***SPOILERS FOR SEASONS 7 AND 8 AHEAD***
Few stories can survive with one man against the world. Any successful TV show has an army of side characters helping the hero achieve their goal, and TBL is no exception.
Side characters are interesting in that they can easily be adapted deeper into the plot should they be well-received. Norman Reedus was originally brought in as a guest star on The Walking Dead's pilot. Fast forward ten seasons, and the scowling, crossbow-clad Daryl Dixon is currently one of the show's most iconic characters. Should the decision be made to give a side character a larger role in the plot, a talented storyteller can make it interesting by giving them development that is interesting and meshes will with the over-arcing story. A talented storyteller.
Unfortunately, we didn't get that in any shape or form in TBL, and Season 8 brought out the worst in this glaring issue. In Part 1, we covered how the Season's driving plot, the murder of "Katarina Rostova", was completely useless. In Part 2, we addressed how awful the writing for the Season's villain, Neville Townsend, was. In Part 3 we tackled the issue of Elizabeth Keen, and how irreedemably dislikeable the protagonist was. Now, we'll be hitting the buttresses that are supposed to keep the main plot standing: the Task Force.
The key thing to remember is that, since the show's inception, there have been four total members of the Task Force, no more: Agent Cooper, Agent Ressler, Aram, and Agent Bitch. Meera Malik, Samar Navabi, and Alina Park were, in practice, carbon copies of one another, each one worse than the one before her. Park in particular is a real loser, and this isn't for lack of potential, or bad acting: once again, this issue falls squarely at the foot of the writer's room.
Park's whole shtick was being Liz Jr. Liz brought her in because Liz, being the master judge of character that she is, saw her as the perfect fit. Park was supposedly "darker", more aggressive, and therefore more uniquely prepared to work with Raymond Reddington. "Think like a criminal," said Red in Season 1. And this starts off alright. We're given a scene in early Season 7 in which Park, covered in the blood of one of Red's enemies, tells him that he's "too violent". She is given a grimdark backstory in "Twamie Ullulaq" that solidifies her position reputation as the team's new female sociopath. It would all be tolerable, albeit predictable, until we entered Season 8.
Again, the issue here seems to be that a writer has an idea, and the other writers introduce that element without following through on it. All of Park's foreshadowing, in Season 7, seems to point to her as being morally grey enough to side with Reddington (as if every other character in the series hasn't caved to him already). As Keen's actions pushed the Task Force to the breaking point, Park had the potential to become the anti-villain none of them had the guts to be: either doing whatever it takes to stop Keen (thereby putting her into conflict with Reddington) or seeing Reddington as the morally right one and siding with him. Instead, arguably, we got the very worst of both worlds.
To her credit, Park immediately sees through Liz's bullshit. Unlike Ressler, Aram, and Cooper, she has no qualms about doing exactly what the FBI is meant to do: arrest terrorists like Liz. And that's pretty much where the good stuff ends. She pretty much contributes zero to the Keen manhunt. The writers introduce a character, tell us she's a budding sociopath like Liz, then send Liz on the run and make Park the only one who really wants her taken down, and then do absolutely nothing. She participates in the inanely idiotic train station scene of "16 Ounces", and then is whisked away to be a key player in a contrived side plot.
In "The Wellstone Agency", Alina attacks a loan shark she suspects of murdering her friend. Then, without a second thought, she covers up her dirty deed by going to Reddington and asking that he bail her out. Surprisingly enough, this backfires, and by 8.12 "Rakitin", Red is calling in the favor. He asks that Park take a letter to Andrew Patterson, a captured spy in FBI custody. The letter is poisoned, and when Patterson opens it, he is killed instantly. The decision is stupid enough on its own-- Park knows that Reddington's objective is to spring Patterson. She should have at least assumed that getting the letter to Patterson would get him out of custody; read, treason. She committed treason, the most serious offense under United States law, to avoid assault and battery. It's as stupid as it is immoral.
This is never revisited and Park never faces consequences for this action, not even the premise of them. Liz's re-entrance in the next two episodes shifts the plot in a different direction.
Aram Mojtabai started off as a weird tech guy. Quite original. As the seasons progressed, his character held the illusion of development, at least. His relationship with iron-fisted Mossad Agent Samar Navabi budded in between his various flings with mob agents. He was left devastated after the Osterman Umbrella Company forced her into exile. We were told over the seasons that he would be forced to be tougher and less of a pushover.
All this is undermined almost immediately. Liz walks into the FBI's most secret black site and demands her daughter. Aram caves. Liz's double (not even Liz) tries to break out, and Aram still fails to shoot in time, resulting in Mary Bremmer's death. He then spends the rest of the season as Bokenkamp's mouthpiece for how Liz, actually, is good. Except that one time in "Godwin Page" when he gets pseudo-tough again.
This schizophrenic attitude towards Keen is hardly Aram's burden to bear alone. Harold Cooper adapted into the group's moral compass. He provided a father-figure to Liz and a foil to Red's grey morality. In Season 8, his role was reduced to that of the new Liz: every episode, he asked the rhetorical question of whether the FBI or Reddington is in the driver's seat. Every episode, he vowed he was going to put an end to Red's bullshit. And he never did. Cooper is a smart man, yet he can never seem to get anything done. Red is always many steps ahead. Cooper is pretty much obsolete. We're forced to wonder why Red bothers with him.
And Ressler was the one that got it hardest. He was introduced to us as a hard-ass cop with an uncompromising sense of morality. Just about every episode he had a fistfight with somebody. We were occasionally given interesting plots. And then, out of nowhere, he and Liz started sleeping together. Ressler seemed unable to pick a side. He supported Keen's efforts to bring down Reddington, yet continued working on the Task Force, to catch Keen. The tension he faced was never explored.
All around, TBL failed to give us meaningful side characters. This seems due to a chronic inability to remember anything, an issue that will be especially glaring when I get to how this season screwed up the mythology. They introduce plots and never fix them. Seasoned federal employee, by-the-books cop, lovable nerd, and action girl are all archetypes that work if they are given consistent character development and a real role in the story. Park, Cooper, Aram, and Ressler were not.
As Liz is gunned down by Elias Vandyke, the four, running in slow-motion, arrive to the crime scene, helpless, and a few seconds too late. Fitting.
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