• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Blacklist - Mondays 10/9c on NBC

-shadow-

Member
The first episode has already aired? Damn I need to find a place to watch it since RTL here is so damn slow with airing new seasons. Especially since they decided to air CSI Cyber first and then (persumeably) the new season and I'm not waiting for that. The previous season finale has me way to pumped for another for months of waiting.
 

squadr0n

Member
This is the best show on TV atm. Didn't give it a chance when the first season was on but after watching the series in full I'm blown away. Great plot, great characters, and a great lead (Reddington of course). The acting can be a little shotty here and there but overall a great show.

Red is obviously her uncle.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
Best season yet so far? Like I said before no idea where this is going, its not even a procedural case of the week anymore, the show has completely morphed.
 
Best season yet so far? Like I said before no idea where this is going, its not even a procedural case of the week anymore, the show has completely morphed.

Pretty much. I had always wanted more character-centric episodes, rather than the focus on criminals that we only gave a shit about for a single episode.
 
I like the show, but the character of Keen is becoming nigh unbearable for me to watch. I struggle to see how she is a Special Agent with the FBI, almost everyone on her team seems more capable than she. She breaks down all the time, seems to misplace her spine every time a new situation arises, and seems almost helpless.

Thank God for Reddington. As much as I hate watching Keen look helplessly at him while he has to get her out of trouble, I'm glad that at least she is giving him opportunities to do his badass stuff.

Also, agreed that this season at least is giving us something different. Enjoyed both the episodes. Just really have started disliking how irrational, out of control and helpless Keen seems. After so many times that Reddington has been right and she has been wrong, you would assume she would listen to his advice.

Sorry if I sound like a Debbie downer, but I AM enjoying this season, but its almost all due to Reddington and their situation, and not due to Keen.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
I like the show, but the character of Keen is becoming nigh unbearable for me to watch. I struggle to see how she is a Special Agent with the FBI, almost everyone on her team seems more capable than she. She breaks down all the time, seems to misplace her spine every time a new situation arises, and seems almost helpless.

Thank God for Reddington. As much as I hate watching Keen look helplessly at him while he has to get her out of trouble, I'm glad that at least she is giving him opportunities to do his badass stuff.

Also, agreed that this season at least is giving us something different. Enjoyed both the episodes. Just really have started disliking how irrational, out of control and helpless Keen seems. After so many times that Reddington has been right and she has been wrong, you would assume she would listen to his advice.

Sorry if I sound like a Debbie downer, but I AM enjoying this season, but its almost all due to Reddington and their situation, and not due to Keen.

it feels like you are watching season 1 while we are on season 3 :p
 
it feels like you are watching season 1 while we are on season 3 :p

Haha naah Rhaknar, I tolerated poor lizzie for 2 seasons, but I guess my patience is ebbing low by now.

Considering we'll continue to see her on TV while actually strong, interesting female characters like root, shaw and Control (all from Person of Interest) will be going off air after their final season does make me despondent.

Seriously, thank God for reddington. I can watch James spader chew scenery while talking about his weird/awesome experiences all day. :)
 

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
It was really slow last season.

It sure was. Couldn't believe a high-quality, high-profile show like this one would actually air a clip episode. I was kinda stunned.

This season is much better so far, though. It feels like they have a direction. Last season, it felt like they were caught flat-footed when they got renewed and didn't know how to keep the mystery and the plot going, so they stalled a lot of the time.
 

Anon67

Member
Yes season 3 is surprisingly good so far. It looks like it won't be a repeat of the previous season as season 2 was...
 

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
OK, Cooper sitting down in that restaurant was the best scene in the episode.

I must say, they rather deftly turned this show back into a case-of-the-week affair when it looked like it was turning serial. Now it's just "which bad person will Red and Liz take down on their way to getting to the Cabal director in episode 22?"
 

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
So I missed all of last season except for the the first few episodes.

What do I need to know to start this season?

If I can keep it all straight in my head ...

Tom Keen gets off the ship where Liz had held him captive and kills the shipyard guy who had been keeping it quiet for Liz. Liz gets pinned for the murder and The Cabal (the dudes running the world who don't like Red much but were leaving him alone because they thought he had incriminating evidence about them) orchestrates for her to be questioned under increasing scrutiny. Just when it looks like she's going to be charged, Red brings Tom out of hiding to testify on her behalf to get her off the hook. Then he escapes before he's arrested.

So about that incriminating evidence The Cabal thinks Red has on them? He doesn't have it, but he knows it's in "the Fulcrum," which only Liz knows the location of, but she doesn't remember anything about her past, so Red hypnotizes her or some shit to jog her memory. It works, and Liz remembers where the Fulcrum is. The Fulcrum ends up being an old datatape that indeed has a bunch of incriminating information about The Cabal. It was hidden in Liz's teddy bear from when she was a kid.

Liz finds out her mother was a KGB spy and her real heritage is Russian. Her birth name is Masha Rostova. Liz shows a member of The Cabal that the Fulcrum exists, which puts her on their shitlist. They frame an assassination attempt and a bombing at the CIA's Russian office on her. A member of The Cabal, the U.S. attorney general, was behind this as well as convincing the head of Liz's FBI team, Cooper, into thinking that he was dying and needed a special medication that he wouldn't get if he didn't do everything The Cabal told him to do (shady shit throughout the season). Cooper and Liz confront him, and he says he'll dismantle the FBI team, get Liz put in jail, get Ressler kicked out of the FBI for an addiction to Oxycontin he conveniently developed that season, get Samar extradited to Iran for killing some Iran dudes, etc. So Liz shoots him to death. After killing the attorney general, she had to run away with Red so she wouldn't be arrested.

Now Cooper has been kicked off the team because he was present for the murder of the attorney general and did nothing to stop Liz from running away. Ressler is in charge of the team and he, Samar and Aram are chasing Red and Liz.

I think that basically catches you up.
 

Altairre

Member
Haha naah Rhaknar, I tolerated poor lizzie for 2 seasons, but I guess my patience is ebbing low by now.

Considering we'll continue to see her on TV while actually strong, interesting female characters like root, shaw and Control (all from Person of Interest) will be going off air after their final season does make me despondent.

Seriously, thank God for reddington. I can watch James spader chew scenery while talking about his weird/awesome experiences all day. :)

I would watch the Blacklist with Root or Shaw as the main character.
 

BkMogul

Member
I don't know if this was mentioned, but did Red say (during his conversation at the end with Susan) that he didn't even know Eli? If so, why was his name (supposedly) on the List? I thought that was made up of people Red has associated with (or knows of) in the past.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
A mod really needs to change the thread title lol
 

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
I'm not done with this latest episode, but this random hillbilly kidnapping plot thread is beyond stupid.

My girlfriend got quite angry when Red was kidnapped. "He would never let that happen! He always has his guard up!" I really couldn't argue with her ... Red getting kidnapped by highway gang hillbillies was a stretch. I know they were trying to put him in a different situation to have fun with how he'd react, but it wasn't as fun as they probably envisioned, and it didn't seem plausible in the first place.

Seeing Liz act all girly to get that dude's guard down was more fun than watching Red interact with hillbillies. At least, it was until she got mostly worked over in her fight against him. You'd think she'd be a bit better at fights, being an FBI agent and all.

Hopefully you've watched the whole thing because now I'm going to make some comments about the ending.

Poor Dembe is always getting captured. You'd think he'd ask Red to let him walk away from it all at this point, especially when he apparently has a family. Liz running through the woods away from Ressler was kinda anti-climactic; maybe more dramatic cinematography would have helped, I don't know. Speaking of Ressler, dude was a total dick to Samar. And Aram throwing her under the bus wasn't cool, either, even if he was pissed about finding out she had slept with Ressler. (I don't really like that they had Ressler and Samar sleep with each other, anyway — it was out of nowhere, they don't seem to have any chemistry and it came off as kinda icky to me.)
 

-shadow-

Member
I found the episode rather fun, yes it wasn't the big bad or anything. But I liked that they were mixing it up a bit with some random idiots wanting some money and nothing else. I really liked the ending, I didn't expect this so early in the season, I was expecting this to happen somewhere much later, but were not even at the half way point. Really wondering what they're going to do the next episode because this really needs to go somewhere where you wouldn't expect it to go.

I'm pumped at least! :)
 

Magwik

Banned
I'm impressed that this is the third season and we are still talking in an OT made for S1 in 2013. The airing time isn't even correct lol.
Also this weeks episode was really fun. Wondering what's gonna come next.
 

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
A fourth season was never really in doubt considering how the economics of syndication work.

Not sure this show will get beyond that, though, considering it's in the very middle of the pack as far as scripted show ratings on NBC. I'm OK with that, though. I don't want the story to be dragged out for way too long. I think four seasons will be plenty.
 

IKizzLE

Member
Finally caught up.
Been a great season so far.

lol Samar and Ressler storyline right now. Your going to fire her over that?!? This is why you don't sleep with co workers....nothing good ever comes from it, especially in a situation when another co worker likes you smh.

But it seems so weird, I feel like there is a long con going on with Samar just up and getting fired.

And that black FBI lady was an idiot...really??? You couldn't put two and two together? The guy being investigated as a cabal member, your gonna talk to his CO alone? Without telling anyone?

Ahh well, cliffhanger already got me so cant wait for the return!
 

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
Blacklist returns tonight! Here's a little preview with photos at the link: http://www.screenspy.com/articles/tv/the-blacklist-3x09-images-the-director/

ScreenSpy said:
The two parter, “The Director, parts One and Two” will explore Liz’s fate from the moment she is processed by the FBI to the dramatic conclusion of a storyline that has been much of this season’s first half.

NBC teases that as Liz (Megan Boone) awaits trial Red (James Spader) and Aram (Amir Arison) take bold measures to ensure her protection.

Meanwhile, the Cabal, now deeply ingrained in the day to day affairs at the FBI, take steps of their own to ensure Liz never gets to testify to her part in the killing of the Attorney General.
 

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
"Gather your team. It's time to take down the Cabal."

YEAAAH


Good episode. Very tense. Aram is the white knight Liz needed. I wonder how Red will have to pay back Aram later on.
 

Jhoan

Member
Spader's acting has been fantastic. The guy was born to play bad ass roles. Been watching the past several episodes after Heroes Reborn and I can see why the show has a cult following. Never saw the previous seasons. Next week's episode looks pretty good.
 
Top Bottom