The Blindspot winter premiere picked up right where we left off with Jane having wiped the memory of Roman, Patterson in conflict with Borden, and the rest of the team being outwitted by Shepherd.
First off, memory-less Roman was a brilliant idea. Leading up to the fall finale, the show was starting to feel a bit stale, and bringing Roman to the side of the good guys really freshened things up. It helps that actor Luke Mitchell plays the badass, sympathetic character superbly, and his dynamic with Jaime Alexander is right on point. Jane and Roman's brother-sister relationship felt authentic and each scene they shared together, especially near the end when Jane consoles him, were the definite highlights of this episode.
I'm most likely of the not so popular opinion among fans in that I never really fancied Patterson. I found her humour to be more grating than anything. After last week's cliffhanger, I was hoping that they'd kill her off, though obviously they would never do that. In this premiere we find out she does get shot and to the joy of my sadistic self, we get some scenes of Shepherd torturing her after Borden heals her wounds. I love how Patterson kept her sense of humour though, it made the torture scenes somewhat entertaining, and it made me warm up to her a little bit more.
Elsewhere, Reade and Zapata had a minor role to play in the episode. Poor Reade got friend zoned by his bestie. I hope they move on from this and Zapata does not have a change of mind. Putting focus on a relationship between these two characters will most definitely bog the show down and make it too much of a soap opera. Knowing these writers and what they did with Nas' character and her relationship with Weller, we will probably see Reade and Zapata hook up by season's end, and I am not looking forward to it, ugh.
Speaking of Nas, in 'Leg in Iron' we see her get fired, only to be reinstated by episodes end. I've been reading a lot of opinions on Nas. At the beginning of the season, she was a fantastic character. I loved her honest, wise, no nonsense way of approaching situations, and she proved early on she can handle herself in the field. There were a couple of bad ass moments involving Nas in the first few episodes. But then she got into a relationship with Weller, which came completely out of left field, and her character all of a sudden became this one dimensional, hopeless love interest. Nas is still an improvement over Mayfair at this point last season, but by God, they need to revert her back to who she was at the beginning of season 2 real quick.
Overall, 'Nor, I Nigel' was a solid start to the back half of season 2. This is mainly due to Roman and the strength of actor Luke Mitchell in the role. His dynamic with Jaime Alexander's Jane is very strong, and the writers would be wise to keep him around past this season. Also, Borden as an antagonist was a nice, but predictable twist that they fleshed out well in the premiere. It seems he has genuine feelings for Patterson, and the show has done a good job of making us question who's side he really is on.
Best Action Scene of the Week:
This episode had a few and they were well paced throughout the episode. The scuffle between Roman and Jane at the beginning of the episode had some emotional stakes to it, the scene at the diner was your typical shootout, but exciting nevertheless. However, watching Borden outfight and outwit Weller was a joy of a scene, both humorous, in its unexpectedness, and riveting.
What did you guys think of 'Nor I, Nigel, AKA Leg in Iron'? Leave your comments below and make sure to vote in the poll!
