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"Pilot" is the pilot episode of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on September 23, 2013.

Synopsis
One of the FBI’s most wanted men, Raymond Reddington (James Spader), strolls into the bureau headquarters in D.C. and turns himself in. He has information on a crime about to be perpetrated by a Serbian terrorist believed by the bureau to be dead. When the Serbian is recognized by facial ident software coming through the airport very much alive, the Special Agent in Charge listens to Reddington’s demands to help catch the criminal, which includes working exclusively with Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone), a profiler on her first day on the job. Reddington knows quite a bit about Keen, which convinces her and the SAIC to acquiesce to Reddington’s plan. The Serbian plans to kidnap the daughter of a general responsible for destroying a chemical weapons factory that then poisoned the Serbian’s family. He will use that daughter to set off a dirty bomb in a public place.

Keen gets to the girl first but loses her in a daring raid by the Serbian’s forces. Now aware of Keen, the Serbian attacks her husband in their home, gravely wounding him. Keen notes a stamp on the man’s hand and deduces the attack will take place at a zoo. Reddington briefly escapes custody to meet with the Serbian, revealing that he is behind the ploy, though the FBI is unaware. Using a tracker placed in Reddington, which he removes and gives to the Serbian, the FBI track down the criminal and he is killed. Keen finds the daughter and a bomb in her backpack. Reddington calls in a shady bomb tech to disable to bomb, who then runs off with the bomb as payment. During their interactions, Reddington plants seeds that Keen’s husband, with whom she’s trying to adopt a baby, is not what he appears to be.

Following the ordeal, Reddington offers to provide information on a number of the world’s dangerous criminals, his “blacklist,” in order to commute sentence and work with Keen. At home, Keen discovers a hidden box of cash, passports, and a gun, all belonging to her husband. She confronts Reddington to find out what he knows about the man.

Production
The episode debuted the series for the 2013–14 season.

Casting
Executive producer John Eisendrath said the casting process for "Pilot" was difficult. In February 2013, Zap2it reported that NBC offered Kiefer Sutherland the lead role of Raymond Reddington. After considering other actors for the role, Einsendrath and Bokencamp called James Spader to see if he would be interested in it. Feeling confident in Spader's understanding of the character, they casted him three days before filming began. Megan Boone took a week to prepare for her audition as FBI profiler Elizabeth Keen. Feeling like her initial audition was one of the better auditions of her career, Boone later got called back for multiple auditions. In March 2013, Deadline.com reported that Boone accepted the role as the female lead in the series.

Ratings
"Pilot" premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013 in the 10–11 p.m. time slot. The episode garnered a 3.8/10 Nielsen rating with 12.58 million viewers, making it the highest rated show in its time slot. The series premiere was the eleventh most watched television show of the week, and was the highest rated 10 p.m. drama since Revolution on September 17, 2012.

Reviews
Reviews for "Pilot" were generally favorable. Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a B+, calling the show "a slick action-adventure tale with knotty plotting and zeitgeisty villains". Hank Steuver of The Washington Post praised the episode for being "stylish and swiftly paced" with "intriguing plot twists", but felt that there was "not a lot of motivation to keep coming back". Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette felt that the "tone change" in the episode was "a bit abrupt", but noted that "viewers who can handle the twists and turns will be intrigued".

Several critics praised James Spader's performance as Raymond "Red" Reddington in "Pilot". Diane Werts of Newsday labeled Spader "TV's most voracious thespian", but felt that he was "the only one who actually [understood] the gameplay" of the series. Mary McNamara of Los Angeles Times said that Spader was "the ace in the hole" of the episode, noting that "the sheer swoony pleasure of watching James Spader chew through scenes and scenery with epicurean delight" was the "reason to watch" the show.