The NBC series The Hunting Party examines moral questions about justice and control through “The Pit,” a secret supermax prison incorrectly labeled a Panopticon—Jeremy Bentham would likely dismiss its flawed design.

The show’s basic setup follows what happens after humanity’s most dangerous prisoners, wiped from public records, break free during an explosion that creates chaos. Rebecca “Bex” Henderson, a somber profiler from casino security in Virginia, receives orders to catch the escaped inmates (complete with technical terms and personal struggles).

The series wavers between depicting justice as a mechanism of control versus an ethical matter, hinting these prisoners served as test subjects, dehumanized and turned into weapons. The Hunting Party seems to prefer focusing on weekly villain confrontations rather than examining this system deeply.

The show touches on big ideas before returning to its crime-of-the-week format, making its supposed shadowy elements obvious. The series plays like The Blacklist minus the playfulness,...