The second season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on September 22, 2014, and concluded on May 14, 2015, and ran for 22 episodes. The season was produced by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television, and Sony Pictures Television, and the executive producers are Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, and Joe Carnahan.
Contents
Premise
The second season follows Reddington's war with The Cabal, a shadowy multinational group that holds positions of influence in government and business, over The Fulcrum, a digital repository of information about The Cabal's illegal activities that both parties want. The season introduces Samar Navabi (Mozhan Marnò), a former agent of the Mossad and new member of the Task Force with a connection to Reddington. The first part of the season sees the resolution of Red's conflict with Milos Kirchoff, AKA Berlin. The second half of the season introduces a new series antagonist Peter Kotsiopulos (David Strathairn), the ruthless Director of the National Clandestine Service (AKA The Director) and a key member of The Cabal, who seeks possession of The Fulcrum at any cost. The season also follows Elizabeth Keen's investigation into Tom's double life and the subsequent breakup of their marriage. Liz ends up being tried over her involvement in a murder committed by Tom and the subsequent cover up. Ultimately Liz and Tom reconcile but Liz ends up on the run from the FBI and the Task Force after killing Tom Connolly (Reed Birney), the U. S. Attorney General and secret member of The Cabal.
Cast
Main cast
James Spader as Raymond "Red" Reddington
Megan Boone as Elizabeth Keen
Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler
Ryan Eggold as Tom Keen
Harry Lennix as Harold Cooper
Amir Arison as Aram Mojtabai
Mozhan Marnò as Samar Navabi
Recurring cast
Hisham Tawfiq as Dembe Zuma.
Reed Birney as Thomas "Smiling Tommy" Connolly, Assistant Attorney General.
Lance Henriksen as The Major, Tom Keen's former mentor and trainer.
Adriane Lenox as Reven Wright, Deputy Attorney General
Susan Blommaert as Mr. Kaplan, Reddington's personal "cleaner".
Peter Stormare as Berlin, real name Milos Kirchoff, Reddington's nemesis in the first season.
Alan Alda as Alan Fitch, Assistant Director of National Intelligence.
Mary-Louise Parker as Naomi Hyland/Carla Reddington, Reddington's ex-wife.
Scottie Thompson as Zoe D'Antonio, Berlin's daughter.
Hal Ozsan as Ezra, a personal guard assigned to Elizabeth by Reddington.
Ron Perlman as Luther Braxton, a high-profile international thief.
David Strathairn as "The Director", the mysterious head of the National Clandestine Service (NCS).
Janel Moloney as Kat Goodson, the liaison between the NCS and the FBI.
Clark Middleton as Glen Carter, a DMV employee occasionally employed by Reddington to retrieve information.
Chandler Williams as Elias, member of the Disenfranchised.
Reception
The second season of The Blacklist received positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 83% approval score based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The consensus reads: "Though The Blacklist flirts with narrative overload, it's held together by James Spader's scenery-eating performance and wildly entertaining action".