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The Blacklist Season 1 (1 Viewer)

Robert Crawford

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This latest episode is a two part one which is probably why they delayed it so they can finish the second part next week without skipping a week. Also, it's the last episode for the Fall season. A very good, brutal episode with plenty of violence and blood. Some surprise deaths.
 

Patrick Sun

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This show doesn't pull punches, that's fo' sho'! At this point, the only ones immune to untimely demises would be Red and Lizzy. Everyone else is fair game. Haha.
 

Hanson

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That was so derivative... ly GREAT. I think almost of the technobabble was completely inaccurate, but whatevs, I loved it.
 

mattCR

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Yeah, I really enjoyed it far more than I expected to. Moments like this also open up a lot of new directions for this show to go.
 

Matt Hough

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I should read the TV listings more carefully. I had no idea it was to be a two-part episode until it ended. I saw there was two minutes left and figured the cavalry was going to come charging through the door! Boy, was I surprised!

Feverishly plotted and with excellent suspense and some character insights that were very interesting. Nicely done.

And I certainly saw why they had the violence warning before the episode started!
 

Josh Dial

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I thought part 1 was very strong. Everything worked, from the pacing to the dialogue to the performances.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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This two parter was written and directed by big-screen filmmaker Joe Carnahan (Smokin' Aces, The A-Team, The Grey). He also directed the pilot, and I'm glad he's continuing his association with the show. So far, his two episodes have been the best of the series. I also think they're the only episodes where Lizzie has felt like a counterweight to Red, rather than being overwhelmed by his presence. And speaking of Red, it was fascinating to watch him when he wasn't holding 90 percent back.The bit with the stuffed animal and the fire lays it on even thicker that Lizzie is Red's daughter. I'm still anticipating a bait-and-switch on that, but I wouldn't mind if they went the obvious route as long as the story of how they got from there to here is a compelling one.
 

Robert Crawford

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I'm hoping the second part doesn't end on a cliffhanger that won't be resolved until sometime in January.
 

DaveF

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I enjoy this show; James Spader is the reason to watch. Fortunately Agent Kessler is no longer a lunkhead (shoot first, think never) and is being turned into an interesting character in his own right. But I'm getting bored with the filler. It may just be me; I'm losing interest in the pointless plot filler needed to burn time between moments of arc storytelling on AlmostHuman and Revolution too.Because when BlackList is on point, with Lizzy interacting with Red, or cribs of Red's history being revealed, the show is fully engaging. But in between, when they're hacking simplex com channels to derp-dederp the derps derping the derp...I zone out to read HTF.From another perspective: BlackList is Chuck, from Bizarro world. A know-it-all -- who is actually evil and cynical rather than decent and hopeful -- has embedded in his brain everything about everyone in the criminal underworld, and has seemingly unlimited access to necessary skills. And he has a beautiful sidekick, he wishes would love him. And a goofy male cohort that sometimes is useful.In Chuck, they had to refresh the Intersect to bring it up to date. How will Blacklist deal with Red growing outdated as he's in exile and no longer in play?
 

Adam Lenhardt

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DaveF said:
I enjoy this show; James Spader is the reason to watch. Fortunately Agent Kessler is no longer a lunkhead (shoot first, think never) and is being turned into an interesting character in his own right.
That definitely frustrated me about his character in the early episodes, especially after seeing Diego Klattenhoff do such complex, delicate work as the other man on "Homeland".
In Chuck, they had to refresh the Intersect to bring it up to date. How will Blacklist deal with Red growing outdated as he's in exile and no longer in play?
I think the show has actually done a good job of showing that Red is still very much in play. Certainly there have been hints in several episodes that Red is carrying on his criminal enterprise much the same as before. Agent Keen is certainly aware of it, and the rest of them probably are too.
 

DaveF

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You're right that he is in play, and certainly working to keep in touch. (And importantly reinforces that his not a good guy. This is part of what draws me back in. We can start to feel he's not such a bad guy, being nice to Lizzy. And then we find he's counterfeiting money. Or strangles her adoptive father.) But, like Chuck, a core conceit is that he knows all the key players and many of their plays in motion. At some point his knowledge starts to get stale, being in partial custody, and because he is destroying his own knowledge by helping take others out of play. (Power vacuum, and new unknown actors step in to fill the void.)I think next season or two, they do some thing for dramatic reasons to ''upgrade' his knowledge base. In Chuck, it was a way create peril, both in getting the intersect and the neurological damage.In the BlackList, I think something similar will be useful to the story.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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It would be nice to have an episode where he's very publicly outed as an FBI informant. It would be interesting to see how he would handles it.
 

Robert Crawford

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Adam Lenhardt said:
It would be nice to have an episode where he's very publicly outed as an FBI informant. It would be interesting to see how he would handles it.
I hope not as doing so would hinder his illegal activities as no known criminal would work with him again.
 

Josh Dial

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DaveF said:
Or strangles her adoptive father
I think there's something more at work in that scene. It seemed like both Lizzy's father and Red were both charged with protecting her. The father got sick a few months back, about the same time Red took over. Red, for whatever reason, couldn't let Lizzy find out "the truth." Presumably Lizzy's father would have agreed, had he been thinking straight.

The scene with Red and Tom sort of played out liked Red was auditioning Tom.
 

DaveF

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I think Lizzy's dad had the clarity of a deathbed: family secrets are worse than the truth. Red killed him for it. Undoubtedly there are "reasons", but we all know the truth will be outed, and for that Red is demonstrated to in no way be a warm fuzzy nice guy.
 

Robert Crawford

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DaveF said:
I think Lizzy's dad had the clarity of a deathbed: family secrets are worse than the truth. Red killed him for it. Undoubtedly there are "reasons", but we all know the truth will be outed, and for that Red is demonstrated to in no way be a warm fuzzy nice guy.
I don't think the reason he died like that was due to those reasons. I think it was a mercy killing and that off camera, Red promised him he would tell her the secret when the time was right.
 

Robert Crawford

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Tonight's episode was great! I've been waiting on tonight's surprise guest as I read about it a few weeks ago.

IMO, Red was part of an unsanctioned government covert operation that was definitely illegal according to our laws. He has evidence to expose that operation along with high placed government officials which is why he's allowed to live and conduct his own illegal operations. As to Lizzie, she might not be his daughter, but she is somebody's daughter that was very important to Red.
 

mattCR

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Robert-

I think you nailed it. That was the conclusion I reached as well. And, I loved Alan Alda. Still knocking it out of the park after all these years. That sequence between him & Spader in the interrogation was a really great passive evil.. "oh, we could have grabbed you at any time.." I thought that sequence was fantastic and explained why things were as contorted as they were.
 

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