Who Is Raymond Reddington? | THE BLACKLIST Finale Explained.

James in this role honestly is one of the best acting performances i have ever seen

James Spader was brilliant in this role!

As a result of the ending, Directed By: Mike Caracciolo Written By: Lukas Reiter These two are now in my blacklist

Ressler finding Raymond's body makes it full circle of Ressler being the one leading the search for Red in the beginning and at the end finding him literally

I truly think Blacklist is one of the best TV series ever created. Absolutely amazing. I also think Blacklist has one of the worst endings of any series ever. Did the writers just give up? Such a shame to end an amazing series this way.

One of the worst endings of a series. 10 years of watching to get no answers in the end.

Thanks for the video. But there are a lot of pieces that could have been added here to show for sure who Reddington really is. MULTIPLE reveals when pieced together pretty much give a full confirmation that Reddington is actually Katarina herself. Dating back to the much earlier seasons - they reveal a few people in particular on the black list that are crucial to this. 1 of the Blacklister's is a top black market plastic surgeon that can Change Appearance entirely. And 2. Another Blacklister is revealed that can Even change someone's DNA entirely. This is your first hint that Reddington (even though the blood shows Reddington) is someone else entirely. They are giving you a preview that someone can completely alter appearance and even change DNA. There is the infamous episode where Red is alone at the Beach house, where he seemingly comes in and out of consciousness, it's blurred between the appearance we see here and Katarina herself. It was confusing at the time because we didn't have 10 seasons of info, but after the fact if you watch it's another hint showing he is indeed Katarina. They show the scenes back and forth showing through his eyes, and then back to Katarina's. And it's later confirmed she/he was home alone in the house. It's a blurred memory as she's taken on a new indentity. There are countless other minor clues that can be inferred to add to this theory but I'm going to name a few other major things here to help as well in particular -- Later they show flashbacks of Katarina and Ilya together and how the idea to become reddington himself would be genius. Your led to believe that was Ilya but later it was confirmed it was not him (but still someone did in fact become Reddington). It was also confirmed a female did come in to visit that plastic surgeon for major surgery and changes. It's never explicitly said but it is also inferred that it was Katarina and Ilya who visited this surgeon years ago. Look at Kaplan's closeness to "red". If you watch in the flashbacks, her true allegiance was always to Katarina and Elizabeth, no one else. It's why they were so close all those years. After some time she believed that Keen should know that truth as well and hence she set out to show Elizabeth the real raymond reddington's bones to prove he was not reddington. It was confirmed by the ex Dr dude and his connections from that bone marrow that those were indeed the real reddington's bones. Red never wanted to tell Keen he was Katarina, because if he did , it would possibly leak out that Katarina is indeed still alive which puts not only him/herself at greater risk, but also Elizabeth as well. TOwards the end before Keen dies he takes Elizabeth to the actual blacklist area where you can see the flashbacks and memories. In the memory it's all but revealed even further because the scene once again changes back and from from this reddington to katarina, uttering the words to her that was earlier shown came from Katarina's mouth! You can look up the exact scene. Red puts the truth in the letter, and the whole reason he wanted Dembe to give it to her after Keen shot him was so she would go through with it. If she indeed knew the truth that he was in fact her mother, she would never be able to go through with it. She would be responsible for BOTH of her parents deaths. The real raymond reddington years ago jsut before the fire and her mother. Dembe gave her the letter early and she in fact could not go through with it!! She couldn't shoot him. Who else's identity could he possibly be that she suddenly cared so much for him/her even after all they've been through and done to one another throughout the show. And lastly, it's small details but Agnes later calls him the nickname Pinky, which is a feminine nickname. And at the very end, their last conversation she says to Red " You are acting like such a mom , pinky" Red laughs and says " I guess I just can't help it". It's inferred again through this last conversation that she can't help it because deep down, she is indeed a mother, always has been. And it explains fully why Red/She would go to such great great lengths to protect Elizabeth. There are so many more facts out there to infer and piece together but these are some major ones revealed throughout the show that are very commanding evidence on who Red has always been. You also have to ask yourself, (since the bones were indeed revealed by Marrow/dna examination to indeed be the old raymond reddington) Who else on Earth would go to such great lengths to protect Keen? Her Mother. There's nothing stronger on the planet than a Mother or Father's love for their child. Sorry for this essay but I just thought I should mention all this to hopefully clear up any confusion and maybe help someone be at peace with the ending more! Peace!

I actually think the writers at this point had no idea who Red was. I am dissapointed that they didn't reveal his secret right before Keen died. I feel that he was the real Raymond Reddington and used the black lister from I believe season 1 or 2 to alter his DNA, which is why he didn't have a DNA match. The ending was ok overall, I would have liked to have seen 10 more minutes to it for the aftermath. Perhaps Keen's daughter when she was 18 recieving a fortune from Red and possibly money going to various members of the task force. The Bull was ok but wanted to see him still be able to talk but dying when Ressler showed up and him telling Ressler, "You finally got your man" giving a good wrap up for Ressler too.

Watched it back to back, all 10 seasons and cried my eyes out at the end both times. I would like to have seen Red killed off in episode 21 and then episode 22 could dedicated entirely to Red's funeral, flying his body back, everyone saying their bit at various times, explanations of what happens to each cast member by each cast member etc.. and also revealing who Red was, the reveal coming from the "letter" being read out at the funeral during Dembe's eulogy. It would have tied everything up in a neat bow imo.

The shots fired on Ressler weren't simply placed on the vest to restrain him, but also to not make him appear suspicious for remaining unharmed.

I loved the ending - he didn't die from his disease, nor by his friends in the task force, nor by his enemies. Death by the bull was an honourable death. I didn't mind the unanswered questions, that is who Red was - enigmatic. Perfect ending.

The best series we have ever seen

After 10 years and 218 episodes I watched the finale. Although we don't get all the answers I felt the ending reflected the character that we had come to know. Bye Mr Reddington and taskforce. This journey has been amazing. So many great stories and characters. Great work. Thank you all.

I think it’s clear who Raymond is..he is katarina Rostova. Reddington is Elizabeths mother. It was written in the letter he wanted to give her after she killed him. Dembe gave it to her before she died and she told agnes a bit of the content. Because agnes and Reddington once played a game in which she said that reddington is russian. Another example are the flashbacks in which we see katarina with ilay talking about a way to completely changing a person into reddington. They did it… but it was katarina who became reddington. Thats also why Mr. Kaplin is with him. She was her nanny and they trusted each other. We also know he is ill, and we saw him having flashbacks from katarina at the Beach house. How could he have these clear flashbacks when we know he isn’t the real reddington and not ilay who never were at this beach house? These were his own memories as katarina. There are a lot more but i think even in the last episode its getting kinda clear. Call with Agnes "Pinky you are being such a Mom" Red: " yea.. I guess i just cant help it". Agnes is his granddaughter.

⁠​​⁠1) in the episode (8x20) after Tatiana tortured Dom and Dom revealed the position of Katarina , Tatiana says: all those years searching for answers and you were right in front of me. 2) From the begin Reddington said “ everything about me is a lie” 3) during the torture with Kirk , Kirk asked him : are you the father of Masha? Red said no then Kirk asked : Is Masha your daughter? Red said yes , he spares him because Reddington whispered him that he is Katarina that would be the only reason he didn’t kill him and that made him shattered 4) then there is the episode Cape May in which Red is a beach house where Katarina went during is escape and killed many people that were searching for her and Reddington has the same memories and does the same thing that did Katarina , he has hallucinations and he sees Katarina 5) Katarina is the only who know Ilya and Ivan , she knows Ilya from childhood and Red and Ilya sitting on the bench talks about when they were children 6) In Nachalo (8x21) everything is explained and it’s possibile to understand that Katarina is Reddington that had a surgery to become him and in fact there is also a blacklister who is a doctor who change the aspect of criminals and Red before giving the archive of this doctor removed his file. 7)Reddington said to Liz that he was there during the night of the fire but in the memories we can see that in the house there are only Real Red Masha Katarina and Ilya , Masha came back to the house to get her teddy bear and Katarina goes to get her out and both she and Masha get burned and we can see in an episode the back of Reddington burned then in 8x20 Red said to Liz that was horrible to see her suffer and then in 8x20 we see the logo of the Red roofing company in Latvia that is Liz’s scar , there are just some of the proofs that he is Katarina and that cannot be dispute

Have a 2 hour movie after autopsy on Red. Finding out who he was. 2nd hour could be 5 yrs later to see what the task force is doing and how Agnus is as well. John A

I felt like the scene on the bed in the last episode was somewhat of a confirmation of the theory that Red was Elizabeth's mother. When Agnes said oh Pinky you sound like a mom, and Red had his legs crossed and laid back on the bed with a big smile and said yes I can't help it. I'm not a huge fan of this theory, but it makes the most sense. I can't for the life of me think why Red would care so much about Elizabeth throughout the show if this wasn't the case. He already told Liz he was not her father, so the theory of him surviving the gun shot and fire I could buy, but not if he told Elizabeth he is not her father. Some can argue he was her dad until that night and he changed and was no longer the same person, but this character cared for Elizabeth Keen too much that he would have told her if he truly was her father.

Him being the real Raymond Reddington makes sense. In an early season it showed horrible burn scars on his back. He would have so many reasons for wanting to make people think he was really dead.

Some stories you just can't tell. This is the perfect ending. Rage against the dying of light is the final message given to fans. James spader at his very best. Its life's journey that matters and not the destination. Great job James.

I think Reddington is and should always be, a myth and a legend. The reward of learning the secret behind a magic trick rarely if ever outweighs the cost; removing even more of what little mystery there's left in the world. Maybe it's better left unknown.