The Blacklist: Why You Should Watch the Series

If you aren't familiar with literally the best drama's on television, you probably haven't watched a lot of television or watching something less exciting. 

If you're not familiar with The Blacklist, it's about an FBI most wanted criminal, Raymond "Red" Reddington (played by James Spader) turns himself in. But he not only surrenders to the FBI but he has a list of the most wanted criminals that the they don't even know about. But there's a catch, he'll give them the names but he wants to work with Elizabeth Keen (played by Megan Boone).

I've come up with a top five reasons why you should tune in to The Blacklist.

1. The Man They Call Red.

It's one of the best lead characters on television in a long time. Raymond Reddington might be the worst criminal in the world but he does have a heart. He cares for Elizabeth for one reason that we're still shaking our heads on: is he her father or not? But just to let you know, you don't want to be on his bad side.

2. The Blacklisters

Besides Red, there are the blacklisters that are also the reason to tune in. There are as so many blacklisters that the highest number so far is 150. There are names from The Freelancer, Lord Baltimore, The Stewmaker, Berlin, The Decemberist, Luther Braxton and The Deer Hunter to name a few. Just a reminder that these are the worst criminals in the world and by far there are some scary ones and not to mention cool ones too. These blacklister characters are so complex that it makes the show amazing.

3. Elizabeth Keen

The woman that got pulled into this mess, Elizabeth Keen, played by Megan Boone. Why does Red only want to work with her? Yeah, she's second year working at the FBI now. She might be Red's daughter. Maybe not but everything that he does from protecting her to even talking to her just feels like he's her father. This past year has been a roller coaster for her, with her husband, Tom Keen, as a undercover agent.  The other end, Keen is one of the toughest female character's since Carrie Mathison from Homeland. I believe that she can kick any other character's ass. 

4. Supporting Characters

There's nothing more appealing than these supporting characters on the show. From Agent Donald Ressler to Director Harold Cooper, to Aram to Samar. All of which work at the FBI and help take down the blacklisters and protect Reddington. And I can't forget the other great supporting character and I think any fan of the show would send mean messages. That one is Dembe Zuma, Reddington's right hand bodyguard. We learn a little bit from his past and I would just want to see an episode about him. 

5. The Writing is Fascinating

The writing of this series is just amazing and fascinating. They really seem to know where they want to go with this season and series. Heck you don't see a lot of shows having that type of structure and heck they do have an endgame when the show is set to end. Only a few like Breaking Bad and Six Feet Under are probably the only ones I believe. The stories are so rich with a lot of character development. Each episode is so much like a movie and when it ends you just want to see more and more.

Now, I know I've probably said a lot of about this show. But I ask you to check it out this Thursday as The Blacklist returns with a new episode that will have you on the edge of your seat. You see last time, we got to see Red told Liz the truth about Tom that he was working for Red. When Liz gave him the Fulcrum and started to leave, Red gets shot. It was the OMG moment of the week.

Checkout the promo: The Blacklist "Leonard Caul"

You can catch The Blacklist as it returns this Thursday at 9/8c on NBC. 

Five Reasons Why You Should Binge Watch Parenthood.

It was during this television season that viewers and fans got to say goodbye to one of television's best drama, Parenthood. The series finale aired in January and I'll admit it that there wasn't a dry eye in the living room after. There was a lot of hugging and well a lot of tissues being used.

For those who have never heard of Parenthood. It’s a show about the ups and downs of the lives of the Braverman family. If you still haven’t seen it, I recommend that you  binge watch the series. Here’s my top five reasons you should binge watch Parenthood.

5. They have an outstanding ensemble cast

Have you ever seen such an ensemble cast like this? With names like Peter Krause, Lauren Graham, Monica Potter, Sarah Ramos, Mae Whitman, Bonnie Bedelia and Craig T. Nelson, just to name a few, it’s literally an all-star cast. With only ten award wins in it’s run so far, mostly won by the young actors.  

4. Outstanding Writing Team

One thing that defines a great series is it’s writing. The writing team on this series brings in real life stories from their personal lives. Stories from dealing with a son with Aspergers to a mother dealing with breast cancer to even adopting. The show has never been even nominated for writing and that seems wrong.

3. Family Time

This show will bring you and the rest of your family close together. It’s a great way to watch with the whole family.

2. Bring Out the Tissues

This show should be making a lot of money off of Kleenex sponsored. This series will have you shed tears if their joy or sadness. There are so many moments that I can recall but it would be just too long.

1. The Last of a Family Drama

How many family dramas are on television right now? Not a lot that I can find. There were shows like Full House and My So-Called Life that dealt with family and personal issues. Now viewers are watching more of political thrilling-scandal drama these days. It’s a genre that we need to have on the air.

I recommend you if you haven’t seen Parenthood, you really should. The show isn't disappointing at all. If you haven’t seen the whole series yet, you can go to Netflix an watch the first five seasons of the show.

Fighting For What You Love: 12 Monkeys "Arms of Mine" Season Finale

The season finale of "12 Monkeys" can be described as on the edge-of-your-seat excitement.

In the finale, Cole and Cassie, who look like they are slowly falling in love, are slow to try to get information from Aaron. Cole keeps beating him for information until Cassie shows up, and he tells them that he is trying to protect her. Then he tells both of them that they will kill him rather than Cole and then Cassie.

As soon as Cole and Cassie have a private meeting in front of Aaron, Aaron tries to cut his way out and escapes by knocking out Cole. They both fight until Aaron uses a blow torch, burning up Cole's jacket. Let me see that there was some chemical stuff fire, and one person didn't make it.

Cassie and Cole got to see Jennifer, who was given a presentation about the company she was taking over from her dead father. When she shares her speech, she starts to go crazy with monkeys and other extinct animals.

Cole then leaves with Cassie and talks with Jennifer, and gives them information about where Ramse will be. They go there and find him with the machine. I'll talk more a bit later.

In 2043, Jones and Whitley are waiting for any hope for the core to work. When a group of blue men in hoodies stand outside the compound, they get help from a friend of Rasme. They divert a distraction and go in, but Jones has a surprise for them, a bomb and talk in a trade for their lives for the machine.

And here's where it all ties in as Cole reaches Ramse, you would think he would shoot him first. No, they talk. Then Cassie comes in and is not in the mood to talk and more of receiving information. She wants to shoot Ramsey.

Cole tells her not to shoot until she shoots him, and his guard shoots her. One will not survive, and Ram tells Cole to send Cassie to Jones on the Core. With no time to lose, Cole puts Cassie on the Core and sends her back to 2043.

In the meantime, Jones gives the leader in blue the bomb, walks out until the machine is working, and brings back Cassie. Jones was pretty shocked.

But the kicker of it all, and it will be one of the storylines for next season, is that the men in blue turn out to be the army of the 12 monkeys when Olivia checks in on the 12 babies in 2015.

What a season finale, and overall, it's first season. It's just amazing how each character faces the challenges to survive but also to change history.  This episode does deal with what these characters would do for the ones they love and fight for.

Overall, I give this episode an 8/10, and as for the series, it's a 9/10.

Season two will be very exciting to watch when it airs next year.

You can still watch the first season of "12 Monkeys" on syfy.com.

"They're coming, they're coming!" 12 Monkeys "Paradox"

I'll be quick and brief with this recap of this episode.t

Cole is alive but still dying; he lands in 2015 with Cassy and Aaron. He's recovering, but soon, Cassy brings a special guest to help, the 2015 version of Jones, who is pregnant then. They get her to check Cole out.

Jones comes up with an idea to get some blood of Cole from his past, and since he was born in 2009, he's about nine years old in this time setting. Cassy and Jones search for Cole and his father. They check out the car shop where his father is at. At first, he didn't believe what Cassy was telling him but soon felt her and went to help Cole from the future.

The other is how Aaron makes a deal with the group, warning him about Cassy and the virus. I'll say this: when he tries to get her to come with him, and she headbutts him on the nose, they're done with.

Frost's daughter now had the power of her daddy's company and is acting quickly as a little joker, too.

As Cole got his blood into him, it was like a beam of light came out and exploded, sending the two guys that would take him out excellently flying through the house. Plus, when Cassy comes to see if he is alive or dead, Cole is lying on the floor, butt naked, with light burns like it was from the Terminator. It was awesome!!!

In the end, we see a bit of an emergency when Whitey comes back with a head of his guys, telling her that they are coming. I might forget who these guys are, but I'll label them as the army of the Arrowheads since they look like the hero from Arrow. No pun intended.

It seems like the season finale will not be to miss. Everything is led up to this and soon Season Two. What will happen? What will the outcome be?

You can catch 12 Monkeys on Friday nights at 9/8c on SyFy.

Resurrected: Chicago PD "The Three G's"

If this episode was about one person in this task force family, it would be no other than Al. When a six year old unsolved case comes back, it will drive Al to a familiar place of dark times.

When Erin and Al  have breakfast together, a call comes in about a distributing smell from a warehouse. They go and investigate it until they found a bunch of girls chained up to the wall, dead.

This gives Al a bit of deja vu from an old case of a man who brings families children for money. As for the rest of the squad they were ready for the hunt.

The guy they're after is Dennis Lee. When they get to his nephew, he gave them where Lee will show up but that turned out to be a set up.

You can see that Al is getting upset and frustrated every minute that Lee is out there. His wife had to call Voight and have a talk with him as he was in the garage looking for the old case files that he had of the homicide case. He tells Voight that he wrote something down but couldn't find it.

Since this series started I've never seen Al get so upset like this before. Al has a dark side and I know that we don't want him going there.

When a tracker picks up a gang member that Voight made a deal with if he was going to see Lee. That lead up to a hotel with guns a blazing. As Al makes a surprise on him he takes him out back in the hallway and freezes just wanting to pull that trigger. But Voight stopped him.

For one we get to see Al's character grow this season. Yeah there might be a few minor story lines but this one was huge for his character.

At the end, we see Al eating with his family. Hes quiet and doesn't say much. His duaghter was about to go upstairs and study for a test until the door bell rings and it's her boyfriend. Al's duaghter had plans of going with him while he's touring with his band. For one Al becomes a hero and the father of the week in one night. How about that?

The next episode will be the biggest crossover event yet. Check it out: Chicago PD.

You can catch Chicago PD Wednesday nights at 10/9c on NBC.

Welcome to Chicago Med: Chicago Fire "I Am the Apocalypse"

This week's episode takes us from one situation to another problem. This episode opens up to the possible spin-off of Chicago Med.

When a call came from a factory and a chemical spill, rescuing two others from the roof, the gang from 51 took everyone to Chicago Med to get treated. Almost every day in the ER is busy, which isn't new to the folks of Chicago Med ( I know because I was used to it at County General's ER).

When Med gets the call, they try to make things as smooth as possible. When 51 came with patients, things started to get heck and by the time April, the head nurse of Med, tries calming everyone down and giving directions, a patient walks up, gets on a chair, and yells that he is the apocalypse and that he has something worse than the elbow virus.  

Then he tried to blow himself up with a bomb, and Severide ran to stop him, knocking him down, and the patient went boom.

Welcome to Chicago Med comes to my mind after that scene.

Things went from bad to worse; patients needed treatment fast, and others feared the virus and tried to leave but were blocked by the rest of the 51 outside. Chaos ruled the event, as you could see—Casey and the rest inside attempted to maintain the fire situation. 

But it was Severide that took a toll on the rest of the story that he was hurt, and even Will, the doctor, and Halstead's brother, was just to let him die. Oh, hell no, he wasn't going to do that.

Lauren Holden's character comes in and tries to help and save Severide, who, while under, saw flashbacks of Shay, who was moving and thinking to himself that he couldn't die. 

But Severide makes it through and will make a full recovery. 

The suspect who blew himself up happens to be carrying a virus that didn't grow into what he had hoped it would have, and no one has been exposed to any virus. He came from an experiment factory that was testing viruses as weapons. 

I think one or maybe two things to take out of this episode is that one: this is an excellent episode for the spinoff to Chicago Med. Maybe one more episode dealing with the Chicago Fire and PD wouldn't hurt. It's so that we can get a bit more into these characters. But all in all, I'm in for the series. 

The other thing #2: Casey and Dawson are back together!!!! YEAH!!! And boy, did they miss each other. 

I loved and enjoyed this episode. It was the most intense episode so far that it had you holding your breath. I love these characters from Chicago Med; I thought that they were exciting, and one thing to point out is that I do wish and maybe hope that Dylan Baker would make an appearance. He was the guy who had us thinking of the Chicago Med spinoff. 

In the next episode, it looks like that Mils is leaving. What the heck, man? Being a paramedic is good enough for you? Also, the band is back together this coming April 28th, baby! That's when Fire, SVU, and PD become one in another star-stunning crossover event, and this time, it looks more significant than the last one in November. Who can't wait for this?

You can catch Chicago Fire on Tuesday nights at 10/9c on NBC

What the.....?: The Blacklist "Vanessa Cruz"

If you missed this episode of The Blacklist, what the heck man?! This week's episode had nothing more than pure drama and a shocking ending that will leave you in shock.

We see Liz talking with Tom as he's on the run from the German guys. He's begging her to give him his passports and stuff. Of course, Liz won't do it and as she opens the door to let him out, good old Red shows up with a gun pointing at Tom. 

Tom leaves and Red tells Liz that he doesn't think she's thinking clearly. She tells him that she is and then Red tells her about a new case. 

I think that the women on the Blacklist so far seem to be very dangerous then the men. This blacklist is killing businessmen and framing them. Looking like the Red Dragon character with wings on her back.

You think that she's doing it for the money but think again. She's after these men and one other for revenge of the death of her husband. And just before she starts to kill one guy, her own love, another woman who works with the guy walks in. 

This is the first time, I believe that a blacklist has escaped, but I think we'll see her again soon. Heck, she has an offer from Red's team to do something. So stay tune seeing her again. 

Meanwhile, Tom and Liz are still at it again. As Liz asked Red for help, for his help he needs the fulcrum, but she won't give it. Soon, she talks to Tom and ask for his help in exchange for his passports. 

But Tom, who isn't suppose to tell Liz anything about those passports does and admits that it come from Red. 

That lead to Liz meeting with Red, who ask him to give her a firm answer. He admits that he had Tom watching her. That freaked her out and didn't want to see Red anymore. Well that led to when Red was about to talk when a "BANG!" came and we see that Red has been shot. 

That was the most shocking ending to and episode so far this season. Who did it? Was it the group that's after Red for the fulcrum? Could it be another blacklister? Or has Red played another card in this game that has just gotten heated. 

It was by far one of it's best episodes. The drama between Tom and Liz is unbelievable and I feel a bit bad for Tom. 

You can catch The Blacklist Thursday nights at 9/8c on NBC.