2 thoughts on “We Don’t Need Authorial Intent to Know Who Red Reddington Was

  1. The writers must’ve started out with the story that he is Raymond Reddington and something happened to his family and Elizabeth is also his daughter but then changed at some point to him actually being Katarina. You can go back and watch season 1. When they go back to his old house the scene is very powerful. The way he touches the rail by the stairs and checks for where he measured the heights of his young daughter. He also says “I raised my family in this house”. Raising a family is not coming by and watching the kids every now and then like they show Katarina doing when they reveal he is Katarina at the end of season 8. There are several other instances early in the show that are consistent with this story. I really am still curious as to what would’ve happened if they continued on this storyline. I really would’ve liked to find out what happened to his family. It would have also been waaaaaayyyy cooler if somehow they still took us on this mystery as to his true identity but then he ended up still actually being the real Reddington. I liked that he was American and a man and a Naval Intelligence officer. That character was really cool to me and it’s extremely disappointing for a great show to effectively end like that. 🫤

  2. You are subsidizing authorial intent by your own conclusion. Bad writing changing storyline! Red’s intent all along was not to protect Liz but to expose her to his world through manipulation.

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