You wouldn't think that secrets would be a big deal for those associated with the blacklist Task Force.

But secrets were getting in everyone's way on The Blacklist Season 9 Episode 5.

That started with a directed-energy weapon that the Task Force sought, which the Department of Defense wouldn't even admit existed.

The Havana Syndrome was ripe for TV writers to exploit since it's never been well explained to the general public.

Why wouldn't any military and/or government want to exploit that technology? How convenient to shoot a deadly beam of energy through walls to kill potential hostile targets.

The weapon's creator, Okara, had his head in the right place. It was a great idea on paper. A directed-energy weapon was too dangerous for any country to possess. Okara was already dying from its effects, and he decided to take out his team with it as well since they were supposedly the only ones who could re-engineer the weapon.

For intelligent people, Okara's team of scientists did a lousy job of hiding. Of course, they couldn't have expected their friend and former boss to come after them to kill them.

So he was able to pick them off one at a time reasonably easily. Even the showdown with Okara was pretty anticlimactic. He had rigged up his van with explosives to blow up the weapon and to kill himself. After what happened to Park, Ressler pretty much said, "Go ahead."

The sad part was that Okara only wiped out one team working on such a weapon. He had no idea that DARPA had another squad developing the same type of weapon.

So all that effort by Okara and everyone on the Task Force was for naught, as the directed-energy weapon will continue to exist, at most with a bit of setback.

Dembe becoming an FBI agent was sure to have repercussions, which came to the forefront in this episode.

In a business that doesn't understand the concept of sabbaticals, Red would have trouble re-establishing himself. And having his former right-hand man switch sides wasn't helping on that front.

Jovan and his old-school mentality thought the only solution was to take out Dembe. But Raymond temporarily convinced him that he would keep Dembe in check.

Dembe did mess up that tentative arrangement when he reached out to an old contact to get a chopper to evacuate Park. He stepped back over the line so that no one could be sure where he stood.

That was all the spark Jovan needed to put a hit out on Dembe. Weecha was pushing hard for Reddington to stay back and wash his hands of Dembe.

But Red took the opposite approach, killing Jovan's son and then the hitman himself inside Dembe's home.

Dembe proved he was staying on the right side when he refused to kill Jovan, as Raymond requested. Instead, Weecha had to clean up his mess, killing Jovan to protect Red.

And what was in that box that Raymond left for Dembe all those months ago? I guess we'll have to wait until after Thanksgiving to find out the next stage of the saga.

Harold managed to get out of his mess, or did he?

As expected, the municipal detective who took down his license plate on The Blacklist Season 9 Episode 4 came calling for him.

Cooper told him just enough truth that it sounded like a feasible story. The catch was that he needed Charlene to provide an alibi for him, and he stupidly didn't give her a head's up.

So now Charlene is upset with him because she had to lie for him. Or maybe it was just disappointment. Either way, since the murder victim in this case was the man with whom she had an affair, she shouldn't be that high and mighty about it, should she?

Harold may be done with Detective Heber. But he still has no idea why he woke up in a parking garage and who shot Coster with his gun. Somebody has it out for him. So he's hardly in the clear yet.

Secrets haven't done Park any favors either. Her new husband still believed that she was teaching at Quantico. She was acting all mysterious about why she had to get checked out for cancer. 

Understandably, Alina doesn't want to worry Peter so early in their marriage. But how long did she think she could work on the Task Force without being imperiled?

About four and change episodes, it turned out. Alina was hospitalized after her limited encounter with the weapon, while the scientist stupidly trying to escape her got killed.

There was no hiding that from Peter. The good news was that she didn't have cancer. The bad news was that she lost the baby that she didn't even know she was carrying (it was good for Ressler that that didn't show up in the urine test). 

So now, not only is Park's marriage on shaky ground, but she has to deal with medical and psychological trauma.

Think she's second-guessing her return to the Task Force now?

To revisit Dembe's transition, watch The Blacklist online.

What did you think about the case of the week?

Where were you surprised that Red protected Dembe?

Can Park bounce back?

Comment below.

Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.