#she was plain; maybe a farmer's daughter whose family gave her everything to run away; she looked dirty; her hair was jet black

[ryllen]

After able to play more of his missions after console update, I can’t stop thinking such a nice guy Remington is, 

i wish he finds himself a nice duvos gal who would cook as spicy as her mom & shows him how delicious it is to eat with duvos powder that’s not weirdly spesific at all

#okay but hear me out; what if he saved a duvos refugee girl after he found her collapsed during his patrol; maybe she was exhausted; #maybe she had no money left & starved during the run when she finally almost reached portia; she was not a girl u would call the pretty typ #she was plain; maybe a farmer's daughter whose family gave her everything to run away; she looked dirty; her hair was jet black #& unkept from the run; some strands covering her face; giving her a really tired and solemn look; but remington saved her; and she was very #thankful; they shared a lot of stories about the war & lost; she would cultivate duvos native crops from the seeds that she brought as a wa #to make a living; she would cook some for remington to eat; of course they would be spicy dishes; she was pretty solemn before but remingto #upbeat personality really cheers her up to stand back on her feet; and then she finally confessed to him; but he rejected her; confused she #asked the builder to go on a mission to ask how remington truly feels; and u found out he rejected her out of love; he becomes very conciou #about his leg; saying how it's better for her to find a man who can fully protect her; and hearing that the girl confronted him; she cried #little and scolded him for his reasoning; remington said but...; and the girl said what if i want to stay with u not because i want u to #protect me... but because i want to protect u...; and then he cried; REMINGTON CRIED *ME TOO; THE BUILDER TOO; NO ONE EVER SAID THAT BEFORE #TO HIM; And then he accepted her; and his story with her continues from there; SOBBING #my time at portia #mtap #mtap remington #remington #fanart #civil corps #i started to think of all of these while drawing #look at me writing a fanfic on tag #remington deserves to be happy #i love him after the duvos powder mission and the shroom mission #and the flower mission #he is such a kind goofy guy; he deserves to be very happy

[tessabltheorist]

The identity theme revisited ahead of 7.09

Nobody doubts identity is one of the biggest themes of the show. One of the biggest forms of identity play is the double. It seems that this woman may have been a double for Katarina. In preparation for it I thought we should review the theme.

The simplest form of double is someone sharing a name. Just having someone with a name not unique is a clear signal in the show they employed some sort of doubles, or that something is not as it seems in there identity. No other character has been named Donald, or Audrey, or Laurel, or Harold. 

But the show has had more than 5 forms of Katherine (Kate, Kathryn, Katarina, Kaja, Catherine, Katja) in more than 10 characters; 8 forms of Elizabeth in more than 10 characters (Elizabeth, Bethany, Isabella, Ella, Ellie, Lisa, Elisa Rubin, Betsy); 5 forms of Frank in more than 12 characters (Frank, Francis, Franz, Francesca and Franklin); 14 forms of Nicholas in more than 18 characters (Nik, Niko, Nikolaus, Nikolai, Nikos, Nicky, Nicole, Nick, Viktor, Victor , Vic, Vincent, Victoria, Nicki, Nicholas), etc. too many to be a coincidence.  People with the same name, or forms of the different name are intrinsic to the story.

Using the name of a known criminal: Harrison Lee used Ivan's digital signature to protect himself.

Two characters named Milos, both former KGB, whose nickname is Berlin: Milos Pavel Kinsky and Milos Kirchhoff, both with issues with Red.

We also have decoys, doppelgängers or body doubles in various degrees of sameness:

A decoy using the same name, Zal Bin Hasaan: The man Red follows the trail to the motel, only to discover because of the lack of burns in his back that he is not the real Hasaan. The real one  was Shahin Navabi. His job was to insulate the real Hasaan.

Body double decoy to be in two places at once: Liz uses a double to escape Ezra. A crude form from from a distance it worked. A better form of this was the use of the face masks employed by Sinclair to create a double of Ian Garvey and frame him for the murder of Mozadek. Sinclair use this to make alibies.

Doppelgänger to protect the identity of the real person: The real Djinn protected her identity by employing a visible front, Alice. Bobby Jonica had killed Mako Tanida’s brother, so that he would be presumed to be the head of Tanida's criminal empire.

Reputation saver doppelgänger: Gregory Devry was a contingency plan using a friend with a terminal illness to impersonate Red. The doppelgänger would be the informer, and Red's reputation would remain intact. I am sure he paid his friend handsomely in provision for the day he had to use him.

Modus Operandi decoy: By employing the same methods as the real one, the Deer Hunter's wife became the second Deer Hunter, but with her own agenda. In the same episode Liz uses the methods learned from Tom to protect herself. The wife of   Calvin Dawson used the Travel Agency to “continue the work” to eliminate them all, running her husband without him knowing about it.

Decoy vehicles and doubles: Red employed 2 ambulances to distract Solomon in 3.17 and Ross uses several vehicles to spirit Red away.

A subtle reminder for us in dress and name: in The Summer Palace, Kirk employed a housekeeper/butler named Katya who dressed similarly to Kate.

Mirrors everywhere: One of the most used shots is mirrors. A mirror produces a double image; an angled mirror distorts were we think the object or person reflected is. The majority of episodes have a shot made in a mirror, including entire scenes shot like that. Parallels everywhere.

Twins: the extreme form of a doppelgänger. Lord Baltimore had killed her twin sister, and suffered a personality split, adopting her dead sister's identity.

Digital doubles: The Troll Farmer used virtual doppelgängers. Red puts his tracker on Zamani to lead Ressler away from him.

Another play on identity is the fake death. Overused? Maybe, with 23 and counting.

Ranko Zamani, reported as dead, but alive and using an alias.

The Alchemist faked the deaths of all his clients, including his family and Lucy Brooks.

Tom was presumed  dead when Liz shot him in 1.22.

Tom AKA Christopher Hargrave was presumed dead, later on declared dead      

The Decembrist fake the death of Berlin's daughter to use him as a weapon against Red.

In The Gambler Red fakes his death with an explosion

The Gambler, Sebastian Royce, former FBI, had faked his death

Luther Braxton was reported dead when he was sent to the Factory

The two leaders of the Front: Maddox and Carrie Ann Beck had faked their death in an explosion.

Vanessa Cruz faked her death by leaving her folded clothes on the beach

Red fakes Liz’s death in Arioch Cain

Liz fakes her death in Mr. Solomon at the instigation of Kate Kaplan

Samar’s brother, Shahin Navabi had faked his death to become Zal Bin Hasaan

all the kids in Lady Ambrosia had been reported as missing, likely dead, or dead, mostly killed later, but some set free by the son.

Esteban is supposed to be dead

Janet Sutherland faked her death in India

Someone paid Richard Game to fake Christopher Hargrave AKA Tom Keen’s death as a child.

Howard Hargrave fakes his death

Ian Garvey had faked Sutton Rosss death and gave him a new identity

Robert Vesco faked his death and assumed the identity of the dead goon Anderson Mount.

Katarina had faked her death by drowning

Isabella Stone’s husband had faked his death to help his wife.

Red assured Fakerina that nobody knew she was alive, so presumably she had faked her death or disappeared.

Then there are the deaths hidden to assume that identity: Mako Tanida's brother, Ilyas Surkov, Rowan Mills, and Bastian Moreau, who had surgery to be able to use the identity of a courier and enter the United Nations with a diplomatic pouch. The doppelgänger factory in Redemption was a town to train doppelgängers to execute false flag operations in the USA (disguised attacks as domestic terrorism). They started with people who looked similar, did some minor surgeries, then kill the real ones as suicides, and were briefly seen, before disappearing, making people think there were domestic attacks.

We also have people presumed dead, like Emma, and Red hides she is alive.

And people presumed dead because they were shot, but who were alive, like Anslo Garrick and Kate Kaplan.

We have characters who were legends, as in literally not existing, such as Edgar Legate, a mythical assassin, created for the time when Red needed to provide an assassin for hire under his control. Nobody had seen the guy because he did not exist. The name was inhabited by several people. Katarina Rostova had been referred to as a myth, an illusion, a figment. It is possible she has inhabited by a few women.  Agent Galarza in Warsaw did not exist, he was an FBI agent protecting the Douglas Monarch Bank to finance the FBI's black ops

The fake jobs protecting the real one, sometimes with a fake name: NSA's Seth Nelson job as tech support for a cable company and NSA's Nathan Platt job as a TV repair technician. Samar had a fake identity established by fingerprints as Victoria Cronin.  Amalia Collins, the nuclear engineer, was hidden by the DOD with false identities, social security numbers, even cover profession, to hide them in plain sight, sort of a Witness Protection for high-value assets.

Invisible people: Wujing was a second child, so he became invisible when his parents denied him.

We also have disappearances: 1991 was a true black hole:

RR: late December 1990

Katarina's mother became Virginia Lopatin 2 weeks after the alleged drowning in March/April 1991

Katarina disappeared in 1991

Masha Rostova disappeared in 1990/91 with the name Elizabeth Scott Milhoan

Ilya Koslov disappeared in, or close to 1991

Dominic disappeared from public view in 1991, likely taking the identity Wilkinson.

Carla Reddington disappeared in WITSEC in 1991, then again in 2014 with a new identity given by Red.

Jennifer Reddington. disappeared into WITSEC in 1991 with her mother, then again in 2007, then again in 2017 (Lillian May Roth)

Kathryn Nemec disappeared in 1991

Constantin Rostov disappeared in 1991 becoming Alexander Kirk

Then there is the identities said not to exist, created, fictions or illusions:

Tom Keen, the man I married, he was a fiction. He didn't exist.

The bookish elementary-school teacher was a masterful illusion. The man is an extremely talented covert operative. 

She's a figment of the collective imagination.

You don't believe Raymond Reddington could cease to exist in 60 seconds? I offer that particular package to clients

They've created entire lives as if they're real people.

Turns out Jolene Parker doesn't exist. It's an alias.

Amber didn't do anything, because she doesn't exist. I created her.

Thought it might be an alias, but it's not. He doesn't exist.

The Scimitar created John Reese.

The man who created you. The Major.

Because that one person doesn't exist before buying a ticket for that ferry. Everything about her credit rating, social security, mortgage payments it exists only after she bought that ticket, not before.

who better to provide those details than the woman who spied on him, who loved him, the woman who invented him.

He's the right age, and before 2010, he was non-existent. Because he was someone else.

Illusions. Cons. People pretending to be something they're not.

Listen, this is a guy who the intelligence community has been talking about for decades as if he were a figment. You don't even know if he's real or not. Well, he is real -- very.

Carla Reddington was a miserable housewife married to a miserable man. That woman no longer exists.

I could be arrested for even acknowledging Mr. McCray exists.

I'm not here to see Elizabeth. What do you know about Edgar Legate?... Precisely. Because he doesn't exist. Legate is an elaborate fiction, a bogeyman I created....  Edgar Legate is nothing more than a name I employ to take credit for various killings for which I or my associates are responsible.

So, do not get twisted out of shape by the possibility of yet another doppelgänger. Be honest, can you, given how much we have had already.

#The Blacklist #identity theme