BLINDSPOT Review: “Defection”

BLINDSPOT — “Defection” Episode 321– Pictured: Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe — (Photo by: David Giesbrecht/NBC)

BLINDSPOT “DEFECTION” REVIEW

BY PAULINE PERENACK

A Building Battle

Great news #Blindspotters! Our favorite show was renewed this week for a season 4! But before we can even think about what will happen next season, there’s still two episodes left this season.

Last week on Blindspot, we were introduced to Patterson’s father, who turned out to be none other than Bill Nye, the Science Guy. He came in to help the team rebuild the tattoo database after Roman flooded it with false positives, and ultimately helped the team with the tattoo case of the week.

That case had Avery learning more about her father and his involvement with Crawford, while battling for her life against her godmother Lynette, who also happened to work for the criminal. Additionally, once the team hacked into Lynette’s computer, it became clear that Crawford would be attacking several prominent New York City buildings the very next day.

So was the team able to stop Crawford’s plan? Were they able to catch Roman? Let’s recap to find out.

Playing Games

Tonight’s episode, “Defection,” begins with a flashback to Roman and Jane as children, playing a game at the kitchen table while Shepherd watches. The game has a cruel twist to it courtesy of Shepherd — an extra chore is enforced on the loser of each round. Roman can’t keep up with Jane, and so she throws a game to try to boost his confidence. Shepherd however, isn’t impressed, and gives all the chores to Jane, accusing her of being soft.

Back in present day, the team is focused on security codes that they found on Lynette’s computer, and they believe those codes will be used against one of the buildings that Franklin Dorfman Security has in the city. However, they can’t figure out where exactly Crawford is going to attack, but they do know it’ll be within the next 24 hours.

So with the help of Rich Dotcom, Patterson discovers that one of the buildings that the security company handles has been broken into. The building houses cleaning supplies for farms, and Jane remembers that Roman had once planned on using a chemical from a warehouse such as this to make a bomb. Rich and Patterson are able to determine what the second chemical is, but since Jane never saw the location of the second warehouse, she suggests they bring in the person who would know. Shepherd.

As such, the team works with Keaton and the CIA to have Shepherd transferred to headquarters where Weller starts questioning her. After briefly taunting Weller, Shepherd breaks down and says she’s willing to provide information on the location, but only to Jane. The team is reluctant to let her talk to her adoptive mother, but eventually she goes in.

Once Jane is in the room, Shepherd apologizes for what she has done to her, but Jane wants to hear nothing of it. However, Shepherd plants a seed in Jane’s head when she makes a comment that Jane needs Roman, and if he dies, she will die with him. Jane later talks to Weller and admits she’s worried that a piece of her will die along with her brother.

Meanwhile, Patterson discovers that the warehouse with the chemical has already been attacked, with all guards left dead. A witness however, gives the team a clue as to the vehicle that left the warehouse, and Patterson is able to track it to the United Nations – which just so happens to be right across the street from the hotel that Roman and Blake are currently at, as she is in the midst of planning a gala, and he’s scoping out the security of the place.

The FBI heads to the United Nations, and starts working on evacuating the building, as Rich and Patterson determine that Lynette’s wife used to work for Franklin Dorfman Security. The team fans out through the building to find the bomb, with Reade and Zapata being the ones to ultimately find it hidden in a copy machine. They extract the chemicals and disarm the bomb, but the whole thing seems too easy to Patterson.

As such, Patterson goes to Lynette, using the leverage of charges against Lynette’s wife, and finds out that Crawford has a plan that relates to an oil pipeline. She and Rich then look into the land Crawford purchased, and determine he’s planning on assassinating the leaders of two countries, which would result in the pipeline company rerouting the pipes through his land, giving him a lot of money.

BLINDSPOT — “In Memory” Episode 322 — Pictured: (l-r) Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller, Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe — (Photo by: Barbara Nitke/NBC/Warner Bros.)

Which means that Patterson was right, and the bomb was merely a distraction to get the two leaders out of the U.N. building. Jane and Weller are able to find them, and take them to a U.N. safe house, which is the hotel across the street that Roman was already scoping out. Already inside, he messes with the security cameras, and with his team, who are now dressed as Secret Service, storm the hotel room housing the two leaders. Fortunately, Patterson was able to warn Weller and Jane of Roman’s approach, giving them a slight head start on Roman.

Jane and Weller bring the leaders through the hotel and after a particularly intense shootout where one of the leaders is hit, the group is able to escape down a construction chute.

Back at headquarters, Reade lets the team know that they now officially have enough on Crawford to arrest him. After the debrief, Reade asks Patterson to look at hotel footage because one of the leader’s cell phones was stolen from the room. As they watch, they see it was Zapata who took it.

They confront Zapata and Keaton, and Zapata admits it was her, but she stole it for the CIA. Keaton denies everything, and ultimately fires Zapata. Devastated, Zapata refuses to rejoin the FBI as the team requests, and instead retreats to the locker room. Reade catches up to her there, and the two kiss, but Zapata takes off because it’s too much for her all at once. However, later that night, she shows up at Reade’s apartment, and the two finally hook up.

At the same time, Jane and Weller chat in Patterson’s lab, and Jane admits that she no longer needs Roman. Her second half is now Weller. As they talk, the tattoo database clears, and has a hit. As Patterson investigates, she finds a video of Roman, who tells Jane that he’s ready to play one more game with her. Winner takes all.

A Final Clue

Tonight’s episode was good, but still didn’t really leave us on much of a cliffhanger. It was obvious that Jane and Roman’s final showdown would be the finale, and this episode pretty well confirmed that. I only hedge, because of Luke Mitchell’s tweets talking about season 4. Maybe Roman survives this season?

Anyway, Crawford was nowhere to be found this episode – even Blake couldn’t reach him – so it seems as though next week will find the team capturing Crawford after a climatic shootout. Because, what’s an episode of Blindspot without a climatic shootout?

This episode did serve to set up Zapata to finally rejoin the FBI, and hopefully set up the team to take down the slimy Keaton next season. And she and Reade are together now, so there will be that whole awkward dynamic of them at work which could happen if she rejoined the team.

There was amazing growth in Jane’s character this episode however. She finally was able to admit that she no longer needed Roman in any capacity, and instead, Weller was all she needed. Her past was no longer – instead, she only has her future ahead of her.

Good points of the episode? Definitely Patterson and Rich Dotcom. Those two are gold in every episode, and work so well together. They even tease each other as only true friends could do, and Patterson bringing up what Boston had said about Rich being a hallway monitor was classic. And Rich Dotcom’s graphic novel? I really hope one of the talented members of the Blindspot community is able to take that, and run with some drawings and/or stories.

Finally, questions still remain. Mainly, what are these headaches that Roman is getting? He was talking on the phone with someone about the headaches and how they’re getting worse. And suddenly, Jane is also getting headaches. It was a throwaway line, but seems to be a nugget of information. And, paired with Shepherd’s warning that Jane can’t live without Roman – is that comment something more concrete than a shared past? Do they have something else that connects them? Guess we’ll have to wait until next week to find out. Until then!