Recap 'The Blacklist' While You Wait For Answers

Everything is about to change when The Blacklist Season 3 premieres on Thursday night. While Elizabeth Keen was catching bad guys for the last two seasons, she is now the one being hunted by her former colleagues. Did you forget what went down in the season finale, and everything that lead to it? Don't worry, I am here to freshen your memory before the big premiere with a Blacklist Season 2 recap. When Season 3 picks up, it will be in the middle of a very messy situation that Elizabeth and Red may not be able to fix this time around, so it's important you remember how they ended up there. Of course, spoilers for The Blacklist Season 2 are ahead.

Let's do things a little backwards, and start with the end. The Season 2 finale opened with Elizabeth Keen being framed for infecting Senator Hawkins with a deadly disease. Obviously, the Cabal is behind the framing and Attorney General Tom Connolly has her arrested on-site, in addition to relieving Agent Cooper of his duties since he refuses to turn Liz in. Of course, Reddington has a plan to get her out, which succeeds, because there's pretty much nothing he can't do.

In order to get her name cleared, Liz goes on a hunt to find Andropov, the guy who infected her with the virus that killed Hawkins. Tom and Liz chase Andropov, but he’s killed by two random guys and now Liz has no way out. They head back to Tom’s boat and talk about taking off together and starting a new life, but then Keen learns that Andropov was providing the medication that was “treating” Cooper’s cancer. Meanwhile, Red has gathered the top journalists in the country and provided them with all of the documents about the Cabal and the “shadow government,” telling the writers to expose them.

Agent Cooper confronts his doctor who reveals Cooper was never sick to begin with. Keen and Cooper then confront Tom Connolly and when Keen realizes there’s no way to stop him, she shoots him, triggering memories from her past, which we are still pretty much in the dark about. She’s on the run and Red comes to get her. We also finally find out why Red has been protecting Liz.

Yup, all of that went down in the season finale alone. Needless to say, the rest of Season 2 was jam-packed, so let's take a look back at its biggest plotlines.

Tom & The Harbormaster

Liz’s major secret this season was that she had locked Tom up on a boat in order to find out information about Berlin, her past, and why he tricked her the whole time. After Tom kills the harbormaster, Liz is set up to take the fall for the murder to cover up the fact that she was holding Tom captive. Cooper perjures himself, and Connolly forces the police to bury the murder. During all this nonsense, we find out that Tom was a double-agent working for Red for 14 months. We also learn that Tom is actually in love with Liz and vice versa. Now I’m hoping for a reconciliation in Season 3.

Cooper’s Illness

Cooper went through a lot this season. He found out he was dying and then did some questionable things for Tom Connolly who promised him a spot in a clinical trial. Connolly began using the trial to blackmail Cooper and his wife, Charlene, who he forced to leak classified documents to the press and some other shady stuff to keep Cooper in the trial. We found out in the season finale that Cooper was never sick and they’d been lying to him about having cancer. This season will start with a healthy Harold Cooper, who is hopefully out for revenge.

The Berlin Drama

The beginning of Season 2 was still dealing with the criminal Berlin, who was out for Red because he thought Red killed his daughter. However, it all turns out to be a misunderstanding, because seven episodes later, Red brings Berlin’s daughter to him and is basically like, “Here’s your daughter, leave me alone.” Then Berlin kills Red’s Cabal contact, Alan Fitch. Fitch has kept Red alive because he believes Red has the Fulcrum, and with Fitch gone, it put Red at risk. So naturally, Red shot and killed Berlin.

The Fulcrum

Another large part of the season is based around the Fulcrum. Reddington has convinced Fitch that he has the Fulcrum, making him an asset and important to keep alive, when in fact he never actually had it. As it turns out, Liz is the key to the Fulcrum and he needs her to find it. The only problem is, she has no idea where it is. Later in the season, she finds the Fulcrum in her teddy bear from when she was a kid, and learns it contained evidence and documents of assassinations and terrorism that the Cabal is behind. In the season finale, Reddington showed the Fulcrum to journalists to expose the Cabal, which will likely be a large plotline in Season 3.

Ressler’s Drug Addiction

We found out pretty early in the season that Ressler has a prescription drug addiction. Liz confronts him and he admits to having a problem. By the end of the first half of the season, we see him pouring his pills down the sink and though we don’t really hear about it again, so I hope that means he's been able to overcome his addiction and move forward.

Liz’s Past

Here’s what we think we know so far: Reddington is not Liz's father. Liz was born in Moscow as Masha Rostova, and her mother was a KGB spy. There was a fire, during which her mom and dad were fighting, so Liz picked up a gun and shot her father. She realizes that her memories have been blocked by Reddington in order to protect her from knowing the truth about that night, and we still don’t know what happened to her mother.

Just like the other plotlines of The Blacklist Season 2, we are left with a ton of questions about Liz's background, and hopefully Season 3 will provide some answers.

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