The Blacklist Season Six

Channel: NBC

Starring: James Spader, Megan Boone, Diego Klattenhof, Harry Lennix, Amir Arison, Mozhan Marno and Hisham Tawfiq

Creator: Jon Bokenkamp

IMDb Rating | 8.7

Humpo Show Rating | 8.8

The Blacklist has recently finished its sixth season and it continues to deliver twenty-odd episodes that are packed full of incredible twists, turns, revelations and mystery. We have Reddington in prison, a plot against America, and the ever-present storyline about Liz’s identity progresses to more interesting levels.

Season six has been a fantastic season – perhaps my favourite so far – and has been full of intriguing villains with a plethora of improbable escapes and near misses. That description pretty much sums up every Blacklist season so far. The standard Bokenkamp, cast and crew have maintained since 2013 has been incredible.

The first half of the season focuses on Reddington’s time in prison, how he manages to operate from there and his defence in regards to the charges levelled against him. I loved the courtroom scenes, his debating skills, one liners and intelligence is on full display here and Spader is just an exceptional actor to watch. He really embodies the criminal mastermind character that he is tasked to portray.

This season sees some more character development for the supporting characters, in particular Aram, Samar and Dembe. It was interesting to have a storyline focused on Aram and Samar’s relationship, dealing with Samar’s condition following events in the latter half of season five. The real life consequences that they have to live with and how to manage the condition is a nice subplot to have while the main action is happening. The conclusion of that storyline was a wow moment. Dembe’s character development is a little more understated and subtle, but nonetheless important to have since he has become an integral part of the show.

The second half of the show focuses on more cabal-related storylines and explorations of Reddington’s past. The latter thread has carried the back portion of the season, particularly the all-flashback episode unveiling how ‘Reddington’ became Reddington.

The threads involving the cabal and the treacherous Anna McMahon (Jennifer Ferrin) and President Diaz (Benito Martinez) didn’t deliver as much intrigue as I hoped. Not enough time was given to McMahon’s character, motives and development and there needed to be a more worthwhile journey in regards to the McMahon/Diaz/Third Estate which has rumbled on in the second half of the season – apparently the seventh season is to explore the ripple effect from events in season six’s finale.

There are countless episodes which I loved, but a few to mention are Minister D – we get to know more about Reddington and Katarina in the form of a courtroom drama; Robert Vesco – who doesn’t love a good heist; The Osterman Umbrella Company – a secret organization of assassins hired by global intelligence agencies to eliminate former agents…what’s not to love; and Rassvet – an episode dedicated to ‘Reddington’ and Katarina’s past.

Twists have become part and parcel with The Blacklist since the beginning, and season six does not disappoint. It is also set up nicely for the seventh season, which is to air in the US in the autumn.

The Humpo Show | Richard