Patterson deserves a raise.
Warning: Full spoilers from the episode follow.
At this point, I’ve started pretending that Patterson is the real main character of Blindspot, because she seems to be the only one who’s contributing anything of value to the Jane Doe mystery at hand. Not only did she do most of the work on this week’s case — although props to Reade and Zapata for picking up that epidemic lead — but she’s also taken it upon herself to find out Jane’s true identity and get to the bottom of Mayfair’s double-dealing in her spare time.
I also dug Patterson’s boyfriend David (Joe Dinicol) this week, who did more with his three minutes of screen time than pretty much the whole cast did in these first four episodes (sans Patterson). More secret tattoo-solving at Patterson’s place, please!
Meanwhile, this week’s case was a paint-by-numbers epidemic storyline that had very little going for it. Honestly, the only thing that made this one stand out was Jane’s ultraviolet tattoos, which offered a nice change of pace from the usual tattoo rigmarole. However, it didn’t do much for the episode itself. The CDC’s “deadly virus” scheme felt like it was cooked up by a couple of B-list supervillains, complete with a radical speech at the end about decimating the human population for the “greater good.”
“Right, well… that’s that. Good job, everyone!”
It didn’t help that this week’s episode was distinctly lacking in set pieces. Actually, the most notable action scene here was just two dudes in hazmat suits fumbling over each other at the airport, and Jane running in at the last minute to beat up the CDC agent — because I guess she also figured out that he was a traitor? Somehow? Or something?
I’m also getting to a point where I need Jane and/or Weller to do anything besides kick ass and speak in low, hushed tones to each other. Four episodes in, and they’ve barely shown any signs of life. If they weren’t so closely tied to the central plot, they’d be insufferable. Heck, even Reade and Zapata don’t like hanging around them. (“You really wanna be stuck in a room with Weller right now?”) And speaking of Zapata, I couldn’t care less about her gambling debt — at least for now — but I’m betting it’s going to tie into one of Jane’s tattoos.
To the show’s credit, Weller’s father being a suspect is somewhat interesting, but we’ve been onto that thread since the second episode and still haven’t seen any progress made on it. The same can be said of Mayfair and Carter’s exchange this week, which was almost identical to the one they had last week. That said, I am intrigued by the reveal that Jane might not be Taylor Shaw after all. (Patterson to the rescue again!) Personally, I hope it’s true — if only so Weller will stop regaling us with his boring childhood stories. We get it, dude. You built a fort.
This week’s Blindspot didn’t offer much in the way of character or story development, but it did give us a bit more to chew on with some already existing threads. Alas, the procedural elements were more prevalent than ever in “Bone May Rot,” and the case itself wasn’t very exciting or creative. Actually, the best bits this week were Patterson teaming up with her boyfriend to crack one of Jane’s tattoos, while also exposing a CDC epidemic, and digging deeper into Mayfair’s “Daylight” coverup. So, basically everything.
