Maybe her birth year has been "corrected" in their records? 

That episode was written by the Johns and Reiter, but maybe Props typed it wrong?? But since it was on-camera long (or clearly enough) enough for viewers to read (even if we froze it) it makes you wonder.

As a huge fan of Person of Interest, I'm going to chime in with a comparison between these two shows. The writers of POI never needed to resort to 'cute' tricks or gimmicks. If there was a villain, we met him right away, sometimes after a few episodes of build up (like Elias or Dominic), but as soon as they became a major story we knew who they were.  They never delivered  an out-of-thin-air character to tie things up after a few seasons.  Even the head of HR had been introduced to the audience almost a season before we found out he was the head of HR; he didn't come out of nowhere.  Pulling people out of a hat with the audience having no way of knowing them or their story is lazy writing. It takes a effort to plot out a character and let the audience know who they are as the story builds.

And another comparison. If the Blacklist had the writers that POI did, the president's wife would turn out to be a diabolical, pivotal character in some conspiracy who fooled Harold's team that the only reason they wanted to take her out was over a car accident.  Again, if this was POI, it would be an accident that she  did herself, deliberately, when her husband was drunk and then drugged by her and asleep in the passenger seat, and then put him behind the wheel to wake him up so she'd have leverage over him. When the shooter missed, she threatened the president (who still believed he was drunk and driving) to reveal even more if he didn't go along with her story, possibly threatening him that he'd be indicted for the murder of Anna and her team as a co-conspirator in trying to kill the wife (felony murder rule) if he didn't step down (as they were dead by then and couldn't chime in and the dossier was missing again). And that's why the president and Anna went to so much trouble, to stop the wife's "cabal" - whether it's the same one or a different one, whether or not fake-Katarina is involved or not, or the Townsend thing is involved. That's how you write a good tv show.  But I'm willing to bet that we'll never hear about the president's wife again, that taking out gov't officials of other countries and almost blowing up the UN was for all for selfish reasons to cover up a drunk driving epsiode.  (major let down).

KathyN - While I loved the first few seasons of Person of Interest, I couldn't stand the ones when Samaritan came on the scene.  I've tried twice to watch that last season -without success.  In my opinion, The Blacklist is the better written show, despite some things that seem like discrepancies and introducing new characters like Ilya.

Tuxie, it was the opposite for me! While I loved all of it, and the first few seasons with Carter and just the original team which gave us more John (he seemed to have less screentime when Shaw and Root came on board),  the seasons with Samaritan really were my favorite seasons. As for the Blacklist, season 1 so far is my favorite.   The last few seasons seemed to be stretched out, with storylines that could have been 3-4 episode arcs that lasted 22 episodes.   The catch-22 for all of us who want to see how this ends and have the secrets finally revealed is that the producers will only reveal them at the end of the last season, and as long as we watch (waiting for a reveal of some sort), we keep the viewer numbers up, so they get renewed, only to drag it out another season, with no real reveal.  They can keep dragging this out as long as we keep hanging on for an answer  (which isn't really a bad thing - we get more Spader, more fun stories, etc... just no answers!).

I have never seen POI.  Maybe in the future if I ever get more free time I can check it out.  

I wanted to ask you if anyone knows when the interview is with JB that Aaron and Troy are doing?  I heard the podcast and wondered if anyone knows when it is coming out?  

Tuxie, I hope this Season is the last.  I like the show, but they drag some stuff out.  The entire season 5 to ID the bones was a bit too long for me.  I think 7 years will be a good place to end.  

 

As a paying patron, I can tell you that the podcast was released yesterday morning, earlier than anticipated. It should be released sometime next week I would say probably Tuesday/Wednesday, but just keep your eyes open for it.

I have to agree, I think they should end it at season 7. I believe it has been said they thought their sweet spot was 7 seasons. I still think that the weakness in this show is that it is a story best told as a movie, but is told through tv and all the constraints that are part of that business: multiple businesses with joint ownership of the brand who make decisions based on money only; irreplaceable actors/actresses in lead roles...if anything were to happen to any of them, it impacts how they tell the story - will Brian Dennehy still be able to act in another episode? (he's 80); an intricate puzzle of a story (what we love about it) that has to be written, shot, produced, and executed within 8 days (are we reading too much into things?). etc.

I could really see the BBC doing a great job but they would not have had the budget for the first few years that drew in a lot of the audience.

Personally, I'm a little leery of how this story is going. It feels very strange these last 5 episodes, almost as though they were going in one direction and had to completely turn the ship. But that's just my opinion.

BBB, maybe we can start a new topic on POI so that we don't spoil it for anyone who still hasn't watched. I can talk about POI anytime, all the time.I must have watched it 3 or 4 times by now, they rerun it on weekends here and I always watch again.

As for extending the Blacklist multiple more seasons I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand, I love the show and I love watching Spader and there's not that much I watch on TV these days anymore and there must be at least 100 people who get their employment from this show so the longer it goes on the longer they work.  So on that hand I hope they can drag this out for 10 seasons or more. On the other hand, I'm getting tired of waiting and I'm losing interest.  I only half-heartedly watched this season, I watched all the episodes but usually while doing something else and not giving it my full attention, waiting until the last few episodes to engage, (as is evident by my posting here), knowing that's when we get the reveals typically. They've become really predictable and I'm tired of the games and the 'trolling' the Redarina believers by keeping the hints coming to keep them watching.  But like I said, I don't want to see the show cancelled so it really is a Catch-22.  I wish the writers could wrap up this story line and keep the show going with a new one (like POI did multiple times - they had so many different plots - HR, then the CIA/FBI going after John, then Vigilance, then the Brotherhood, and finally Samaritan. I'm sure if they'd been given another season, they'd have come up with a new threat and kept the show fresh and interesting.).  Why not reveal the whole Reddington/Katarina mystery during Season 7 and then add some new challenge or mystery that takes a few more seasons to follow? Why is the reveal of who Red is the death of the show?  It doesn't have to be.

Here are some quotes I found that are interesting from both Johns that to me say they're willing to drag this out as long as they can. And by dragging it out, that means they won't reveal who Red is for a few more seasons. ugh.  Emphasis in the answers is mine.

Heading into Season 7, I have to ask: Has there been any discussion about the show’s endgame? Do you have an idea of how long you’d like to continue telling this story?
BOKENKAMP  We talk about it, yeah. We talk about it. Especially in a serialized show like this, where there is a mythology, we never want to stretch it. We never want to take advantage of that. And yet, at the same time, I think we really have a lot of story to tell. Going into Season 7, John and I both feel very confident that we have a lot of work yet to do. I don’t think anybody’s racing to the finish line.
https://tvline.com/2019/05/17/the-blacklist-recap-season-6-finale-episode-22-katarina-rostova/

Is season seven approaching the endgame for the series?
Eisendrath: We always envisioned sooner or later all the characters that we have talked about and dramatized -- in Katarina's case, in the past -- would come and become present tense in the story. I think there's a lot of story left to tell. I think every season has been incredibly personal and has had huge revelations and next season will be no exception.
https://www.etonline.com/the-blacklist-bosses-say-shocking-finale-twist-leads-to-huge-revelations-in-season-7-exclusive
 

Last edited by KathyN (5/27/2019 2:24 pm)

KathyN wrote:

BBB, maybe we can start a new topic on POI so that we don't spoil it for anyone who still hasn't watched. I can talk about POI anytime, all the time.I must have watched it 3 or 4 times by now, they rerun it on weekends here and I always watch again.
 

KathyN, we have an Off Topic area where you can start a POI discussion thread if you'd like.

Profit is the reason I think they are dragging it out too Tuxie.  You and Liz!  That was funny!!!!  

Almost everyone I know who started out watching it are either no longer doing so, or catching it here and there.  A few catch it on Netflix when it comes out.  But to be honest, one of them asked me if there were any answers yet, and when I said no, they said they will binge watch it when the answers are there.  They said that they felt they ruined a good thing.  

I am hoping the podcast interview will shed some light about going forward and giving some answers soon.  There are so many theories floating around and I just want to see them narrow down some more. 

 

I just hope the final season (TBL FINALIST) doesn't turn into a Red & Liz soap opera. POI stayed with saving regular human beings despite the world threat of an incredibly powerful A.I. so Blacklist should still be in "the rounding up of international criminals & black-listers" business thru much of its final season.

Going into Red/Liz Peyton Place mode will soil the legacy of an otherwise brilliant show - although the show has already been partially soiled by the extreme reluctance of show-runners, producers & writers to provide significant answers to questions they set out as long as 6 years ago!