The Blacklist (TV Series) Esteban (No. 79) (2016) User Reviews

The days of "Red always wins" are over .. and it freaking hurts.

[Aktham_Tashtush · 9/10 · 23 September 2016]

Well first, thank god it's finally back, the story of Liz being kidnapped continues and the plot is still growing filled with even more thrilling moments.

So as the title i wrote above The days of "Red always wins" are over, which really pains me .😤. but somehow it helps the show get more exciting and shows us another side of Reddington, that he is human after all and Kirk or "Masha's father" is to a level more powerful which is something we see for the first time in the show.

Again i'd like to emphasis that the even though the plot had that taste of last season it kinda look fresh and has it's own style of mysteriousity.. and for that a round of applause to the writers.🙌🙌 because right at the end of each episode they add the element of what i'd like to call "WTHJH" or what the hell just happened !! i mean just when you think that Red and the guys are not drowned fully in Sh!t there comes the WTHJH and makes things even worse for them.. and just keeping us hanging for a week 😲😲

Anyway, the cast are all still engaging and well ... after almost four years they gotta be on that level of connecting and professionality so a big thanks for keeping us connected back.

finally fingers crossed for whole season at least at the same level as the premiere.

A Shape of Things to Come...

[ph-makowski-893-354914 · 9/10 · 22 September 2016]

Honestly, I had no more interest in the show after the s3 finale but tonight changed that for the better. I saw the "Liz is Alive" twist coming despite them barely showing any clues to her survival (TBH it was a rather blind guess but still) and the whole thing about how Red is always way too secretive always irritated me, however this episode reignited the spark in Blacklist that I used to have. The action and plot in this episode felt so.... I do not know how to describe it! If I had to choose a word I would have to "new" or "unique" to the show. The action was noticeably more violent and open, the camera wasn't shy to the violence which was nice to see in a show which often turns the camera away. Now onto to the main attraction... the plot. Compared to other season premieres such as "Lord Baltimore 2x01" and "The Troll Farmer 3x01", they actually introduce the Black Lister in this episode in a rather natural and organic way which is becoming more and more rare as the show goes on. The reveals in this episode are relatively light besides one specific one that is said in the very beginning episode that finally sheds some light over the whole Red-Kirk-Liz family tree. Overall, this is probably one of the best episodes The BlackList has had to offer and definitely one of the finer pieces of entertainment that NBC has offered to us in a LONG time, all I can say now is that I just can't wait to see what happens next!

Almost Home

[ZegMaarJus · 9/10 · 25 July 2020]

This episode begins with a flashback of Liz, Tom and Agnes their abduction. Red is furious and wants to find them back. He cuts a head off to get the name of the new blacklister. Esteban is the new name on The Blacklist. Tom and Agnes are ubducted in a car. Angel killed a police officer in front of Tom's eyes. Ressler has been ubducted by Esteban. Tom has to dig his own grave. Tom shot down Angel. Red and Esteban have a meeting to get Liz her location. Red arrived at Kirk his headquarters. Mr Kaplan saved Agnes. Kirk ubducted Liz in a water plane. Red is releaved that Agnes is safe. Really good episode of The Blacklist Season 4, a amazing Season premiere. James Spader was so good one of his best performances so far.

Can't hear the dialogue

[kiwiriverrat-28278 · 8/10 · 4 November 2021]

What did Denbe say to Kate in the opening scene?

Need 150 characters, yeap still need 150 characters. Far out that's a lot of jibber for just a question.

Really!

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 17 November 2022]

Back and forth. Back and forth. They have Liz. They have the baby. They lose Liz. They lose the baby. And on and on. Back at the ranch the people are trying to figure out whether to help her or not because she wasn't nice to them. She was trying to survive but she didn't tell them things. And Tom? Once again, it is decided he should be kept alive by guys who kill anything that moves. This allows him to escape and kill some of them. Red is not the total force he has been. Will they work together again?

It appears there are nine seasons. Elizabeth seems to be in most of them. Will we ever get back to some cases where she isn't the focus? Please, only one more episode in this current chase thing. But she's gone. The baby's gone.

Not up to standards

[fsylla69 · 3/10 · 30 April 2020]

One thing I really hated about this episode is to have a hired killer not do his job when he has multiple opportunities to do so. His objective was to get bady and kill Tom but for some reason he decided to just tie him up for one of his guys to do job makes no sense. To make matters worst at the end he could of killed Reddington and crew but didn't, again making no sense. Who wrote this episode a 3 year old?

Worst episode in the whole series - OMG awful

[paradux · 3/10 · 30 September 2016]

Been a big fan of the series ... until it ran out of gas at the end of Season 3.

I get it -- writing consistently great scripts is not as easy as it looks, but this the absolute horror of this episode is one for the record books:

* an iffy story arc to start. Did die-hard fans really think that almost dropping Boone from the show was intended? Most did not. Therefore, pay attention Hollywood, you should have moved on, not drawn this oddball tale out into a multi-part soap opera.

* DIRECTION? In any series the segue between the long arc and the short arc is an issue, but here it is a joke. One moment we are in Cuba with an abduction story, the next is wide frame on the FBI bunker where somehow the old cast is back in the story, even long distance, and there is a new Blacklist number? Ugh.

* more mystery about Keen's father. Look, guys, it was fun for the first three seasons but at this point I no longer care if the stork brought her. You have milked that one to death.

* finally -- as the other reviewer noted -- great timing? You picked the worst written episode of the series to show viewers a story where Red has lost control and does not win. More proof that the writers for this episode must have been using crayons.

cartoonish monster of the week

[inutilsuverzivo · 3/10 · 15 February 2018]

Seriously? an eyeless black chilean spy from the Pinochet regime? it is as idiotic as presenting a black guy as chief of the chinese intelligence or, in the historic context, presenting a black president of the US in the 70s. It's just not posible. Even fiction must take care of these details otherwise it gives the impresión that the story was written by ignorant simpletons.

Detracting

[philcadamson · 5/10 · 21 December 2021]

This made DALLAS, The Bobby Ewing in the Shower episode look amazing.

This made it show it was all about Elisabeth and not Reddington, who is the whole reason for the show in the first place.

As if HER FBI colleagues would ever have anything to do with her ever again.

They should have saved the baby and killed off Tom and Liz for being losers.

Really annoying.

Writers didn't do any research and are lacking imagination

[gabby-pz · 1/10 · 8 March 2022]

This is my first time writing a review but I just had to. This episode was so bad and had so many mistakes, suspension of belief is imposible.

SPOILERS Why didn't the cuban just kill Tom? How many times have the writers played the Tom is dead/about to be killed/in critical condition card? The man never dies, stop writing the same scene over and over again. It always ends the same! It's uninteresting, tiresome, irritating, and completely unimaginative.

Then there's the Esteban character. Everything is wrong with him. He doesn't look chilean AT ALL (Is this how mexicans feel when a puerto rican actor plays a mexican character?) That skin color in the 70s? Seriously? His face feautures as well are extremely not chilean. Also, Esteban is NOT a chilean last name. It's a first name! But the most inportant part, why would somebody from Pinochet's Caravana de la Muerte be helping in a communist/socialist regime? Were the writers even aware that the Caravana was targetting communists and socialist in Chile? That part was just insane. Weird enough to think anyone from the Caravana helping someone involved in the Cuban dictatorship, but even if that were to happen, he would have been killed on sight.

Also, the show keeps showing Cuba and Cubans in general ok. Have the writers ever been there? People are dirty and skinny; there is barely any food, yet they keep showing pastries, as if they have flour to spare! The streets are old, barely kept and dirty, some houses are falling apart, yet most every building they show is in perfect condition (probably recorded in very well kept neighbourhoods) Do the writers know anything about Latin América?

Daddy story bit more decent, although everything's been quite predictable since the whole Lizzy's dead story started, and it wasn't enough to save the stupidy of daddy's minions and the poorly representation of Cuba, cuban (puerto rican have diff accents!), and the blacklister.

come on !

[nikestart · 1/10 · 26 September 2020]

As a character on the episode says " are you a traitor or a just a moron?" horrible story and writing. who in the world didn't see Elizabeth keen alive episodes ago ???