The riveting new NBC series The Blacklist has come to a mid-season ending, but shows promising return. The show commenced with an introduction to Agent Elizabeth “Liz” Keen, who is starring as a new FBI profiler “fresh out of Quantico,” as NBC states. Little did Liz know that her first day on the job would be such an ordeal.

One of the most important characters in the series is featuring the renowned actor James Spader. As Liz formally becomes recognized at her job, Red announces to the FBI that he has a list that he has created and accumulated. This becomes well-known as the “blacklist.” NBC states that the list contains multiple names of “politicians, mobsters, spies and international terrorists.” With this list, there would be no limit to how many criminals the FBI team could catch. On the other hand, what Red has in store for them takes the storyline on a twisted track. Liz becomes the chosen one by Raymond “Red” Reddington, played by Spader. Red explains that he will only give out information from the blacklist to one person, Liz. Liz reluctantly complies with Red’s unusual request and they start to work together as a powerful duo.

A very important element in The Blacklist mysteries is the center of Tom Keen. Following Liz and Red’s compromise, Liz and husband Tom begin the process of adopting a child. It was this day that Tom received an unexpected visitor at their house one afternoon. He is brutally attacked by a known criminal, but makes it out alive. Liz later discovers something very alarming. She finds a variety of fake passports with different pictures of Tom in a box under a floorboard. She is stricken with panic because she thinks that he may have created them. Afterward, Tom is waiting at home for Liz to get back to work and confronts her. He discovers the passports earlier that day and then asks her how they got under the floor. This relieved pressure off of Liz, but Tom’s character later becomes increasingly secretive and untrustworthy. He still remains a man with questionable motives as to which he is a protagonist or antagonist in the series.

Many other events happen to uncover complexities of the blacklist, but one of the most powerful moments of the series this year was the fall finale episode. Agent Keen and Red are on the phone when she brings up conversation about her father, mentioning that she loved him very much, but that he was not her real father. She nervously asks Red, “Are you my father?” Red gives a very dramatic pause and finally replies by saying “No” and following it by “Be careful of your husband.”

The finale leaves the audience in a very climatic situation. Viewers are left wondering with questions like “Can Tom be trusted?” and, perhaps one of the most dubious questions of all, “Why did Red pick Liz?” Audiences around the country will stay tuned to get closure on this mentally taxing, yet exquisitely told series of events.