After the episode last week that put all the pieces in place, Blindspot has surprised us again! I think we can define this episode as BOOM! The mid-season finale “City Folk Under Wraps” has been releasing bomb after bomb. They haven’t left us a second to catch our breath. They have closed stories just to make them even more open. BERLIN HAS BEEN DISCOVERED AND OUR HEAD HAS EXPLODED…AGAIN. And, along with that secret, other mysteries that completely change the game have also been revealed. Let’s analyze everything! Here we go!
CASE OF THE WEEK
On this occasion there hasn’t been a case of the week as such, everything has been trying to get Hirst caught. After the challenge that she threw in the previous episode, now it was the Team’s turn to pick up the glove. And they have done it.
At the beginning of the episode, Hirst talks to the man she works with – later we discover he is Blake’s father – and he tells her that she either manages to blame others for her crimes or he will silence her. With this idea in mind, she goes to Reade and he intelligently makes her believe he is on her side. So Hirst devises a plan and manages to blame Patterson for the Stuart’s murder and all her own crimes.
Ritch goes to the rest of the Team immediately and they put together an impromptu plan to let Patterson escape while distracting Hirst. Their plan works and Patterson manages to get out but they catch Ritch in the process.
While Hirst tries to make Ritch confess, the Team must manage to get the evidence against Hirst with Ritch, Patterson, Tasha, and Reade out. Fortunately, Jane and Kurt with help from outside Patterson and Tasha, get ahold of Hirst’s personal cell phone that contains all the necessary evidence. But Kurt is knocked out and stuck in the process – and nobody messes with my unicorn and my baby, snake!
Reade interrogates Kurt while Jane manages to get the mobile information to Tasha and Patterson. However, they must leave quickly since the FBI is about to enter in Jeller’s apartment. Patterson sends Tasha out but she stays behind to get all the evidence decrypted, even if she is arrested just after she gets it.
Jane is also caught and when she is about to be arrested, Tasha calls the FBI and gets the recording of Stuart’s murder resounding throughout the building, to Hirst’s nervousness. This causes Hirst to be arrested and the rest of the team released.
However, nothing is over, Tasha is kidnapped and will be killed if Reade doesn’t let Hirst escape. He goes with her but the Team manages to find out what is happening and Jeller goes to the rescue. All get back safely with Hirst arrested. Although they know that the real enemy is still out there.
While all of this was happening, Roman is still in Barcelona with Blake, each time entangled more in his spider’s web. So much so that she trusts him enough to ask him – once he has saved her from her bodyguard – to go with her to eat with his father. Roman accepts and thus sits down at the table with which we discover that he’s the enemy Roman is trying to catch. After some threats and blame veiled accounts, Blake’s father offers Roman a job and he rejects it. Leaving Blake’s father frustrated, curious and angry.
At the same time this is happening, Roman calls Kurt twice to pressure him to end Hirst if he doesn’t want Jane to know about Berlin. It’s then that we learn that Roman has been preparing the fall of Blake’s father for a long time. He’s one of his main objectives.
Wow! Just wow! There has been really frantic, there hasn’t been a moment to breathe with such tension. The pace has gone from less to more. This case, what they have shown us here, is just what to do in a mid-season finale.
It has been perfect, with points of humor in the right places that relaxed us but not quite. What we have been seeing with the Team and how Hirst was eliminating them one by one but, still, they work together, they have had us stuck to our screens while we could feel the trust that exists between the family that they are. AWESOME!
TEAM BLINDSPOT
Team
I think we’ve never seen such a perfect Team assembly as in this episode. The persecution and Hirst’s plans have forced them to trust each other blindly and without any doubt. And they have worked together masterfully, making it possible for Hirst to be arrested.
They haven’t been able to communicate with each other, especially when Hirst was slowly depleting them, but, nevertheless, they must have trusted that each of them would do their part and help them. They have had to deposit more than ever their blind faith in their team, in their family, to get well rid of this. And so it has been.
This trust has been rewarded when everyone has been in their place, fighting and they have not betrayed themselves even if the circumstances were difficult. It has been seen as the Team works as if it were a perfect puzzle. The pieces fit together little by little until assembled in an unbreakable whole. That’s what Hirst hadn’t in mind, that they were so close and that there was no fissure between them. Underestimating the Team has been her downfall.
Kurt
Kurt has been debating since Roman’s call between killing Hirst in cold blood and losing his integrity or losing Jane, the love of his life, when she learned the truth about Berlin.
This has been tormenting him throughout the episode, he has even had nightmares about it. Showing the fear, the terror of losing Jane and having to make a choice as impossible as that. And it has hurt my heart to see that, to see how shattered he is, everything that he is supporting inside. The secret is eating away little by little.
The most tense moment outside of this situation, has been his interrogation by Reade. Kurt knew that Reade was acting for Hirst’s benefit but when he touched on Jane and his duty with the FBI, that had hit a nerve. It was precisely the dilemma he faced and he has affirmed, screaming, that what he feels for Jane has never intruded on his duty. That message was not only for Reade, but for himself. He was screaming at himself what he knew he should do. He couldn’t kill a human being in cold blood. And he has to tell Jane everything.
I think Kurt was taking Reade seriously at the time, not because he thought he had switched sides, but because of the fact that Reade had put into words his deepest torment. Reade may have been acting but what he was saying…what he was saying was something to keep in mind, it was what he was facing.
At the end of the episode, this dilemma is presented again. Hirst is begging him to end her life because she knows that she is already dead, Kurt has the gun, ready to shoot…but he can’t do it. He isn’t a cold-blooded killer. He chooses well and only arrests Hirst.
Kurt breaks my heart in this episode, he breaks it into a thousand pieces because I suffer for him, I understand, I understand why he has done what he has done but…he was wrong.
Ritch
Ritch has been involved in all the secrets of Hirst and the Team and I love it! He hasn’t hesitated a single second in going to tell everything to the team when he realized what Hirst had done to decipher. He knew that Patterson was innocent so he has blindly trusted the rest of the team to find out what was happening.
Throughout the episode he has been working with them while finding out that Hirst was corrupt. Even when they have trapped him. He hasn’t said anything, he wasn’t going to say anything, but then Hirst put in front of him what he most wanted: his freedom. And she even names the love of his life. Hirst was giving him a choice between his freedom and old life and his new life with the Team where trust was a reality.
Not many episodes ago, Ritch told Patterson that he would be able to leave behind the team, the trust and friendship he had with them if that meant not going to jail. Now he has exactly that choice in front of him. And choose the Team. As Ritch himself says, he doesn’t give his friends or his family and that’s what Team is for him. If he must return to prison for them, go ahead, but he will not give them away.
Ritch lived in a world where deceit and flight was the daily bread. Total trust and friendship wasn’t something that existed in his world…until he joined the FBI. There he met for the first time what it was like to have friends and people to trust without having to take care of your back every second. And that’s vital to Ritch, it’s even more important to him than he was willing to accept until that moment.
So, with all the humor that only he is capable of gathering, he tells Hirst that he doesn’t give in to her demands. At the end of the episode, the Team takes it to its base of operations. And it’s something very symbolic, it’s like the open welcome to their lives. They’re telling Ritch that they trust him blindly and that he is part of the family.
Until then, the team could have their reserves but not anymore and that’s what they’re showing Ritch here. He has chosen them over his freedom and hasn’t betrayed them, he has amply demonstrated that he is worthy of the trust they place in him. And Ritch accepts that friendship and brotherhood offered to him. He has already chosen a side definitively, he will not betray them, no matter that his freedom is at stake.
By the way, I haven’t escaped Reade’s hopeful gaze towards Ritch, hoping he will not accept the treatment proposed by Hirst. And when he has “accepted” Reade’s face and look has turned into disappointment, betrayal, broken confidence…but when he has verified that this was not the case, Reade has felt pride and fun at the way the one that Ritch has made patent his decision. That pride is the same as the rest of the Team. And it’s exciting to think how far they have come.
Ritch’s acid humor is wonderful! Really, I don’t know how many times I’ve laughed with him, helping me a little to clear the tension of the episode. I can’t have enough of him!.
Reade
On this occasion, Reade has had to play at being Hirst’s ally with everything that implies. He had to see how she attacked each member of his family – because the team is family – without being able to really do anything to help them. He has even had to press Kurt in a very personal way, touching a nerve with Jane to satisfy Hirst.
This has been really complicated for him, pretending to be the enemy of his real family while the snake – I love the nickname Reade has given to Hirst – was at ease and he had to be by her side and attack others with the same poison as her. But it was necessary, because in that way he could closely monitor all the steps of the snake.
Although I must say that I was surprised at first to reveal that the base of operations of the team was the Jeller apartment but I understood it, that way he covered his back and Hirst wouldn’t suspect him because she gave her the command of the interrogation and was Present was just a test for Reade, and he has been able to identify that situation quickly.
However, he knew that he had touched sensitive fibers in his friends, especially with Kurt and he doesn’t want him to think he meant what he said. That’s why he apologizes to him, Kurt doesn’t blame him at all. And I love having seen them like that, especially considering that in previous episodes, Reade made a similar claim seriously.
JELLER
I think that a sentence that Jane has told Kurt – and vice versa – summarizes the Jeller situation throughout the episode and also after the end: “I don’t want to lose you”. If you look, everything is summarized in that. Jane is worried about the situation they are facing and doesn’t want to lose Kurt. And he…he’s terrified of losing her, for a long time but Roman’s calls blackmailing him make everything more real. It has no escape: either it loses his integrity or he loses Jane.
Kurt is throughout the episode rebelling against this, having nightmares about it, trying to decide what to do. Until he does, he can’t kill in cold blood, he isn’t like that. But he doesn’t want to lose Jane, he can’t lose her, it’s the love of his life, it’s his happiness, it’s his everything, he can’t even think that everything between them ends.
When everything is over, Roman calls again and he knows that he hasn’t killed Hirst but that he has arrested her and Kurt pleads him, he really asks him in a pleading tone not to say anything to Jane, not to make him lose her. I think if Roman had been in his presence, Kurt would have gone down on his knees to beg. I really felt that way, that broken voice, that imploring voice, begging for mercy. It has broken me to hear him.
Roman tells him that this time he will not tell Jane anything, that he can keep her … for the moment. Then Kurt here finally realizes that he can’t continue like this. Roman has it in his hands and it can’t lead him to ask again for something like killing someone. And he knows that Jane deserves the truth. So he swallows his fears and confesses to Jane what happened in Berlin: he found his daughter and killed her.
OMG! Holy shit! BOOM! This is big, huge, and surprising. I knew that Berlin had to be something tremendous, but I didn’t expect something like that. Again, Blindspot makes my head explode while leaving me with my mouth open. Of course, there’s a story of how this happened and Kurt came to kill her and that we still need to know. But the summary is this, Kurt killed Jane’s daughter.
Of course, Kurt, as we have seen in this episode, is not a cold-blooded killer, so if he killed Jane’s daughter it’s for some justified reason, perhaps in self-defense or in defense of someone.
Having that clear, will that girl be dead? In Blindspot you can’t rule out anything and it wouldn’t be strange for Kurt to think that he killed the girl but in reality she was still alive.
Although the most important thing is to find out Jane’s reaction to all this. She, like us, knows Kurt so she will be clear that if he killed someone it wasn’t for pleasure, but because it was necessary. That’s why I don’t think that the fact that Kurt killed her daughter is what really hurts her, if not the lie. Kurt’s betrayal of her. That will be what hits Jane hard.
Jane has lived between lies too long and had made it clear that she didn’t want to do it anymore. She trusted Kurt fully, married him and never hid anything from him. Jane wants, as usual, that Kurt corresponds with the same confidence. Only he didn’t. He doesn’t trust her enough to tell her. It’s true that he had good intentions but he made that mistake. The error of not trusting. The error of not including his wife in something so important that affects them both. That’s what is really going to kill Jane inside.
We can also argue that Jane lied to Kurt many times with those same good intentions. Especially once when she didn’t tell him that Roman had remembered to kill Taylor’s mother. It’s true, that’s the situation that most resembles this. But, aside from the fact that the Jeller relationship is now more advanced than before, I think that’s precisely the point. Jeller is going to put in the other’s shoes.
As I have been commenting these weeks, in this way Jane will feel what Kurt felt when he learned of her lack of confidence and he will be in Jane’s position, in just having good intentions, in let yourself be carried away by fear.
Now this is between them, may separate them … momentarily. I have already mentioned it several times but I will never tire of doing it. “Nothing worthwhile is easy.” Jeller will find their way back to the other, never doubt that fact, that will happen. And when they do, what separates them today will have given them a deep understanding of the other’s feelings and will lead them to have a relationship without secrets, trust and full inclusion.
In short, a stronger and even more real relationship, since they will not have a lie floating on their heads. We just have to suffer before that … and it will not be easy but it will be worth it because when they get over this, nothing, absolutely nothing, can interpose between them again. We have to have faith and patience, family!.
READE AND TASHA
This relationship is fed, at the moment, by small significant details. In this episode we have been able to verify it. That little gesture between them at the beginning of the episode when Reade told them that he was going to play at being Hirst’s ally. It has only been a moment, but it is there. Reade has turned to Tasha and both have spoken expressing their concern, just among themselves, as if there were no one else in the room. Tasha’s concerned look speaks for itself, as does Reade’s, trying to reassure her.
Later in the episode, Tasha couldn’t help but make clear to Patterson that she was especially concerned about Reade. And she has captured that fact. Even though Tasha has tried to divert her attention, Patterson has soon realized the truth: Tasha likes Reade. Although I would say more than that, I would say that she is in love with Reade – and vice versa -.
Tasha has felt discovered and vulnerable at the same time, it was a truth that was deep inside, hidden. Patterson has acted as a good friend and told her it is complicated, he has a girlfriend but Tasha already knows it – although hearing about Patterson has been an unexpected blow for her despite everything – she just can’t avoid what she feels, the heart doesn’t understands reasons.
Patterson leaves the subject at the moment but I’m glad that Tasha has someone who knows her feelings. She needs a friend to vent on because all this with Reade has just begun.
Later in the episode, when Hirst wants to blackmail Reade, they kidnap Zapata. Because Tasha is his weakness and his strength. She’s the woman that he loves. Hirst has realized the Reade’s feelings – and Tasha’s – before he wanted to accept them.
Of course, there is no way in hell that Reade is not going to try to save Tasha, however it may be. So Hirst’s plan works well in that regard. In fact, Reade calls for the liberation of Zapata immediately, wants to exchange for her. Reade didn’t mind losing his life if Tasha was safe. That speaks of an immense love.
In the final scenes of the episode, Tasha gives him a proud look that contains all the fear and anguish she has felt for him. And that look is the reflection of Reade’s. I had the feeling that they just wanted to be alone to shake off the tension and the worry of both of them kissing.
But, for the time being, it isn’t possible yet. This relationship is simmering and progressing more and more. This is just the beginning of a long journey. We have to prepare for it.
ROMAN
We have discovered something very important about him: his plan is to put an end to Blake’s father, who is the one who manages the threads of Hirst and, I’m sure, many people like her. This has surprised me for good. I thought there was someone else behind Roman’s plan but there isn’t, only that Roman tries to catch a really bad guy. That’s why tattoos, or a large part of them, are destined – apart from punishing Jane – to catch this man.
And this gives me hope. A lot. It gives me hope for a redemption for Roman. And it confirms that as for Jane, he’s only taking refuge in the rage he knows because he’s terrified to analyze more deeply and swim in that pain he feels but, when he does, he will be able to understand and forgive Jane.
Although Roman is not an angel and has done really cruel things, he’s trying to catch a really dangerous monster. If he is trying to do good, in his twisted way, that means that Jane wasn’t misguided when in the previous season she believed in Roman and that there was still something good in her brother in spite of everything. There must be something good in Roman if he had made an intricate plan to catch someone like Blake’s father.
Blake…she’s another important factor regarding Roman. To approach her father without raising suspicions, Roman has entered the in Blake’s life. He has seduced her, he has even made a bold move to get his father’s attention.
He has even had dinner with his enemy, a dinner full of tension in which both men have challenged and Blake’s father has respected Roman for his boldness to challenge him and face him, even to say no.
Blake has melted – just like me – when Roman has asserted with such confidence that he felt something for her. And I think it’s not something far from reality. Maybe I’m naive to think this but I think Roman likes Blake.
I think that at first for him it was simply a means to the end of reaching his father. But now, after spending special and wonderful moments with her, he has really come to appreciate and feel something for Blake. She is so good, so honest, so sweet … but at the same time so strong, mischievous and determined. Blake is light and for someone who has lived in darkness as much as Roman that Blake’s light is something that attracts him, that calls him in a way that he can’t ignore that call.
I don’t think Roman is faking Blake at all, not at least about how he feels something for her and all the smiles and funny moments they’ve had together. What do you think about all this?.
By the way, Roman and Blake are back in Barcelona! I’m always happy to see such a beautiful city from my country in one of my favorite show.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this episode has the perfect ingredients for a SPECTACULAR mid season finale. The pace has been frantic, with an acidic mood that relaxed us enough to prepare us for the next movement and the next revelation. Several secrets are uncovered, including Berlin.
We have made great progress in the different frames that had opened for this first part of the season and we have opened others for the second part. Closing some stories but, at the same time, leaving them more open than ever, just waiting for everything that is to come. And there is still much to come.
Blindspot has made us enjoy, eat our nails, explode our heads, cry, laugh and suffer. All in one episode. And, above all, it leaves us wanting more. A mid season finale that has been in crescendo at the height of this magnificent first part of the season. I can’t wait to see the next episode !.
Agree? Disagree? Don’t hesitate to share your opinion with us in the comments below! We’ll be back on January 12 with episode 3 × 09 “Hot Burning Flames.”
I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and happy New Year. I hope you enjoy these holidays next to your most beloved ones. It has been a pleasure to share with you every week the opinions and theories about this wonderful show and I hope we can continue doing it starting on January 12th. I wish you all the best, you deserve it!.
And, as a farewell, here’s the promo for the next episode.
Blindspot returns January 12 at 8 / 7c on NBC.