BLINDSPOT “The Big Blast From the Past Episode” Review

BLINDSPOT — “The Big Blast from the Past Episode” Episode 414 — Pictured: (l-r) Mary Stuart Masterson as Eleanor Hirst, Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller, Jordan Johnson-Hinds as Stuart, Ennis Esmer as Rich Dotcom — (Photo by: Barbara Nitke/NBC/Warner Brothers)

BLINDSPOT REVIEW: “THE BIG BLAST FROM THE PAST EPISODE”

BY PAULINE PERENACK

Revisiting the Past

It’s been a few weeks since we last saw our team, but when we did, Zapata and Boston worked together to prevent the crash of Air Force One due to Madeline and Del Toro’s hacking. With her plans ruined for the moment, Madeline went into hiding, but not before sending someone to stop Zapata from getting files that would expose her. As the episode wrapped, Jane received a package from Shepherd’s estate lawyer which contained a drawing of jumbled images, triggering yet another mystery.

Weitz is in Deep

Tonight’s episode, “The Big Blast from the Past Episode” begins with Zapata getting beat down by an ally of Madeline’s. The woman calls Madeline’s guy to tell him she has the files, and leaves Zapata on the floor. Later, Zapata returns to headquarters, without Madeline’s files, where she gets yelled at by Reade for going in alone. While Weller talks to Reade and tells him to go easier on Zapata, Patterson and Rich talk to Jane about Shepherd’s puzzle. They haven’t gotten very far, but Jane notices some punched holes on the paper that could mean something. She leaves Patterson and Rich to figure out what the holes could mean, and runs into Zapata in the locker room where the two talk about making amends with the team.

They’re interrupted when Jane gets an alert about bombings in New York. At the briefing, Zapata points out that the case is similar to one they solved two years ago. But since the original bomber, Lilly Terrace, was sitting in prison, these current bombings have to be a copycat. The copycat calls the FBI tip line, and leaves a message saying he knows someone in the FBI framed Lilly, and until that person comes forward, he’ll keep setting off bombs around the city.

Patterson suggests they revisit the original case, which then causes the episode to flash back and forth to two years ago to show how the team dealt with the case. Reade is newly the assistant director, Patterson is off in Silicon Valley, Weller is focused on finding Jane, while Zapata is stuck in the FBI lab rather than being in the field like she wants. They’re unable to determine a connection between the victims until Rich Dotcom is brought in from prison due to his belief he has a tip to share. He tells the team that all three victims had recently signed up for a grocery delivery service called Swift Shop. Weller doesn’t believe him, but Rich goes on to explain how he figured it out and tells Stuart to look at Swift Shop’s reviews. There are a lot of negative ones, which Rich points out have similar language. By using a computer in prison, Rich was able to figure out that the reviews came from Lilly, who ran a grocery store that had gone under because of the new delivery service.

Lilly is brought in for questioning, and Zapata tells Lilly that if she signs a confession, she’ll be able to be with her dying mother, rather than be stuck in jail. Lilly is tempted, but her lawyer shows up before she can say anything incriminating. Stuart receives a partially destroyed doorbell camera, and Rich negotiates with Director Hirst to get a consulting gig with the FBI if he can get anything off the camera. Stuart doesn’t want Rich to touch the camera, but Zapata finally tells him to let Rich at it, where he finds some footage of Lilly dropping off a package at the house that was bombed.

The problem is, she delivered the package two days before the bomb went off, so the team is left trying to figure out who doctored the footage. Weitz pulls Reade aside, and the two talk about why they doctored the footage to close the case. Reade is having second thoughts about what they did, but Weitz tells him he has to stay quiet. Meanwhile, the team narrows down possible suspects to Lilly’s father, Albert, who just so happens to be a high school chemistry teacher. For Weitz, the clock starts ticking when the copycat bomber calls his cell phone to say he knows Weitz doctored the footage.

Scared, Weitz decides to tell the team what he did, but is interrupted by Patterson who has found Albert. Local police have surrounded the building, but Albert kills one of them with a bomb. Weller wants to go in, but Weitz stops him, instead ordering a DOD drone strike that blows up the farmhouse. Both Jane and Weller are not happy with the decision, saying it’s wrong to use drones like that, and after talking to each other about what’s going on, both agree that something is up with Weitz.

In need of extra intel, Weller goes to visit Hirst in prison, who tells Weller that Weitz pressured Stuart into doctoring the footage. So after he watches Weitz lie at a press conference about how Albert died, Weller confronts Weitz. Weitz isn’t fazed however, and turns the tables on Weller by pointing out that it would be a shame if people found out about Jane and her past, which forces Weller to stay quiet.

As the episode ends, Reade tells Zapata that he wants her on the team. Weller tells Jane about Weitz’s blackmailing, and the two are interrupted by Patterson arriving at their house to tell Jane she solved Shepherd’s puzzle. The puzzle lead to a 3D printing code, which created a key. While Patterson didn’t know what it went to, Jane did. Then there was Weitz, who got another call from the copycat bomber, who turns out to be Madeline’s colleague. He tells Weitz to expect a phone call soon for a favor.

Zapata is Back

Overall, this wasn’t the best episode of Blindspot. The visits to the past were fun because we got to see characters like Stuart and Hirst again, and got to see some hints as to how the team became who they are today. Also, it was nice to see Reade and Zapata talk, and Reade welcome Zapata back to the team. She’s been missed at the FBI, and I’m personally excited to have her back.

The episode clearly was built to set up the ultimate blackmailing of Weitz by Madeline, but since we’ll invariably have to wait several episodes to see where this will go, there wasn’t much excitement in what happened in this episode. I’m almost more intrigued to see if Hirst will be brought back. It’s interesting that she was such an integral part of the episode, and Mary Stuart Masterson is just so good as this character, it would be fantastic to see her back. Maybe she’ll be the one who will ultimately help the team take down Madeline?

And then there’s the key that Shepherd left for Jane. Jane seems to know exactly where it leads, so is this going to dig up more Sandstorm related problems? We’ll have to wait until next week to find out. Until then!