After The Blacklist Revealed The Key To Taking Down The Task Force, Does Red Have Any Tricks Left?

Taylor Swift · June 9, 2023

This does not bode well for the final episodes of the series.

Spoilers ahead for Episode 17 of The Blacklist Season 10, called “The Morgana Logistics Corporation.”

The Blacklist only has a limited number of episodes left before the final credits roll on the series, and it remains to be seen if the long-running drama will answer all of the questions surrounding Reddington. In the latest episode, he managed to help out the task force while also playing everybody, although it’s still not crystal clear why he’s been so sentimental lately. “The Morgana Logistics Corporation” unfortunately did make it clear how Congressman Hudson could take down the task force, and there's no guarantee that Red has enough of the right tricks left to possibly save the FBI unit if the worst should happen courtesy of Hudson.

To the show’s credit, it wasn’t until the end of the hour that Red was revealed to actually be playing more than one side, and he did give the task force the win of putting a stop to Morgana’s elaborate smuggling operation... even if he himself had been behind it. He then proceeded to arrange the $3 million bail to get their #1 arrest out of prison and threw a party for all of the people who had worked with him. For a reason that still is not clear, he dismantled another one of his operations, gave the agents a win, and even got to hang out with Dembe again after they shared a beautiful moment together in the previous episode, which will be available streaming via Peacock Premium subscription.

On the whole, Red manipulating the entire investigation into Morgana for his own purposes felt like classic Red, and I still enjoy when The Blacklist reveals an overly elaborate plot that only James Spader’s character could have possibly made work. He hasn’t lost his touch for tricks, but I can’t help but wonder if he has any moves that could get the task force out of their sticky situation with Congressman Hudson, which just got a whole lot stickier. As director Saray Guidetti explained previously, the agents were in serious jeopardy with Hudson digging into their secrets, and he uncovered a lot of what Cooper and Co. undoubtedly would have preferred to remain classified.

Not deterred by losing the support of Senator Dorf, Hudson found new leads to chase when an old FBI contact brought him the news that Cooper had secretly met with another three assistant directors at the Bureau, and chasing that lead resulted in an agent accidentally dropping “Zuma” when threatening him with potential legal action if he takes any of his findings to Congress. It was just a single word, but it was enough. “Zuma” of course led the congressman to Dembe, which naturally is a big giveaway that Red was involved.

Once Hudson connected the Dembe dots, he realized that Cooper adopted the daughter of Liz Keen, who had gone on the run with Red prior to her untimely death and dramatic farewell. Even Ressler was pulled into the mess due to his past hunt for Red. Everything pointed toward the secrets of the task force revolving around Reddington, and Hudson seems to have the information that he needs to start digging deeper than ever into the team. Through no fault of his own, Dembe may have been the key to taking down the whole group.

And while Red usually has the tricks to get out of just about anything, he already discovered in his sneaky search of Hudson’s house that there’s nothing to use as leverage against him and no way to blackmail him. Plus, Red has been mysteriously sentimental in Season 10, which extends to giving away his earthly possessions, so it’s even harder than usual to predict what he can and is willing to do.

We can only wait and see with new episodes of The Blacklist in its new time slot of Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. The series will air its very last episode in the not-too-distant future, so you can check out our 2023 TV premiere schedule if you’re looking for new TV options once Red's journey has ended.