BLINDSPOT Review: Weller = MacGyver in “Older Cutthroat Canyon”

An Explosive Start

Tonight’s episode began with what’s quickly becoming the norm – Jane meeting Oscar for her next mission. This time, he wants her to install a GPS tracking device on the team’s vehicle so he can track her whereabouts. She’s suspicious, and thinks he’s using it to track the team, not her, but agrees to plant it.

Reade meanwhile, is waking up from being knocked out last episode, and finds himself in a car with a gun pointed to the back of his head. He’s told to stop looking into Carter’s death, or his loved ones will suffer. His abductee shows him a picture of Sarah, before disappearing. As Reade stumbles out of the car and looks at an empty street, Mayfair texts him, saying she’ll meet to discuss his findings from last week.

Once in Mayfair’s office however, Reade can’t tell her what happened to him for fear of Sarah’s safety. As such, he lies, saying he jumped the gun, and didn’t actually have anything, and also no longer believes that Jane was involved in Carter’s death. Unhappy with the useless early morning meeting, Mayfair brushes Reade off.

The case of the week begins as we watch a masked man walk through an art gallery, and cut down a painting. At headquarters, Patterson briefs the team on the robbery. The art exhibit was for a famous graffiti artist, Zomo, who no one has seen, and no one knows his real identity. More interestingly, the painting stolen is of a burning rose – one of Jane’s most prominent tattoos. The team heads to the gallery and meet with Zomo’s assistant, Kristy, who also doesn’t know Zomo’s true identity. As she talks to the team, Jane makes an excuse of leaving her radio in the car, and slips out to change out the GPS device. Back inside, Weller notices a statue has been moved. As he looks closer, he finds a bomb underneath, which explodes right as Jane walks in. Weller knows Jane is the target, and moves to save her, but is hit by shrapnel and is rushed to the hospital.

At headquarters, Jane is adamant they find the suspect, but Patterson was only able to lift Kristy’s fingerprints from the postcards Zomo used to communicate with. Needing something, Jane points out that only one piece in the gallery was a photo, and Patterson is able to use it to find a location, which the team believes to be Zomo’s. Jane and Reade arrive at the location, and as Jane looks through the peephole of the door, she sees Zomo dead in a chair. Reade breaks down the door, and Jane rushes in, only to be shot by a sniper. She’s saved by her bulletproof vest, but winded, so tells Reade to go find the shooter. Once able to move, Jane runs back to street level, and finds the shooter. His appearance triggers a flashback of the man with Oscar, but Jane’s memory is interrupted by the suspect shooting at her. She fires back, and the suspect runs. Realizing the suspect is after her, causing her to be a liability to her team, Jane ditches her communication devices, and takes off on her own.

After sending a coded message to Oscar, Jane ambushes him in one of their meeting spots, and says she remembers the suspect. Oscar tells her the suspect’s name is Cade, who just so happens to be one of the founding members of Taylor’s team. He has since gone rogue, and needs to be stopped. In order to do so however, the two need supplies, and so meet up with another old friend. Jane has a flashback about him too, but their reunion is cut short as Cade finds them, and guns down their friend. As the night wears on, Oscar learns of another of their friends who has been killed, and keeps receiving more 911 pages. Jane forces him to check in and see what the news is, where they learn that Cade has trapped Weller and company on a boat at a power plant. Jane leaves Oscar, and runs after her team.

With Jane off on her own, Weller wakes up from surgery, and learns of the gunfight at Zomo’s, and leaves the hospital, steadfast in his desire to save Jane. Patterson tells the team that Zomo’s real name is actually Eric, and that his assistant, Kristy, was just caught at JFK, trying to leave the country. They bring her in for questioning, and she tells how Zomo was drawn to a park by a man, and told to paint the burning rose. As she’s speaking, Weller puts it together that Kristy is actually Zomo. Kristy confesses she is, and that Eric was her boyfriend.

With no other leads on the suspect, Patterson starts looking into the shrapnel from the bomb, and discovers it had to have come from the Red Hook power plant. The team heads off, and finds a large boat docked. They climb on board, setting off an alarm. Running into Cade, they’re quickly trapped by him in a room, with no way out. Weller determines the main door is hollow however, and pulling a MacGyver, shoots a hole in the door. He’s about to stuff a gas line in the hole to blow out the door, when Jane appears in the window. She can’t open the door, and quickly finds herself on the wrong end of Cade’s gun. She begs him not to kill her in front of the team, and he agrees, pulling her to the side. As they walk, she manages to fight him off, and the two start shooting at each other. Jane chases Cade to the deck of the boat, where Cade is shot by Oscar. Meanwhile, fearing for Jane’s safety, Weller successfully blows the door up, and he and Reade make chase, making it to the deck just as Oscar tackles Cade into the water.

Back in Mayfair’s office, Weller yells at Jane that she can’t go off on her own anymore, and Mayfair agrees, threatening her place on the team if she does it again. Mayfair walks out to Reade, and says she doesn’t buy Jane’s story of her day, but Reade refuses to admit anything is off.

Later that night, Reade visits Sarah to tell her he can’t be with her anymore, and walks away.

Jane meanwhile, goes to her and Oscar’s meeting spot, and is relieved to find him there. Oscar admits there is some history with Cade, but won’t share the details, since Cade is dead. However, as the episode ends, we see Cade, who is still very much alive.

NEXT: Oscar Knows More than he’s Telling