"A new FBI profiler, Elizabeth Keen, has her entire life uprooted when a mysterious criminal, Raymond Reddington, who has eluded capture for decades, turns himself in and insists on speaking only to her."
I've been following the show since it's first episode and the character of Raymond Reddington is played superbly by Spader. He turned himself in to the FBI as the one of the world's most-wanted criminals, but only on the agreement that he works with Elizabeth Keen (Boone), whom he will divulge the identities of notorious criminals from a blacklist of names, so that a new division of the FBI can work with Reddington to take down these criminals.
Throughout the first five seasons there has been subterfuge galore from Reddington and Tom Keene's (Eggold) part of the stories, each, being both insidious and protective, depending on the moment.
The show was a hoot in season one, got interesting in seasons two and three, but started to feel like it was falling down a rabbit hole of predictability in the fourth season with it's government conspiracies.
I had stashed season five on my DVR to watch at my leisure and recently powered through the fifth season. It started off what felt like it was jumping the shark and getting lame, but then events by about three or four episodes in take a turn for the better in a fascinating set of events that pushed the story forward and suddenly I found myself fully engaged by the multiple threads of drama that developed throughout the rest of the fifth season.
It became a truly fascinating show after that.
And the season ended on one hell of a cliffhanger kind of ending, where it wasn't really a cliffhanger, because it answered a sseason long question, but WOW, it was one hell of an answer that set in motion what could be some amazing new story twists.
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So rather than funnel down the drain by sticking to a predictable story direction after the end of season four, they took a brave turn with the 'pen' and took the story down a different path that was a pleasure to experience.
We've been watching Spader for years and this role of "Raymond Reddington" is perfect for him. He portrays a master criminal with a million dirty contacts to manipulate the world to his choosing, while looking out for those that are important to him.
Meanwhile, this fifth season was pivotal in Elizabeth Keene's character moving forward. By the end of this season, she was a different person than one who started the season.
We found a few situations where the FBI reluctantly had to turn to Reddington for his help, not to mention the introduction to a few new characters that give Reddington a run for his money.
Now I can't wait for the sixth season to kick it in gear and see where they go with this new story development.
Yes, I have been vague about details of this season, no spoilers, right? But all I am going to say is that there is one duffel bag that everyone ends up chasing throughout the entire season, until... well, you'll see.
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We are just at episode 19 or 20 of this season, we almost gave up after the season where she had the baby as it was just dire.
ReplyDeleteTell me about it.. I felt like the show was getting a good run on for jumping a shark. AND the first few eps of this last season felt way too over the top... but then... BAM! They changed it up nicely and boy, you better be sitting down for that last episode!!!
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