The Blacklist: The Complete Seventh Season - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Blacklist: The Complete Seventh Season



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
I’m actually surprised that The Blacklist is still airing. I remember 7 years ago being MASSIVELY excited for the first season, and boy did it deliver. It had mystery, intrigue, police procedural points, and most importantly, it had James Spader. The show evolved over the course of 4 years and the show then started to branch out and stretch the mystery of “who is Raymond Reddington” just a bit. We were introduced to her “real” father and “real” mother only for those to get swept away, and little by little we got closer to seeing who Red really is underneath. However, those “stretches” past the initial “Is Red Elizabeth Keene’s father or not?” sometimes felt like the show was being pushed past its limits. Especially when the same procedural lines are being drawn every week. That is until season 6 (which I sadly didn’t review, and had to binge watch on Netflix just this last week in preparation for this season’s review) and the show decided to take a turn into left field. Suddenly the enigmatic and charming Red has turned a lot darker, and lines are blurred as Elizabeth has changed from a “by the books” FBI agent into a mercenary like character who’s a mixture of Red and her FBI upbringing.

Sorry for some spoilers, but with 7 years under the belt, SOME spoilers have to be mentioned in this review about previous seasons. Well, onward ho. The Season 5 reveal that Elizabeth IS Red’s daughter was a game changer for an otherwise solid show, and it has molded the character into something drastically different than we’ve seen her before. She still has some semblance of caring for Red (Spader) at the beginning of the show when he’s kidnapped by a mysterious woman. A woman that is instantly revealed to be the mysterious Katarina (Laila Robins), the ACTUAL mother of Elizabeth, and the old flame that Red let get away. Needless to say things get dark and twisted as the two parents fight over their own machinations and goals, with Red still keeping his cards close to the vest.

The series finally puts some REAL strain on Elizabeth (Megan Boone) as she’s forced to decide between her mother, an Ex spy, and Red, who she already has a love/hate relationship with. Most of the time she ends up siding with Red, but the season finale is where things take a dark turn and Elizabeth and Red’s relationship has finally run it’s course. Elizabeth has lost all caring and attachment to Red, furious at the manipulations and slight of hand that he continually pull, ending the season on a massive cliffhanger that well may alter the tone and direction of the show permanently.

The one thing that I really was disappointed with was that there was no more clues about WHO Red really is. Throughout the show we get to know that he’s Liz’s father (well, we'll take that with a grain of salt, *hint hint) and we get more clues about his past with Katarina, and his criminal empire, but there are still some mysterious theories about who he REALLY is underneath all that. I liked that the didn’t take away the rumor that he’s actually the real Raymond Reddington’s twin brother, and theory that he still has some major plan underneath all of this, but another clue would have been nice. Elizabeth has really changed in her role in series over the last 3 seasons. After season 4 when she was “dead” her role in the FBI turned her from tough agent to someone who had to rely on only herself, and by now she’s no longer the lovable agent who’s having a tough time with a jackass (if not charming) criminal. She’s as dark as Red is, and his constant manipulations in her life has molded her into something akin to him, even if she hates that aspect of her life and won’t admit it.

One thing that I must point is how the cast and crew did an amazing job at wrapping up the series a few episodes short. Instead of the normal 22 episodes the show ends on the 19th episode. A movie that was known before hand and the producers and directors did all they could to wrap up the plot quickly and succinctly. The only thing was, they didn’t have all of show filmed due to the Covid-19 pandemic shutting them down early. Other shows have done it, but Blacklist decided to make the last episode 90% animated, using the same style as the comics the show is based on, and intertwining the actors voicing the animation. At first glance it’s kind of odd, but the powers that be really put a lot of love and effort into the episode, and part way through you really just lose conscious notice of the animation and roll with it (especially as the finale has that massive shocker of a cliffhanger that makes me wonder how they’re going to take the direction of season 8 that comes out next year).




Rating:

Rated TV-14




Video:

Once more, broken record, yadda yadda yadda. The show has maintained a VERY stable visual look and the same 5 Blu-ray BD-50 discs house the 19 episodes of season 7. The series is very digital in it’s look, with clean and shiny detail levels and some bright colors intermingled with dark and shadowing meeting spots. More hues of amber and bleak black show up in this season, but it’s still very finely detailed and amazingly textured. There’s some sporadic digital noise that crops up in the darkest of scenes (pretty typical of a digital production) and the black levels can be a bit desaturated and milky. Skin tones are well defined and accurate and overall this is still an excellent looking Blu-ray, as have all the previous seasons been.






Audio:

Same with the audio. The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix is fantastic, and just on par with the previous 6 seasons. The show maintains a healthy mixture of energetic action sequences with more dramatic moments, and the dynamic range is pushed heavily as a result. You can be sitting down watching Red and Dom talking, to gunfire blasting over heard (which is actually not mixed wildly hotly. Something that kind of annoys me as guns really aren't that bassy in real life). LFE is punchy and aggressive, as fist fights and car chasers and gunfire abound. Dialog is always strong and clean, and never out of balance with the rest of the mix. It's stable, excellent in every way, and so boringly reliable (which is never a bad thing with an excellent sound design) to the point of almost not having to give this write up for those of you who have seen the previous seasons.







Extras:

• Uncharted Territory: A Season Cut Short (Blu-ray Exclusive)
• Deleted Scenes
• Blooper Reel
• Behind The Blacklist: Season 7
• Cast and Crew Episode Commentaries
• Brian Dennehy Tribute

Final Score: ​

The Blacklist is a show that I never expected to last this long. A mystery puzzle box show tends to feel stretched past its limits after the 4th season or so (Fringe, Lost etc), but The Blacklist has done an admirable job at keeping the show fresh and ever changing. Characters we originally love we start to hate, and characters we thought of as villains are...well...more complex than that. The mystery puzzle box still has a few secrets left, and while it IS a TEENSY bit stretched, James Spader still carries the weight of the show in many ways and is treat to watch. And honestly, I’m really wondering how they’re going to take season 8 with that finale (sorry, no spoilers there) and hopefully FINALLY get to see the last of Red’s secrets on display. The Blu-ray from Sony is just as spectacular as the previous 6 seasons, but for the love of all that’s holy Sony! Stop using stack packs!



Technical Specifications:

Starring: James Spader, Megan Boone, Diego Klattenhoff
Created by: Jon Bokenkamp
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, English, French
Studio: Sony
Rated: TV-14
Runtime: 814 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 11th, 2020

Recommendation: Good Watch

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Still a great show, although I am not as die-hard attracted to it as I was the first few seasons... I've mellowed away from having to see it right away after recording it.

I did not care for the animated ending of this season though... CGI of them looking more like them would have been mo betta.

I also wonder if we missed a lot of what they wanted to do with the underlying story and rushed to a season conclusion... I think I feel cheated.

 

[mechman]

I'm with you Sonnie. Should have just left it where it was at and waited it out.

 

[Michael Scott]

yeah, there was some "what could have been" but I think they were trying to balance between waiting it out and the possibility that the lockdown was going to last almost a year like people were originally fearing. Kinda blows, but it is what it is