It’s a
shame that Freud isn’t around to watch contemporary television because the
narratives we spin for the small screen are swimming in tropes from psychoanalytic
theory, such as father worship/murder/rescue.
If it’s true that we’re all awash in our own individual mommy-and-daddy
issues, then television shows today are providing us with mirrors (hyperbolically)
reflecting the various ways in which our childhood baggage and parental role
models are affecting us. What’s
sometimes more interesting than the somewhat clichéd depiction of the wounded
daughter or son, are the more nuanced depictions we now receive of the parents
who are supposedly responsible for inflicting the (seemingly pre-requisite,
plot-and-characterization-dependent) damage upon their children. Case in point: Blacklist’s
Raymond Reddington (James Spader).
Spader’s
portrayal of “Red” on NBC’s (rare) hit show is perhaps one of richest
characters on television right now. He
joins the recent ranks of other complicated anti-heroes (e.g. Dexter) as a mix
of both villain and hero – a man of strong conviction and an idiosyncratic
sense of wrong and right who trespasses across all illegal territory and easily
enacts violent crimes. He is the shining
star of this well done drama.
His
stellar acting aside, the show has other strengths worth noting. The premise itself is nothing spectacular but
it is executed well. Blacklist is a crime-drama focused on a black
ops division of the FBI that takes down high profile international criminals
through the information provided by Red, a former government agent who spent
the past decades as a high-profile criminal.
In some ways the program is quite episodic in that each episode, like
most crime-dramas, is devoted to the backstory and capture of one particular
criminal. However the filmic aspects of
the show and the fast-paced narrative help build suspense. Not, however, as much suspense as the
underlying personal storylines that linger beneath the program’s weekly focus
on crime.
Blacklist succeeds because it provides quite
a few narrative teases, almost all which center around Red’s character. The most central concerns the relationship
between Red and the other main character, Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone). The pilot episode finds Red surrendering
himself to the FBI, insisting that he will only talk to a newly hired rookie
FBI profiler: Keen. From the get-go audiences (as well as the
other characters on screen) ask why, and this becomes the driving question of
the show: what is the real connection
between the two characters?
The show
purposely leads viewers to believe that Red is Keen’s father, providing
evidence that points toward that conclusion and then undermining it by a firm
denial from Red (a well-versed liar) himself or other seemingly contradictory
plot twists. We see numerous connections
between Red and Keen’s past, dialogue and visual clues on the screen that point
toward their potential familial relations, and – most of all – the unmistakable
father/daughter bond that these two characters cultivate. Despite betraying each other on multiple
occasions – and despite their statuses and experiences on different sides of
the law – viewers see both of them sacrificing their own goals time and time
again for each other. Viewers also see Keen
so desperately wanting Red to be her father (even if she doesn’t say so
directly, or even admit it to herself).
During
this current season, the show cleverly provided a bit of misdirection
concerning this plotline. While some
episodes further developed this narrative tease (e.g. introducing Red’s ex-wife
and implying she could be Keen’s biological mother), the mid-season episodes
purposefully caused viewers to temporarily abandon such hypothetical musings. Various episodes focused on Red’s hunt for a
girl viewers eventually presume is his actual daughter. Then additional episodes focused on their
growing relationship as Red met with this young woman under false pretenses to
win her trust as she talked about her criminal father who she hadn’t seen in
years. But, of course, the girl turns
out to be the long-lost daughter of another
criminal and immediately the possibility of Red’s potential status as Keen’s
father is resurrected. It’s certainly a fun
little tease… although I’m not sure how long it can last.
Thankfully
the show provides us with others as well.
We still know little about the backstory of the man who posed as Keen’s
husband for years (although we recently learnt that he has some connection to
Red). And we know very little about the
covert, high power, international leadership group that Red supposedly holds
power over. And, perhaps most intriguing
of all, we still know very little about Red’s own backstory – what caused him
to turn from a legitimate government agent into a criminal, what caused him to
lose his family. (With its focus on the
behind-the-scenes government tactics and power struggles, the show also joins
the ranks of others in providing some subtle post-9/11 political commentary.)
While
Red’s charisma, eccentricities, and wry, sophisticated humor draw me in to most
episodes, it’s the moments when his façade drops away that stay with me the
most. In fact, it is the scenes in which
both he and Keen are the most emotionally raw and vulnerable that haunt me long
after the credits roll.
There are
a lot of weepy main characters on television today and as armchair
psychiatrists watching at home most of us could psychoanalyze them and easily
blame their parents for some of their emotional hang-ups. These characters, by themselves, are not
often all that interesting. Keen’s
character doesn’t necessarily fall into this grouping although she falls into
the “damaged daughter” category well enough.
But despite avoiding the stereotypical characterizations that can come
with this label, like many female government-agent/police type characters, Keen
is also not a fully developed character as of yet. What makes her interesting, quite frankly, is
Red’s interest in her, in the potential backstory he provides for her. I hope that as the show continues to do this “will
they, won’t they (be related)” dance, that it doesn’t get old because the
onscreen (platonic/familial) chemistry between two characters is terrific and I
hope to see it play out for years to come.
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