Is Hisham Tawfiq leaving The Blacklist, Dembe? (season 6 episode 18)
Want to get some more information on The Blacklist in video form? Then you can check out some of the latest below! For more insight, remember to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube.
In the opening minutes of this episode, Liz interrupted Reddington listening to a podcast (on cassette, no less) to tell her the truth about her turning him in. Reddington admitted that he knew the whole time, but just started to doubt himself because he wanted to. Liz also admitted that she didn’t care about his true identity anymore, even though she was totally cool risking his life to initially find it out.
In the end, this didn’t go well. Per Reddington’s own words, he’s “not sure he will ever believe [her] again.”
The immediate aftermath
Ressler dropped off some secret evidence to Aram on his Katarina case, and soon after that, Liz turned up and they got to work on the Brockton College Murders. This was a case popularized in a recent podcast, one where at the center of it was a man named Tobias Carlyle. Because of the podcast’s hosts Kimberly Owens, he was getting a chance at a new trial. The problem is that Tobias previously confessed to some other killings … but who is committing some crimes now that he is behind bars? Is something going on here, as well?
What happened throughout this story is all based on how much you love the show basically presenting his own version of Making a Murderer. In this story, we saw the Task Force head to Brockton College in order to figure out what was going on there. This brings us to a professor named McCaffrey, someone who was suspected of being involved in the murders both then and also now. He got a cabin in his divorce, and given that this cabin is as isolated as it is, it’s easy to draw the conclusion that this = murder cabin, the place where all the horrible stuff happens. They found someone, still alive, there, and that’s when Tobias was let go.
Right in the middle of his investigation on campus, Ressler learned that he was being followed by, as it turns out, other people who are curious into his digging on Katarina Rostova. Ressler had his fair share of fear about this, and Liz had her own fair share of fear about Dembe. She was worried about a sort of retribution that would inevitably come his way.
We can’t stay focused on this for too long, mostly because the focus shifted back to the case. As it turns out, McCaffrey was apparently with a former student at the time of most of the original murders. As a result, he may have been framed!
Of course, it’s at this very moment that Tobias shows up and pays Kimberly a visit …. and it was clear seconds later that they had a weird, romantic obsession thing suddenly going on. Of course, this case had to take the weirdest turn possible. Was he going to kill her? That was the question we found herself asking. But, it turns out that Kimberly was actually the person behind all of the murders. She was the reason why he went to prison and when he realized who she really was, that’s when he tried to escape.
If you missed our interview with Hisham Tawfiq leading up to this episode be sure to check it out here!
How Reddington is recovering
Reddington told Dembe that he was going out, mostly that he needs time to think and to “rest.” He feels like Dembe’s disloyalty is one of the most profound, painful things in his life. He ended up decided to “think” at the home of Dom, one of the few people who actually knows almost everything there is to know about him. Reddington ended up opening up to him about much of what he’s going through with both Liz and Dembe, as he tries to figure out whether or not he wants to kill him.
There is something so interesting about seeing Dom and Reddington in the same room together — Reddington wanted Katarina’s father to buy a new car and he kept bringing it up. Meanwhile, Dom was more intent on handing down advice. He told Reddington that he gave up everything for sake of forgiving his daughter — it was a painful decision, but one he nonetheless made.
It seemed as though Reddington was ready to take off and leave Dom alone, but he came back in order to ask one simple question — my sacrifice so much to live alone and in hiding? Dom is a haunted man and in some ways, he chose to be haunted. He specifically kept his car so that he could reimagine the last time he saw Katarina in the rear-view mirror. His final advice to Reddington was simple: How much he loved Dembe, and whether or not that was enough to make it worth keeping him alive.
The final showdown
Dembe made it clear to Reddington that he had his affairs in order and was ready for whatever was going to be coming his way. The opportunity was there to kill him, but instead, Reddington simply told him that he missed him. He recognized that he was ready to forgive him — but he didn’t need to. Dembe didn’t need any forgiveness.
Yet, Dembe wasn’t sure that he was ready to forgive Reddington. The tables turned in the final seconds, and it was Dembe who decided to depart his presence. We feel like this has to do with the violence, the fear, and the fact that it ever came to this in the first place. Hisham Tawfiq’s is technically alive and with that, we’re hoping that he will eventually come back. Yet, at this moment, there is no guarantee of anything.
At the end of this episode, Ressler admitting to Liz that he had found the person tied to Katarina — and gave her the photo of Dom. Soon after, Liz showed up to pay him a visit.
CarterMatt Verdict
Epic. That’s the best way to discuss this. It’s one of the biggest, most important episodes of The Blacklist in some time, especially when it comes to mythology.
What did you think about The Blacklist season 6 episode 18 overall? Be sure to share right now in the comments, and check back soon to get some other updates. (Photo: NBC.)
This article was written by Jessica Carter.