The Blacklistās second season came to a close tonight in the UK and it paved the way for a very different season 3.
If you havenāt seen the season 2 finale and want to avoid spoilers we suggest you stop reading this now. If you have seen it and want to hear our thoughts on the next season then keep reading.
Liz Keen (Megan Boone) found herself on the wrong side of the law in the season 2 finale after being framed by The Cabal for murdering a US Senator. After being infected with a deadly virus, which she inadvertently passed on to the Senator whilst trying to save his life, Liz found herself on the run after corrupt D.A. Tom Connolly (Reed Birney) spearheaded the hunt to find her.
After being briefly held in police custody, Liz escaped with the help of Red (James Spader) and her closest ally Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix) was relieved of duty and replaced by Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff). Liz made her way out of the task force base and confronted Connolly with Cooper, who discovered that he wasnāt really dying and his āillnessā had been fabricated by The Cabal to get him to do their dirty work. Connolly denied everything, which pushed Liz over the edge and she shot him.
As she evaded police custody, Liz found her way to Red and revealed that the shooting had brought her memories back. She was the one who shot and killed her father when she was a little girl because she saw him physically abusing her mother. Liz and Red drove away and the season closed with Liz being added to the FBIās Most Wanted list.
Elsewhere in the episode Liz gave in to her feelings for Tom (Ryan Eggold) and the two slept together. He left on a boat on his own after Liz failed to turn up to run away with him. Red meanwhile gathered together influential journalists and showed them the contents of the Fulcrum in a bid to publicly expose The Cabal.
The season finale left plenty of things up in the air and itās certain to push Liz down a different, and a darker path, than sheās been on before. Ahead of the third season, weāve pulled together a list of the things that we want when the show returns in the autumn.
1. Liz & Red vs. The Cabal. It has to be the main plot for season 3. The only way Liz can clear her name is to take down and expose The Cabal. Now that sheās on Redās side, sheās got the best chance sheās had to date to take down the organisation and rid the world of them for good.
2. The introduction of Lizās mum. It seems a pretty foregone conclusion that weāre going to be meeting Lizās mum Katarina Rostova at some point in season 3. Katarina was believed to be dead but now that Liz is learning that her mother was a KGB agent, weāre fully expecting an Alias like twist with Katarina turning up and being a complete shapeshifter of a character.
3. Liz and Red to build a stronger relationship. The characters have had a very rocky road the past two seasons, and for much of season 2 Liz would only communicate with Red on a work level. Heās starting to open up to her a little bit about what he knows and the season finale showed that Liz is ready to lean on Red again. We still donāt know the story behind Redās connection with Liz but it feels like the show is gearing up to give us some answers.
4. Harold Cooper to be reinstated. Hands up who else thought that Ressler was a terrible choice to take over from Harold? If Liz can successfully take down The Cabal, she should also be able to get Harold reinstated at the task force. Whilst he did a few questionable things in season 2, Connolly was blackmailing him so we think he deserves a break.
5. Liz and Tom together. The season has shown the two characters battle their feelings for one another and they did eventually give in and sleep together in the season finale. Despite the terrible things they have done to each other, itās clear that Liz and Tom love each other, and now they understand each other better than they ever have. Weāre glad the writers moved away from the Liz/Ressler hook-up that seemed to be on the cards by the end of season one. Liz and Tom are a much better fit and the chemistry between Boone and Eggold is fantastic.
6. More Samar Navabi (Mozhan Marno). We didnāt get nearly enough of Samar and sheās a character with plenty of story to tell. We want to know what sheās up to with Reddington and what their connection is prior to her joining the task force. Weāre hoping she has some big juicy storylines in season 3 and takes a more central role.
7. Tom to join forces with Red and Liz. The rogue agent could prove to be very valuable to Red and Liz. We know he has a prior connection to Red and his love for Liz is pretty obvious. Weāre hoping that him heading off on that boat wasnāt a goodbye to the character. No one knows how to pull off undercover like Tom and we want plenty of him in season 3.
8. Even more Aram Mojtabai (Amir Arison). Last year we wished for a bigger role for Aram and he became a series regular character! Heās the showās secret weapon and we love the little bits of humour he brings to the table. Thereās also that burgeoning relationship with Samar that we want to see more of.
9. A storyline for Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq). Dembe is always there at Redās side and does most of his dirty work. Weāve learned a fair amount about his backstory but it would be great to see him get a central storyline. Weāre fairly certain thereās much more to the mysterious character than we know about.
10. Ressler to go. This one may prove to be a little controversial but we wouldnāt be all that sad if Ressler died or left the show in season 3. Heās never been our favourite character and he seems to suffer from a complete lack of personality. He stayed in the background for much of the second half of season 2 and weāre not convinced there are many more stories to tell with him.
The Blacklist will return for a third season on NBC in the US and Sky Living HD in the UK this autumn.