Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Blindspot 1.18: “One Begets Technique”

“I can do this. We can’t let this fall apart now.”
- Jane

This was the first episode of “Blindspot” where the case wasn’t directly linked to a tattoo. I knew that we would have to get to this point at some point in the show. Yes, Jane has a lot of ink and they have multiple meanings but they needed to show they could weave things together. I have to say I wasn’t all that impressed with the overall plot arc of the episode. The concept was fine but the execution was kind of lacking. Maybe I’m spoiled having been given 5 seasons of “Leverage” for con and heist shows but this one just seemed like poor planning.

In essence, we are forced to endure an hour of the annoying rich guy who named himself Rich Dot Com. Weller and Jane took him down earlier in the season (he was running a dark net type operation that had a lot of sleazy connection). It seems though that he’s willing to give up names of his contacts once he gets a beat down in prison. This brings Weller’s girlfriend in from the Marshalls and she can tell things are different between him and Jane. Really it is just her concern for his father’s wellbeing (well and Oscar’s directive to get closer to Weller) but I suppose she’s got reason to be worried about the status of her relationship. Anyway, Rich convinces the team to help him pull some elaborate heist to get the paintings stolen from the Isabelle Stewart Gardner Museum into their possession so he can land them the financier of a whole mess of terrorist organizations. I appreciated the nod to Boston but yeah this guy is a sleaze beyond compare.

He runs through all the security that the original thief has around the paintings (he’s been trying to plan this heist for years). I also think I was spoiled by White Collar. Even if the cons weren’t that elaborate or awesome, Neal made them look so damn good. Anyway, when the team goes in to nab the paintings, there’s an iris scanner rather than a handprint reader and this forces Patterson to cut the power to the block so they can get in. This alerts the original thief who leaves his lecture on cubism to go home and check on his prized illegal possessions. Just as the gang is almost done freeing the paintings from the wall, the item Weller used to prop the door open slips and then the owner pushes in wielding a sword. They eventually manage to take him down by using one of his security measures (a shot gun blast) against him.

Of course, now one of the paintings is damaged and they don’t know which one the terrorist financier is going to ask to see before setting up a meeting. Lucky for the team it isn’t the damaged one. But that still presents a problem since they need all of them intact. Rich has a guy he knows who could do the work and it turns out to be a former lover. Dude gets around. It was also annoying and skeevy how he kept commenting on other people’s relationships. Anyway, the art restorer does his work after insisting on scanning in all the other paintings. Patterson is not happy about this and it turns out she has a good reason why a little later in the episode. The meet is set for a party that Jane attends with Rich but they aren’t dressed right (he said it was a Great Gatsby party and I have to say Jane looked awesome). But a firefight ensues after Pakistani Special Forces bust in and start firing on the FBI team. The guy who are led to believe is the financier gets taken out by Jane after he tries to shoot Rich for betraying him and giving him fakes. Before the team can do much else, Rich jumps off the roof. We think he’s going to go splat but he’s got a parachute in his jacket and he makes off with his former lover and all the real paintings.

So now the team has massive egg on its face and realize they were played the entire time. The guy is a genius and a master manipulator. Sure they suspected things throughout but they didn’t really take precautions to keep him in check. They let him lead the entire operation and they got massively screwed. But I guess they can’t always win. Weller gets basically dumped by his girlfriend after the mission is over, thus making Jane’s job easier in the long run, even though I still want her with Oscar. Anyway, she starts making up memories when she goes to finally meet Weller’s dad. She acts like she remembers him but it’s clear she’s got not recollection and she’s just telling Weller what he wants to hear.

And because no episode would be complete without drama for someone else on the team, we focus on Mayfair and her personal life. She’s still digging into the photo Reade was told to delete. Her contact has another contact out of the country who might be able to enhance it further (so at least for another episode Oscar’s identity and Jane’s place on the team are safe). Heck, she’s even going to see that pretty chick she rescued at the bar again when she comes to town. Well those plans may get put on hold when Mayfair’s ex, Sophia, climbs into the back of Mayfair’s car looking all kinds of crazy. We thought she was dead or missing. Well that’s one hell of a twist. I guess we’ll find out whatever is going on with her next week. And I suppose we will have to see where things stand with Weller and Jane. I really don’t see how she can ever come clean to the team with what she’s been doing and it not be a giant betrayal of their trust. The thing is I think they need to be filled in on the secret at some point but I don’t want the team to suffer because of it.

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