BWW Preview: THE BLACKLIST Answers Some Questions, Asks Even More

Producer Jon Bokencamp's THE BLACKLIST, not only a breakout hit in its first season, but NBC's biggest hit since... forever, is back for a second season beginning September 22, and it once again promises more questions than answers.

To recap the entire first season in brief, Raymond "Red" Reddington, former Naval Intelligence officer turned wealthy and charming, but deadly career criminal has turned himself into the FBI. Dubbed "The Concierge of Crime" for his ability to broker any criminal deal; from a change of identity to a nuclear arms sale; he has been given immunity from prosecution for his list of fellow international criminals, that he just so happens to want out of his hair; either dead or behind bars. To aid him, he requests that the FBI set him up with practically new agent and profiler, Elizabeth Scott Keen, who, we discover, is the adopted daughter of one of his oldest friends - but she never knew this, and she doesn't know precisely why or how she fits into Red's plans. In the midst of his turning in some vile criminals with fairly gruesome business and astounding nicknames, we find that Red is being pursued by another international criminal known only as "Berlin," and that Liz's husband, Tom, apparently a mild-mannered schoolteacher, is one of Berlin's agents, who married her as part of the finding-Red-and-eliminating-him agenda of this almost unknown evildoer.

When we last left Red and Lizzie, they were sitting on the stoop of Red's current Washington-area safe house, contemplating running off to find Berlin on their own. Red's immunity deal is possibly in shambles, a major FBI/DOJ official is dead, Lizzie's husband may be dead after a fight with her and Red, and both of their worlds are coming down on them as those worlds collide.

We've been left with several threads dangling and torturing the fans this summer:

Is Red Lizzie's father? He says no. He's never otherwise lied to her. Tom says her father is alive; Red says he's dead. Red bears scars on his back suggesting he may have rescued Lizzie in the childhood fire in which she remembers her father rescuing her - is he indeed her father, or is her memory flawed, and if he's right, who was her father, and why did Red rescue her?

What happened to Red's family? Are they dead or disappeared? The DOJ official Red executed said she knew the truth, but Red said that if she did, others did as well, and he plans to find them. Is Red's daughter the girl in the picture that was in The Stewmaker's victim album? And why does Berlin also have a photo of her?
Why is Berlin pursuing Red? Theories abound that Red might have married Berlin's daughter, but it's said that she married a Russian political dissident, which Red clearly isn't. What is the connection between the two men and the girl in the photo - does it have to do with why Berlin wants Red dead?

What do Fitch (Alan Alda) and Red have on each other, and why was Fitch's cabal unwilling to get involved with the Berlin-Red battle when their interests may well lie with Red?

What happened to Tom? Is he really dead? Ryan Eggold's back next season, which suggests the answer is "No" - but was he rescued by Berlin's people when Lizzy left him for dead, or did Lizzie help him escape... and if so, why? And will this show regularly follow the rule of THE X-FILES that anybody not shown dead on screen isn't really dead? Let's hope that THE BLACKLIST's writers aren't quite so predictable.

In upcoming cast changes, Amir Arison, playing lovable computer geek Special Agent Aram Mojtabai, is being moved to a full-time cast member following the death of Special Agent Meera Malik (Parminder Nagra). Mary-Louise Parker, another A-list TV star actor, like Spader, comes on board for Season 2 to play Naomi Highland, a former associate of Red's. What kind of associate, we don't yet know, but we will probably learn as her path crosses Red's again in the middle of the Berlin chaos.

Mozhan Marno, from Netflix' HOUSE OF CARDS, is also joining the series playing former Mossad agent Tamar Katzman, who, like FBI Special Agent Donald Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff), has been seeking Red for years. Word is that, also like Ressler, Katzman will join Red's team. She'll balance out the loss of Red's accountant, bodyguard, and possible girlfriend, Luli Zeng (Deborah S. Craig) who was killed by Red's enemy Anslo Garrick in the middle of Season 1. How many of those roles, or what other ones, she'll fill for Reddington isn't clear.

Whether we'll see an increased amount of mystery woman Mr. Kaplan (Susan Blommaert), Red's confidant and "cleaner," this season hasn't been revealed, nor whether we'll get to hear any of her most likely fascinating backstory. All we know to date is that she seems to be the only person who calls Raymond Reddington "dearie" to his face and lives.

Bokencamp has dropped hints about certain answers we may get this season: the answers to questions about Berlin and the mystery photo, information about Liz's mother, and more about Tom. If the show holds true to pattern, these will just raise more questions. We can be fairly certain that there will be lingering doubt, for at least a few viewers, about whether Red is Lizzie's father, and that there won't be an immediately forthcoming answer about what the actual relationship is. Although Spader has indicated that the answer is known to at least a few people involved with the show, there are no plans to let the audience in on the secret before the plot, or the eventual end of the series, renders it essential.

Viewers should be aware that there will be a mid-season night switch for the show - after a SUPER BOWL night two-part episode, the show will move from Mondays to Thursdays. For now, check out the Season 2 trailer below and set your plans or your recorders for Monday, September 22, 10:00 pm, on NBC.

Photo Credit: Eric Liebowitz | NBC

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