So I have been thinking about what is Red’s connection to Lizzie in light of where we are at now in Season 3 x 16. My prior theory was here: Who Red and Lizzie Really Are to Each Other. I wrote that one several months ago. So what do we know now: I am going to focus on the last point first. Why will Red do absolutely anything for Lizzie? He was this way from the pilot episode. He will do whatever he has to do to keep her alive. Why? Here is one version of what I think happened that connected them - one of my less complicated versions: I do believe it was Red who pulled Lizzie from the burning closet. But where I go from here is different than some folks. I believe that after Red saved Lizzie he got knocked down - either by part of the burning house falling on him or by someone else in the house hitting him in the head to try to knock him out. And it was Lizzie who saved him this time - by trying to drag him out away from the fire - at least enough for him to wake up and help. So they saved each other. And this created an unbreakable bond between them. That is why Red will do anything for Lizzie - forever. But then what happened that Red is so scared for Lizzie to find out? Based on the Caretaker episode, I think it is very likely at this point that Red took Lizzie. Lizzie had shot and killed her father. Her mother was emotionally unstable. So Red“kidnapped” Lizzie and brought her to Sam’s house with the intention of Sam taking care of her. Perhaps this contributed to Katarina attempting to commit suicide. Another possibility is that Red knew that Lizzie had hidden a key piece of the Fulcrum somewhere - maybe he learned this from Katarina so he took her because of that too. A third possibility is that he took Lizzie because Katarina was the one responsible for his family’s death (per the Madeline Pratt episode) and he wanted revenge. No matter his reasons for taking Lizzie, Red feels tremendous guilt around this whole series of events - as he alluded to in the Harbor Master episode in Season 2. Red is very worried Lizzie will never forgive him for this if she found out the truth. Regardless of what their original connection was, we are watching the relationship between Lizzie and Red grow and change over time starting from the Pilot episode. The little girl who saved his life has now become a beautiful young woman when Red finally sees her again in person over 20 years later. I think Lizzie took Red’s breath away when he saw her walk down those stairs. At this point I think Red started falling in love with her. And so it begins. As we progress through the seasons, we see Red and Lizzie get closer and then break apart, only to come back stronger and even closer each time. And I think we will continue to have these ups and downs until Red finally reveals the truth to Lizzie. And eventually she will forgive him, of course. When that happens we will finally see Red and Lizzie get way more intense with each other with the below photos just a very small taste of what will come: Like Megan Boone said in an interview after Season 1, The Blacklist is a love story - albeit a slow burn love story. And the endgame is that Lizzie will realize that Red is THE ONE for her. Source: iloveredmorethanever
See Also
The latest on why The Blacklist was cancelled'The Blacklist' Finale All But Confirms Long-Held Fan Theory About Red's IdentityHow Does The Blacklist End?'The Blacklist' begins a new chapter with Liz as No. 1 Blacklister