Spoilers for The Blacklist’s latest episode of Season 8, airing November 20.
The Blacklist is no stranger to taking a deep dive into the dark side of life, and Liz has gotten considerably darker over the past year. In the last episode of Season 8 to air during 2020, Liz seemed to snap after witnessing Red shoot and kill her mother. Liz swore her revenge on Red for killing Katarina, and she seems primed to get her pound of flesh. Is this Liz’s full-on turn to the dark side?
Liz has come close to going all-in during The Blacklist’s earlier seasons. As Season 8 began, Liz appeared more primed than ever to begin her descent into darkness. At the start of the season, Red told Cooper that betraying them was her “destiny.” Liz sold them out for Katarina and more truths. Asked what Red meant about her “destiny,” The Blacklist creator Jon Bokenkamp told The Wrap:
I think what Red was talking about goes to the core of who Liz is. Is she fundamentally good? Is she fundamentally bad? Has she reached a tipping point that she can’t return from, or was this meant to be because it’s in her DNA? We’ve seen Liz dip her toes in the dark waters over the years — she’s certainly not that innocent, young FBI agent that we met in the pilot — and this season is going to explore her darker side. I think the real question lies in seeing how she navigates these dark waters and, if she does survive this, how she looks when she comes out the other side.
I have little doubt that Liz will survive it. She is the co-lead of the show, after all, and it doesn't need to end any time soon! The Blacklist will have a lot to sift through as her journey through the darker spots of her life continues. Heavily influenced by the supposed truths told to her by Katarina, Liz is ready to cross any line for more “truths.”
Liz did not end up getting them from Dom, who arguably died as a result of everything she put him through. I blame her even though Ressler tried to lay it all at Red’s feet. Liz should have a lot of personal blame to wrestle with moving forward on The Blacklist. However, I would not expect that to distract her from blaming Red for all of her woes.
As for Liz’s darker side, Jon Bokenkamp was speaking to the very beginning of Season 8, and there is a lot more to get into as it progresses. As fans have witnessed this season, Liz just keeps getting more ruthless in her pursuit of Red. With him having killed her mother due to Katarina learning the truth, it should only get worse. On Liz’s dark side, The Blacklist executive producer John Eisendrath added:
This has been a question since the pilot. First when she thought Red was her father; later when she realized Katarina Rostova was her mother — how much of a parent’s behavior is a child destined to repeat? In Liz’s case, how much bad behavior?
In my book, Katarina was a pretty horrendous human, so hopefully, Liz will not follow too much in her mother’s footsteps. Season 8 only started to unfold, and fans are already experiencing a hiatus waiting for its return. It is personally disappointing that Liz has fallen so hard for Katarina’s supposed truths. I say “supposed” because I really do not believe her.
Fans of the NBC crime drama will have to wait to see what happens when The Blacklist resumes Season 8 on Friday, January 22 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC during 2021’s winter/spring schedule. While you wait to see how Red handles Liz’s darker path, you can catch up on past seasons of The Blacklist via Netflix’s releases.
