That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed Brett Cullen’s present-day portrayal of him. Just saying-- If the garbage outcome we just got in 8.22 really had to be the sole alternative, I’m kinda wishing now that the answer to “Who’s impersonating Reddington” had remained Ilya Koslov. ‘Cause I liked that answer. I enjoyed our introduction to him. And while at the time we as an audience certainly still had questions as to what would compel him to step in and help the way he did (to THAT incredible extent, anyway), what led him to continue being Red after the money withdrawal, his full history with Katarina, etc., I figured at the time that such elaboration we could return to later. With the “who” figured out, we could now actually go into the “why.” To that end, the Townsend Directive could’ve still factored in. And on a side note lemme just say, personally, that Neville Townsend was one of the few reasons I kept tuning in as long as I did throughout Liz’s bullshit quest this season. As far as villains are concerned, I thought his was a fun performance to watch, and somebody I wanted to see more of (same with Matias Solomon, Berlin, and Ian Garvey-- those have been my Top 3 major Blacklist villains for some time; now Townsend’s up there with them, and I’m PISSED he’s already gone... without even a number on the blacklist itself, no less!). So whatever could have led us to him still. Maybe he and others like him being the explanation for why Ilya had to stay in the role of Reddington, in order to keep Katarina several steps ahead of it all. But the reason I bring up Townsend is to stress that so much of what ultimately played out the last two seasons could’ve still happened (preferably NOT Liz’s ridiculous “kill Red” mission, but hey, one rage-inducing story point at a time) without doubling back on the “who” so many goddamn times. Sikorsky, N-13... Hell, even Blonde Kat to some degree might’ve come into play still, if one were to insist on that. Whatever else factored into the “why,” and how it informs current relationships in the present. Brett Cullen could’ve been playing somebody from Ilya’s past-- childhood, even, from how it sounded-- who had to take up Ilya’s role in life now that he was playing Red (maybe not another extensive surgery, but simply adopting a name), which could have paved the way for discovering more about Ilya from his pre-Red days. Ivan Stepanov could very likely have still played the part he did, given his importance on Dom’s side of things. And the real Katarina could have remained hidden-- hence Townsend’s ongoing search-- until such time that she and Liz could safely reunite (I really thought that was where certain remarks at the end of episode 8.20 would lead to. But I guess not). Or perhaps for all their efforts Katarina did ultimately die in the process of all this, making for another possible reason Liz’s survival holds such importance. I know, conjecture after conjecture. None of that necessarily would’ve HAD to play out the way I described. But if now ain’t a time to imagine other paths for the show to have taken when it had the chance... Bottom line, there was really no need to prolong the “imposter identity” question for all the time that they did. We HAD an answer, dammit, and it was a pretty solid setup for more to come. In light of recent events, I maintain that that would have been a far more interesting story. Just really wish we could’ve gotten that progression rather than backtracking fifty times on it all only to arrive at an answer that blows holes in so much of what was previously portrayed, established, etc. (which I realize is its own huge-muthalovin’-can-of-worms-esque debate, but just the same) Maybe then Liz’s story wouldn’t have had to meet its god-awful end the way it did, either, for the sake of a mere last-second realization. Megan Boone could have still left the show at her leisure, absolutely. That’s her prerogative. The issue for me simply was how her character got written out, and how ridiculously little payoff there was for it. The result just wasn’t worth it, and we all know it could have been. (Lot of “could have”s in this post. I apologize)