The Blacklist: TVGUIDE Addresses Some Unanswered Questions

By: Baby Z

So tvguide.com recently had a Q&A session with The Blacklist’s Creator, Jon Bokenkamp, and its Exec. Producer, John Eisendrath, about some of the plethora of unanswered questions surrounding the show.  I didn’t want to just link to the article (which is a bit long & contains more than just the questions about the show….) so I hand-picked what I thought were the most interesting questions they addressed here, and (OF COURSE) I had to add my little bitchy snark where appropriate too:

TVGUIDE: Did Sam, Liz’s adoptive dad, know that Red was going to kill him? It seemed like he had prepped for it because he thanked Red after having that goodbye phone call with Liz.
Jon Bokenkamp: I don’t want to dodge the question, but those are the kinds of things that make it interesting, to be able to have a conversation about that after the fact: Was it a mercy killing because this guy was sick? Or did Red have an agenda and murder this man, somebody he obviously cared a lot about? So that’s the sort of a grey area that to me is fun to sort of swim in. We certainly have our answers for it, but I think to answer for the audience is not quite as fun. I won’t say it won’t ever be answered, but I don’t think it’s one of the burning questions. 

John Eisendrath: One of the things we are pleased with is that we feel we haven’t left the audience dangling too much. We’ve given, we feel like, concrete answers. Like when we reveal the relationship between Red and Liz’s adoptive father. We show that Red killed her adoptive father. We answer certain questions, like, “Oh my God, he knows him!” and ask others like, “Oh my God, why did he kill him?”

BABY:  Yes, exactly, you did precisely what I have been saying is that with every episode we are left with 142 more questions!!  ;)

TVGUIDE: How soon will at least one of the main mysteries be revealed? Is Red actually the father of Liz? And what is up with her husband Tom?
Eisendrath: A lot of the back half of the season will be about answering questions about Tom. Who is he? Ultimately, helping to answer the question: Is he good or is he bad? Always giving the audience concrete answers, but hopefully opening up other ones. Also, the back half of the season will be a lot about Tom and Liz. And then also the question about whether or not Red is Liz’s father is one that we will be giving concrete answers to even as we may leave the ultimate answer for later.

BABY:  Annnnnd by “we may leave the ultimate answer for later” you mean “not this season, bitches!” right?

TVGUIDE:  Are Tom and Liz still going through with the adoption process?
Bokenkamp: Yes it’s still in play. It’s a story line that we have to come back to, and we will return to that and address that. It is one of those story lines that has been unanswered thus far.

BABY:  You mean one of the 6,437 story lines that has been unanswered thus far, right Bokencamp?  

TVGUIDE:  Speaking of Apple Man, we’ve seen him and that other man he talks to. Are there only two in that surveillance room spying on Tom and Liz? 
Eisendrath: In the near future, you will learn much more about them: Who they work for, why they’re there. That will be one of those questions that we’re not going to leave the audience dangling about.

BABY:  Well paint me fucking green & call me Gumby!!!  An answer to one of the show’s biggest mysteries is coming?  Shut the front door.

TVGUIDE:  How much of it is a coincidence that Liz’s scar resembles the carving on Tom’s box and that other box we saw?
Eisendrath: We leave that to the audience’s imagination for the moment.

BABY:  Fuckers!!  (Also?  What a moronic question - how much of it is a coincidence?  Um, precisely zero of it.)

TVGUIDE:  How soon will we find out about the woman seen on the ViCAP? Is there any connection to the woman we saw in the Stewmaker photo?
Bokenkamp: Oh yes, the woman in the ViCAP program, Lucy Brooks. There were a couple names listed on the screenshot there. Again, that’s one of those things that I think are left better unanswered. She is making an appearance soon. That is one of those things that is also sort of a story that is ramping up, the story of this woman.

BABY:  *Squeals!!*

TVGUIDE:  Did Red save Dembe from the Eberhardt cartel?
Bokenkamp: Wow, look at you! 

Eisendrath: Nice! Yeah we liked that he had that scar, and there was the scar that Floriana (Isabella Rossellini) gave people. No one had ever asked us that before.

Bokenkamp: That is something within the mythology of the show that we’ve talked about in terms of why Dembe has an allegiance to Red. In that second episode, we reveal that he had the scar. So yes, he was part of the cartel and yes, Red had helped facilitate his escape.

BABY:  I KNEW IT!!  I actually meant to address Dembe’s scar in EP2 and forgot, although I couldn’t tell at the time if it was the cartel branding or if it was the same symbol from Tom’s (and Gina Zanetakos’) boxes.

TVGUIDE:  Is there a similar story coming up for Red’s other helper, Luli Zheng, to explain her loyalty to him?
Bokenkamp: Thereare some really deep and exciting stories coming up with Luli that are going to be great between Red and Luli. But as far as their backstory, we don’t have anything quite as specific as Dembe and Red.

BABY:  Good, I don’t like her - she needs to keep her paws off Red.  ;)

TVGUIDE:  What’s the best, but off-base, theory you’ve heard about this show?
Bokenkamp: Well, one soap opera[-like] one that I read that was pretty juicy was that Liz was not Red’s daughter, but that Tom was his son. But that is wrong.

Eisendrath: For this year anyway. We reserve the right to change anything.

BABY:  Ooooo - I hadn’t even thought of that one, that would’ve been a great twist!

TVGUIDE:  What are some of the strongest reactions to the show you’ve gotten?
Eisendrath: People do come up and ask you questions. And apparently, the actors tell us that they get questions when they’re just walking around in New York. To Megan Boone, people will say, “Is he your father?” Or people will say to Ryan Eggold, “Are you good or bad?”

Bokenkamp: Yeah Ryan Eggold is getting put through the wringer. As much as he is the most charming, sweet, handsome guy you can find, people hate this guy. It's crazy.

BABY:  Me included.  Amongst the Tom-haters.

TVGUIDE:  Do you know how many criminals are on the Blacklist? The highest number I’ve seen so far is for the Stewmaker, No. 161.

Eisendrath: However many episodes we get, that is the exact number of people on the Blacklist.

BABY:  Haaaa!!  Awesome.  If the show stays as good as it is, I’m good with thousands on The Blacklist.  James Spader will still kick ass when he’s 80.  Of course, we probably still won’t have confirmation at that point if he’s Lizzie’s father or not.

Who’s as excited as I am for tonight’s new episode????!!!  Hit SNARK US above & we can talk all things The Blacklist!!  (Or just about how brilliantly sexy Spader is, whichever ;) )

Have a tutti fuckin’ frutti day fellow Blacklisters!
–BZ