Blindspot’s midseason premiere, Cease Forcing Enemy, did something that I’ve been desperate for the show to do since very early on in the pre-Christmas run: Confirm that Jane Doe is, in fact, Taylor Shaw. In doing this, Blindspot has evaded a pitfall that, for a time, consumed the somewhat similar The Blacklist.
This was thought to be revealed long ago, but subsequent episodes suggested a hint of doubt over Jane’s appeared long-standing connection to Kurt Weller. With this confirmation coming directly from Oscar, the man whom Jane sent to watch her once she had been delivered to the FBI, I’d think that this won’t be a cop-out. Much like last time, this now opens some intriguing doors in terms of character development between Jane and Weller. However, with all of the revelations that we’ve seen over the past two episodes, there’s a lot more to expect, and Blindspot has opened itself up to a wide range of possibilities.
The reveal to Jane that she did this to herself left her bemused, and the reasoning for all of this didn’t really get addressed. Baby steps, of course. We still have a lot of story to be played out, and I’m certain that everything will be revealed eventually. For now, though, the question is not “why did Jane do this?” but “what does Jane want herself to do now?”
Jane’s reluctance to get involved with Oscar’s missions makes sense, given how close she has become to the team. That being said, I do wonder how long they can keep that up before she finally caves; with everything being her plan, it becomes ideal that she gets on board sooner rather than later. I think that this plot can only make the show more interesting, so it may be in Blindspot’s best interest to fast track this just a little.
Away from Jane, the circumstances surrounding the death of Patterson’s ex-boyfriend David were being revisited by Chief Inspector Fisher (John Hodgman). I think it was necessary for this to happen, given that Patterson did break the law, and David’s death was a result of her including him in her analysis of Jane’s tattoos. Fisher’s investigation very quickly got to the truth, and he attempted to suspend Patterson. But that was never going to happen, and she showed Fisher just how valuable she is to the team in helping Jane to land the plane. It seems like she gets more inhumanely brilliant as each episode goes by. I do wonder whether it will ever become too ridiculous that there is something she can do, but for now, it’s a lot of fun to watch. Even better? Watching Fisher left stunned by how great an asset Patterson is.
With Carter now out of the picture, Zapata discarded her letter of resignation and will continue on the team like nothing had happened. I hope that Blindspot doesn’t outright drop this idea just because Zapata no longer has to actively deal with it. She was working against the team, even if when backed into a corner and not in any substantial form, and the fallout from that needs to be addressed.
Once again, the case was a big deal, and I’m beginning to wonder whether Jane discovered every single thing that could negatively affect the country or the world and tattooed clues to all of them onto her body. Nothing seems to happen on a small scale. And while I appreciate that what they’re doing is important and critical that they get right, I didn’t feel particularly attached to or enthralled by this story. I’m far more interested in the characters and the story surrounding each of them, and crazy international schemes to cripple the U.S. isn’t particularly interesting. Still, Cease Forcing Enemy did enough good work with the secondary plots to make it a pretty good midseason return. Some answers were given, but we left with a fair few new questions, which is fine by me. Things have been set up nicely for the remainder of the season, and there’s a lot of potential avenues to explore before May.
Notes:
- I’m going to keep using Jane instead of Taylor in these reviews for a while.
- Jane chose meeting Oscar over meeting with Weller. Good choice, I feel. The quicker we can move away from a romantic storyline between these two, the better.
- Blindspot is still going with the extremely shaky camera. I don’t understand what this adds to the show that a less shaky camera could.
- Does hearing “Pan Asian Flight 921” give anyone else a very minor LOST vibe, or was it just me?
- The flashback to Jane getting her tattoos was quite a nice way to start things.
- “And, oh… pieces of pi(e).”
- “This unfounded negativity that you’re directing toward the Office of Professional Responsibility, it’s poor leadership, Bethany.”
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