The Blacklist: Season 1 (2013)
Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 42
Fresh: 35 | Rotten: 7
James Spader is riveting as a criminal-turned-informant, and his presence goes a long way toward making this twisty but occasionally implausible crime procedural compelling.
Average Rating: 6.9/10
Critic Reviews: 20
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 5
James Spader is riveting as a criminal-turned-informant, and his presence goes a long way toward making this twisty but occasionally implausible crime procedural compelling.
Season Info
For decades, ex-government agent Raymond "Red" Reddington has been one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives. Brokering shadowy deals for criminals across the globe, Red was known by many as "The Concierge of Crime." Now, he's mysteriously surrendered to the FBI with an explosive offer: He will help catch a long-thought-dead terrorist, Ranko Zamani, under the condition that he speaks only to Elizabeth "Liz" Keen, an FBI profiler fresh out of Quantico. -- (C) NBC
Network: NBC
Premiere Date: Sep 23, 2013
Cast
-
James Spader
Raymond "Red" Reddin... -
Megan Boone
Elizabeth Keen -
Ryan Eggold
Tom Keen -
Diego Klattenhoff
Donald Ressler -
Harry Lennix
Harold Cooper -
Ilfenesh Hadera
Jennifer Palmer -
-
Robert Sean Leonard
Frederick Barnes -
Chin Han
Wujing -
Clifton Collins Jr.
Hector Lorca -
Robert Knepper
The Courier -
Margarita Levieva
Gina Zanetakos -
Parminder Nagra
Meera Malik
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Episodes
Pilot
The race to stop a terrorist begins in the premiere of this crime series about a most-wanted fugitive who works with a rookie FBI profiler to take down criminals and evildoers.
The Freelancer
"The Freelancer," 9/30/2013: Liz and Red track an assassin who disguises his kills in large-scale catastrophes. Isabella Rossellini guest stars. HD Version
Wujing
"Wujing," 10/07/2013: Liz and Red go undercover to take down an assassin who's been decimating the ranks of the CIA. HD Version
The Stewmaker
"The Stewmaker," 10/14/2013: When Liz's key witness disappears, Red suspects a killer who literally stews his victims, making them disappear forever...
The Courier
The hunt is on for an elusive courier who's delivering a package worth millions to an Iranian spy. As she scrambles to stop the transaction, Liz gets swept up in a kidnapping scheme. Meanwhile, Ressler is forced to accept Liz's importance to the team.
Gina Zanetakos
A beautiful yet menacing corporate terrorist is tracked. Meanwhile, Tom confronts Liz about a mysterious box.
Frederick Barnes
Liz and the FBI track the criminal responsible for a chemical attack on a subway. Elsewhere, Liz reluctantly reaches out to Red to help nab a brilliant scientist (Robert Sean Leonard).
General Ludd
Critic Reviews for The Blacklist: Season 1
Blacklist doesn't have the pulse, say, of a 24, but it races in the right direction.
Spader is amusingly smug and hammy, as he manipulates the FBI honchos, Keen, and the criminals who think he's on their team. Even so, there is nothing in the pilot that makes me eager to return.
There's a more desirable reason to watch a show... and that is the sheer swoony pleasure of watching James Spader chew through scenes and scenery with epicurean delight. And then to watch him ask for a solid gold toothpick when he's done.
Spader devours the script and steals every scene, basking in the power he has - more than the FBI thinks he has - the audience isn't sure what his motives are.
The pilot episode is stylish and swiftly paced, but that's all it is, and despite some intriguing plot twists, there's not a lot of motivation to keep coming back.
Yes, it's a preposterous premise, and Boone as well as the character she plays are in over their heads, but if NBC is willing to spend money to make this formula work, it could have a hit on its hands.
A solid weekly crime show built around a genuine TV star. That's the kind of series the networks have to be able to pull off to survive . And with Spader in command, odds are NBC will.
The Blacklist is watchable but patently unbelievable and increasingly unpalatable.
I think Megan Boone could develop her own following - she's engaging and believable - but this is Spader's game and he plays it with gusto.
This show smells like hubris, but that's not a bad thing. It's probably a mite too ridiculous for the dire tone it sometimes affects, but it's confident, verging on brazen, and one tends to respect that quality in entertainment.
Few series can boast such a compelling central figure.
As rip-offs (or, more politely, homages) go, The Black List is pretty good - much better than NBC's own Lecter prequel series, Hannibal.
Once [the] questions are cleared up, what's left is a more commonplace procedural.
Where the problem lies... is in finding criminals as colorful as Reddington himself.
Twisty plots save violent crime drama from predictability.
It's a fast-paced mystery that's just plain entertaining.
It's Spader alone who'll have me running the DVR on both channels Mondays,
The Blacklist makes for a fairly cheesy thriller, but in the end, a joyful one.
The Blacklist is an action-intrigue drama with even more tricks up its sleeve than wily Hannibal Lecter.
James Spader is perfection and we can't wait to see what Red is up to next.
The Blacklist is never going to be anyone's idea of great art, but at least it has a pulpy kind of momentum that may well be worth watching for a while; I will stick around to see whether Spader's performance really is the only dish on the menu.
The marvelous action sequences and intriguing plot twists should lift it above any standard procedural.
Portraying a brilliant criminal mastermind who opens the drama by turning himself in to the FBI, demanding the presence of a specific rookie agent, he (Spader) is effortlessly captivating.
Viewers who can handle the twists and turns will be intrigued, particularly by Mr. Spader's performance.
Do I need to see another episode of this? Probably not. Will I watch it more just to enjoy Spader and see if Red's motivation is the thing everyone has been assuming since the trailer was released? Absolutely.
C'mon, producers. Upend the procedural. Let Spader run loose.
Both principals will escape with their dignity intact, but it's unlikely that Reddington will get to the bottom of that blacklist before the show gets de-listed.
Spader is great fun to watch as he's having great fun playing the central character in this violent, engaging thriller.
How this works out over its many episodes isn't easy to predict, but we have, at minimum, a strong beginning-Zamani notwithstanding-one that reaches undeniably satisfying levels of menace.
Neither The Blacklist, nor its star, James Spader, are taking themselves too seriously, thankfully, which makes the show that much more of a pleasure to watch.
It continued to hold my attention until the very end with the compelling characters, performances and twists.
None of the characters are a fair match for Red, and most of the actors are less than a fair match for Spader.
The pilot for The Blacklist throws in story points that should play like surprises, but instead the viewer can see the twists coming.
The drama's storytelling is powerful enough to make you commit to it from the very first episode.
That these relationships set young women alongside men with more experience, or more brutal experience, makes them more traditional than new, but they also speak to current social and political anxieties...
He's [James Spader] magnetic, chewing on the scenery so much that you can't look away from him.
The criminal-teams-with-agent dynamic is nothing new, but it's taking the journey of The Blacklist with Spader and Boone that makes this show so engaging.
The exposition hums, the score swells, and everything is buffed and polished to a metallic, unnatural gleam. But there's something to be said for shiny.
Spader is electrifying.
It has been likened to Silence of the Lambs and NBC's lowly-rated "Hannibal." The difference between Blacklist and Hannibal is that Spader makes this series more commercial and likely to succeed.
Spader plays his scenes with relish. It's fun to watch. So are the stylish action scenes.
There were exciting moments in the opener and also schlocky ones - no bad thing - but the real reason I'll probably keep watching is James Spader.
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