Excellent song, BBB! I hope someone from TBL production team still reads here.

I need to rephrase my last question about Katarina. 

As soon as she heard Red say her name, her face changed   and got very angry looking.  When she turns around her expression looks softened towards him.  After they load him in the van she looks back with a very angry look again. 

I don't know if she is really her or not.  And I tend to think she wants to meet him elsewhere so they can talk.
  But I still wonder what Dembe meant when he was talking to Red when they saw the suitcase was missing, about what he did to Katarina.  So I was thinking, that angry look could be referring to whatever he did to her. 

So did anyone else see the change of facial expressions the way I did? 

😴

Eastcoast wrote:

I need to rephrase my last question about Katarina.

As soon as she heard Red say her name, her face changed and got very angry looking. When she turns around her expression looks softened towards him. After they load him in the van she looks back with a very angry look again.

I don't know if she is really her or not. And I tend to think she wants to meet him elsewhere so they can talk.
But I still wonder what Dembe meant when he was talking to Red when they saw the suitcase was missing, about what he did to Katarina. So I was thinking, that angry look could be referring to whatever he did to her.

So did anyone else see the change of facial expressions the way I did?

😴

Those are good observations about "Katarina's" facial expressions.  The expression you took as angry, I took as hard and tough.  The one you call soft, I would call less tough.  All I can say is she had a hard, "dont' mess with me" look.  I also thought she looked quite mannish.
 

Honeywest, I am glad you mentioned after she turned and walked away with his hat, because I didn't comment on that.  You pretty much said what I was thinking.  It was very smug, like she got him!  
The was she said his name did not fit the expression on her face before she turned around.  
I also wondered why he did that right on the street?  Maybe he thought he was safer like that.  I wonder if Dembe is somewhere nearby?  I cannot imagine Red would be dumb enough to go alone... 

Tuxie, I would never disagree that she looked hard and tough.  Her expressions, hair and makeup did make her look a bit mannish to me too. 

I was able to poke around on google to read a few comments and some people seamed surprised by the size of the needle.  It was big!  I think they wanted to be sure we could see it.  The other reason I think it would be so large was to be able to go through his clothes without breaking.  
He did have a surprised look on his face HW.  He comes to warn her and she does that.  

Just a quick note to say our favorite Blacklist "fixer", Glen has surfaced on Marvel "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as The Inspector on Planet Kitson. As per usual, he's tremendous!!! Its actually on tonite on NBC

Last edited by Big Badd Bazzer (5/24/2019 7:26 pm)

Tatiana wrote:

BBB - good to know!

I just wanted to let you know we finished Person of Interest last night. I'm glad I didn't get any spoilers while watching it. I'll google it, but why did they only get a half order for the last season? Curious.
Honestly, if there were this caliber of show on television more often we might even get cable.

I'm a tad paranoid when it comes to great TV & why there's so little of it. My feeling on Person of Interest - it was so superior to past, current and probably future TV drama that it was making all other TV shows look bad. IMMO it certainly did - I'm sure you felt the same way. Wait til you watch it the second time around - I'm on about the 5th or 6th for many of the episodes.

Remarkable work in writing, direction, acting & continuity. The main actors were all amazing as could be - the guest stars mostly superb and the back stories were dealt with honestly, often tragically.

You were really rooting for the majority of the characters, no matter how sordid their pasts were. They came on board for various nefarious reasons and ended up 'Saving the World'.

Warner Bros. - NOT CBS owned the show - which created a hoard of corporate greed when it came to profits. The wonderful stars were well paid and the sets were movie quality costly. CBS got tired of making small money on such a fine project. The show-runners had a bit of heft (gravitas if you will) and were able to negotiate a 13 episode out for a final season - when at many points there was doubt that a 5th season would even occur.

Personally, I was one of the main contributors to the POI forum - enjoyed their camaraderie as much as TBL forum (this one). Easily my favorite show of all-time on TV. I've only watch one other show more than twice - (The Fugitive)

Some notes on the stars of POI:
Jim Caviezel - a can't miss movie star who somehow missed. He was the next Clint Eastwood until his religious beliefs were used against him and he ended up in B-movies and a couple TV projects. His whispery way was captivating - and tons of female fans were drawn to his good looks. . . . although you'd never know it if you watched him in the pilot. I had only heard of Caviezel but never seen his projects. Now, I'll watch anything he does.

Michael Emerson (Harold Finch) - knew him from Lost but not a fan of his prior work. His portrayal of the mercurial computer genius with limited emotions but a heart of gold and unexpected courage under fire was a manifest tour de force.

Amy Acker (Root) - when Amy Acker arrived she was only to be involved in a short episode arc. When she left, she had gone from hacker/assassin to one of the (if not the greatest) female characters in TV history. Her portrayal of the perky psychopath Root was one for the ages.

Sarah Shahi (Shaw) - another magical casting decision. Shahi is the all-time favorite Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, and only spent one year in cowboy spandex. At a diminutive 5'3" she played big, brutal and tough. Cast with an emotional deficiency (she couldn't feel her emotions) she became an amazing team partner with early nemesis Root as they morphed into "TEAM SHOOT"

Kevin Chapman (Fusco) - the dirty cop was flagged early by Harold Finch & Reese to be their insider at the NYPD. Amazing redemption job by this superb character actor.

Taraji P. Henson - a great choice to play Det. Joss Carter in the first 2.5 seasons. Her resume and name is the best known of any POI cast member but the show actually got better when Root & Shaw came aboard to replace her.

Character actors - the Clark Middleton of POI was Enrico Colantoni who played mob boss 'Elias' on the run from modern technology and younger, more aggressive gangs. He eventually collaborated with John & Harold and was a superb team member.

Person of Interest could have easily played for 7 or 8 seasons. We were lucky to have them for 5 and 103 cherished (mostly) episodes. If you have a chance to see Amy Acker at on of the comic/sci-fi cons you should pay your $20 and meet her. She's more fun in person than she was on POI - if you can believe it.
 

Last edited by Big Badd Bazzer (5/25/2019 9:12 am)

Tuxie400 wrote:

Honey West and Eastcoast - I agree about that faint smile as the woman picks up Red's hat.  It was like she had put one over on him.

The Katarina Rostova smile:

If you consider Redarina, that Red is in fact Katarina hiding in plain sight so that her child could survive then there's a twist to that smile.

This is probably a bridge too far but let's assume for a moment the Redarina theory and couple that with what we saw on screen in Cape May. On it's face we knew that Cape May was not a depiction of current day Red talking with 1991 Katarina. It would break too many rules of writing. But we understood that it was persona speaking. We as an audience can understand that.

Couple that with a recurring question posed about Red, once Ressler to Liz, a second time from Liz to Red: I know why you became Raymond Reddington, but I don't understand why you stayed Raymond Reddington.

I have assumed that this Katarina and even the Stranger on the bench are parts of this person we know of as Red. So that these characters depict his internal struggles and realities.
Season 6 has been full of medical references for Red, he's drinking green smoothies, doing Tai Chi, taking injections. It's the injections part that has everyone in a tizzie. 
Here's one scenario:
Redarina is finally ready to return to herself.
Yeah, I know, it's kooky. 
But if that's the case, then when Red meets Katarina on the dark street in Paris, he is confronting his inner, sadder, exhausted, almost wasted true Katarina. She's spent. She's been shoved into hiding for so long that she's in the darkness. 
What I imagine is that last scene shows Red as we know him dying or being paralyzed so that Katarina can emerge.

So the Katarina smile is that she is free to become herself again.

Even as I'm writing this I actually don't believe it because Spader will be an active part of the show. But if Redarina is transitioning back, they could still use theatrical tricks to show the process he/she is undergoing.


 

Tuxie400 wrote:

Tatiana - I think the fedora has always been symbolic of the Raymond Reddington persona. Considering it as part of your theory,  the Katarina persona played by Lotte took the hat after she underwent surgery to become RR.  That person immersed herself so deeply in the RR persona that she lost herself. Taking the hat back off the street could be considered coming full circle.  But notice she just carries the hat - she doesn't wear it.

 Red was injecting himself with something, presumably from Stark, in an earlier episode.  Now Katarina injects him. It has me wondering what all the injections are all about. I also found it curious that we didn't get any clues about Red's "illness" during the finale. Perhaps Redarina's not transitioning back physically - but it's mentally.

That faint Katarina smile is almost like a Mona Lisa smile.

I always enjoy your insight, Tuxie! 
Agreed, she doesn't actually put the hat on, rather she carries it. Although it might be noted that putting the hat on would be far too big a visual statement. I agree with your assertion that it is likely Katarina getting in touch with herself, that deeply buried secret within this person we know as Red, which is a return to self mentally, not physically. What those injections are (and all the medical/health imagery which saturates this show) is anyone's guess and likely they won't let us in on that secret until they are ready to round out the story to the end.

Yes, "Katarina Smile" a la "Mona Lisa" smile.
The Mona Lisa smile has captured the imagination of thousands since it was first painted half a millenia ago!

It's a mystery 
 

Eastcoast wrote:

I was going through my notes and I forgot to ask if anyone else noticed the date they had for Liz's birthday?  
It was 4.24.83. 

 
Really? Where was that? Are they messing with our timeline again?

It is when they are talking about being wanted.   Liz and Ressler are both looking at their information. 
That year was really weird to see.