The Blacklist (TV Series)

The Sicilian Error of Color (2023)

James Spader: Raymond 'Red' Reddington

Photos 

Quotes 

• Raymond 'Red' Reddington : Manolete was a stoic guardian of tradition in the bullring. His father had been a matador. His uncle. A month before he died, Manolete told an interviewer, "They're asking for more than I can give. Always more and more." He longed to retire from the ring. But he returned. He went again to do the thing that he did better than anyone. And in the instant that he killed Islero, balancing on his toes, arching up and over the hot, steaming breath of ferocious death, the surgically precise plunge of his blade to the hilt, in that instant... Islero thrust his massive head just centimeters to the right and gored him. The closer a matador fights to the horns, the closer he is to his grave. I suppose in the end, Manolete found it easier to risk his life than to live a life without risk.

• Siya Malik : We flew to Scotland for a sword?

  Raymond 'Red' Reddington : Saber. It belonged to Captain Lewis Nolan, who died in the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War.

  Siya Malik : Stormed at with shot and shell; Boldly they rode and well;

  Raymond 'Red' Reddington : Nto the jaws of death; Into the mouth of hell;/i> So you're a fan of Tennyson.

  Siya Malik : My mother... Meera loved him.

  Raymond 'Red' Reddington : Well, maybe she loved what knowing his work said about her. I suspect your mother came by her love of Tennyson quite sincerely.

  Siya Malik : What do you mean?

  Raymond 'Red' Reddington : I think... Meera was very familiar with the feeling of melancholy that also plagued Tennyson. She certainly felt the isolation of inhabiting a world she knew to be cruel. The lives of children in such a world. It takes tremendous fortitude to carry on when you can see what others cannot. And to find light within the shadows.