The Blacklist Review
After the first couple episodes of The Blacklist, it’s hard not to get intrigued by Raymond Reddington, the series’ main character. He is a fugitive criminal that surrenders to the FBI out of the blue, demanding to speak to Elizabeth during her first day in a secret FBI location.
The series features one hunted blacklister per episode — obscure criminals who are not even known by the FBI. It’s interesting how every blacklister has a number that tell a story while the series develops. After a couple seasons, the plot between Reddington — also known as Red — and his real reasons to have surrendered starts being revealed. His motives involves his past, present and his plans for the future, all of which are interwhined with Elizabeth, another main character of The Blacklist.
Needless to say that James Spader makes Reddington even more interesting. His expressions, jokes, looks and gestures give the character a mysterious and intriguing personality — the more episodes I watched, the more I got curious about Reddington. He makes an apparently creepy criminal funny and charming. One of Red’s tricks is smoothing his way through a difficult situations by telling stories about deserted islands, near death situations and unique artefacts he collects.
The secondary main characters also give very good performances. Elizabeth Keen, performed by Megan Boone, is an orphan who just finished at Quantico school and officially started working for the FBI. Diego Klattenhoff plays Donald Ressler, Keen’s colleague in the office, as known as the post office, a codename given to the secret FBI base the series takes place. Other characters come and go from the series, such as Mozhan Mano, who performs Samar, and Ryan Eggold, who performs Tom Keen, giving some spice as the series slowly uncovers the story around Raymond Reddington. His right hand (and long lasting friend), Dembe Zuma, is amazingly played by Hisham Tawfic.
The Blacklist is currently on season 6 and, although we know much more about Reddington now, there’s still much to be discovered. NBC has confirmed there will be a season 7 — and still I suspect there will be a season 8 and posssibly a season 9. Sometimes it is indeed annoying that the seasons finishes right when they’re about to reveal a major fact about Reddington, even though that keeps the viewer’s curiosity on. I can’t wait for the S6 finale and to know more about the half creepy half lovely character that Mr. Reddington is.
