Welcome, blindspotters! After a mini hiatus, Blindspot is back with “Careless Whisper.” It’s a transitional episode, although with important touches for everything that comes, but in general, the axis on which the episode turns feels too disconnected from the other plots that appear in it, and, again, it’s rhythm is too slow compared to what we were used to. Let’s talk about everything!
Here we go!
CASE OF THE WEEK
On this occasion, the central axis of the episode has been the case of the week. This has been intimately related to the story we have been seeing and living for four years.
This case has been fun and instructive at times, and boring in others. As a fun part, we must mention seeing Kurt become super-fan-who-is-not-super-fan. Hilarious and wonderful. We are all him when we are fascinated by something but we aren’t prepared for others to know it. Another fun moment has been, of course, Rich and his Canadian “friends.” Do they really exist?
However, as a counterpart, I didn’t like the parts in which the characters read the novel and we saw them act according to that story. Those kinds of things are not my style, but that overacting of the characters taken to the extreme has made me roll my eyes. Those moments of the episode have bored me, and I think they haven’t been necessary. I feel like they were a total waste of time and minutes on the screen. The only good thing I have to say about this is that we have seen something romantic between Patterson and Rich, fulfilling the wish of some fans who consider that they get together. In a parallel world it would be possible, after all.
The instructive part of this case has been Brianna. She confided information to the writer betrayed the confidence of her team. It’s a bad action, but I think we can all put ourselves in her place because who has not felt less at some time? We have all felt inferior, without any apparent reason, and we wanted to prove to others but, above all, to ourselves, that we are worth more, that we can do more.
Brianna doesn’t feel fulfilled or valued in her life or work and has low self-esteem; coupled that with a great ingenuity that made her trust the wrong person. It hasn’t had greater consequences for her than a suspension. But the hard part for her will come now, she has been dealt a hard blow and recovering the trust of her companions will not be easy … forgiving herself either.
In general, this case has been entertaining but has felt totally disconnected from the rest of the story-lines and the season. Moreover, it has been felt that the whole episode has been the excuse for the final scene and Jane’s blindness to manifest. That is, the means to earn (or spend) time, to develop what is truly important in the next episode.
JELLER
This couple is wonderful. Jane’s disease gets worse at every step. She tries to take iron out of the matter so that Kurt doesn’t worry but he does, it’s inevitable. Jane is confident that being on the battlefield is viable, especially with the control that Patterson has given her, but she is willing to leave it to Kurt. His answer is clarifying, “You don’t have to do anything for me.” Kurt wants her to be safe but he will never take away her decision-making ability and will not stop her from fighting, asking her not to do it, asking her to stay still is like asking her to not be her and Kurt would never do it.
Later, when Kurt realizes that Jane has disappeared, everything becomes frantic for him. His worry and fear is palpable. Everything becomes a race against time to find her. And he does, Jane knows, just before falling into darkness, she whispers his name, with relief and confidence: she knew Kurt would find her.
In the hospital, Jane is totally blind but notices how terrified Kurt is. Even though he tries to keep the tone light, she knows him, she can see through that facade, although she can’t see his face, she clearly notices the nuance of terror that covers everything he says. Then Kurt does something enormously sweet, rests his face on Jane’s caress, to feel it, palpable, alive, his … then, he takes her hand and takes it to his heart. So that she feels that strong and constant beat … that beats for her. He wants her to feel it, Jane does it. That is the only thing that matters, that both are together and that their hearts beat in unison for each other. Is beautiful.
At the end of the episode, the worst fears are confirmed: Jane has days left. That’s when Kurt collapses and cries. Cries with all his terror, his pain … It’s a heartrending cry in which you can literally feel how his heart breaks.
But are we really that close to Jane’s death? I believe that no, while she is alive there is hope, and surely the team manages to find a cure. What do you think?
TASHA
Zapata had been kidnapped by her own agency: the CIA, but when it seemed all lost, someone unknown saves her and helps her. It seems a friend … but if something has taught us this show is to not trust the strangers. So I don’t trust in him…
But the important thing here is Tasha’s the attitude, she wants to go to the appointment she had scheduled although she knows it’s dangerous. Despite the warnings of her new savior, she is determined to go and will do so, with or without his help. This insistence is important. She chooses to go to that appointment despite the danger as if she had nothing to lose. And it is that, for her, she doesn’t have it.
Tasha knows, or thinks she knows, that she has lost Reade and he was the only thing that kept her sane, her anchor. Having lost that, she no longer has any kind of containment, not even worry for her own welfare. Nor does she fight to try to recover Reade because she doesn’t see hope. She becomes totally … self-destructive. Which brings us directly to that reflection that Brianna tells Reade at the end of the episode.
The writer thought that Tasha was too self-destructive for herself and those around her. He couldn’t find a happy ending for her. Is this true? If we look a little, Tasha has never been afraid to go too far in her methods if she considered there were enough reasons for it, that’s why she fits in with the CIA. And, at the moment of truth, she always chooses a dangerous path that takes her away from everything she knows and loves.
Let’s look, for example, at the decision she made about Borden. Tasha betrayed Patterson and her own principles, knowing that it would end up destroying her relationship with her best friend and an important link in her life.
And, of course, there is what has happened most recently: Tasha’s mission in the CIA to infiltrate the Madeline group. Tasha knew that it was going to be dangerous, dark … and also that she was going to suppose destroying everything she had in her life: her team, her friends, her family … her incipient love with Reade. Zapata put all that in a balance and chose the mission. She chose loneliness … and played with the destruction of her own life.
Many times throughout her life she has had to choose … and has always chosen self-destruction. But, Tasha has a good heart, is an intrinsic part of who she is. The question is, will her good heart be enough to save her from herself?
RAPATA
Little has been developed about this couple in the episode, but hints have been given about them. At first, Reade has ventured with Kurt about how he feels about Tasha and her mission.
Betrayal and disappointment are the emotions that consume him and that cover all the others. He feels disappointed and betrayed because Tasha didn’t choose him and because she didn’t trusted in him with her mission, she chose solitude and broke his heart, breaking them, instead of facing everything that happened as a couple.
He feels that he has lost her and, with it, a part of himself that will never return. It’s sad but … it’s what Reade feels. It truly breaks my heart to see Reade like this and this couple so destroyed as it is, for now. Remember that this is not how it begins, but how it ends. There is still hope, blindspotters!
CONCLUSION
It’s been an episode of transition, entertaining … but Blindspot can do much more. The plot of the episode itself (the case of the week) has felt totally disconnected and out of the plot of the season. It wasn’t even related to Madeline’s master plan. And it has been a too sharp contrast with the plot of Tasha and Jeller that do have consequences for this season. It has been noted that it has been a means to an end, simply a way to gain time until the next episode.
On this occasion, they have fallen back into a rhythm that is too slow, which is still not typical of this show. We need them to get on with it already, can’t go around in circles. They must return to the rhythm that gave them success and develop the plots that have been raised for this season.
Agree? Disagree? Don’t hesitate to share your opinion with us in the comments below! We’ll be back next week with 4×12 “The Tale of the Book of Secrets.” And here’s the promo for the next episode.
Blindspot airs Fridays at 8 / 7c on NBC.
