If the choice was between leaving the season where they last were able to film or finishing it in the graphic novel format, I'm in favor of the idea. However, I reserve the right to change my mind after seeing it tonight or tomorrow! I read that the season had 3 or 4 more shows to go, and it was decided to rewrite this episode to make it the season finale, so it may be a bit awkward. JcS
I think awkward is going to be the key word. Note that several other shows, like Supernatural, got caught short to the extent that they couldn't do their series finales at all, and everything is postponed. That's gotta drive them crazy.
If what I read was right, it wasn't supposed to be the season finale; that story arc (that I wish would end) regarding Katarina Rostova was apparently going to go on for three or four episodes. But, knowing they have been renewed, and since the writing on the show is good, my best guess is they'll find a suitable cliffhanging spot and pick it up next season. I don't watch many network TV shows. YOUNG SHELDON, THE CONNORS and MACGYVER are about the only other ones, I think. I'm not sure how the virus shutdown affected them. JcS
Well, the finale wasn't as bad as I feared. Since only about half of the episode was filmed and those scenes were not filmed in order, the finale goes back and forth between filmed and animated scenes. Their voices sound much more stilted when simply reading their lines, and the voice quality changes among the characters depending on where in their homes they recorded the lines, but it came to a reasonably decent conclusion and a good setup for season 8. Here's an interview with the show runners: ‘The Blacklist’ Draws Up a Novel End to Its Season
They did the best they could do with the finale what with Covid19 keeping everyone at home. It was a bit disjointed but interesting nonetheless.
I thought it worked but it sounded like Spader recorded his lines in his bathroom. There were a few times when it was obvious that the two actors in a scene recorded their lines separately.
The wife and I agreed, it was OK, but nothing more than. And we noticed the difference in the voice quality and the performances. Elizabeth especially didn't sound like she was acting in her voice-overs. JcS
He might have! To my ears, Elizabeth's voice sounded the most hollow, and with her stiff reading, maybe she literally phoned it in!
Some reviews: ‘The Blacklist’ Draws Up a Novel End to Its Season https://screenrant.com/blacklist-season-7-ending-cartoon-ending-not-work/
Oh, my god that was a weird show. And again, they took 10 minutes of plot, tried to stretch it out to an hour, and nothing was resolved. And Brian Dennehy's character is still alive. What? I felt like I was looking at a pre-viz (kind of a rough sketch of a proposed show or movie)... and not a good one. I'm positive some of them were on iPhones. Sounded like total crap.
You guys are too harsh! What do you expect under the circumstances?!? It was still better than watching “movies of the week” which seem to be the new “fall schedule” if production doesn’t resume.
I refer back to what I said before seeing it. It was awkward, and it was better than nothing. And yeah, the programming on the networks and others that have to come up with material this fall is going to be weak. I haven't seen the ratings for the movies one of them is playing on Sunday night, but I don't know why people would be watching a movie they have seen--probably multiple times--with commercial interruption. When I was young, I think every network had a "night at the movies." I saw GONE WITH THE WIND in the lobby of one of the women's dorms in 1976; we had to be there when it started, sit through the commercials, the whole nine yard. I have ZERO interest in returning to that way of watching TV. I don't even watch many sports in real time these days. I record the game, and catch up with it in the latter stages unless it is something that I fear I'll see the results on Facebook while I'm waiting to start it. JcS
I would've just not done an episode, which was the choice made by a lot of series. If the choice is "really ****ty, badly-made, comic-book show" vs. "no show at all," I'll take the latter every time. And again, my main objection to the show is not just the animation: it's the fact that there's only 10 minutes of plot in it. Nothing is revealed, the characters aren't really advancing, they're still not moving the plot forward... this was all just treading water. It's bad storytelling. Even if they had shot it all live-action, there's nothing there. Here's an interview with the showrunners where they explain their decision to do a half-assed finale: ‘The Blacklist’ Draws Up a Novel End to Its Season BTW, I have nothing but empathy and sadness for the many unemployed people in the TV industry, and I know an awful lot of them. The pandemic has affected everybody, none worse than in the entertainment business. But it's not an excuse for shoddy storytelling like this. It does look like the animated shows are managing to continue with all the artists and animators working at home, so they're finding a way to get a lot of those shows done. And the VFX artists on Mandalorian say they will have all their episodes finished by October, because the live-action portion of that series was wrapped this past February. They were lucky.
I'm in total agreement. It was more than a half-assed episode. But these are more than half-assed times with more important issues to deal with. Hollywood might not be the same for a long time. That's more of an issue in the end with unemployment. They get a pass from me...
i am in no way an animation person. my wife and i have probably never watcher an entire animated movie or TV show. just not our thing i guess. anyway, all that aside, was the animation in this 'blacklist' episode considered good, fair or poor animation?
I didn't like it--it was the "graphic novel" style, and I'm not a fan. I can't opine on whether it was good for the genre. JcS
I've always felt that Megan Boone was the weakest part of the show, even though I get the impression she tries her best. When you're acting next to somebody as skilled as James Spader, you're going to come off bad, no matter what. He is really, really good at what he does.
Yeah, I hardly fancy myself an expert on acting, but I've noticed the same. It's like she hasn't grown into the role. Contrast that with Tristin Mays on MACGYVER, whose work as Riley just keeps getting better and better. JcS
I went back to the start of this thread, and I could have written this after seeing the pilot. And, boy, we were misled by the writers! JcS
We still don't know. The key to the entire Red/Liz plot is the night that Liz as a little girl shot her father (or at least the man she thought was her father), which also started a fire. I don't think it's a coincidence that Red Reddington has burn scars all over his back (which has not been shown frequently, but it's true). My guess is either he really is her father, or he was involved in killing her real father and decided to help her as a kind of penance. Red's twisted sense of honor and loyalty plays into this, as it has in many shows: he's intensely loyal to the people around him, up until the moment he isn't. What's shadier is why Liz's mother (and I think that really is her mother) wants revenge with Reddington... or does she? I think the writers are flying by the seat of their pants, and a lot has changed in the writers' room since season 1.
