BBB - Great prediction about Dembe.  It was great to see him take out McMahon and save the day!

Tatiana wrote:

Well, we are sh~t out of luck. We got a bigger better anenna and it's been working great. Until tonight. So rather than be frustrated, we are going to watch Person of Interest. We're on the 5th season. I imagine we will watching many episodes tonght.
 

So Sorry!!  I cant wait for you to see and comment.  

IowaWatcher wrote:

Excellent finale!

-Dembe is back! (and how!)
-Both plotlines moved very well and fit together
-The spy stuff is back, and we got to see KR! (or maybe faux KR, but I don't care.) Our Red recognized her
as KR and that's good enough for me tonight.
- The task force is on the run
- There's a good set-up for next season (and plenty to discuss) -- I will need to look at the transcripts and rewatch for some of the dialog between Red and the "stranger from his past" and the last portion, although I do note that they turned the freakin' music down a bit during the last three minutes!

Is Panabaker in Homeland? Does that mean that she's on Red's payroll?
Cooper has pulled out the stops, for sure. He'll be interesting "on the run," I predict.

I'll be interested to read your comments! I need to go back through that dialog between Red and the stranger. I feel like I missed two or three of the important sentences.

 

Yes!  A lot to chew on.  Awesome episode!  I need to gather my thoughts!! lol 

 

Eastcoast wrote:

Yes!  A lot to chew on.  Awesome episode!  I need to gather my thoughts!! lol 
 

Yes! I'll have more to write after my rewatch. I couldn't quite hear the part where Red and the stranger are talking about what Dom said. All I got was, "And she believed him?" . . . that's important because to me it confirms what a lot of us were thinking, that Dom's story was mostly a fairy tale.

KathyN wrote:

For those who believe in Redarina - the stranger seems to be the real Ilya, he even looks just like him 30+ years later, 

I'm not a fan of Redarina, but I can certainly see that the stranger might be the real IIya, especially since I'm not buying Dom's tale.

I think you might be right about the ride that KR (or faux KR) takes him on.



 

Last edited by IowaWatcher (5/17/2019 8:55 pm)

IowaWatcher wrote:

I'm not a fan of Redarina, but I can certainly see that the stranger might be the real IIya, especially since I'm not buying Dom's tale.

I'm not buying Dom's tale either. I was toying with the idea it wasn't the whole story, that while Ilya may have assumed the identity at the very beginning, fake Red was a 3rd imposter who took over after Ilya withdrew the money from the bank accounts (and that the Ilya part didn't involve any surgery for the impersonation). Now I'm pretty sure that's the case.  And of course Dom would have to know - because Dom knew Ilya from childhood so would know if fake Red was Ilya or not.  He told Liz a true story, he just didn't finish the story.

And I'm not a fan of Redarina either, and until the last few episodes I didn't buy into it, but there is no denying at this point that the producers/writers are dropping hints to that theory all over the place.  I don't know anymore if they're toying with the audience, or if that's actually going to turn out to be the case.  The conversation between the stranger and Red makes the most sense if the stranger is Ilya and Red is Katarina.  I'm hesitant to say it because I hate the idea but I think we may end up with Redarina at the end of the day.
 

Last edited by KathyN (5/17/2019 9:10 pm)

Tuxie400 wrote:

Bokenkamp says we should take the last scene "at face value" in the Variety interview.  JB's used that exact slippery language on other misdirects. If this truly is Katarina Rostova, I don't think I like the woman she's become. I thought she stabbed Red with a knife, but the EW recapper says it was a syringe.  What say you, fellow refugees?

You mean the way we were supposed to believe Tom was dead after that season finale?  Or that Liz was dead after that other season finale?  Yeah.. right. 

It was a syringe. I looked closely. I also watch with closed caption on because otherwise I miss too much dialogue, especially when the music is playing loudly in the background. You can watch the online replay version with close captions too if you don't want to miss anything. There's a box on the bottom right to turn them on.
 

Tuxie, that's funny that you lean Redarina and this episode had you leaning away from it, and I've never leaned Redarina and these last few episodes had me leaning towards it. The producers are certainly succeeding in toying with us!

I just wanted to add one more point.  It's been with me since the Blacklist Redemption episode where Tom finds that Russian camp where Russian spies are learning to impersonate Americans so they can slip into their lives unnoticed. From that episode forward that's who I thought Red was, a well placed impersonator from that program who assumed his identity and something went terribly wrong - and that Dom was the head of the program. After hearing Dom's Ilya story I leaned away from it, but after tonight I'm leaning right back in that direction. While Ilya and Katarina may have used a disguised (with wig and makeup only) Ilya to get the money out of the accounts, after that a spy from Dom's program assumed the role of Raymond Reddington and perhaps someone from that program assumed the role of Katarina as well. Those are the 2 people who met on the street. The real Reddington was killed by Masha, Ilya is alive as the stranger, Dom is alive as the ex-head of that program, and the mystery is where is the real Katarina and who is impersonating Reddington. And of course, why and why is Liz's life in danger because of all of that.
 

Last edited by KathyN (5/17/2019 9:49 pm)

KathyN wrote:

While Ilya and Katarina may have used a disguised (with wig and makeup only) Ilya to get the money out of the accounts, after that a spy from Dom's program assumed the role of Raymond Reddington and perhaps someone from that program assumed the role of Katarina as well. Those are the 2 people who met on the street. The real Reddington was killed by Masha, Ilya is alive as the stranger, Dom is alive as the ex-head of that program, and the mystery is where is the real Katarina and who is impersonating Reddington. And of course, why and why is Liz's life in danger because of all of that.
 

Gold star! That's a great theory that makes a lot of sense.

KathyN wrote:

Tuxie, that's funny that you lean Redarina and this episode had you leaning away from it, and I've never leaned Redarina and these last few episodes had me leaning towards it. The producers are certainly succeeding in toying with us!

I just wanted to add one more point.  It's been with me since the Blacklist Redemption episode where Tom finds that Russian camp where Russian spies are learning to impersonate Americans so they can slip into their lives unnoticed. From that episode forward that's who I thought Red was, a well placed impersonator from that program who assumed his identity and something went terribly wrong - and that Dom was the head of the program. After hearing Dom's Ilya story I leaned away from it, but after tonight I'm leaning right back in that direction. While Ilya and Katarina may have used a disguised (with wig and makeup only) Ilya to get the money out of the accounts, after that a spy from Dom's program assumed the role of Raymond Reddington and perhaps someone from that program assumed the role of Katarina as well. Those are the 2 people who met on the street. The real Reddington was killed by Masha, Ilya is alive as the stranger, Dom is alive as the ex-head of that program, and the mystery is where is the real Katarina and who is impersonating Reddington. And of course, why and why is Liz's life in danger because of all of that.
 

My feeliing that Red might be the original was in the moment and fleeting.  I just know after all these years I'm tired of theorizing.  I think I'm going to be like Liz - just accept Red for who is now.  I just don't have the energy to worry one more millisecond about who he was.