“You can’t judge a book by its cover. But you can by its first few chapters, and certainly by its last.” -Red
What does this last chapter tell us?
While I know we have another season to go, to watch our beloved characters mourn, change, and ultimately grow, this was the last chapter of “The Blacklist” as we know it.
This last chapter (this season) was at times: confusing, exciting, heartwarming, confounding, frustrating, and heartbreaking. I’m still wrapping my head around it.
To the fans: I am sorry. I got into this show this year. I am heartbroken. I can’t imagine what fans, who invested eight years, blogs, fics, lives, into this show must feel. I ask myself, “do I wish I had never even seen this show at all?” It’s easy to wish the pain away. But when the pain dies down, something good must have come from it all, right? It changed us in some ways - maybe confidence, maybe wardrobe choices, maybe friendships, along the way. There were good stories in there through the years to inspire.
To the writers and producers: In the wise words of Ron Swanson, “Don’t confuse drama with happiness.” Don’t confuse high drama with good storytelling. Don’t confuse the fact that the fandom is engaged and talking about that finale as if you have done a good job (the alternative being a flat, predictable end). Yes, you moved people, most to tears. You broke their hearts. You told a tragedy. You also made your fans question the last eight seasons, and their role in it. You didn’t inspire us with this last chapter. You made us ask ourselves, “was it all a lie?” Meaning, was our investment in this story all for naught? I’d be willing to bet the majority of your female audience needed to see Liz Keen in their lives, needed her bravery, vulnerability, and ability to pick herself up and dust herself off and try again. If what we ultimately get at the end of this show is Reddington’s redemption, that’s not enough. We needed to see the female win something. She lost.
Raymond Reddington said, “Value Loyalty Above All Else.” What about the die hard fandom? What did their loyalty get them in the end? Where was the show’s loyalty to its fan base, still hanging on after all this time when others stopped watching? One thing I came to love about this show very quickly, was how smart it was - it didn’t pander to the audience; there was no contrived, hokey crap. Giving your fans a satisfying ending, does not mean it has to be puppy dogs and rainbows. It doesn’t have to be a zero sum game. The storytellers here decided to write the tragedy, because not all stories have a happy ending. But after the year we’ll all had, a little ray of sunshine wouldn’t have been so terrible.
I came to this show this year, drawn in by Keenler. I realized this love story was a C storyline, and would not get as much screen time as I would like (or it deserved), but week after week I craved more of it. I jumped head first into the deep end. The finale was heartbreaking. I never cry. I cried through the episode, I sobbed afterward. I sobbed the next day and the next. I can’t re-watch that last scene; I can’t listen to that beautiful music composed specifically for that scene. It’s too emotional. I can’t re-watch those beautiful Keenler scenes, like the Wing Yee dinner in the office. Now, it’s tainted.
Individually, the characters on the show are great, but we found out this season that the spark of the show, Megan Boone as Liz Keen, is what ignited the story in each of them. Yes, we will tune in to Season 9 to initially watch Ressler (I could watch Diego read the phone book), but it was Ressler as he related to Liz that made his character come to life. Every look he gave Liz, every hero moment, was in relation to her, how it advanced their characters’ relationship from one of mistrust to complete trust.
I don’t think I will ever understand the business of show, the sausage making, the deals, the games they play. I wish those nuts and bolts of the business didn’t interfere with the storytelling, but we all know they do.
I have to thank Alyblacklist and her tumblr for EVERYTHING. She fueled this fire for me. I hope she gets some closure - the powers that be should recognize that.
I will continue to wrap my head around the “why” of it all. I will tune in to Season 9 to see how they explain some things or at least talk through the hurt (at this point I don’t care anymore about the mythology - too little, too late). I hope people continue to post good stories from the show - BTS, bloopers, actor info and news - those things act as a salve for the wounds left by the finale.
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