This week’s “Blindspot” focused mainly on Patterson and her men, stuck into her very own Groundhog Day, in an episode that was clearly breaking the loop. “Everlasting” was different from their usual approach. It was a weird episode, but it was damn entertaining. It’s refreshing to see Patterson in the leading role; she’s a great character, played by a talented actress, with a storyline that deserves more attention.
This was an episode in which Patterson’s life hangs in the balance, but really, she was never in real danger. It takes away some of the thrilling aspects of the episode since I was almost certain that she wasn’t going to croak. This isn’t Grey’s Anatomy, where no one is really safe. It's both a blessing and a curse.
“Maybe something went wrong, cosmically. And this is your chance to fix it.” - David
Despite the different MO, there was still a tattoo to solve. While the beginning of the episode felt like the beginning of any other episode, it quickly switched gears, getting from odd, to weird, to bat shit crazy. While Patterson was the main focus of the episode, every character had their own mini storyline within the episode, which balanced everything out beautifully.
“Everlasting” started off with a 6am wake-up call for Patterson followed by an awkward encounter in an elevator between Patterson and Dr. Jack Eisenberg, a forensics specialist, and fellow nerd. Then, there was Reade’s announcement that he and Meg are engaged and that he wants Zapata to be his best man. Ouch. Patterson then brushes past Jane and Weller arguing about what to do about the information on Avery’s father only long enough to give them her opinion on the matter. All this happens before Patterson’s minion announces she had solved a tattoo related to the death of three soldiers. Further investigation lead to a centrifuge explosion, and that’s when the episode’s trajectory shifted.
Within the medically induced coma she is put in following the explosion, Patterson wakes up to the same day, time after time, after time. Every iteration of the day becomes weirder, until she can finally realise how to stop it from repeating itself.
At first she believes she needs to solve the case. At this point, the four newly introduced characters are all equally suspects and should be interrogated. This lead to a hilarious bit, as Patterson, an outsider to the interrogations, commented as the suspects were interviewed. The editing of the scenes was greatly done, making for a quality bit. I love how Patterson is a comedic relief, without being over the top. It’s an elegant balance of humor, intelligence, and spot on facial expressions. I raise my hat to Ashley Johnson.
It is during the iteration where the team is back in high school that Patterson solves the puzzle that is the tattoo, but that’s not enough to stop her from reliving the same day, once again.
“I miss you.”
While last week, we saw the return of one (or two, if you have a really good memory) familiar face, this week had this number easily beat with David, Stuart, Pellington and Borden making an appearance. It’s not enough for Patterson to simply solve the case, she also needs to solve whatever is eating at her outside of work. She will never have a future until she’s at peace with her past. Throughout the episode, she keeps apologizing to everyone. She’s been carrying a lot of guilt about a lot of things, holding on to the past. At this point, her subconscious needed to give her a way out. She gets an intervention from her within her own mind, given by the people she’s lost. She needs to forgive herself. She needs to move on. She needs to let go. This was a beautiful tribute to the characters that were lost.
As Patterson’s ghosts of tattoos past tried to make her come towards the light with them, Borden was away from them, not on the elevator, therefore not with the dead, Patterson correctly deduced at the end of the episode. Patterson could sense that Borden was still alive, and we didn’t get to speculate for long if in fact, the Agent was right, he is coming back, and something bad is underway. Borden blew himself up somewhere in the second season. There is no way he would have survived pulling the ring off a grenade without some serious burns. It bums me out that he doesn’t even have any scars. Let’s hope there is a good explanation for his survival. Despite what he did to Patterson, I never really believed Borden to truly be a bad person. And I still don’t. I don’t know if it’s because of the actor’s physical features, the acting, or if really that’s how he’s supposed to be portrayed. Anyone else?
When Patterson wakes up after surgery, she becomes the voice of reason within the group, illuminating the others on how to stop making the same mistakes. She’s helping the other characters grow, and that is definitely a good thing. She is absolutely right about Jane and Weller: half-truths always blow up in their faces, they should learn from their mistakes. While Jane doesn’t want to tell Avery what they found out about her father, Kurt thinks they should, and now so does Patterson. A lie by omission is still a lie, and it could jeopardize their still fragile relationship when the information surfaces and it will. It’s not worth the risk. I’m all for breaking the loop, and making the characters grow.
Patterson also convinces Tasha to tell Reade how she feels about him. Tasha accepting to be Reade’s best man because it was the right thing to do was heartbreaking, it was easily the saddest part of the episode in my opinion. Audrey Esparza played it beautifully. The emotions were perfectly dosed and made my poor heart shatter. This led to a sweet moment between Patterson and Zapata, in the hospital bed. It was touching and sincere; it was great moment to witness.
“You should tell him how you feel. I’m serious. When I was out, I realised we are all repeating the same mistakes.” -Patterson
Overall, I thought that once again, this was a solid episode of Blindspot, my favorite in a while.
Side Notes:
Patterson has a crush on Roman. How cute is that!?! He’s the only one she actually agreed to coffee.
In her mind, Patterson thinks she’s a ninja with a pole. We’ve never really seen her fight, right?
Why would she imagine Jane and Weller with switched bodies? Why, Patterson? Why?
