The Blacklist: Season 3 (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

A wonderfully entertaining season premiere. Having blown up the show's old procedural framework in the second season finale, the premiere effortlessly adopted the procedural framework of "The Fugitive", with Elizabeth Keen in the Richard Kimble role and Donald Ressler as the Philip Gerard hot on her tail. Meanwhile, the names from the blacklist keep on coming.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Twist and turns while still catching bad guys.

 

[Matt Hough]

I enjoyed it, too. And a nice little surprise at the end of the premiere; not what I was expecting.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

So far this season has been a non-stop thrill ride, liberated from the standalone procedural plots.

I do wonder about the focus on exonerating Elizabeth Keen, though; even if they're able to prove that she's not a Russian agent, she still shot down the Attorney General of the United States in cold blood.

 

[Matt Hough]

This is one of the few shows I really look forward to every week. Putting the pair on the run has been an exhilarating way to start the season.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Just caught up with the latest episode. This might just be the show's best season yet. Peeling back the curtain on Red's machinations easily might have been like paying attention to the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz: far less interesting than the mystery. Instead, the opposite has been true; the more we learn about Red and how he operates, the more interesting he becomes. The moments of earnest fury that sometimes peek out from behind the cool, collected and ironic facade give Spader's performance real charge. And Elizabeth Keen being on the run has made her a far more interesting character than she was when she was just Red's puppet. Her fleeing the Wendigo by using the rear view mirror as a makeshift periscope being one example. And I really liked the beat where in the teenage girl's house, where she went from that family's most hated person to a sort of fierce avenging angel.


Christine Lahti was terrific as the eminently personable National Security Adviser who is gently but firmly enforcing the establishment's chosen truth. The only curiosity for me was that the investigation took the form of a presidential hearing instead of a congressional hearing.


I can't wait to see how David Strathairn's character is taken down. Killing the Attorney General was viscerally satisfying, but he was a bit player in the grand scheme of things. The only satisfying conclusion for the D.C.I. will be to leave him out in the open, exposed to the cold clear light of day.


The best indicator of this season's success is that I haven't really wondered about the lingering questions from the night of the fire. The backstory between Reddington and Keen is far less pressing because the contemporary stuff is doing such a good job of holding my attention.

 

[Matt Hough]

This show is on fire this season. The "run for your life" scenario has paid extraordinarily deep dividends in terms of action and suspense and character development, and the breakneck pacing of the hours makes the time fly by each week. Yes, can't wait to see David Strathairn's character get what's coming to him, but it's going to be a delicious ride to get to that point, and this has become tops among my "can't miss" shows each week.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The Blacklist along with Blindspot among shows that get ratings increases from DVR viewings.


http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/11/09/broadcast-live-7-ratings-week-5-oct-19-25-2015/

 

[Citizen87645]

We've been enjoying this season also. And I think I like Elizabeth better as a blonde, surprisingly.

 

[Robert Crawford]

We've been enjoying this season also. And I think I like Elizabeth better as a blonde, surprisingly.

Different strokes for different folks, but she doesn't look right to me as a blonde.

 

[Citizen87645]

It was a little weird at first, but I guess it has grown on me. I imagine part of it is that her hair style is more casual now (better to hide her face with) and I never cared for her office look.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Lizzie with blonde hair could be related to Adele.

 

[Matt Hough]

The fall finale was a seat-edged thriller that was non-stop exciting. I loved it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Renewed for season 4:


http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/12/07/the-blacklist-renewed-for-season-4-on-nbc/

 

[ScottH]

Good grief. A group of two bit highway robbers that could be direct descendants of the hill people from 'Justified'? Really?


Admittedly this show has become background fodder for me, but this was so ridiculous I had to get this off my chest since no one I know watches this show. I know the writing on this show is pretty weak in general but I can't imagine how the entire writing room didn't break out in laughter when this idea was pitched.


At least there was a love triangle to keep me interested...

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I agree with you Scott. It felt very left field, and they felt like stock television characters in a show that is normally so much better. Usually this is a show about actions and consequences. If a decision Red or Elizabeth made had put them in their clutches, it would have been easier to swallow this story line. But it was just too big of an ask for my suspension of disbelief that Red and Elizabeth would just happen to stop at a gas station where redneck highwaymen just happened to be passing by to kidnap Red for ransom.


All that being said, it's a one-off misfire in a generally very strong season of television, so I'm willing to look past it as a viewer.

 

[ScottH]

Fair enough. I will admit I've enjoyed this season more than the previous 2 mostly since it was more serialized, but there were just so many things wrong with this episode. But I will be quiet now that I got it off my chest. I'm glad people are still enjoying the show a lot.

 

[Patrick Sun]

The 3-4 subplots jammed into this week's episode was a bit much, as well as the shoot-out in the woods (how do people survive all those bullets when bad guys/stormtroopers-in-training unload a ton of bullets into a house in the woods?).

 

[Matt Hough]

Yes, the shootout was over-the-top for sure, but it was a corker of a suspenseful episode and I enjoyed the heck out of it. Very touched by the Reddington scene at the open grave at the end.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I enjoyed it too. This show has never exactly been the paragon of subtlety, so I went right along with the excess.


I guess I'd never really picked up on the newly deceased Deputy Attorney General's name, so when all of the character kept referring to Reven Wright, all I could think of what the incendiary preacher from Chicago that was in the news a while back.