The Front (The Blacklist)

"**The Front**"
"The Front"
The Blacklist episode
Episode no.	Season 2; Episode 5
Directed by	Steven A. Adelson
Story by	Adam Sussman
Teleplay by	Jim Campolongo; Adam Sussman
Production code	205
Original air date	October 20, 2014
Guest appearances
	Hisham Tawfiq as Dembe Zuma ; Hal Ozsan as Ezra; Michael Laurence as Maddox Beck; Clark Middleton as Glen Carter; Scottie Thompson as Zoe D'Antonio; Geoffrey Cantor as Phil Ryerson; Jennifer Van Dyck as Lillian Sharp;
Episode chronology
← Previous; "Dr. Linus Creel"	Next →; "The Mombasa Cartel"
	The Blacklist season 2
	List of episodes

Last updated December 09, 2024

"The Front" is the fifth episode of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist . The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on October 20, 2014.

Plot

Maddox Beck, an eco-terrorist, steals an ancient clay painting from his wife to map out the location of a dormant pneumonic plague virus. Beck successfully recovers the virus and weaponizes it to infect his followers and create a worldwide epidemic. The Task Force contains most of the followers, but Samar and Elizabeth are infected by one of them at Dulles International Airport. With Aram's help, Reddington learns Beck's location and steals a supply of synthesized vaccine, as well as a necklace and a key, before leaving Beck to commit suicide. The vaccine is delivered to the Task Force for distribution to infected agents and civilians. Meanwhile, Reddington, now knowing who is believed to be Jennifer's (Scottie Thompson) whereabouts and identity, covertly watches her from a distance. Having failed to convince Reddington to remove the guard he assigned to her, Elizabeth pays a look-alike to distract the guard while she secretly visits a basement at an undisclosed location.

Reception

Ratings

"The Front" premiered on NBC on October 20, 2014 in the 10–11 p.m. time slot.^[1] The episode garnered a 2.4/7 Nielsen rating with 9.34 million viewers, making it the highest-rated show in its timeslot^[2] and the twentieth highest-rated television show of the week.^[3]

Reviews

Ross Bonaime of Paste gave the episode a 6.0/10.^[4] He wrote: "After a steady run of surprisingly solid Blacklist episodes, it's a shame that the show reverted to the way it used to do things. The last few episodes were fun because they were silly, and intentionally so. 'The Front' represents a return to the show attempting to be serious, and being unintentionally funny and ridiculous in the process. Hopefully this is just an uncharacteristic speedbump in the show's process of actually getting better this season".^[4]

Jason Evans of The Wall Street Journal gave a negative review of the episode, calling it "a pretty lackluster episode".^[5] He went on to say: "Not much happened to advance the overall plot. Red found his daughter, but we still don’t know much about her. Samar and Aram certainly seem to be connecting (so much for the fan theory that Samar likes Liz). We still don't know what is behind the door, though the previews for next week promise to reveal that to us".^[5]

Related Research Articles

The Blacklist is an American crime thriller television series created by Jon Bokenkamp and developed by John Eisendrath. It stars James Spader as Raymond Reddington, an international criminal and one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives who cooperates with the FBI in hunting down other criminals on his "Blacklist". The series also stars Megan Boone, Diego Klattenhoff, Ryan Eggold, Amir Arison, Hisham Tawfiq, and Harry Lennix.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 1 Season of television series

The first season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. 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.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 2 Season of television series

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.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 3 Season of television series

The third season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on October 1, 2015 and concluded on May 19, 2016. The season consisted of 23 episodes. The season was produced by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television, and Sony Pictures Television, and the executive producers were Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, and Joe Carnahan.

"Pilot" is the pilot episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on September 23, 2013. It was written by series creator Jon Bokenkamp and was directed by Joe Carnahan.

"Wujing" is the third episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on October 7, 2013.

"The Courier" is the fifth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on October 21, 2013.

"Frederick Barnes" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on November 4, 2013.

"General Ludd" is the eighth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on November 11, 2013.

"Anslo Garrick Conclusion" is the tenth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on December 2, 2013.

"The Good Samaritan" is the eleventh episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on January 13, 2014.

"Ivan" is the seventeenth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on March 24, 2014.

"Milton Bobbit" is the eighteenth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on March 31, 2014.

"The Pavlovich Brothers" is the nineteenth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on April 21, 2014.

"Berlin" is the twenty-first episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on May 5, 2014.

"Lord Baltimore" is the first episode of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on September 22, 2014.

"Dr. James Covington" is the third episode of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on October 6, 2014.

"Dr. Linus Creel" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on October 13, 2014.

"Tom Connolly" is the twenty-second episode and season finale of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on May 14, 2015.

The sixth season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on Thursday, January 3, 2019 at 10:00 PM, followed by its time slot premiere on Friday, January 4 at 9:00 PM. The season contained 22 episodes and concluded on May 17 the same year. Early episode reviews noted that the sixth season was more serialized than previous ones, focusing more on the stories of its main characters and the emotional fallout of recent events.

References

↑ "Episode Title: (#205) "THE FRONT"". The Futon Critic. 2014-10-20. Retrieved 2015-06-06.
↑ Kondology, Amanda (2014-10-21). "Monday Final Ratings: 'The Big Bang Theory', 'The Voice' & 'Gotham' Adjusted Up; 'Jane the Virgin', 'The Originals', 'The Millers' & 'Castle' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers . Tribune Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on 2014-10-23. Retrieved 2015-06-06.
↑ Bibel, Sara (2014-10-28). "TV Ratings Broadcast Top 25: 'Sunday Night Football' Tops Week 5 With Adults 18-49, 'Thursday Night Football' Tops With Total Viewers". TV by the Numbers . Tribune Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2015-06-06.
1 2 Bonaime, Ross (2014-10-21). "The Blacklist Review: "The Front"". Paste . Paste Media Group . Retrieved 2015-06-06.
1 2 Evans, Jason (2014-10-20). "'The Blacklist' Recap: Season 2, Episode 5, 'The Front'". The Wall Street Journal . Dow Jones & Company . Retrieved 2015-06-06.

External links

"The Front" at IMDb

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[1] "Episode Title: (#205) "THE FRONT"". The Futon Critic. 2014-10-20. Retrieved 2015-06-06.

[2] Kondology, Amanda (2014-10-21). "Monday Final Ratings: 'The Big Bang Theory', 'The Voice' & 'Gotham' Adjusted Up; 'Jane the Virgin', 'The Originals', 'The Millers' & 'Castle' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers . Tribune Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on 2014-10-23. Retrieved 2015-06-06.

[3] Bibel, Sara (2014-10-28). "TV Ratings Broadcast Top 25: 'Sunday Night Football' Tops Week 5 With Adults 18-49, 'Thursday Night Football' Tops With Total Viewers". TV by the Numbers . Tribune Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2015-06-06.

[Paste_Magazine_Review-4] 1 2 Bonaime, Ross (2014-10-21). "The Blacklist Review: "The Front"". Paste . Paste Media Group . Retrieved 2015-06-06.

[The_Wall_Street_Journal_Review-5] 1 2 Evans, Jason (2014-10-20). "'The Blacklist' Recap: Season 2, Episode 5, 'The Front'". The Wall Street Journal . Dow Jones & Company . Retrieved 2015-06-06.

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