The Endgame

While the similarity with The Blacklist cannot be understated or even unwarranted. I have to say Morena Baccarin's presence on screen is worth the 2-4 episodes worth of rope I'm willing to give this show.

Let's see where it goes and right now I cannot wait to hear another story from Elena Federova.

I was surprised to see this having been rated about 6. This is a solid crime thriller. Everybody has done a very good job in terms of acting and the screenplay keeps you hooked. I watched all 10 episodes in one go so i was probably at an advantage. Its smart, its suspenseful and all the main characters have been developed nicely. Binge worthy.

This show is not perfect by any means but (so far) it knows what it is and it has with its two female leads. They are the draw. And I also really like that the show has gone all in with Doak. Yes this has Blacklist written all over it but Blacklist was a fun show for the first couple of seasons and I know people HATED Liz but when the show revolved around the relationship between Red and Liz it was often at its best. Elena and Val are gold in this and I think the writers are at least smart enough to know keeping them in the same sphere is the smart thing to do and so far they aren't writing Val as an idiot so Elena can get away with some crazy big level thing that makes no sense anyway. I think the story itself is an interesting one. Elena is a gangster, who wants her family back, going up against Elon Musk level crime lords who own governments and the only person she can trust is Val who is honest enough to put her own husband in prison but smart enough to see the big picture when things go sideways.

If this gets renewed I am in for another season.

It's fairly outlandish and I wasn't sure where it was going the first few episodes - but by halfway I was invested. By the end it won me over and I think it's fairly good. It's very good for these types of shows (like the Blacklist and the like). The two leads have very good chemistry - I think it's better than the leads on the Blacklist. All of the actors won me over by the end of the season - it's very well cast. I give it a 9 because I think it's very good for the type of show it is - it's not a great quality show compared with the best - by any means.

I'm not expecting high art from an NBC serial, I just want to feel like I'm okay with losing the hour it took to watch. So far I'm okay with The Endgame. A Russian crime boss who seems to be looking for revenge but might be working for a higher cause, leading a straight-arrow cop down a path of discovery. Corruption uncovered, vendettas fulfilled. It certainly does remind me of early Blacklist, with a little early Revenge thrown in.

I only hope they don't make the mistakes those two shows made, such as constantly stretching out the mystery until it's no longer interesting, or throwing in nonsensical twists just to keep things going. Let the story progress, let it grow and go where it needs - even if it leads to an end. They have good leads and a lot of potential. Fingers crossed.