On the day of Liz’s birth, Katarina explains she vowed to do whatever it took to protect Liz. In another flashback, Katarina tells Raymond she doesn’t want to be responsible for destroying his family or career, so Raymond explains to Liz that Katarina took her from him. Stepanov tells her to lie to her husband, Constantine, that it’s his baby and Katarina does just that. In a flashback, Katarina tells Stepanov that Dom’s already made up his mind: having a baby will keep Reddington invested. Liz remembers he had a family at home, and he says he knew it was a mistake to be involved with Katarina, until something happened - Liz did. The real Reddington appears behind Liz and tells the story of how he met Katarina, and how he should’ve known from the beginning that she was lying. She tells Liz that Dom had chosen her husband, and even chose the man she would with whom she’d become unfaithful to her husband with, Raymond Reddington. Katarina continues that her handler, Ivan Stepanov, gave her jobs at the direction of Dom. Katarina explains to Liz how her father, Dom, made her an asset from a very young age. Suddenly, the audience and Liz, is left in grey. Simultaneously, Reddington and a young Katarina tell Liz, that in order to understand why he came into her life, she needs to understand Katarina’s story.
Reddington tells her to forget everything she thinks she knows as time stands still around Liz. She asks Reddington why she’s here, and he wants her to grasp the infrastructure that will one day be hers, but she says she’s only interested in her mother.
Liz asks what happens to the information gathered here, and he says it’s sent to him smuggled and packaged to New York.
Reddington explains that in order to gain more of everything, he traded, sold, and leveraged the archives.
Reddington brings Liz inside the epicenter and Liz realizes that the Sikorsky Archive is where it all began. If you missed last episode’s recap, check it out here.