History Series / TheBlacklist

* TimeSkip: A 10-month one occurs at the end of "Ian Garvey" [[spoiler:as this is how long Liz has been in a coma.]]

* {{Camp}}: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. Some of the villains are camp (mainly VillainOfTheWeek or FillerVillain-types), but by no means [[SissyVillain sissy]] all the time, a lot are quite badass, but they are still campy in a way that's "low camp" (i.e. unintentionally); they're not flamboyant in a way that's sparkly and [[SugarBowl overly saccharine]] in performance. However, the protagonist Raymond Reddington can be camp at times, if only due to his LargeHam behavior.

* RealityEnsues:
** Liz was warned that her stabbing attempt on Reddington was getting her in trouble with the [=FBI=].
** Also [[ImplacableMan The]] [[OneManArmy Courier]]. [[spoiler: After a whole episode shrugging off dangerous wounds with nary a worry or care, he's shot again. He'll just keep walking like a badass, right? Nope. His wounds finally catch up to him and he dies.]]
** And then in "Frederick Barnes", Cooper chews out Liz for [[PutDownYourGunAndStepAway dropping her gun]] and warns her there'll be an official review.
** After being underwater for several minutes in "Lawrence Dane Devlin" and eventually waking up from a coma, [[spoiler: Samar]] experiences brain damage to the point of having to leave the Task Force.

* NecessaryEvil: This was Cooper considers Reddington as in the season 9 premiere; Red's presence keeps the Blacklisters in check.

** The premier of Season 3 had Solomon poisoning Dembe's granddaughter, but after Dembe surrenders himself, Solomon has no problem providing the antidote.

** Ressler briefly becomes one after after [[spoiler:killing Laurel Hitchin.]]

The show has aired eight seasons. The seventh season aired 19 instead of 22 episodes due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic.

The show has aired seven seasons, with an eight currently airing. The seventh season aired 19 instead of 22 episodes due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic.

** Matias Solomon verses Peter Kotsiopulos, both have connections to the CIA and both work for the Cabal.

** Matias Solomon, shot and beaten for multiple episodes, is one of the few Blacklisters who ends their episode without getting killed or arrested.

* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: In many episodes, often two or a handful members of the Task Force will sent in to investigate or capture the latest Blacklister, and they are responsible for everything from combing through hundreds of files to actively trying to arrest perpetrators. Compared to RealLife, they are doing the job of dozens if not hundreds of officers, investigators and agents, especially considering that they are after some of the most dangerous criminals on the planet. In some cases the Task Force actually cross ''states'' to arrest someone rather than getting the local law enforcement to take care of that themselves even if the perp is in the middle of committing a crime. Very often, this kind of PlotInducedStupidity gives the target ample time and opportunity to escape. It is also random- sometimes entire SWAT teams are assembled to deal with the threat, in other cases only one or two characters have to deal with the problem.

** Invoked in "Wujing." The titular villain accuses one of his mooks of being a traitor, then proceeds to give him a {{no holds barred beatdown}}. Reddington then shoots the mook and claims that he did it to spare him from more suffering, since Wujing was just going to beat him some more before he killed him. [[spoiler: In actuality, the mook discovered the device that Reddington and Liz used to set him up, and was going to expose them to Wujing. [[ShootTheDog Reddington killed him before he could say anything.]]]]

* MiscarriageOfJustice: The titular VillainOfTheWeek in "The Judge" hates these, and targets corrupt cops and prosecutors whom have wrongly convicted innocent people.

** The actual relationship between Reddington, Katarina and Liz in later seasons after Katarina shows up to Liz's life. [[spoiler:She was also told in "Nachalo" that Liz is the daughter of Katarina and the actual Raymond Reddington.]]
** The show was meant to build up on Liz eventually [[PassingTheTorch succedding Reddington in handling the Blacklist]]. [[spoiler:Never turned out well since she's assassinated in "Konets".]]

** Prescott could have moved on from "Frank Sturgeon", but when Ressler was questioning the lack of work done on Hitchin's body he reveals too much information about the police investigation. This makes Prescott curious enough to run Sturgeon's prints, and he discovers "Frank Sturgeon" is actually Special Agent Donald Ressler of the FBI.

** Lampshaded by Reddington in "The Courier." The high level criminals and government agents that deal with Reddington cannot really trust each other. Thus the Courier is hired to keep the people involved from double crossing each other. If the deal is betrayed, he kills everyone on both sides of the deal, no exceptions.

* NonIndicativeName: It's not clear exactly how Reddington ordered [[Characters/TheBlacklistBlacklistNames his list]] other than "RuleOfDrama"; capability times (dis)respect for life. Madeline Pratt, for instance, is a non-violent ConArtist and thief, and [[spoiler:[[KarmaHoudini Red even lets her go at the end of her episode]]]], yet she is listed higher than many mass murderers, assassins and terrorists. Red even includes people he isn't sure even ''exist'', yet ranks them higher than some he knows ''personally''. The highest ranked in Season 1, [[spoiler:Berlin, is essentially a [[Manga/DeathNote Light Yagami]]-level {{Chessmaster}} who [[PersonOfMassDestruction kills pretty much everyone he encounters]] and is {{Unfettered}} enough to ''cut off his own hand'' to slip a pair of handcuffs. And Red considers seven people to be '''even worse''' than him. One of those(#7) is Jacob Phelps, ''a deep-cover mole who was posing as Elizabeth Keen's husband Tom.'']]

** When the Russian transport plane bringing "Berlin" crashes into New York city territory after being shot down by a [=US=] Navy F-14 in "Berlin".

* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Alliance (or [[InsistentTerminology the Cabal]], the international group of apparent {{Corrupt Politician}}s, secret agents, businessmen and influential persons that Fitch represents.

* PayEvilUntoEvil: Some of the criminals on the blacklist are there because Reddington finds their crimes or methods to be particularly heinous. For example, the Freelancer specializes in assassinations that look like major accidents, thus not only does he kill the target but he kills dozens of innocent people as well. It's also when he has to deal with other criminals (generally worst than him) that Reddington is at his cruelest, not being above subjecting them to KarmicDeath if he's especially pissed off.

* PoorCommunicationKills: The Japanese government is too embarrassed to admit that a major criminal escaped from their inescapable prison so they do not make the information public. The escapee is out for revenge on the FBI agents who captured him and his targets receive no warning about him being on the loose. If the Japanese promptly notified the FBI of the escape, the criminal would have probably been recognized and stopped as he tried to enter the U.S.

** Matias Solomon was originally a CIA asset, he is eventually hired by the Cabal, and when they turn against him he accepts a job from Hargrave.

* PutOnABusToHell: After Mozhan Marnó left, Samar had to be written out, so she was given a degenerative brain disease caused by her near-drowning at the end of season 5. After half a season of increasingly severe memory issues and aphasia, Mossad takes out a hit on her because they believe her condition has made her a liability, forcing her to go on the run and leave the rest of the task force behind—including Aram, whom she’d planned on marrying. This was considered a pretty depressing end for such a well-liked character, and may have contributed to the unpopularity of her replacement, Agent Alina Park.

** Ressler makes the same mistakes after Matias warns him that he'll shoot Tom. Tom asks him if he did go through academy training.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: Many viewers criticized the show for the RCMP portrayal when they worked with the FBI in Montreal due to Quebec's "status" within Canada. However, many Canadian viewers (and viewers familiar with Canadian law enforcement) have pointed out that the former operates as a local, provincial and federal police force throughout Canada and that they are the FBI's Canadian equivalent. Due to this, criticism has largely died down.

* RefugeInAudacity: Used by Ressler repeatedly when he's [[spoiler:coerced into doing favours for the fixer who helped hide his involvement in Laurel Hitchin's death]].
* ReverseWhodunit: Tends to be how the majority of episodes work (the only major exceptions are when the titular Blacklister is someone we already know or otherwise an ally of Reddington or other main characters). Typically, an episode will open with the Blacklister committing one of their dastardly deeds, with the bulk of the episode being a "howcatchem."

** Mako Tanida goes on one against the FBI agents who incarcerated him [[spoiler: and killed his brother]], which in turn causes Ressler to go on one in turn when Tanida kills [[spoiler: his fiancee]].

* SadisticChoice: Mako Tanida gives his victims a choice between performing seppuku (disembowling themselves) or he'll kill them ''and'' their families.

* SlidingScaleOfAntiVillains: Red is Type III, as he knows no bounds to achieve his goals, but his goals are noble. It's {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Cooper at the end of "The Cyprus Agency", who remarks about how vile and amoral Red is- but without Red's help, the FBI wouldn't have saved all the women and children the Cyprus Agency was taking advantage of.

* SWATTeam: FBI SWAT officers appear, but are usually given the WorfEffect; the SWAT team escorting Liz, Ressler and the General's daughter in the pilot is slaughtered, and Garrick's mercenaries easily kill the SWAT officers by surprise guarding the black site. In recent episodes [[TookALevelInBadass their performance has improved]], to the point they have actually won some firefights.

** In Season 4, Special Agent Julian Gale acts as this. He recognizes several bodies of Reddington's victims, and apologizes for being unable to protect them. He works tirelessly trying to identify all of them, but unfortunately discusses his findings with Ressler, who Cooper placed in the investigation so the task force could stay ahead.

* StupidCrooks: The bank robbers during the opening of 'Dr. Hans Koehlor' get hit this trope square in the face. First, they end up tripping the new metal detection systems put in place, giving them no time to escape before the police surround the bank. When Red offers to get them out by hiding them in the back of a truck, which goes wrong when they start ''shooting at the police''. Red's response to this stupidity is to tip them out all over the road for the police.

* ThenLetMeBeEvil: Daniel Hutton, an old war buddy of Cooper's became a terrorist known as the "Simoon" aka Poison Wind after their superior set him up to be killed by insurgents for threatening to expose an illegal mission in Kuwait supplying armed rebels. He felt (correctly) that his government and country betrayed him, so he decided to betray his country in return.

** NBC's official tumblr for the show promised that "Anslo Garrick" would be this. They weren't lying. After the two-parter finished, "[[http://nbcblacklist.tumblr.com/post/68171816044/everything-has-changed everything has changed]]". [[spoiler:Reddington is in the wind, he's explicitly denied being Liz's father, his people don't know where he is, and the Blacklist task force's only motivation is hunting him down. Also, Liz learned about the guys who were spying on her, and there are hints that Reddington is involved in some sort of high level government conspiracy. Oh, and there's a mole on the team.]]

** Soloman is actually introduced as threatening and poisoning an infant. He does this gently, playfully cradling the baby, and viewers are only informed of the poisoning after an antidote was mentioned. Later, he accidentally shoots a child at the bank robbery he was staging. He's fine with this, Tom is definitely not.

** Invoked by Reddington in Part Two of "Berlin"; a man hears a disturbance in his home and finds Reddington siting at his kitchen table, eating peaches and holding his dog. The man asks what Reddington will do to the dog if he doesn't get what he wants.

** "Nachalo": [[spoiler:The information compiled by Katarina and the actual Raymond Reddington when the former spied in the US, in Moscow, and in other places against various VIPs was the full intelligence package in the Cold War known as "The Fulcrum". The Blacklist was used to ensure the safety of Liz. Also, the woman shot by Red who was said to be Katarina was a woman named Tatiana Petrova, whose cover was established by the actual Katarina and Ilya.]]

* TimeSkip: A 10 month one occurs at the end of "Ian Garvey" [[spoiler:as this is how long Liz has been in a coma.]]

** Due to the trailers, most viewers went in knowing Reddington assisting the FBI in capturing criminals wasn't going to be a one time deal, despite the fact he doesn't reveal his list until the last ten minutes of the pilot.

** NBC's official tumblr for the show promised that "Anslo Garrick" would be this. They weren't lying. After the two-parter finished, "[[http://nbcblacklist.tumblr.com/post/68171816044/everything-has-changed everything has changed]]". [[spoiler:Reddington is in the wind, he's explicitly denied being Liz's father, his people don't know where he is, and the Blacklist task force's only motivation is hunting him down. Also, Liz learned about the guys who were spying on her, there's hints that Reddington is involved in some sort of high level government conspiracy. Oh, and there's a mole on the team.]]
** "The Judge" plays out like a standard episode, with the FBI chasing the Blacklister of the week while Reddington pursues his own agenda in the background. Then the last scene finally clarifies the mystery surrounding Tom -- [[spoiler: he actually ''is'' the spy killer Red accused him of being, with his marriage to Liz being a sham he undertook on orders from his mystery superiors.]]

** "The Scimitar" has Reddington getting to know a woman who was heavily implied in previous episodes to be his daughter. She even says she ''"hasn't seen her father in a long, long time"'' and she hated him for ''"doing unforgivable things"''. [[spoiler: Then Reddington gets a lead on Berlin's (the BigBad) location, and tries to make peace with him. Berlin spits said peace offer back in his face, saying that he will kill Reddington's daughter like he killed his daughter. Reddington then brings out the woman, introducing her with a "This woman is not '''my''' daughter...she's yours."]] Cue massive look of shock on Berlin's face (as well as the audience in general).

** The two-part "Adrian Shaw': It starts with Kirk collapsing while in custody and quickly spirals as [[spoiler:a DNA test reveals that Kirk isn't Liz's (biological) father...and Red confesses that he ''is''.]]

** "Nachalo": [[spoiler:The information compiled by Katarina and the actual Raymond Reddington when the former spied in the US, in Moscow and in other places against various VIPs was the full intelligence package in the Cold War known as "The Fulcrum". The Blacklist was used to ensure the safety of Liz. Also, the woman shot by Red who was said to be Katarina was a woman named Tatiana Petrova, whose cover was established by the actual Katarinae and Ilya.]]

** The season one finale has Red telling Liz a story that Sam Scott, her adoptive father apparently told him about the night someone brought Liz to him, telling him, Sam, that there was a fire at her house, her parents were dead, and that he was to take Liz in as his own. The final shot of the episode shows [[spoiler:Red, taking his shirt off to bandage a wound he received earlier, showing burn scars all over his torso.]]
* WhatAnIdiot: Seriously, the number of people that engage in stupid behaviour is somewhat disheartening.

** Soloman in actually introduced as threatening and poisoning an infant. He does this gently, playfully cradling the baby, and viewers are only informed of the poisoning after an antidote was mentioned. Later, he accidentally shoots a child at the bank robbery he was staging. He's fine with this, Tom is definitely not.

** All the bodies Mr. Kaplan helped Reddington dispose of, eighty-six of them show up in an ice rink and law enforcement starts a new investigation into Reddington.

* FauxDeath: In order to disappear from Reddington's watch, Liz has her ex-boyfriend who is a doctor use a certain drug to slow down her heart rate during the events of Mr. Solomon: Conclusion. The drug gave a very convincing illusion that Liz was dead after giving birth to her daughter. This overlaps with PutOnABus and RealLifeWritesThePlot because [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Liz's actress Megan Boone was in her final stages of her real life pregnancy]].

** In a Season 4 episode, a man who Red is manipulating into betraying his boss asks Dembe if he would ever do the same. Dembe says that he doesn't know. [[spoiler: After he realizes that everything was done to replace Mr. Kaplan, who had betrayed him earlier, he goes to Liz and informs her that Red killed Mr. Kaplan for helping her fake her death, something that Red clearly didn't want her to know.]]

** Then there's Tom, whose relationship to the fake passports and gun Liz found under the floorboards in Episode 1 is still unclear. [[spoiler: As well as evidence of a romantic relationship with the terrorist Gina Zanatakos, which is neither confirmed nor denied.]] The ending of "The Judge" finally clarifies things: [[spoiler: it seems Red was completely right about his accusations of Tom the whole time.]]
** Liz herself, who we learn in the Season 2 finale [[spoiler: killed her own father at the age of 4]]

** Matthias Solomon when trying to kidnap Liz. He was instructed to deliver her alive and unharmed, so you’d think he’d wait to grab her at a safe and opportune time… but instead, he tries to kidnap her while she’s at her own wedding, surrounded by her FBI agent colleagues, and ''very'' pregnant with her first child. The stress of the ensuing chase causes her to go into premature labor, her baby is born early, and she’s [[spoiler: seemingly killed (she actually fake; her own death, but Solomon had no way of knowing that.)]]

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: "Cape May" has Red dealing with Liz's death, traveling to Cape May to find answers. With the exception of Red, the rest of the main cast is absent. "Ruin" has Elizabeth dealing with Tom's death, living off-the-grid in remote Alaska, also with the rest of the main cast absent.
* AnyoneCanDie: After [[spoiler:Liz's death]], it certainly looks like it. The show has killed off major characters before, but this takes it to an entirely new level. [[spoiler:Subverted when she turns out to have faked her death. It looks like this trope could start to kick in starting with Season 5 after Tom is stabbed to death.]]

* InfantImmortality:
** Averted. At least two children have been killed in separate terror attacks, and it's discussed that a young boy will probably die of his rare disease before the FDA approves a new treatment.
** It is likely that dozens, if not ''hundreds'', of children died in The Freelancer's attacks, although it's not discussed in the episode.
** The premier of Season 3 had Solomon poisoning Dembe's granddaughter, but after Dembe surrenders himself, Solomon has no problem providing the antidote.

** "Nachalo": [[spoiler:The information compiled by Katarina and the actual Raymond Reddington when the former spied in the US, in Moscow and in other places against various VIPs was the full intelligence package in the Cold War known as "The Fulcrum". The Blacklist was used to ensure the safety of Liz.]]