It’s been a little while since Blindspot aired its midseason finale, and it’s still five weeks until the show returns from its three month hiatus, but I think that now is as good a time as any to finally get a few thoughts going on its fall finale.
The big talking point from the hour was, of course, Carter’s bold decision to kidnap Jane and question her on what she knows. This felt like the right moment for this to happen. Carter has been pushing Mayfair on the issue all season, and to no avail. Taking matters into his own hands seems logical, particularly given that he sanctioned the death of Guerrero in the preceding episode.
The final moments, in which it was revealed to Jane that she was responsible for everything - the memory loss, the tattoos, going to Weller - felt extremely underwhelming on first watch, and it was only after some thinking that I realised why. We already knew this from the end of the pilot. Granted, that was the memory of the mystery man (Johnny Whitworth) rather than Jane, and so this reveal had a lot more significance to her than it did to us.
But is this really the best way for the show to have ended before a three month break? Providing us with a twist that we already knew? The biggest problem with shows revealing a plot point to the audience before the characters, especially if it is a big twist, is that on at least one occasion, there will be little to no effect for viewers. Had we not had the memory flash at the end of the pilot, this would have been a great way to end the first half of the season. Instead, it felt lazy, like the show didn’t want to reveal too much information too quickly, and, as a result, decided to retread old ground for the character’s sake.
And that’s fine, because Jane needed to learn the truth at some point. But to put it across as your big cliffhanger is dumb. I’d have been far more impressed with the show had they injected it earlier in the hour and dealt more with the impact that has on Jane. Presumably, that anticipation is what was meant to keep us wondering about the show over this hiatus. Instead, I was left with a feeling of “is that it?” Instead, my focus shifted to a deluge of other shows in this era of Peak TV. Not what the writers would have been going for.
My ever-present issue with tattoo-of-the-week lacking any real impact on what’s going on elsewhere in the show’s overarching mythology yet again dragged down Evil Handmade Instrument. It’s the story behind the tattoos that was the draw to the series, and Blindspot has still to prove to me that there is much they can do with the procedural element to keep me enthralled by the action.
Attempting to make things more interesting, Blindspot went for the Russian spy angle. Because apparently we can never have enough storylines involving Russian spies. Once you’ve seen one, you’ve pretty much seen them all, and this was no different. Once again, it was mostly a forgettable storyline with minimal impact on the show’s mytharc. It’s the biggest problem the show has, and, unlike The Blacklist - the show most easily comparable - Blindspot doesn’t have James Spader chewing through scenery to keep things going. Sure, Jaimie Alexander is a great actress and is doing a superb job that shouldn’t be understated, but I think that it’s quite easy for her work to go unnoticed when the cases are as uninspiring as they are.
While we’re on this comparison, The Blacklist has, for the most part, given its ‘blacklisters’ a connection to its own mytharc in the first half of its third season. Moving forward, a similarity on Blindspot would be just excellent.
The highlight of the hour was undoubtedly Ashley Johnson, who put in quite a performance as Patterson dealt with the death of ex-boyfriend David. Johnson injected fun into the first nine outings, but Evil Handmade Instrument gave her a chance to showcase a wider range of talents. Watching Patterson struggle through working in an effort to try not to think about his death was great. Even more so was her bluff during the interrogation sequence, which showcased a very refreshingly different side to her character. Sure, her storyline felt somewhat clichéd, but after so many years of television, and thousands upon thousands upon thousands of character deaths, there’s not much to be done in the way of originality there. One can only hope that it’s executed well in the here and now, and Blindspot achieved that.
Still, one minor thing frustrated me. Jane hasn’t been especially comfortable with anyone innocent getting hurt as a result of her tattoos, but her line “This wasn’t some terrorist or criminal that died, it was Patterson’s boyfriend” felt so much like the show wanted to give her a reason to doubt their work. While that’s not necessarily something I’m opposed to, trying to take any sort of focus from Patterson and shift it to Jane was a mistake.
Blindspot’s opening ten episodes have been neither hit nor miss, generally finding a balance in the middle. Evil Handmade Instrument was no different: an average instalment that did about as much right as it did wrong. All things considered, the show has quite a bit of work to do when it returns on February 29th.
Odds and ends:
- I mentioned in my double review of the previous two episodes that the clearly building romance between Jane and Weller felt incredibly awkward, and the kiss in this outing did little to change that. I wish we could have a show where the two leads being an item isn’t even considered.
- Zapata’s storyline still doesn’t interest me, but now that Carter’s dead, she’ll presumably withdraw her resignation and just continue on.
- Jane remembering Orion seemed pretty out of place, given that she heard that in episode three and remembered nothing then.
- Are we going to have a montage at the end of every episode? Because I’m not liking them so far.
- While I’m all for handheld camera shots, the shakiness that Blindspot employs is becoming extremely distracting. I really hope they’ve stopped doing that in subsequent episodes.
What did you think of Blindspot’s midseason finale? Hit the comments with your thoughts!
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