‘The Blacklist’ Season 9 Episode 4 Recap, ‘The Avenging Angel’ — Cooper Unravels a Dark Mystery

Previously in The Blacklist Season 9, Aram (Amir Arison) chose to stay with the task force and sell his share of his security software company and Red (James Spader) saw Agnes (Sami Bray) for the first time in two years. In episode 4, the task force tracks down a blacklister who uses extreme means to return what has been unjustly stolen. Park (Laura Sohn) and Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) share a secret and Cooper (Harry Lennix) tries to recover a memory.

The Avenging Angel returns what was stolen

The Blacklist Season 9 Episode 4 begins with Adam McHenry (Robbie Sublett), the CEO of a company called Genocyte being ambushed in his hotel room. A woman forces him to read a confession before having him thrown out the window to his death.

Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq) pays Red a visit and Red explains that McHenry’s death was likely the work of a blacklister named Michael (Annabella Sciorra) aka The Avenging Angel. Michael commits murder, extortion, and other crimes to return what has been unjustly stolen to others.

Cooper and Ressler find themselves in difficult situations

Things take a dark turn for Cooper in The Blacklist Season 9 Episode 4. He wakes up in a parking garage and can’t remember how he got there. Later Charlene (Valarie Pettiford) tells Cooper that the man she had an affair with, Doug Koster has died of a gunshot wound. Cooper notices that a round is missing from his service weapon and has a friend run a ballistics report.

Ressler asks Park to give him a clean urine sample for a drug test, telling her he isn’t sure if he can pass and doesn’t want to get kicked off the task force. Park initially refuses, but later gives Ressler what he asks. Unfortunately, the urine test reveals that Park could potentially have cancer.

Red uses a painting as bait in ‘The Blacklist’ Season 9 Episode 4

The task force discovers that Michael is choosing victims from an online prayer group. Aram and Dembe find where Michael has been hiding out while Michael finds her next victim.

A wealthy man named Derek Huntley (Scott Bryce) needed a heart transplant and bribed a hospital with a new pediatric wing to get to the top of the list. As a result, a steelworker named William Green didn’t receive a new heart. Michael kidnaps both of these men and intends to right the wrong by surgically giving Green Huntley’s heart.

Red visits Alexei Nikovich (Yosef Kasnetzkov), the son of an old friend, and manages to get ahold of a Van Gogh painting which he uses to find Michael. Red kills Michael and has her heart given to Mr. Green. He also returns the painting to Ada (Laura Esterman), a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor who now sings in a death metal band. At the end of the episode, Cooper finds out that the ballistics are a match for his gun.

New episodes of The Blacklist premiere Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.