The story follows series protagonist Raymond Reddington (James Spader), the most-wanted American criminal, as he escapes to Spain in order to avoid capture after his arcane task force received orders to arrest him following the investigation launched by congressman Arthur Hudson (Toby Leonard Moore).
The task force reluctantly cooperates with Hudson amid his paranoiac sense of betrayal, which leads to his arrest of agent Dembe Zuma (Hisham Tawfiq).
The call is traced by the FBI and Reddington's former task force located at the Post Office headquarters and tied to a Nissan Leaf by agent Jordan Nixon (Derrick Williams).
At her house, he makes up his backup plan and delivers a farewell to Paula, and then leaves before Dembe and his fellow agent Siya Malik (Anya Banerjee) burst in there.
Reddington and Chuck, now moving in a fire lorry, bypass the block posts before Dembe realizes the aim behind the staging and gives respective orders.
At the Post Office, congressman Hudson (Moore) supervises the task force in firm belief that they would help Reddington at chance, his eyes focused on Zuma.
Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix) defuses the situation and calls a meeting with Ressler, Zuma, and other principal members of the group.
Meanwhile, Hudson and Nixon determine the warning call to Reddington was made from the phone of Agent Ishwood (Jake Silbermann) and then confront and interrogate him.
Hudson fiercely points on Ishwood for aiding Reddington until Cooper offers to look through camera recordings at the moment the call was made.
Fuming over the proven betrayal, Hudson orders the team to arrest Dembe and transfer him to federal prison due to a lack of trust in the Post Office.
Reddington shoots Hudson dead and fusillades the remaining bullets into Ressler's flak jacket to incapacitate him while not causing serious injury or death.
Meanwhile at the crossfire scene, Cooper joins agent Ishwood, an insignificantly injured Ressler, and a fierce Nixon to discuss their next steps to locate Reddington and Dembe.
At the Post Office headquarters, Reddington's associate working for the Task Force Herbie Hambright (Alex Brightman) determines the nursing home where Dembe was.
In a remote village near Seville, Reddington wakes up in a mansion belonging to his affiliate Angela (Paulina Gálvez) who now served as his caretaker.
He is described as a person who thinks death is insignificant as inevitable but who would "rage against the dying of the light", multiply referring to the villanelle by Dylan Thomas, joyful and committed.
Still in poor physical condition, Reddington considers himself capable of reaching the Miura ranch by foot and sets off for a long and grueling walk, leaving behind Angela, Islero's skull, and any protection weapon.
"[3] Later in February 2023, Spader commented that they "had never had a clear paradigm of the show", and that the season was initially planned as final to avoid turning it into "less recognizable".
[15][16] James Croot of Stuff felt the ending was an "abrupt damp squib of a dénouement" and criticized the episodes' "cryptic" conversations.
[16] Writing for CNN Entertainment, Brian Lowry praised Spader's performance and considered the ending "worthy" while adding that the series as a whole "did not know when to quit" and should have had Reddington "rest in peace years ago".
[15] The lack of answers for the questions surrounding the series, such as the fate of the task force after Reddington's death, his real identity, and the reason for his relationship with Elizabeth Keen, Megan Boone's character who departed after season 8, was among the discussed drawbacks.