We get another flashback to open The Night Agent season 3 episode 7, “Once Upon a Time...” And, it’s kind of a boring one; I’m not going to lie, but it all sets in motion the events that lead up to what's happening in present day.
After learning in episode 6 that Jacob Monroe is the father of Isabel De Leon, we see just how Jacob met Isabel’s mother, Sofia, in Mexico City in 1995. Working as a corporate lawyer, Jacob visits a soap factory owned by Raul Zapata to set up a partnership. There, he meets, and immediately falls for, Sofia De Leon, the mother of Isabel.
Jacon Monroe becomes a CIA asset spying on Raul Zapata
Unfortunately, before their relationship can really get off the ground, Jacob is shook down by a CIA agent, Costa, in Mexico City. She threatens to throw Jacob in prison for his company’s corruption unless he becomes an asset and starts working for the CIA, which he obviously accepts.
On his first mission to place a recorder in Zapata’s office, Jacob gets caught by Sofia, but she believes his cover story that he sucks at Spanish and needed to review some documents himself. He asks her on a date, and they go for an orange juice and a bookstore, which is Sofia’s favorite place in the city. She tells him how much she loves Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales, which is very important to the story.
Sofia accepts a real date with Jacob, but she asks him to keep it secret and not to ruin her career.
Jacob asks Isabel for one last chance to prove himself
Back in the present, Jacob is in trouble. With Peter and Adam on his tail, Jacob's identity as the Broker has now been revealed, and he is now wanted by the FBI. His assets and companies are getting frozen by the government.
Meanwhile, Isabel is at the hospital with Peter and Jay after the assassin shot Jay. Isabel receives a call from her father, and she asks him to come clean. He watches the video and knows that Peter is involved, which means the government is closing in and he’s running out of time.
We know that Jacob is not behind the assassination attempt, but Peter and Isabel don’t believe him. What a shame because he’s the dude with all of the secrets.
Adam continues to follow Jacob, but his driver realizes that he’s being tailed and escapes. Unfortunately, that draws the attention of the assassin who follows them to an office building where Jacob keeps an important book locked away.
The assassin kills Jacob’s bodyguard and nearly kills him
As Jacob gets the book and is on his way out, the assassin attacks his bodyguard, killing her.
Jacob escapes and hides in the locked room, but the assassin gets a blowtorch and tries to take the door to the room off, but it’s slow going. Jacob calls Isabel and Peter and asks for help. If Peter saves Jacob’s life one more time, Jacob will give up all the intelligence that can stop Zapata and the LFS from executing another terrorist attack, the one Jay identified by the weird deposits in the accounts.
That’s what Jacob was paying him, and holding him hostage for, to monitor those accounts.
So, Peter has another choice: save Jacob and get the information he needs to stop another attack or let Jacob die, and with him, the intel needed to stop the attack.
This is Peter we’re talking about, so we know what’s going to happen. Peter is about to save the day, but for a price. Peter wants all the dirt and no deal to keep Jacob out of prison, and Jacob agrees because he only cares about his daughter right now.
Jacob gifts Sofia a book, Grimm's Fairy Tales
Back in Mexico City in 1995, Jacob gets Sofia a gift, Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales book with all the mistakes that she mentioned on their first date.
That also happens to be the book that Jacob grabbed from the lock box in present day. So, this book, it appears that it holds the secrets to everything Jacob knows. We don’t know how or what yet, but it’s very important for Peter to get his hands on that book.
Jacob tries to quit working with the CIA, but Costa doesn’t let him
Later, Jacob meets with the CIA agent and asks to be done because he wants to move forward with his relationship with Sofia, but she won’t let him. He offers a solution. If he can serve up evidence on Zapata, he gets to walk. The CIA agent accepts.
Later, Jacob tells Sofia that he’s been working as a double agent, but Sofia panics, thinking their relationship is based on a lie. Eventually, Jacob convinces her to steal documents to offer proof of the shipments of weapons, but it’s not enough. Jacob needs more proof.
At the factory, Jacob finds the weapons the CIA was looking for, but he’s interrupted by Zapata himself. Zapata threatens to kill him, but Jacob takes his way out of it. He offers to help Zapata conceal his business to keep his life, and Zapata accepts.
The CIA is responsible for Sofia's disappearance
Before the CIA moves, Zapata reveals that he’s getting out of the business, and that Sofia is the reason. She was leaking documents, and Zapata found out. When Jacob returns home, Sofia is gone, taken. The only thing left was the book.
Years later, Jacob finds Agent Costa, and he blackmails her. He knows that the US betrayed him and Sofia to work with Zapata. Jacob just wants to know what happened to Sofia, and Costa revealed that Sofia was in prison in Mexico for 14 years before she died. But, she had a daughter, Jacob’s daughter.
She tells Jacob that she can find her, and she does.
A few months later, Jacob meets with his daughter for the first time, but she doesn’t want anything to do with him. Jacob tries to set Isabel up with a new life with money and connections, and she turns him down. He leaves her with his business card.
So, this is basically Jacob's why. We know that he's this information broker, but he also has a serious bone to pick with the CIA and US government for forcing him into service to stop Raul Zapata, only for the US government to start working with Zapata and betray Sofia. Yikes.
Peter saves Jacob from the assassin, but he gets kidnapped
Back in the present, Peter arrives just in time to save Jacob from the assassin. In the parking garage, the pair wait for Adam to pick them up, but the assassin cuts them off. Jacob, who has given the book with the secret codes to Peter, flees with Adam in the car, but Peter never makes it.
The assassin uses a flashbang to disorient Peter, and then he injects him with something before taking Peter hostage. The assassin flees the parking garage with Peter unconscious.
Jacob and Adam arrive at the safehouse without Peter, and the episode ends.
Peter is in a rough spot heading into The Night Agent season 3 episode 8, but I have a feeling that he'll find a way to wriggle out of another jam. He always does!