The Blacklist : Tue Oct 14, 2014 3:08 pm  

Anyone else watch this?

It had totally passed me by until I saw a trail for season 2; I'm a fan of James Spader, so I downloaded season 1 on catch-up and gave it a go - pleasantly surprised to say the least! Despite the high concept hokum that underpins the whole idea, it's actually very entertaining - a kind of FBI procedural meets conspiracy theory storyline, with Spader chewing scenery as a former special agent turned criminal mastermind. It has some truly daft ideas, but they're well executed and it's great to look at. It's far from The Wire, but definitely a worthwhile diversion!

Strangely, I'd recommend it.

Re: The Blacklist : Wed Oct 15, 2014 8:10 am  

I don't mind it, and really enjoyed the start but it's getting very familiar. I've found you could miss the odd episode not miss anything storyline wise if you know what I mean. It has some very good storylines and yet some predictable ones, for example you could see the father/daughter thing, the Tom Keane twist and now the relationship between Keane and a her fellow detective, a mile off. Personally I will continue to watch and recommend it to people but I think it needs to tie up a few endings and take a different route.

Re: The Blacklist : Wed Oct 29, 2014 1:19 pm  

I watched the first season to the end but it faded badly and I was forcing myself to watch it by the end. Interesting concept at the start but as mentioned there's no flow and the storyline became increasingly hard to believe in for me.

Haven't watched any of season 2 as yet.

[TimperleySaint]

Re: The Blacklist : Wed Oct 29, 2014 2:50 pm  

It's one of those shows that is an easy watch, with the odd plot twist to keep you interested. But as already been said, it's all very familiar with generally the same story line every episode - don't see how it can go further than a couple of seasons without a complete change over direction.

Re: The Blacklist : Sat Nov 01, 2014 10:14 pm  

bren2k wrote:

Anyone else watch this?

It had totally passed me by until I saw a trail for season 2; I'm a fan of James Spader, so I downloaded season 1 on catch-up and gave it a go - pleasantly surprised to say the least! Despite the high concept hokum that underpins the whole idea, it's actually very entertaining - a kind of FBI procedural meets conspiracy theory storyline, with Spader chewing scenery as a former special agent turned criminal mastermind. It has some truly daft ideas, but they're well executed and it's great to look at. It's far from The Wire, but definitely a worthwhile diversion!

Strangely, I'd recommend it.

Very much like you I have begun watching this after completely missing the first series despite earmarking it as something I'd like to watch when I saw the series 1 promos on SKY.

The parallels with Silence of the Lambs are there but that's no bad thing, the series is slick and well written, the plots are well hidden and not easy to predict. There's some great acting and actors involved with Spader being the key stone that holds the structure of the show in place.

Re: The Blacklist : Wed Nov 05, 2014 8:11 pm  

If I were to average out the acting ability across the entire show - with 10 being "actor" and 0 being "glamour model" and then took out James Spader I doubt we'd get above 2.

Re: The Blacklist : Thu Nov 06, 2014 11:37 am  

I agree there's more wood on display than Oak Furniture World; Deputy Director Cooper is probably the worst culprit, without the saving grace of Agent Keene's easiness on the eye.

All of that notwithstanding, I find it enjoyable, and James Spader seems to be doing the same.