James Spader stars in NBC's The Blacklist

I've liked James Spader for years, but I wasn't a really big fan until he was on The Office. I was a little disappointed though with where they took his character, Robert California. I thought he was amazing in the first few episodes he was in, and I was concerned that the writers wouldn't be able to keep up writing such brilliant dialogue for him. It turned out my concern was warranted. The things Robert said got less and less interesting as the season went on. I don't think the writers had any idea what to do with the character, which is a shame because he had so much potential, and was such a great fit for the show. This disappointment had nothing to do with Spader though, and I remained a big fan of his. (I'm also excited about him playing Ultron in The Avengers: Age Of Ultron!) When I heard about a new show that Spader was in called The Blacklist, naturally I was interested.



In the show, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, Raymond "Red" Reddington (played by Spader), surrenders with intentions to collaborate with the FBI to apprehend other dangerous criminals. The catch is that he'll only speak to Elizabeth Keen (played by Megan Boone), an FBI profiler who's starting her very first day on the job. I know the premise sounds very Hannibal Lecter, but without the cannibalism. It's certainly not the most original show, but I'm not holding that against it. I watched the trailer for The Blacklist a while back, and I mostly loved it, aside from the horrendously cheesy and heavy-handed music choices. I was really looking forward to checking out the series.

Last night the pilot episode aired. How I felt about it was pretty much the same as how I felt about the trailer. Spader was absolutely incredible. I was hoping the awful music choices were just a characteristic of the trailer, but they were possibly even worse in the pilot. The eye roll inducing soundtrack perhaps reached its embarrassing peak when that cover of "99 Problems" started playing instead of allowing a subtly chilling moment between Special Agent Keen and the seemingly omniscient Reddington to resonate properly. The show would be so much better if it just had an instrumental score.

I also don't really care for Special Agent Keen. I'm not sure if it's the writing, or if it's Megan Boone's acting that is the problem. Possibly both. Maybe casting someone else would have been better. I also disliked pretty much every scene that had to do with Keen's personal life. It's not like I usually have a problem with that kind of stuff, but it was just bad in this show. Her introduction in the episode where she and her husband are getting ready in the morning had me cringing the whole way through it. Of course the aforementioned soundtrack to that sequence was at least partially to blame.

I will definitely watch more of the series, even if just for more of Spader's performance, but I hope Boone's performance grows on me, and I hope that they just do away with the cheesy and heavy-handed music choices altogether. I heard Isabella Rossellini will be guest-starring in an upcoming episode, so I'll be looking forward to that. I don't know if it will happen, but I'd love to see her and Spader have a scene together.