Ronald Reagan popularized the phrase "trust but
verify", but it would seem that the world of The Blacklist did not get that memo.
It seems like the FBI puts a lot of trust in a man who is supposed to be a world class criminal. And in this episode, that overly-trusting nature almost came back to bite them in the backside. Note to the FBI, it shouldn't be a surprise when the world class criminal plays you. Fortunately, he held true to his stated desire to ferret out the corrupt crime bosses. But Reddington is a criminal, and I wonder if he will always remain so noble...
One thing I find interesting in new shows is how some of the structures around the main plot line changes. I am talking about things like, secondary cast members, theme songs, or major personality shifts in a main character.
In The Blacklist, the first of perhaps a few of those changes took place in just the second episode. NBC must have noticed that the diversity of their cast was lacking and took problems to address that. The three new body guards for Reddington were a black man, Asian woman, and Indian woman. I think that qualifies for the diversity trifecta (it will be a perfect diversity trifecta if one of the ladies is a lesbian and there were hints of that about the Asian body guard. That would give me Diversity Bingo, so here's hoping...).
Oh, and the criminals were white, but I'm sure this was merely a coincidence. Surely, we can all just trust that NBC isn't trying to make a statement on society.