Thoughts on Berlin

It's ridiculous how wrapped up I've gotten in this TV show. It's a TV show.

Nonetheless, I thought I'd point out some things I've noticed along the way. Seems like each time I re-watch an episode of The Blacklist either something new gets revealed, or I pick up on something that I had previously missed, etc.

Most recently (and notably), at the end of episode 18 -- Milton Bobbit -- we're shown that Lizzie appears to be doing the exact same thing that Tom was before his "post" was compromised. That is, assembling a puzzle for which she does not yet have all the pieces in hopes of revealing the truth.

Among the pieces she does have, however, we're shown what appears to have once been a document with now only a small portion of letterhead intact. On the remaining piece of said document is the word Berlin. If you've watched the show, you probably know that Berlin has some (major) significance to the story, but who or what Berlin is exactly has yet to be revealed.

I still feel very strongly that Berlin will turn out to be something other than the city of Berlin, Germany, but I also noticed several subtle references to Berlin at various points in the show. Points I had forgotten about because at the time, I wasn't listening for the word Berlin in particular.

At this point though, here's what I've observed and/or formed an opinion about Berlin as it pertains to the show:

• First, and perhaps most obviously, Tom Keen and the late Lucy Brooks, aka Jolene Parker, both appear to answer to Berlin.
• Reddington does not appear to know who or what Berlin is. In fact, it sounds as if he too is under the assumption that Berlin is in reference to the city.
• Gina Zanetakos, aka Shubie Hartwell, hired a man from the city of Berlin named Maxwell Ruddiger to build her a bomb that she attempted to use at the ports of Houston.
• Zanetakos paid for said bomb via wire transfer to a "dummy corp" which was also located in Berlin.
• Zanetakos received a voicemail from Ruddiger who called her from Berlin.

I also think it's worth noting that the word Berlin was, in fact, shown in the upper-right corner of the document fragment Lizzie has. Maybe this is a stretch, but normally when an official document is distributed the letterhead won't typically have a city name displayed as predominantly as it is on this document. Usually it's a company name or agency or even a division thereof, but a city name alone does not typically warrant being placed on its own line, especially if it's written in bold letters. And even if it did hold such a significance, chances are the city's name would be followed by some indication of the city's parent region, such as Berlin, Germany or Berlin, Deutschland or maybe even Berlin, DE -- much like Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, CA, etc.