After an extended hiatus, The Blacklist seems keen to ease again into its essential conflicts and storylines. The autumn finale upended the established order as soon as extra, with Liz (Megan Boone) and Katarina (Laila Robins) teaming as much as outsmart Reddington (James Spader), however the first episode in three months saved the familial turmoil on the again burner. As a substitute, “Victoria Fenberg” continued this season’s curiosity in additional topical procedural plotlines, to middling outcomes.
The Blacklist has all the time struggled to modulate between high-stakes episodes and the extra banal case-of-the-week fare. Substantial and/or violent occasions happen one week and within the subsequent week everyone seems to be again on the job, solely kind of acknowledging all the pieces that simply occurred. The present tries to gloss over these massive moments by making them a part of the textual content — Liz talks about how Reddington is avoiding or mendacity, for example. Though that is much less of a problem when there’s extra time between episodes, it nonetheless requires that the newest episode supply one thing compelling sufficient to distract from the dearth of give attention to season-long developments. This episode, sadly, didn’t meet that requirement.
The Blacklist Renewed for Season 8
Katarina was nowhere to be discovered, presumably hiding out as a part of her and Liz’s lengthy con on the unsuspecting (for now) Reddington. Father and daughter did not discuss a lot about prior occasions, both. Following Ressler’s (Diego Klattenhoff) recommendation, Liz performed dumb with Reddington and requested him if Katarina was the girl from Paris, and he predictably lied. That transient second served as a form of reset on the simmering pressure between the 2, but additionally underlined how lengthy they have been having this identical dialog. In any other case, the most important improvement to come back out of the primary story is that Liz confided in Ressler concerning her plan with Katarina — one other small constructing block for hopefully one thing higher afterward.
Aram (Amir Arison) skilled one other disaster of conscience when Elodie’s (Elizabeth Bogush) husband practically died, solely to fall proper again into the routine along with her. There’s an actual sense of dread hanging over Aram’s decisions with Elodie. Whether or not she’s maliciously working with Osterman Umbrella to seek out Samar or one thing much less evil, it is onerous to think about Aram getting away from Elodie unscathed. To that finish, the scenes right here performed effectively, however it felt like there was one beat lacking amid the hour’s different motion.
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And many of the motion in “Victoria Fenberg” did not match a few of The Blacklist‘s wilder “ripped from the headlines” procedural episodes. Whereas the basis conceit of a person making an attempt to get again at a Sackler-like household whose prescription drugs led to the dying of his son is intriguing, centering that pressure within the realm of artwork forgery could not maintain the stakes of the plot.
Each items of that story may have labored as a part of separate tales. Artwork forgery and heists make for excellent, enjoyable materials for Spader to chew on, and there is actual gravitas to a narrative about crusading in opposition to evil pharma. Collectively, although, they mitigated the influence of every element. The weirder the present might be with these circumstances, the higher. This one was not bizarre sufficient.
It should take a while to ramp again up the strain between the central characters, however even in lockdown circumstances, this was not an attention-holding hour of The Blacklist.
The Blacklist airs Fridays at 8/7c on NBC.