BLINDSPOT Recap: “Let it Go”

BLINDSPOT — “Let it Go” Episode 320 — Pictured: (l-r) Bill Nye as Himself, Ashley Johnson as Patterson — (Photo by: Eric Liebowitz/NBC/Warner Brothers)

BLINDSPOT “LET IT GO” REVIEW

BY PAULINE PERENACK

Bill! Bill! Bill!

Last week on Blindspot, the team chased after a tattoo clue, and ended up destroying a weapon that Crawford wanted. They even managed to be one step ahead of Roman for a change, but were unable to take him down when Jane’s weapon jammed at just the wrong moment.

Roman then managed to turn the tables on the team once again as he flooded their tattoo database with false positives, effectively covering Crawford’s and his tracks, leaving the team in the dark.

So did the team get any closer to capturing Roman this week? How does Bill Nye fit into all of this? Let’s recap to find out.

One Step Closer

Tonight’s episode, “Let it Go” begins with Roman still with Crawford’s lawyer, working to regroup on his previously failed plans. However, he’s plagued with visions of Jane, and ultimately of himself, which serve as various thoughts he’s having. His past trauma is catching up with him, and he seems to be quickly falling off the deep end.

Meanwhile, back in New York, Megan has returned from her story investigation and is eager to return to wedding planning. Reade is rather reluctant, and Megan calls him on it, telling him they can slow things down, but Reade declines, and instead tells Megan he just wants to spend more time with her now that she’s home.

At the Jeller apartment, Jane is the first one up, and asks Avery if she wants breakfast. When there is no answer, Jane frantically searches the apartment to no avail. Just as she’s panicking to Weller, Avery walks in the front door with bagels in hand. Frantic with worry, Jane yells at Avery for leaving without saying anything, causing an argument with Avery who points out that it feels like she’s still in her safe house cell.

Family drama has to take a backseat however, when the body of Avery’s father, Robert Drabkin, washes up on shore. Remember a few episodes back when Roman had it tossed in the river? Well, unfortunately for Roman, he did that before he started working with Crawford, and as such, leaves an unintentional clue for the team to investigate.

When doing an autopsy, the team finds a UV skull tattoo on Drabkin’s throat that matches to one on Jane, and a key in his throat. When Patterson combines a picture of the key with Jane’s tattoo, the name “Charon” appears in Greek letters. The name is not only connected to the mythological character who transports the souls of the dead, but as Weller points out, is also the alias of a contract killer who has never been identified. The team assumes that Roman is pointing them towards the killer, who likely was contracted by Crawford to kill Drabkin.

Next up, is finding out more about the key, which happens to open a locker at Cody Law School. The team heads out to look, but only finds a camera that was used by Charon to watch who was paying him. Patterson believes if she can find where the camera was transmitting back to, she could find the killer. In the meantime however, she also needs to restore the tattoo database so calls in her father to help, because he’s the one who built the algorithm for the database in the first place.

And who is her father? None other than real life personality, Bill Nye, the Science Guy. Weller is star struck, but Jane has no idea who he is. Reade is more shocked that Zapata knew, but didn’t tell him. And the difference in names? Turns out Bill and his wife agreed that a son would get the Nye last name, and a girl would get the Patterson last name. Once the team clears out, Nye gets to work on the database while Patterson continues the search for Charon. Jane meanwhile, brings Avery into the investigation, and tells her the truth of her father’s involvement in everything, while Megan grows suspicious after she talks to Zapata at headquarters.

With her father helping, Patterson is able to figure out that the camera is transmitting to a store called Little Comics. The team storms the place, and Charon is on the run. Jane is able to catch up to him, but during a fight, she accidentally kills him – something she didn’t want to do, since he could have turned on Crawford.

Back at headquarters, Weller and Jane question an employee of the comic book store, and learn that Charon had a safe at his house where he kept rare comics. Weller assumes that Charon accepted the comics as payment for his killings, so Patterson begins putting together a list of people who purchased rare comics in order to narrow down the possibilities of people who hired Charon.

Reade meanwhile, is dealing with his pending marriage falling apart. Megan learns of the feelings that exist between Reade and Zapata, and ultimately, knows she has to walk away, so does. As she leaves the apartment, she informs Reade that she’s going to come out as undocumented in her column next week.

At the same time, Jane takes Avery to visit her godmother, Lynette (guest star Jennifer Esposito), who is handling Drabkin’s estate, and has papers for Avery to sign so she can receive a life insurance payment. Once there, all hell breaks loose when Avery puts together that Lynette also works for Crawford.

Knowing her cover is blown, Lynette starts shooting at Jane and Avery, hitting Jane in the arm. Avery remembers a panic room in the mansion and leads Jane there. Once inside, Avery admits to Jane that she’s terrified of losing her, but Jane is able to calm her down as Lynette’s team starts working on cutting through the door.

At the same time, Patterson makes a connection with her comic book list, and sees that Lynette is one of the comic owners. Realizing that since Lynette is connected to Crawford, Jane and Avery are in trouble, so the team races to Lynette’s mansion.

Knowing they need to let the team know they’re there, Jane creates a red smoke signal, and readies for an attack as one of the men manages to cut through the door of the panic room. When he enters, Jane takes him out with a fire extinguisher as Avery runs. Weller arrives just in time to take out the second man, as Avery finds herself with a gun, leveled at Lynette.

Jane is able to talk her down, and the team takes Lynette into custody, but she quickly changes her tune, and says she has nothing to do with Crawford. Patterson was able to crack the safe in the panic room however, and inside, found a laptop. Knowing she would have to pull an all-nighter to try to hack it, she requests her father to help, but he pushes her to mend her friendship with Zapata.

Semi-reluctantly, she does, and one of the best friendships on the show is finally heading in the right direction. Even better, Patterson is able to hack the computer and finds an email filled with access codes which protect important buildings throughout the city. Since they reset every day, it’s made clear that Crawford is planning to hit one, or all of the buildings the very next day.

Break ups and Make ups

As much fun as it was for Bill Nye the Science Guy to show up, (because what person of my generation and beyond doesn’t love him), this episode felt like it was designed as a filler episode before the final two episodes of the season. Once again, there was little movement as to what Crawford is up to, but fortunately, we weren’t subjected to a tattoo case of the week that had nothing to do with the overall story arc of the season.

So, good points – Bill Nye. Come on, the fact that he (the real him, not him playing someone else) is Patterson’s father is classic. Patterson’s personality and smarts totally make that much more sense now (even Reade pointed this out), and hopefully he can come back in future episodes. Ideally, ones with Rich Dotcom, because come on, how hysterical would that be? We even almost found out Patterson’s first name, before she stopped her dad from saying anything. Judging by her comments, I’m guessing she’s named after a scientist that has a less than stellar name (think Leonard’s middle name, Leakey, on The Big Bang Theory).

Also, the awful love triangle of Reade/Zapata/Megan is over. Love triangles are never good in shows, and this one in particular felt very forced.

The bad points? We still learned next to nothing about what Crawford is up to. Sure, he’s apparently targeting buildings in New York, but why? What does this have to do with the land he purchased? Hopefully we learn of the full plan next week so that the team can spend the finale hunting Crawford down, rather than the plan being strung out until the last minutes of the finale.

Also, Roman being stuck wherever he is with Crawford’s lawyer. She’s really annoying, and I’m surprised Roman hasn’t shot her already. While his visions were interesting, ultimately, they didn’t tell us anything, and seemed to be a distraction more than anything else.

Hopefully next week, the team will get to Roman and get that much closer to Crawford. Until then!