Spoilers for the April 17 episode of The Blacklist Season 7 entitled “Gordon Kemp” are discussed below.
Well, that didn't last long. One of the big secrets that Liz’s has been keeping since The Blacklist’s midseason finale is finally out of the bag As of the latest episode, the criminal mastermind now knows that his cover as Ilya Koslov has been blown sky-high. The real Ilya’s “paranoia” led Dembe to discover the private investigator Liz had hired to dig into Ilya.
And Dembe didn't cover for Liz this time. He went right to Red with the truth through a phone call, as Red sat next to an unknowing Liz. Checkmate. The Blacklist has now put Red a step ahead of Liz. So to sum things up, Red knows that she knows he's not Ilya, but she doesn't know that he knows. Yes, I meant that to be confusing.
But what does this all mean for The Blacklist moving forward? There are endless possibilities at the moment. I don't expect Red to drop the reveal that he knows his cover has been blown to Liz. He has an edge now, so why not use it? And if anything, it should make Red more suspicious than ever of his daughter-adjacent protegee.
Katarina faked her death before The Blacklist signed off last year, and Liz knows all about that, too. If Red stays true to form, he should re-examine everything the thinks he knows about Katarina and Liz. I would like to believe Red is more than capable of putting together that Katarina’s “death” was a set-up at this point.
Unfortunately, when it comes to Red's real identity fans of the show will likely still be left in the dark. For whatever reason, The Blacklist is determined to keep Red's true orgins a secret from Liz and the audience. Even though the viewers do know more than Liz a the moment, they all still have their theories.
To that point, the theory that Red is the real Raymond Reddington’s twin brother is still alive as of this most recent episode of The Blacklist. Fans will have to stay tuned to determine if that's the cover Red has been trying to keep while letting Liz believe he is Ilya Koslov. Still, one has to wonder what Red will do with the info. Will he use it to take Liz down a red rabbit hole that put her further away from reality?
There's also the matter of Brian Dennehy's Dom. Dom is the one who first told Liz the elaborate tale of Ilya Koslov assuming the identity of Raymond Reddington. It was not too long into Season 7 that viewers of The Blacklist learned that story was not the real story. Now that Red knows Liz knows the truth, will viewers find out if Dom did too?
While Brian Dennehy passed away on Thursday, The Blacklist team has confirmed that Dennehy’s Dom will appear again with the help of previously unused footage.
Stay tuned to see how Red reacts to Liz’s latest lie when new episodes of The Blacklist air Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC as some of this spring’s fresh content. You can check out Liz’s past deception on The Blacklist via the previous seasons streaming on Netflix along with content arriving in 2020.
