The Blacklist – Tom Connolly

• Title: The Blacklist – Tom Connolly
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The Blacklist ends its Second Season with Lizzie (Megan Boone) framed by the Cabal who uses her past as the daughter of a Soviet spy and the misdirection of SVR assassin Karakurt (Michael Massee) to make it appear that Lizzie is responsible for a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The episode’s title comes from the newest member of the Cabal as Thomas Connolly (Reed Birney) gleefully puts their plan into action but will be forced to answer for his crimes before the episode’s end.

For two years The Blacklist has teased us with the mysteries of Lizzie’s past and her connection to Reddington (James Spader). Although the finale doesn’t do much in the way of explaining the later (at least not the reasons behind his actions), the former is addressed with Lizzie’s suppressed memories coming to the surface revealing a traumatic event Red hoped to keep her from ever remembering (without explaining the reason he went to so much trouble). Cooper (Harry Lennix) is also shocked by the truth of his medical condition and just what lengths the Cabal took to put him under their thumb.

As the Second Season comes to a close Lizzie is a fugitive from justice and Cooper’s future within the FBI is uncertain. Connolly’s death, while cementing Lizzie’s status as a fugitive, also seems to delay his threats about dark futures for the rest of the unit who all survive the fates he promised Lizzie. As for Reddington, his actions to make truth about the Cabal public add a new spin to the show as well leading into the war likely to dominate next season. How long will Lizzie and Red stay on the run? Will the public buy the truth about the Cabal? And, if neither happens quickly, how will the structure of the show change as the hunt for other Blacklisters would seem at an end as the unit’s new focus (hunting down its two former members) appears obvious.