BLINDSPOT Review: Well, That Escalated Quickly

You’re My Starting Point

“Split the Law” begins innocently enough with a man getting in a taxi, asking to be taken to the Empire State Building, but when we see the driver flip off the “Off Duty” sign, we know something is already off with this scene. Sure enough, the taxi fills with a strange gas as the driver tells Dodi to relax, because this is the part that doesn’t hurt.

The tone of the episode immediately shifts as Jane goes to Weller’s house for dinner. In a sweet, yet awkward scene, Weller’s sister, Sarah, played brilliantly by Jordana Spiro, tells Jane how excited she is to see her, before relaying an embarrassing story about Weller as a child. When the topic of the Weller patriarch comes up, Jane asks where he is, and the lighthearted dinner quickly turns uncomfortable, made even more so when Sarah’s son, Sawyer asks Jane who she is. Sarah tells Sawyer that Jane is an old friend who had to go away for a while, but was now back. Being a typical kid, Sawyer asks where Jane had gone, which triggers a memory of her being led down the stairs by a stranger. The memory scares Jane, and she quickly leaves the apartment, needing to get out. Weller follows her, and in a heartbreaking moment, she tells him she can’t be who he wants her to be.

The next day, Mayfair confronts Weller about the isotope test, and tells him he can’t ignore it, and he of all people should know he can’t choose evidence to fit the story he wants to hear. Mayfair wants to know if Weller told Jane about the test, and we’re starting to see the second member of the team question Weller’s protectiveness of Jane.

Patterson interrupts to brief the team about the case of the week, which had two men breaking into a building and taking hostages. Turns out, the address of the building was found in one of Jane’s tattoos, which is how Patterson learned of the event. After doing some research, she found the address was the NWA building, and the team is off to handle the situation. At the scene, Weller calls into the captors, who say they were former employees wrongly let go, and want their pensions back. Jane however, can’t figure out why this would be tattooed on her body, and Weller pulls her aside to ask if she’s ok after the previous night. He apologizes to her again about asking her to take in so much so quickly, and Jane tells him she’s not sure she can be the person Weller lost.

Blindspot — “Split The Law” Episode 105 — Pictured: (l-r) Jordana Spiro as Sarah Weller, Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller — (Photo by: Barbara Nitke/NBC)

When Zapata manages to break into the security cameras, Jane points out the captors are moving too precisely to be former NWA workers. Patterson meanwhile, has found the two captors never worked for NWA, and that’s when the captors start shooting people. Weller and team quickly move in, and kill the two captors. As medics take out the wounded, Weller walks the building, and finds a door with blood on it. Something seems off, so he and Jane go through and head down the staircase, which triggers another memory for her of a man leading her down a staircase. Weller snaps her out of it, and they walk into a vault, and ultimately, into a standoff with our bad guy, Carter. Everyone is finally introduced as he tells them he’s a Deputy Director of the CIA, and the place they’re in, doesn’t exist.

As Weller realizes the hostage situation was only a smokescreen for what was really going on, Mayfair comes in, and wants to know what’s going on, but Carter refuses to talk in front of Jane, who decides it’s better to just leave. Zapata follows her out, but Jane only wants to review the security footage. Something seemed off to her, and as she and Zapata review the footage, they see that something is indeed, off. Once the team is back with them, Jane points out the hostages who had been separated from the group for a while, are not the same people led back out. One of them was Dodi, the man from the earlier taxi ride and our villain of the week, and the team realizes it wasn’t an execution – it was a rescue – as Dodi was smuggled out with the rest of the injured.

Back at headquarters, Weller tries to break the accomplices for information, and as he’s talking to one, she starts pulling her hair out. Patterson gets back blood tests of both accomplices and finds they are dying of radiation poisoning, and when Mayfair points out to the team that Dodi is a bomb maker, Weller puts it together that Dodi is working to build a radioactive bomb and must be found. Patterson finds a hospital in Queens which has had people coming in with radioactive symptoms, and sets the team up with Geiger counters and potassium iodide pills to combat the radioactive materials they will be coming in contact with once they find Dodi.

As Weller and Jane wait to hear which team in the field has found Dodi’s hiding spot, we are given another Weller/Jane scene when she asks what happened to Weller after she disappeared. He tells her about their secret hiding spot they had as kids, and how he figured if she ever got away from her captors, that’s where she would go, so he waited for her, and never gave up on her. He tells her Taylor is not an answer to her problems, but a starting point, and something to hold onto.

BLINDSPOT — “Split The Law” Episode 105 — Pictured: Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller — (Photo by: Paul Sarkis/NBC)

The tender moment is interrupted however, as a team calls in to Weller and tells him they’re in the building, and going down the stairs. The mention of stairs and beds in the room triggers a memory for Jane of her being led down a flight of stairs into a room filled with sick looking kids lying on dirty cots. Unnerved by the memory, Jane leaves the room, and Weller follows her, asking her about the memory. Jane is unable to control her emotions, and needing to help her, Weller holds her hand to his heart, telling her he is always here with her, and to keep breathing. The protective nature of Weller is becoming a major focal point of these two characters, and something to watch in future episodes, especially with the fantastic acting of Sullivan Stapleton and Jaimie Alexander.

The team races off to a cemetery to follow a lead on Dodi, and find themselves in a gunfight before Jane gets the radioactive material from Dodi. As she and Weller lead Dodi away, we see Carter pull out a sniper’s rifle and target on Jane. However, Mayfair is there to save the day, telling Carter to stand down. He eventually does, and as he’s walking away, has a moment with Reade, leading us to believe Reade will eventually jump teams. To keep the tension high, as Weller’s team is taking Dodi away, we find ourselves watching a standoff between the CIA and the FBI. Carter tells Mayfair the only way the FBI can have Dodi, is if he can take Jane. Mayfair refuses, thus giving Dodi to the CIA, and keeping Jane safe for another week.

As Mayfair debriefs the team, she tells them to not worry about Carter and dismisses the team, but Jane holds back. She thanks Mayfair for not trading her to Carter, telling Mayfair she was sure Mayfair was considering it. Jane can tell something is off, just as the rest of us can.

At the end of the day, Weller escorts Jane to her new apartment and takes the opportunity to apologize for letting them take her. Jane tells him it wasn’t his fault, even though he doesn’t believe it, and every Jeller fan was on the edge of their seats as Jane takes Weller’s hand, and places it over her heart, mirroring Weller’s previous move, telling him he’s her starting point. The chemistry between these two is off the charts, but it’s broken when Weller turns to leave.

He arrives home to Sarah telling him not to be mad, which can only mean one thing in this episode that started out with Weller’s family. Weller’s dad is there. Upon seeing him, Weller grabs his keys and leaves.

And finally, the cliffhanger of the week arrives, and sets up questions for next week and beyond. We see Carter sitting in a car with Zapata, and he hands her an envelope filled with money, telling her they need to talk about Jane Doe.

NEXT: Just Breathe