James Spader
Megan Boone
Diego Klattenhoff
Harry Lennix
Ryan Eggold
Amir Arison
Mozhan Marnò

Created by:
Jon Bokenkamp

2013-
Crime, Drama, Mystery
NBC
TV-14

James Spader, as Raymond “Red” Reddington, is the only reason to watch “The Blacklist.” He’s reliably smart and sharp, and he’s having a lot of fun with his character. But there’s not enough of him for most of the first season. The use of his pet-project detective, Lizzy, as the center of the show is woefully misguided. She’s not interesting at all. She’s beyond vanilla, and Megan Boone gives an uninspired, milquetoast performance. I don’t care about that character at all. Give me more Spader. This show would be brilliant with him as its sole focus. I would love to get into his character’s head even more. Watch this to see Spader do his thing; ignore everything else. …

About two-thirds of the way through the first season, “The Blacklist” finally begins to gel … finally. They dragged-out the Lizzy story line until that time, for no reason. That story line still doesn’t interest me that much, but at least it has a little bit of energy behind it now. They should’ve gotten to this point within the first third of the first season. I still don’t like the way that the Lizzy character is portrayed, though. She still pales in comparison to Spader’s Reddington. In a revealing scene during the first season’s 20th episode, when she calls Red a monster, she just withers under Spader’s presence; and the opposite should have been the case. Lizzy should go toe-to-toe with Reddington, especially by now, yet he maintains the upper-hand. A major change needs to occur.

Right now, “The Blacklist” is somewhat good; but, again, it could be great. The revelations have come a little too late to make up for the lack of compelling moments involving Lizzy. If they had sped-up the delivery of those revelations, then this show would’ve been able to hide some of the flaws in that story line. As it is, if you have patience, you may wind-up liking “The Blacklist” a little more by the end of its first season; but it’s not what it could be. Not even close. …

The second season of “The Blacklist” is certainly better than the first. It’s more consistent; there’s more of Spader’s Reddington; and Boone’s Lizzie begins to come into her own. Still, Reddington is the only true leading character here. He should just get a spin-off show so that his character can spread his wings and fly. I’ll fly away with him.

(By the way, I can’t completely fault Boone for the problems with her character. Lizzie’s not written as compellingly as she needs to be in order to hold her own against Reddington. That doesn’t mean that Boone is blameless, far from it. In contrast, the rest of the ensemble’s pretty solid. So, no problem there.)

Verdict: OK to Somewhat Good

About: (Source: blacklist)

For decades, ex-government agent Raymond “Red” Reddington (James Spader, “The Office,” “Boston Legal”) has been one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives. Brokering shadowy deals for criminals across the globe, Red was known by many as “The Concierge of Crime.” Last season, he mysteriously surrendered to the FBI… but now the FBI works for him as he identifies a “blacklist” of politicians, mobsters, spies and international terrorists. He will help catch them all – with the caveat that Elizabeth “Liz” Keen (Megan Boone, “Law & Order: Los Angeles”) continues to work as his partner. Red will teach Liz to think like a criminal and see the bigger picture… whether she wants to or not. Also starring are Diego Klattenhoff (“Homeland”), Harry Lennix (“Man of Steel”), Amir Arison (“Girls”) and Mozhan Marno (“House of Cards”).

Jon Bokenkamp (“The Call,” “Taking Lives”), John Eisendrath (“Alias”), John Davis (“Predator,” “I, Robot,” “Chronicle”), John Fox and Michael Watkins (“The X-Files”) serve as executive producers. “The Blacklist” is a production of Sony Pictures Television and Davis Entertainment.