Marshals Episode 12 Finally Explains Cal's Health Issues

Contains spoilers for "Marshals" Season 1, Episode 12 — "The Devil At Home"

"Marshals" stalwart Pete "Cal" Calvin (Logan Marshall-Green) has been suffering a lot lately; experiencing neck and shoulder pain, looking poorly, and generally coping badly with the rigors of his high-stress, physically-active job corralling criminals for the U.S. Marshals office. It turns out there's a serious reason for his illness – he has a pancoast tumor. Cal has cancer.

The situation has left him feeling vulnerable — especially in the wake of the sudden and recent death of his old SEAL compatriot Garrett (Riley Green) — so he turns to his close friend and fellow marshal Belle Skinner (TV and movie star Arielle Kebbel) for comfort. Belle confronts him about his repeatedly-stated fear that he's running out of time and then gets an earful, making her worry about his chances. "I just want to feel like I'm not staring this down alone," he tells her. She vows she will indeed be there for him.

While Cal's ultimate prognosis is up in the air, Marshall-Green told TVLine that he hopes Pete's illness will be a truthful depiction of the disease. "Cancer is too important a topic to dance around. It affects literally everyone, and I hope we get a chance to really break him down the way cancer breaks down humans." Marshall-Green added that it doesn't matter that Cal's an ex-soldier, as cancer comes for everyone. "I hope Cal is put through the wringer with this, because that's the story that needs to be told," he said.

Belle, meanwhile, has a secret of her own that she keeps close to her vest while she and Pete are bonding. She's got an extreme gambling debt and has been trying desperately to pay it back. 

The casino comes calling early in "The Devil At Home" in the form of a thug. He's looking for $20,000, and he's not afraid to threaten Belle's husband and her friends to get it. Belle's been working hard to pay the money back, but unlike Cal she's not ready to share her secret. She continues to lie to her friends about what's happening and why, and that might just get her into major trouble — it could even spell the doom of her team and her husband, if she doesn't tell them the truth.

But as of right now, she seems content to muddle her way through the mess with no outside help. With the Season 1 finale of "Marshals" bearing down on the whole team, that might not be good news for everyone who loves her — and puts an already fragile Cal in even more danger.