lara1, Honey West, and Iowa Watcher - I've been thinking more about Kate's memories and whether she might be an unreliable narrator.  Overall, I think TBL writers only give us a few pieces of truth at a time, and they do build in escape hatches with each of these time capsules.. Liz's fire memories, Red's Cape May experience, and the Katarina diary all seemed to offer up some truths, but they also made us question the veracity of everything we heard or saw. 

Kate's brain injuries certainly could have affected both her memories and her judgment, although the things she does in present time indicate she is still sharp and thinking on her feet. She craftily dispatched with Jason, the abuser boyfriend in Room #8 and she masterfully talked her way out of an arrest by the female cop.

But there are clues that her memory may be a bit off:

1. Having Katarina call Constantin by the name Alexander long before he was using it. This could just be the brain replacing the name in the memory with the most recent one the person used. As I get older, I'm having some issues with my memory. Mixing up the names is certainly something I might do.

2. Not showing Masha/Liz in pain from her wrist burn. This could be Kate not wanting to remember the child in pain. So she glosses over or skips that part of the memory. What Kate wants to remember is what Katarina told her.

3. The dialog between Katarina and Kate seeming odd. It's hard to remember exactly the words that were used so long ago. What we get is the gist of it, as Kate remembers. It's in Kate-speak.

But overall, I don't see the memories as being unreliable. To me, our dear Mr. Kaplan has a very clear purpose and mission. They make sense to me, and I've got to say I'm rooting for her.


 

 

Eastcoast #119 - I agree it's strange that KR was considered a myth. Could you post the screen shot of the Katarina missing newspaper article? I'd love to get a close look at it.

Tatiana wrote:

Here's why those theories can be debunked:

If Katarina became Red, then why did Dom immediately recognize Red? Plastic surgery has some shortcomings. And I'm not so sure Katarina/Red would have interacted with Dom in the way he did. THat's open for discussion though.

If Red is an impostor after the real Red died, then the same thing rings true. Dom would at least be suspicious.

Tatiana - My theory is that Dom never knew or saw Raymond Reddington before Katarina's "death."  The Red we know came to Dom  to explain why Katarina died and why Dom and the rest of her family had to back out of Masha's life. Red took the blame for kidnapping Masha and stealing the fulcrum as a way for Raymond, Katerina and Masha to be together.  Red, as Katarina, met with Dom mainly to protect Liz from the factions after Katarina.  But also as a way of mourning the loss of her former life. Yes, I know it seems odd that Dom wouldn't have recognized his own daughter, even with a gender reassignment, but Katarina was a master of disguises and he already believed his daughter was dead. Katarina, like the Russian spies being trained in the Davenport episode of the spinoff, would have stayed in character - even with her father.
 

lara1 - Re: imagining the glitter. Again, that's Katarina staying in character as Raymond. He/she doesn't want Dom to know who she really is. It's all about staying in character. Although I think Kaplan figured it out somewhere along the way.

You know that scene where Kate meets with Raymond and his face is mostly in shadows - I don't think it's only as a way to deal with making Reddington younger. I think it's masking Katarina to Kaplan.

Last edited by Tuxie400 (4/22/2017 2:04 pm)

Tuxie - I can understand how you might think Dom had never seen Raymond before, but it conflicts with the very short, but important first scene of Red and Dom:(Red KNOCKS ON DOOR) (DOOR CREAKS)

 Dom: What are you doing here?
 Red: Your granddaughter. She’s… I’m sorry.
 (Dom turns and walks away; FOOTSTEPS DEPART)

What are you doing here?
If Dom did not recognize the person he would have asked, who are you?  He recognizes Raymond immediately simply by seeing his face. 
If it were truly a stranger, he would not have left the door open and walked away, he would have told the stranger to leave and he would have shut the door on them.
In a passive/aggressive way Dom is 'inviting' Red into his home, or at least he's tolerating him.
Furthermore, Dom refers to him as Raymond on two occasions. He recognizes not only the face but remembers the name. The interaction at the breakfast table is telling. The exchange of hot sauce and pepper was a communication without words. They've done this many times before. They know each other well.

At any rate, it's very difficult to know exactly what direction the Blacklist is going in as many theories can be debunked or have serious flaws. Furthermore, the scenes in which characters 'flashback' to a time in the past are all subject to that character's perception of events, not the actual facts of the events. 

*sigh* I hope we get more answers rather than questions before this is all done and over with! 

Last edited by Tatiana (4/22/2017 2:10 pm)

I will say this though, I think it's very possible that the writers/producers could make mistakes with timelines and dialogue, even with vital information.

There was a discrepancy early on, I think in the Pilot? where they referred to Liz as having been 14 rather than 4 when the fire happened. That's a pretty big gap. They may have fixed it before releasing though. Just saying that sometimes mistakes are made and they are not corrected.

Tatiana - I agree that there are many clues counter to Katarina as Red. I'm not tied to that theory. But I just see ways it might work.

Yes!! I saw that Tuxie! Very interesting 

That's really cool, Tuxie !

Tuxie400 - wow no I did not catch Red"s face in the mirror.    And more MIRROR symbolism!

You know im thinking red and kaplan probably knew each other at the summer palace. I think the car episode may have been because katerina didnt want him in the house once kaplan was around ( risk of disclosure). But once she knew she could trust kaplan that might have been relaxed.

Although the whole topic  just raises more questions in my mind. How the heck would Red have time to take detours to Canada given the busy career he had?  And it was an island. Not the easiest place to get to time-wise. That is, a flight and a ferry were probably needed. Not ideal for a quick trip for a fling

So it puzzles me

Last edited by lara1 (4/22/2017 6:44 pm)