Mikes Film Talk

This week’s episode of Blindspot had a 12 Monkeys riff where a couple of the tattoo reveals (two CDC scientists) have not only used world travel to spread incurable viruses but are planning to do so again.  Bone May Rot also reveals that despite last week’s show with its DNA match, proving that Jane Doe is Taylor Shaw, it now appears she may not be the missing child from Weller’s past at all.

Question: When is DNA evidence not conclusive? Answer: When tooth enamel goes against the findings…apparently. The tooth knocked out of Jane’s mouth previously, during a knock down, drag out fight,  was analyzed by Patterson (Ashley Johnson) who learns that the makeup of the enamel shows that Jane was born in Africa.

Before this conflicting evidence is brought to the fore, Patterson’s boyfriend discovers the secret behind the two-leaf tattoo, a maple and oak leave intertwined, and this enables the woman to find part of a  logo. This logo is for the CDC.

Patterson is not too pleased with her boyfriend’s help and later has to lie about how she learned the significance of the tattoo. Bethany Mayfair is visited by the CIA “Daylight” man Thomas Carter again and the agent/operative is still anxious about what may be on Doe’s body.

We learn more about Weller’s team.  Reade tells Jane/Taylor that when Kurt is around her, he is not himself and it is revealed that Zapata (Audrey Esparza) has a gambling problem; she  owes her bookie 40K.  Weller tells Jane about “her” childhood and how he was looking after her when she disappeared. 

Jane also has a flashback to a man leading her away from her bedroom and out of a house. She learns that she has no family left at all, if she is Taylor Shaw.

Thus far in Blindspot, each deciphered tattoo has been revealed to be a threat. This week it is the spread of infectious plague-like viruses. SARS, MERS ebola and a rare strain of viral hemorrhagic fever, along with typhoid fever are all missing from a containment lab at the CDC.

As the agents, and Jane, inspect the facility the lead scientist leaves with a dangerous viral container which she sets up to go off in a crowded bus terminal. Weller and his team must isolate the mechanism that Rebecca Fine (Natalie Thomas) left to spread the infection.  When her partner-in-crime Frank Suri (Paul Fitzgerald) offers to help Kurt to stop the virus   from being spread, but really intending to let it loose,  Patterson calls  Weller and warns him in time.

This 12 Monkeys type plot device may not have included the travel but it did use the world wide infection theme (In the 1995 film, it is David Morse’s character who spreads the deadly virus around the globe via flights to all the major cities of the world.). Blindspot had two baddies, one who shoots her husband and then herself before the police can catch them and the other who tries to bring her plan to fruition despite her death.

The scene in the car where Rebecca falteringly explains what is happening to her husband just before she shoots him pointblank, and then turns the gun to blow her brains out,  is shocking and unexpected.   Later in the episode, Mayfair orders the CIA paranoiac Carter out of her office and his response is not unexpected.

Michael Gaston‘s pushy and disturbing CIA operative tells Mayfair that she needs to remember he offered to be “nice” first. Carter tells her that the next time he appears it will be bad, for everyone.

Blindspot is allowing its players to become more than two dimensional characters. The foibles of  Zapata, Murphy’s past indiscretions, Weller’s newfound vulnerability, and Reade turning out to be a pretty decent chap have all combined make the team feel more real.

Patterson (Johnson) is thus far the favorite. This puzzle-solver is funny, endearing and addictive.  The decision to place her in the show as focal point for the team and the person who can break down what each of Jane Doe’s tattoos mean, was brilliant. This episode also included a plot specific bit where “hidden” tattoos were revealed when the team go to the CDC and pass through the decontamination “ultraviolet” procedure. Pretty clever.

Jaimie Alexander and  Sullivan Stapleton continue to have excellent chemistry with one another and they both bring  impressive amounts of truth to their roles, as does Ashley Johnson to her role as Patterson.  Blindspot airs Mondays on NBC, do not miss this tantalizing new show which leaves a mark on the viewer as indelible as the ink in those tattoos.