THE BLACKLIST — “The Troll Farmer” Episode 301 — Pictured: (l-r) Megan Boone as Elizabeth Keen, James Spader as Red Reddington — (Photo by: David Giesbrecht/NBC)
The third season premiere of The Blacklist (NBC, Thursdays, 9/8C), The Troll Farmer, picks up within minutes of the conclusion of the second season premiere, with Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington and FBI Special Agent Elizabeth Kean on the run following Kean’s killing of the Attorney-General/key Cabal member.
The season three tag line, ‘It’s good to be wanted,’ is – from an audience member’s perspective – right on the nose.
From the opening moments of the teaser – with Red (James Spader) and Liz (Megan Boone) pulling off a miracle escape – The Troll Farmer is a blast of adrenaline. With the DC police and every alphabet soup agency on their tail, Red shows Liz he has some unexpected resources (par for the course for him, but always fun to watch).
Even when a betrayal flushes them out, there are always more moves to be played and the script by Jon Bokenkamp and John Eisendrath suggests that taking the show in this direction – Liz co-topping the Most Wanted list with Red – will be invest the show with increased urgency and inventiveness. The episode’s final moments find Liz doing something so completely unexpected that it’s functionally one crazy-@$$ cliffhanger.
Besides Red and Liz’s arc, The Troll Farmer introduces Mr. Solomon, a new player (Edi Gathegi) from the Cabal – and he is not there to make friends and influence people. He’s there to serve notice to the CIA Director (David Strathairn) that Red’s release of the Fulcrum has placed him on very thin ice.
THE BLACKLIST — “The Troll Farmer” Episode 301 — Pictured: (l-r) Amir Arison as Aram Mojtabai, Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler — (Photo by: David Giesbrecht/NBC)
Solomon also makes a play to bring a very specific man to him for reasons that are clearly to be determined. He is even less of a nice guy than The Director.
With Agent Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) in charge of finding and apprehending Red and Liz, he may find himself in over his head (as Red’s father noted, ‘Just because you’ve been promoted to first chair it doesn’t mean you can compose a symphony’).
Bokenkamp and Eisendrath also tie up the arc that found Deputy Director Cooper’s (Harry Lennix) wife charged with treason, and set up an intriguing situation between him and Dressler vis-à-vis being complicit in Liz’s assassination of the Attorney General.
Finally, the ep invents a Blacklister for the 21st century in the Troll Farmer – he’s a technology wizard who uses social media to create diversions for major crimes, or to lead investigators away from fugitives.
The Troll Famer is The Blacklist at its absolute best – James Spader and Megan Boone are at the top of their not inconsiderable game and Klattenhoff brings all Ressler’s determination and instincts to life, making us believe that the two are not necessarily in accord.
Director Michael Watkins brings the script to dizzying life – not so much from the frenetic pace as from the few quiet moments that expose characters’ vulnerabilities.
The third season premiere of The Blacklist is almost too much fun.
Final Grade: A