BLINDSPOT Review: “Adoring Suspect”

BLINDSPOT — “Adoring Suspect” Episode 306 — Pictured: (l-r) Paul F. Tompkins as Booky Bentley, Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller — (Photo by: Will Hart/NBC/Warner Bros)

BLINDSPOT “ADORING SUSPECT” REVIEW

BY PAULINE PERENACK

Movie Magic

Well, we finally know what happened in Berlin. Maybe. There’s undoubtedly more to the story than we saw last week on Blindspot, but we did learn that Weller met Jane’s daughter in Berlin, and ultimately chose not to tell Jane about it.

Meanwhile, the power team of Zapata and Patterson unearthed the mole in the department as Director Hirst, but still haven’t been able to determine why she’s doing what she’s doing – and why Reade is going out of his way to protect her.

Will the team be able to move past these latest secrets and betrayals? Let’s recap Friday’s episode to find out.

Role Playings

Tonight’s episode, “Adoring Suspect,” begins with a shootout in a hallway. However, when the FBI agent comes on screen, it’s no one from our team, and things seem off. When the agent’s gun jams, everything stops, and it’s made obvious why. This is a movie set, and Weller moves in quickly to help the actor with the malfunction. Turns out, Weller is the new FBI consultant on the movie.

We then flash back to eight hours earlier when Weller is working out and receives a phone call from Roman, who once again holds Berlin over Weller’s head. Apparently much more happened there than a simple meeting with Jane’s daughter, and whatever it was, Weller thinks that if Jane finds out, it will destroy her. With the upper hand, Roman asks Weller to look into a specific tattoo, and Weller has to bluff Patterson that he just so happened to be reading a magazine at the dentist which contained the logo of a major movie company that looks like one of Jane’s tattoos.

The logo is for Sacred Lynx Productions, a studio that funds movies for the actor Keith Rhodes. Within the article, Rhodes badmouths the company, because all the movies come off looking cheap, even though a lot of money is spent on them. Weller thinks the production company must be a front for something, so goes undercover as the consultant.

Patterson is able to decode the tattoo, which leads the team to a backup account for a paparazzi service. While looking through photos of Rhodes, they find one that includes Nico Popov, the head of a Russian crime syndicate known as The Brigata, which is known for using massive terrorist attacks to gain influence. Since Nico is known to only leave his home country when he’s scouting for an attack, it’s clear that he’s about to attack US soil.

Zapata and Patterson are distracted however because of their ongoing investigation into Director Hirst. They ask Jane to rescan her tattoos, because they’re concerned that Hirst has tampered with the database. Unfortunately however, Jane points out that they can only do so with the metal object that illuminates her tattoos, and there is no way they’ll be able to take that out of headquarters. Zapata however, has a way, and leaves to deal with it. With no one else around, Patterson lets Jane know she has continued on the search for Jane’s daughter. Jane tells her to drop it, but Patterson pushes back. She found the name of the nurse who worked in the hospital, but keeps it to herself.

Back on set, Rhodes is nearly killed by a defibrillator that was charged, and Weller thinks it’s all too convenient that right after Nico is spotted in town, Rhodes is nearly murdered. As such, when Rhodes recovers, Weller brings him to headquarters, and questions what he knows about Nico. Rhodes explains that Nico essentially came from nowhere to fund projects, and demands they work in strange locations. Zapata and Patterson research the locations, and turns out they’re all cities with major weapons plants which build chemical weapons.

The team then targets the film’s producer, Booky Bentley, because he had the most interactions with Nico, and Rhodes tipped the team that Bentley recorded everyone’s calls. Since the recordings were kept in a safe in Bentley’s office, there was a good chance that there was information about Nico’s location, and the weapons.

BLINDSPOT — “Adoring Suspect” Episode 306 — Pictured: (l-r) Ennis Esmer as Rich Dotcom, Ashley Johnson as Patterson — (Photo by: Will Hart/NBC/Warner Bros)

After some typical Rich Dotcom role playing, the team manages to crack the safe, and get the recordings. From there, Patterson is able to determine exactly where the weapons are being held, and Weller, Jane, and Rich arrive on site. The weapons are already gone, but one of Nico’s men opens fire on them. Rhodes is shot, and Jane gives chase, eventually taking the shooter out, and finds a vendor card in his clothing.

Patterson narrows down the vendor card license to the studio, which will allow them to sell food at an outdoor festival later that day for police and firefighters. Rhodes tells them that food carts could be found in the props warehouse, and Weller and Jane find Nico quickly. After a quick fight scene using various props, the team takes Nico down.

Back at headquarters, Patterson pulls Weller aside and gives him the information about Jane’s daughter she has found. He promises to check it out, but after Jane admits to him that she already has her happy ending with Weller, he’s reluctant to let her know what he knows.

Roman meanwhile, is spending his time in Barcelona, and paying someone to follow Blake, the woman from the auction a few episodes ago. With the information about her habits, he’s able to “run into” her at a rooftop restaurant. She’s still obviously interested in him, and offers to take him around the city since she used to summer there as a kid, and knows the place well. They make it to a fountain where a kiss is interrupted by someone trying to steal Blake’s purse. Roman fights him off, but falls down a flight of stairs, earning himself a cut on his head.

Blake takes him back to her house, and the two finally share their kiss. We still don’t know what he wants with her, but we see how serious he is about keeping his plans secret, when he kills his informant, who also happened to be the so-called assailant.

Back at headquarters, Reade is growing ever more suspicious of Hirst, and when one of her stories contradicts another, Reade heads straight to Weller’s to tell Weller that Hirst is dirty. Upon arrival, Reade sees the whole original team is set up with a lot of information on Hirst, and suddenly the gang is back together.

So Much Better Than a Gun

I really enjoyed this episode. Nothing earth shattering happened, but it was a fun watch. Rich Dotcom was in it just enough to inject some classic one-liners and ridiculousness, and was able to balance out the slightly stumbling tattoo case. If anything is lacking this season, it’s the tattoo cases themselves. They’re the original aspect of the show, so it would be strange if they were to be cut out entirely, but this season’s side stories are really holding their own, and much more interesting. For example, Director Hirst. While we all know she’s dirty, there’s clearly something really big going on with her since the team has already found so much. Is she connected to Roman? Or is Roman trying to take her down? And if he is, why? I doubt he really cares if the director of the FBI is dirty or not.

Zapata and Patterson’s side investigations and friendship are amazing, and really need to have more focus on them. If anything, we need more Zapata. She’s been pretty much relegated to the sidelines this season. I really hope her thrust into the spotlight won’t be solely to point out whatever secret it is she has that’s tattooed on Jane’s body.

Jane and Weller are also fun to watch this season. Frankly, it could be only the two of them out on every mission (which it’s kind of feeling like anyway) and I would enjoy it. They have great banter, and work well together. It’s such a great departure from the previous two seasons where they were always awkward around each other.

But what is Roman up to with Blake? It must clearly be something about her father, but according to Blake, her father is just a “wine guy.” Maybe he’s something more? Seems like the family has a lot of money, which could mean some sort of crime syndicate, which could be Roman’s interest. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Until next week!