I thought this most recent episode was gonna be a disappointment.
The previews suggested that Red's world would crumble dramatically. This did
not happen - in the least. Did I misunderstand the previews? Possibly, but most
of this episode, while solid, was disappointing on the whole.
Even worse, I thought, I wasn't going to have anything to write about after this episode - just another blasé episode from a show that has been trending towards mediocrity for a while now. Wow was I wrong on that count. In the final 15 minutes, we had anti-gun comments and the topic of euthanasia.
On the topic of euthanasia, I don't think the show was pushing a pro-euthanasia agenda in Red's comments on the subject. Red certainly attempts to justify his murder of Agent Keane's father, but I didn't get the sense that we were supposed to be sympathetic to Red's self-defense. I can see someone agreeing with Red's point of view, but I don't think the show came down definitively on Red's side.
On the other hand, The Blacklist did come down firmly against guns. The Kingmaker tells the senator that he attempts to kill that gun owners are more likely to have their weapon used against them by an intruder than to defend themselves.
WHAT?!?!? How have I never heard this before??? This seems like important information in the debate on guns.
What's that you say? There are no statistics to back that up. Awesome! Who doesn't love baseless assertions meant to strike fear in people's hearts. As the great Herman Cain said, "I don't have facts to back this up, but..." did you know that you are more likely to be kidnapped in your own home than you are in London? (N.B. I made this up. Please don't believe this is true. I hope I made that clear already, but just in case I didn't, that 'fact' was a lie.)
One last thing must be mentioned before ending this recapitulation, Alan Alda made a another guest appearance as Alan (talk about perfectly on the nose) of the mystery cabal. If you'll remember, Red and Alan's consortium are frenemies - neither like each other, but both can damage the other party. Hopefully more about this mystery syndicate gets revealed.
I loved Alan and Red's interactions. There is a tension cloaked in smoothness in it, and the quality of the acting is superb. If the other actors in The Blacklist could reach this level of quality, this show would soar to new heights.