THE BLACKLIST Fall Finale Review: Death and Betrayal in “Kings of the Highway”

All For Naught

After a slow build throughout the first half of this season, Tom and Harold got the explosive series of scenes that they deserved. With both of them dragging an unwilling partner along, Harold’s bewildered wife and Tom’s belligerent prisoner, their chapter was imbued with a Bizarro-buddy cop vibe. This season their small sections have acted as little reprieves from the main story and it worked. Their arc shifted rapidly from the cool Ocean’s Eleven opening to something more reminiscent of The Following’s vigilantism by the end, but always remained fresh and complimentary to the main narrative.

Dembe however remains underutilized. There hasn’t been much need for him this season as most of the blacklisters have been vehicles for Reddington to showboat his arsenal of plans, associates and silver-tongued quips. If he had remained a less developed background character, such as Mr. Kaplan, it wouldn’t be an issue, but his strong start this season leaves us wanting more and the show has yet to deliver.

While it may not have been to everyone’s taste I loved that it was some random gang, in way over their head, that scuppered Reddington’s plans. It reminded me of that final scene of Layer Cake, with some angry junkie getting the drop on the main character by simply being so unimportant he wasn’t on their radar. Instead of dying on the pavement we get to see Red be Red and sow the seeds of mistrust among his captors.

Ressler’s team are in tatters by the end of the episode too. Ressler shifted his bipolar gears again back to “Mr By-the-book,” immediately after sleeping with a work colleague whom it is obvious has some form of relationship with his other colleague Aram. It was shown at the start of the season that his mental stability was being supported by confiding in his old boss Harold Cooper, and since the revelation that Cooper misused information given to him Ressler has flitted back and forth from following to disobeying the rules, all the while becoming more unhinged in the process. While Aram was hurt by Ressler and Navabi’s tryst, it was Navabi who did the most damage and so Aram reverted his allegiance back to his work instead of his heart, selling out Navabi in the process.

The next episode of The Blacklist is titled “The Director” and it airs January 7. Red originally planned to leave him to the (lack of) mercy of the Cabal, but given how fantastically his plan fell flat, the Director’s diminishing safety and the heavy spotlight on Red’s improvisation this season, perhaps the Director’s execution might be postponed.

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