The Blacklist hit the ground running in Season 9 after a time jump for the Task Force to start working together again, for better or worse. In the case of Harold Cooper, he has more to deal with than just picking up the pieces with the rest and moving on from Liz’s death. He has been framed for the murder of a man against whom he had every motive to want revenge, and whoever did the framing did a very good job of it. In a clip (seen above) from the next new episode, called “Dr. Razmik Maier,” Cooper seems to have caught a break… and then run into another problem in a conversation with Lew.
The good news for Cooper in this look at the January 13 episode is that his blood test results prove that he was drugged with GHB to cause memory loss and make it very easy to frame him for the murder of his wife’s former lover. Considering that the person who did the framing did everything from staging Cooper to using his service weapon, it makes sense that a drug was used to take him out of commission for enough time. It’s a lucky break for Cooper, but would be a whole lot luckier if he and Lew hadn’t tampered with the evidence, so he can’t just go to the Homicide detective working the case to clear his name.
And in true Blacklist fashion, Cooper and Lew were being watched when they made their exchange about the gun. Now, the killer has some leverage over Cooper, and they don’t even have a clue about who he is. Lew’s question of “Where do we start?” is definitely a good one, because the odds seem pretty stacked against them. Then again, Cooper has gotten himself and others out of plenty of sticky situations over the years already. Maybe he has another one up his sleeve to clear his name and catch the person truly responsible for the murder.
A big question is whether the killer is somebody who Cooper (and viewers) already know but hasn’t been identified yet, or somebody who hasn’t been introduced just yet. Figuring out motive could be key, as Cooper’s status as the husband of the woman who had an affair with the victim set him up as somebody with a prime motive. At least he has Lew on his side to help dig into the case, since he seems determined to keep the Task Force out of it. And I don’t see him roping Charlene in any further than she already is!
Besides, based on the episode description for “Dr. Razmik Maier,” the rest of the Task Force will have plenty on their hands with the case of a professional tennis player’s death that leads them to a doctor who is fixing more than just medical problems. The doctor might be responsible for fixing the odds for a betting syndicate for sporting events. Meanwhile, Ressler will continue struggling with his sobriety, after seemingly making an emotional breakthrough on the anniversary of Liz’s death. For his part, Red will look more closely into Dembe’s betrayal that happened over the time jump.
See what’s next for Cooper in his efforts to clear his name and all the rest with the next new episode of The Blacklist on Thursday, January 13 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, ahead of the Law & Order block of SVU and Organized Crime. The Blacklist will return to Friday nights in February, which could be a good thing for the long-running show, as it did well on Fridays in previous seasons.
