The Blacklist
Red Returns Tonight
Season 2 Premiere

9/22/2014

Is the second season premiere of The Blacklist really already here? Summer always fools me. It seems long enough that I can get everything done before fall comes around, but there are always so many distractions. I saw some great movies and wrote about a couple of them, got caught up on the breathtakingly intense Game of Thrones again, started the intriguing Orphan Black and restarted the hilarious Red Vs. Blue after a decade break. I spent the rest of the summer never finding the time for rewatches of The Blacklist, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Fringe. I had so much work with my new second job that I had only small free periods where I would choose to blog about shirts or play GTAV. That resulted in not finishing a bunch of posts about this series (or really any other) or all the GIFs I'd been excited about making.

So without the benefit of important episodes fresh in my mind, I have to complete this based on what I had written already, which was actually quite a lot. Always at the forefront are the many emotional moments, moments where the emotion is given time to sink in rather than quickly cutting away like so many other series. James Spader being one of the most gifted actors, I was immediately invested. When Red isn't quipping up a storm or innocently marveling at the skill of an acquaintance, jovial moments the series needs, his facade drops away and we see the damaged, dangerous man underneath who is equally at home holding Liz's hand as he is getting the upper hand with a serial killer. His grief-stricken heart has compassion for the wronged, but he can be cold and callous if you get in his way.

All of these things made this series such a perfect surprise last year. If it had been cancelled after the finale, it would have been one of the true tragedies of the fickle television landscape. I would have felt that way even very early on, after the deep dark of the fourth episode, The Stewmaker; that's how quickly The Blacklist established itself as a series that deserved to be finished the right way. But luckily enough, it was such a juggernaut that it was renewed after only nine weeks. I hope this season keeps that momentum at the very least until we find out what the deal is with Red and Liz, because that is the core that the series still hasn't been fully revealed. We think we know some of it, but we can't be sure of anything other than Liz's past is unknown to her and Red and Berlin are two fathers who lost children and never let go.

NEXT, PART 2 - IS RED THE MONSTER BERLIN BELIEVES HIM TO BE?

Get The Blacklist on Blu-ray, DVD or Amazon Instant Video where the Pilot episode is currently free.