The Blacklist s06e09 Episode Script
Minister D
1 PAUL: No.
This is ridiculous.
Just come home.
DEBORAH: I called a lawyer, Paul.
He said we shouldn't be talking.
A lawyer? No, Deb.
I'm sorry.
- I know you're sorry, Paul.
- [CLICK.]
WOMAN: Mrs.
Evans? This is Wendy from E.
I.
C.
Trust.
I'm following up on our previous conversation.
Good news.
It appears you are not overdrawn.
- [CLICK.]
- WOMAN #2: Over my dead body, Susan.
SUSAN: [SIGHS.]
Mom, it's a retirement community.
I'm not gonna play bingo all day just to have someone wipe my - [CLICK.]
- WOMAN #3: a fever and won't be able to go on the [CLICK.]
[MAN SPEAKING SPANISH.]
- [CLICK.]
- CHILDREN: Hi, Grandpa! MAN: Oh, hey, there, lovelies.
[CLICK.]
WOMAN #4: Afternoon.
Do you have time to take a li [CLICK, BEEP.]
[RINGING.]
MIKELA: Hey, I got your message.
- Is it true? - PETER: Yeah.
Came today.
$2.
2 million.
I've never seen a check that big.
[SIGHS.]
Then it's done, right? This is great.
We should celebrate.
No, no.
Not yet.
Uh, listen, I think we might have a situation.
What situation? It's about the body.
- Play it again.
- [BEEP.]
OPERATOR: 911.
What's your emergency? WOMAN: I saw a man with a gun! On West Fourth near the Red Brau Tavern.
Can you describe him? White guy in his 50s.
He's wearing a suit.
Tan suit and a hat.
[CLICK.]
Our contact in the department says the caller didn't identify herself.
Someone identified me to the caller.
We both know who and why.
You have no proof it was Elizabeth.
No.
And I hope I'm wrong, but she's hunting for my past.
And putting me here makes it more likely she'll find it.
Raymond, you're facing the death penalty.
She would never put you in that position.
Try to identify the person on the tape.
And please reach out to the Task Force.
I have a case.
LIZ: Minister D? A serial blackmailer.
He takes his name from the villain in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Purloined Letter.
" However, unlike his namesake, this man's never been identified.
Why now? Today of all days? Because I'm innocent.
And he can prove it.
How? The explanation will be obvious once you've found him.
But as my trial begins within the hour, I'd appreciate it if you would investigate now and ask questions later.
You say this Minister D can prove your innocence.
Can he also prove who's guilty? Yes.
So you know who the real traitor is? Someone I trusted.
As is the traitor who turned me in to the police.
Have you found out who that is yet? Someone close.
Traitors always are.
Tell me about Minister D.
LIZ: According to Reddington, Minister D gathers incriminating information and then uses it to extort people.
In 2004, he discovered an insider trading scheme and used the information to extort $4 million from a pair of traders at Koji Analytics.
Six years ago, he blackmailed Senator Constance Holsted after finding proof of a kickback scheme between the senator's husband and a major real-estate developer.
PETER: It's about the body.
MIKELA: What are you talking about? Where we put it isn't safe.
COOPER: Did Reddington say how Minister D collects his intel? LIZ: No.
But he made it seem as if he has compromising information on just about everyone.
Which is why Reddington brought us the case.
What do you mean? Minister D gathers information to extort people.
With Reddington about to go to trial, it stands to reason that he wants to extort members of the jury or the judge.
Maybe he thinks the Minister can help with that.
It's a risky move if he believes he's innocent.
Which we all know he's not.
Do we? You think Reddington is innocent? I think this guy could be.
This "guy"? I think what Ressler is trying to say - Yes, please translate.
- is, we won't know the truth until we find the Minister.
Did Reddington give any indication where to start? Yes.
With Sayantan Shah.
- The Taxi Tycoon? - In 2006, Reddington loaned him money to pay off a blackmailer he believes was Minister D.
Talk to Shah.
See what he knows.
He loaned me money.
I paid him back.
Is that a crime? To do business with a wanted fugitive and not report it? Yeah.
That's a whole lot of crimes.
I was being blackmailed.
I didn't have the money.
What was I supposed to do? I can't just walk into a bank.
Relax, Mr.
Shah.
We're not here to arrest you.
Or to ask you to cooperate against Mr.
Reddington.
We don't need your help to make a case against him.
What we do need is your help to make a case against the man who blackmailed you.
We'll ignore your business with Raymond Reddington if you tell us about your business with Minister D.
Delivery for Peter DeReamer.
SHAH: And the reasons I was being blackmailed You'll ignore those, too? Our interest is Minister D.
If you help us, we'll look past your little indiscretions.
[CHAIR CREAKING.]
I came to my office one day after lunch, and there was this envelope.
Inside was a transcript of a phone call I had made detailing certain business arrangements that might have been misunderstood by my partners.
Or the IRS.
A few days later, I get a call instructing me to deliver $400,000 in cash.
That transcript was word for word.
I hired a team.
They found this buried in the phone lines of my apartment building.
It's a tap.
He was listening.
JUDGE WILKINS: Good morning.
Unless the parties have any last issues they wish to address, I'll ask the clerk to bring down the jury.
As you're kind enough to inquire, I do have an issue that compels me to ask for a continuance.
And what, pray tell, is that? A key piece of evidence has not yet materialized.
I expect it to shortly.
I have investigators working to locate it as we speak.
By "investigators," I can only assume defense counsel means his very own team of FBI agents.
Is that true? My cooperation agreement continues on a voluntary basis.
I've steered the Bureau in the direction of a wanton criminal.
Mr.
Sima may not appreciate that an ancillary benefit of catching said criminal is that he is in possession of information that will prove my innocence, but anyone with an actual interest in the truth would, I'm sure, see a continuance as a prerequisite for a just outcome.
A just outcome would have been the defendant accepting our settlement offer of life in prison.
The government was willing to take the death penalty off the table, and you rejected it? Yes.
As any innocent man would.
Mr.
Reddington, your motion for a continuance is denied.
If exculpatory evidence surfaces, you can introduce it at trial, or, if necessary, on appeal.
We'll bring the jury in for opening arguments after lunch.
[GAVEL BANGS.]
- What do we have? - Okay, so, the device Agents Keen and Ressler identified was some kind of splitter.
It duplicated the signal from Shah's phone, sending one signal to the number Shah dialed and another to a different location.
Some sort of listening post.
Now, I couldn't trace the calls, but we did find similar devices.
- [KEYS CLACKING.]
- And get this They were all monitoring landlines and cell towers operated by the VeraCom Phone Company.
According to VeraCom's files, only a handful of individuals serviced the sites where we discovered taps.
Three joined the company after the first reported incident, one left the country to do missionary work in 2013, and another died of a heart attack just eight months ago.
- Which leaves? - Elijah Bailey.
ARAM: The name's an alias.
Taxes filed under a stolen Social.
Engineering degrees also forged.
What about a location? An address in Arlington.
[DOOR CLANKS.]
What's he doing here? He's here to see Agent Ressler.
Keen, Navabi, run down that Arlington address.
Ressler, come with me.
RESSLER: So, what's this about? I need to prep you for trial.
I'm calling you as a witness.
The work of the Task Force remains classified.
I won't be asking about it.
Back when the FBI was hunting Reddington instead of working for him, you ran point on the investigation.
He's on trial for acts of treason he allegedly committed long before I took over that investigation.
We all know they're not alleged.
And I wouldn't be asking you if I had anyone else to ask, but your predecessors have all passed.
You're the ranking officer.
Why'd you wait so long to let us know? Because I don't trust you.
I know you're working a case to help him at trial.
You know how I know? He told us in court.
Agent Ressler, once I put you under oath, your loyalty will be to the truth, not Reddington.
Perjure yourself even once, and I will make sure you join your boss in prison.
- [DOOR SLAMS OPEN.]
- MAN: FBI! [INDISTINCT SHOUTING.]
MAN #2: Clear! MAN #3: Clear here! MAN #4: Clear over here! MAN #5: Clear here! NAVABI: [SIGHS.]
There must be 10,000 tapes in here.
[LOMA'S "WHITE GLASS" PLAYS.]
[HORN HONKS IN DISTANCE.]
[BEEPS.]
[CELLPHONE DIALING.]
[LINE RINGS.]
[TELEPHONE RINGS.]
[RINGING CONTINUES.]
[BEEPS.]
I'm a blackbird singing on a riverbank [HORNS HONK IN DISTANCE.]
I'm a vulture hanging in the wind [BELLS JINGLE.]
Hey there.
How you doing, papito? Need a shave? I'm looking for a woman.
She made a call from that payphone.
It was a few weeks ago.
I have a date and time to check your security cameras.
Memory's deleted every 48 hours.
Maybe somebody saw something? Don't know.
Maybe.
I ain't seen nobody on that phone in the time I been here.
I can ask around, but no promises.
Look, man, like I told you, I don't know anything.
Thanks for listening.
Yeah, no problem.
[BELLS JINGLE.]
You the one been asking about that girl? One who made the call? I am.
Did you see something? If I did, what's in it for me? Maybe I could pay you.
Maybe you could give me the money first.
And maybe then I talk.
[SIRENS WAILING IN DISTANCE.]
Did you see who made that call? Yeah.
I did it.
You cannot go to jail to protect his secret.
Sima may not ask anything that requires me to lie.
But if he does ask you to confirm that Raymond Reddington is the defendant, - you can't say "yes.
" - If I say "no," if I tell the truth, he's gonna know that we know, and he'll do everything he can to keep us from learning his true identity.
If the only way for me to find out who he really is is for the most honest person I know to commit perjury, I don't want to know.
If Reddington just If he admitted that he was the imposter, the charges would be dropped.
I mean, he's facing the death penalty, and, still, he says nothing.
If he's okay with that, so am I.
Besides, I'm not that honest.
I said you were the most honest person I know.
The bar's pretty low.
[CHUCKLES.]
Look.
You deserve an answer.
And I'm not gonna be the one who says something that keeps you from getting that.
But if something were to happen to you because you did that, I would never forgive myself.
[KNOCK ON DOOR.]
Hey.
He uses a manual typewriter.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS IN DISTANCE.]
Mm, who does? Our guy.
The listener.
Are you sitting in the dark? I had a migraine.
Oh.
I didn't know you got migraines.
I didn't.
Before.
You okay? [SIGHS.]
Uh, you were saying? Right, um anyway, have you ever used a manual typewriter? Yeah, it's impossible.
Just to make a mark, you have to slam on each key.
Do you have a point, or are you just being pointlessly adorable? All right, by slamming on each key, you leave a mark on the paper and the ribbon.
And after the ribbon is hit, it spools.
So if you unspool it, you can see the last thing Minister D typed.
So you're saying you know who his next target is? ARAM: The next target is Peter DeReamer, who cheated on his wife with a Mikela Pariente.
He blackmailed him over an affair? - How original.
- Not the affair.
The insurance.
$2 million in his wife's name, which paid out when they killed her.
Yesterday, Bailey recorded this.
MIKELA: Hey, I got your message.
- Is it true? - PETER: Yeah.
Came today.
$2.
2 million.
I've never seen a check that big.
[SIGHS.]
Then it's done, right? This is great.
We should celebrate.
No, no.
Not yet.
Uh, listen, I think we might have a situation.
What situation? It's about the body.
What are you talking about? Where we put it isn't safe.
She could be found.
DeReamer.
Where is he? The building manager at Mikela's apartment saw him arrive 20 minutes ago.
Keen, Navabi, get there.
Take them both into custody.
See if they can lead us to Bailey.
Agent Ressler, did you once lead an FBI Task Force dedicated to killing or capturing Raymond Reddington? Your Honor, I'm happy to stipulate that Agent Ressler was the FBI agent who spent the prime years of his career engaged in a futile game of whack-a-mole.
Mr.
Sima, we can dispense with the foundational questions.
Proceed.
As the ranking officer on that Reddington Task Force, were you familiar with an incident that occurred involving the U.
S.
S.
Gideon in March of 1990? RESSLER: I was.
Yes.
The U.
S.
S.
Gideon was an Ohio-class submarine sunk by the Soviet Navy while on a secret mission in the Barents Sea.
134 men were on board.
They all died.
You say it was a secret mission.
How did the Soviet Navy find out about it? Because Raymond Reddington told them.
Was the defendant the only one who knew about the mission? Raymond Reddington was one of 16 people who were aware of it.
12 Naval officers and four CIA operatives on the Russia desk.
If 16 people were aware of the mission, how can you be sure the defendant was the informant? Two days before the sub was attacked, the Gideon's captain changed course to avoid weather.
The change was communicated to an intelligence officer who was assigned to the mission.
He was the only one of the 16 who knew the coordinates of the sub on the day in question.
Who was that intelligence officer? Raymond Reddington.
So, the defendant was the only one who knew the location of the submarine.
That doesn't prove he told the Russians how to find it.
Why are you so certain that he did? Because a secure KGB communiqué we intercepted indicated that Raymond Reddington provided the Russians with the exact coordinates where the submarine was torpedoed.
Mr.
Ressler, I'm showing you a document that has previously been admitted as Government Exhibit 9.
Is this the communiqué? It is.
Please read it for the jury.
"Lamprey indicates target diverted.
Prior intel no longer actionable.
New coordinates received.
" Do you want me to read the coordinates? That won't be necessary.
Are you familiar with the code name "Lamprey"? Yes.
"Lamprey" was the code name the KGB assigned to Raymond Reddington.
For the defendant? For Raymond Reddington.
And And is Raymond Reddington in the courtroom today? You Your Honor? Agent Ressler.
The man referred to in the communiqué.
Is he in this courtroom or not? Yes, Your Honor.
He is.
- [DOOR SLAMS OPEN.]
- MAN: FBI! - Don't move! - Freeze! Don't shoot! FBI.
Hands where we can see them.
Mikela Pariente, you're under arrest for the murder of Janice DeReamer.
Peter DeReamer.
Where is he? [HANDCUFFS CLICK.]
[SIGHS.]
FBI! Stop! Stop! You won't make it! [GRUNTING.]
[SCREAMING.]
[THUD.]
[BREATHING HEAVILY.]
We heard the tapes.
We know you and Peter killed his wife and that Bailey's blackmailing you.
If you ever want to get out of prison, you're gonna help us find him.
He told us to put $200,000 in my purse and take it to the Harkins Museum.
Wanted me to put it in a gift-shop bag and leave it near a bench at 3:20.
Okay, then.
That's exactly what you're gonna do.
Agent Ressler.
My goodness.
After all these years, I feel as if we actually know each other.
[CHUCKLES.]
I know the feeling.
Have you ever heard of Katarina Rostova? Yes.
She was a KGB officer.
Would it surprise you to learn that she and I had quite a complicated history? Sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll.
Did I say "sex"? Sex.
Almost nothing you do surprises me.
How about that Katarina hid the fact that she was a KGB agent, stole the coordinates for the submarine U.
S.
S.
Gideon, and passed them on to her superiors? That she, in fact, was responsible for the deaths of those brave young men? Objection.
What surprises Agent Ressler is not relevant.
Sustained.
Move on, Mr.
Reddington.
Agent Ressler, was I a good intelligence officer? Raymond Reddington was one of the best.
Sorry? Raymond Reddington was? Yes.
Hated by the KGB? Very much so.
Would they have liked to see him disgraced? - Definitely.
- Enough to forge a communiqué? Objection.
The witness cannot possibly know what the KGB would or wouldn't do.
Objection sustained.
Move on.
Mr.
Sima asked you if I was a traitor.
You hesitated with your answer.
Why? What difference does it make? Is it because you're uncertain? Or aware of mitigating circumstances that have given you a different opinion of me? About who I am today as opposed to who I once was? I don't think you want me to answer that.
- Oh, but I do.
- I don't.
Counsel will approach.
You may be excused for the moment, Agent Ressler.
[CLEARS THROAT.]
I do not like tricks played in my courtroom.
Especially dirty ones.
He hesitated for a reason.
The reason is that you work together a fact that is not admissible at this trial.
Or have you forgotten that your cozy relationship with the FBI is a deep, dark, and regrettable secret? There's something else.
Well, I hope for your sake that it doesn't involve Rostova.
Because that fishing expedition is over.
I need more time.
Clearly.
But you don't have it.
A winter coat, a pair of warm shoes, and $3,000.
[GASPS.]
Who are you? It is yours whether you can help me or not.
It was a white woman.
Dark hair.
She didn't give me her name.
Just 100 bucks to call 911 and to say I seen a man with a gun.
A man wearing a suit and hat.
Is this the woman? That's not her.
Take your time.
Are you sure? She gave me 100 bucks to make a phone call.
I'm never gonna forget her face.
Just like I'm never gonna forget yours.
SIMA: Please state your name and occupation.
Lawton B.
Nuss.
I'm a retired forensic accountant with the FBI.
When you were with the Bureau, did you discover that the Russians paid Raymond Reddington for information leading to the sinking - of the U.
S.
S.
Gideon? - Yes, sir.
I would object, but I so enjoy a good yarn.
Describe how the money was handled.
A month before the incident, a corporate account was opened in a Cypriot bank known to work with Soviet intelligence.
The only person with the power to withdraw funds was the company president.
And who was that? Raymond Reddington.
I'm sure many accounts were opened in the weeks prior to the tragedy of the Gideon.
What makes you think the activity in this account was connected to it? Because a front company for the KGB wired $3 million into the account a day before the incident, and another $3 million the day after it.
One week later, the entire amount was withdrawn.
By Reddington? Yes.
Using fingerprints and a password.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Was the withdrawal made in person? No.
It was a wire transfer.
You said the withdrawal required fingerprints and a password.
It was done remotely.
So if someone had a copy of my fingerprints and knew the password, they could have made the withdrawal, and no one at the bank, nor yourself, would have known the difference? I, uh, suppose that's possible.
Yes.
You know what else is possible? That I was framed by Katarina Rostova, which I could prove if Your Honor would grant me even the shortest All right, the court will stand in recess.
During which time I will consider whether your willful disregard for my instruction suggests that while you are clearly competent to stand trial, you may be incompetent - to represent yourself.
- I'm innocent.
How can trying to prove that suggest incompetence? It doesn't.
But not following the rules does.
And so far, you haven't come close to doing that.
We're back in 15.
[GAVEL BANGS.]
All right, she's on the move.
Hold on.
Who's this? He's taking it to the information desk.
Lost and found.
The janitor.
I got him.
I got the bag.
Excuse me.
FBI.
I need to see that bag, right now.
The purse is gone.
The janitor has it.
That's him.
- [POP.]
- Aah! [SPITS.]
[DOOR CREAKS.]
[DOOR CREAKS SHUT.]
[DOOR CREAKS LIGHTLY.]
[DOOR SLAMS.]
[DOOR CREAKS LIGHTLY.]
[DOOR SLAMS.]
[GRUNTS.]
[THUD.]
Aah! Are you okay? Uh, yeah, thanks.
Harold.
- We found Minister D.
- [DOOR THUDS SHUT, LOCK CLICKS.]
If you found his archives, I need the tape of a phone call he recorded on December 7, 1990.
If he has it, we'll find it.
But I won't give it to you so you can leverage the judge or the jury.
If that was my plan, I wouldn't need your help.
I'm quite capable of bribing jurors on my own.
I didn't give you this case to get an acquittal.
Then why did you give it to us? To prove my innocence.
Members of the jury, I have been on the bench 23 years, and I have never had a defendant represent himself in a death penalty case.
Mr.
Reddington made the choice, and, after careful consideration, I have decided to allow him to continue down that path.
As he's acting as his own counsel, he may testify in a narrative form.
Mr.
Reddington, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt.
Don't make me regret it.
Please.
[CREAKS, THUMPS.]
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? I do.
I don't see it anywhere.
Than the one next door.
Is it possible he got the date wrong? Reddington told us to look for a very specific needle in this haystack.
A recording taken on December 7, 1990.
Bailey isn't talking.
Please tell me you found something.
We did.
Just not what we were looking for.
ARAM: Elijah Bailey is an alias.
We matched his DNA to a Jordan Loving, a retired corporal in the Army Corps of Engineers.
Now, he disappeared from a hospital four days after he made the recording that Mr.
Reddington says will clear his name.
Loving was admitted with severe burns after an explosion at his house injured him and killed a man identified as Zachary Tempkin.
We found this picture at Bailey's.
It can't be a coincidence that Reddington is looking for a recording made on December 7th, and, on December 11th, an assassin injures Bailey and murders a man who appears to have been his lover.
Maybe he used the tape to try and blackmail someone who didn't take kindly to being blackmailed.
But who? And how the hell is it connected to Reddington? RED: 35 years ago, a Naval intelligence officer working for the U.
S.
government fell fell into a relationship with a beautiful Russian woman.
Unbeknownst to his superiors, that relationship, which started as guarded attraction, quickly evolved into passion, which resulted in pregnancy.
They had the child.
A girl, whom they both loved.
What the Naval officer didn't know, but certainly should have suspected, was that the Russian woman was a KGB officer that Katarina Rostova had been assigned to get close to Raymond Reddington and steal classified information from him.
What Reddington could never have suspected was that though she was a KGB agent, Rostova's real handlers were members of a secret criminal organization, a multinational cabal working in the shadows to manipulate world governments, economic markets, trade, and international alliances.
When Reddington discovered this, he confronted Rostova, who warned him that if he threatened to expose them, the Cabal would destroy his reputation, discrediting him so he could not discredit them.
And that's what happened.
With the help of the Cabal, Rostova framed Reddington with the very evidence you've heard in this courtroom.
To prevent him from protecting his country, she made it appear as if he had betrayed it.
As a result, the Cabal remained in the shadows, Rostova disappeared, and Raymond Reddington became a completely different person.
A man who has done many brutal, scary, illegal things but not a single one ever that was treasonous.
That's it every box, file, and tape.
We must have missed something.
Or it's not here.
We have to start over.
[CLATTERS, GLASS SHATTERS.]
I think it's too late for that.
It's gotta be here somewhere.
It has to be.
COOPER: We'll start over.
Uh, I don't think we have to.
December 7, 1990.
Notify Ressler.
Tell him we have the tape Reddington was looking for.
SIMA: Let me just get this straight You were framed by a "secret criminal organization"? I'm sorry.
I misspoke.
Thanks to me, the Cabal is no longer secret.
"A multinational cabal working in the shadows to manipulate world governments.
" I'm sure they have a Wikipedia page if you care to look.
Do you have any evidence to support this conspiracy theory? I do.
That you can present at this time? Yes.
Though, for the life of me, I don't understand what the rush is all about.
Everyone seems so anxious to kill me.
Makes you wonder.
Perhaps you could enlighten me over a cocktail after my acquittal which is inevitable now that the evidence has arrived.
Permission to approach? I thought you'd never ask.
Whatever evidence his FBI lackey just stepped and fetched for him It's a tape recording.
That we haven't had the chance to authenticate.
Then let's get Agent Ressler to hop on the stand, cross his heart, hope to die, and do just that.
I agree.
Mr.
Sima, you will have the chance to cross-examine the witness and authenticate the tape.
Mr.
Reddington, it appears that all your eggs are in this basket.
You better hope they don't crack.
Mm.
That loud whooshing sound is the wind blowing out of your case.
The court needed the tape copied to a flash drive, - but this is the original.
- [CLICKS.]
FITCH: They pulled me out of a meeting.
This better be important.
KATARINA: Reddington knows.
He knows everything.
Explain.
He's discovered my identity.
And the existence of the Cabal.
Can he be contained? He took Masha.
Eliminate him.
He's a decorated officer.
His death would be investigated.
Whatever they find, they will believe.
But if we discredit him The intelligence I stole We leak that it came from him.
No one will believe him after that.
Not with the blood of 134 Americans on his hands.
Agent Rostova, I told you to eliminate him.
And I'm telling you there's a better way.
Because you're sleeping with him.
Because he has proof that the Cabal exists, proof that would be released in the event of his death.
The Fulcrum.
And because I love his daughter.
My daughter.
I want this mess cleaned up.
Get rid of him or ruin him.
Just get it done by Christmas.
Agent Ressler.
Do you recognize the man's voice on the audiotape? Yes.
It's Alan Fitch.
The former Director of National Intelligence.
And the woman? Agent Rostova? It was Katarina Rostova, yes.
Why did you bring me this tape? Because the government has a legal obligation under Brady v.
Maryland to provide the defendant with any exculpatory evidence that can be used in the defense.
Thank you, Agent Ressler.
And may I say you are both everything I dislike about the FBI and everything I admire about it? Nothing further, Your Honor.
[DOOR OPENS.]
Your scar.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
Katarina Rostova gave that to you, didn't she? She took Zachary from you.
You found the tape.
You blackmailed the wrong person.
I thought I could use the tapes to punish people for what they'd done.
To cash in on what they'd done.
To make a good living off the backs of bad people.
You hurt a lot of people who deserved it.
But you also hurt yourself.
No, I didn't.
Katarina Rostova did.
Out of all the tapes, why ask me about this one? Because Katarina Rostova took someone away from me, too.
I'm sorry.
So am I.
Thanks to your tape [VOICE BREAKING.]
I think she just gave him back to me.
The defendant will rise.
Has the jury reached a verdict? We have, Your Honor.
In United States v.
Raymond Reddington, to the single count alleging violation of Title 18, United States Code Section 2381, Treason, how do you find? Not guilty.
Ahh.
The court thanks the jury for your service.
You are dismissed.
Your Honor, the government is ready to proceed to trial on the remaining indictments.
I have no doubt that once the government licks its wounds, it will want another bite at our allegedly rotten apple.
But that's for another day.
Until then, the defendant will remain in custody.
No bail? I was looking forward to that cocktail.
You may or may not be the most dangerous criminal to ever grace my courtroom.
But you certainly are the most incorrigible.
Court stands in recess.
[GAVEL BANGS.]
I don't know how I can feel so relieved and so pissed off at the same time.
Don't judge her too harshly.
I don't think I could judge her harshly enough.
Whoever you are today, whatever you've become It's because of the lies she told.
She was between a rock and a hard place.
That's no excuse for framing someone for a crime they didn't commit.
It's easy to think that now.
Back then things were complicated.
I grew up believing Raymond Reddington was a traitor.
Well, now you know the truth.
I know a truth.
You know that your parents loved you very much.
And that's the only truth that matters.
[JESSE MARCHANT'S "7 & THE FALL" PLAYS.]
[CLICK, DOOR OPENS.]
[DOOR THUDS SHUT.]
[CHORUS VOCALIZING.]
Dembe.
We won.
I'm very relieved.
More so knowing that you are, as well.
Of course I am.
Why wouldn't I be? Because you are the reason Raymond is here.
I spoke to the woman who called the police.
I showed her your photo.
When she didn't recognize it, I realized she had spoken to Jennifer.
That you worked together to capture Raymond.
Narrow chance in the calm of your arms Does he know? I keep his secrets.
I don't share them.
Say goodbye He sent you to find out.
So he suspects something, but he doesn't know.
- Is that it? - I won't say it is.
But I won't say it's not.
If you tell him, he'll never forgive me.
The secrets he keeps from you cause you so much pain.
And now you are asking me to keep your secrets from him.
You're his secret keeper.
You pay no mind the truth I'm asking you to be mine, too.
If it ain't on your side [SNIFFLES.]
It's gonna be fine.
Everything's gonna be fine.
I know what you did.
[CHUCKLES.]
What, stole the boss' hooch? [DOOR CLOSES.]
You lied to the judge - to protect my search - [LIQUID POURING.]
For the imposter's true identity.
You ignored everything I asked you not to do.
And I just wanted to say thank you.
[GLASSES CLINK.]
Did you mine your ruin? [SIGHS.]
That must've been hard, hearing that tape today.
Listening to your mother betray your father like that.
You can't blame it all on the set of your ways To be honest with you, Ressler, this has all been hard.
Ever since I met the imposter.
You can raise your walls and protect what you've lain But, yes, especially now, knowing that my mother helped this imposter steal my real father's good name.
But you're cracking your roof But why? I mean, before today, everyone thought Reddington was a traitor.
The government, the press, and, still, the imposter chose to take his identity.
I mean, he went to a surgeon who could have given him the identity of anyone in the world.
He could have been anyone.
And yet he chose to be a pariah.
He chose the life of a wanted fugitive.
Why? Why would anyone do that? [METAL DOOR CLANKS OPEN.]
I was alone, I was watching it rain I heard the news.
Congratulations.
A Pyrrhic victory, I'm afraid.
Like eating a salted caramel babka.
Immensely satisfying in the moment, but it just might be what kills me in the end.
[CHUCKLES.]
I found the person who made the 911 call.
And? It was a homeless woman.
Well, who told her to make the call? She didn't know.
- You showed her a photograph? - Yes.
- Of Elizabeth? - Yes.
And? No.
Ohh.
[SIGHS.]
I was so sure.
I was [SIGHS.]
The thought that she'd betrayed me again But she didn't.
No.
[BREATHES SHARPLY.]
This is ridiculous.
Just come home.
DEBORAH: I called a lawyer, Paul.
He said we shouldn't be talking.
A lawyer? No, Deb.
I'm sorry.
- I know you're sorry, Paul.
- [CLICK.]
WOMAN: Mrs.
Evans? This is Wendy from E.
I.
C.
Trust.
I'm following up on our previous conversation.
Good news.
It appears you are not overdrawn.
- [CLICK.]
- WOMAN #2: Over my dead body, Susan.
SUSAN: [SIGHS.]
Mom, it's a retirement community.
I'm not gonna play bingo all day just to have someone wipe my - [CLICK.]
- WOMAN #3: a fever and won't be able to go on the [CLICK.]
[MAN SPEAKING SPANISH.]
- [CLICK.]
- CHILDREN: Hi, Grandpa! MAN: Oh, hey, there, lovelies.
[CLICK.]
WOMAN #4: Afternoon.
Do you have time to take a li [CLICK, BEEP.]
[RINGING.]
MIKELA: Hey, I got your message.
- Is it true? - PETER: Yeah.
Came today.
$2.
2 million.
I've never seen a check that big.
[SIGHS.]
Then it's done, right? This is great.
We should celebrate.
No, no.
Not yet.
Uh, listen, I think we might have a situation.
What situation? It's about the body.
- Play it again.
- [BEEP.]
OPERATOR: 911.
What's your emergency? WOMAN: I saw a man with a gun! On West Fourth near the Red Brau Tavern.
Can you describe him? White guy in his 50s.
He's wearing a suit.
Tan suit and a hat.
[CLICK.]
Our contact in the department says the caller didn't identify herself.
Someone identified me to the caller.
We both know who and why.
You have no proof it was Elizabeth.
No.
And I hope I'm wrong, but she's hunting for my past.
And putting me here makes it more likely she'll find it.
Raymond, you're facing the death penalty.
She would never put you in that position.
Try to identify the person on the tape.
And please reach out to the Task Force.
I have a case.
LIZ: Minister D? A serial blackmailer.
He takes his name from the villain in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Purloined Letter.
" However, unlike his namesake, this man's never been identified.
Why now? Today of all days? Because I'm innocent.
And he can prove it.
How? The explanation will be obvious once you've found him.
But as my trial begins within the hour, I'd appreciate it if you would investigate now and ask questions later.
You say this Minister D can prove your innocence.
Can he also prove who's guilty? Yes.
So you know who the real traitor is? Someone I trusted.
As is the traitor who turned me in to the police.
Have you found out who that is yet? Someone close.
Traitors always are.
Tell me about Minister D.
LIZ: According to Reddington, Minister D gathers incriminating information and then uses it to extort people.
In 2004, he discovered an insider trading scheme and used the information to extort $4 million from a pair of traders at Koji Analytics.
Six years ago, he blackmailed Senator Constance Holsted after finding proof of a kickback scheme between the senator's husband and a major real-estate developer.
PETER: It's about the body.
MIKELA: What are you talking about? Where we put it isn't safe.
COOPER: Did Reddington say how Minister D collects his intel? LIZ: No.
But he made it seem as if he has compromising information on just about everyone.
Which is why Reddington brought us the case.
What do you mean? Minister D gathers information to extort people.
With Reddington about to go to trial, it stands to reason that he wants to extort members of the jury or the judge.
Maybe he thinks the Minister can help with that.
It's a risky move if he believes he's innocent.
Which we all know he's not.
Do we? You think Reddington is innocent? I think this guy could be.
This "guy"? I think what Ressler is trying to say - Yes, please translate.
- is, we won't know the truth until we find the Minister.
Did Reddington give any indication where to start? Yes.
With Sayantan Shah.
- The Taxi Tycoon? - In 2006, Reddington loaned him money to pay off a blackmailer he believes was Minister D.
Talk to Shah.
See what he knows.
He loaned me money.
I paid him back.
Is that a crime? To do business with a wanted fugitive and not report it? Yeah.
That's a whole lot of crimes.
I was being blackmailed.
I didn't have the money.
What was I supposed to do? I can't just walk into a bank.
Relax, Mr.
Shah.
We're not here to arrest you.
Or to ask you to cooperate against Mr.
Reddington.
We don't need your help to make a case against him.
What we do need is your help to make a case against the man who blackmailed you.
We'll ignore your business with Raymond Reddington if you tell us about your business with Minister D.
Delivery for Peter DeReamer.
SHAH: And the reasons I was being blackmailed You'll ignore those, too? Our interest is Minister D.
If you help us, we'll look past your little indiscretions.
[CHAIR CREAKING.]
I came to my office one day after lunch, and there was this envelope.
Inside was a transcript of a phone call I had made detailing certain business arrangements that might have been misunderstood by my partners.
Or the IRS.
A few days later, I get a call instructing me to deliver $400,000 in cash.
That transcript was word for word.
I hired a team.
They found this buried in the phone lines of my apartment building.
It's a tap.
He was listening.
JUDGE WILKINS: Good morning.
Unless the parties have any last issues they wish to address, I'll ask the clerk to bring down the jury.
As you're kind enough to inquire, I do have an issue that compels me to ask for a continuance.
And what, pray tell, is that? A key piece of evidence has not yet materialized.
I expect it to shortly.
I have investigators working to locate it as we speak.
By "investigators," I can only assume defense counsel means his very own team of FBI agents.
Is that true? My cooperation agreement continues on a voluntary basis.
I've steered the Bureau in the direction of a wanton criminal.
Mr.
Sima may not appreciate that an ancillary benefit of catching said criminal is that he is in possession of information that will prove my innocence, but anyone with an actual interest in the truth would, I'm sure, see a continuance as a prerequisite for a just outcome.
A just outcome would have been the defendant accepting our settlement offer of life in prison.
The government was willing to take the death penalty off the table, and you rejected it? Yes.
As any innocent man would.
Mr.
Reddington, your motion for a continuance is denied.
If exculpatory evidence surfaces, you can introduce it at trial, or, if necessary, on appeal.
We'll bring the jury in for opening arguments after lunch.
[GAVEL BANGS.]
- What do we have? - Okay, so, the device Agents Keen and Ressler identified was some kind of splitter.
It duplicated the signal from Shah's phone, sending one signal to the number Shah dialed and another to a different location.
Some sort of listening post.
Now, I couldn't trace the calls, but we did find similar devices.
- [KEYS CLACKING.]
- And get this They were all monitoring landlines and cell towers operated by the VeraCom Phone Company.
According to VeraCom's files, only a handful of individuals serviced the sites where we discovered taps.
Three joined the company after the first reported incident, one left the country to do missionary work in 2013, and another died of a heart attack just eight months ago.
- Which leaves? - Elijah Bailey.
ARAM: The name's an alias.
Taxes filed under a stolen Social.
Engineering degrees also forged.
What about a location? An address in Arlington.
[DOOR CLANKS.]
What's he doing here? He's here to see Agent Ressler.
Keen, Navabi, run down that Arlington address.
Ressler, come with me.
RESSLER: So, what's this about? I need to prep you for trial.
I'm calling you as a witness.
The work of the Task Force remains classified.
I won't be asking about it.
Back when the FBI was hunting Reddington instead of working for him, you ran point on the investigation.
He's on trial for acts of treason he allegedly committed long before I took over that investigation.
We all know they're not alleged.
And I wouldn't be asking you if I had anyone else to ask, but your predecessors have all passed.
You're the ranking officer.
Why'd you wait so long to let us know? Because I don't trust you.
I know you're working a case to help him at trial.
You know how I know? He told us in court.
Agent Ressler, once I put you under oath, your loyalty will be to the truth, not Reddington.
Perjure yourself even once, and I will make sure you join your boss in prison.
- [DOOR SLAMS OPEN.]
- MAN: FBI! [INDISTINCT SHOUTING.]
MAN #2: Clear! MAN #3: Clear here! MAN #4: Clear over here! MAN #5: Clear here! NAVABI: [SIGHS.]
There must be 10,000 tapes in here.
[LOMA'S "WHITE GLASS" PLAYS.]
[HORN HONKS IN DISTANCE.]
[BEEPS.]
[CELLPHONE DIALING.]
[LINE RINGS.]
[TELEPHONE RINGS.]
[RINGING CONTINUES.]
[BEEPS.]
I'm a blackbird singing on a riverbank [HORNS HONK IN DISTANCE.]
I'm a vulture hanging in the wind [BELLS JINGLE.]
Hey there.
How you doing, papito? Need a shave? I'm looking for a woman.
She made a call from that payphone.
It was a few weeks ago.
I have a date and time to check your security cameras.
Memory's deleted every 48 hours.
Maybe somebody saw something? Don't know.
Maybe.
I ain't seen nobody on that phone in the time I been here.
I can ask around, but no promises.
Look, man, like I told you, I don't know anything.
Thanks for listening.
Yeah, no problem.
[BELLS JINGLE.]
You the one been asking about that girl? One who made the call? I am.
Did you see something? If I did, what's in it for me? Maybe I could pay you.
Maybe you could give me the money first.
And maybe then I talk.
[SIRENS WAILING IN DISTANCE.]
Did you see who made that call? Yeah.
I did it.
You cannot go to jail to protect his secret.
Sima may not ask anything that requires me to lie.
But if he does ask you to confirm that Raymond Reddington is the defendant, - you can't say "yes.
" - If I say "no," if I tell the truth, he's gonna know that we know, and he'll do everything he can to keep us from learning his true identity.
If the only way for me to find out who he really is is for the most honest person I know to commit perjury, I don't want to know.
If Reddington just If he admitted that he was the imposter, the charges would be dropped.
I mean, he's facing the death penalty, and, still, he says nothing.
If he's okay with that, so am I.
Besides, I'm not that honest.
I said you were the most honest person I know.
The bar's pretty low.
[CHUCKLES.]
Look.
You deserve an answer.
And I'm not gonna be the one who says something that keeps you from getting that.
But if something were to happen to you because you did that, I would never forgive myself.
[KNOCK ON DOOR.]
Hey.
He uses a manual typewriter.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS IN DISTANCE.]
Mm, who does? Our guy.
The listener.
Are you sitting in the dark? I had a migraine.
Oh.
I didn't know you got migraines.
I didn't.
Before.
You okay? [SIGHS.]
Uh, you were saying? Right, um anyway, have you ever used a manual typewriter? Yeah, it's impossible.
Just to make a mark, you have to slam on each key.
Do you have a point, or are you just being pointlessly adorable? All right, by slamming on each key, you leave a mark on the paper and the ribbon.
And after the ribbon is hit, it spools.
So if you unspool it, you can see the last thing Minister D typed.
So you're saying you know who his next target is? ARAM: The next target is Peter DeReamer, who cheated on his wife with a Mikela Pariente.
He blackmailed him over an affair? - How original.
- Not the affair.
The insurance.
$2 million in his wife's name, which paid out when they killed her.
Yesterday, Bailey recorded this.
MIKELA: Hey, I got your message.
- Is it true? - PETER: Yeah.
Came today.
$2.
2 million.
I've never seen a check that big.
[SIGHS.]
Then it's done, right? This is great.
We should celebrate.
No, no.
Not yet.
Uh, listen, I think we might have a situation.
What situation? It's about the body.
What are you talking about? Where we put it isn't safe.
She could be found.
DeReamer.
Where is he? The building manager at Mikela's apartment saw him arrive 20 minutes ago.
Keen, Navabi, get there.
Take them both into custody.
See if they can lead us to Bailey.
Agent Ressler, did you once lead an FBI Task Force dedicated to killing or capturing Raymond Reddington? Your Honor, I'm happy to stipulate that Agent Ressler was the FBI agent who spent the prime years of his career engaged in a futile game of whack-a-mole.
Mr.
Sima, we can dispense with the foundational questions.
Proceed.
As the ranking officer on that Reddington Task Force, were you familiar with an incident that occurred involving the U.
S.
S.
Gideon in March of 1990? RESSLER: I was.
Yes.
The U.
S.
S.
Gideon was an Ohio-class submarine sunk by the Soviet Navy while on a secret mission in the Barents Sea.
134 men were on board.
They all died.
You say it was a secret mission.
How did the Soviet Navy find out about it? Because Raymond Reddington told them.
Was the defendant the only one who knew about the mission? Raymond Reddington was one of 16 people who were aware of it.
12 Naval officers and four CIA operatives on the Russia desk.
If 16 people were aware of the mission, how can you be sure the defendant was the informant? Two days before the sub was attacked, the Gideon's captain changed course to avoid weather.
The change was communicated to an intelligence officer who was assigned to the mission.
He was the only one of the 16 who knew the coordinates of the sub on the day in question.
Who was that intelligence officer? Raymond Reddington.
So, the defendant was the only one who knew the location of the submarine.
That doesn't prove he told the Russians how to find it.
Why are you so certain that he did? Because a secure KGB communiqué we intercepted indicated that Raymond Reddington provided the Russians with the exact coordinates where the submarine was torpedoed.
Mr.
Ressler, I'm showing you a document that has previously been admitted as Government Exhibit 9.
Is this the communiqué? It is.
Please read it for the jury.
"Lamprey indicates target diverted.
Prior intel no longer actionable.
New coordinates received.
" Do you want me to read the coordinates? That won't be necessary.
Are you familiar with the code name "Lamprey"? Yes.
"Lamprey" was the code name the KGB assigned to Raymond Reddington.
For the defendant? For Raymond Reddington.
And And is Raymond Reddington in the courtroom today? You Your Honor? Agent Ressler.
The man referred to in the communiqué.
Is he in this courtroom or not? Yes, Your Honor.
He is.
- [DOOR SLAMS OPEN.]
- MAN: FBI! - Don't move! - Freeze! Don't shoot! FBI.
Hands where we can see them.
Mikela Pariente, you're under arrest for the murder of Janice DeReamer.
Peter DeReamer.
Where is he? [HANDCUFFS CLICK.]
[SIGHS.]
FBI! Stop! Stop! You won't make it! [GRUNTING.]
[SCREAMING.]
[THUD.]
[BREATHING HEAVILY.]
We heard the tapes.
We know you and Peter killed his wife and that Bailey's blackmailing you.
If you ever want to get out of prison, you're gonna help us find him.
He told us to put $200,000 in my purse and take it to the Harkins Museum.
Wanted me to put it in a gift-shop bag and leave it near a bench at 3:20.
Okay, then.
That's exactly what you're gonna do.
Agent Ressler.
My goodness.
After all these years, I feel as if we actually know each other.
[CHUCKLES.]
I know the feeling.
Have you ever heard of Katarina Rostova? Yes.
She was a KGB officer.
Would it surprise you to learn that she and I had quite a complicated history? Sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll.
Did I say "sex"? Sex.
Almost nothing you do surprises me.
How about that Katarina hid the fact that she was a KGB agent, stole the coordinates for the submarine U.
S.
S.
Gideon, and passed them on to her superiors? That she, in fact, was responsible for the deaths of those brave young men? Objection.
What surprises Agent Ressler is not relevant.
Sustained.
Move on, Mr.
Reddington.
Agent Ressler, was I a good intelligence officer? Raymond Reddington was one of the best.
Sorry? Raymond Reddington was? Yes.
Hated by the KGB? Very much so.
Would they have liked to see him disgraced? - Definitely.
- Enough to forge a communiqué? Objection.
The witness cannot possibly know what the KGB would or wouldn't do.
Objection sustained.
Move on.
Mr.
Sima asked you if I was a traitor.
You hesitated with your answer.
Why? What difference does it make? Is it because you're uncertain? Or aware of mitigating circumstances that have given you a different opinion of me? About who I am today as opposed to who I once was? I don't think you want me to answer that.
- Oh, but I do.
- I don't.
Counsel will approach.
You may be excused for the moment, Agent Ressler.
[CLEARS THROAT.]
I do not like tricks played in my courtroom.
Especially dirty ones.
He hesitated for a reason.
The reason is that you work together a fact that is not admissible at this trial.
Or have you forgotten that your cozy relationship with the FBI is a deep, dark, and regrettable secret? There's something else.
Well, I hope for your sake that it doesn't involve Rostova.
Because that fishing expedition is over.
I need more time.
Clearly.
But you don't have it.
A winter coat, a pair of warm shoes, and $3,000.
[GASPS.]
Who are you? It is yours whether you can help me or not.
It was a white woman.
Dark hair.
She didn't give me her name.
Just 100 bucks to call 911 and to say I seen a man with a gun.
A man wearing a suit and hat.
Is this the woman? That's not her.
Take your time.
Are you sure? She gave me 100 bucks to make a phone call.
I'm never gonna forget her face.
Just like I'm never gonna forget yours.
SIMA: Please state your name and occupation.
Lawton B.
Nuss.
I'm a retired forensic accountant with the FBI.
When you were with the Bureau, did you discover that the Russians paid Raymond Reddington for information leading to the sinking - of the U.
S.
S.
Gideon? - Yes, sir.
I would object, but I so enjoy a good yarn.
Describe how the money was handled.
A month before the incident, a corporate account was opened in a Cypriot bank known to work with Soviet intelligence.
The only person with the power to withdraw funds was the company president.
And who was that? Raymond Reddington.
I'm sure many accounts were opened in the weeks prior to the tragedy of the Gideon.
What makes you think the activity in this account was connected to it? Because a front company for the KGB wired $3 million into the account a day before the incident, and another $3 million the day after it.
One week later, the entire amount was withdrawn.
By Reddington? Yes.
Using fingerprints and a password.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Was the withdrawal made in person? No.
It was a wire transfer.
You said the withdrawal required fingerprints and a password.
It was done remotely.
So if someone had a copy of my fingerprints and knew the password, they could have made the withdrawal, and no one at the bank, nor yourself, would have known the difference? I, uh, suppose that's possible.
Yes.
You know what else is possible? That I was framed by Katarina Rostova, which I could prove if Your Honor would grant me even the shortest All right, the court will stand in recess.
During which time I will consider whether your willful disregard for my instruction suggests that while you are clearly competent to stand trial, you may be incompetent - to represent yourself.
- I'm innocent.
How can trying to prove that suggest incompetence? It doesn't.
But not following the rules does.
And so far, you haven't come close to doing that.
We're back in 15.
[GAVEL BANGS.]
All right, she's on the move.
Hold on.
Who's this? He's taking it to the information desk.
Lost and found.
The janitor.
I got him.
I got the bag.
Excuse me.
FBI.
I need to see that bag, right now.
The purse is gone.
The janitor has it.
That's him.
- [POP.]
- Aah! [SPITS.]
[DOOR CREAKS.]
[DOOR CREAKS SHUT.]
[DOOR CREAKS LIGHTLY.]
[DOOR SLAMS.]
[DOOR CREAKS LIGHTLY.]
[DOOR SLAMS.]
[GRUNTS.]
[THUD.]
Aah! Are you okay? Uh, yeah, thanks.
Harold.
- We found Minister D.
- [DOOR THUDS SHUT, LOCK CLICKS.]
If you found his archives, I need the tape of a phone call he recorded on December 7, 1990.
If he has it, we'll find it.
But I won't give it to you so you can leverage the judge or the jury.
If that was my plan, I wouldn't need your help.
I'm quite capable of bribing jurors on my own.
I didn't give you this case to get an acquittal.
Then why did you give it to us? To prove my innocence.
Members of the jury, I have been on the bench 23 years, and I have never had a defendant represent himself in a death penalty case.
Mr.
Reddington made the choice, and, after careful consideration, I have decided to allow him to continue down that path.
As he's acting as his own counsel, he may testify in a narrative form.
Mr.
Reddington, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt.
Don't make me regret it.
Please.
[CREAKS, THUMPS.]
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? I do.
I don't see it anywhere.
Than the one next door.
Is it possible he got the date wrong? Reddington told us to look for a very specific needle in this haystack.
A recording taken on December 7, 1990.
Bailey isn't talking.
Please tell me you found something.
We did.
Just not what we were looking for.
ARAM: Elijah Bailey is an alias.
We matched his DNA to a Jordan Loving, a retired corporal in the Army Corps of Engineers.
Now, he disappeared from a hospital four days after he made the recording that Mr.
Reddington says will clear his name.
Loving was admitted with severe burns after an explosion at his house injured him and killed a man identified as Zachary Tempkin.
We found this picture at Bailey's.
It can't be a coincidence that Reddington is looking for a recording made on December 7th, and, on December 11th, an assassin injures Bailey and murders a man who appears to have been his lover.
Maybe he used the tape to try and blackmail someone who didn't take kindly to being blackmailed.
But who? And how the hell is it connected to Reddington? RED: 35 years ago, a Naval intelligence officer working for the U.
S.
government fell fell into a relationship with a beautiful Russian woman.
Unbeknownst to his superiors, that relationship, which started as guarded attraction, quickly evolved into passion, which resulted in pregnancy.
They had the child.
A girl, whom they both loved.
What the Naval officer didn't know, but certainly should have suspected, was that the Russian woman was a KGB officer that Katarina Rostova had been assigned to get close to Raymond Reddington and steal classified information from him.
What Reddington could never have suspected was that though she was a KGB agent, Rostova's real handlers were members of a secret criminal organization, a multinational cabal working in the shadows to manipulate world governments, economic markets, trade, and international alliances.
When Reddington discovered this, he confronted Rostova, who warned him that if he threatened to expose them, the Cabal would destroy his reputation, discrediting him so he could not discredit them.
And that's what happened.
With the help of the Cabal, Rostova framed Reddington with the very evidence you've heard in this courtroom.
To prevent him from protecting his country, she made it appear as if he had betrayed it.
As a result, the Cabal remained in the shadows, Rostova disappeared, and Raymond Reddington became a completely different person.
A man who has done many brutal, scary, illegal things but not a single one ever that was treasonous.
That's it every box, file, and tape.
We must have missed something.
Or it's not here.
We have to start over.
[CLATTERS, GLASS SHATTERS.]
I think it's too late for that.
It's gotta be here somewhere.
It has to be.
COOPER: We'll start over.
Uh, I don't think we have to.
December 7, 1990.
Notify Ressler.
Tell him we have the tape Reddington was looking for.
SIMA: Let me just get this straight You were framed by a "secret criminal organization"? I'm sorry.
I misspoke.
Thanks to me, the Cabal is no longer secret.
"A multinational cabal working in the shadows to manipulate world governments.
" I'm sure they have a Wikipedia page if you care to look.
Do you have any evidence to support this conspiracy theory? I do.
That you can present at this time? Yes.
Though, for the life of me, I don't understand what the rush is all about.
Everyone seems so anxious to kill me.
Makes you wonder.
Perhaps you could enlighten me over a cocktail after my acquittal which is inevitable now that the evidence has arrived.
Permission to approach? I thought you'd never ask.
Whatever evidence his FBI lackey just stepped and fetched for him It's a tape recording.
That we haven't had the chance to authenticate.
Then let's get Agent Ressler to hop on the stand, cross his heart, hope to die, and do just that.
I agree.
Mr.
Sima, you will have the chance to cross-examine the witness and authenticate the tape.
Mr.
Reddington, it appears that all your eggs are in this basket.
You better hope they don't crack.
Mm.
That loud whooshing sound is the wind blowing out of your case.
The court needed the tape copied to a flash drive, - but this is the original.
- [CLICKS.]
FITCH: They pulled me out of a meeting.
This better be important.
KATARINA: Reddington knows.
He knows everything.
Explain.
He's discovered my identity.
And the existence of the Cabal.
Can he be contained? He took Masha.
Eliminate him.
He's a decorated officer.
His death would be investigated.
Whatever they find, they will believe.
But if we discredit him The intelligence I stole We leak that it came from him.
No one will believe him after that.
Not with the blood of 134 Americans on his hands.
Agent Rostova, I told you to eliminate him.
And I'm telling you there's a better way.
Because you're sleeping with him.
Because he has proof that the Cabal exists, proof that would be released in the event of his death.
The Fulcrum.
And because I love his daughter.
My daughter.
I want this mess cleaned up.
Get rid of him or ruin him.
Just get it done by Christmas.
Agent Ressler.
Do you recognize the man's voice on the audiotape? Yes.
It's Alan Fitch.
The former Director of National Intelligence.
And the woman? Agent Rostova? It was Katarina Rostova, yes.
Why did you bring me this tape? Because the government has a legal obligation under Brady v.
Maryland to provide the defendant with any exculpatory evidence that can be used in the defense.
Thank you, Agent Ressler.
And may I say you are both everything I dislike about the FBI and everything I admire about it? Nothing further, Your Honor.
[DOOR OPENS.]
Your scar.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
Katarina Rostova gave that to you, didn't she? She took Zachary from you.
You found the tape.
You blackmailed the wrong person.
I thought I could use the tapes to punish people for what they'd done.
To cash in on what they'd done.
To make a good living off the backs of bad people.
You hurt a lot of people who deserved it.
But you also hurt yourself.
No, I didn't.
Katarina Rostova did.
Out of all the tapes, why ask me about this one? Because Katarina Rostova took someone away from me, too.
I'm sorry.
So am I.
Thanks to your tape [VOICE BREAKING.]
I think she just gave him back to me.
The defendant will rise.
Has the jury reached a verdict? We have, Your Honor.
In United States v.
Raymond Reddington, to the single count alleging violation of Title 18, United States Code Section 2381, Treason, how do you find? Not guilty.
Ahh.
The court thanks the jury for your service.
You are dismissed.
Your Honor, the government is ready to proceed to trial on the remaining indictments.
I have no doubt that once the government licks its wounds, it will want another bite at our allegedly rotten apple.
But that's for another day.
Until then, the defendant will remain in custody.
No bail? I was looking forward to that cocktail.
You may or may not be the most dangerous criminal to ever grace my courtroom.
But you certainly are the most incorrigible.
Court stands in recess.
[GAVEL BANGS.]
I don't know how I can feel so relieved and so pissed off at the same time.
Don't judge her too harshly.
I don't think I could judge her harshly enough.
Whoever you are today, whatever you've become It's because of the lies she told.
She was between a rock and a hard place.
That's no excuse for framing someone for a crime they didn't commit.
It's easy to think that now.
Back then things were complicated.
I grew up believing Raymond Reddington was a traitor.
Well, now you know the truth.
I know a truth.
You know that your parents loved you very much.
And that's the only truth that matters.
[JESSE MARCHANT'S "7 & THE FALL" PLAYS.]
[CLICK, DOOR OPENS.]
[DOOR THUDS SHUT.]
[CHORUS VOCALIZING.]
Dembe.
We won.
I'm very relieved.
More so knowing that you are, as well.
Of course I am.
Why wouldn't I be? Because you are the reason Raymond is here.
I spoke to the woman who called the police.
I showed her your photo.
When she didn't recognize it, I realized she had spoken to Jennifer.
That you worked together to capture Raymond.
Narrow chance in the calm of your arms Does he know? I keep his secrets.
I don't share them.
Say goodbye He sent you to find out.
So he suspects something, but he doesn't know.
- Is that it? - I won't say it is.
But I won't say it's not.
If you tell him, he'll never forgive me.
The secrets he keeps from you cause you so much pain.
And now you are asking me to keep your secrets from him.
You're his secret keeper.
You pay no mind the truth I'm asking you to be mine, too.
If it ain't on your side [SNIFFLES.]
It's gonna be fine.
Everything's gonna be fine.
I know what you did.
[CHUCKLES.]
What, stole the boss' hooch? [DOOR CLOSES.]
You lied to the judge - to protect my search - [LIQUID POURING.]
For the imposter's true identity.
You ignored everything I asked you not to do.
And I just wanted to say thank you.
[GLASSES CLINK.]
Did you mine your ruin? [SIGHS.]
That must've been hard, hearing that tape today.
Listening to your mother betray your father like that.
You can't blame it all on the set of your ways To be honest with you, Ressler, this has all been hard.
Ever since I met the imposter.
You can raise your walls and protect what you've lain But, yes, especially now, knowing that my mother helped this imposter steal my real father's good name.
But you're cracking your roof But why? I mean, before today, everyone thought Reddington was a traitor.
The government, the press, and, still, the imposter chose to take his identity.
I mean, he went to a surgeon who could have given him the identity of anyone in the world.
He could have been anyone.
And yet he chose to be a pariah.
He chose the life of a wanted fugitive.
Why? Why would anyone do that? [METAL DOOR CLANKS OPEN.]
I was alone, I was watching it rain I heard the news.
Congratulations.
A Pyrrhic victory, I'm afraid.
Like eating a salted caramel babka.
Immensely satisfying in the moment, but it just might be what kills me in the end.
[CHUCKLES.]
I found the person who made the 911 call.
And? It was a homeless woman.
Well, who told her to make the call? She didn't know.
- You showed her a photograph? - Yes.
- Of Elizabeth? - Yes.
And? No.
Ohh.
[SIGHS.]
I was so sure.
I was [SIGHS.]
The thought that she'd betrayed me again But she didn't.
No.
[BREATHES SHARPLY.]