When Raymond Reddington (James Spader), being one of the most wanted criminals, walks to the FBI building to surrender to the authorities, he asks them that their interests are crossed, and that for that reason, in exchange for immunity he will give them information and help to catch the most dangerous criminals and terrorists in the world, those who escape their radars and do not even know they exist: those who make up the Blacklist. To seal this pact, Reddington puts another condition: he will only speak to rookie agent Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone). Why her, being that Raymond's surrender coincides with his first day as an agent? It is what we try to reveal over 6 seasons of 22 episodes (and with a seventh that opens in October).
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The series is structured as a procedural, with the villain of the day (some stretch to two chapters), others are villains of the season, but always with a slight breakthrough in the main conflict of history. Conflict trying to answer several questions: Who is really agent Keen? Why did Reddington ask exclusively to deal with her and only with her? Who are the parents of Keen? Who is Reddington? What tie unites them? I will not go into details so as not to spoil, but these (mostly) are the questions that will be discovered (or not). Namely, in addition to the action we find a plot that exploits very well the government and personal conspiracies (who is who?).
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One thing I highlight is the use of music and editing, especially at the beginning and end of the season (and some chapters). It would be extensive to name all the artists we can hear (Spotify has a tracklist of the series), but each song is splendidly chosen for certain sensations and crucial moments. While music transmits what will happen to us, the assembly reinforces that.
The cast is a subject. I did not see much evolution of the secondary characters, some showed a shy growth and the next season they cooled it a lot. This does not happen with Elizabeth, who being a protagonist has to grow to not stagnate the series. A fact that does not go unnoticed is the inclusion of agent Aram Mojtabai (Amir Arison), simply because being a Muslim they did not put him as a terrorist, he even said a prayer in Arabic. Good point.
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Arrived here, the interpretation that explodes and breaks with everything is that of James Spader as Reddington. The character is arrogant, ironic, superb, sarcastic, elegant, ruthless, an antihero with all the letters. It refers to the memory of Hannibal Lecter, especially in the first season with the prison that they exclusively arm him (although in reality it looks more like the jail that Magneto was created in X-Men). Spader's characterization takes all eyes, with great phrases in each chapter and even saving the weaker seasons. With such work it is like having Maradona in Napoli and the Argentine national team in the 80s. The guy carries the equipment with his shoulder and does it with solvency.
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A Review Personal
In short, The Blacklist entertains. While there are many seasons and chapters, one wants to know the answers to the questions I raised above. Despite having had a few loose seasons, with the sixth they kept the ship afloat making it, perhaps, the best season of all. What happened? Without spoiling, the plot of the last season fell almost exclusively on Raymond Reddington, which also made the character of Dembe Zuma (Hisham Tawfiq), bodyguard and trusted friend of Raymond grow a lot.
The series may fall into some clichés of the genre, some characters may get bored, but there are also villains of the day with stories that surprise the original (and there was even a couple that came out saying “here you can exploit a length with this character”), No matter if the criticism is good or bad, you have to see James Spader playing Reddington because it is a cosmic kite.