I don’t know if you’ve watched Spader’s latest interview, but the last part just refuses to leave my mind: “I think he feels that spectre in a way that is different than how he has felt it before. And maybe because of the fact that he’s responsible to others now and he feels beholden(?) to others that maybe he feels it more acutely—or it’s more difficult to deny, really.” Talking about Liz and Agnes maybe?
I’ve seen it multiple times ;) and yes, I love that part, too, anon. It ties back to canon where Red has directly talked about it at least twice now:
in 412: “For the longest time I’ve been perfectly comfortable knowing I could die at any moment. I could walk out of this room, be shot in the street. I’ve always been fine with that. But lately I can smell it in the air around me… like death is slouching towards me from the corners of the room.”
in 415: “I’ve lived my entire adult life surrounded by a corona of death. Some days I’ve even longed for it. But lately I find I’m unwilling to go gentle into that good night.”
(and 319, if you subscribe to that interpretation, is the episode where, in the aftermath of Liz’s death, Red is talking himself out of committing suicide bc Agnes needs him, the threat is still out there, and revenge still needs to be carried out.)
Red notes both times that this feeling is a more recent development (”but lately…”) + in 415 we also have a blacklister who voices the same idea and his newfound reason to cling to life is that he becomes a father. In 319 we can also hear Red confess his deepest wish to be part of Agnes’ life and that can never become a reality if he dies.
If I put all these together, yes, I believe one solid conclusion to draw here is that the birth of Agnes is a major factor that has altered his outlook on his own life and the consequences of how he lives it.On top of that, he’s also developed ties w/ others. Liz, of course, is the most important. Then there is Cooper who went above and beyond his job description to stop Red’s execution. And Aram who, despite harboring a healthy fear of Red, is never afraid to back him up or punch him in the face either figuratively or literally. He even has a soft spot for Ressler. All these ppl have demonstrated loyalty towards him. There’s nothing Red considers more valuable than that and indifference about his own fate when it’s now intertwined w/ theirs would be a poor way to repay their investment.
Liz both needs and wants him in her life, and the task force can’t go on w/o him. Despite his best efforts, he is no longer as isolated as he used to be. It’s no longer just Dembe who cares about him. There are other genuine relationships that have been developing around him in the past six years. I think he is mindful of these ties and of the fact that he can’t just discard these bc those ppl deserve better – at least an effort on his part to be more careful.
snowghoul
2087
vaporwave
