Mr. Kaplan's History
Kathryn Nemec was a cleaner and Raymond Reddington's close advisor. Kathryn Nemec had worked for Raymond Reddington for over 20 years, having officially been missing as of 1991. Known only by her alias “Mr. Kaplan”, her first name was eventually revealed to be Kate. She is often seen helping Red dispose of bodies and clean up crime scenes. Kate is very proficient with firearms and seen carrying a Smith and Wesson 686 Plus. Kate's mother died in 1962 and she attended the funeral with her father where they said goodbye and had a conversation about death.
Kate went on to further her education by learning French, Italian, Russian, and German for her diplomatic jobs. She attended NorthWestern Medical School but dropped out to pursue a Master's in Child Development and helped raise 7 different children, some siblings. Kate eventually got a job as a nanny for Katarina Rostova to look after her daughter, Masha. Katarina makes it clear that she will care for her only when Katarina is not around and will only discreetly observe them when she is around, taking care to note what Katarina does so she can do it in her absence. Katarina makes one final condition afterwards: Kate cannot love Masha.
Three months after she is hired she witnesses Katarina and an unknown man struggle to kill each other in the kitchen. During the struggle, Kate slides a knife to Katarina, and she slits the man's throat. Katarina says Alexander can't know and Kate advises her to go upstairs and clean herself while Kate cleans up the kitchen. The next morning, Kate and Katarina talk about the man she killed. Kate reveals she knows about Katarina being Soviet Intelligence based on documents she found on the man. When asked, Kate explains the way she disposed the body and Katarina is so impressed that she charges Kate with similar situations should they arise.
When people start hunting Katarina, she instructs Kate to leave Masha with Sam Scott. Despite some reluctance, Sam agrees to look after her until her mother comes back and Kate heads back to the motel room. Katarina calls again to tell Kate she is leaving and Kate promises Katarina she will walk away. Katarina then tells Kate she loves her before hanging up.
Kate looks for a job at a local bar and learns that Katarina died and is comforted by Annie Kaplan, and tells her Katarina was her best friend. Annie tells Kate she is heading to Amarillo, Texas to learn about being a bail-bondsman from her Uncle Little Nikos and Kate follows her, becoming a mortician. Annie and Kate eventually start dating and she convinces Kate to leave that job to become a nanny again.
One day while having a romantic dinner with Annie, an ex-con barges into the office and holds them at gunpoint. The ex-con says he wants revenge for Nikos sending Mato after him, who broke his brother's jaw looking for him. After calling Kate “Mr. Kaplan”, the ex-con shoots Annie in the chest and Kate in the head. Kate struggles to get Annie outside before they both pass out.
Kate wakes up in the hospital three weeks later after having a steel plate implanted. Little Nikos visits her and tells her Annie was killed and Kate breaks down crying. Nikos tells Kate that because of how Annie felt about her, Kate was Niko's family and promises to help her get through this. Little Nikos gives her a job as his assistant and fellow bounty hunter.
In 1991, Sam walks into the office telling her Reddington wants to see her. Kate angrily refuses to meet the man since he triggered a chain reaction of events that forced her to abandon Masha and Katarina. Sam tells her that Masha, now known as Elizabeth, is in danger and she agrees to meet with him. Reddington tells her he is building his criminal empire with one goal in mind: keeping Elizabeth safe. After that he offers her a job working for him to watch over and protect Elizabeth. Kate warns Reddington that if given the choice, she will choose Elizabeth's interests over his and Reddington agrees and even insists that be the case.
Kate was among the very few who knew that Raymond Reddington is not the real Raymond Reddington, but an imposter who took over his identity over 20 years ago. Over the years, Kathryn learned most of Red's secrets with the exception of the existence of Dominic Wilkinson, Katarina Rostova's father.
Kate tries to convince Reddington not to turn himself into the FBI to preserve Elizabeth's innocence, but he refuses. Kate waits in the car with Dembe Zuma and Newton Phillips while Reddington turns himself in and the sirens are heard.
When Kate decides Reddington's decisions are hurting Elizabeth, she deals critical damage to Red's criminal empire by exposing his history. She gave the FBI the corpses of his unknown victims, stole his bank accounts, and revealed the truth behind several of his black market alliances. She then targeted the task force for ruin and agreed to testify. However, a desperate alliance with Laurel Hitchin classified the task force's employment of Red and Nemec committed suicide to activate a fail-deadly option.
Despite failing to destroy Red, as he began to rebuild his syndicate and disprove the gossip and rumors that he had been nearly ruined, Keen learned the truth of the skeleton as Kate wanted, that they belong to her father the real Raymond Reddington, who had been dead for the last 30 years. Overall, Kate's vendetta against Red failed as he restored his criminal empire to its former glory.
