The Blacklist not often will get credit score for its weirdness, however possibly this episode, the Season 7 finale, would be the one to show the tide. A lot has been made (rightfully) concerning the quarantine-induced choice to finish the half-finished episode with “graphic novel”-style animation and speed up a number of the plot traces to operate as an exhilarating season finale. However “The Kazanjian Brothers” was additionally, out of the blue, the final episode for Brian Dennehy, who died in mid-April as soon as manufacturing had already been shut down. And, in fact, the hour needed to comply with final week’s surreal visitor spot from Al Roker.
Given these unfavorable circumstances, the episode was an enormous success — and nonetheless totally, charmingly unusual.
It is troublesome to separate the shape from the plot. The episode started with Liz (Megan Boone) on the bedside of Dom (Dennehy), delivering an inner monologue absolutely recorded from Boone’s most sound-proof closet. That does not occur on this present. All of a sudden, the motion went inside Harry Lennix‘s house workplace, the place the actor, out of character, defined how the Blacklist crew executed this weird feat within the midst of a world pandemic. That was adopted by a short montage of different actors and behind-the-scenes footage from the set. Once more, this was earlier than the hyped animated sequences even began.
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However these animation sequences had been well worth the hype. Not as a result of they regarded good, clearly. The inventive crew has been utilizing the “graphic novel” descriptor, however the visible sophistication is nearer to “Nintendo 64 platformer.” Although the faces regarded fairly stable (inside these constraints), the ears had been deeply unsettling and character motion like a glitching online game cutscene. Photorealism wasn’t the purpose, nonetheless, neither is it notably participating. The more severe these scenes regarded — the fast second with Merwin’s daughter most notably — the extra pleasant they had been.
The Blacklist
The shift to animation produced a couple of different notable prospers. Graphic novel-style caption containers supplied some additional context to characters’ inner ideas. The motion sequences had been just a little longer and sprawling than they’d have been in corporeal type, giving the episode a much bigger finale really feel. To not go full In These Troubling Instances, nevertheless it was enjoyable to look at a present make a daring, odd alternative and embrace solely kind of executing it.
Hastening the season’s plotlines was equally wonky and entertaining. Final week’s episode hinted that Liz can be deeply entrenched in the midst of Crimson (James Spader) and Katarina’s (Laila Robins) blood feud. “The Kazanjian Brothers” demonstrated that to be true, however elected to hurry up Liz selecting a facet. Due to animation and inner monologues, the episode labored by means of Liz’s frustration in a much more aggressive — and admittedly, satisfying — style.
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Liz overtly antagonized each Crimson and Katarina about their respective mendacity and pleaded with them to assist her make the precise selections. That does not occur too usually on this present, the place Liz and Crimson methodically plot in opposition to each other and possibly quickly feud earlier than coming again collectively comparatively shortly. Right here, although, Liz made a reputable option to facet along with her mom, although Dom is dying on account of Katarina’s actions and Crimson is experiencing grave well being problems with his personal. The episode ended with an anti-hero-esque monologue with Liz embracing a darkish facet to lastly study the reality about Crimson, Ilya, and her previous. As a concluding picture for the season — animated or not — that was very cool.
The ending of Season 7 most likely would have regarded quite a bit like this had there not been a world pandemic and subsequent suspension of manufacturing. It is not value theorizing how different occasions from this episode would play out — Katarina was happening concerning the Sikorsky Archives and the Townsend Directive once more — or the place The Blacklist goes from right here, as a result of nobody has a clue about future episodes. As an alternative, we should always have fun this vigorous feat for its creativity and weirdness in a time the place there’s not a number of these sorts of responses to the pandemic.
The Blacklist will return for Season eight sooner or later.