The Blacklist Refugees » Hopes & Dreams for Season 5.

Big Badd Bazzer · 5/25/2017 8:28 pm

1. Show-runners bring back the electric Annie Heise. Annie betraying Aram in the season finale kinda signals an end to her nice little run on TBL. But she's a great little actress with a unique story-line. Perhaps they bring her back for a side-angle storyline - to torment Samar Navabi and try to get back into Aram's life. A side-line of Smarmy Samar vs. Electric Annie would be fascinating!

2. Defy the expectation that Baz is dead (shot by Mr. Kaplan). Only time Baz exhibits mass humanity and drops his guard vs. Kaplan - he's murdered by her sidearm. Once he reached to open the door I knew he was doomed. Would be nice if the show-runners keep him in ICU until Reddington absolutely needs some intense protection. Or Liz?

3. A Reddington with limited resources. A clear opportunity for show-runners to bring in an arc of episodes featuring 'The Origins of Reddington', perhaps even a classic Red gambit to defraud another enemy of millions upon millions of dollars - showing his savvy at criminal enterprise.

4. Wonder if Tom's former cohorts from Redemption can be re-implemented into the fray? Mr. Solomon & Nez were instant fan favourites since they debuted on TBL and had their nice run on Redemption. Would they be brought in by Red to provide muscle and criminal power or re-unite as Team Tom - only the shadow knows!!!

5. Bring Harold Cooper back to a more prominent role vs. the mostly VP of Standing Around he portrayed in S4

6. Would love to see if James Spader could bring another fantastic actor into TBL world as a mysterious ally for Reddington. This ally's name will flip all the cards - his name = KEVIN SPACEY

Colleen · 5/25/2017 9:06 pm

BBB - love your suggestions, as always, especially with Baz.

When Kate shot Baz it signalled to me that she was far beyond the point of redemption (pun intended). It was bad enough she removed someone's eye and didn't bother to patch him up (that eye patch pun wasn't intended). But killing Baz wasn't necessary. Shooting him in the arm would have sufficed. I wonder if Kate would have killed Dembe so easily, given that she probably knew him as a young teen.

I really hope we get to see Red with limited resources. That may be another reason why Baz died. Besides money, Red lost manpower. How does he recruit and trust new talent?

Maybe when the series ends everyone lives on the island happily ever after. It would be a cross between Survivor and Gilligan's Island. Tom's dad or Aram can be the Professor. No clue who'd be Gilligan.

Last edited by Colleen (5/25/2017 9:15 pm)

lara1 · 5/25/2017 9:06 pm

BBB -

"Bring Harold Cooper back to a more prominent role vs. the mostly VP of Standing Around he portrayed in S4"

LOL

Tuxie400 · 5/25/2017 9:10 pm

BBB - Great suggestions! I especially like the ones about raising Baz from the dead and incorporating some characters from Redemption into Blacklist story lines.

Honey West · 5/25/2017 9:57 pm

I'd like to see a storyline about Whitehall and how Red and Howard play into it. I like Terry O'Quinn and he's another actor who is great at playing good/bad and bad/good guys with hidden agendas.

Maybe some Reddington family background, unless it gets too close to the grande finale story.

I'd love to know just how far back Red and Dom go. Is it all post-Katarina or did they know each other before that?

Big Badd Bazzer · 5/25/2017 10:20 pm

Great feedback - but none on Kevin Spacey.
Spacey is about the only American actor who could match wits and near-Shakespearean soliloquys with James Spader so its a selfish reason indeed.
btw - if anyone has any questions about Kevin Spacey - watch The Usual Suspects or even Netflix's House of Cards.

Tatiana · 5/25/2017 10:29 pm

Keyser Soze!!!
https://youtu.be/oiXdPolca5w

lara1 · 5/25/2017 10:48 pm

All great suggestions! I'd love to see any connection between Whitehall, Howard/Scottie and Red explored in Season 5, as long as it doesn't take over multiple episodes......

BBB - wasn't Kevin Spacey one of the actors approached with the role of Red? I could be totally wrong about that. iIt was probably someone else entirely that I'm thinking of. I know he's a good actor but I don't have strong feelings about watching him.

TheYeti · 5/26/2017 6:27 am

@BBB, great ideas! I especially like #3. I think they might make an episode like that as ep. 16/17/18, about the same time as Cape May and Requiem.

I have yet to see the Redemption finale, so I don´t know what to expect of that, but I hope they will involve that story in a way that feels natural.

I definitely hope to see Red rebuilding his empire, maybe recruiting former blacklisters like Vanessa Cruz (she still has to return right?), Ivan, the Forecaster, or even Madeline Pratt or Gina Zanetakos. Maybe Red might even have to seek asylum in Uzbekistan which is then led by Ruslan Denisov (although that might be too soon).

I also hope, now that some of Red´s closest people are gone (Kaplan, Baz, Brimley) that we will see more of those who only appeared once so far (Borakove, Chester, the new cleaners) as these are some great characters who really deserve more screentime.

A return of Naomi Hyland, Dom and Kirk would also be welcome to me, as I hope they'll give more answers now.

But most of all, I am hoping for the war involving the Cabal to finally start. They have promised it about a season and a half ago and did nothing with it.

Especially with Hitchin gone and Red's empire crumbling, it will be interesting to see Red's role in it. Hopefully they will also bring back the Shell Island Retreat and finally reveal who the man from Johannesburg is. So many questions.... They need more than just one season after this!

Tatiana · 5/26/2017 8:51 am

Big Bad Bazzer - "The Usual Suspects" is a fantastic movie for a whole lot of reasons, not the least of which is that all of the actors were fantastic, the storyline intriguing, and writing brilliant.

I've always admired Kevin Spacey's acting. He's able to be many characters without creating a caricature in any of them. He's downright frightening in "House of Cards"... I can only imagine how he would have portrayed Raymond Reddington. But we lucked out with James Spader nonetheless!

Big Badd Bazzer · 5/26/2017 9:00 am

Tatiana wrote:
Big Bad Bazzer - "The Usual Suspects" is a fantastic movie for a whole lot of reasons, not the least of which is that all of the actors were fantastic, the storyline intriguing, and writing brilliant.

I've always admired Kevin Spacey's acting. He's able to be many characters without creating a caricature in any of them. He's downright frightening in "House of Cards"... I can only imagine how he would have portrayed Raymond Reddington. But we lucked out with James Spader nonetheless!

Right now - I'd have to rate Spader & Spacey as the two greatest American television actors of the 21st century. Spacey has had the more diverse career (more cinema, less TV) with epic and diverse performances in so many memorable roles (Verbal Kint is my favourite btw).
Spader (at 56) has finally found traction with this amazing Reddington role. He should be careful not to abandon this role without due cause. Its a great role.
Bringing in Spacey to do a 2 or 3 episode arc vs. Spader would be truly fantastic. These guys DO NOT NEED WEAPONS to inflict harm & fear in each other. The thought of Spader & Spacer intellectually tongue-lashing each other is really crazy - could be the best confrontations in TV history.

Now with Alda, Lahti & Bloomaert gone (Susan might do flashbacks in S5 I've heard) there's budget room for some heavyweight guest stars. The biggest heavyweight so far has been Brian Dennehy but at 80+ I don't think he could withstand a full character roll-out. So there should be budget for actors in the upper scale.

Also, they should really hire a continuity nerd/expert. If there's one weakness of TBL - its continuity. Too many poorly or loosely explained plot lines and loose ends. A great continuity editor would close that weakness down in short order.

Tatiana · 5/26/2017 10:00 am

Big Badd Bazzer wrote:
(Verbal Kint is my favourite btw).
Spader (at 56) has finally found traction with this amazing Reddington role. He should be careful not to abandon this role without due cause. Its a great role.
Bringing in Spacey to do a 2 or 3 episode arc vs. Spader would be truly fantastic. These guys DO NOT NEED WEAPONS to inflict harm & fear in each other. The thought of Spader & Spacer intellectually tongue-lashing each other is really crazy - could be the best confrontations in TV history.

Also, they should really hire a continuity nerd/expert. If there's one weakness of TBL - its continuity. Too many poorly or loosely explained plot lines and loose ends. .

Verbal Kint... you know, there are some movies and some roles you can watch over and over again, and this is one of them. It's so interesting how The Blacklist has some flavor and images that hearken to "The Usual Suspects"/Reddington.

And I could not agree more!!! Good golly, I kept thinking, there's no way they could make such humongous blunders as regards continuity, but Daniel Cerone has confirmed several just in "Requiem" alone! I tweeted him to see if he could answer the "Red put Masha in Kate's arms as a baby" line against the "Kaplan applied for a nanny job directly with Katarina and met Masha as a pretty well grown baby/toddler".
Honestly, this isn't just a statement, it was a whole storyline/script that conflicted with a previous statement. That's what I call a huge gaffe.

But it would at least spare us the speculation if he could confirm that that too is a continuity error.

"A great continuity editor would close that weakness down in short order" Indeed!!!

lara1 · 5/26/2017 12:33 pm

BBB #11 -

"Bringing in Spacey to do a 2 or 3 episode arc vs. Spader would be truly fantastic. These guys DO NOT NEED WEAPONS to inflict harm & fear in each other. The thought of Spader & Spacer intellectually tongue-lashing each other is really crazy - could be the best confrontations in TV history."

Ah, I understand you now. Yes, that would be totally awesome.

Also agree that the show should hire a continuity expert. I think given that there are so many different writers, and different directors, involved from episode to episode it must be difficult notwithstanding that notes are kept. Plus production and timing pressures, especially near season end must also make it difficult.

I volunteer! LOL

Tuxie400 · 5/26/2017 1:39 pm

Tatiana - From what Bokenkamp said, they have "interns" working on loose ends and continuity. Personally, I think Jon and John were focusing on Redemption and not paying close enough attention to the Requiem script. In a show like this where fans look at everything as a clue, there needs to be a continuity editor - someone who knows the show backwards and forwards.

Tatiana · 5/26/2017 1:43 pm

Tuxie400 wrote:
Tatiana - From what Bokenkamp said, they have "interns" working on loose ends and continuity. Personally, I think Jon and John were focusing on Redemption and not paying close enough attention to the Requiem script. In a show like this where fans look at everything as a clue, there needs to be a continuity editor - someone who knows the show backwards and forwards.

Tuxie - that is EXACTLY my sense as well. Clearly they were distracted because so many continuity errors (and other confusing parts) popped up particularly in Requiem. In essence, they did 30 episodes this season!!!

Colleen · 5/26/2017 4:43 pm

lara1 wrote:
I volunteer! LOL

How about Blacklist Refugees get advance copies of scripts? We can discuss and edit them, then return to the writers! We'd work for free and love every moment of it :-)

lara1 · 5/26/2017 7:53 pm

Colleen wrote:
lara1 wrote:
I volunteer! LOL

How about Blacklist Refugees get advance copies of scripts? We can discuss and edit them, then return to the writers! We'd work for free and love every moment of it :-)

Works for me! LOL. Well, we all have the attention to detail it would require!

9/11/2017 12:20 pm

My wishlist for season 5:

1) We see Liz go over to the dark side more often.
2) Red get a love interest (even just a casual one)
3) Jennifer freaking Reddington. Good, bad, dead, I don't care, let's just find her.
4) More Red/Katarina backstory.

IowaWatcher · 9/24/2017 6:27 pm

I agree! Baz needs to come back and Red needs a cool love interest, someone just a little nuts but very, very bright.

lara1 · 9/24/2017 7:30 pm

Iowa Watcher - hi! hope you had a great summer.

As for Red's love interest, I volunteer - LOL.

I'd like more clues to Red's backstory or at least Reddington's backstory (always leaving the door open for multiple theories, LOL)