The Blacklist Declassified

We didn’t get to hear Red’s little talk with Pepper about the Apopha Strain. We also don’t know how Beck found out about the painting, but my guess is it has something to do with Berlin, who is not done with Red, & who is very handy with viruses.

Red: “I suspect this [Cullen virus] incident at the bank is not what it seems, but rather the first shot in a larger, coordinated assault aimed directly at me… a plan devised by someone who doesn’t care how many people die, as long as I’m one of them.”

The urgency of Red’s hunt for “the girl” – which he describes as ‘critical to his war with Berlin’ – implies Berlin is on mission that hasn’t ended. My guess is Berlin was behind the Apopha strain attack. Maybe Pepper (who knew things Beck didn’t) got the painting or information on it from Berlin. Perhaps Pepper was going to return the key to Berlin for a reward after spreading the plague. But Red now has the skeleton key – ‘the key that opens all doors.’ And he has found “the girl” – Zoë, “key” to this extended plot line.

The performance of Swan Lake on March 22, 1987 would have been when Zoë was 8-12. She would have been 10-12 in the Stewmaker’s picture (faked?). My guess: she is Berlin’s granddaughter and Red’s stepdaughter. Lizzie is Red’s daughter by the same woman, who was the love of his Iife; Liz & Zoë are half-sisters. Berlin blames Red for his daughter’s death, for killing her or for letting it happen. He doesn’t go after Liz because he has found out she is also his granddaughter. (Tom let Berlin know Red was sending money to Sam.)

After a long pause, Red said “No” when Lizzie asked if he was her father because “I will always do what I have to do to keep you safe.” The music box is important.

Red has lied to Liz. In 1:22 Berlin, when Red gets the call from Fitch to say he’s found Berlin and Lizzie asks him if they found Berlin, Red says, “We’ll have keep looking.” Granted, that’s not a direct “No” and Red has a tendency to respond with non sequiturs when asked a direct question (“That’s a nice tie.” “Who decided on this paneling?”) but it’s clear he means her mislead her. He doesn’t want her going with him because it is dangerous. But Tom shows us, takes Liz at gunpoint and they encounter Red where he’s tied up fake-Berlin.

Red’s first wife was killed by someone who hated Red (or someone who wanted him for herself). Red rescued Liz but not now-Zoë. He had thought now-Zoë died, too. Maybe she was on The Alchemist’s list. Naomi can’t be Berlin’s daughter, obviously, and I doubt Jennifer is Red’s daughter. That marriage had to come later. Was Naomi waiting in the wings? She said the FBI had suspected her.

I’m sure at least half of this is wrong…

Swan Lake is about true love foiled by deception. The Prince is tricked into pledging love to the wrong woman. In dismay, the true lovers agree to die and meet again after death. The beautiful dance we saw at the end of “Mako Tanida” is called “The Dying Swan.”