Yes, lara1 #98. It probably can't be resolved without revealing too much about the end or at least spoiling how they get there. The last thing they need to do is have Liz and Red be comfortable with each other. Meanwhile Dembe will probably continue to prod Red about telling her the truth, and all the while  Red will keep piling up things he can't tell her the truth about.

Honey West #96 and Tuxie400 #97 - upon re-watching the episode, I found another similarity between the scene with Stratos and Red - and Red and Kaplan in Leonard Caul - in Isabella Stone, Stratos is shot in the right lung.  Which is I think is the same place where Red was shot.  Well, one of his lungs.  I think it was the right, but I guess either is close enough to provide the similarity.   

Last edited by lara1 (2/11/2017 11:04 pm)

lara1 #103 - Yes, I noticed both Stratos and Red were shot in the chest with probable right lung injuries. So without even showing Kaplan in this episode, there were reminders of her and Red in this scene.

Tuxie400 wrote:

About the Isabella Stone alias, I wondered if that was one of the many names Katarina had used. Whoever is pulling Judith's strings had her use that name to shake Red to his core.

That's a very good observation, Tuxie400! And even if it isn't Katarina pulling the strings it means that it's someone who knew her and about her. And about Red.

Tuxie400 wrote:

About the Isabella Stone alias, I wondered if that was one of the many names Katarina had used. Whoever is pulling Judith's strings had her use that name to shake Red to his core.

Tuxie400 #106.     Katarina? Yes, Katerina is a possibility.  So here is a thought that I had yesterday:

 - When Liz asks Red who is attacking him, he says something like, I only know her by an alias - Isabella Stone.  Reminded me of when Red said to Liz in Season 2, re her mother, “I knew her as Katarina Rostova….one of her many aliases” or something like that. 

- The backstory of Judith Pruitt, alias Isabella Stone, is very similar to that of Vaness Cruz - husbands framed for financial scams.  Both Pruitt and Cruz kill under an alias.  Both husbands ended up dying  (Pruitt's husband killed,  Vanessa Cruz's husband jumped off a bridge and killed himself).  Both avenging those deaths in similar but different ways (Cruz, the direct people who framed her husband, Pruitt, by taking down other scammers - as I understand it).  Both destroyed people’s reputations and sometimes their lives (from what I recall).  And their actions also impacted innocent people (pensions funds, people’s savings, charitable donations that could save lives etc)

 - So then one more level and I'm thinking OK, Pruitt is connected to Cruz via their basic motives - and Cruz  committed "suicide" by leaving her clothes on the beach (echoes of Katarina) and we know that (Cruz) was a fake suicide.  Cruz’s husband also kills himself and drowns.  Then Pruitt aka Stone - threatens to drown the doctor in the swimming pool. 

- Then there is Liz saving the doctor from drowning. 

Other drowning themes in Season 4 - the judge who drowns while swimming after having been poisoned, the saving of Kirk, connected to Katarina,  by Liz back in 4.02. 

- So maybe this adds up to nothing, but I think the Katarina links are intriguing.    Was her suicide fake, is she still alive, and is she behind the plot against Red? Maybe Katarina, or someone very close to her.  If so, then Red would have been threatened by Kirk and then by Katarina both wanting him dead. 

Last edited by lara1 (2/12/2017 4:33 pm)

More observations...

The more I think through this, the more layers I see in this episode.  I wrote some of them in my post above, but here are a couple of more observations, in no particular order - maybe you have seen them as well - any others?

 -When Isabella Stone calls Security at the hotel to report the couple next door arguing, she says that they are having a “terrible row”.  Another English phrase.  She later says to Sperry “No matter how “sterling” your reputation…” …the UK currency.  Is there an English connection again here? 

-When Tom calls Dembe to contact Red, there is a triangular shaped wall hanging just next to him prominent in the camera shot 

-When Liz talks to Tom about his father, and she is holding Agnes, Agnes is wearing a onesie that has little grey birds all over it (cute) 

-When Tom decides to look into his father, and Tom and Liz are discussing it, there is a blurred camera shot of what looks like may be a white stuffed rabbit on a table in the apartment (I think of the “down the rabbit hole” comment to Tom from Liz last episode) 

-The aged amber lampshades are back!  Red has one in his workshop. 

-Partial lyrics from the song that plays when Red gives Liz the cuckoo clock (Marika Hackman: “Before I Sleep”): 

“Burning, the roads through my mind are on fire.
For the light you shed was blinding
A rabbit, caught in your glow, I am frozen,
In the yielding tar, sticky and golden

 I foresee this ending in a shower of flame
So drink your holy water soon…”

 -When Red has left Stratos in the police station, and is going up the stairs and hears the shot of Stratos killing himself with Red’s gun (I think), and Red appears momentarily stunned, there is a blank screen, a white flash of blinding light, not unlike in Liz’s fire memories….

 -Liz is calling Tom “honey”, another vague Katarina reference/clue?  K the “honey trap”… 

-I think the look that went between Red and the chief of police, Chiras - like they have had a run in before 

Some random Season 1 references - some of these are kind of like mirror images again 

Ressler’s brother’s medical dilemma and Ressler’s conversation in the car while with Samar mirroring Liz’s conversations with Sam while in the car with Ressler in Season 1 

Red warning Tom about Scottie like Red warning Liz about Tom 

Tom on the floor with the newspaper articles and reports like Liz with the Berlin files 

Liz’s attitude toward Red and defense of him 

Ressler’s questioning why they are doing stuff for Reddington …

I’m sure there may be others…. All of this really makes me wonder whether the season finale will mirror that of Season 1 as well or have some kind of connection to it…. 

Lastly, I’d like to get a better look at the cuckoo clock and try to determine its origin - Russian or not….

Last edited by lara1 (2/12/2017 10:16 pm)

Tuxie400 # 112 - I like your point about all of the female blacklisters foreshadowing something huge.  I didn't think of that, that is a really interesting point.

On Stratos, that was my interpretation - I think its a bit open though.  I just thought because it was a single shot and Red said to him something like "whatever, happens, whatever you do....know that your children will be cared for...."  I just kind of thought there would be more that one shot, if Stratos was fired on or vice versa.  And the bright white light, kind of ties into the themes.  But it could go the other way.

I thought of a couple more parallels to Season 1: the reference to a deep, dark hole.

In this episode, Red says this of Stratos, "Until he helps them reel me in, the only place he’s going is a very deep, dark hole."  

This reminds me of Harold telling Liz in Berlin Part I that after his capture Red would be sent to a deep, dark hole.Also the guy buried underground in The Courier, and Red's mention of dying underground in Kuala Lumpur.

The opening sequence with the courier hiding things in his prosthetic leg reminded me of The Courier hiding electronic data in his body.

Last edited by Tuxie400 (2/13/2017 2:31 pm)

Good observations, as usual, lara1 #111. I didn't really think about the British connections, because since they were in Monaco, that would be appropriate for the location. Still, you never know with these guys! :-)

I just assumed Stratos shot himself. He knew they couldn't carry him out of there and all escape and if he was captured they might torture a lot of compromising information about Red and his operations out of him before they killed him anyway. He knew what he had to do to prevent that and protect Red. Very loyal associate and friend. So much for Red's claim that he has no friends, eh?

As far as the questioning of why they are doing things for Red. Harold said, I think, that he was having issues with doing things that were for Red's personal agenda. That made me think that as long as their efforts were supporting a larger objective he was okay with it, but the more personal for Red that it becomes (or so it appears to the Task Force), then they begin to draw the line. So it would appear that there probably are two separate, but linked, agendas at play here. Maybe?

Liz's reactions to Red lately have been different than they used to be. I don't know if there is some sense of contrition about what she's put him through in spite of his apparent devotion to her and Agnes or if there's more to it. I am beginning to think that she has discovered that truth that Red said she had to find out for herself. She hasn't put all of the pieces together yet and probably her biggest question would become "why?" She's had a couple of DNA test results for herself. I wonder if the results were the same or different from "Linus Creel" to "Adrian Shaw". She's been shown how the results can be easily faked. I would love to know how both of her tests compared. Because if they were different or the same it could point her to the truth either way. She's had opportunities to have Red's DNA tested, too. But did she? I'm starting to wonder if she knows or strongly suspects the truth about him, but she's biding her time and gathering clues before she confronts him again. After all, she knows he won't tell her anything. I think something like that might explain her current attitude towards him. We are supposed to get another big reveal this season, or so we've heard. In any case, if she does find out the who, she will still be in the dark about the Why, and that would leave plenty of story to tell.
I wanted to add that the whole Alexander Kirk paternity thing was just a diversion, to make Liz question what she might be beginning to figure out about Red. I got the impression from Kirk that he thought Red had told her that he/Red was her father and not him/Kirk.

I thought about that deep, dark hole thing, too, Tuxie400, I'm glad you brought it up.

 Emma and Isabella - Connection or fun fact?  So, here is a cool fun fact: 

Honey West, your comment in #117 on the English phrases got me thinking.  Isabella didn't sound very British to me.  So why was she saying that the couple in the next room in the hotel were having a "terrible row".  Was she raised in England or have British parents, family etc.  And  I started to think of Emma, Red's MI-6 pal.  And I started to think in the back of my head, is there a connection between these two names? 

Just for the heck of it, I googled "Emma and Isabella" and one of the results was a write up of the Jane Austen novel, "Emma".  So in the novel, Isabella was the older sister of Emma.   And, Isabella's (married) surname (in the novel) was "Knightley".  And we have Emma (MI-6 Emma) whose surname is “Knightly” also.   

So is there a connection between these two - MI-6 Emma and Isabella Stone (or the person who is pulling Isabella’s strings and/or also uses that alias?). Hmmm.  Interesting.  I like it, even if its just a fun fact and no more!  

Last edited by lara1 (2/13/2017 5:39 pm)