Spoilers for The Blacklist's "Zarak Mosadek" follow. Read at your own risk!
You'd think that as we get closer to the end of another season of The Blacklist, the show would start paving the way to wrap up some of the season-long stories. But nope. Things just got a lot more complicated in this week's episode as Liz (Megan Boone) discovered another big family secret.
Let's get right to it: Liz just met Red's other long-lost daughter (Fiona Dourif)! Liz found the woman, who goes by the name of Lilly but is actually the previously mentioned Jennifer Reddington, by following bad dude Ian Garvey (Jonny Coyne), who apparently visits Lilly just about every day even though it's way out of his way.
After Liz brought Lilly in for questioning, Lilly said Garvey became her surrogate dad and watches out for her to keep her safe from her biological father. That's when she admitted that her real dad was one of the FBI's most wanted, Red Reddington (James Spader).
With the revelation sure to make waves over the next few episodes, TV Guide spoke with The Blacklist creator Jon Bokenkamp to find out what's coming up.
The Blacklist: Is It Time to Dump Red's Shenanigans?
How are you going to use Lilly moving forward in these final episodes?
Jon Bokenkamp: Well, I think her role is probably to hopefully provide more answers, specifically to Liz. Three years ago, we introduced the idea that Reddington has a daughter, that her name is Jennifer Reddington and he doesn't know where she is. She's in witness protection and he can't find her and she wants nothing to do with him. So the idea that there would be this collision course that this storyline is on and we meet a new character who potentially has deep information about Raymond Reddington and who he is and why he maybe disappeared or why he came into Liz's life, all of that, is what's going to be compelling about this last push of episodes.
Should we be referring to her as Lilly or as Jennifer then?
Bokenkamp: Let's refer to her as Jennifer.
Works for me. Jennifer believes that Garvey is protecting her from Red. How close to the truth is that? Or is she being manipulated on Garvey's side as well?
Bokenkamp: I think that's the question she's going to be asking herself, and certainly one Liz is asking herself in the very next episode. That's what the next episode is all about. What the hell is going on? Why has Ian Garvey, a U.S. Marshal, been sitting on a truth that he knows; the contents of the duffle bag and the identity of that skeleton, and why it's so important. If he knows this truth, why not go to the newspapers, why not go to the FBI, why not leverage Reddington for money or power? He doesn't want any of those, and I think that the introduction of this new young woman shines a spotlight on perhaps why, what his real agenda is, and what he's after. It's probably far more dangerous for Reddington than money or leverage or being threatened or turned over to the FBI. It's a story that has deep roots in the mythology of the show. As we're starting to look forward, that's what I think the promise is -- especially in our next episode -- who is this man, and what is his relationship to this young woman, and what does she know?
Does she have some connection to the bag of bones?
Bokenkamp: I don't think so, I think she's caught completely off guard. She's working at a bar pulling beers and going about her life. At least that's the way she presents. We will see how that plays out, but I don't think we need to be super suspicious of her.
There's been a lot of withholding information by characters to use as leverage over each other in The Blacklist, and Liz is sitting on a goldmine with Jennifer. What will Liz do with the knowledge of Jennifer's whereabouts?
Bokenkamp: Well, Liz and Red had a bit of a standoff earlier in the season where Red said, "I am going after Ian Garvey, and after I get him, I'm going after that bag." And Liz said, "Well, I will help you because I want to get the man who murdered my husband, but I will also get that bag, but I'm not going to stand down." That is something to keep in the back of viewers' minds as we go into the last four episodes here, that, you know, this isn't just about secrets or about a duffle bag, this is about a husband who was murdered. What started off as fairly light with Reddington being broke and trying to rebuild his empire and finally having his daughter at his side, is now a very different season at this point. She's lost her husband, her child has been sent away, and her father is insisting to keep this private. I would not underestimate Liz at all, and I think we've seen her with her therapist, sort of bringing her into her tent as an ally, like Red has allies, like Kaplan or Dembe. She's learned a little bit from dad in the ways to investigate and move forward, and it may not always be completely above board like a good FBI agent.
The Blacklist returns on Wednesday, Apr. 25 at 8/7c on NBC.
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