A former agent for the United States government, Raymond “Red” Reddington (Spader) mysteriously decides to resort to a life of crime. During his time in the shadows, he ascends to the prestigious F.B.I.’s most wanted list. And just as unpronounced as his exit was, he “randomly” surrenders to the Bureau in their Washington D.C. headquarters. During initial questioning, it’s clear Reddington’s intentions aren’t to face trial for his wrongdoing. Instead, he propositions F.B.I. agent Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix) with a deal: to give them knowledge about individuals on what Red has dubbed The Blacklist, a collection of dossiers on the most dangerous persons currently living, most of which the agency have never encountered, in exchange for immunity. And at the end of his demands, Reddington insists he will only speak directly to Elizabeth Keen (Boone). The request is quite odd, considering his day of surrender is also the young profiler’s first day on the job. This sets up 22 exciting sessions, running through a tremendous rogue gallery of “one off” criminals all the while developing a broader narrative scope between Red, Keen, and her shady husband Tom (Ryan Eggold).
By the looks of it, the patriarch of the show is writer Jon Bokenkamp. With a few suspense film credits to his name, this is his first inking for television. For a rookie effort, there’s a lot to like. The per episode villains display real variety and personality. From tech geniuses, to psychotic killers, to despondent masterminds, Bokenkamp’s ability to rope us in to the plight of characters that almost never make it past 40+ minute periods is amazing. For me, this is The Blacklist‘s most positive strength. It’s so cool to see really interesting and dramatic cat & mouse games begin and end within one stanza. What isn’t quite as good is the continuous unraveling of how Lizzy and Raymond are connected. At first, it’s really enthralling, especially amongst the revelation of her husband not being what he appears to be on the surface. It’s “edge of the seat” kind of stuff. Then the pace slows considerably in lieu of the first season being a drastically long 22 episodes. Premium networks and streaming services are completely dominating the current “TV” landscape (HBO and Netflix netted 47 collective Emmy nominations this year). Some might lackadaisically point to that success being because of the ability to show “R rated” content. And while that has a lot do to with the “premier” label, that sort of mass acclaim has more to do with tight story telling. Streamers and premiums are in the business of subscriber retention, meaning the creative minds behind their original content are free to make the best decisions possible to the sake of narrative and character development. From Silicon Valley, to House of Cards, to The Newsroom, to Orange is the New Black. Each is a great show with stellar arcs, primarily due to season sizes that perfectly fit their pace. Broadcast (and to a slightly lesser extent cable) stations exist because of ad space. This season would benefit exponentially being restricted to 12-16 episodes. 22 is overkill, and really dilutes the Elizabeth/Raymond dynamic.
In terms of the cast, things are very good. As expected, the sensational James Spader draws most the attention in his scenes, and even pervades the concentration of the audience when off screen. He plays a near perfect anti hero. Objectively, it would be easy to write him off as a bad guy, but then he says something, or makes a decision, or gives crucial information that tips the scales back to the protagonist distinction. This is enhanced by rapport with Megan Boone. Tough, but vulnerable. Frail without being easily broken, the actress excels at keeping Elizabeth in a necessary happy medium when it comes to her day-to-day decision making and ever evolving relationship with Reddington. While understandably hesitant at first, it becomes obvious he has the best intentions in mind for her. The longer it goes, the more seamless the tandem start cooperating. Less effort is needed on Liz’s part to make sense of Red’s sometimes cryptic clues. Other members of The Taskforce support the prototypical crime fighting cast of characters. A strong willed father figure boss in Harold Cooper, portrayed by Lennix, is usually present in the “bottom of the hour” planning stages, and keeps to the sidelines for most of the action stuff. Diego Klattenhoff plays Donald Ressler, the hot headed, scrunched brow alpha male important when brawn over rules brain. That’s not to say he doesn’t show intelligence and restraint when necessary, but he’ll definitely be the one most likely to shoulder charge a dead bolted hotel room door. Some of the lesser characters are actually quite endearing. C.I.A. agent Meera Malik (Parminder Nagra) establishes herself as a versatile and vital asset to The Taskforce, capable of showing steely pragmatism and precise concentration in crucial moments. Hacker geek Aram Mojtabai (Amir Arison) is often put in tense situations when one false keystroke could endanger everyone involved with the operation. Luckily, his frayed disposition doesn’t spoil an otherwise brilliant skill set that shines through when pressure is applied. As the season goes on, they all get fleshed out a bit, but it’s still just normal progression for supporting characters. It would have been nice to see the scribes maybe add some off the wall traits for them that could be used as ancillary factors to ramp up tension and stress when applicable.
The presentation is alright for a DVD set. Action sequences are filmed very well, utilizing numerous cutaways with multiple angles. The image quality during said scenes can sometimes look a little rough around the edges. But more dramatic pieces with heavy dark tones and shadows have awesome resolution. The audio mix is heavily tilted to the center “dialogue” track. Which is a good thing, up until those aforementioned action shots start, then the sound feels a little imbalanced. The Special Features section is a plus for this set, with a few different options with plenty of extra content. “Beyond the Blacklist” are short documentaries for each episode with interviews of various cast and crew members. “The Insider: Behind the Scenes of Season 1” is an all encompassing, backstage look at the composition/inter-working of the show, and how narrative structures and character profiles were crafted, with insights from the main actors, executive producer John Eisendrath, writer Jon Bokenkamp, and more. There is also commentary for a few select episodes.