BLINDSPOT Review: “Fix My Present Havoc”

Pictured: (l-r) Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe, Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller — (Photo by: Eric Liebowitz/NBC/WarnerBros)

BLINDSPOT “FIX MY PRESENT HAVOC” REVIEW

BY PAULINE PERENACK

Molecules and van Gogh

Last week on Blindspot, viewers were treated to a case needing none other than Rich Dotcom to help solve, which is always fun — especially when Rich got his hands on a blowtorch. Patterson and Zapata meanwhile, spent even more time researching what exactly was going on with Director Hirst, eventually convincing Jane and Weller of the need for a side op. They even managed to sway Reade into joining.

But the real intrigue came from whatever Roman was up to. In Barcelona, he was wooing Blake, the woman from the auction a few episodes ago, for some unknown reason. After shooting the man he hired to follow Blake, Roman continued drawing Blake further into his world for reasons we will only know likely later in the season.

So what is Roman up to? Will the team take down Director Hirst? Let’s recap Friday’s episode to find out.

Outbreak

“Fix My Present Havoc” begins with drama, and pulls at the heartstrings immediately. It kicks off a month in the past, with Stuart steadily working on cracking the tattoo. After many late nights, he finally does, and sends a text message to Director Hirst, telling her he had cracked the tattoo and needed to talk to her in the morning. Surprisingly, she shows up at his door later that night to see what he had found. After he walked her through everything, he explained the connection to van Gogh, and reminded her of running into her and her friend who was missing an ear. Since he was concerned the tattoo might connect to her friend, he wanted to warn her. Hirst thanked Stuart for the heads up, and then pulled out a knife, slitting his throat.

The episode then cuts to present day, with Weller, Jane, and Allie celebrating an early Christmas for Bethany. Seeing Jane with Bethany triggers some serious guilt in Weller for not telling Jane about what he knows, and Allie misinterprets his quietness for worry that Jane will run again.

The next morning, Jane passes Weller a Christmas gift that had arrived, which she assumed was sent by his sister Sarah (by the way, can she come back?). Once opened, Jane, Weller, and Patterson see the gift was actually sent by Roman, and inside were children’s alphabet blocks, but only certain letters. Patterson assumes it’s a clue to the tattoo Stuart was working on, and sure enough, they solve the molecular aspect of the tattoo, connecting it to a clinical trial being carried out on cancer patients. The trial is occurring in only one place, and strangely enough, two workers involved in the trial recently died.

BLINDSPOT — “Fix My Present Havoc” Episode 307 — Pictured: (l-r) Di Zhu as Dr. Andrea Park, Jessica Hecht as Dr. Margaret Palmeri — (Photo by: Eric Liebowitz/NBC/WarnerBros)

Since going to the clinic as FBI agents could tip off Hirst, Jane and Weller pose as auditors for the trial, and question the lead physician, Dr. Palmeri, who immediately shuts them down when they start asking about the nurse who committed suicide. As they leave, she calls someone named Park, and says people are asking questions.

After finding another clue from Roman, Zapata and Reade head to the clinic’s server room to download specific data. As they work, Reade receives a call from Hirst, who asks to meet for brunch later that day, and requests Zapata join them as well.

Patterson meanwhile, has discovered that Dr. Palmeri has been adding various patients to the drug trial. She assumes that Palmeri is accepting bribes to pay off debts incurred after her company lost all its money developing a cure for a virus which they incorrectly guessed would turn into an outbreak.

Jane and Weller go to question one of the patients who had been moved to the trial group, and are shocked when the man’s husband arrives, and is the man with the missing ear from a few episodes ago. After capturing him and taking him back to the apartment, the team discovers he’s a former US Marshall, Eric Vance. However, he knows something is off, so refuses to talk, and the team needs a break. Enter Allie, a US Marshall who can get Vance’s file. After a guilt trip for the team, she delivers the file, and they discover that Vance worked a security detail for Hirst when she was a prosecutor.

With the new information, the team continues the questioning, and Vance admits that Hirst has leverage on not only Palmeri, but him as well, since she helped get the drug for his husband. As a result, he had to do whatever she wished.

The team shifts the investigation back to Palmeri, and put together that Palmeri and another physician, Park, are planning to release the virus they had developed the cure for, so they could make money off of it. After tracking Palmeri’s money to the purchase of a warehouse, Allie, Weller, and Jane rush to investigate and discover the virus gone in addition to a lot of dead rats, and Weller’s fear of rats.

Reade and Zapata meanwhile are at brunch with Hirst, who is interested in how the two first met. When Zapata excuses herself to answer a call from Keaton, Hirst tells Reade he must immediately remove Zapata from the team.

Patterson manages to pinpoint Park at the Boulder Lake Treatment Plant, and so Jane, Weller, and Allie head over to intercept. They find Park, but not before she releases hundreds of rats into the water system. The team has to go inside to reactivate a failsafe that Palmeri has deactivated, which would stop the infected water. With help from Patterson, they’re able to do so, and arrest Palmeri.

BLINDSPOT — “Fix My Present Havoc” Episode 307 — Pictured: (l-r) Rob Brown as Edgar Reade, Audrey Esparza as Tasha Zapata — (Photo by: Eric Liebowitz/NBC/WarnerBros)

With that out of the way, and Palmeri away from the clinic, some of Hirst’s leverage disappears. Vance tells the team about Hirst’s assignments for him, which started as blackmail, but escalated to cleaning up Stuart’s murder. This is hard for the team to hear, as it’s confirmed that their boss was the one who killed Stuart.

Allie organizes a safe house for Vance and his husband, who chooses instead to leave Vance once he learns of his deceit. Vance does tell Weller however, that he doesn’t regret keeping the information from his husband, and Weller takes the words to heart, because it parallels his secret he’s keeping from Jane.

However, the musing is cut short as a sniper takes out Vance with a shot through the window. Weller calls everyone on the team to let them know that Hirst is on to them. Unfortunately however, Reade is at the office, and Hirst walks in as he hangs up the phone.

A Director Exposed

While this episode pushed the team closer to finally capturing Hirst, I just didn’t find it as fun as last week’s. However, it makes you think, how exactly is Hirst tied to Roman? Because, keep in mind, it was Roman who added all of the tattoos to Jane’s body this time, and since so many are tied to Hirst, he clearly knew about her dealings, and wanted to ensure the team took her down. This was made even clearer based on the clues he provided the team right when they needed them. So, why does he want Hirst removed? Is this somehow connected to Blake? It’s tough to tell since Roman was noticeably absent from the episode.

Also, Weller’s hesitations about telling Jane about her daughter are becoming a little annoying. I’m guessing Jane’s whole going back and forth about wanting to know her daughter is simply to allow the Hirst storyline to shine through. But at this point, I’d like to see what her daughter will bring to the storyline, and it looks like it could happen soon since Jane called her old colleague Dwire to find her.

But how will the team manage to finally take down Hirst? Seems like she’s always several steps ahead of them, so it should be a tough assignment. Guess we’ll have to wait until next week to see what happens. Until then!