The Blacklist is finally here and I can’t put a finger on what it is like. It feels like I already knew what was going to happen from the trailers available online. From the start I found the plot very intriguing. The fact that it has James Spader guarantees my attention. I have really enjoyed watching him since the television series, The Practice and after that its spin-off Boston Legal. The narrative on the other hand, I can’t decide one way or the other. I suspect it is a case of building up your expectations to a point that nothing will match. I require a couple of episodes to find out how the show moves. In these situations I usually say that the show has had a promising start but I never thought it would not.
In this particular venture James plays an ex-government agent by the name of Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington who went missing and was considered responsible for leaking classified information and facilitating criminal activity in general to the highest bidder. At one point in the show he is referred to as the ‘concierge of crime’. A bit cheesy if you ask me. After two decades of disappearing he casually walks in the FBI under the pretext of exposing a terrorist threat and insists on only dealing with a newly minted agent by the name of Elizabeth Keen. At this point I had a flashback to the Hannibal Lecter – Clarice equation. As the show progresses it becomes clear that this terrorist attack was orchestrated by Raymond himself and he is clearly working on a bigger canvas than the rest. He offers the FBI his help to track down the real criminals on his list with the help of Agent Keen. At this stage the focal point of the mystery splits between both Reddington and Keen.
As far as the cast goes I have already mentioned my appreciation for Mr. Spader. Agent Elizabeth Keen is played by Megan Boone. I like her treatment of the character and think she has been chosen well for this role. I also recognised Harry Lennix in the show playing Assistant Director Harold Cooper.
Verdict: It has the makings of a great show but unfortunately, against all my expectations the first episode failed to impress. Irrespective, I hope as the show progresses it will not disappoint. I had great expectations from this one before it started and I still do.
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2741602/
IMDb Rating: 8.0/10 from 1,740 users as on 26/09/2013.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9_qgX7pTlc
Official Site: http://www.nbc.com/the-blacklist/
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