We’re here again, Blindspotters! After a slow week, the show has given us an episode like those of yesteryear. In “Everybody hates Kathy” the good rhythm returns, as well as the tattoos, the mysteries and the emotional conflicts. In short, our favorite series returns. The case of the week has bifurcated to, on the one hand, advance the main plot in a surprising and wonderful way and, on the other, to develop one of our protagonists, giving us a closer perspective of his life, of his past and who he is now. Let’s talk about everything!
Here we go!
CASE OF THE WEEK
This time the case of the week has bifurcated into several branches.
On the one hand we had the research of Rich and Patterson that has taken us directly towards Kathy and her anger once again.
On the other hand, the more than safe attack (this time nuclear) has taken us to a family that is a kind of an imperfect reflection of Kurt’s family, thus connecting this plot intimately with him and the emotional conflict that he has to face on this occasion, which I loved. This is what a case of the week should be, something that connects directly to the characters and helps us to develop and better understand their plot, and something that leads us to advance in the grand scheme of things.
Focusing strictly on the case, we have returned to what we should never have left: tattoos. The origin of everything and part of the key to the success of the show. It has been pleasant and different, nothing has been what it seemed and the really guilty person was the one that seemed most affected: the mother.
This has connected directly with Kurt. He has seen the two sides of the coin that lead to his story. He has seen a father who is worried and willing to do everything to protect his son and has also seen a mother who was many things. She was a manipulator, a liar, a spy and even a terrorist … but she loved her son. At the end of the day, she chose him and put the well-being of the little one above her own. That woman was many things but, again, she loved her son. Because making mistakes, making big mistakes, and making horrible decisions doesn’t mean you don’t love your child. It doesn’t mean that, in spite of everything, Kurt’s mother doesn’t love him.
I really liked how they have managed to spin everything, developing a plot that has helped us to better understand the two sides of the coin in the story of Kurt and his family and, at the same time, has opened Kurt’s eyes. All this without leaving aside the action, the other plots and mysteries and entertainment. Point for them!
JELLER
I have loved every moment of this couple! Kurt has always been there for Jane, at every moment. In the good, bad and worse. In every emotional challenge that she has had to deal with. And now Jane has done the same for Kurt. They have gone to see his mother to discover what tied her to Shepherd.
At all times, Kurt has treated her as another suspect, just wanted to find out the answers and close that door again with a bang, as he did years ago … but, at the same time, he was afraid to open it again for fear of what could come out of there. But at his side was Jane, she has given him the strength to do it and has treated his mother in a nicer way. Kurt’s mother was happy to see him, happy to see that he had married and to see Jane’s eyes full of love for her son, happy to see that he was happy … and proud of everything he has achieved.
Kurt is full of resentment, anger … almost hate but, in reality, all that covers his pain. But it’s like trying to cover the sun with a finger. The pain is too great, it floods everything. He felt abandoned, unprotected by his mother. She was not there when he needed her, she never let herself be helped by him, because she didn’t care enough, and did not take him away from the monster his father had become. She was not there to protect him. And that she has been deceived by Shepherd is too much.
Kurt’s mother confided in Shepherd blindly, but she only used her to get close to Kurt and that his mother didn’t realize it, that … accentuates Kurt’s feeling of helplessness. It accentuates his pain. Although he knows that Shepherd was an expert manipulator … he is not rational at the moment.
Everything gets worse when a criminal goes looking for his mother. Her terror at seeing him makes Kurt realize that she has not changed anything in those years, no matter how she seems to. When she confesses what has happened, Kurt judges her harshly, while Jane is the one who is most sympathetic to her. Kurt’s mother made many mistakes and never knew how to fight … and Kurt is absolutely right to feel angry, but the truth is that she is his family, she is in danger and he is not the type of man that leaves someone in danger to his fate and less to someone he loves.
Because that’s where everything lies. Kurt loves her. She is his mother and, despite everything, he loves her and he still hopes that she will approach him, that she will embrace him so that he feels that everything will be fine. And he’s angry with himself for feeling that. Kurt listens to Jane and gives in because he knows she’s right … but stays away.
It’s Jane who listens to Kurt’s mother. Nothing is what it seems. She tried to protect her son but his father threatened his life and she did the only thing she thought she could do: leave, to protect him. Because her son was more important than everything, including herself. Later, she got lost in her own addictions, in her own fears and demons … she let them consume her and was never there when her son needed her. She made one mistake after another and never let herself be helped.
This is key, since to help a person, that person should want to be helped. Kurt’s mother didn’t really want to do it at any time, that’s why all of Kurt’s attempts were unsuccessful.
The case leads Kurt to face his own feelings about his mother. First, he sees a mother concerned about the well-being of her son, almost dead in life for not having him by her side. And he can’t help but think that his mother never cared about not having him by her side (although nothing could be further from reality). Afterwards, he sees a father capable of risking everything, including his life, to save his son. He at this moment thinks that his mother was never able to do anything it for him, that her would have been able, things would have been different (again, he is wrong).
And, in the end, Kurt sees how a mother turned into a spy and terrorist, returns to become a mother, showing that she loves her son above all else. She puts him first, even above herself.
Kurt can’t, as he tells Tasha, forget everything that has happened with his mother and simply pretend. There is too much resentment, too much pain for that. Tasha tells him it’s family … and that he should try. And she’s right, it’s not as easy as ignoring it, besides, that would not be healthy and it would be a lie. But family deserves another chance. His mother deserves to show that she has learned from her mistakes.
The case, along with the conversation he has with Jane makes him open his eyes. He is at a crossroads: he can say something that he will regret later and keep his mother away forever or he can give her another chance. Kurt decides to give her another chance. Now, thanks to Jane, he knows that nothing was as it seemed. His mother tried to put him first and losing him was a torture for her … although she was never brave enough to do something about it.
Kurt is willing to give her another chance but he needs to know that she is capable of being his mother again. He needs to know that she is willing to let herself be helped, because he is not willing to repeat that flawed dynamic and she, this time, lets herself be helped because she feels she has something to fight for. It’s not all right between them … but it’s a beginning. It’s the necessary and most significant one. Mother and son are starting again … and Kurt’s pain has eased as he forgave his mother, once he has better understood her part of the story.
PATTERSON AND RICH
Great and interesting plot that has united Rich and Patterson with their friend Kathy. Both form a perfect tandem, the seriousness of Patterson and Rich’s humor and how she gets carried many times by that humor and that madness that characterizes it … it just works.
At first, I didn’t remember Kathy, but she will be key for the future. I loved this, to join this plot, in appearance, without relevance, to the entire final plan.
Kathy wants revenge. In her eyes, both Patterson and Rich did the same as her but Kathy ended up in jail and they continued to work for the government. Frankly, Kathy is crazy but I think we can all get to understand her anger and her desire for revenge.
In fact, that fact is important because, while it seems that Patterson and Rich did the same as her, there is a difference. Patterson and Rich did want to do something good, they did it for the common good, although in reality they were breaking the law for it … but, sometimes, that is what is needed to do what is right and just. That’s what they were trying to do, and always separating it from their jobs at the FBI. They were white hats. But Kathy was always a black hat, never cared to cause chaos or the consequences of their actions as long as she got what she wanted, she didn’t care what she had to lose along the way. That is the difference
Uniting the desire for revenge to the madness and psychopathy of Kathy creates an explosive cocktail. A time bomb about to go off.
And it will go off soon. For the time being, Kathy has blackmailed Patterson and Rich to give her money for her “wedding.” Patterson has had no choice but to do it, but has she really trusted Kathy to think that would solve everything? I mean, Kathy is crazy, but she doesn’t have to keep her word, especially with the unpredictability that her madness brings her. What prevents Kathy from revealing Patterson and Rich’s hacktivist past once she has the money? I think both Patterson and Rich were too trusting here.
Apart from this, I don’t think that money is for any wedding … it sounds more like a trap. That they are going to involve Patterson and Rich in some terrorist financing crime or similar. Because, attention Kathy’s new boyfriend is … Dominic! Madeline’s partner has joined Kathy with a specific goal.
It seems that in the midst of her madness, he has managed to convince Kathy that they have a kind of relationship and that he loves her, in addition to having a common goal that is to destroy Rich, Patterson and the FBI. But it is clear that he is using her for his own purposes.
Kathy wants to destroy the people who put her in jail and especially Patterson and Rich for “betraying” their friendship. Her knowledge of computers and hacktivism makes her have a talent that Dominic needs to carry out her plan or, better said, Madeline’s plan, and Kathy is vulnerable … the perfect victim to be able to manipulate her at his whim.
Both together they are going to cause a lot of trouble … and the worst thing is that neither Rich nor Patterson have told a word about what happened to Reade so, when everything explodes, it will catch them off guard. What do you think will happen?
RAPATA
That little moment between the couple has given me life! It has been a few seconds of gold. They are like a couple that is living together … only they are not a couple. There has been a time when the laughter and the games have led them to be close, so close … they just had to lean a little so that their lips touched … they both want it very much, but they are afraid. Afraid of what it would mean and what would come next. Fear that it would not go well, like the other times.
So they separate and try to cover that uncomfortable moment with more laughter and jokes. But that moment is still there, latent, waiting. Just waiting for them to decide to deal with it. And they will do it soon, I’m sure. That will be a turning point for them.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this episode shows us that the series is increasingly returning to what it was. The episode has felt as before, with the case of the week serving to better develop the emotional conflicts of the characters, that is, intimately linked to the rest of the plot of the episode but with its own identity.
In addition, there are several well developed subplots that introduce a development of the characters, enriches them and, at the same time, introduce us to a new mystery, advancing the main plot of the season.
Unlike the previous weeks, there is no minute wasted in the episode, everything has its reason and each character has its time and place; everything works like a well-oiled machine that takes us, without haste but without pause, towards the final confrontation. And it’s going to be epic.
Agree? Disagree? Don’t hesitate to share your opinion with us in the comments below! The show takes a little rest again. We’ll be back on May 3 with 4×20 “Coder to Killer.” And here’s the promo for the next episode.
Blindspot returns on Friday, May 3 at 8 / 7c on NBC.