Blacklist

I’m watching this on Hulu at the tail end of my action TV and booze evening. Even drunk, this plot is beyond retarded. Pure shit.

Actualy said while watching with a friend: “Ha hah hah ha, her husband is a secret agent. Oh fuck it. Fuck it, why not…why not.”

This will not be getting a second episode viewing from me.

Palette cleanser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXJx5mORmMI

I was thinking just yesterday that they rushed the first episode. Given what else was going on, they should have held off on that reveal.

Ordinarily I rail against ridiculous coincidences in stories like this, but at this point I’m willing to give them a little time to justify it. I.e. it could be that Spader became aware of her while tracking down her agent husband, and then became obsessed.

I was very irritated by how quickly Dying Terrorist found her, and how much he knew, during the “stab the husband” build up. Then it was revealed that Spader had told him everything up-front, which took all the sting out of that.

Which begs the question: if that was all the plan, why stage the roadblock? That was stupid on a lot of levels, in hindsight. From Dying Terrorist’s point of view, grabbing the little girl from the unprepared dance class would have been ridiculously easy. Instead, he lets Spader talk him into grabbing the girl in a high-risk firefight. It was cool from an action point of view but incredibly stupid from a plot point. Sure, it gives Spader credibility with the FBI, but it’s much harder, gets his people killed, and could easily have killed the woman Spader was obsessed with, as we saw.

On the positive side, while it’s very stupid in hindsight, the show succeeded in getting it past me while I was watching. That’s all I ask. It’s the times something is so stupid I notice while I’m watching that I hate.

The second episode was pretty bad as well, though not as rushed. The writing is just awful. Ignoring the husband issue is about the stupidest possible response. Female lead is about the most incompetent agent, ever. Spader gets up and walks out and she doesn’t do a thing about it. Not to mention that Spader walking out served no purpose whatsoever, beyond Spader poking the FBI. Which, admittedly, he likes doing.

There were a few places where the lines came off as stilted. I was even less happy with the apparent decision to make it more of an ensemble show. I do like the one guy, though (Denbe?), since he doesn’t say much. I’m mostly watching because of James Spader anyway, in much the same way that I only really watched Person of Interest because what’s-his-name Emerson.

I must be simple minded or something. I love the show! One of the best I’ve seen in a while.

Well, she is new, and she’s supposed to be acting like she’s having dinner with someone at the restaurant. Following him to the bathroom might seem a little odd (and might spook the contact). I can’t remember if she’s in on the rest of the surveillance, but if she is, she probably would hope that they’d cover the exits and such. If anything, I’m struck at how incompetent the rest of the FBI agents are, not so much her. But as I said about the pilot, they’re always going to appear that way, blonde agent in particular, to make Reddington (and to a lesser degree, Keen) look good.

I thought the rest of the story was pretty decent. There’s sufficient twists going on that I didn’t see coming, and they’re establishing that this whole thing isn’t just so Reddington can get close to Keen. I still can’t stand most of the characters/actors (Keen especially) except Spader, who continues to do a ridiculously good job. He’s probably the only reason I’m continuing to watch.

Oh, and I’ve always wondered how many times is too many for showing a compound fracture on screen. Thanks Blacklist for answering that for me.

Jesus I haven’t seen a show so insulting to the FBI since… well since the Following last year. :P

This is the best show about tradecraft since Get Smart.

I too am really enjoying it, but I have a man crush on Spader, and he is excellent in this.

There were a few places where the lines came off as stilted. I was even less happy with the apparent decision to make it more of an ensemble show. I do like the one guy, though (Denbe?), since he doesn’t say much. I’m mostly watching because of James Spader anyway, in much the same way that I only really watched Person of Interest because what’s-his-name Emerson.

Whats? Person of Interest has an amazing cast. AMAZING.

I like this show, I just wish Spader wasn’t carrying the show… he works best playing off a lead, IMO, but he does manage the job.

I’ll grant you that it has more memorable actors in the background than does Blacklist, but I still mostly watched it because of Michael Emerson. :P

Oh, man. There was that. Yeah, I understood the bone was protruding the first time you showed me, I don’t need to see it again.

Speaking of which, don’t those injuries bleed? You’d think they’d bleed. No, I don’t want to see blood spurting, but it crossed my mind anyway.

Episode 3 was about the same as episode 2 for me. The main plot for the episode was good, Spader was awesome, Lizzie was bleh, and Ressler the incompetent boob. Meanwhile, we’re introduced to “Apple Eating Guy” and get a little deeper into Lizzie’s husband’s backstory. They seem to be at least interested in moving that story along some.

Minor spoiler…

So far, we can tell Lizzie’s husband was involved with some sort of murder of a Russian (Viktor something) in a hotel room and Homeland Security is in on it. (Yay freeze frame.)

I think wife and I are interested enough to keep this on the DVR schedule for at least half a season and see where it goes.

And FYI to the writers, if someone is dancing with a ladder in your peripheral vision, and you’re already suspicious that someone is in the house, you’re going to see it.

I seem to have missed where they have decided to let Spader’s character just do whatever he wants(like shopping) vs being in one of the most locked down prisoners ever. Episode 2 went from both extremes and in #3 its like fuck it he is some sort of Mr. shady consultant now.

I can’t remember the exact terms, but towards the end of episode 2 they agreed to them. That’s why he has his two buddies accompanying him now. I assume freedom to move about (as long as he keeps the tracking bug in) is part of them as well.

Call me simple minded too then because I think the show is great. Spader is the whole show though. And I’ll 2nd the POI comment too.

Oh my, I’ve found that quite out of the blue I’m crazy about this show. It does a bunch of dumb TV stuff, like using The Man Comes Around, and having a fairly marginal female lead, but it does even those things with panache. I think at this point The Man Comes Around should be retired for shows and movies. My eyes roll on their own when I hear that dusty record sound and the spoken words, “And I heard, as it were the noise of thunder.” Jesus. This and “Hallelujah” are done for TV and movies. They are just done. Don’t make me put this on the ballot people! That said, the show uses it well in the first 2014 episode, so I’ll give it a pass this once. And the show does what it can with Megan Boone, who is normal TV-boring but not bad or anything; since the premise of the show is that she’s a brilliant newb being brought along by a mentor, it works okay.

But James Spader. Good lord, James Spader! I didn’t think he had this kind of menace in him. It is rather a joy to watch him do this show. And I’ll watch Harry Lennix do anything.

-xtien

“Don’t look so stricken. The first shot will kill you.”

All around me, respectable people are owning up to watching this show I’d totally written off. Starting to worry…

We binge-watched the first 10 episodes after hearing so many people talk about how good the show is. And I have to say, I agree. What makes the show is James Spader. Almost anyone else in the role, even with the same scripts, wouldn’t have the same impact. He is able to straddle that line of being an obvious ruthless bad guy while still being the guy you cheer for.

Episode 11 (the one that just aired) showed why he is so feared in the whole “criminal inner circle” thing. The early episodes didn’t establish this very well and I was wondering why he was so respected/feared. Was it just because of his money and his willingness to sell government secrets? But no, it turns out he’s a cold hearted bastard who will hunt you down and kill you with his bare hands if you cross him.