It’s called The Pit.
It’s a classified prison, and it’s home to the most dangerous and violent criminals the world has ever known.
At least it was. Until the blast hit.
“How many inmates got out?” asks formerly benched FBI profiler Bex Henderson (Melissa Roxburgh), who is now back on the case and assigned with the onerous task of taking down any number of creepy and enigmatic character actors every week.
“Enough to keep the show going for at least four seasons,” whisper the show’s creators.
That’s all you need to know about The Hunting Party, NBC’s new mid-season drama, coming your way on Monday nights from Feb. 3 (with a special preview on Sunday Jan. 19).
Competently cast, unapologetically procedural, and deeply reminiscent of NBC’s one time juggernaut The Blacklist, this new crime drama sees the aforementioned Bex along with former FBI partner and current wildcard Oliver Odell (Nick Wechsler, The Boys, Revenge) teaming up to form a task force under the control of steady, by the book CIA agent Ryan Hassani (Patrick Sabongui, Virgin River, The Flash), Pit prison guard and former soldier Shane Florence (Josh McKenzie, La Brea, Home Kills) and chirpy army intel officer Jennifer Morales (Sara Garcia, Ride, The Flash). Their aim is to bring in any number of escaped criminals who are now at large thanks to the aforementioned blast — a dramatic explosion by forces unknown that loosed a motley crew from their spartan glass-walled cells and back into polite society.
In each episode (we’ve seen 4 in advance), Odell and Morales hold down the fort, gather intel, and direct operations from Task Force HQ while Bex, Florence, and Hassani jet to the location of their next serial killer, psychopath, or deranged lunatic. The killers waste no time getting back to what they do best, and The Hunting Party does a commendable job at keeping the weekly cases juicy by means of a scattering of unexpected twists which we won’t spoil for you here.
Additionally, there is an ongoing storyline involving one of the characters who may not be as trustworthy as they pretend to be, a shady organization behind the explosion that allowed the prisoners escape in the first place, and the reason these killers ended up in The Pit instead of being executed or facing life in prison. (The short answer to that last question is: unethical psychological experimentation!)
In fact, Bex and the team spend a lot of their time remarking how this week’s killer has changed up his or her traditional M.O., and demanding to know what happened in The Pit to make some prisoners even more hardened in their ideologies, only to be told by a various people above her pay grade “I’ve already said all I can!”, “I’ve said too much already!” and my favorite, “There are no answers in The Pit. Only more questions!” Although The Hunting Party deserves credit for adding additional layers to its lore, I’m not sure if this particular mystery is as compelling as the show’s writers seem to think it is.
Are are also moments of unintended amusement where the show aims to earnestly remind us of the dangerous and sinister nature of the escapees, but we get a scene of a successfully apprehended felon being strapped into a padded chair with full limb and head restraints, then locked inside a trucking container, then airlifted into the sky via a crane instead — a completely over the top moment for a minor character with no special murder skills. Another episode sees the task force telling a group of 10 or more rangers, all armed with guns, to back down before they are picked off by this week’s killer: a petite woman whose only weapon is a knife.
It’s in these moments that The Hunting Party veers into the type of well-trodden TV you might expect to see on a show that has been on the air for years and is showing signs of storytelling fatigue. It’s a little disappointing to see it in the first half of a show’s very first season.
While reluctant to make further comparisons to NBC’s other famous and long-running crime procedural it must be noted that The Blacklist starred James Spader, a charismatic big screen actor in a larger than life role around which the characters and the show itself revolved. The Hunting Party shares many similarities with The Blacklist, but it doesn’t have a Spader. It therefore needs to shine brightly and above all, uniquely, in other areas in order to avoid being labeled as another Blacklist clone.
Ultimately, The Hunting Party is a mixed bag of potential and occasionally puzzling execution. The show’s layered mysteries and weekly cases promise intrigue, but moments of tonal inconsistency and unearned (or unintentionally hilarious) gravitas weigh it down. Whether it evolves into a standout drama or remains an entertaining yet unremarkable procedural will depend on how well it can balance its ambitions with its delivery.
For now, it’s worth a watch — if only to see whether this party ends up being one worth joining.
The Hunting Party is from co-showrunners JJ Bailey (creator) and Jake Coburn, who also serve as writers and executive producers on the show.
The show will air a special premiere on Sunday, Jan. 19, at 7 pm ET/PT following the NFL divisional playoff game and NBC nightly news.
It then returns to its regular time slot of Monday nights at 10 PM ET/PT, from Feb. 3.
Follow @TVPulseMag on X and TVPulseMag.com on Bluesky for more Hunting Party scoop this TV season.
