Spoilers ahead for the fourth episode of The Blacklist Season 9, called “The Avenging Angel.”
The latest case of The Blacklist Season 9 involved a killer who considered herself an “avenging angel,” a stolen Van Gogh painting, and an off-the-books heart transplant. Red handled most of the case himself while the Task Force dealt with some of their own problems, including Cooper coming to the conclusion that he – or at least his service weapon – killed somebody. But arguably the biggest reveal came courtesy of the latest development in the story of Ressler’s addiction, and Park’s involvement. Park helped Ressler pass his drug test by crossing some major lines, and she got some major news as a result.
After his previous drug test was inconclusive, Ressler was going to have to undergo a second one with the tester watching him provide the sample, but he wasn’t sure that the drugs were totally out of his system yet. He asked Park for a urine sample to pass off as his own, and ultimately made her feel guilty enough that she did it. After a doctor used a catheter to manually put her urine sample into Ressler’s urethra – which grossed Ressler out so much that he seemed to be considering letting himself get fired – it was down to Park’s sample to determine his fate.
And honestly, as soon as Park gave Ressler her own urine to use in his drug test, I was convinced that the test would find that she’s pregnant and get both of them in serious trouble with the FBI by virtue of that fact that it clearly wasn't Ressler's sample. Not to mention that it would probably change what she could do as part of the Task Force! The good news is that I was wrong and it wasn’t as colossally bad of an idea for a man to use a woman’s urine sample as it could have been. The bad news is that the test did turn up some hormone abnormalities, and not for a pregnancy. Park could have cancer.
Now, the test results technically only detected irregularities that indicate abnormal tissues or tumors, which doesn’t 100% mean that Park has cancer, and she clearly hasn’t been feeling sick. But The Blacklist is unlikely to introduce a potential cancer story for Park only to cut it off right away, even if the show did more or less abandon the story of Red’s illness. Plus, The Blacklist cast a Chicago Med veteran to play Park’s husband, which presumably means this very personal plot isn’t going away for her. So what happens next for Park?
Well, the upside is that if she does have cancer, she knows much earlier than she would have if she waited until she felt sick to get tested, so maybe treatment could begin sooner rather than later. That said, it’s possible that the situation will be sticky since the results came from Ressler using her sample, although she’s smart enough that she could probably get herself tested without raising suspicion that she already knew something was wrong.
Park finding out this way also means that Ressler knows something very personal about her that she may not have wanted to share with him, especially before her husband knows. Still, maybe it will help her to have somebody who knows and she could talk to about it on the Task Force. They’re not on the best of terms with each other, but Ressler will undoubtedly be sympathetic.
All things considered, this twist on his addiction story is bad news for Park, but it could mean a pretty great storyline for The Blacklist, especially moving into an era without Megan Boone as Liz. Other characters need more layers now that the original leading lady is gone, and this cancer arc should provide. As long as Park doesn’t die! At least everything seems to be going okay for Aram. See what happens next for Park with new episodes of The Blacklist on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC as the fall TV season approaches the end of the year.
