The New Black

It's premiere week for most of this fall's new shows. Yesterday, I wrote about the show most looked forward to in my circle of friends, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. But backing up to Monday night, the new series that really grabbed my attention was The Blacklist.

James Spader stars as a criminal mastermind who turns himself into the F.B.I. to begin helping them capture his former associates, under one major condition: he'll only provide his information to a fresh-out-of-the-academy agent. She has no idea what their connection is, but he seems to know things about her even she doesn't know -- such as the fact that her loving husband is not who he appears to be.

The pilot was a well executed blend of intrigue and action, and set the table for an interesting series. It could be compared to a variety of earlier TV series and movies, and yet isn't quite exactly like any of them. The naive young agent sucked into the web of a brilliant evil mastermind might most evoke the character setup of The Silence of the Lambs... but the agent's kick-ass adventures in the field were reminiscent of the series Alias.

By the end of the pilot, the series felt poised at an interesting crossroads. There were enough tantalizing threads of continuing plot lines to suggest a compelling, serialized adventure ahead. But there was also a clear procedural format established, implying an easy episodic format for the show. Impressively, either one of those potential series seemed equally watchable to me. And of course, there's also the third option, that The Blacklist finds a clever balance between those two extremes.

An intriguing premise, a compelling cast, and deft writing in the pilot. I give the first episode of The Blacklist an A-. I'll definitely be looking forward to Mondays.