The Blacklist: Can Dembe Continue to Play Both Sides?

How much longer can this go on? Season 9 of The Blacklist has brought plenty of changes and plot twists but the biggest one is not the big Marvin Gerard reveal, it has been the battle between Dembe and himself. When the season started, Dembe, surprisingly was an FBI agent. But the kicker was the shattering of the once solid relationship between him and Raymond Reddington.

While they’re on good terms now, once Red discovers that it was Dembe who tipped off the FBI, there’s no telling what Red may do.

Fans rejoiced when Dembe informed Harold Cooper that he wanted to be there for Raymond after Weecha was injured. It felt like old times again but then that moral compass of Dembe’s kicked in and placed Red in danger.

While Dembe has pulled a stunt like this before, this time Red may see things a little different. Dembe is an agent now and Red, despite his ties, love, and loyalty to Dembe may refuse to look the other way this go round. And if he does, Dembe has to stand there and suffer the consequences.

Related: The Blacklist: Raymond Reddington Can’t Kill Aram Because Of Liz

Before Copper was ever framed, this was all about Elizabeth Keen. Red and the Task Force wanted answers but Gerard decided to up the stakes by throwing Cooper into the fold. Cooper wants a clean name while red wants tp stop a bleeding heart. For Red, his goal has been clear from the start. He wants revenge. There is no going to trial for Liz’s murder. Red wants to put a bullet in someone’s head.

Cooper, on the other hand, wants his name cleared and justice served. And rightfully so, but he’s also standing in the way of a plan that was hatched long before a gun was tossed in the passenger side of his car. In the middle of all this stands Dembe. No one knows Reddington better than him so he knows what Red is thinking and how determined he is to get the truth.

But Dembe being an agent has complicated things for Red. On one hand, he wants to support his friend and his new path in life. But on the other hand, Dembe has to understand that Reddington is Reddington no matter what. This is not about a criminal enterprise, this is about who’s responsible for Liz’s death. Red wants answers and he has no time for Dembe to be pulling that God on one shoulder and the Devil on the other should stunt.

There will come a time when a line is drawn in the sand. To be truthful, that line may have been drawn already. Dembe saw the line and stepped over two years ago when he left Red for the FBI. Maybe, just maybe if Dembe was really on his job like he was supposed to have been two years ago, he would have seen Marvin making this move on Red and stopped it before it got out of hand.

Dembe and everyone else on the Task Force loved Liz. While catching the killer was the top priority, saving Cooper seems to have become the main goal. And for Red, there is no other option. Does Cooper really believe that Red would not have found a way for everyone to get what they wanted?

Dembe knew stepping back into this life had its drawbacks but he’s going against one of Red’s rules. Red is seeing, well red at the moment. Revenge is what he seeks. This is personal for him. Gerard took what he loves most and his best friend and one of his closest friends (Marvin) are out to stop him.

Marvin can’t be helped no matter how much he pleads his case. But here is the kicker for Dembe. Marvin made his choice when he set his plan in motion. But the same can be said for Dembe. Once he took that oath to be an agent, he no longer has the right to pick and choose which side of the law he wants to be on. He’s either with Red or against him. That call to the Post Office may have sealed the fate of their friendship.

Mark Wilson

Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.