A Mini-Review of THE BLACKLIST

The new NBC drama The Blacklist will debut tonight, September 23 at 10 PM, starring actor James Spader as former government agent Raymond “Red” Reddington, who – for decades – has been one of FBI’s most wanted fugitives. Red has been brokering shadowy deals for criminals across the globe for decades, making him known as “The Concierge of Crime”.

But – you knew there was a but, right?! – in the pilot Red mysteriously surrenders himself to the FBI in a very calm fashion – that provides a great opening sequence for the new series, I might add. His surrender, though, has one caveat: he will help the FBI catch a long-thought dead terrorist under the condition that he speaks to only Elizabeth “Liz” Keen, newcomer Megan Boone, an FBI profiler fresh out of Quantico.

Liz is happily married to Tom Keen (90210’s Ryan Eggold) and they are planning on adopting a child; in fact, in the pilot Tom has to pay a visit to the adoption agency solo because of Liz being called in to deal with Red. Of course, she cannot explain to him what is really going on because she’s with the FBI and this is the case of a lifetime.

As the FBI team for which Liz is throw into, including Agent Donald Ressler (Homeland’s Diego Klattenhoff), and overseen by FBI Assistant Director Harold Cooper (Dollhouse’s Harry Lennix), tries to beat the clock to catch the first name on Red’s “Blacklist”, things become intense on both a professional and personal level for Liz.

And, the big question is why did Red choose Liz? Is she is daughter? Does he have an ulterior motive? Well, of course, he has a motive he is a criminal after all; but we shall see just what Red has in mind for the FBI and Liz as the show rolls out its debut season on NBC.

The pilot works best thanks to the charisma of Spader, who in his first series regular TV role since his day on Boston Legal, steals the show – literally – as the wanted man Red; and Boone holds her own as a tough, rather no-nonsense profiler, who has her own demons that will assuredly came to the light of day as the series continues.

Make sure to check out the debut of The Blacklist tonight at 10/9c on NBC.