The Blacklist: Why the First 5 Seasons Are Still Worth Watching on Netflix

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While the later seasons of The Blacklist weren’t as strong, it’s still worth checking out. The show, which aired from 2013 to 2023 and has 10 seasons (218 episodes total), offers plenty of content if you find it on Netflix. Though it’s not a flawless series overall, The Blacklist’s clever and distinctive core idea makes it truly special.

Created by Jon Bokenkamp for NBC, The Blacklist features James Spader as Raymond “Red” Reddington, a former government agent who became one of the world’s most wanted criminals. After years of living a life of crime, Red surprisingly offers to help the FBI catch other criminals – those on his personal ‘blacklist’ – with one condition: he’ll only work with Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone), a new FBI profiler.

James Spader’s complex and intriguing character in The Blacklist, along with the captivating dynamic between his character and Megan Boone’s, gave the show a strong beginning. However, the show’s quality started to slip after the fifth season, and by the eighth season, it had noticeably declined. Despite this, The Blacklist still has the potential to surprise viewers.

The Blacklist Is Still Worth Watching

When The Blacklist debuted in 2013, it quickly gained a dedicated following, and for good reason. James Spader delivered another fantastic performance, and his character offered a refreshing change of pace for him. That alone is a great reason to tune in. Plus, the show’s case-of-the-week format made the first five seasons especially easy to binge-watch.

The Blacklist generally follows a familiar crime show structure, with each episode presenting a complete case. Alongside these standalone stories, the show builds interesting characters over its first five seasons and features a compelling overarching mystery that keeps viewers hooked. Despite a complicated premise, the show is surprisingly easy to understand and provides consistently enjoyable entertainment, especially in its earlier seasons.

The First Five Seasons Of The Blacklist Are Peak TV

Image by Milica Djordjevic

The consistently high ratings on Rotten Tomatoes demonstrate how well-received The Blacklist has been. While critics acknowledged the show’s straightforward storylines, they generally saw this as a positive. This resulted in a 91% average critic score – a remarkable achievement for a series like this. Notably, viewers agreed with the critics’ assessment during the first five seasons, giving the show similarly strong ratings.

The Blacklist Rotten Tomatoes Scores (Seasons 1 – 5)
Season Critic Score Audience Score
1 82% 88%
2 83% 90%
3 93% 94%
4 90% 89%
5 100% 88%

Why The Blacklist Couldn’t End On A High Note

The TV show The Blacklist suffered from a common problem: it lasted too long. While season six did reasonably well, the core question of why Red was so focused on Liz lost the audience’s interest. This also led to actress Megan Boone’s decision to leave the show and pursue other projects.

Even though Megan Boone left The Blacklist on good terms, her exit happened so quickly that the show couldn’t properly conclude her character’s storyline. Liz’s death left a major question fans had been waiting for unresolved. Combined with pandemic-related production delays, this ultimately signaled the start of the show’s decline.

James Spader continued to deliver a fantastic performance even after Raymond Reddington’s associate, Dembe Boone, left the show. But without Liz Keen, the series lost its main appeal and struggled to keep audiences engaged. The finale was disappointing and forgettable. It’s unfortunate, but the first five seasons still stand as proof of how great The Blacklist once was.

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2026-01-31 18:11