Like finding hay in a haystack.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
This week’s Blindspot wasn’t the best, but it was a notable step up from the last couple of episodes. The nice thing about “Cede Your Soul” was that it wasn’t just about the team tracking down terrorists and stopping them from doing something potentially world-ending. I mean, it was partly that, but mainly it was about a new hacker character, Ana Montes (Aimee Carrero), who the FBI thought was an evil cybercriminal but was actually a misguided wunderkind.
For some reason, Blindspot’s most interesting characters are always the minor ones, including Ana this week. Her first one-on-one scene with Zapata gave us a good sense of her character and moxie — like when she pretended not to know Spanish, for instance. She also had a fun “hacker” rapport with Patterson, as she criticized the the FBI’s standard procedure for hacking — although I loved the moment when Ana confessed that Patterson’s 9-1-1 reroute was “kinda cool.”
Hopefully this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Ana, as she was also integral to identifying the steganography in Jane’s tattoos. Even Ana’s dynamic with Jane played pretty well here. For the first time in awhile, I actually felt something for Jane. Her desperate attempt to hang out with Ana was actually kind of heart-wrenching — clearly more for herself than for Ana, as later evidenced by Jane failing to convince her bodyguards to come upstairs for a kickback. (Aww…)
Speaking of Jane, this episode also gave us our first glimpse at another tattooed individual — or at least one tattoo, a tree pattern on his arm. Presumably, this was someone from Jane’s past (possibly with romantic ties), but who exactly remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, the two big weak points of “Cede Your Soul” were the prototypical bad guys and the Weller/Jane relationship. In the case of the former, it’s getting a little boring seeing nearly every episode end with a big, climactic shootout. That’s not to say I want another hazmat suit fumble like in “Bone May Rot,” but something a little more creative with the same intensity as a shootout would be nice. (Side Note: Did anyone else notice Jane’s glock didn’t recoil when she was firing?)
As for Jane and Weller, their attempts at “setting boundaries” were almost worse than when they had none. It’s like Weller had a constant need to micro-manage Jane in the most angsty, irritating ways possible, like scolding her over her holster placement. Really, dude? Obviously this was his emotionally stunted way of trying to be “professional” around Jane, but it played more like a high-school jock berating his girlfriend for wanting some space.
I was also a little thrown by Weller placing the blame on Ana, an actual 17-year-old, for unknowingly giving her vehicle-tracking app to the bad guys — like it was her fault for being duped. That’s not to mention his ongoing grudge with his father, which at this point feels excessive. Overall, Weller was being kind of a pill this week… again.
Blindspot’s “Cede Your Soul” was aided by a new hacker character, Ana Montes, who had pretty great chemistry with everyone, specifically Patterson and Jane. (Not Weller.) Jane’s emotional arc this week was also good, and it actually tied in nicely with the introduction of another mysterious man from Jane’s past. That said, both Jane’s scenes with Weller and the bad guy scheme at the end were underwhelming at best and annoying at worst. Also, there was some stuff regarding Zapata’s debt, but that peaked around the time she put her bookie in an armlock.
