Find out what happens to Red.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for the series finale ofThe Blacklist.
And so it would be for 218 episodes.
James Spader as Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington on ‘The Blacklist’.Fernando Marrero/ SONY/ NBC
So, one last time, let’s recap the two-hour series finale and enjoy the ride.
“Don’t throw away your future on my account,” he insists.
That ends the conversation, understandably.
James Spader as Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington, Hisham Tawfiq as Dembe Zuma, and Jonathan Holtzman as Chuck on ‘The Blacklist’.Will Hart/NBC
Red calls Chuck (Jonathan Holtzman) and asks him to get in contact with someone named Bertha.
It’s not just his billions or his networks, it’s his ability to outthink and outmaneuver.
This pays off immediately, with multiple Red sightings coming into the Task Force.
James Spader as Red on ‘The Blacklist’.Fernando Marrero/ SONY/NBC
Nixon has checkpoints set up to contain Red’s ability to get out of the area.
It took a decade, but I am finally and firmly on Team Ressler.
I’ll be cheering on Chuck next!
Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler on ‘The Blacklist’.Fernando Marrero/SONY/NBC
(I will not.)
So where is Red hiding from the FBI?
Happily at Paula Carter’s table, reading about himself in the newspaper.
He’s visiting Glen’s mom to speak to her about creating a legacy gift in Glen’s honor.
Awww Count: 2
In Cooper’s office, the team gathers to check that Ressler is okay.
Everyone agrees that despite their affection, they need to capture Red.
Especially since they believe he’ll be getting through the checkpoints and out of D.C. as soon as possible.
He also touches base with Chuck, who tells him their firetruck Bertha (ha!)
is ready to go.
Unfortunately, Dembe knows how much Red loves a Scotcheroo.
Malik and Dembe pull up to the house only to find it literally on fire.
Andrea really is a full-service real estate agent!
The purpose of the fire truck is getting clearer.
Red changes out of his fireman’s uniform and jumps in a waiting car.
Nine hours later, the team is exhausted and out of leads.
That was pretty metal."
The rest of the team has no response.
Ironically, the team is actually making inroads into figuring out where Red is.
But before they can head off, Nixon and Hudson come to arrest…
Agent Ishwood (Jake Silbermann), the unlucky agent whose phone Dembe stole to warn Red.
Hudson and Cooper take Ishwood, while Nixon and the rest of the team head to the wharf.
In interrogation, Hudson immediately leaps to treason because that’s his favorite accusation.
Ishwood, of course, denies calling Red, and Cooper insists that they pull security footage.
At the wharf, Dembe hands the harbor master a list of five ships he knows Red owns.
She is delightfully nonchalant but looks them up slowly.
Dembe is certain that’s where Red is.
The security footage that Cooper insisted on viewing saved Ishwood but damned his own agent.
Their best lead is gone.
“You smell like fish,” she complains but kisses him anyway.
Most adorably, Herbie admits he would have happily helped Red if he could because he owes him.
He doesn’t even mind how much Red loves his wife.
He’s understandably upset, even though Weecha insists it wasn’t his fault that Dembe helped him.
We all know there’s no way Red is going to let Dembe take the fall.
Which is exactly what Dembe is trying to do.
When Cooper forces his way into interrogation, the agent comes clean immediately.
He did tell Red the FBI was coming, as much to prevent bloodshed as to help his friend.
He’s willing to take the hit for the entire team.
Hudson and Nixon interrupt to take Dembe back to FBI headquarters.
Ressler insists on going with them to see to it one of the team is there for the questioning.
Almost immediately, they both get ambushed into a massive crash.
A van pulls up and Red drags Dembe from the wreck while Chuck and his men provide cover.
Dembe tries to calm everyone down.
He shoots Dembe in the neck.
HE SHOOTS DEMBE IN THE NECK!
Red doesn’t hesitate.
He and his men grab a barely alive Dembe and take off.
Did I mention that Dembe was SHOT IN THE NECK?!
Awww count: -49!
Dembe was shot in the neck!
Red insists the nurse on duty treat Dembe immediately.
The nurse is understandably reluctant, especially since Dembe clearly needs a blood transfusion.
Red volunteers his own compatible supply.
“Hook us up,” he insists.
Before it can get completely out of hand, Ishwood steps in to tell Nixon that he saw everything.
“Does that mean you’re not coming?”
At the nursing home, local police are already at the scene.
The nurse shoos them out firmly, and hilariously, they immediately go.
After the surgery, Dembe is somehow alive but critical.
Now that Hudson is dead, we need another villain pronto, and Nixon is rising to the occasion.
That was an FBI agent making a death threat!
Herbie agrees with me, telling Malik he’s not going to stick around to watch Nixon murder Red.
“I love Reddington.
And Holly and Sue adore him.
If I help the FBI capture Raymond, they would never forgive me.
I would never forgive me.”
Malik rats out Nixon, and Cooper immediately goes to confront the murderous agent.
Once the shoving begins, Ressler steps in.
I’m a bit disappointed, especially when Nixon walks away saying “Nice talk, Grandpa.”
Politically wise, yes, but still a bummer.
But there is good news!
Our pair practically roll their eyes as they walk away.
Red is also awake but still weak from donating all that blood.
Ressler heads off to Spain.
In jeans, though, so that’s fun for him!
Back in Spain, Red is checking in with his favorite person.
He settles in bed for a long chat, and it’s very sweet.
Awww count: 5
Cooper is with Dembe when he gets a call.
It’s Red, of course, wanting to check on his friend’s recovery.
Dembe laughs because how can you not?
He says he knows Red saved his life, but Red shrugs it off.
“It’s the chick and the egg situation, really.
Who saves whom and then gets saved themselves.
It’s been so many times over, so many years I can’t keep track.”
That’s their friendship in a nutshell.
“A humorless fellow with handsome hair?”
Dembe takes the news well, telling Cooper it’s time he looks for a life involving fewer guns.
Back in Spain, Red wakes up and sets out to walk in the Spanish countryside.
“Men will be coming.
They always come,” he tells Angela.
“And before they come, I always go.”
“He chooses to rage.
To rage against the dying of the light.
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.
It is the lesson at the very core of my time with him.”
Ressler is in the market, showing a picture of Red.
He finds a vendor who recognizes him and knows his location because they delivered to him.
He’s at the villa, but not the main house the smaller side house.
Of course, by the time he gets there, Red is already gone.
But he does find the skull, Red’s clothes, and his gun.
He takes off to search.
So if Red isn’t going to put the skull back at the ranch, what is he doing?
A bull appears, seemingly out of nowhere.
Red stares at it, not scared so much as he is curious.
Like so many deaths before, Red faces it head-on and calmly.
The bull takes a few steps closer, but Red doesn’t move.
And then the bull charges.
In a helicopter provided by the local police, Ressler is scouring the countryside when he sees his target.
Touching down, he runs across the field and stares.
Red’s body is lying in the field, bloody and bent and broken.
They are all dead.
It’s a final note of respect.
An appropriate way to say goodbye.
