The Blacklist Season 2 Finale Review: 2×22 “Tom Connolly”

It’s no fun being on the Cabal’s hit list Liz. The Blacklist Season Finale unleashed intensity, emotion and surprising reveals in a frantic action-packed final hour of the year.

The Blacklist — Framed by the Cabal for both the CIA bombing and the assassination of a Senator, Liz (Megan Boone) finds herself with an impossible choice. If she runs, she’ll appear guilty and if she stays, she’ll be locked up forever. At the urging of Red (James Spader), Liz makes a break, only to be caught in the snare of Tom Connolly (Blacklister No. 11, Reed Birney). With an air tight case against her, Red and Cooper (Harry J. Lennix) orchestrate a dramatic escape for Liz to clear her name. Still not trusting Red, Liz turns to Tom (Ryan Eggold) for help and despite dead ends at every turn, they do uncover evidence that Cooper’s illness has been an elaborate ruse to control him.

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With time and options running out, Liz must face her worst nightmares to save everyone around her from swift and brutal retribution from the Cabal and end the threat of Tom Connolly for good. Meanwhile, Red puts into play his own contingency plan to expose the Cabal, but will it be too little and too late? When things go even more horribly wrong and terrifying memories from Liz childhood come flooding back, who can she trust? Harold? Tom? Red? The answers lead to more questions to discuss and explore in the heart-pounding Season Two finale of The Blacklist!

If Smiling Tommy Connolly has any good morals left, he may have hidden them even from himself.

Tom Connolly didn’t waste any time establishing himself as the reigning bad guy of this episode. Striding in at the start and brandishing threats left and right instantly branded him the opposition of the night. Reed Birney has been a joy to despise all season. Slowly integrating his sleazy approach to charm and manipulation into the serialized arc for Red, Liz and Harold instantly made him a fun character to hate.

But this episode was different. In order to cut ties with Connolly, we needed to despise him enough to overcome his charms and that’s exactly what Writers John Eisendrath and Jon Bokenkamp did. Over the course of an hour, Connolly threatened nearly everyone we cared about and left behind any of his charms that made him likable. By the time Liz held him at gunpoint, we wanted to pull the trigger too. That desire is either the result of great writing or a morally questionable audience. For the sake of sleeping at night, we’ll blame it on the former.

“You’re going to prison, Agent Keen. Donald Ressler—his little oxy addiction will get him drummed out of the Bureau. Samar Navabi will be extradited to Iran, where she will stand trial for the murder of one of their top nuclear scientists. Charlene, Harold, even Agent Mojtabai. We have a little something in mind for all of you, including treason charges and the death penalty for Reddington. So are we finished here? Because I think it’s cocktail hour. What are you gonna do, Agent Keen—arrest me?” ~ Connolly

“Keen, put it [the gun] down.” ~ Cooper

“I am nothing. I am a cog in a very large wheel. Shoot me, and somebody at least as powerful will take my place. You just won’t know who.” ~ Connolly

Birney put the sleazy safely away in his toolbox and pulled out the fangs for this episode. He’s been superb in his portrayal of Connolly all season and the shift from slippery to evil was consistent with a man who has sold his soul for power and cares little who he steps on to get there. With the reveal of Connolly’s role in manipulating Harold we learned that his soulless side has been the real him all along. The charming and enjoyable elements have always been just a front.

Tom Connolly, it appears, was always dead inside. We just didn’t see it until the end. Threatening everyone she cared about was the final straw for a strung out and weary Liz. She pulled the trigger, but many of us watching were secretly hoping she would and simultaneously fearful of what would happen if she did. The consequences in Season Three may be steep.

That naked boat trip with a man who would do anything for you certainly does look like the better option now.

In many ways, this episode was the tale of two Toms. The one that would do anything to discredit and crush Liz and the one that would do anything to save her from harm. We’ve questioned the motives of Tom Keen (we’re sorry Jacob, but you’ll always be Tom to us) from the first moment we learned he might not be who he said he was. Even long after that ruse was up, we still questioned if he could ever be trusted. Something tells us after this episode that the one true thing he’s ever said was that he loved Liz.

In the last few episodes it seems every time Liz came to the realization again that she couldn’t trust Red, Tom was there. This time he didn’t just help her find answers. He helped her lose herself. Deep down, Liz still wants Tom to be the man she married and when he shows the kind of devotion to her that he did this week, we can understand how she’d rationalize setting aside all her mistrust and turn to him for help.

Our only real qualm with Tom was his seemingly easy flip from one side of what to do to the other. When Liz first came to ask for help, he pleaded with her to leave it all behind and goaded her that the idea of staying to fight was Red talking. Granted, she made a good argument that running would only serve to make her look more guilty and give her less chance to ever clear her name, but after the two lost Anton Velov (Max Baker) leading up to a rather steamy and intimate moment, Tom seemed to flip his reasoning when Liz suggested they finally make a run for it.

“All we have to do is go.” ~ Liz

“Liz, if you go away with me, you’ll never get answers. You’ll never find out who you really are.” ~ Tom

“I don’t need to know who I am to know what I want.” ~ Liz

“What do you want, Liz?” ~ Tom

“You.” ~ Liz

We honestly didn’t see that part coming. What made Tom flip so completely in his thinking? Given the seedy nature of this show, we immediately have to wonder if somewhere behind the scenes Tom was manipulated by Red, or even someone else, in a way that we don’t know. Part of us wanted to believe that Tom finally saw the truth in Liz’s earlier argument that running solved nothing and only made the problem worse, but that didn’t seem consistent with Tom’s nature—unless his love for Liz superseded his natural instinct to disappear.

As Tom bid her farewell, we knew he was right and Liz wouldn’t be back. We had come to a place we really wanted to trust Tom and despite the dividing line amongst fans that wanted to see Liz with others, everyone that cares for Liz would agree that she deserves some peace and happiness after all she’s been through. Either way, Tom riding off into the sunset isn’t likely the last we’ll see of him. Ryan Eggold has been fun to watch this season. His chameleon talents have been put to the test and perhaps, just perhaps, the real Tom Keen is finally shinning through in the form of man who is trying desperately to leave one life behind and start another with the woman he loves.

Liz ultimately turns to the only ones she can trust. Tom, we understand, Cooper we believe completely, but what is Red not telling her?

As things unraveled for Liz, it was interesting to see her, Cooper, Red and Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq) in deep discussions on what to do next. With Red off to wage war on his own front, the most emotional scenes of the night came from Liz and Cooper as they worked to connect Karakurt (Michael Massee) to Liz’s infection. Harry J. Lennix delivered his most endearing and emotional performance of the season as he and Liz discussed his illness. We were moved by Lennix and his vulnerability. As he confessed to Liz his role in Connolly’s manipulations and she responded with only sympathy and emotion, we couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with emotion ourselves.

Lennix’s range for the night was amazing. When he found out about Connolly’s deception and confronted his doctor, we genuinely believed he was ready to throw the doctor out the window. That might not have been on Cooper’s mind, but Lennix has a power to him when he lets his characters show it. All that power was gone later as Liz stood in disbelief at pulling the trigger to kill Connolly. Cooper, shocked and heartbroken, certainly looked the part of a defeated man as he was escorted away at the end. We don’t know what route the writers will take with Cooper, but we hope they give Lennix plenty of meaty material in Season Three. He’s proven he can deliver on all fronts and has earned our respect for building a character we can understand, respect and empathize with throughout the spectrum of his actions.

Despite Liz’s support from both Tom and Cooper, ultimately it was Red that she turned to for her final escape once Connolly was dead and memories of shooting a man she believed to be her father set in. In typical fashion for The Blacklist, we’re given just enough information to understand why Liz would believe she was responsible for her father’s death and just enough vagueness about the details to wonder how accurate her memories were. As she shared her revelation with Red, Spader was masterful. Red was clearly emotional during her confession.

“And I know why my father died that night. I shot him. That’s why you blocked my memory—not to protect yourself. To protect me.” ~ Liz

“Yeah.” ~ Red

“You’re my sin eater.” ~ Liz

“Tried to be.” ~ Red

The darkened memories, Red’s cryptic response and our suspicious nature where this show is involved will always make us question what we know as reality about Liz’s past. This memory and moment with Red was no different. Spader was brilliant and Boone was superb. Between the careful writing, direction and performances of this pivotal scene we’re left to wonder if Liz’s interpretation was accurate, but there was no questioning the genuine emotions of both.

We have no doubt Red did hide her memories from her to protect her, but knowing Red, and this show, we’d be foolish not to suspect there’s more to his motives than just to eat her sins. There is still much we don’t know or understand from that night. We likely won’t know it all until much later in the series, but in this moment, as the season ended to Elton John’s “Rocket Man” we were left with an emotional cliffhanger of an ending. With Senate interest in the Cabal on the rise and Liz on the run, things will likely hit the ground running in the fall, but we’ll have to wait until then to see where things head next for The Blacklist.

FINAL VERDICT: The final scene with Liz emotionally and physically drained pretty much summed up how we all felt after The Blacklist Season Finale. An hour of frenetic effort to overcome the Cabal’s diabolical plan for destroying Liz’s life left everyone spent!

Writers and Executive Producers John Eisendrath and Jon Bokenkamp didn’t give us much time to process all the craziness that took place in the season finale until it was over. That’s not a bad thing at all. We loved the pace, progression and character moments that culminated in Liz on the run against all odds. We have to hand it to them for building up to this episode extremely well so the tension could start immediately and never let up. By the time the hour was done, we genuinely did feel very much like Liz. Where was Red’s shoulder for us? We needed it.

Veteran Director Michael Watkins took the helm of The Blacklist for an astounding 12th time. He’s also directed some of the most critical episodes including the conclusions for Luther Braxton (Ron Perlman), Anslo Garrick (Ritchie Coster) and Berlin (Peter Stormare), the Season One Finale. With Karakurt essentially being a first half of this story, he was the perfect choice to direct the finish. He once again delivered a stellar episode that had a relentless drive from the first few seconds until is soulful fade to black to “Rocket Man”. Bravo to Watkins and all who brought this hour of television together..

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With Liz on the run, Tom in the wind and Cooper helpless to defend himself from legal entanglement, we’re not sure if this series will ever be the same again. The climatic first season finale left things in disarray, but with a way for things to eventually return to business as usual. Something tells us this much bigger mess will be more difficult to sort. That could definitely make for interesting stories, but it’s also a bold choice for the writing team to take. If Liz is somehow cleared and Cooper is exonerated, can everyone ever go back to the way things were? The Cabal is still lurking and Liz is still guilty of killing the Attorney General of the U.S. in front of her boss. That’s no small thing to sweep under the rug.

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The secretive Task Force isn’t at all that secret anymore. It may be time for this series to evolve and shake things up a bit, but still work to find come common ground where the entire team can work together. With the press on the trail of the Cabal and Liz truly guilty of a crime she did commit, things will certainly change. We’ll just have to wait to see how much. In an up and down season, The Blacklist managed to ramp up to the excellence we’ve come to expect in the last few weeks and the finale was certainly a worthy ending. We have no idea how all these pieces will get sorted, but you can bet we’ll be watching to find out when The Blacklist returns next fall!

Questions, Comments, Concerns and My Reaction on Twitter…

• So much for innocent until proven guilty here.
• I would rather die, than be a part of this. Gotta admire Cooper for his guts.
• Oops. Shoulda left sooner Liz.
• Smiley face bandaid. Cause that makes it all better.
• Sam had a criminal past? What? Working for Red?
• That whole escape sequence was fantastic music and tension.
• Way to go Ressler. He owed her one. Will he regret it later?
• What little time I have left, I don’t want to spend it sitting in a car blubbering with you. Man, when Harold cries, can anyone not? That’s the father figure she needs in her life.
• Whew. That was close with the guard Liz. Way to NOT freak out at yourself on the TV.
• I’m a Sin Eater. I absorb the misdeeds of others, darkening my soul to keep theirs pure. That is what I’m capable of. Wow.
• I like this Mulder and Scully thing that Tom and Liz have going entering this apartment guns drawn.
• Ooohh. Mulder doesn’t have a blue Ford Mustang though.
• Wait, did we just go to a Ford commercial?
• That was NOT deer blood, on the windshield. They are sooo married here.
• Looks like the Dr’s extraction plan was to a higher plane.
• Doctoring her wounds. This is definitely ending in sex.
• And there it is. I was sooo right. Damn. That’s hot as hell. Holy cow.
• How sweet. He got rid of all his neo-Nazi tattoos for her.
• What do you want Liz? You. Dammit Liz, now you’re even making me like Tom.
• Wait a minute. Before the Mustang commercial he wanted her to just go. Now he says she shouldn’t. Which is it Tom? And why did you change tunes?
• There’s nothing wrong with you. I like ‘bust in an office and make people piss themselves’ Cooper! Way to go Harold!
• I swear I thought Red was gonna do coffee house poetry at first.
• Why does the Fulcrum always look so jumbled you can’t tell what’s what? They need to take a PowerPoint class or something and clean that shit up.
• Liz is looking kinda strung out.
• You know, I really got a kick outta Tommy Connolly until he was really bad. He’s turned into a genuine a-hole.
• Didn’t know about the Oxy addiction Cooper? Uh oh. Wow. And they know about Samar killing the Iranian nuclear scientist at the beginning of the season. Yikes.
• Shoot me and someone at least as powerful will take my place. You just won’t know who. That’s first true thing he’s said.
• Holy shit! She did shoot! Woah. And memories too.
• Run! Awe hell. Cooper’s gonna pay for that.
• You will be hunted down. By ME. Oh come on Ressler. You didn’t find Red for 5 years. We’re not worried. lol
• Poor Dembe isn’t coming too?
• That’s why you blocked my memory. Not to protect yourself. To protect me. Does anyone thing this still isn’t the WHOLE story? Red looked relieved that’s “all” she remembered.
• Tom was right. Everyone who comes into contact with Red’s world gets destroyed.
• The job and his wife meant everything to Harold. He got his health back, but lost both of those. That was hard to watch Harry J. Lennix.
• Awe. She’s got her a poster just like Red. Cept he has hair. Shouldn’t they update that one? Now that he was captured once?