The Blacklist, Season 4
created by Jon Bokenkamp (2016-2017)
Same old, same old, with one major plot thread simply aborted when the show paints itself into a corner. James Spader remains good value but the true shining light is Amir Arison (Agent Mojtabai), who is given more screen time this season.
The Blacklist, Season 3
created by Jon Bokenkamp (2016)
To give the writers credit, they keep finding ways to generate intrigue and extricate Reddington and Co. from plot cul-de-sacs, hooking viewers at the end of one season and reeling them all the way through the next. Characterisation, however, has mostly stagnated.
The Blacklist, Season 2
created by Jon Bokenkamp (2014-2015)
James Spader takes up where he left off as the manipulative but morally ambiguous Raymond Reddington, a charismatic criminal who has forged a relationship with and within an FBI black ops taskforce. The plotline compels even while approaching the incredulity event horizon.
The Blacklist, Season 1
created by Jon Bokenkamp (2013-2014)
The Blacklist succeeds thanks largely to a recrudescent James Spader, who in playing Machiavellian crime broker Raymond Reddington manages to be at once openly patronising of the FBI’s flatfooted excesses and, we might suspect, quietly scathing of American crime drama in general.