He shot his last archivist! He shot her! And all her archival assistants met an unfortunate end as well! Sasha was killed by the Not Them (probably)! Jon was basically a punching bag for several episodes! Where is his protectivness?! Where is it?

aand we're back to square one. the revelation that Michael was Gertrude's assistant makes Jon think (not entirely mistakenly) that being connected to the Archivist is inherently dangerous, pushing him to isolate himself further. Elias must have sent him this statement to further this sentiment, since Jon seemed to be leaning into the idea that he might be able to use his powers as an avatar to protect others. now Jon is back in his spiral of guilt and helplessness, and manages to cut contact with all his colleagues and friends just in time to be kidnapped by Orsinov, ensuring everyone would think he was keeping his distance on purpose.

that’s how it went right

Side note: theme of Jon getting his ass kicked continues.