BLINDSPOT “Careless Whisper” Review

BLINDSPOT — “Careless Whisper” Episode 411 — Pictured: (l-r) Ashley Johnson as Patterson, Ennis Esmer as Rich Dotcom — (Photo by: NBC/Warner Brothers)

BLINDSPOT “CARELESS WHISPER” REVIEW

BY PAULINE PERENACK

When Reality Meets Fiction

Well Blindspotters, we made it through another mini break from our show. The previous episode was a doozey, with Zapata finally coming clean to Reade about what she’s been up to – which is being deep undercover for Keaton to take down HCI. She’s in over her head, but must continue her mission. However, the CIA is on to her, and has essentially kidnapped her. Meanwhile, the rest of the team rushed to save a doctor who had the cure for Jane’s zip poisoning, but came up short on the actual cure.

Characters in a Novel

Tonight’s episode, “Careless Whisper” starts off with a man being killed by having his head smashed with a typewriter. At headquarters, Rich tells Reade about the murder, and the team heads to the house where they find a ton of news articles about tattoo cases. Turns out, the victim is Winston Pear, a famous writer, and an author who Weller adamantly follows. His books deal with fictional detectives solving real-life crimes. When the team searches the house for clues, they find a manuscript titled, Inked to Death: A Jane Doe Mystery which just so happens to feature the entire team as fictional characters.

The episode takes a quirky turn as we see the team as their characters from Pear’s manuscript, but it quickly shifts back to normal, with the team still in the house talking about the manuscript. Their names are close, but not an exact match – although Pear apparently got Patterson’s first name right. It also mentions a serial killer named The Ripper.

Outside, people are starting to gather to see what’s going on, and Jane manages to tackle one person who makes his way past the police lines. It’s a tough tackle however, as the zip poisoning is getting worse, and she’s having problems with her hearing and vision.

At headquarters, Jane and Weller interrogate the man who turns out to be Pear’s literary agent, who was trying to get to the manuscript. He tells them that Pear wanted to write about The Ripper for years but couldn’t get into the story until he heard about Jane, who became his perfect foil. Unfortunately, the agent didn’t know the ending of the story, but said Pear’s editor probably did, and it was likely also in Pear’s notebook.

The editor lead turns out to be a dead end, in that the editor was recently found dead, with her lips sewn shut. Since the notebook wasn’t recovered from the house, Jane posits that The Ripper has it and is using it to kill anyone who could identify him. This seems to be the case when we see The Ripper open the book to a picture of Jane.

Rich and Patterson however are interested about how Pear knew so much about them and figure out they have a rat. They quickly narrow in on a woman named Brianna in the office who began helping Pear with simple questions about standard procedures, but soon began answering all his questions about the team. When Weller asks her about The Ripper, she says that Pear never mentioned who the killer could be, but did refer to him as GS once.

At the same time, Patterson and Rich have found a connection between the victims. Each one had a single cut that looks like it could be from a scalpel, which points them to a Gerald Scavitt, who is a police officer who happens to have a medical background. However, as they focus on Gerald, Brianna is telling Jane and Weller how Pear called her one night, upset that his whole theory had fallen apart, because Scavitt’s flight records didn’t match up with the murders.

As Rich and Jane head back to Pear’s house to pick up a typewriter that Rich believes has the end of the story on it, Patterson is able to determine that Scavitt has a step-sister, Iris, who is also a police officer, and was in the area of all the murders. Iris also loves to create dioramas of dead animals, meaning she’s great with a small knife, and therefore is likely The Ripper. Patterson texts the image of Iris to Rich and Jane, but it comes too late. Rich and Jane have made it to the house, and when Jane loses her eyesight, she tells Rich to go in alone. He does, ducking under the police tape, which is lifted by none other than Iris. With Rich gone, Iris turns her attention to Jane, and kidnaps her.

Jane is able to get out of the ropes binding her, and while still blind, fights off Iris, killing her in the process. Unfortunately however, she is stabbed, and passes out as she hears the helicopter overhead which contains Weller, there to save her. She wakes up in the hospital, still blind, and eventually has a grand mal seizure. Rich and Patterson meet up with Weller in Jane’s room, and upon hearing about the seizure, let Weller know that the seizure is a sign the zip poisoning has reached Jane’s brain, giving her only days to live.

The episode ends with Weller breaking down in tears.

The End is Near

This was a great episode. Remember back in season one when Jane and Weller had that amazing chemistry and you couldn’t help but root for them? That chemistry was finally back in this episode. Their mutual worry for each other as Jane sat in her hospital bed was heartbreaking, and they felt like a real couple who actually cared for each other, rather than how forced their relationship has felt recently. Then add to that, the real friendship of Patterson and Rich as they’re always there for Weller, really pulls the viewer into the emotional intensity of the whole scene.

I personally wasn’t a fan of the episode breaking into the team being the characters in Pear’s manuscript. It was jarring, and while I realize they were caricatures of themselves, it just wasn’t great. Well, Rich and Patterson’s interactions were great, but when aren’t they?

And then we didn’t get a lot from Zapata. Once again, she was relegated to a small side story. A man hired by Madeline freed her from the CIA’s captivity, but she missed the meet with Del Toro, and is going back to New York empty handed, which will not go over well with Madeline.

The most troubling string of Zapata’s storyline came when Reade asked Brianna why Pear hadn’t included the character of Zapata at all. Brianna told him it was because Pear felt that Zapata as a character was too combustible, and that he couldn’t find a happy ending for her, or anyone close to her. I really hope this isn’t foreshadowing the end of Zapata, but I’m thinking it’s highly likely.

However, first we must wait and see if the team can save Jane before the zip poisoning kills her. Until next week!