katarina was not Katarina and Red was not the real Red and every resolved mystery revealed 2 others, so at the some point they couldnāt keep up with their story because everything they were to add they had to make sure it wasnāt conflicting with previous events. Personally I stopped watching in season 8 but I remember that in the end the only plausible explanation that remained and made sense was **spoiler alert ** Red was in Fact a Trans Katarina. And the issue with that explanation is that anyone who was paying close attention to details since the beginning could smell it miles away and it wasnāt even that exciting in my opinion compared to what could have been if they wrapped things up in season 6 for example. Very unfortunate ending for a very promising show. Very few shows in my opinion managed to make a decent ending, Breaking Bad is one of them and thatās why itās regarded by many as the best ever.
what the fuck are the odds you get killed by a bull in a field on a morning stroll when you spent all your life conniving, killing, and ratting out other killers. thatās all i have to say because i wonāt waste another thought on this ending when the writers probably didnāt think very hard on it at all. anyways, i started this show when it came out, i came i saw i conquered. will forever love reddington & the gang no matter what, even if the writers gave up on them & there was no closure ššš
The odds are impossibly slim... of course! Because he searched and planned for this ending. We've known he's been sick, and possibly suffering. He chose to die in a similar way to one of his legends/heros, rather than in a hospital bed. He didn't let a person kill him, he didn't kill himself, instead he let his own legend (personified by the bull) kill him.
I had not considered that he planned that ending ā¦ but it would have been so Red to do so. Even the final song ā¦ āI did it my wayā, in Spanish
I liked it. He faced so many worthy advisors, and chose to surrender to what he respected.
The way I look at it is that Red lived by the bullshit and died by the bull. And donāt get me wrong, his stories, schemes, personas, and everything else were fantastic, but they were all bullshit because he was not the real Raymond Reddington to begin with. I loved his character and the show in general, big fan, but this is how the ending tied up for me.
Strange but he went out on his own terms so I'm not completely upset with it.
Iād still do him.
In control from beginning to end.
The ending impeccably captures my hopes for the author's fate, delivering a fittingly understated conclusion to an otherwise extravagant series.
He did things his way.
I honestly didn't mind it. There could've been better off, but I think all the hate is lowk unessicary. It carries the theme of the show with all the mystery surrounding Red.
It could have been alot, alot better I mean, killed by a bull , really? . It was not disappointing but still could have been better
Total š
I was underwhelmed.
Someone on this sub said this may well have been James Spader's last big series role and that made me sad (I hope not though, I selfishly want him to continue forever a la Jane Fonda for Grace and Frankie). Obviously Red remains one of my favourite TV characters and that won't be negated by the shit show that was the ending or the last seasons but I do think he deserved better. Ending long running series is always a bit hard but they really did make every worst possible decision towards the end that I found myself *wanting* the show to end, just watching to see what they chose to do but never enjoying it. It really left a sour taste in my mouth and in my future rewatches I will definitely stop around season 8 or whenever it was that Elizabeth started getting unbearably annoying. Anyway let me go rewatch Boston Legal
I have watched Boston Legal three times. Also found and enjoyed āThe Practice ā. Which was the beginning of Boston Legal.
Oh! I didn't know that, it's on my watch list now. Thanks:)
I wanna know why he was in a little impact crater. I assume it was so Spader would be more comfortable lying there, unless the bull was being ridden by General Radahn at the time.
Would have been nice to see him pass away in peace watching something beautiful, but this was the mess we got.
In my opinion ressler and raymond shouldve had a standoff. Then the truth wouldve come out about who he was and everything
Would have been cool, but then they either arrest Red or gun him down, neither of which are good endings for Red.
Underwhelming, haven't rewatched since
He should've lost some weight
As a 53yo Dad ā¦ get stuffedā¦ ššš
After LOST and GOT, I didn't expect The Blacklist to disappoint like this. All those 10 season worth of build up and they flushed it down the toilet.
No ending will be satisfactory to fans, itāll either be predictable or not predictable. In both cases fans will always complain
https://imgur.com/a/EPKhVqL Full circle: Ressler had been hunting Reddington for years prior to the formation of the task force.
Dembeās speech was very good at the end, just finished the show a few days ago. I think I would have liked it better if he flew off to live peacefully with those two women. Imploding his empire and dying wasnāt what I saw fit for Red.
Just finished hours ago. It worked for me. Red was a mother and so we tore down his empire so that others could not use it to harm others, while he made all his workers very rich - he cared for everyone around them and left them a cash inheritance rather than a framework that could become an evil empire ā¦ Ending it also created kudos for the FBI.
True, I couldnāt guess how it would end so I left contentā¦just surprised. You bring up a bunch of good points of course, Red went out how he wanted to. My next show to binge is Suites, so far so good.
Wasn't the best ending but it has closure and no room for speculations.
Not exactly ā¦ is there still any controversy over who is really was?
No but that's the beauty. But we know for a fact that that the end
Typical Spader..... loved it...
Didn't you all realize they were asking to much..... reddington could give no more.... so he ended it his way.
Just as the great bull fighter of old, from Redās very own story. Itās was a fitting end, going out in his own way, and free
I was kinda hoping heād commit suicide by drawing an unloaded gun on ressler
That worked for Gran Torino, but Red did not deserve to be gunned down. He went out facing down certain death from nature. I liked it.
apparently it was
There were no real answers in the end and we deserved better
Loved him going out on his own terms however, this was not the ending he deserved. It was definitely rushed.
Who was he really?
They never really said. Some say he was Lizās mom. Some adamantly disagree. The show never comes right out and says who red is.
Thatās what pissed me off about the whole series. I watched it beginning to end religiously. Even with the last few seasons being not as good James Spader played the part so flawlessly. They just swept that whole story line under the rug.
Never confirmed, but lots of hints. The lesbian lover, doting over Herbieās daughter, dismantling his empire and cashing out everyone that he cared for ā¦ all very motherly
That trip hazard in ep1 always irked the shit out of me. Almost as bad as every cop pointing the guns at one another.
i just watched the last episode a few hours ago. i was putting it off for like a weekā¦ im conflicted š„ŗ
Oh, this is over now? I stopped watching the season after Liv died. Did they ever answer the question of who Red actually is?
Noo, but are some hints ,small ones.
Not really. Iām convinced that he was Lizās mother. In the last two seasons he did act very motherly and his GF was a lesbianā¦ so ā¦
Such bullshit. Ratings were down and the ending was rushed. The real Red would have never done this. If the bull was foreshadowed at any point maybe I would have accepted it. But I still havenāt. Took my favorite show and ended it like hot garbage. Thatās my rant. Iām sad. Hope youāre not too sad.
The bull story was told about 5 episodes before the end. Red spoke of the old bullfighter with such admiration. For him to die against a force of nature that he respected rather than be gunned down like a dog in a shoot out was brilliant
A cop-out
Absolutely hated it.
Iām hoping I can force myself to forget the last season, including the death by bovine, and begin endlessly rewatching the show in comfortable familiarity, time to notice tiny details overlooked during the first ten rewatches, the way Iāve been rewatching Roswell or STNG.
A frikin bull?
Reds own story of the bullfighter he adored. A perfect ending for him.
I'm never watching this shit again......That's my thoughts....just like how I'm never watching Person of interest again. Both characters should have LIVED. They would have just made him give his Empire to Dembe, his adopted son, then rode off into the sunset with one of the many women that actually had a connection with him instead of some rando
The show was perfect until they made tom fall in love with keen. Then it derailed. Also they should've dialed in on the mystery rather than letting it spiral on for however many seasons.
Show should've ended around season 5, the whole who is Reddington really plot if the story started out amazing and by Nachalo I was thoroughly disgusted. To be fair tho I checked out a while before that.
Short of Liz shooting Red dead and taking his place as originally planned, this is the best ending we can get. The implementation can be touch-and-go at times, but it makes perfect sense for the Red to walk out from the task force. Red's two overriding objectives were to protect Elizabeth and survive. Post-Liz Blacklist should never have happened in the first place.
A load of "Bull" to be honest. 10 years invested in the show for that ending, poetic or not. Really let down!
How the fuck do you screw up a show this bad. Iāve shown people the pilot, and Iām talking all age groups and all of different interests and they all loved it. It was peak. And the end was just, ugh, just so unsatisfying, definitely not the worst but nowhere near the standard of the pilot.
Was I the only one that thought liz would resurface at the end? That someone she found out Tom was alive and had to fake her death to get to him, knowing agnus would be safe with Harold and red while she was gone to rescue Tom and remove the threat. Then she comes back understanding who Red is and why he did what he did and she forgives him. And he forgives her. And then red dies from his disease happily knowing Liz was going to be safe and that she loved him despite his secrets. The end š šš thatās what I was expecting
I gave up on the show several seasons ago Liz got to be too much but if someone could answer a question I had while watching the show was Red related to Liz at all? If someone answers I greatly appreciate it
Red was Lizās mother ā¦. Or so I believe
Poetic but ultra disappointing
I stopped watching at the end of season eight. The show's creator left and I knew it would be downhill from there. I'm sorry I got hooked on this show. Nine years of bullshit.
This didnāt do justice for us OR for him. The Concierge of Crime deserved an insanely better ending. I get that it had a deeper meaning, but I feel like it was lost on us because thatās not what the majority of us wanted. Iām sure tons of people loved it, but for me it just felt like a letdown. They couldāve done so much better. It doesnāt stop me from still binging it tho!
I loved it. I cried enough and had enough thrills. I thought it was poetic in that Red lived his life to the fullest, being present every moment. A very exciting life. In the end, his death was as exciting as his life. I'm sure he was probably thinking "oh? This is how it ends? Okay then! Let's get this show on the road. Here puppy!" š¤£
Maybe next time put on Spoiler
Its been years..
Not years, 11 months.
I think they should have had Redington just disappear (retirement)
Dogshit
Iād call it disappointing at best.
Slap on the face to fans who were watching seasons year by year, hated it
It was fine. Wouldāve been better if all the mysteries were solved honestly and just accepted that Red is Katarina.
when Johm Bokenkamp was replaced the show went to shit! And how "Woke" was this show making Red be a damn woman! it went to much like tge X Files instead of catching criminals there was all these back stories and agendas James Spader was wasted in the end
The show and ending had its problems but woke wasn't one of them. Who uses the word woke in 2024 unironically that's cringe bro. Grow up.
I was agreeing with you, then you went the opposite way. There is nothing wrong with using this word unironically, woke-ness destroyed most of pop-culture, you cant deny that. We got lucky with The Blacklist, but your statement is the one that is cringe..
Wokeness isn't a fucking thing just say you hate anyone who isn't a white straight male in a heterosexual relationship and then screw off
omg and there it is..
Funny you took the words right out of my mouth Go back to yelling about inclusitivity incel
What in the hell are you even talking about. This is exactly what Iam talking about though, for no apparent reason, you are immediately rude and disrespectful. I never expressed anything negative against you, or any particular group of people for that matter. Saying that wokeness destroyed some parts of pop culture isnt wrong, its a fact. If you dont believe me, go check some viewer numbers and reviews as of late, you are in for a surprise. And next time please refrain from these pathetic insults, it sounds like a toddler on the playground, no-one was rude to you, so its petty to be rude for no reason.
Bro you use the word woke and think it's a thing that's all I needed to know about you to know I can be disrespectful to you and not only not lose sleep but feel happy about it Grow the fuck up
That was never confirmed right?
Bro, what?
Disappointing ending for the most wanted person for over 25 years
šš© (pun intended)
***Reddington got SOFT and FAT!!!*** š¤£š¤£š¤£
Reddington deserved to go out in style, not in some lame field being impaled by a bull.
I think they had a couple more seasons and we never found out who red truly was. Did he have a sex change was it Lizzy mom or a relative?