BLINSPOT Review: “Brass Tacks”

BLINDSPOT — “Brass Tacks” Episode 509 — Pictured: (l-r) Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller, Raoul Bhaneja as Shirley — (Photo by: Barbara Nitke/NBC/Warner Brothers)

BLINDSPOT REVIEW: “BRASS TACKS”

BY PAULINE PERENACK

Patterson Lives!

Last week on Blindspot, we finally got some more information about who was helping the team along the way. Allie, Keaton, and Boston had teamed up, but with Allie burned, and Boston underground, Keaton had to give up the team when he was beaten by Ivy and Madeline. Zapata quickly found herself in Madeline’s hands after meeting with Keaton, and the rest of the team were quickly captured in the bunker by Ivy. Except for one – Patterson – who didn’t escape the very bomb she and Rich planted to destroy their servers.

The End of Madeline

Tonight’s episode, “Brass Tacks” begins with each of the team in their respective interrogation rooms, reminiscing about Patterson. At the same time, Madeline receives news that she is officially the nominee for the Vice President of the United States. Her joy is tempered however, because as she tells Shirley, bringing the team back alive feels like a mistake. Ivy interrupts their conversation and says she’ll kill the team – all she wants are her bombs, which she suddenly can’t find because Madeline has moved them to a secure location.

Madeline then visits each team member and offers them each a deal to turn in the others, since one of them confessing to everything will help tie up the whole mission to track them down. However, none of them are taking the offer, and Rich fully believes that Boston will save them, even though Madeline tells him her team is closing in on him.

At that moment, Boston is watching the news updates on TV about the team, and realizes he’s in trouble. He gets up to leave and manages to pack a few items before two of Madeline’s bodyguards break down his door. He’s ready to be shot when he hears a crash, and when he looks up, standing over the two unconscious men, is Patterson. Turns out, when the bunker was exploding, she used one of the miner’s tunnels to escape, and now that she’s back in America, she and Boston begin working on freeing the team and proving their innocence. The only catch is, the way to prove Madeline’s guilt is through her phone, and the only way they can do that is to access it directly through an FBI server.

As such, she sends a message to Afreen, who along with Weitz, makes two fake IDs for Boston and Patterson to access the building. Curiously, as the two discuss making the IDs, two agents approach and ask if they can help the team. Unsure of their allegiance, Afreen politely declines their offer, but tells them if she does need them, she’ll let them know.

While this is going on, Shirley takes his turn to talk to the team members about the deal, and one of them wavers – Jane. She says she’ll confess to everything if that means that the rest of the team stays out of a Black Site.

Once in the FBI building, Patterson and Boston reunite with Weitz and Afreen, who get them into the server room. As Patterson gets to work on exposing Madeline, Weitz gets a text that Jane is about to confess. Boston is able to hack into the camera that Shirley is using to tape Jane’s confession, and he and Patterson get the light on the camera to blink Morse code to tell Jane they’re there. She sees it, and stops talking, and asks for a lawyer so that she can buy time for the team to escape.

With Jane stalling, the other four release Zapata and Rich, both of whom are overwhelmed with seeing Patterson. They want to get Weller next, but his room is being guarded by too many people. Fortunately, Rich has another idea, which is crawling through the air vents. Just as he’s about to get Weller out, an Agent walks in. Weller pleads with her to let them go, and she agrees – she’s on their side.

Meanwhile, Ivy has put together that Patterson’s body was never recovered, and Boston hadn’t been brought in. She shows that security has also been breached, and Madeline knows that it’s Patterson and Boston, so locks down the building. As she does, Patterson is looking through the logs of Madeline’s files, and sees that Madeline is pinning everything on Weitz. Even though she thinks she can fix it, Weitz runs out.

At this point, Ivy knows the whole team has escaped, and Madeline tells her to track them down, take them to a quiet place, and finish the job. She needs them out of the way. She already has Jane, and Rich and Weller watch as Ivy’s team marches Jane through the halls.

Patterson however, has gotten the proof she needs on Madeline, but they need a way to get it to the public, so Zapata calls Reade’s old girlfriend, Megan. Megan isn’t happy to hear from Zapata, and isn’t sure about releasing unverified information, but finally agrees.

Now there’s just Jane to save, so Patterson triggers an evacuation alert in the building to create some chaos. The team spreads out, but ultimately each get caught. They’re all rounded up in the briefing room, where Weitz comes out and tells Ivy’s men to give the team to him. Ivy’s man doesn’t want to listen, and a ton of FBI agents come out to help. A massive gunfight ensues, and the FBI is able to take out all of Ivy’s team. Unfortunately, Weitz is shot, and collapses soon after telling Weller to go get Jane.

With the team back together, they determine that Madeline and Ivy made it out of the building, and aren’t sure where to look next, when the same Agent who covered for Weller and Rich comes in with a message that came in to the FBI that tells them to search a specific airfield.

At the airfield, Madeline is ready to take off in a private plane, when the police arrive. Zapata boards the plane and asks where the Zip is, but knowing she’s caught, Madeline drinks poison, and dies.

At the same time, Shirley meets up with Ivy, and gives her the thumb drive of all of Madeline’s projects. Ivy shoots him, and tells her team they need to find the Zip before the FBI.

Finally, a Win!

Ok, I feel better. Patterson is alive! I knew there’s no way she could have died. And I’m happy to see that she got Boston to help her out to save the team, but I am surprised she didn’t bring in Allie as well. I guess it’s because she needed serious hacking help. I also have to admit, for a few moments there, I thought that Weitz might have actually been behind the whole thing, but fortunately, he came to the team’s rescue, and made the ultimate sacrifice with his life. He was an interesting character from the beginning, and I’ll be sad to see him go.

The death of Madeline was also surprising. While I understand her ensuring she wouldn’t be captured, I didn’t think this would happen this soon in the season. I would have assumed her to kill herself in the final episode. Now, we have Ivy to deal with, who is obsessed with releasing the bombs, and will kill anyone in her way to do so.