BLINDSPOT Recap: “We Didn’t Start the Fire”

BLINDSPOT — “We Didn’t Start the Fire” Episode 502 — Pictured: (l-r) Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller, Ashley Johnson as Patterson — (Photo by: Barbara Nitke/Warner Brothers/NBC)

BLINDSPOT RECAP “WE DIDN’T START THE FIRE”

BY PAULINE PERENACK

Bill Nye to the Rescue

We’re at episode two in the season, but I feel like we’re still reeling from the events of the premiere. Last week, we finally got resolution as to who escaped the bombing of the safe house. It turned out that everyone survived except Reade. A broken-hearted team came back together after a series of blackbird images took over Times Square, and they worked together to save Rich Dotcom from the CIA Black Site he was being held at. Meanwhile, Madeline completed her takeover of the FBI, and hired a team of mercenaries to hunt down our team.

Thwarting a Terrorist Attack

Tonight’s episode, titled “We Didn’t Start the Fire” starts off with Madeline’s head mercenary, Ivy, at the CIA Black Site in Marseille that the team broke Rich out of. She realizes that the only way it could have been done was if the team had the blueprints for the site.

At headquarters, Madeline is going all-in on finding whoever is helping the team out. As such, she tells everyone that all cell phones will be tracked. Weitz and Afreen sneak off to discuss how they can avoid being caught, and Weitz wants to bring in Brianna to their team. Afreen isn’t so sure though, and it turns out her hesitation is correct, as Madeline blackmails Brianna into looking into her own colleagues.

Meanwhile, in Prague, Patterson is worried that the team will be discovered by AI, so sets up a task randomizer for the team. This will force them to change their habits, while still making sure things get done, like gas up the generator to power the computer systems. As Rich complains about how the bunker needs a makeover to make it more like home, the team decides that they need to get Dominic’s phone that Rich left in the FBI building. Their only way in however, is Weitz, and they’re not sure they can trust him, since he sent Rich off to a Black Site. They decide to meet him in Helsinki the next day where he’s giving a speech at the World Collaboration Forum.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to add themselves to the guest list, but they can get in by knowing someone who is a VIP. Turns out, Patterson’s father, Bill Nye, is one of those VIPs. She contacts him through a Nintendo Wii game he’s playing, and delivers instructions to him, giving him their code word for danger: Exosphere. With the plan set, Patterson gives Jane and Weller untraceable comms so they can communicate. Jane gives hers back, and tells Patterson that she’s going to sit this one out so Patterson can see her father.

Weller and Patterson meet up with Bill Nye, and are able to trail him into the building. Not without some drama though, since Rich forgot to fill the generator with gas, so their computers go down for a moment. Once in, Nye creates a distraction so that Weitz can elude his bodyguards and speak to Patterson and Weller. He tells them he wasn’t behind the blackbirds in Times Square, and warns them about the mercenaries that Madeline has hired. Weller tells him about Dominic’s phone, but as Weitz points out, Madeline is having the building swept clean, so it’s soon going to be found.

Afreen is their only hope, and the team sends her a message through her normal coffee pick up. When she scans the QR code on the label, she’s taken to an ftp site with instructions. Fortunately, she gets the clue, but unfortunately, Brianna is onto her, and catches her as she finds Dominic’s phone. Afreen reluctantly hands the phone over, pleading with Brianna to help take down Madeline.

Brianna turns out to be one of the good guys, and starts the upload from the phone to the ftp site, but is quickly found by Ivy.

BLINDSPOT — “We Didn’t Start the Fire” Episode 502 — Pictured: (l-r) Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller, Ashley Johnson as Patterson, Bill Nye as himself — (Photo by: Barbara Nitke/Warner Brothers/NBC)

As Weller and Patterson try to escape the building, they see one of Weitz’s bodyguards coming out of the basement. Curious as to what he’s doing down there, they find a bomb he left, and realize that Madeline got the bodyguards in to take out one of the speakers. The speaker is an advisor to the President and has been a very vocal critic of Madeline.

Patterson attempts to disarm the bomb, and is discovered by one of the bodyguards. Before he can kill her however, Nye comes to the rescue, and helps Patterson to disarm the bomb. Meanwhile, Weller has found the trigger man, and manages to kill him, and prevent him from killing the speaker. As the team leaves, Patterson and her father say goodbye, and it’s here, we finally find out Patterson’s first name – William. She’s named after her father.

At headquarters, Madeline is furious the bomb didn’t go off, and Ivy tells her she needs her best people to take out the team. As such, she asks Madeline to transfer a lot of convicts to another prison so she can break them out.

In the bunker, the team gathers, and Weller learns that he and Patterson are being blamed in the media for a failed terror attack, and the trigger man is being hailed a hero. Zapata recognizes the man as a member of a multinational terrorist group, and the team realizes that Madeline has gotten even more dangerous.

As the team winds down for the day, Jane comforts Weller and lets him know he’ll see his daughter again, Zapata tells Rich he can talk to her if he ever needs to, and Patterson listens to a story her father left for her on a message chip he gave her.

The episode wraps up with Ivy getting into an elevator with Weitz, and Weitz realizing he’s been made.

Introducing: William Patterson

I have to say, this season is off to a great start. The story is being pushed quickly along, which gives a lot of action, but never misses the opportunity for a good one-liner. Probably the best in this episode came from Rich when the team was trying to figure out what they knew about Afreen, and Jane mentioned that Afreen liked coffee. Rich pointed out this was the problem of getting too cliquey at the office – you don’t know enough about your coworkers when you need them to help stop a terrorist plot.

This episode also had a lot of Patterson and Bill Nye which is never a bad thing. The father/daughter duo is a joy to watch, and as Rich pointed out, they’re his new favorite podcast. And it’s true, I’d listen to a podcast from those two. And of course, we finally found out Patterson’s first name. Five long seasons, and she’s named after her father. I think at one point I made a guess as to what it probably was, and there’s no way I even came close, even though the answer is painfully obvious. A mystery solved, but a new one arose – Patterson’s space camp name.

No new tattoo case plotline in this episode, which was fine, because adding anything in would have made this episode too busy. As it is, the only forward momentum we really got was a partial download from Dominic’s phone, and poor Weitz being found out. Looks like we’ll have to wait a couple of weeks to see what happens next, as the next episode will air May 28. Until then!