#blacklist season 8

[chaotic-pulsar]

The amount of drugs the writers of the Blacklist Lore were on when they came up with the backstory for Elizabeth and Raymond Reddington is astounding

[allmyandroids]

Raymond Reddington

Season 5 Episode 8 - Ian Garvey

[jtspaderstills]

bro's just pouting while watching his kidnappers squabble

[jimmyspades]

"Look alive!" THE BLACKLIST 10.13 "The Sicilian Error of Color"

[ekconstantine]

Season 8 Elizabeth Keen: Strangers by Ethel Cain

I can’t express to you guys how long I’ve been wanting to make an edit of her to this song. I’ve delayed it for so long because to be honest.. I really really hate her character in season 8 and I knew rewatching the episodes was going to be painful but hey, I finally did it!

There are a couple of things I got from her final character arc and one of them is her perverted sense of justice in attempting to kill Red. She is so blinded by her quest she literally drives herself insane to the point of hallucination (Kate Kaplan). I think it’s interesting that she has to manifest one of Red’s greatest enemies to try and convince herself that what she’s doing is correct, hence. “I try to be good. Am I no good?”

Her own psyche has trouble in trying to justify torturing and killing Red and that speaks a lot to the weakness of her own goals (BECAUSE SHE KNOWS SHE SHOULDN’T BETRAY THE MAN SHE LOVES MOST)

Almost every other scene she’s distraught/ fighting her own subconscious on whether she should cross the line or not, and I think this song really encapsulates that internal battles she constantly has during her fight against Red. And of course, her death scene being her desperately trying to make amends but dying almost by her own hand, is definitely not a fun viewing experience 😃.

[littletreeproductions]

Elizabeth Keen & Donald Ressler | Their story

This isn't the end, not for you. 

[cookinguptales]

wow tumblr you're really sellin them

I mean I have nothing against these people and they're probably lovely and the algorithm was just unlucky but. lmao. wow. way to go, tumblr.

[writingbyshiloh]

Praying that the last ep of The Blacklist will be set 6 years in the future and done like a Netflix documentary about why the FBI decided to work with Reddington

[partlymadeofgold]

🖤

[isagrimorie]

I wish there was meta about Red growing up during the cold war and how growing up Red didn’t have the vocabulary to address who he was.

(As I understand it, Red prefers to answer to he/him but also the show doesn't clarify this.)

I can only imagine it hadn’t helped the way he grew up it made it almost impossible to figure himself out.

Dom scripted Red’s life from the moment he could walk. He was the “son he always wanted”. And yet when he did become the son, Dom was furious with Red.

And at every opportunity mentioned how Red killed Katarina, and loved Katarina. Even on his deathbed.

But Red loved Dom despite everything he put Red through.

It’s no wonder Red is so deeply reluctant to tell Liz even if it would help everything, like for example when Tatiana claimed she was Katarina, Liz’s mother. Starting a rift and Liz (again) going against Red but in such a way that it cost Red his father and Anne.

I don’t know if Red was even conscious of how terrified he was that one of the reasons he hasn’t told Liz was because he was afraid Liz would reject him the way Dom did constantly.

This fear is at cross purposes with Liz’s need to find out who Red is to her.

Liz was adopted, and despite all of Red’s intentions she did remember being abandoned. Sam was her dad despite his flaws and she accepted them and loved him and since Sam died Liz’s desire to know more of her past, who Red is to her grew.

The moments when Liz was at peace and happily working with Red was when she thought she knew who Red was: her bio dad, or when she thought Red was Ilya (Red’s childhood friend who once posed as Reddington).

The worst moments of their relationships is when Liz didn’t know who Red was, or when fake!Katarina entered the picture.

It would have been far easier maybe if Red accepted the title and role of “father”. But being a father is a loaded one for Red, due to so many things starting with Dom and ending with Red’s guilt over Original Reddington’s death and the role Red played in that.

To Red Liz’s fathers were: Original Reddington, Constantin Rostova, and Sam. He isn’t part of the list.

The only real thing Katarina ever had in a life full of life was Masha and being Masha’s mother.

And I think that might be a key to Red’s block because Red didn’t want to be called Liz’s dad.

Red wants Liz to call him mother.

But how does Red reconcile that to himself? Becoming Reddington was a necessity but Red found freedom and happiness being Raymond Reddington. He was a better Reddington than the Original Reddington.

He celebrated life and for the first time in his whole life when he became Reddington he was no longer anyone’s puppet. Slowly in his role, he discovered who he was at last. Red found out what he liked and disliked, who he liked and disliked. Who he was attracted to and who he wasn’t attracted to.

What food he loved and hated. The clothes he liked remained similar in that Red still loved tailored clothes, and liked being put together.

He finally had an appetite and zest for life and that was missing growing up.

It’s why as much as he can, he will never deny himself anything he wanted again.

But also after all these years, Red realized he loved his younger self. He loved Katarina and missed her, and would in times of crisis have an imaginary talks with her.

He is often his own counsel. Sometimes, unwisely he subjects himself to Dom’s advice which only ends up making him feel worse.

I wish we knew what happened to Red’s mother after she was sent away for her own protection. I wonder if Red’s mother even knew? or I wonder if she wasn’t told because, of all people her opinion is the one Red valued the most?

So again that left Red with himself and his complicated thoughts about not wanting to be called “father” and not knowing how to feel about still wanting to be called Liz’s mother.

(Although, again this is not clear or textually maybe Red prefers to be just called Red or considered as a parent. This is one of the things the show doesn't clarify and played more ambiguous).

Who was Red going to talk to? Maybe Kate? But even before there was a distance between Kate and Red, and a power imbalance.

Dembe seems to be the only one who has Red’s total confidence still there is the power imbalance.

Red isn’t also the type to discuss matters of gender and sexuality when it pertains to himself. He can talk about anyone else’s.

Ivan and Ilya are also Cold war era guys who are as clueless.

But Tatiana Petrova, who Dom and Ilya sent out to die claiming she was Katarina but lived, knew. Or had enough of an inkling that when Tatiana discovered who Red really was, Tatiana was able to flaunt to Red that she could be Liz’s mother and Liz would believe and choose Tatiana over Red because Liz thought Tatiana was her mother.

The way Red looked at that taunt was because Tatiana knew Red won't tell Liz who he really is to her. The way it did alienate Liz from Red and how that triggered events that led to Nachalo (8x21).

It would just be so much easier to tell Liz at that point.

But even in this imaginary simulacrum of Katarina, she was shaky and terrified breath as Red and Katarina are finally asked this question. "Who became Reddington?"

And Red stalled and stalled and stalled. Telling Liz he would give the letter her mother wrote to her explaining everything after Liz killed him in a public spectacle so she could take over his empire.

For a smart man with brilliant plans, Red also has some stupid ones, and this was one of them.

Because how did he think it would go over??? Liz already accidentally killed her bio dad, and now she would accidentally on purpose kill her bio mother?

Red was doing suicide by Liz, seemingly forgotten what he told himself years ago when he talked himself out of suicide:

"--Every suicide. Every single one. Is an act of terror ‭perpetrated against everyone who's ever known you… Everyone who's ever loved you. The people closest to you… the ones who cherish you… are the ones who suffer the most pain, the most damage. Why would you do that?"

I know he thought it was the only way to keep Liz and his granddaughter safe, but at what cost?

And then his worst fear came true.

"I am her mother. And I am death to her."

The one thing Red dedicated his entire life to preventing. Liz/Masha dying in his arms, with all certainty knowing it was his fault.

And she died with Red unable to tell her, even though she did figure it out in death. Red didn't say it out loud to her, the one thing she's been wanting to know from him since they first met.

And he wasn't even able to tell his daughter who he really is to her.

(Also I was watching a scene in season 4 where Liz was reading Katarina's journal and Liz imagined reaching out to Katarina's hand and asking her where she was.

Imaginary Katarina vanished at the moment the door opened and Red entered).

/edited.

(I apologize for any errors in this post, and I welcome any input!)

[daenystheedreamer]

remember during season 8 when people were like it feels uncomfortable watching arya have sex. and then all the blue check mark journalists were writing articles saying its sexist to think that

[jtspaderstills]

I'D LET HIM DO THE MOST UNHOLY THINGS TO ME🧎🏻‍♀️

[jamescarstairs]

still trying to figure out what to do about my usertag and what people can tag me in for this blog

[prentissrollins]

This. Yes to all of this. To think that we are close to the 3 years mark, it's insane. My keenler wound will never heal completely. No one will ever be able to fill the void they left.

I never thought I’d do this, posting keenler in 2024 but here I am.

In my whole fandom life, I’ve experienced some really painful stuff. But Keenler was the biggest heartbreak I’ve ever had to face in this hobby. I know people outside these bubbles can’t understand but we do. The love, the energy, the emotions I poured into this, the pure devotion; I’ve never given as much of myself to something before them. Content creation for this fandom was second nature, loving this ship felt like breathing. Woven into my life in a way only you guys can understand.

In roughly 2 months, it’ll be 3 years since it all broke down. But if we’re honest, we knew it was falling apart in the months leading up to it already – we just didn’t know it’d be *this* bad.

Keenler, you will forever be my once in a lifetime. Thank you for one of the greatest times I’ve got to have so far. Thank you for connecting me to so many people on such a deep level. Thank you for being my greatest comfort during tough times.

You are what fueled my passion for editing and creating. Wherever I go, whatever I create – there will always be a part of you in it.

I will never forget the day it finally came crashing down on us. I’ll never forget June 23. I’ll never forget the pain that made us feel like there was no breathing anymore. How everything we poured into this, for years, was trashed and our unbound loyalty betrayed in the worst way a fandom can imagine. How they acted as if we, the support that made them big, had never existed.

It took me weeks to be able to look at anything fandom hobby related again. It took me months to try to edit again (and failed). Loosing keenler had made me numb in a way that made creating impossible, while before, creating was where I felt the strongest emotions ever. I truly thought I had lost the hobby I loved so dearly. It took me 8 months in total until I could somehow continue it. It was a long process with many ups and downs but today, 3 years later, I am incredibly grateful to not have given up on it. While there were multiple factors at play, I must owe most of it to rollisi.

So thank you, sonnshine and georgia peach. I cannot put into words how thankful I am.

[fernthewhimsical]

Hopepunk Primer pt. 3

How to practice Hopepunk

Find joy in the small things. The flowers growing through concrete, the way the sunlight hits the grass. There is beauty and joy in the small things, but it takes a bit of training to find them. Mindfulness or a gratitude journal (or even a Tumblr sideblog) helps with this training. Hope can be learned, I promise.

Be a pebble. [8] Imagine a tall glass that is half-full with water. Imagine you are a crow. You try to drink the water but you can't reach, the glass is too deep. So you take a pebble and throw it in. The water level rises slightly. Other crows come in with pebbles, and with each pebble the water level rises until finally you all can drink from the glass. There is a lot of focus nowadays in activism circles to be aware of every horrible thing that is going on in the world and to work on each and every one of them. The tough reality is: we can't. We're only human and right now we are all very prone to burn-out. We can't bring change if we are burnt out or have compassion fatigue. So be a pebble. Stay small, perhaps even stay local. If everyone focuses on one thing and focuses their efforts and energy there, we will make it. We'll make the water rise so everyone can drink. Be a pebble.

Stop doom scrolling. It's ineffective and only serves to make us feel more hopeless and demoralized.

Be responsible for your own internet experience. This is related to doom scrolling. Unfollow people who make you feel hopeless and like the fight is useless. Block trolls and don't engage them. Find people who make you feel inspired, invigorated, hopeful. Blacklist tags, block, delete.

Look into hopepunk media. Be inspired by the stories told. Some examples are movires: Lord of the Rings, Mad Max: Fury Road, Pacific Rim. Series: Sense8, the Good Place, Star Trek. Books: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, A conspiracy of truths by Alexandra Rowland, the Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. Music: Torches by X Ambassadors, This Yeah by the Mountain Goats, Be More Kind by Frank Turner.

Build/Find your Community. Share what you have, ask for what you need. We're in this together. If you grow your own fruits and vegetables share them with friends and neighbours. Exchange favours like doing a grocery run or offering to watch the kids for a night. Make a tiny library or give & take cabinet. Share skills and resources. This can be done both online and in person, but making a difference locally is easier with boots on the ground, so to speak.

Create. Live authentically. Do things just to do the thing. So much needs to be "content", these days. So much needs to be a "side hustle" or "monetized". Resist. Create because it makes you feel good. Because you want to. Create bad art, sing off key, swing your arms wildly and call it dancing, write edgy poetry, create Mary Sue self-inserts. Live.

Resist capitalism. Reuse, recycle, repair, thrift, make, trade, etc.

Vote. If you really want to make a difference get out there and vote. Especially in the US they do not want you so rebel and vote. Not just for the president. Voting locally for your representatives will have more of an influence.

Unionize. Alone you beg, together you negotiate. Only together can we make change

Spread hope. Do random acts of kindness, compliment people, share positive things that happened, spread love and joy where you go.

[8] Be a pebble

Further reading:

Alexandra Rowland's Hopepunk Manifesto What is Hopepunk by Vox.com Hopepunk-Humanity blog on Tumblr Hopepunk: A Genre, Philosophy and Movement by Lexi Drumonde (Video) Intro to Hopepunk by Morgan Hazelwood (Video)

Part 1: Intro and history Part 2: Philosophy of Hopepunk Part 3: How to practice hopepunk and further reading Part 4: Extra! Hopepunk and magic

[duncan-rohanne]

so...

that was one hot kiss, thanks for that lancelot and guinevere

dearon mention. shocking. they remembered that they wrote him off the show lol

team black is still boring, especially jace, sorry my dude but you are dull af

olivia cooke and tgc, as per usual, are best actors on the show

it's still very funny how they forgot the plots they are following, like they start with helaena's trauma and abandon it in the middle of the episode

i pity the people who never read fire&blood and didn't look it up because alyn and addam must be the most confusing characters ever. i'm surprised they even exist in the show

aemond, my boy, it seems you are on condal's blacklist.

anyways, i see we are season 8 of writing now lmao.