The Blacklist: Who is Rakitin in season 8 episode 7?

Tonight on The Blacklist, the NBC show spent a good bit of time discussing a character named Rakitin, someone who is seemingly important to the story.

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Now, we want to spend a moment or two discussing precisely who this guy is. What does he mean to the overall story?

You first got a good glimpse of Rakitin back during the “Elizabeth Keen” episode, as the man met with Reddington in a car to discuss the ever-so-mysterious “Man from the East.” This is the same person Reddington met with in that episode and then also at the end of tonight’s “Chemical Mary.” Rakitin is in league with the Man from the East, and is a master hacker who is looking for information on possible assets to take down. The drive that Liz handed Cooper, seemingly the same one the Man from the East recently gave Reddington, has Rakitin’s signature all over it. While the data has not been fully translated yet, Cooper has managed to get access to it — which allows him to further see that Reddington may very well be the ever-mysterious N-13.

Rakitin will likely be important to the rest of the story this season — we’re not considering him a threat on the same level as the Man from the East himself, but clearly he ties into whatever Reddington’s true endgame here is. What is he out to achieve? We’ve got our guesses, with one of the biggest ones personally being that the character is serving as a double double agent. Russia knows that he’s working with America, but what if he is actually loyal to America over them? There’s so much interesting stuff to think about here…

What do you think the impact will be of Rakitin on The Blacklist season 8?

Be sure to share right now in the comments! After you do that, stick around for some other updates. (Photo: NBC.)