#I'm sure this ask response will get all sorts of mockery on Twitter as so many of mine do

[alyblacklist]

do you think keen and ressler will be officially together by the end of this season? or do you think maybe season 9 or end of the series all together? i feel like you have good instincts and predictions about stuff like this and the plot. So what do you think?

I appreciate that you think that, anon. Believe me, though, I’ve been wrong on plenty of things over the seasons.   

Before they took this most recent turn and actually made Keenler canon, I was of the view that there were two likely potential outcomes to the series with respect to Liz and her love life. One was an ambiguous, “status quo” sort of ending where Liz is not romantically attached to anyone, she’s just living her life with Agnes etc.  The second was that they would actually bring her and Ressler together near the end of the series after some dramatic moment that caused them to finally admit their feelings and establish them as a canon couple with the potential for a longer term future together.  A second chance for both of them after having their lives upended by the death of their first loves.  I never really felt that we’d get canon Keenler on screen for very long in the series because of them being partners and having to work together and the fact I didn’t really see the writers wanting to bring in another long-term domestic storyline for Liz after jettisoning Tom.

And then the writers surprised me by bringing them together romantically much sooner than I expected and upended everything. But, it makes sense that they did it now with where the story has gone, and Liz on the run, because having taken that extra step with Ressler adds a whole new dynamic to their relationship.  There’s an established investment of feelings there now that before was only hinted at. It’s not just waking up and heading into work together for the day all boring and perfect like Saram.  Many Keenlers hoped for something like this back in S3 when Liz was on the run but in retrospect, it was too soon.  But they did it now because it adds something new to the drama of the hunt for Liz and to the dynamics of the relationships between Liz and Ressler, Ressler and Red etc. in ways that I hope we will see a great deal more of this season.

So where do we go from here? The feelings are there, the writers have taken the step, and no matter what bumps this season may bring, I feel like they are not going to backtrack on them now having taken 8 years to build them up slowly (and most especially these past couple of seasons since S6)  So I am now more confident that they will be together at least in the way they are now by the end of the series.  

My perfect outcome to this season would be Liz returning to the fold having learned enough truth about Red to realize they should be on the same side and not enemies and have Liz, and Ressler and the rest of the Task Force working in conjunction with Red next season to finish whatever his mission is. Each fighting for their own better future in their own way.  But I wouldn’t go so far as to predict that wishful outcome because it feels like a “too good to be true” scenario and this is TBL, after all, and there are always curveballs.

Bottom line:  I remain absolutely confident in Keenler and in their relationship and in the fact they are each other’s second chance at love and family and all the things Red has promised Liz since the start of this series. I remain confident in a positive ending to the show for Liz because otherwise it will feel like Red’s efforts failed.  What that means for the end of THIS season as opposed to next?  Ask me again in May.  LOL.  In the meanwhile, expect drama and angst because that is the price of the ship being canon now vs in the final few episodes.