The Blacklist 1.03 Review: Everybody Needs Somebody

Anyone that has yet to watch yesterday’s episode of The Blacklist, titled ‘No. 84: Wujing’, then please do so now. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! Proceed at your own discretion.

Wow. This series just seems to keep getting better and better every week. A nice slow build to the answers we seek, while continuing to pose new questions after every answer we do get. It’s such a thrill-seeking ride watching this show each week, so intense, never a second spent bored or hoping it’ll be over soon. When the end of an episode comes, it comes all too soon, but particularly well done.

Every week watching this – though there has only been three episodes – I have this satisfied feeling that only truly good television can give you after watching it for the first time. The writing is just beyond spectacular or this series. Each week I come in thinking I know what’s going on, but they just seem to be able to change my perspective and opinion at the drop of a hat. And I’m not even disappointed when I get things wrong. And I’ve said it before, but I’m going to keep on saying it until it’s no longer true, the music for this series is breathtaking. It fits perfectly into the scenes it’s chosen for, and while the episodes always seem to open and close with perfect songs, the pattern of use has not grown tedious.

The characters are also very well done. While I’ve said how much I enjoy both Reddington’s character and Keen’s, despite a few flaws, I haven’t said anything about the CIA agent from last week. Although I did express my fondness over the execution of a line she spoke last episode, in this episode she seemed to have a depth of emotion that I really enjoyed seeing. I definitely want this woman to stick around for a while. Donald is another character I’ve become partial to. I know I expressed my desire to see the chemistry between him and Keen flourish, I also like how well built he seems as his own person. This series does very well developing their characters into three-dimensional beings. I very much feel like these people could exist. The one character I would like more interaction with is Cooper, played by the brilliant Harry Lennix.

There are definitely a great deal of questions that have both popped up in this episode, and been further developed. If Reddington is not Keen’s father, who is he? He didn’t completely reject that it wasn’t him, but it no longer seems so. Is the man with the apple surveying Keen her father? If Reddington’s not the father, what could possibly cause him to want Keen in his life so extremely and so protectively? What is up with the husband? Why were the bullets from his supposed gun found at a classified homicide? And finally, what was with the number 042983? Was it an offshore bank account?

I have to take note of one particular scene in this episode, which also relates to another scene. The point where Reddington and Keen are in the car, and she’s asked him her question, and then she goes on to express how she has people and he only has himself. Boone did quite well in expressing the fact she has people she cares about, and then Spader did wonderfully in saying he had her. That also led to the paralleling scenes where she is surrounded by people she cares about, and he only has himself to eat dinner with. I honestly could not help but feel bad for him, looking so very lonely there. There has got to be more than just feelings of regret, or needing to repay a debt to Keen’s father, for Reddington to want to be so readily in her life.

This series is so unbelievably smartly written. It’s honestly no wonder it was the first series of the year to get a full season pick up. I’m just so incredibly excited to keep continuing on this journey with these characters, with no threat of early cancellation. I can genuinely say that this may be my favourite new series of the season, barring any series I have yet to watch. But the fact that this one is put together so beautifully, and poetically, makes me doubt that any could challenge it.

My rating: 8 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“I prefer to play with myself in private.” – Reddington says, referring to his game of chess, with clever sexual innuendos.

“Friends don’t let friends starve when they’ve been stabbed by violent psychopaths.” – A friend of the Keens’s says, referring to the first episode where Liz’s husband was stabbed. (Yes, I’ve forgotten the name of the character, I have a terrible memory.)

“That’s what they said about deep throat. And the G spot.” – Reddington says to Keen, after she states Wujing is only a myth.

“’Thank you, Aram.’ ‘You’re welcome.’” – Aram, the FBI agent tech guy, whom I hope is back for future episodes, he’s hilarious.

All right, time for dishes for me. Then The Originals is up, followed by one of the sitcoms (New Girl and Trophy Wife) with Supernatural following, and ending with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.