In The Blacklist (NBC, Mondays, 10/9C), a rogue FBI agent walks into FBI headquarters. He offers to help capture criminals – politicians, mobsters, terrorists, all kinds of bad guys – who are so successful the authorities don’t even know they exist. The catch? He will only talk to one person, a young agent who is just about to start her first day as a profiler. It is the fall’s best new drama in part because it riffs on things we’ve seen before, making them fresh, and partly because the cast in so perfect.
Also, James Spader plays Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington, the rogue agent, and he is having way too much fun!
There’s much going on in the premiere of The Blacklist that it’s hard to say what might be a spoiler but detailing the cast of characters is always a good place to start.
The new profiler (who has worked for the agency for four years but is newly transferred to DC and on her first day in her new position) is Elizabeth Keen (Megan Booth) and her first official task is to profile herself for Assistant Director Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix, Man of Steel, Dollhouse) – which makes sense since there’s no discernible link between her and Reddington.
Diego Klattenhoff (Homeland, Pacific Rim) is Donald Ressler an FBI agent whose intelligence is insulted by Reddington, and Ryan Eggold (90210, Daybreak) is Agent Keen’s husband Tom (with whom she is planned to adopt a child).
Right off the bat, we see variations that are a bit of surprise –like when Lennix initially interviews Liz. We might expect an assistant director in the FBI to be a buttoned down, brisk and intimidating guy. Instead, we get Cooper, who is aware that intimidation is only one tool among many – and that sometimes he needs to be more empathetic and encouraging.
The premiere involves a kidnapping, a dying man, some serious brutality (mostly… mostly) offscreen and a kind chess game between Red, Keen, Lennix and others. Red holds a lot of cards – just how many remains to be seen, but he uses a couple to set up a situation that promise to show us sides of every character that even they might be unaware of.
The relationship between Red and Liz might, at first glance, remind of Hannibal Lectern and Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs, but pretty much the only things Red might have in common with Lectern are that he is the smartest man in the room and he is mentoring an FBI agent for reasons of his own – well those and his being charming. He is neither a cannibal not a serial killer. If he’s killed – it’s almost certain that he as – I think we can safely say it was something he considered absolutely necessary or, considering his background, required in the line of duty.
Liz may have been an FBI agent for four years, but she’s brand new to profiling and whatever she thinks she knows (and she has a newbie’s unearned certainty), she is about to be schooled. As Red points out, she still thinks like an agent and she needs to learn how to think like a criminal.
Though there’s definitely a procedural feel to The Blacklist, there is, early on, a shift from the procedures of the FBI to the more emotional processes that Red brings – and Liz’s knack for adapting to them. As a result, the premiere is so fast-paced that it makes more action-based shows seem sedate.
Before the ep is even halfway complete, we’ve had at least one twist that would be considered a game changer on most shows – and it’s just the beginning. The final moments of the ep pack a wallop that has nothing to do physical danger.
The Blacklist pilot was directed by Joe Carnahan, who has directed fast-paced exercises in mayhem like Smokin’ Aces and more serious dramas like The Grey. Here he brings the action without sacrificing the drama. There is nothing cartoonish about The Blacklist, though it does have some pretty effective humorous moments.
It’s firmly anchored by stars – Spader and Booth – who manage to have a lot of fun without ever winking at the audience. With any luck at all – and without the kind of mismanagement that used to plague NBC – The Blacklist could get the audience it deserves. I’m certainly rooting for it.
Final Grade: A