S01.E01: Pilot

[PurpleTentacle]

Quote

Ex-government agent and one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives, Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader) mysteriously turns himself in to the FBI and offers to give up everyone he has ever worked with including a long-thought-dead terrorist but under one condition - he'll only talk to newly-minted female FBI profiler, Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) with whom he seemingly has no connection. For Liz, it's going to be one hell of a first day on the job and what follows is a twisting series of events as the race to stop a terrorist begins.

[PurpleTentacle]

Well this started kinda dumb "I just punctured your carotid". Girl, you stuck a pen in his neck, quite deep. That artery is not punctured, it is shreded and he dead. There is not coming back from that. Even if you are already on an operating table that would likely be fatal, but in some hotel room? Forget about it. Show over, I guess.

Other than that I am intrigued and was entertained. No idea how this is supposed to be sustainable for 10 freaking seasons, but I guess I'll see.

Just coming from a rewatch of Boston Legal I couldn't quite shake the image this being the same character and smirk about it a few times.

[dwmarch]

8 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Well this started kinda dumb

Looking back, it is good to know this show has been consistent.

8 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

No idea how this is supposed to be sustainable for 10 freaking seasons, but I guess I'll see.

It isn't. Mild spoiler for particularly bad episodes in later seasons:

Spoiler

If you make it past the disgusting weaponized beetles episodes there's always the killer sex robots to look forward to. I am not joking.

Seriously, if you count up the hours it will take to watch this show and you measure that against something else you could be doing with your time you'll find that something else to be a much better return on investment. I'm not saying you can't enjoy the show. Perhaps something in it will speak to your tastes; to each their own. But the prevailing opinion around here tends to be that this is a hate watch show mostly used for honing snark and tolerance for nonsense. When I saw that there had been a post in the forum, I said "is this dumbass show back on again?"

I wish you well in your journey. Let us know how it goes.

[PurpleTentacle]

1 hour ago, dwmarch said:

Seriously, if you count up the hours it will take to watch this show and you measure that against something else you could be doing with your time you'll find that something else to be a much better return on investment.

I am three episodes in now and pretty bored, I have to say.

I think I'll give it a season, partly to see the horrible german it reportedly has in it, but probably not more. If I don't have anything else to watch I might as well pick up Blindspot again. That isn't great either, but at least it has Ashley Johnson and it held my attention a bit better than this.

2 hours ago, dwmarch said:

But the prevailing opinion around here tends to be that this is a hate watch show mostly used for honing snark and tolerance for nonsense.

I do love a good hate-watch. But so far it's too boring for me to think that it's worth it, especially with how many episodes there are. There is also not that much to hate going on, as of yet. It's just not very interesting. Maybe if you were watching it live... So far it certainly hasn't reached the levels of the Handmaid's tale or Foundation in terms of hatewatchability.

Thanks for the warning, anyway. Maybe after season one I'll just skip to the latest season to see how bonkers it has gotten. Hopefully it will be a good hatewatch then.

[b4pjoe]

Season one was actually the good season. It goes downhill after that.

[dwmarch]

27 minutes ago, PurpleTentacle said:

If I don't have anything else to watch I might as well pick up Blindspot again. That isn't great either, but at least it has Ashley Johnson and it held my attention a bit better than this.

Blindspot was a little too angsty in its first season but later on they started to embrace some humor on the show and I think it worked a lot better. Blindspot has similar shortcomings to The Blacklist (since they're basically the same show) but I'd much rather watch Blindspot again. And as you have noticed, Ashley Johnson is a highlight. I had an irrational dislike for her (she kept popping up in Joss Whedon productions) until this show but now I love her.

[PurpleTentacle]

37 minutes ago, dwmarch said:

Blindspot was a little too angsty in its first season but later on they started to embrace some humor on the show and I think it worked a lot better. Blindspot has similar shortcomings to The Blacklist (since they're basically the same show) but I'd much rather watch Blindspot again.

That's good to know. I stoped somewhere in season 1. I like a show that doesn't take itself too seriously, if it clearly isn't a serious drama anyway, but just a case of the week procedural. Humor can make up for some shortcomings.

39 minutes ago, dwmarch said:

And as you have noticed, Ashley Johnson is a highlight. I had an irrational dislike for her (she kept popping up in Joss Whedon productions) until this show but now I love her.

She did? The only thing I can find on her IMDB is two episodes of Dollhouse.

I first knew her from The Last of Us and later from critical role. So I loved her from the start. Also you know, somebody who xeroxed the anarchist cookbook as a teen can't be a bad person. Those are my kinds of people.

57 minutes ago, b4pjoe said:

Season one was actually the good season. It goes downhill after that.

That might actually be detrimental to the hatewatchability.

[StewieGriffin]

I couldn't imagine going back and watching all 9 seasons of this show in bulk. It had it's moments sure but that's a lot of time to invest in it.  I've only stuck with it since I watched it since day 1 going on 10 years ago so gotta see how it ends.  I keep hoping every season will be the last but it just keeps going.