Is Mr. Kaplan back? If so, did she have anything to do with Liz's murder?

From a distance, It sure seemed like Kate was among the living near the end of The Blacklist Season 9 Episode 18.

But after that big explosion at the end, who knows?

While searching for answers, Red recalled Kate's leap into the Potomac on The Blacklist Season 4 Episode 22.

He shouldn't have assumed anything when he didn't see her body. Then again, this may be someone playing with his head, likely the same person who had Liz killed.

It was refreshing to meet Kate's sister, Maureen, who was her polar opposite.

While Kate went into a life of crime, Maureen went into witness protection after testifying against a killer.

Maureen rarely heard anything from Kate, so she had no new information for Raymond.

Still, Maureen reminded Reddington of Kate, to the point that he came back to visit her and arranged for her dream gazebo to be built.

Maureen did remember one crucial bit of information, the name of the woman with whom Kate was in a relationship at the time of her death, her cleaner trainee Clara Moore.

That was when the crazy "Hungarian Lion" entered the picture.

It's a shame that Red won't trust Aram as a leader because he crossed him on The Blacklist Season 9 Episode 17.

As Aram is proving, he's in over his head and will welcome any input that will help him do his job, including from Reddington.

No one on the Task Force could understand why Raymond was offering Laszlo as a blacklister.

With all those bodies tied to him, he's certainly worthy of being taken down. But where was the connection to the Liz conspiracy? That wasn't evident at all.

Wallace Avery, the chemist, was the lesser of two evils. He was trying to go straight (and, granted, get rich doing so). But he had to know that Loony Laszlo would come after him.

The scene when Red was helping Rogelio study for his civics test while his network hunted for Avery was hilarious. He can find a way to get what he wants and still keep his people happy.

Red was more than willing to help out the Task Force when it came to taking down Laszlo. After all, Reddington just needed him to flush out Clara.

The arrangement at the motel was another incredible sleight of hand by Raymond. He appeared to be annoyed and killed Avery. Then he couldn't line up a cleaner quickly, forcing Laszlo to call in Clara, exactly as Red had wanted.

Reddington was OK with letting Avery disappear after he had served his purpose. After all, legally produced psychedelic drugs will ruin the market for illegal psychedelics, so why not allow him to create and export them from Croatia or Kampuchea?

He also had no intention of leaving Laszlo free, so he called Dembe with that tip about Laszlo's upcoming shipment.

That would have worked out great except for Park's condition. You just knew it would come up again after she worked Aram to attempt to get him to leave that out of her evaluation.

And, sure enough, she had to chase down Laszlo, and her headache returned at the worst possible time.

Although at first Aram's decision to have the agents fill out their own evaluations seemed like a copout at first, it was probably wise. It will make each take a long look at themselves, such as Park did after Laszlo escaped.

Should that one mishap sentence her to desk duty or, worse, a leave of absence? No. But surely, medical science can come up with better answers for her.

It would have been better if Harold and Ressler hadn't been off on their tangent investigation. I know Cooper's on a short timeline, but the Laszlo shipment should have been an all-hands-on-deck situation.

Yes, Harold's situation is desperate. But he's running roughshod over Aram and the chain of command in his pursuit of answers.

What Cole and Lecroix were up to has to lead somewhere and be more than the moneymaking scam that it appears to be. Haven't there been enough dead ends already?

Poor Clara didn't know much, and what little she did know, she wasn't inclined to share with Raymond. It's a good thing that he has Teddy on speed dial.

What Teddy got out of her was still pretty nebulous. She found a note in what seemed like Kate's handwritten with a time, date, and location, which, of course, was just a couple of hours later.

You can't blame Red for not bringing in the Task Force before this. The possibility of Kate still being alive seemed preposterous. It's little wonder that he just read in Harold on this.

Yes, that little woman in the window sure looked like Kate. But there was no way to be confident from that distance.

Couldn't Weecha and company have taken a more stealthy approach? If indeed that was Kate, of course, she'd have perimeter defenses. And is she and/or Weecha still alive after that explosion? It will be a significant disappointment if they aren't.

To revisit Mr. Kaplan, watch The Blacklist online.

Is Kate alive or not?

If so, how could she possibly have been involved with Liz's murder?

What's going to happen to Park?

Comment below.

Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.