‘The Blacklist,’ ‘Friends’ & More TV Letters We Can’t Stop Thinking About (VIDEO)
After The Blacklist finale had us wanting nothing more than to rip a letter out of Raymond “Red” Reddington’s (James Spader) hands to find out who he is, we couldn’t help but think back on other memorable letters (both revealed onscreen and not).
For example, it took years for us to learn what was inside the box Special Agent Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah) got for her partner (and later husband) LAPD Detective-turned-NCIS Investigator Marty Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) on NCIS: Los Angeles, and that was accompanied by a heartfelt letter. Over on NCIS, a note is what really kickstarted the theory that Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) was really alive. And how can we forget a certain 18-page (front and back!) letter on Friends?
Take a look at these and more memorable letters on TV below.
Katarina’s Letter to Liz (The Blacklist)
Red promised Liz Keen (Megan Boone) that she’d get all the answers she wanted in a letter her mom Katarina wrote her “for when the time was right to let you know the truth” about who he is. “It’s quite a story, full of ambition and hope, love and loss,” he said. But she couldn’t read it until after she killed him because she wouldn’t if she knew the truth. She (presumably) died, and fans were left wondering just what was written (and if it did, indeed, confirm Red is Katarina).
Rachel’s Letter to Ross (Friends)
Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) and Ross (David Schwimmer) were on the verge of getting back together … if only he hadn’t fallen asleep reading her 18-page letter and agreed to take full responsibility for what went wrong in their relationship without realizing it. We can’t help but want to read every word of it … but not at 5:30 a.m.
Stabler’s Letter to Benson (Law & Order: Organized Crime)
Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and his wife Kathy (Isabel Gillies) had been in town for an award ceremony for his former partner, Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay). (No one attended; Kathy was killed when a bomb was planted in the Stablers’ car.) When he RSVPed, he’d been asked to say a few words but instead, he wrote a letter he’d planned to give to her. After she read it, she went to talk to him about it, but he brushed her off. We have yet to find out what was in that letter.
Ziva’s Note to Bishop (NCIS)
Back in Season 13, in Tony DiNozzo’s (Michael Weatherly) final episodes, Ziva was said to have been killed. But then the hints that she was really alive came in Season 16, with Ellie Bishop (Emily Wickersham) finding a note that couldn’t have come from anyone else in Ziva’s secret office: “For the safety of my family, please keep my secret.”
Kensi’s Letter to Deeks (NCIS: Los Angeles)
Back in Season 4, Kensi gave Deeks a box that contained something he had always wanted. On their wedding day in Season 10, he (finally) opened it. With her father’s ring was a letter. After losing him, “I no longer felt safe and I knew I would never feel that much love in my life ever again. No one could live up to my dad,” Kensi wrote. “But I was wrong. Because you came into my life and you showed me what it is to be truly loved and feel safe again.”
Granger’s Farewell (NCIS: Los Angeles)
Hetty Lange (Linda Hunt) had thought she’d be visiting her friend Owen Granger (the late Miguel Ferrer) in the hospital after he’d been stabbed, only to find his room empty. He’d left behind a letter for her: “Don’t blame the doctors or the nurses, but I’ve had enough of hospitals for one life and I have some unfinished business to take care of. I have no idea what you’re going to tell everyone, but I’m sure you’ll think of something … you always do.” (It was later revealed he spent his last days with his daughter.)
Carl’s Farewell Letters (The Walking Dead)
When Carl (Chandler Riggs) was dying after getting bit, he left behind his final words in letters for his father Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Michonne (Danai Gurira), Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and Enid (Katelyn Nacon). Included in the contents were pleas for peace between Rick and Negan’s groups.
