Featured Image Credit: NBC
Topics: Crime, Netflix, Film and TV
Emily Brown
Crime fans quite literally can't get enough of a series that's been praised as having the 'single greatest opening to a show' ever.
It's a bold claim, especially since no one can have seen every show opening in history, but people are standing by their views when it comes to this particular series.
Starring James Spader, Diego Klattenhoff, Megan Boone and Harry Lennix, among others, the series follows an FBI profiler named Elizabeth Keen (Boone) whose life gets upended when a criminal named Raymond Reddington (Spader) suddenly turns himself in after evading capture for decades.
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After years on the run, Reddington insists that he'll only speak to one person: Elizabeth.
The show premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013, with an action-packed episode that's earned a rating of 8.10/10 on IMDb. In the Spader's opening minutes, his character casually strolls into the FBI’s headquarters in Washington DC and is forced to kneel on the ground as officials pull out their weapons.
As the opening episode goes on, viewers learn Reddington had traveled to the bureau to hand himself in and give information on a crime committed by a Serbian man named Ranko Zamani (Jamie Jackson).
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It might have been more than a decade since the episode aired, but it continues to be praised by fans, with some going as far as to claim it as ‘one of the best ever’.
If your interest is piqued and you want to judge the opening episode - and hopefully the rest of the series - for yourself, you can find all 10 seasons on Netflix under The Blacklist.
You can watch the trailer for the first season - including the wild opening scene - below:
"I will never forget the Iconic moment that was the pilot episode of THE BLACKLIST!," one fan wrote on Twitter 10 years after the show first aired, while another added: "One of the best pilot episodes of all time ... #blacklist."
Comprising a huge 218 episodes and 10 seasons, The Blacklist makes for a perfect bingeing show. During its time on air, the series scooped up a Creative Arts Emmy Award and two Golden Globe nods.
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It finally reached its conclusion in July 2023, but many fans are already going back for a re-watch.
Praising the series on Facebook, one user wrote: “Seriously, it's one of the strongest and greatest series openings ever. Anyone who’s seen this show, especially this scene, will get what I mean. It’s an epic start that pulls you into the story, the characters & especially Raymond Reddington.”
"Brilliant series, I’m watching it again for a third time," another wrote.
Stream The Blacklist on Netflix now.