History Awesome / TheBlacklist

* Liz moving forward by eventually confronting [[spoiler:Tom about the cache of passports and money that she found in their residence.]]
** [[spoiler: Though the fact she could have done this in the first episode makes it a little less awesome.]]

* Reddington [[spoiler:tossing The Stewmaker into his own chemical stew.]]

** And in 'The Courier' when he pretends to be the title character in front of a contractor and even ''cuts himself with a broken wine bottle'' to prove that he is the real deal (as The Courier is known for his inability to feel pain). [[spoiler: Sure, it doesn't work, but it's still awesome]].
* Liz and Reddington are talking to a crooked plastic surgeon who refuses to reveal the new identity of a terrorist who had his face surgically altered. [[spoiler: Liz identifies herself as an FBI agent and reveals that Reddington is now working for the FBI. Faced with the threat of jail time, the surgeon caves in and gives them the information they need. As soon as they have what they came for, Reddington and Liz fake outrage at how easily the surgeon failed their SecretTestOfCharacter and now they will have to find another plastic surgeon to work with who won't betray his clients' secrets as soon as the FBI is mentioned. As they leave, the surgeon is begging Reddington to give him another chance.]]

* Red [[spoiler:killing Anslo with a well placed stab in the back on the neck.]]

** Reddington's threat to [[spoiler: Aram, who supposedly sold secrets to the Garrick operation]]. He takes a gun out, but he doesn't threaten to shoot him. He disassembles the gun and empties the magazine. He informs the guy that if he doesn't make an untraceable transfer of five million dollars to Reddington before Reddington finishes assembling and reloading the gun, ''then'' he will shoot him. The best part? [[spoiler: Red didn't even want the money, he was just trying to prove that Aram wasn't actually the mole, with a demonstration that he's perfectly capable of covering his tracks.]]

* Red finally meeting [[spoiler: the mole, Diane Fowler]], and tying off that loose end with some well-placed bullets.
* Madeline Pratt actually manages to ''manipulate Reddington'' in order to carry out her heist. [[spoiler: Though Red gets her back.]]
* Tom Keen finally gets several when [[spoiler: he breaks cover, revealing that he's the assassin Red made him out to be, has memorized the layout of the post office, beats Jolene Parker half to death before asphyxiating her and executes The Cowboy.]] Not bad for a character that at times has been TheScrappy of the show.
* The Pavovich Brothers get one for being able to secure badass ProfessionalKiller [[spoiler: Tom Keen]]
* Tom gets one when he [[spoiler: gives an epic TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Liz and overpowers her after she handcuffs him and breaks his thumb]].

* The Introductory Sequence in 'Lord Baltimore'. Seemingly kidnapped by a SmugSnake African Warlord who is waving a gun in his face, Red calmly shows who's boss by [[spoiler:deploying the Hellfire missiles he recently purchased]] and to top things off [[spoiler: smugly sets fire to the gigantic pile of money, knowing that the Warlord won't be able to stop him]]

** TheReveal at the end [[spoiler:when Tom is shown to be alive and locked up by Liz.]]

** He then achieves a PyrrhicVictory of sorts [[spoiler: (before Red manages to eliminate him)]], securing a bomb around the man's neck which stays on long enough to be detonated. Counts as a DeathByIrony due to the fact Fitch had ruined his life by killing several of Berlin's Soviet-era associates with a bomb.
* In "Luther Braxton", after [[spoiler: Liz is captured by Braxton]], Red grabs a gun and mows down everyone and everything in his path to getting to [[spoiler: her]], reminding us once again that you do not mess with the people Red cares about.

* In "The Deer Hunter" Liz displays a cool head under pressure and surprisingly good combat skills by [[spoiler: goading the second Deer Hunter to get physical by reminding her of her abusive husband, the first Deer Hunter, and effortlessly subduing her using only her legs, while suspended from the ceiling, to the point that she easily could have killed the Deer Hunter if not for Ressler showing up when he did.]] She's clearly learned a thing or two since season 1.

* Reddington's plans to get Kenneth Jasper to talk. [[spoiler:It consisted of Navabi revealing herself to be loyal to the NCS Director and shooting Dembe when they confront each other so that Jasper would know that she's a "friendly".]]

** The Cabal implements a successful operation to raise diplomatic tensions between Russia and the USA and eliminate a new threat, namely [[spoiler: Elizabeth Keen]]. They do this with a series of false clues, and [[spoiler: use of Director Cooper]] to make it seem that Keen is [[spoiler: a Russian spy who assisted in the assassination of an anti-Russian Senator]].

** Lizzy's RageBreakingPoint. She's finally had enough of being manipulated and seeing her colleagues played for fools. So when the attorney general [[spoiler: flaunts his power as part of The Cabal]] by threatening the entire task force with disbandment and criminal charges, [[spoiler: she shoots him]].

* The means by which [[spoiler:Tom captures Russian terrorist Karakurt]] definitely belongs on this list. [[spoiler:When confronted by Karakurt, his brother, and a few of his underlings, Tom elucidates what he considers to be the most likely combat scenario, which will result in Karakurt's capture. Almost immediately after he says this, the battle unfolds - exactly as Tom predicted it down to the last detail, and in about five seconds to boot. The episode ends with most of Karakurt's associates dead and with Karakurt in Tom's custody.]]
* Red's bank heist in the same episode also counts. The look on [[spoiler:Director Kotsiopulos']] face when Red informs him of it is priceless.

** Liz baiting Kirk by telling him that the FBI is going to the meeting place on purpose [[spoiler:so that she can leak the actual location to Reddington]].

* Reddington in "Dr. Bogdan Krilov" has a safety measure when he meets Werner von Hauser for a long time. [[spoiler:One of his recruited bodyguards was used by Red as a safety measure in case things go bad.]]

* "Greyson Blaise" Way too many including Red extorting a vacation home for the FBI to use. Talking a master counterfeiter out of retirement by stroking his ego. Calling Interpol on Greyson and then immediately he and Liz raid his house scaring the staff with talk of agents showing up. [[spoiler:Followed up by the reveal that Red was using the fake painting to ensure the title character gets released then having evidence for the FBI to incarcerate him with when Cooper is desperate for a Blacklister.]]
* "Ian Garvey" [[spoiler:In his last moments, Tom manages to pull one of these. Despite being heavily wounded and stabbed several times by Garvey, Tom manages to rise up and kill most of the assailants right before Reddington arrives to finish the last few off.]]
* "Sutton Ross" Liz manages to pull off what could possibly be the most impressive [[BatmanGambit Batman Gambit]] on the show so far. [[spoiler:As the only person other than Red who knows the truth about the bones, she uses theatrics to fake a kidnapping and her knowledge to get Ross out of the FBI blacksite, after which she is taken to a warehouse and given the bones and DNA report by Jennifer (Liz's half-sister), whom Garvey gave the bag to through Ross. Knowing Red will likely trade his life for Liz, she makes Ross give her visible injuries to continue the ruse when Red shows up to make the trade. While the original plan was to have Ross threaten to kill Liz to make Red reveal the secret, it changed when the FBI stormed the place to rescue her. After this, Liz lets Red shoot Ross, take the bag, burn it and leave him believing that things have gone like they usually do and that she has no knowledge of his real identity.]]

* Red sends the task force after Minister D, whose blackmail stash contains a recording that proves that he [[spoiler: or rather, the real Reddington]] was framed by the Cabal and Katarina Rostova. They succeed, and he uses it to win his trial fairly, and in a perfectly legal manner.
* Red and his old mentor, Robert Vesco, team up to steal some pirate gold hidden under a New Orleans opera house, using the opera itself as a distraction. [[spoiler: And then Vesco steals all the gold for himself from under Red's nose.]]

* "The Director": The payoff for all the scheming in the first half of the season. First, the capture of Karakurt. Second, trading Zal bin Hassan for a meeting. Third, stealing a "care package", which turns out to be the brand-new printing plates for U.S. money from "General Ludd". Fourth, all that goes into keeping Liz alive until all the pieces are in place. Tom delivers Karakurt, while Reddington enlists the help of a Venezuelan official in exchange for the plates. They dress up the eighth floor of an office building to look exactly like the sixth floor, on which the director and his wife's therapist has his office. Samar and Cooper dose the director's wife so she has what appears to be a panic attack. She goes to the therapist, who calls the director to come in. Aram causes the elevator to deliver him to the eighth floor while appearing to stop at the sixth, where the director is injected with an anesthetic. They spirit him away before his security detail can catch up, and then the final piece is revealed: They're on a Venezuelan plane on their way to have the director tried for war crimes. The whole thing would be a monumental humiliation for America, so Laurel Hitchen agrees to Red's terms, exonerating Liz for all crimes except the one she did commit, killing the AG, with a slap on the wrist for that one. The director, now a liability, is publicly declared a member of the Cabal and left to Red's tender mercy, and subsequently falls through the roof of a Dutch house.

* "The Director": The payoff for all the scheming in the first half of the season. First, the capture of Karakurt. Second, trading Zal bin Hassan for a meeting. Third, stealing a "care package", which turns out to be brand-new printing plates for U.S. money. Fourth, all that goes into keeping Liz alive until all the pieces are in place. Tom delivers Karakurt, while Reddington enlists the help of a Venezuelan official in exchange for the plates. They dress up the eighth floor of an office building to look exactly like the sixth floor, on which the director and his wife's therapist has his office. Samar and Cooper dose the director's wife so she has what appears to be a panic attack. She goes to the therapist, who calls the director to come in. Aram causes the elevator to deliver him to the eighth floor while appearing to stop at the sixth, where the director is injected with an anesthetic. They spirit him away before his security detail can catch up, and then the final piece is revealed: They're on a Venezuelan plane on their way to have the director tried for war crimes. The whole thing would be a monumental humiliation for America, so Laurel Hitchen agrees to Red's terms, exonerating Liz for all crimes except the one she did commit, killing the AG, with a slap on the wrist for that one. The director, now a liability, is publicly declared a member of the Cabal and left to Red's tender mercy, and subsequently falls through the roof of a Dutch house.

* Doubles as [[HeartwarmingMoments Heartwarming]], ''Gordan Kemp'' is about Reddington wanting the Task Force to go after a legitamite buissnessman, the titular character, because Red feels he's responsible for guns flooding American streets. Not because of some HiddenAgenda but because he was present to the shooting death of a teenager who had literally been accepted to college a few minutes before. When they fail to do so, he dleivers so old fashion and karmic justice by killing Kemp...[[LaserGuidedKArma with one of his company's own guns]].
* A meta example: when the [[UsefulNotes/CoronavirusDisease2019Pandemic COVID-19 pandemic]] shut down production with several episodes left unfilmed and one only partially filmed, the crew used CGI animatics to fill in the gaps of the incomplete episode (with the cast doing voiceovers for their characters) in order to get the episode aired and giving the season a more satisfying finale than the previous fully-filmed episode would have provided.

** Meta: Before he started appearing on ''The Blacklist'', Hisham served on the US Marines and deployed during Operation Desert Storm, once served as a corrections officer, and he is also used to be a firefight for New York Fire Department. Goes to show that he's a awesome badass.

** Reddington's threat to [[spoiler: Aram, who supposedly sold secrets to the Garrick operation]]. He takes a gun out, but he doesn't threaten to shoot him. He disassembles the gun and empties the magazine. He informs the guy that if he doesn't make an untraceable transfer of five million dollars to Reddington before Reddington finishes assembling and reloading the gun, ''then'' he will shoot him. The best part? [[spoiler: Red didn't even want the money, he was just trying to prove that Aram wasn't actually the financier.]]
*** Even more Awesome is that that scene is a full-blown Homage to Swordfish.
* Red finally meeting [[spoiler: the mole, Diane Fowler]], and tying off that loose end with some well placed bullets.

* Tom Keen finally gets several when [[spoiler: He breaks cover, revealing that he's the assassin Red made him out to be, has memorized the layout of the post office, beats Jolene Parker half to death before strangling her and executes The Cowboy.]] Not bad for a character that at times has been TheScrappy of the show.

** He then achieves a PyrrhicVictory of sorts [[spoiler: (before Red manages to eliminate him)]], securing a bomb around the man's neck which stays on long enough to be detonated. Counts as a DeathByIrony due to the fact Fitch had ruined his life by killing several of Berlin's Soviet era associates with a bomb.

** Tom and Dembe join in the fight to even the odds a bit, the latter using a human shield. Reddington finishes some of them with a revolver Mr. Kaplan left him. The sheer cool factor of seeing Red, Tom and Dembe-three of the deadliest fighters on the show- working in sync with one another only adds to the enjoyment.

** Lizzy's RageBreakingPoint. She's finally had enough of being manipulated and seeing her colleagues played for fools. So when the Attorney General [[spoiler: flaunts his power as part of The Cabal]] by threatening the entire task force with disbandment and criminal charges, [[spoiler: she shoots him]].

* In "Marvin Gerard", Red lets Ressler know that Liz is not safe with the Russians; she's actually about to be killed if they can only get her out of the US. By himself, Ressler rushes to save Liz, running the Russians off the road and dispatching the guards with a little help from Liz, all to protect a woman he's trying to capture. Liz doesn't know this, and tells Red later that she thought Ressler was trying to kill him; Red (who has no love for Ressler) corrects her, telling her Donald was trying to save her.

* The Introductory Sequence in 'Lord Baltimore'. Seemingly kidnapped by a SmugSnake African Warlord who is waving a gun in his face, Red calmly shows whose boss by [[spoiler:deploying the Hellfire missiles he recently purchased]] and to top things off [[spoiler: smugly sets fire to the gigantic pile of money, knowing that the Warlord won't be able to stop him]]

* Reddington proving that he has NervesOfSteel when the attack against the Post Office begins. When Ressler goes down, he calmly searches for the key to his restraints, snatches up Ressler's sidearm, picks up a shotgun and performs a successful tactical retreat with the wounded Agent to the Post Office holding cell, efficiently distracting and eliminating several of the mercenaries bearing down on them with a combination of gunfire and a perfectly timed flashbang grenade. Later, Red has fun casually mocking an incredibly unstable Anslo Garrick, who is only prevented from killing him by the bulletproof glass around the holding cell.

* Aram manning up to shoot the mercenary threatening to kill Liz by shooting her neck.
* Ressler killing one of Anslo's soldier, despite having a large shotgun wound in his leg.

** Reddington's threat to [[spoiler: Aram the supposed financier of the Garrick operation]]. He takes a gun out, but he doesn't threaten to shoot him. He disassembles the gun and empties the magazine. He informs the guy that if he doesn't make an untraceable transfer of five million dollars to Reddington before Reddington finishes assembling and reloading the gun, ''then'' he will shoot him. The best part? [[spoiler: Red didn't even want the money, he was just trying to prove that Aram wasn't actually the financier.]]

* Red finally meeting [[spoiler: the mole Diane Fowler]] and tying off that loose end with some well placed bullets.

* "Greyson Blaise" Way too many including Red extorting a vacation home for the FBI to use. Talking a master counterfeiter out of retirement by stroking his ego. Calling Interpol on Greyson and then immediately he and Liz raid his house scaring the staff with talk of agents showing up. Followed up by the reveal that Red was using the fake painting to ensure the title character gets released then having evidence for the FBI to incarcerate him with when Cooper is desperate for a Blacklister.