The reason you guys keep disrespecting Red by comparing him to Scofield is because you limit intelligence to mean booksmart.
There are different forms and levels of intelligence. And some are way more crucial than others for survival.
Scofield's intelligence is limited to structural engineering. Outside that scope, he doesn't know much. You can say Scofield is a genius engineer just as Aram is a genius cyber tech guy. They are both geniuses. But they are specialists.
Red, on the other hand, is an outlier with several forms of intelligence combined:
Criminal/Strategic Intelligence
Analytical Intelligence
Financial Intelligence
Cultural Intelligence
Street Intelligence
Social Intelligence
Because of this lack of diversity, Scofield was manipulated into becoming a pawn for con CIA agents. It took him seven whole years to figure out he was being played.
On the contrary, the FBI and every other intelligence agency are Reddington's pawns.
You have to be a mad genius to be able to outsmart all intelligence unit combined.
You guys are also forgetting Reddington became all of this from scratch.
You might argue that Red is older and that before Scofield reaches Red's age, he might reach his level. I doubt it. Look at Scofield's mum who was even more intelligent than Michael in her specific domain. Her intelligence could only land her a mid-player position for The Company.
We love Scofield but don't make this comparison again.
Then Reddington will be like
“Do you know this car was manufactured in Oslo, Norway by one of my former colleagues”..
dembe what’s his name again?.😂😂😂😂😂
Rewatched Transformers (2007) and dude... It's 2026 and I still don't understand the sorcery behind the CGI of Transformers movies. It's STILL like those robots exist in real world and they're acting for the movie 😭