BLINDSPOT Review: “Awl In”

BLINDSPOT — “Awl In” Episode 507 — Pictured: Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC/Warner Brothers)

BLINDSPOT REVIEW: “AWL IN”

BY PAULINE PERENACK

Success Requires Sacrifice

Last week on Blindspot, the team found themselves solving puzzles in a high stakes scavenger game when Ice Cream came to collect on Rich’s promise of Gardner paintings. As Weller and Jane tackled the first half of the hunt, Patterson and Rich were able to complete the final puzzle and secured the paintings.

In New York, Weitz had to deal with the killing of Susan Shah, while Afreen decided to take things into her own hands.

Allie Knight in the House

Tonight’s episode, “Awl In” begins with Jane cooking breakfast in the bunker, but when Weller sees her, he doesn’t recognize her. We quickly realize it’s a dream, when his held needle of Zip turns into a gun, which he uses to shoot Jane. At that, Jane wakes up, and tells Weller how worried she is of losing everyone. She wants to turn herself in in hopes that Madeline will leave the rest of the team alone, but Weller tells Jane that that will never happen. They need to stay the course, and defeat her.

Patterson meanwhile, has figured out where Madeline is having Zip manufactured, and Rich has reconfigured the computer virus Madeline used to frame them. Using the virus, Patterson overrides the temperature system of the warehouse, rendering the Zip useless.

In New York, Ivy informs Madeline of the useless Zip, and her frustrations with Weller and team. Madeline lets her know that she has backup Zip in Libya and Hungary, so not to worry. In turn, Ivy tells Madeline she found someone who she thinks can help them find the team.

While monitoring the app that Ice Cream got them into, Patterson sees that Ivy is sending people to Hungary and Libya, and the team determines that there must be extra supplies of Zip. Since they don’t know exactly where those supplies are, they can’t use their virus trick again, so Patterson decides that the best route to go is to render the Zip inert and useless, and put trackers on it while they’re at it, so they can catch Madeline as she’s shipping everything.

Even though there are travel restrictions in Libya, Rich knows a guy that can get them in – Dan – so he and Zapata team up to go there, while Weller and Jane go to Hungary. Before they each leave, they practice making the Zip inert. Rich and Zapata figure it out right away, whereas Jane can’t get it right, and she gets frustrated because she doesn’t want anyone to get Zipped.

Back in New York, Ivy brings in the person she found who she thinks can help lead them to the team, and it’s Allie. Ivy warns Madeline to not underestimate Allie, but Madeline believes she’s smarter than everyone. As such, she goes into the interrogation room to talk to Allie, who stonewalls her every question, until Madeline shows her a picture of Bethany, and asks if she wants Bethany to grow up without a mother or father.

In Libya, Rich and Zapata arrive too late to put trackers on the Zip, and Zapata recognizes Madeline’s son, Gregory, there – he’s the doctor who is helping to move the Zip along with other drugs. Since the Zip is already loaded on the plane, Zapata sneaks her way onto the plane to put on the trackers, but the plane takes off before she can get out.

She’s found by Gregory, and tries to pass herself off as another doctor, even though he’s sure he met her somewhere else. It quickly comes to him, and Zapata holds a gun to him, and begs him to let her explain. He does, and she tells him all about Madeline and what she’s done. He doesn’t believe her, but when she asks him about his father, Gregory pauses. The plane then starts its descent, and Zapata has to once again hide, and isn’t able to put the trackers on the Zip. When the plane lands, Gregory doesn’t alert the guards to Zapata, and she tells him to call her if he ever changes his mind about his mother.

In Hungary, Weller and Jane are having their own problems. Jane is still nervous about the Zip, and accidentally sprays Weller with some. They get his jacket off so he’s not exposed, and they manage to make all of the Zip inert, but only get one tracker on before Ivy and her team come in. They tell Patterson to turn the tracker off so Ivy can’t find it, even though that means they’ll have to reactivate it by hand. To make matters worse, as they hide, they hear that Madeline has Allie. Jane tells Weller they have to focus, and stay the course – similar to what he said to her – and the two of them manage to distract Ivy and her team long enough to reset the tracker.

As they’re finishing up, Allie is on television pleading with Weller to turn himself in, and it almost breaks Weller, but he keeps his focus. Allie meanwhile, realizes that Madeline has no intention of letting her go. As they talk, Madeline tells Allie that success requires sacrifice, and Allie asks Madeline if she knows how much she’s willing to give up for success.

This question quickly hits home for Madeline when Gregory drops in for a surprise visit. With Zapata’s words in his head, Gregory starts asking questions about his father, which Madeline artfully dodges answering. She then gives him champagne, which he refuses, and he knows that something is off. He calls Zapata, but that phone call is monitored by Madeline – she monitors all outgoing cell calls from the FBI. Gregory finds himself tied to a chair, pleading to his mother for his life, but she injects him with Zip so that he forgets everything she’s done – but that means also forgetting her.

Madeline’s day improves however, when Ivy comes into her office to talk about the Zip which was in transit. Additionally, she hands over more information on Allie – information that according to Madeline, “changes everything.”

At the bunker, Jane catches Weller watching Allie’s press conference, and tells him to stop torturing himself. He has a surprising answer though when he says he’s not worried about Allie. He then points out a finger movement that was a code the two had developed years earlier. She’s telling them that the mission is a go, so they need to stay the course to stop Madeline.

And one more person was watching the video of Allie for the “mission is a go” message – Keaton. And he tells someone on the phone that it’s time to send the team another message. It’s end game now.

The Return of a Friend

Overall, I loved this episode. Yes, it lacked the usual Rich/Patterson banter, but things were happening in this episode. We finally had Weller and Jane being crafty on a mission, and actually succeeding. We had Zapata and Rich teaming up, which is something we never thought would happen, and we did have some witty banter – most notably the discussion of Rich being upset that the nickname of “Archie” for the bunker not catching on.

On top of all of that, we had movement on the overall story arc. We now know that Madeline wants Zip to force millions of people to comply with her wishes. And even better, we know that not only is Keaton alive and well, but he’s the one working behind the scenes to help the team, and it looks like Allie is right there to help him too.

And finally, the team has a solid plan to stop Madeline – track the Zip, and release the information to secure her arrest.

I’m assuming however, that the information Ivy brought to Madeline is Bethany’s whereabouts, but we’ll have to wait until next week to find out. Until then!