Summary

• The Blacklist episode "Rakitin" pays tribute to carpenter Tobias Core, who worked on 111 episodes.
• Core's filmography includes John Wick and The Amazing Spider-Man, showing his significant impact on set design.
• Fans of The Blacklist were touched by the dedication card at the end of season 8 in memory of Tobias "Toby" Core.

Fans of The Blacklist may have noticed that there is a particular episode of the series dedicated to a carpenter named Tobias Core. The Blacklist is the thrilling 10-season political thriller series and one of James Spader's best roles in movies or TV. As Raymond "Red" Reddington, Spader is an ex-intelligence agent who has got himself on the FBI's Most Wanted list. In order to avoid prosecution and, for reasons only known to him, Reddington helps the agency find the real villains they should be after, those the US doesn't even know about on Red's "blacklist".

The Blacklist has a fantastic cast of characters supporting Red and the globe-trotting, monster-of-the-week storytelling makes for an exciting and surprising plot that keeps viewers coming back for both the smaller stories every week and the larger mysteries woven throughout the seasons. Hardcore fans who watched every episode that premiered may have noticed one that ends in a slightly different fashion to previous episodes. While plenty of The Blacklist episodes end on a cliffhanger, only one ends with the name "Tobias Core".

Tobias Core Worked On 111 Episodes Of The Blacklist

Core Was A Constant Presence During The Production Of The Blacklist

Tobias Core was a man of many film talents who had worked on several TV shows and movies across his career in a variety of capacities. He worked in several smaller roles before 2005, when he dedicated himself to being a film carpenter, eventually working on 111 episodes of The Blacklist (via IMDb). Unfortunately, Core passed away in 2021 at the age of 48. To commemorate him, The Blacklist provided a dedication card at the end of season 8, episode 12, "Rakitin".

The episode sees Red protecting Special Agent Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix) from deep cover SVR double agent Andrew Patterson (Seth Numrich), codename: "Rakitin". At the episode's end, a cliffhanger voicemail reveals that Rakitin is dead. The scene then fades to black showing the dedication card, "In memory of Tobias "Toby" Core 1973-2021". While no cause of death has been given, his brother posted a dedication on Instagram celebrating Core's life and memory.

Core's Filmography Includes John Wick & The Amazing Spider-Man

Core Did Carpentry On Notable TV Shows And Films

Core spent his early years with time in smaller capacities on films like Anything but Love and Dummy. Then in 2005, Core turned to carpentry full-time, first working on Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. He later went on to do carpentry on The Amazing Spider-Man, John Wick, Funny Games​​​​​​, and 100 episodes of Gotham . His last job was one episode of Close Up with the Hollywood Reporter.

Every one of those TV shows and movies mentioned has excellent set and production design, and it's likely Core himself built the table a henchman flies through in John Wick or a desk in the Gotham City Police Department. Whatever he did, it was enough for his coworkers and friends to deem him worthy of a memorial on The Blacklist, a show he must have also enjoyed working on, considering how many episodes he was a part of.