The Blacklist: News/Discussion (Spoilers for most recent eps on NBC!)

[Bagpuss]

Anyone else checked out or plan to check out this new show,starring James Spader?

Promo vid on Sky Living : here

Also on YouTube :

Info and other stuff: here

I missed the premiere on Oct 4 so I'm catching the re-run tonight.

Already wondering if there's too much of a Hannibal Lecter/Clarice Starling vibe but hoping for good things from the show itself.

[Bagpuss]

Heck of a premiere.
I give it 9/10 on presentation,production and performances.Maybe 7/10 on content.
Realism comes a poor third to charisma and pace.Can't say the ethical treatment of prisoners seems to be a priority.I'd think a real agent would be in deep trouble after the pen incident for a start...

Coincidences and mysteries galore.Keen's Hubby seems meek,nice,and only into the happy family scenario with the adoption plans etc : turns out he's either some kind of master crim himself or a Spy?

Red and Keen's connection could be that he's her real ,long lost Dad,but I can't see it being that easy and obvious!


Hopefully more will unfurl as the weeks go by.

I'm hooked....

[dipsofjazz]

I agree with all you said. I'm hooked too.

[Spimman]

I really was not looking for another new tv show, but so far this one has been excellent. So far I really like this one, but I'll make a final decision when I start to see more of the larger story arc.

[mr_kennedy]

I really was not looking for another new tv show, but so far this one has been excellent. So far I really like this one, but I'll make a final decision when I start to see more of the larger story arc.

I'm going to wait til the end of the season then i'll decide if i want to watch it or not, havent seen any of it yet

[Looney]

I can't say every episode has really been a winner, but Spader makes them all worth watching. Definitely hooked!

[Looney]

I think Episode 4 has one of the best openings I've ever seen.

Spoiler:

Tom Noonan pulls of SOOOOOOOO CREEPY SOOOOOOOO WELL in that first five minutes ! ! ! And Clifton Collins Jr. is one of my favorite actors. I wish they had done more with him in this episode. My biggest disappointment is that this should have been a multi-part story. Because of obvious television time constraints it seemed way too easy to track The Stewmaker once they started looking. This was far and away my favorite episode until they tracked him down so easily. I knew that dog would be his undoing. LOL

I give this episode an 8 out of 10, but it could have been a 9 or even a 10 out of 10 with better handling of the last third.

[Spimman]

I'm still enjoying this show and while the Stewmaker was very well done, I don't enjoy crime dramas that follow creepy serial killers like that guy. I know the show generally won't be having villains like him so I didn't mind.

[Looney]

Spimman, out of curiosity, do you mean you don't like those types of stories or you think they have some flaw to them, i.e. they are cliche or some other issue?

[Ian-S]

What was the photo about? seems like Spader's character is more about payback rather than helping to find the baddie.

[Looney]

Yep, payback is definitely true for this last episode.

[Looney]

Great cliffhanger in this week's episode, The Courier. And I love Robert Knepper. I think this show just keeps getting better and better.

[Looney]

I feel like this week's episode, Gina Zanetakos, was just mediocre. I don't feel they handle it right. And . . .

Spoiler:

it was so cliche and predictable that Ressler was going to jump in the car and drive it off the pier.

[Looney]

Last week's episode, Frederick Barnes, was decent. The best part was how real Barnes' motivation turned out to be,

Spoiler:

no research with no prospect of huge profits.

This week's episode, General Ludd, was really enjoyable. It had a great opening and was pretty good all around.

Spoiler:

The scene with Red and Tom was absolutely great, possibly the best scene in the show to date. There was just enough there to make it seem like Tom knew who he was, but then again maybe he didn't. It was absolutely great.

Why did Sam use Red's phone? There are only two possibilities, there is no reason or it will come up later on to prove Red was in Sam's hospital room. Either reason really makes no sense as Sam was seen earlier in the episode with a phone. And it is a pretty far stretch to think that is how it will be eventually proven that Red was in Sam's room.

The weakest part of the episode is confirmation that Red is really Liz's father. Someone would have put those pieces together long ago. People know Red had a family and people would know his daughter was adopted by someone he knew. Of course, there are many ways they might try to get around this, but I can't see any of them being really believable. They might even try to say Red wasn't saying that in his conversation with Sam, but who knows. It just seems like it was obvious and it also seems ridiculous that no one would know the secret.

[Looney]

Okay, so after a week off it is time for Anslo Garrick Part One. This episode was really mixed bag of GREAT and putrid.

Spoiler:

The GREAT, as always, were Spader's scenes. The putrid were Keen's 'Die Hard' scenes. I don't know what they were doing, but they may have Jumped-The-Shark a couple of times in this episode and mostly by turning Keen into Rambo. It was absolutely ridiculous. We have seen nothing about her that says she could have done half of what she did. From the get-go she has been portrayed as more of an analyst who can be tough when she has to. They have never shown her to have military or tactical training of any kind, let alone making silencers out of plastic bottles. It was really bad.

Now where they have really possibly Jumped-The-Shark is with regard to the overall arc. The basis of Red's "Blacklist" plan is that the criminal underground does not know that he is working with the Feds. Well that just flew out the window! How could we possibly believe that this one criminal found out Red's truth, to the point where he was able to track down the topic-secret-nobody-knows-about-it location where Red makes his contact, and that didn't burn him to all of the villains on his list?! This guy has an informant who exposes Red and after the next part of this episode we're just supposed to believe that Red's secret is safe again?! That is really a stretch.

And another problem they will be hard pressed to write around is the fact that Ressler, if he survives which I am guessing he will, would never be able to walk without at least a severe limp again. Are they really going to work in a severe limp or go with miraculous healing?!

I have an aunt who watches this show and she has said, pretty much from the beginning, that a concern she has is the plot won't live up to the acting. Well I think that is a pretty astute observation that most weeks this show is proving. Now there were some truly great scenes involving Red, but the plot basis from where those scenes grew seems very flawed with regard to the future arc of this show. It is amazing how a talented actor can really grab you despite the material; something James Spader does on this show. I hope that means the show will last until the writers catch up to him.