BLINDSPOT “Lepers Repel” Recap

By Pauline Perenack

The End of Phase Two

Well Blindspotters, we’ve made it to the end of yet another season. Season 2 gave us a lot, including Jane’s real identity and that Shepherd is her mother, Weller’s impending fatherhood, the amazing return of Rich Dotcom, the true identity of Dr. Borden, the character development of Roman, the downfall of Nas, and the personal and professional struggles of each team member.

And just last week, Weller finally learned what Sandstorm’s Phase Two was, and that it had officially begun, when he found himself in an underground bunker, surrounded by the heads of various government departments. They are COGS – the Continuity of Government Subcommittee, which is tied to the Truman Protocol.

However, the episode ended with Zapata’s life hanging in the balance just as everything kicked into high gear, so let’s recap tonight’s finale to see the conclusion of Phase Two.

Shaq and Me

Tonight’s episode felt as though it was written to serve as a series finale should the series not get picked up for a third season. However, since it did, there was a nice little cliffhanger thrown in at the end to get everyone’s minds racing, but before we get to that, there’s the whole mess of Phase Two to solve. “Lepers Repel” picks up right where last week’s episode left off, with Weller convinced that the convergence of the government officials is all part of Shepherd’s plan. As such, he convinces CIA Agent Keaton to break out. Together, they manage to find an old switchboard and get a brief message out to Patterson, which is cut short after the man running COGS shoots the switchboard, since he works for Sandstorm. Keaton and Weller manage to break free, and make their way to headquarters.

Meanwhile, with Weller missing, Reade has taken charge of the team. Together with Patterson, they piece together that the President will be holding a full cabinet meeting to discuss the previous day’s bombings, and since everyone will be together, it’s the perfect opportunity for Shepherd to strike.

Needing more information, the team brings in Mr. Riley for questioning since the nuclear material found in the bombs used in Sandstorm’s attacks came from his company. Riley then reveals that he launched a satellite for Shepherd that she can use to launch a glider towards the White House. He thought Shepherd would use it to take out the government, but Patterson points out that with that much nuclear material around, the entire Eastern Seaboard will be destroyed.

In the meantime, Keaton and Weller have made it back to headquarters, along with Zapata who checked herself out of the hospital. The team splits up, with Zapata and Keaton on surveillance looking for the radioactive material, while Jane and Weller hop a plane to DC to intercept Shepherd and Roman, and Reade and Patterson team up with two agents from NASA to change the course of the glider being launched from the satellite.

Zapata and Keaton find the nuclear material, and direct Weller and Jane to the location. After a brief shootout with Shepherd’s men, they’re able to take over the ambulance and take custody of Shepherd. Unfortunately however, Patterson was unable to hack the satellite in time, and the glider has been launched. It is heading directly towards a homing beacon that is somewhere in the ambulance, and the only way Patterson can now change the course of the glider is to find the beacon, and shut it off. Weller discovers the beacon is inside Shepherd, and eventually uses a defibrillator on Shepherd to destroy the beacon, allowing Patterson to reroute the glider, and save the Eastern Seaboard.

While Weller is busy with Shepherd, Jane is fighting for her life against Roman outside the ambulance after he crashed into it with a police car. She manages to get the upper hand, but can’t bring herself to shoot her brother, and lets him run away. Weller, badly injured in the crash, falls out of the ambulance as Roman gets away, and convinced he’s dying, tells Jane to stay with the FBI because he loves her.

The episode then flashes ahead 24 hours, and Weller exits the elevator in headquarters to a round of applause from his entire team. Zapata questions him about how Roman was able to escape, and clearly sees through Weller’s lie that Jane didn’t have the shot. Weller also takes the opportunity to ask what happened to Shepherd, and in an amazing bookend for the character of Nas, we see her interrogating Shepherd in a CIA black site, with Agent Keaton.

Later that evening, the team is at Weller’s apartment continuing the celebration when Jane finally makes an appearance. She requests to speak to Weller in the hall, and admits her love for him too. When they reenter the apartment, the rest of the team beat a hasty retreat as they all know what’s going to happen between Jane and Weller. Which, after two years of sexual tension, finally happens as the two end up in bed together.

The episode begins wrapping up with someone scaling the side of a cliff, and the camera zooms in to reveal the person to be Jane, and we’re told this is two years later. At the top of the cliff, Jane talks to a monk who tells her she must go home. We then see Jane sitting in a tent, writing in a notebook. She’s told she has a visitor, and it’s Weller. They clearly haven’t seen each other in a while, and Jane makes a comment that he’s still wearing his ring, and tries to apologize for disappearing.

Weller tells her she needs to come home because Patterson, Reade, and Zapata have been kidnapped, and a locked box with Jane’s name was left. They both touch the box, and it opens to reveal a piece of metal. When they both touch the metal, it lights up with an image of the bird that matches the tattoo on Jane’s neck. And when the piece of metal is put next to the tattoo, Jane’s whole body lights up as if it was exposed to a black light, and the episode cuts to black.

Two Years Later

Finally, this is the Blindspot I felt in love with in season one. For the vast majority of season two, I felt as though Blindspot lost its way, with only a few episodes here and there really highlighting the uniqueness of the show. Tonight’s finale however, brought everything back together. While I’m a little disappointed at how quickly the team was able to solve Phase Two after how much buildup it was given all season, it was still a satisfying ending. Shepherd was captured, we got to see the return of Nas (can we please stop getting spoiled in the credits as to surprise guest stars?) and Patterson saved the day once again.

Along the way, we got to see Reade come back to his senses and decide to stay with the FBI, Zapata being her sassy self with Agent Keaton, and new people being blown away by the amazingness of Patterson.

Additionally, Jeller fans finally got to see Jane and Weller get together – something they’ve been waiting to happen for two full seasons. However, as with most ‘ships these days, our two heroes were instantly torn apart seemingly right as they finally got together. There was obviously a time where these two were together however, and possibly even were married, but fans will have to wait for months until they can see what happened during the two year time jump.

And talking about the missing two years, I was a diehard Alias fan back in the day, so a missing block of time for one agent, while the rest of the team moves on without them, really scares me. It killed Alias, and I really hope the Blindspot writers learn from that, and don’t make the same mistakes. It will definitely be interesting to return to these characters we know so well, but now have two years of their lives to catch up on. They all clearly stayed with the FBI, but what have they gotten themselves into? Or, as Weller and Jane assume, has Roman finally put together a plan to take them all down? Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Until next season!