VinceW

The original story put forth was that she committed suicide by drowning at an oceanfront location after making a final phone call, but going into this season and especially during this past summer there was widespread speculation on website blogs that impostor Red is really Katarina. Seems very unlikely at this point. IMO.

Aram said he didn't know that she got headaches. Samar just said not before. I think he took 'not before' to mean not before the accident. I don't think he has a clue yet. Seems silly to keep it from him much longer, but writers want to drag it out as long as possible to avoid any wedding talk.

Did the real Reddington become a wanted fugitive just over the treason charge or did that false accusation really lead to a different life path of further crime? The impostor Red implied during his testimony that the treason charge did lead to a troubled life thereafter which means the criminal charges can be split between both of them. Impostor Red seems to know about all of the past crime details which suggests he might have the upper hand in court against any further charges unless all of the bodies dug up by Mr. Kaplan and turned over to the feds belong to the impostor Red. Ressler was right to act puzzled when talking with Liz about impostor Red taking over the identity of the real one with a fugitive background and putting himself at risk for the death penalty. If there is an actual split among the criminal acts that might explain imposter Red taking over his identity because he knows which info will keep him out of jail while he continues on with his nefarious ways.

Jon Bokenkamp: “We have a beautiful and twisted and surprising love story between Samar and Aram that is going to change the dynamic of the show in a big way.” After nine episodes, the first private conversation on screen between the newly engaged couple: Aram: Anyway, have you ever used a manual typewriter? Yeah, it's impossible. Just to make a mark, you have to slam on each key. (Big Smile) Samar: Do you have a point, or are you just being pointlessly ADORABLE? At this pace, viewers will be lucky to get a Drive Thru wedding in Las Vegas after solving a big case.

Reddington explained to Liz that Minister D takes his name from the villain in Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Purloined Letter' (The Minister was the criminal who stole the letter from the woman of royalty and hid it in plain sight in his home).

That same surgical nurse might have been privy or witness to the other procedure that Connor was called out for in the board review. It makes no sense that Ava would report him in order to sabotage his hospital status in that way. The surgical nurse was really speaking out of turn unnecessarily which puts her motives in question. IMO. She might be shilling for somebody else (daddy?) in order to cause real strife between Ava and Connor.

What issues? So far, everything the writers have put forth with Ava's behavior is just circumstantial in order to keep the angst ongoing between them. IMO. Connor keeps pointing indirectly toward Ava's guilt over her actions, but without any proof. Connor was a control freak with the last girlfriend Robin and he had plenty of doubts as well about her actions/motives as she worked through her illness.

The lyrics for 'Hey Girl' were a perfect fit for that scene, but the piano selections played during the other moments when Bull interacted with his ex weren't even close.

From Jon Bokenkamp recent interview with CarterMatt Newsletter: "Those two are so fantastic. I remember when we saw Aram touching Samar’s hand in episode 205. I felt like ‘oh my God, that’s such an unexpected and great relationship.’ We’re entering uncharted waters here — he proposed at the end of the season and she has just come out of this traumatic near-death experience. We have a beautiful and twisted and surprising love story between Samar and Aram that is going to change the dynamic of the show in a very-big way."

That is not how it works under Federal law; It's about the type of crime and who/what facilitated the criminal act.

I missed Liz with the Price photo on first watch. However, with that many employees involved in the Van Hess murders, the FBI should have followed up with Alter Ego for criminal liability if there was no client. That could explain why Alter Ego was listed then as a Blacklister for the episode.

The personal assistant at the law firm that managed The Van Ness affairs had access to all legal matters of the billionaire including the wills. The FBI uncovered that he was behind the op, but Ressler just speculated that he was an actual employee of Alter Ego. It seems that he was just a client who secured the services of the actors he needed to pull off the scam on the illegitimate son. The FBI should have dealt further into the hiring practices of Alter Ego for criminal liability after the murders. IMO.

The drama between Dr. Rhodes and Dr. Bekker with descriptor "boils over" becomes he said/she said. Believe Ava. She should take sexual harassment issue to hospital admin over the first encounter if daddy persists with his version. If anything happened between them, viewers would have seen some kind of follow-on scene this episode between the father and son after Connor confronted him last episode. IMO.

From Chicago Tribune January 23, 2019: The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police has endorsed Alderman Edward Burke for re-election despite the fact he faces a federal charge of attempted extortion, the embattled alderman says. Burke announced the endorsement of the lodge that represents Chicago’s rank-and-file police officers on his 14th Ward Facebook page. “As a former patrol officer and now a strong supporter of our Police Department, I am humbled by the endorsement of the Chicago Patrolmen's Union, FOP Lodge 7,” Burke said.

Daddy pulls the hospital funding, but doubtful much else happens unless Ava leaving the show.

Talking down to Zapata that way was cruel and overdone for sure, but she was foolish to not get confirmation from inside the agency rather than just trust her handler on such a rogue operation. Now, Reade is doing the same thing to force her cooperation, but his own baggage should give her pause to trust him.

At least viewers won't have to wade through the usual amnesia BS when it comes time to get a wedding. How long before she tells someone or just keeps it from Aram? If Samar doesn't tell somebody, she's going to put herself and others in danger.

No wedding for Samar/Aram until maybe finale? Aphasia - It affects a person's ability to use language. It often results from a stroke. Individuals with mild or even moderate aphasia are sometimes able to work, but they may have to change jobs. Aphasia does not affect intelligence. If symptoms persist more than two or three months, a complete recovery is unlikely.

Well, whatever happened is in the open now and the hospital could be exposed to a sexual harassment suit by Ava to cover her actions. I expect the father will be removed from the board.

Viewers don't know for sure what actually happened between Ava and the father to get the donation. Her reaction to the father's crude and hurtful remarks at the gala seemed to be genuine and not designed as another trick on Connor's emotions. She did reject his initial attempts to seduce her by walking away quickly after his advances during their first encounter in the hospital lunchroom. At this point, I don't believe the writers intend to present her as trash to the audience, but the ongoing angst between her and Connor is forced and annoying.

The father is the creepy one and the predator during whatever happened between him and Ava to get the hospital funding. The writers put this out in such an open way in order to undercut Ava just to keep the up and down angst going between her and Connor which is tiresome.

Per interview with show producer, it was learned that Red's speech was not actually filmed at UN building. It seems that needed permissions were not forth coming after some negotiations. It is interesting to note that 'Madam Secretary' filmed an episode at the actual UN facility with Elizabeth speaking to show extras in the audience. Of course, Tea Leoni had some leverage to get it done since her grandparents are lifelong supporters of UNICEF. ETA: Actress Téa Leoni represents the third generation of her family working to help the children of the world. Her grandmother, Helenka Pantaleoni, helped organize Women United for the United Nations and held the posts of vice president and liaison with UNICEF. In 1947, as part of a group that sought public backing for UNICEF, she co-founded the U.S. Committee for UNICEF and served as its president for 25 years. Anthony Pantaleoni, Leoni's father, currently serves on UNICEF USA's board.

CarterMatt Newsletter January 5, 2019: The Blacklist interview(Part 2): Jon Bokenkamp on that big Reddington betrayal CarterMatt – Let me just start with this — did you actually film at the UN, or did your team just do a really good job pretending? Jon Bokenkamp – I love that you asked that. We went down the road to shoot at the UN, which is of course [where the show films] in New York City and broke story that would involve us shooting there. We had some great conversations with some lovely people to try to make that work but, at the end of the day, I think some of the subject matter and perhaps the perspectives made it somewhat uncomfortable. Unfortunately, our invite was withdrawn. And so, we scrambled to pull off the best version we could — we did not shoot at the UN, but it’s the work of our New York production crew, who are hands-down the best in the business, to create some of that stuff and use some visual effects and practical sets and location. We weren’t there, but I still think that Spader’s speech at the empty General Assembly was one for the books. That’s gotta be one of my favorite Spader speeches in a really long time. What was the impetus behind that and the Cary Grant story? Well, here’s the funny thing — in North by Northwest they were also not allowed to shoot at the UN and Hitchcock stole a shot. There was a little bit of guerilla filmmaking back then that we may have been inspired by. Once we hit on the idea that we might be going to the UN, we knew that we had to have Spader give a speech. We knew that it wouldn’t be to a room full of people but in the room, breaking the story, there was a whole act where it just read ‘Red gives a UN speech.’ We didn’t know what it would be (laughs), but we knew that he would find his way into that room. That story came about thanks to James and [executive producer John] Eisendrath bouncing this thing back and forth, writing it and re-writing it. It’s so weird and strange and at the same time it’s poignant and there’s a lovely message that he has — he’s talking about a kinder world and making it a better place! It’s dressed up in a perverted, strange way, but I think his message is ultimately a poignant one. This obviously leads to the big twist where Liz gets Reddington locked up in jail, and she weighs this decision in a big way. They did just save a lot of lives at the UN, but in the end, this was still the result. Why did you decide to have Reddington behind bars at this point? It feels like there’s been a real power shift in the show with what she’s learned, what she knows that Reddington doesn’t know she knows. We’re entering new territory where, as our point-of-view character, Liz can start to unravel, at a grassroots level, with what’s going on here. By virtue of what she did last season, we now have the biggest turn of our series. Even though we know Reddington better than we have, we still know nothing about him at all. She’s in the driver’s seat, and I think that was the thing that was the most interesting to us. We have Elizabeth Keen in a very powerful place, sidelining Reddington, who is not very good at being sidelined. It makes for a very good game of cat-and-mouse as we continue to unravel this story. How is Reddington going to react to this situation? Is there some sort of magical Batphone that they can call him on so that he can help with Blacklisters? There might be something very akin to the magical Batphone (laughs). I think an incarcerated version of Reddington is something that feels really organic to the story and as we stumbled upon it, it felt like ‘how have we not arrived here yet? How has this guy not been in prison and we haven’t dramatized that at all?’. Six seasons in, we have a new first — we’re seeing Reddington navigate this sort of system and it strips away his superpowers in terms of the people and resources that he has. It puts him on his heels, but if anyone is going to be put on their heels and embrace it, it would be Reddington. In a corner of his mind, Reddington is probably fine with where all of this is going and enjoys the solitude of his cell. Maybe he’ll find some time to mediate and read some books; he’ll embrace this new chapter. We saw some tension between the Task Force [and the officers and attorneys] in New York over Reddington’s capture. Is that something that will continue? Remember, the Task Force doesn’t even know that 1) Red’s not Red and 2) that Liz is behind his arrest. There are great stories that are going to come out of the Task Force. Every person on the Task Force has a unique and specific perspective about how they feel about the way things are unfolding. We have some great, interpersonal stories this year. We have some small stories that are very personal and are going to be great to watch unfold. So finally, what’s going to happen with Aram and Samar; is there a wedding this year? A Blacklist wedding — well, those don’t typically go well (laughs). No, they don’t. Those two are so fantastic. I remember when we saw Aram touching Samar’s hand in episode 205. I felt like ‘oh my God, that’s such an unexpected and great relationship.’ We’re entering uncharted waters here — he proposed at the end of the season and she has just come out of this traumatic near-death experience. We have a beautiful and twisted and surprising love story between Samar and Aram that is going to change the dynamic of the show in a very-big way.

The writers invested two episodes at the end of last season in the Samar/Aram relationship leading to a marriage proposal, but after two episodes this season, not even a word or look between them on screen makes no sense. Instead, viewers get endless "not my father" dialogue between the rogue sisters which is just a weak premise to put forth for an entire season. IMO. Raymond giving Liz that disk while sitting on the park bench at the end last week suggests that the writers plan to keep him in prison for some time while the FBI keeps busy tracking those bad guys on that surgery list.

This PTV practice is not new. The same was done with NCIS-LA last season and not part of any reorganization. What is definition of enough?