Blindspot - S1E2 - A Stray Howl
Previously on Blindspot, ‘Pilot’
This week’s episode of Blindspot continues with a bang (pun intended) as we try to figure out just who the hell Jane Doe is. Dr. Borden continues trying to jog Jane’s memories, but only one persists: the memory of her training with the bearded guy in the woods followed later by an image of her shooting a nun at point blank range in a church. Meanwhile, Weller is at home and we are introduced to his sister and nephew, who mentions someone by the name of Taylor and whether or he not he plans to come home for her memorial.
At HQ, the team finds out about Chows death, but thanks to Patterson are able to decode another of Jane’s tattoos. Using a numerical/alphabetical cypher, she translates a set of tattoos from Jane’s body which translates into the name of Major Arthur Gibson. She’s also already done a background check on him and gives the team the information on where they can find him. Weller immediately decides to investigate and has no problem bringing Jane along this time around much to the surprise of his boss Mayfair.
They head over to Major Gibson’s house and he refuses to talk to them. As Weller and his crew walk away, the Major’s home blows up behind them. We later find out this was just a distraction by Gibson to buy himself time as he sets his plans into motion.
What follows through the remainder of the episode is Weller and his team chasing Major Gibson around town as he starts to assassinate his ex-coworkers. His former supervisors are not helpful with providing information at first until the kidnapping of the daughter of an avionics officer and the death of his commanding officer later.
The General finally owns up and informs the FBI of just what Gibson is capable of and Weller chews into him. We later learn that the kidnapping of young girls are a sore subject with him. When he was younger a close friend of his disappeared under mysterious circumstances and he has a feeling that Jane Doe might just be his childhood friend, aka Taylor Shaw, due to a scar located on the back of her neck and his name on her back.
They arrive at the home of another of Gibson’s ex-coworkers who they think might be helping him, and Jane sees the bearded guy from her memory standing in the shadows just before an explosion goes off killing several people in the street as they jump back into the building for protection. (It feels insane that so many explosions are going on and the city is not on lockdown)
They are able to get some information from Gibson’s ex-coworker Ivan, who we find out is the one who turned him in to their commanding officers. It seems Gibson had been trying to end the drone attacks on U.S. soil, but when Ivan turned him in, his entire life was destroyed. His pension, family, and career are all gone in one fell swoop. It’s easy to see why he is so angry, like Rihanna says once a good girl goes bad…
Weller tracks Patterson down to a high-rise in Brooklyn where they engage in the worst shootout ever, but Gibson is an Air Force pilot so maybe that can be forgiven. He takes off in a car and Jane chases after him. She gets into a head-on collision and another memory is recovered: She’s retrieving a USB drive from the nun. Weller arrives, helps her out of the ca, they apprehend Gibson and retrieve the missing girl, who looks like she’s having the worst day ever.
The team regroups at HQ and Edgar is still not sure if he believes the tattoos on Jane’s body are helping them or making things worse. Mayfair informs Weller she’s requested Taylor Shaw’s case files and ordered DNA testing to confirm her identity. Weller tries to comfort Jane with the knowledge that he thinks she is a good person - although she continues to struggle with the idea of good and bad and where she fits into that mix.
Later that night, Weller confides in his sister about Jane Doe possibly being Taylor Shaw. Turns out their father has been a suspect in the disappearance of Taylor for 25 years and he’s dying of cancer. His sister implores him to make amends with their father, but it seems this is all a bit too much for Weller.
Jane gets ready to take a shower when bearded guys appear behind her, and clamps a hand against her mouth.
I’m not sure what I was expecting with the second episode of Blindspot, but it was an improvement over the pilot.
Things I liked:
- Edgar being the one person who knew what Patterson was talking about.
- Hand-to-hand combat between Jane Doe and Ivan.
How great Edgar looks in a suit.
Things I did not like:
- Where are the people in NYC? We keep seeing people, die but the city at large is not involved.
- The fact that they keep finding and apprehending the suspects in one episode.
