Mayfair’s backstory is revealed.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
This week’s Blindspot was probably the most socially charged episode we’ve seen, as it incorporated elements of both police brutality and national security. On the one hand, those definitely made this episode feel more of-the-moment and relevant to what has actually been going on in our world; even viewers with a cursory knowledge of current events likely picked up on some of the references. That said, certain parts of them were handled better than others.
In terms of the crooked cop storyline, this episode didn’t use the police brutality angle very effectively. While the initial setup for the case was interesting — the idea that someone was seeking retribution against the 65th Precinct for killing an unarmed black teenager — the storyline itself had almost nothing to do with that. In fact, it very quickly devolved into another run-of-the-mill corruption case, complete with a laughable motivation from the dirty captain: “Athletes make more in a year than we make in a decade! THEY MUST PAY!!”
And — surprise, surprise — the climax of this episode was yet another generic shootout, in a house this time. Not the most exciting ending, but, hey, Weller made a funny at least! That was new.
Besties? Besties.
On the bright side, “Persecute Envoys” actually had some decent character development, especially for Mayfair. Perhaps anticlimactically, Daylight didn’t really have anything to do with Jane other than it might be encoded somewhere on her body. However, the flashbacks we got with Mayfair conspiring with Carter and, gasp, Mayfair’s lover Sofia (played by Homeland’s Sarita Choudhury) were actually pretty great. Not only did they show how reluctant Mayfair was to get involved with Daylight, but they also revealed the tragic consequences that came along with it, including Sofia taking her own life.
Happily, this adds another layer to Mayfair in that exposing Daylight, via Jane, would mean all her hard work would be for nothing. For the first time, we have a clear reason for the FBI not to dig too deep into Jane’s tattoos for fear that one of them could incriminate Mayfair and undo a lot of good — albeit at the expense of public privacy. Good drama, either way.
Meanwhile, Jane’s bonding time with Zapata was a welcome addition here, especially after Jane’s sad-sack attempts to make friends in “Cede Your Soul.” In addition to the duo’s sparring match and Jane consoling Zapata about her dead partner in the NYPD, I really enjoyed the “girls night out” scene with Jane, Zapata and Patterson, as they tried to figure out what Jane’s favorite drink was. I also chuckled at Zapata’s crack about Jane’s sparse sense of style. (Seriously, enough with the tank tops and hoodies.)
And finally Weller showed some sympathy for his dad, after being burned by Mayfair, which was a nice if long overdue moment.
Despite a deceptively relevant premise, this week’s procedural case was disappointingly hokey, ending with yet another shootout and convoluted twist. That said, the character development here was on-point, as we finally learned about Mayfair’s involvement with Daylight. Not only that, but Jane, Zapata and (to a lesser extent) Patterson had some good bonding time throughout this episode, which was a nice change of pace from Jane’s usual bummer routine.
