When utilizing Raymond “Red” Reddington, The Blacklist has to walk a very fine line. Red is sort of like a particular spice: throw in a pinch here and there and it’s fine, but overuse it, and everything just becomes a mess. Once Reddington sloppily sets up the premise for each week’s episode, he should only jump in occasionally. He should be mysterious, slightly dangerous, but still sort of likable. He should sometimes be funny, but NOT through an overly elaborate story that doesn’t exist for any reason other than to amuse himself and (I assume) the writers. After last week’s high point, “Dr. Linus Creel” continues this upturn by utilizing Reddington in exactly the way he should be used, and continuing with the entertaining weekly stories that add to the larger picture.
To do that this week, we are introduced to Dr. Linus Creel, played by David Constabile of Breaking Bad and Flight of the Conchords. He uses otherwise peaceful people who have an extreme warrior gene to test out his mind control experiments. The tests were originally created by the government in a project known as Sub Project 7, yet Creel has used it to test his own theories.
Really though, the whole story exists to get Elizabeth undercover to discuss her feelings towards her ex-husband, Tom, with Creel. Unlike Reddington—who probably has too much backstory—if that’s possible, Elizabeth’s character often plays like a blank slate. So, giving her a revenge/paranoia angle this season is a turn in the right direction.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
