“The Blacklist: The Complete First Season” is a magnificent television series worth checking out! Riveting, exciting and one of the best drama series on television! The acting, the writing, the overall production value, everything about this series is top notch and also unpredictable. So, if you are looking for a series worth watching, “The Blacklist: The Complete First Season” is highly recommended!
TITLE: Blacklist: The Complete First Season
YEAR OF TV SERIES: 2014
DURATION: 22 Episodes (939 Minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: Widescreen (1:78:1), English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French
RATED: NOT RATED
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Released Dated: August 12, 2014
Directed by Michael W. Watkins, Vincent Misiano, Joe Carnahan, Michael Zinberg, Jace Alexander, Adam Arkin, Nick Gomez, Stephen Surjik, Steven A. Adelson, Paul A. Edwards, Karen Gaviola, Dan Lerner, Peter Werner, Randall Zisk
Written by Elizabeth Benjamin, Jon Bokenkamp, Jim Capolongo, Joe Carnahan, Richard D’Ovidio, John Eisendrath, Jason George, John C. Kelley, Brandon Margolis, Patrick Massett, J.R. Orci, Lukas Reiter, Jonathan Shapiro, Amanda Kate Shuman, Brandon Sonnier, Anthony Sparks, Daniel Voll, Wendy West, John Zinman
Produced by Timothy Silver, Douglas Rowell, Tony Salama, Trever Stewart
Co-Producer: Alex Cuthbertson, Matt Fusfeld, Timothy Silver
Executive Producer: Tristram Shapeero, Jaes Fino, Joe Russo
Co-Executive Producer: Erik Sommers
Associate Producer: Andres Anglade
Consulting Producer: Adam Countee
Music by Ludwig Goransson
Cinematography by Gary Hatfield
Edited by Christian Kinnard, Luke Guidici
Casting by Josh Einsohn
Production Design by Denise Pizzini
Set Decoration by Denise Pizzini
Art Diretion by John B. Vertrees
Costume Design by Sabrina Rosen
Starring:
James Spader as Raymond “Red” Reddington
Megan Boone as Elizabeth Keen
Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler
Ryan Eggold as Tom Keen
Harry Lennix as Harold Cooper
Parminder Nagra as Agent Meera Malik
Hisham Tawfiq as Dembe
Amir Arison as Aram Mjtabai
Debora S. Craig as Luli
Rachel Brosnahan as Jolene
Alan Alda as Fitch
Charles Baker as Grey
Jane Alexander as Diane Flower
In 2013, the series “The Blacklist” starring James Spader (“Boston Legal”, “Stargate”, “Lincoln”), Megan Boone (“My Bloody Valentine”, “Step Up Revolution”), Ryan Eggold (“90210”, “Queen”, “Trophy Kids”), Parminder Nagra (“Bend It Like Beckham”, “ER”) and Harry Lennix (“Man of Steel”, “Ray”, “The Matrix Revolutions”) became a breakout hit for NBC.
Receiving critical acclaim from critics and nominated for many awards, “Blacklist: The Complete First Season” will be available on DVD courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
“The Blacklist” revolves around former government agent and one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives, Raymond “Red” Reddington (portrayed by James Spader) surrendering at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Because of the terrorist threats against America, Reddington offers to help the FBI under one condition, he will only work with one person in the FBI, rookie FBI profiler, Elizabeth Keen (portrayed by Megan Boone).
For Megan, she looks at her new job as a great paying job that she and her husband Tom (portrayed by Ryan Eggold) can finally start having a family. But in the first case to capture the terrorist, her husband was captured, tortured and nearly was killed.
And as she continues to work with Reddington, it is unclear why he chose her and why he knows so much about her. But he appears to also know something about Tom and that he may not be the man that she thinks he is…or is this part of Reddington’s way of getting closer to her?
And after the first case of capturing the first terrorist, Reddington reveals that there are more criminals with the intent to do great harm and he can help the FBI neutralize them, as he has created a “blacklist” of criminals/terrorists worldwide. Especially those that the FBI are not aware of.
Thus forcing FBI Special Agent Elizabeth Keen to work closely with Reddington. But what is he hiding?
The main characters of “Blacklist” are:
- Raymond “Red” Reddington – A former government agent and FBI fugitive who aids the FBI in capturing criminals/terrorists worldwide but only wants to work with FBI Special Agent Elizabeth Keen.
- FBI Special Agent Elizabeth Keen – A rookie profiler who had a tragic childhood. Not sure why “Red” chose to work with her. Wants to have a family with her husband Tom.
- FBI Agent Donald Ressler – Keen’s FBI partner.
- Tom Keen – Elizabeth’s husband who wants to adopt a child. But behind this young man who is trying to look for a job and married to Elizabeth, is there more to him that Elizabeth is unaware of.
- CIA Field Agent Meera Malik – Assigned to Reddington’s security detail and often aiding FBI Special Agents Keen and Ressler.
- Assistant Director of the FBI Counterterrorism Division, Harold Cooper – Always watching over his agents’ backs but trying to figure out why Reddington is so interested in Elizabeth Keen.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“The Blacklist: The Complete First Season” is presented in 1:78:1 anamorphic widescreen and English 5.1 Dolby Digital. Picture quality on DVD is very good as the series is broken up in five discs with 4-5 episodes each. It’s important to note that if you want the best picture and audio quality, the Blu-ray release is the version to purchase. But on DVD, picture quality is good and I didn’t see any major problems with artifacts.
Subtitles are in English, English SDH and French.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Blacklist: The Complete First Season” comes with the following special features:
DISC 1:
- Commentary – Featuring an audio comemntary on the pilot episode with Jon Bokenkamp, John Eisendrath and Joe Carnahan.
- Beyond the Blacklist – (24:18) Featurettes for the first five episodes of the series with interviews with cast and crew.
DISC 2:
- Commentary on Anslo Garrick Part 1 – Featuring audio commentary with Jon Bokenkamp, John Eisendrath and Joe Carnahan.
- The Insider: Behind the Scenes of Season 1 – (13:59) Behind-the-scenes on the making of “The Blacklist”, working with James Spader and the other cast members.
- Beyond the Blacklist – (23:19) Featurettes for episodes 6-10 of the series with interviews with cast and crew.
DISC 3:
- Beyond the Blacklist – (18:12) Featurettes for episodes 11-14 of the series with interviews with cast and crew.
DISC 4:
- Beyond the Blacklist – (17:12) Featurettes for episodes 15-18 of the series with interviews with cast and crew.
DISC 5:
- Commentary on Berlin – Featuring audio commentary with Jon Bokenkamp, John Eisendrath and Joe Carnahan.
- Beyond the Blacklist – (17:48) Featurettes for episodes 19-22 of the series with interviews with cast and crew.
EXTRAS:
“The Blacklist: The Complete First Season” comes with a slip case.
Riveting, exciting and one of the best drama series on television!
“The Blacklist” was definitely a series that surprised me from beginning to end. The first half was riveting for the sake that the wanted fugitive “Red” has chosen to work with Elizabeth, a rookie profiler and just seeing the missions these two work on and at times, barely surviving.
But as the first half featured the working relationship between Red and Elizabeth and how Red has affected her marriage with Tom, some of the episodes featured are absolutely thrilling. From serial killers to murderers, these episodes were rather intriguing as the writers effectively planned each episode and escalating the tension. And it’s a series that writers were able to take risks and making sure that characters, some that begin to grow on you, may or may not survive.
But the writers were also great at connecting the dots with each character, how the stories have all have a connection and leading to its excellent final episodes with some questions resolved, while many questions are created and will no doubt lead to what hopes to be a magnificent season two.
As always, James Spader has managed to bring something special to this series. May it be his stoic yet suave behavior, his stylish presentation but also knowing that this man is quite deadly and not sure if he could be trusted.
Megan Boone does a wonderful job of playing an FBI Special Agent but also a woman that tends to show her strengths with each episode and to see her put through a lot of unfortunate situations but yet, hopefully becoming stronger.
These two individuals are rather fascinating as they are the ultimate odd couple trying to take down the world’s top criminals but yet, feeling this uneasiness that something big is going to happen and no doubt, there are many twists and turns along the way and if anything, the writing, the acting and overall production for “The Blacklist” is top notch.
As for the DVD, once again, if you want this series in the best quality, then the Blu-ray version is the way to go. Otherwise, the DVD does look very good. Not many artifacts can be seen, thanks to episodes being spread part on five discs. And you also get a plethora of special features including audio commentary included.
Overall, “The Blacklist: The Complete First Season” is a magnificent television series worth checking out!  Riveting, exciting and one of the best drama series on television! The acting, the writing, the overall production value, everything about this series is top notch and also unpredictable.
So, if you are looking for a series worth watching, “The Blacklist: The Complete First Season” is highly recommended!
