Mikes Film Talk

Blindspot: Any Wounded Thief follows several threads this week, not least of which being lovers, alive and dead.  The initial action takes place around an armored truck robbery (this seems to be a popular theme thus far in 2016 with Shades of Blue and even Castle featuring this one) that ends in death and canisters of sarin nerve gas being stolen.

Sarah moves out of the apartment she and Sawyer share with Kurt. Patterson gets a call from a restaurant reminding her of a dinner reservation made by her dead boyfriend David. Weller asks Reade about Sarah who reveals that he broke up with Kurt’s sister.

It is Jane’s birthday (Taylor’s) and Allie pops up just as Kurt stops to talk to Jane. Patterson is shaken by the reservation “from the dead” but she reveals that the truck robbery is connected to one of Jane’s tattoos.

There is a South Korean and US Army connection to the theft. Jane has another flashback while walking through the snow, a memory of a funeral where Kurt and Taylor’s mother attend a anniversary memorial.  The team question the executive who hired the three dead men (Sandrine Holt as Vanessa Chang) and later follow a lead.

The suspect they approach  takes a hostage on the street and starts firing at the team. Weller approaches from behind and kills the man. The dead man has a cell phone and it is revealed that the general questioned  earlier (Victor Slezak as General Sheridan) is connected to the theft.

Patterson gets coordinates and they lead Weller and the rest to an underground facility rigged with explosive.  The General has the detonator in his hand and Jane disarms him. They then follow more clues to a sarin cargo container storage site.

As they enter the first container, Chang shows up and shoots a canister exposing Weller, Chang and Jane to the gas.  Injecting herself with the antidote, Weller’s is broken, Jane shoots Chang to retrieve her antidote that she then gives to Kurt.  Reade arrives and she tells him to administer the injection to Chang.

After questioning the woman they learn that the gas is to be distributed via hollowed out vacuum cleaners.  Patterson finds link between the janitor uniforms found with two of the canisters and realizes the target for the nerve gas is the stock exchange.

The team deploy and once inside, Weller spots one suspect on a lower floor. Jane spots the other from a higher vantage.

Shooting out a glass wall, she jumps down one floor  to subdue the second suspect as Kurt moves on the first. Later, Kurt gives Jane her (Taylor’s) mother’s necklace  as a birthday gift.  Reade is questioned by Mayfair who knows that he lied earlier and she points out that they are much alike.  She guesses Reade is scared.

Part of the investigation reveals that the Chinese were going to ship the stolen sarin gas to North Korea.  After things wind down, Zapata enters what appears to be a Chinese gambling establishment (that has a $5k door fee) just what she is doing there is a mystery.

Earlier Patterson speaks with Dr. Borden (Ukweli Roach) who tells her to honor the reservation as a process of closure. She does and once she is seated her dead boyfriend asks if she brought his last crossword puzzle. 

Weller gets romantic with Allie and Oscar (François Arnaud) turns up to tell Jane to get closer to Kurt.  The two couples  get physical as the third “couple” in this scenario, Patterson and the dead Wagner, have a moment when she finishes  the puzzle and finds a clue left by David. It leads to another tattoo possibly being solved.

Patterson asks Wagner if he worked out  the tattoo and he  just smiles.

This episode reveals more about all the players.  Jane Doe exhibits a cold streak, evidenced when she shoots Chang to get her anecdote for Kurt and an ability to think fast; shooting out the glass wall and jumping to catch the suspect. Weller never “moved on” after Taylor’s “death” and Patterson is more than able to think outside the box.

Reade’s “inner man” is also revealed as he continues the lie to keep Sarah and Sawyer safe and Zapata is either following a lead in that Chinese gambling den or her addiction is leading her into more trouble.

Three sets of “lovers” feature in Blindspot this week.  Out of them all, the most poignant was the Patterson storyline, although it ended on a high note, sort of.   The reveal that Oscar and Jane have a romantic (Sexual?) backstory is new, although it has been  there in a “hovering round the back” type presence for some time.

Apart from the romantic storylines going on, the flashbacks show that Jane and Oscar specifically targeted Kurt before hand and Mayfair does not believe Reade’s explanation.  Next week should see Patterson (Ashley Johnson) solving the newly discovered tattoo. 

Blindspot airs Mondays on NBC.