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Who Is Congressman Arthur Hudson on The Blacklist?
Hudson is well-intentioned, but he just might be responsible for Reddington finally throwing in the towel.
Season 10 of The Blacklist has been packed with many twists and turns — and with a certain dedicated congressman firmly on the Reddington Task Force's doorstep, it's only getting more intense.
As we know, Raymond Reddington (James Spader) has been lying low after being on the run from angry Blacklisters. But just as the dust has settled, Congressman Arthur Hudson (Toby Leonard Moore) catches wind of a certain FBI Task Force (ahem, Red's) that could potentially be misusing government funds.
It's up to Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix) to keep Reddington's Task Force in tact as Hudson snoops around. But who is Hudson, exactly? Learn everything to know about the character, below.
Who is Congressman Arthur Hudson on The Blacklist?
Fans first meet Hudson in Season 10, Episode 12 ("Michael Albani"), where we learn he opened an informal inquiry into a certain "FBI Task Force #836." He did this after noticing money from the government’s discretionary budget was being redirected to this Task Force's operations.
Hudson struggles to learn more because this Task Force is so confidential. To troubleshoot, he recruits Senator Clayton Dorf, and slowly but surely, Hudson begins to uncover details about #836. In Season 10, Episode 16 ("Blair Foster"), Hudson and Dorf summon Senator Cynthia Panabaker and Cooper for a hearing to determine if the government should open a formal investigation into the Task Force. (This would make all of Red's actions and Task Force intel public.) Red helped Cooper stop this by blackmailing Dorf, leading Dorf to pull out of the investigation and suddenly retire early.
After learning Hudson is snooping around the Task Force, Red launches his own investigation into him. Unlike many of Red's former foes, though, Hudson has lived a quiet and noble life, so Red has nothing to use against him for blackmail.
Speaking of: Red's blackmailing plan against Dorf backfires a bit once Dorf's lawyer, Blair Foster (a cog within said blackmail), asks to meet with Hudson to give him some interesting information about Dorf's recent resignation. Hudson then teams up with FBI Agent Jordan Nixon to investigate the Task Force.
Nixon's original inquiry into the Task Force is seemingly unhelpful. He reports the Task Force is just as much of a mystery to agents within it as it is to those outside of it. That said, this Task Force has helped solve over 200 criminal cases; a caseload like that must be connected to some powerful people. From this, the only tangible lead they uncover is a hearing attended by Cooper and four other FBI directors connected to one of the senior agents.
Hudson runs with this, telling one of the FBI directors, Schafer, he's launched an investigation into this Task Force. Schafer attempts to get Hudson out of the FBI's business, telling him that if he even mentions the name "Zuma" anywhere, he'll regret it. Schafer's anger — which led him to saying "Zuma" — gives Hudson exactly what he needs to solve everything.
"Zuma" is Dembe Zuma (Hisham Tawfiq), of course. And it turns out his name is the key to the kingdom for Hudson's investigation. The aforementioned hearing among the FBI directors was ordered when Dembe was hired by the FBI in Season 9 of The Blacklist. With his friends at the bureau, Hudson connects Dembe to Cooper and one other jaw-dropping individual: FBI Most Wanted's Raymond Reddington. Hudson strings together his breadcrumbs to connect Dembe, Cooper, and Ressler to Red. He deduces the reason it's been so hard to learn more about the Task Force is thanks to Red's influence.
"They're all connected to him," Hudson reveals to his associate. "All these years, we've never been able to catch him; this is why. Raymond Reddington has corrupted a Task Force within the FBI. And I'm going to tear it apart at the joints."
Just when Red and the Task Force agents started to think Hudson had hit a wall in his investigation, he unraveled the entire mystery more successfully than anyone could have expected. The question remains: What will Hudson do with this information?
