TV Pilot: The Blacklist Reviewed...

Raymond Reddington (James Spader) walks into the headquarters of the FBI and asks to see its director Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix). Within a matter of minutes, the lobby is full of armed agents and Reddington is on his knees in handcuffs. The reason? Reddington is one of the most wanted people in America, a man who has dodged and outwitted justice for decades. The world’s best security services haven’t been able to find him, never mind charge him. And yet here he is... surrendering.

It’s immediately clear to everyone that it could never be that simple. Reddington says he’s willing to bring down a notorious war criminal whom he claims is in Washington to kidnap the daughter of a high-ranking general, but if the FBI want him to help they have to meet his specific demands.  The top of his list... he will only reveal details to one specific agent.

Across town rookie profiler Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) awakes alongside her husband, realising she’s late for her first day at the FBI. She knows she has a busy day ahead in which they’ll learn whether they can successfully adopt a child. The problem is... SHE’s the agent Reddington has chosen to work with and the day is about to get much busier than anyone imagined. So much so, it will change every aspect of her life...

Okay... let’s be honest. The elephant in the room is Hannibal Lecter. There is absolutely no way that one can read a synopsis of The Blacklist, nor even watch its  trailer or first ten minutes without the very dark and specific shadow of Red Dragon, The Silence Of the Lambs and the Thomas Harris character looming large over everything you see and ultimately colouring your perceptions. In that respect, it’s easy to see both how this new series was sold to NBC and how it could still have failed.

The series pilot spins several interesting threads. Rather than being a serial-killer, Reddington is a... facilitator, the so-called 'concierge of crime' a man who has had a long career of apparently working for whoever has the deepest pockets . He rarely gets his own hands dirty, but his web of connections takes in terrorists, politicians, rulers, assassins and spies. If a person is on a most-wanted list, like he is himself, the chances are he’s worked for or with them and knows their strengths and weaknesses. But why has Reddington apparently turned against his allies? Why has he become, in his own words, Ahab with a whole herd of whales in his sights?   There’s also clearly a bigger connection between Reddington and Keen – he’s been watching her, studying her for a long time and knows a lot about her personal history and motivations. He’s picked her for a specific reason than goes beyond what Keen believes is his belief she can easily be manipulated. Reddington may not consider her his equal, but he obviously respects her logic and intuition.

Though networks don’t take as many risks as cable shows, there’s a considerable amount of blood and violence – actual and implied here – and we learn just how far both the so-called heroes and villains of the piece are willing to go to get the information they want - and it's not pretty. In fact, by the end of the pilot, the only character who doesn’t appear to have actual, physical blood on their hands is Reddington himself, though we know he’s smothered in the metaphorical variety.  

If Silence... felt dirty and earthy, bringing us down to its fetishistic  roots, then The Blacklist takes the more clinical route,  looking at the cold and almost corporate way in which violence is now outsourced and micro-managed. If this is Harris territory, then this is Lecter as CEO rather than mere SOB.

Spader is a formidable actor, one known for taking risks with his career choices and essaying roles that are not so easily pigeon-holed. Here he looks older and more weathered than some might expect, but there’s an undercurrent of menace and calculation that quickly shows why he was right for the role and that that he’s certainly going to have some fun with it.  Megan Boone, a relative newcomer who is probably only known to UK audiences through the short-lived Law & Order: Los Angeles import is also quick to establish her credentials, just like her character refusing to be overshadowed. By the time the pilot’s done we can believe that her character has resources waiting to be tapped and a ruthless streak of her own.

Like any show, it will all depend on how future episodes develop - and the news of additional cast additions to come, including ER's Parminder Nagra  suggests some solid plans - but the pilot lays out its charismatic stall well and this could be the most fascinating game of cat-and-mouse that we’ll see from this year’s line-up...

The Blacklist debuted in the US on 24th September on NBC and has been purchased in the UK by Sky Living for broadcast soon.