Rating: 4/5

Three-Word Summary: Good bad guy

If it weren’t for James Spader, The Blacklist would be just another run-of-the-mill crime drama.

As luck would have it, they do have James Spader (not only as the lead actor, but also the executive producer) and so the show isn’t simply average.

Spader plays Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington, a world-renown criminal who works with the FBI to catch unknown criminals on his epinomous Blacklist. His only stipulation is that he only works with rookie agent Elizabeth Keen.

Despite being in a number of dangerous situations, Reddington never loses his cool and always manages to be one step ahead of his rivals. The best part of his act is his random storytelling — usually while in the midst of dire circumstances, Reddington launches into a seemingly unrelated tale, only to have it finish with an applicable moral just as he enacts his own form of twisted justice.

At first, the show seems pedestrian and predictable. But as it progresses, the plot becomes more and more twisted. The audience isn’t certain if Reddington is helping the FBI and Keen, or simply using them to promote his own self-interest.

One thing is certain — the names on the Blacklist are somehow connected, making each episode more interesting that the typical villain-of-the-week model. Each case brings us gradually closer to the truth of Reddington’s purpose and to revealing Keen’s mysterious past.

This suspense is slowly teased out over the course of the first two seasons. Not everything is revealed right away, but enough hints are dropped to keep the audience interested. It’s like gradually reeling in a fish and must be done at a steady but deliberate pace.

The show still falls prey to plenty of the routine crime show tropes, but does enough to distinguish itself as different to keep it interesting. There is plenty of bad acting from minor characters, but Spader’s remarkable effort works to outshine their shortcomings.

All in all, The Blacklist manages to be an above average program, thanks in most part to the bravado of James Spader’s lead as a manic, but delightful criminal mastermind.