BLINDSPOT Recap: “Heave Fiery Knot”

Buried Memories

Tonight’s episode begins with a flashback to Jane’s past, that follows up on Patterson’s discovery last week of a photo of Jane in fully military gear. In the flashback, we see Jane and other members of Orion in Afghanistan, with the team running into a house in the hills as Jane stays outside. Once the team enters the building, it explodes, killing everyone, and leaving Jane barely alive.

Shepherd explains to Jane that Orion was used to conduct illegal, unsanctioned missions by the CIA, but with the deaths of Jane’s team in Afghanistan, everything about Orion needed to be erased, which included Jane’s memory.

Continuing the double agent storyline that was established in last week’s episode, Jane heads back to headquarters after her discussion with Shepherd. She tells the team that Shepherd wants the tattoo cases to continue, and specifically pointed out a coliseum tattoo, giving Jane the hint that the spaces between the columns look like bullets. Patterson is able to take that clue, and finds a coliseum in Mexico which was shot up using the same type of bullets found in the tattoo. With that information, she’s able trace the bullets back to the DEA and a specific Mexican drug cartel, which were connected by a DEA program called “gun waltzing” which sells guns back to cartels in order to track them, and take down the cartel. Invariably however, some of the guns go missing, as was the case in this situation.

After the briefing, Zapata confronts Weller about her reservations about having to work with Jane, and he points out he doesn’t even like being in the same room with Jane. Jane of course overhears this conversation, but is forced to put her feelings aside when the team has to hit the road to track down DEA agent Valentine Barker, who signed out the guns, and was currently cleaning out her bank accounts. However, when the team arrives to the bank to confront Valentine, they spot members of the cartel who are there to kill Valentine. The team leaps into action, a gun fight ensues, Jane saves Reade’s life, and manages to subdue Valentine, so she can be taken in for questioning.

Back at headquarters, Barker pleads her innocence, which falls on deaf ears until Nas discovers that Valentine’s boss, Robert Kingston, is actually the agent behind the missing guns. The team tracks Kingston to a storage unit where he’s loading a truck with Stinger missiles to sell to the cartel. With Valentine along for the ride, the team fans out to try to find Kingston. Valentine is the first to see him, and instead of waiting for backup, decides to engage, finds herself at the wrong end of a bullet, and Kingston escapes. Once the team has regrouped at headquarters, tensions come to a boiling point, with everyone blaming each other as to why they are where they are, and Weller stepping in to calm them down. He points out the only way they’ll stop the cartel, and eventually Sandstorm, is by working together.

Jane follows Weller to his office, and questions why he hasn’t told anyone he found Taylor’s body. He says that the truth won’t do anyone any good right now, so it was better to just move on. In a moment of honesty, Jane admits she misses “being” Taylor, and understands why Weller hates her. Weller confesses he doesn’t, but no longer knows who she is. Patterson interrupts the conversation to say she found Kingston’s van in Brooklyn, and Jane points out that this might not be the site to buy the guns, but the site to use them. If that’s the case, the entire east side of Manhattan is at risk.

As the team races towards the location of the van, Patterson hears a plane over the coms system, and questions if perhaps a plane was the target. After doing a quick search, she finds a plane carrying Mexican politicians and officials, and the target is confirmed. The team comes upon the cartel, and after another gun fight, Jane and Weller are able to take out the cartel, and steer the launched missile into the water.

At headquarters, Weller points out to Nas that if she lets his team be in control, they can solve anything. Weller addresses the team, and Nas informs them that a member of Sandstorm was discovered within the DOJ, further cementing how important it is to solve the tattoo cases. However, in a private moment with Jane, Nas points out that Jane’s family isn’t letting them see the big picture of why each tattoo needs to be solved, and questions why this is the case.

Woven between the case of the week were various other character developments, and callbacks to season one. Reade is continuing to build the case against the child-abusing Coach Jones, and reaches out to an old football friend, Freddy to testify. However, the DA informs Reade that with Freddy’s alcohol and drug-filled past, a jury would never believe him. Reade goes to tell Freddy the bad news, and is shocked when Freddy asks why he can’t testify since he was there too. Clearly Reade has forgotten some very important events in his life.

Dr. Borden finally made a move on Patterson by buying her a copy of Oregon Trail, and then stumbling through asking her out for dinner. She accepted, and one of the most celebrated ‘ships of last season now has an official starting point.

Weller found himself having a tough time letting go of a box of his father’s things. Finally, he was able to throw it away, but found himself face-to-face with more father issues when Allie made a surprise return with even more surprising news. She’s pregnant, and told Kurt he could choose to be a part of the child’s life or not.

Newcomer Nas, throughout the episode, kept telling Jane she could be trusted, but since no character can be trusted, she is seen listening to audio tapes of Jane’s therapy sessions, which has us all questioning, why?

The episode came to an end with Jane contemplating recent events while visiting the monument dedicated to Orion. Distracted by her thoughts, she was surprised by Roman, who injected her with something, and kidnapped her.

NEXT: Blindspot Recap Contd. There is No Black and White