BLINDSPOT Recap: Roman Under Cover in “Devil Never Even Lived”

By Pauline Perenack

Roman Undercover

Last week on Blindspot, an old foe returned, and the team had to put their differences aside in order to save Agent Keaton’s daughter. Additionally, Allie told Weller she was moving to Colorado, while Reade and Zapata came to an understanding about the boundaries of their friendship.

And then of course, there was the issue of Roman. While his storyline wasn’t prominent, it was an important one. Because his returning memories were those of violence, everyone but Jane came to the conclusion that he was a danger not only to society, but to himself. However, since it seems as though he’s somehow tied to Jane’s missing leopard tattoo, and still has a connection to Sandstorm, the FBI is going to have to keep him around. Can he redeem himself in their eyes? Let’s recap this week’s episode to find out.

The Infamous Remy

Tonight’s episode, “Devil Never Even Lived” returned us to the world of Sandstorm, by immediately catching us up with Dr. Borden. Turns out, he’s a pretty high ranking person in the organization, and has no problem letting other members know they need to respect him. He also seems to be very involved in what can only be the execution of Phase Two.

At headquarters, Jane is excited that Roman was able to solve the leopard tattoo – while Patterson continually tries to point out it was actually her who solved it. Since Roman appears to have had a connection with Kat Jarrett and the Viper Kings, Weller proposes bringing in Dr. Sun to see if she can get Roman to remember anything about the gang. He does, and it’s a memory of him selling weapons to the gang, and to him, it felt important.

Jane assumes that since the deal felt important to Roman, it must have something to do with Phase Two, and Sandstorm skipped the tattoo because it could somehow point back to them through the Viper Kings. As such, Jane formulates a plan to infiltrate the Viper Kings, set up a weapons deal with Sandstorm, ambush Sandstorm and arrest Shepherd to get information about their plans. However, the only way to infiltrate the Viper Kings is with Roman, and the whole team is reluctant to let him out in the field. Jane thinks it’s no different than when they brought her into the field, but no one on the team is buying it. Weller reluctantly admits they need to chase every lead, and if that includes Roman, then so be it.

Roman however, is concerned the “old Roman” will come out and hurt people, but is finally convinced by Jane’s trust in him. The plan is laid out, and Jane and Roman are to go to the Viper Kings’ hangout, The Nest, and try to get a sit down with the gang’s leader, Abel Marx. Seems simple enough, but as soon as they enter the bar, and Roman sees Kat, a memory is triggered. Turns out, he was in a relationship with Kat, but Jane, known then as Remy, pulled him away from it, because he was getting too close.

With the newfound memory, Roman tells Jane they might have a problem, and sure enough, Kat punches him the moment she sees him. Roman is able to talk his way out of the situation, and even manages to get him and Jane in a room with Abel where they set up a weapons sale to draw out Shepherd. The Kings set up the sale, and in return, they get all the money and weapons, and Jane and Roman get Shepherd.

Unfortunately however, the weapon Roman agrees to get for the Kings is HMX, and nearly impossible to get hold of. Thankfully, Nas calls on a favor at the DOD, and they get just enough of the explosives to create a fake heist, which will make Roman and Jane/Remy appear to be trustworthy to the Kings.

The heist is a success until Abel orders Roman to shoot the drivers of the transport truck carrying the fake explosives. It’s a problem, because the drivers are Weller and Reade. Roman hesitates for just a second, but then shoots them both, and the gang leaves. Thankfully, the two were wearing bulletproof vests, and came out with only a few bruises.

With the heist a success in the eyes of the Kings, the gang goes out to celebrate, where they learn that Shepherd has agreed to the sale at 10pm that night. While talking to Kat, another memory is triggered for Roman, and he realizes he and Kat had a plan to leave and build a new life together, but Jane/Remy convinced him to stay.

Later that night, the team sits outside of The Nest, waiting for the Kings to move to the sale. Inside however, Kat feels like something is off, which results in a major gunfight, and Kat ends up dead. Jane and Roman still have the address for the sale, and the team rushes out. However, when they get there, they find Abel dead in the back of the now empty truck. Sandstorm was one step ahead of them again.

Back at headquarters, it becomes obvious that Nas and Weller are making poor choices around each other, and as such, Nas thinks it’s best they stop seeing each other. Jane meanwhile, goes to visit Roman, who admits he wasn’t sure he actually loved Kat, because he doesn’t feel anything.

The episode then wraps up with Jane visiting Weller, and telling him it’s ok to feel alone. To cheer him up, she brought over some beer, and the two begin to dig through a box of files on Weller from the NSA. Jane finds a yearbook from Weller’s days at the military academy, and teases him about a picture of him in a basketball game. However, when she looks more closely at the picture, she spots Shepherd watching the game from the stands. When Jane points Shepherd out to Weller, he admits he remembers her.

Remembering Shepherd

This week’s episode was a definite improvement over last week’s, and hopefully the quality will continue throughout the rest of the season.

It seems as though by focusing in on Sandstorm and the relationships on the team, Blindspot is able to find its footing. Up until now, we’ve always seen Dr. Borden as an intelligent, gentle man. However, we’re finding out that he’s cold and calculating, and could end up being an even bigger threat than Shepherd. His subordinates might be pleased with the outcome of obtaining some of the HMX, but Borden is smart enough to know that the FBI is closing in on them.

While Zapata was barely visible in tonight’s episode, Reade found himself getting into trouble. When Freddy’s ex-girlfriend showed up at his door looking for Freddy, he immediately sent her away. However, when she returned to apologize for her first visit, he ended up sleeping with her, and seems to be heading down a slippery slope.

However, the two heartbreaking storylines were of Patterson, and Weller. Patterson confronted Nas about spying on the team but missing the obvious signs that Borden was the one they should have been watching. She’s completely broken about not seeing the signs herself, and when Nas tries to comfort her, it becomes apparent that Nas went through a similar situation in her past. I’m betting it’s the hook that got her interested in Sandstorm, but that remains to be seen.

Finally, there’s poor Weller. Allie is moving to Colorado, and Nas decides they need to stop seeing each other. Suddenly, he’s left with no one, and admits to Jane that his apartment feels lonely. Jane seems to grasp that opening, and immediately heads on over, which had the Jeller fans on Twitter erupting in joy. And now that we know how deep Weller’s connection to Shepherd goes, maybe we’ll finally find out the connection he has to Jane, and why the two of them are always so drawn to each other. Until next week!