Okay, so there are two ways of unwinding after a long day at work: one, you are so tired that you come home and put on a light hearted, mildly offensive comedy show and just stop thinking for a while. Two: you are so tired that you want to watch something so riveting, so intensely compelling that you can think of nothing else and just immerse yourself in the show for an hour of no nonsense, spellbinding, glued-to-the-seat kind of thrill.
If you’re one for the latter, The Blacklist is surely your ticket. Based loosely on Whitney Bulger, who was number two on the most wanted list and on the run for nearly 20 years, and dripping with hair-raising action sequences, The Blacklist gives you a larger than life, over the top dose of all things action. You may wonder how it can be any different from all the other crime dramas of its genre like CSI, Castle, White Collar, Bones, The Mentalist, 24, The Bridge, Criminal Minds, etc just to name a few. But rest assured, you will not get bored as there are no ‘’traditional’’ TV procedural features in this TV show.
What makes it so unique is that it tells the story of Raymond ‘’Red” Reddington, played by James Spader: a former US Naval officer gone rogue who finds himself on the most wanted list. The pilot episode grabs your attention when Red voluntarily surrenders to the FBI after two decades of being on the run. Red rebels against the criminal norm as he is a suave felon with a taste for “the good life.” He offers to give the names on his own personal blacklist, containing names of criminals so meticulous and deadly that the FBI have no knowledge of them and collected from his personal dalliance with the world of organised crime.
He trades this information on the condition that he will only speak to agent Keen: a rookie agent just out of Quantico as a profiler given that he will have full immunity against prosecution. Thus begins their journey together, with the FBI taking down high profile criminals and Red killing for his own vendetta with Liz being kept in the dark as to why Red chose her. Apart from the great action sequences, the show is also very unpredictable, pulling the rug under your feet every time you come close to guessing.
James Spader carries the show on his shoulders as he pulls off Red’s role impeccably. Needless to say, he has already proven himself in Boston legal; but his critically acclaimed portrayal of the cold blooded, unnerved and amoral “Red” is a masterpiece in his own right. Following suit are Megan Boone as Liz Keen and Ryan Eggold as her husband Tom who has a secret life underneath his charming and innocent school teacher exterior. Catch the show at 9:30pm on Star World to see how Liz’s sham of a marriage slowly unravels and Red reveals his ties to Liz.
