I’m not a regular viewer of the Blacklist, but just saw the premier episode on NetFlix.
I have a question for those who have followed the show -
Has it been established that the female lead IS NOT Reddington’s daughter? There were a lot of hints suggesting that she might be.
If she’s not, has the reason he is so interested in her come to light?
No, although he does later deny it. It is a continued plot question.
I am a just a few episodes behind so something else may have been revealed. At this point certain aspects of the past have come to light but the entire mystery as to why he is so interested in her has not.
Part of the problem with the show is that it doesn’t make any sense at all. But as of Season 2, Ep 18, Lizzie is most likely not Red’s daughter.
It has been heavily implied that he was somewhat involved in the fire that led to her parents’ deaths. They were hiding some MacGuffin called The Fulcrum. His interest in her is a combination of his feeling responsible for her being an orphan and his having hoped that she might be able to point him to The Fulcrum.
Didn’t read the spoiler because I’m on S01E10. Which I should be getting back to. Why didn’t you folks tell me the show is not half bad? 
Thanks for filling me in. I have now watched several episodes and find the back story clues the only annoying part of the show.
It’s not the best show. Some of the plots are implausible at best. But it is all worth it to hear Red speak. I laugh more when he is being evil than with most comedies.
Yes, Spader is the show and the show is worth watching just for him.
I expect to see some Reddington/Ulton team-up fanfic in the near future, assuming it does not already exist. It’s a tossup which is more evil, really.
I just started watching this show and before I make any post about it, I tried to understand the nature of the threads here in The Cafe Society. I’m having a lot of trouble because there seems to be approx one thread for each season but, the latest posts all seem to be from the earliest seasons.
I may well be misunderstanding something because that sure doesn’t make any sense to me.
I’d like to try to understand just how people are posting in this thread. There seems to only be a few posts and most of them seem to be about the relationship between Spader and the lead actress.
In many shows, the long running issue is whether the lead actor and actress will ever get together and consumate their romantic relationship.
But in this show the issue seems to be what the mystery relationship is between Spader and the lead actress. Can anyone help me understand just how people are posting in this thread and the other three threads about this show?
I’m so confused. There seems to be one thread for each season. But people are posting about each season in different threads.
As far as I can tell, he was the main reason why The Office just went straight down hill. I think he ruined that wonderful show by stinking up the entire season in which he took over for Michael Scott. He was terrible and the show was terrible once he became the lead star. Someone should have fired him just as quick as they could. But they didn’t.
Anyway, I have some remarks I’d like to make about Spader. But they are very negative and so I think I will put them in a spoiler box so as to not insult anyone. OK. Here goes.
I can’t understand why Spader gets so much work and seems to be such a big star.
I think that as an actor, he is just terrible. I can’t stand him. IMHO, I think he has very little talent.
This is just my opinion and I think many people will disagree with me. But I can’t stand him. I think he is a no-talent bum. I have put this opinion into a spoiler box because I don’t want to offend anyone who may be a big fan of James Spader. Personally, I just don’t get it. I can’t understand why so many people think he is some kind of great actor. I think that as far as his acting skill goes, he is just a bum. No talent. No range. No nothing.
He always seems to present the same character. He never shows any different kind of emotion. He is just always the same kind of man and he always shows the same kind of emotion - and that is just about zero.
Can anyone here explain to me just why he gets so many starring roles? What is it that people see in him that makes them think he is a good actor? I just don’t get it. Can anyone explain to me why he is regarded as a good actor? I can’t see it. I don’t understand it. Why is it that so many people consider him to be a quality actor? Why? I seem to think that you could go down to Hollywood Blvd and grab any drunk and ask them to read for one of his parts and they could do just as good a job as he does. Am I very far off the mark on that evaluation?
Please, won’t someone explain to me why I can’t seem to see any talent in this man?
I just can’t see any talent there. I just don’t understand.
Ever since I saw him in The Office, I figured he was just a Zero when it came to Acting Ability. Where is his acting ability?
Anyway, I’ve been wanting to get that off my chest for several years now and I’m sorry to have left such a big, long, angry rant. But that is just the way I feel about this Spader bum.
OK. As far as Spader goes, I just give up. I don’t know what I can say. So many people seem to have made up their minds and I don’t know what to say to them.
I’m not going to say he is the best actor ever, but he is very capable, and he has charisma and I like to watch him. He is the most interesting thing about The Blacklist and everyone else on the show pales in comparison. It’s not the kind of show I would normally watch but I do because he is on it. He has always chosen offbeat roles and has a twistedness about him that I enjoy.
I’m not familiar with Spader’s other work. I didn’t know that he plays similar characters in other shows. Its not unusual. A lot of actors find a character that works and sticks with. Cary Grant for example played the same guy over and over again.
I wouldn’t watch The Blacklist without Red. He’s really the only interesting character. The plots are absurd. The interest comes from seeing how people react to Red and the situations he puts them in.
And his quick trigger finger!
As far as Cary Grant goes, he may have played the same character over and over. But what a wonderful character it was!
Cary Grant had a charisma that made him a joy to watch - no matter what he was doing.
I would compare him to Jack Nicholson. There are some actors who are just wonderfully entertaining - no matter what they are doing and they just play themselves. They don’t have much of any range.
I guess I’m just very angry with Spader because I believe he ruined The Office and the people who ran that show (who are really the ones to blame) could have hired many other actors who would not have ruined the show. They probably would not have been anywhere near as good as Steve Carell. But, what more can be said about comparing Steve Carrel and James Spader? Not very much IMO.
But I respect your opinions about the show. The plots **are **absurd. Aren’t they?
AAMOF, the entire show is so absurd that it’s just kind of comical.
But thank you for listening to me rant about Spader.
Steve Carell also plays versions of the same character, and I like him too. James Spader has been creating interesting characters for at least 30 years now – Pretty in Pink, Crash, Secretary, Boston Legal,… – and he might even convince me to go see him as Ultron and I usually skip comic book movies.
Barring some sort of massive retcon that completely ignores things they’ve already shown us, no, she is not his biological daughter, it is completely ruled out.
Season 2
He was involved in the incident where her biological parents were killed, and due to guilt or whatever came to feel responsible for her and placed her with her adopted father. He more or less spilled the beans after she was feeling similarly responsible for the family of the man killed as a result of her secretly keeping Tom in captivity.
No, rewatch that. It’s clear that her memories were partially false. For example it wasnt a real live bunny, it was a plush toy.
I think what has you confused is that the OP was from the standpoint of someone who had just started watching the show, starting from the pilot. (Which also includes me.) Others are trying to not spoiler it too much. More-recent eps probably should be discussed in the traditional manner, and probably are.
Thanks very much dropzone. I think you are correct.