WARNING: This review contains spoilers
OK, so I've been seeing these promos for a new NBC show called The Blacklist. And I didn't know anything about it.
I have seen its name show up on some of the Best Shows of Fall 2013 lists. But thanks to the new ways of watching TV, I have somehow avoided the ads and promos that show up every fall on the broadcast networks. On Saturday, I saw it advertise numerous times during an afternoon football game. So, I fired up the pilot via OnDemand late on a Saturday night, which is apparently not a good time to try to absorb a new show about a Diabolical Mastermind.
James Spader stars as Raymond "Red" Reddington, the Concierge of Crime. He's done a lot of bad stuff, but he surrenders himself at FBI Headquarters and he'll only talk to Special Agent Elizabeth Keen, a new profiler. In fact, its her first day on the job. I don't know where this is going, but I think I saw it with Denzel Washington in Safe House.
Reddington has a list of other diabolical masterminds that we are too dumb to even know about. Maybe he can get a seat on the wall at Guantanamo with Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. And he'll trade his Blacklist, if he gets to live in comfort and hang out with the attractive Agent Keen. And I'll take a guess and say that the list is probably long enough for 5 seasons. Not a bad gig if you can get it.
I have never watched The Practice or Boston Legal. But I was impressed with Spader's performance. So I understand how he won "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" at the Emmys three times. He played this role well enough that I wondered where the cat was only once.
I confess, I kept falling asleep, but I don't know if that's the show's problem, or my choice of viewing time. I woke up once, and he had somehow escaped the FBI, only to be recaptured. So apparently he can come and go from jail as he pleases. Which is quite handy if you're a Wicked Genius.
Don't know if I'll watch this show regularly, but I have a Season Pass set up in case I do.
edit: Went back and watched it again.
So Keen stabbed him in the neck with a pen (very Dexter-ish)? And he escaped from the hospital where he was being treated for the neck wound. Her husband has a more storied past than he's shared with his wife, considering the box of money and passports under the floor in their home. And I kept thinking that Keen is Reddington's daughter.
Random Thoughts:
- Diego Klattenhoff is in this show as Agent Donald Ressler. You know him as Mike in Homeland.
- Harry Lennix, a veteran character actor as Assistant Director Harold Cooper. I remember him from his days on ER.
- Much like Homeland, I can't see where this show goes after Reddington's master plan is revealed, probably at the end of the season.
What did you think?
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