Blindspot is back! And it’s not just an empty expression, after last week’s break, “The One Where Jane Visits An Old Friend” returns things to its place. The episode is a constant cat and mouse game in every way. The team and its offensive with Madeline takes center stage and takes a turn, while the feelings of the protagonists are on the surface … and an old enemy returns unexpectedly. Let’s talk about everything!
Here we go!
CASE OF THE WEEK
On this occasion, the case has been focused on trapping Madeline once and for all and preventing her plans. The whole episode has been a cat-and-mouse game between both teams to see who can catch who. Also, we have discovered that everything that has happened since they attacked Tasha has been the product of Madeline’s plans. She has very concrete plans, especially for Tasha, who has betrayed her … more than that, she got Madeline to trust her.
The truth is that the episode has managed to keep us on the screen. Every time the team took a step it seemed that Madeline was ten ahead and the goal of catching her was a little further away … we couldn’t stop asking “what will happen now? Will they get her?” And in the end they succeed. But we knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. It wasn’t going to be able to be. Madeline is not the kind that stays put and she had a plan B in case everything went wrong. Now Jane is in her hands and she is in a strong position to negotiate with the FBI having one of her own in her power.
In a sense, it has been like a titans duel alone between Tasha and Madeline. Both are known to perfection, both their strengths and their weaknesses. That makes them know not only where to attack each other but what their next moves will be. What has led them to that kind of game that they have been playing and … it seems that Tasha has won by the hand when she has managed to arrest her but in the end it has not been like that.
I loved watching this titans duel. What has made it so interesting are the similarities that both characters have with each other. Madeline, just as Tasha, is not afraid to get her hands dirty when she considers it necessary, the difference is that Tasha is a good person and only considers doing it when it is the only way to save those she loves the most and to do what she considers to be right. Madeline does it simply when she thinks it necessary for her own ends. Both are able to cross the limit … but both for different reasons, and that is the difference between the two, that thin invisible line that separates them.
That is why it is so interesting, they are so different and so equal at the same time that we can’t help but attend the show while they try to destroy themselves. It’s disturbing … but we can’t stop looking and we don’t want to do it either. On the contrary, we want more!
JANE
While all this is happening, Jane is going through a bad time. She can’t leave the house and is in a depression. Kurt is greatly worried about his wife and just thinks about helping her. But he knows that this time he may not be enough and that Jane needs professional help to overcome what she is feeling.
Jane goes to a psychologist and everything goes wrong. This man doesn’t even try to understand her or help her, he drifts off to another doctor who doesn’t even believe her or knows anything about what she’s saying and who almost threw my Louboutins at her head when she dared to call Roman a psychopath (seriously, where did these two come from?).
So Jane only sees one way out: go to Borden. He was a traitor but he was a psychologist and, above all, he knows her. In all her facets. Like Remi, like Jane … there is no one who knows her like him. I understand the reasoning and it’s totally logical that she went looking for him – although it’s clear that the plot of the incompetent doctors was made for Jane to be forced to do it – but I can’t stand Borden. He hurt the lovely unicorn AKA Patterson and that is unforgivable. So I don’t like to see him at all.
But there he is … and after much persuasion and supplication from Jane, he agrees to listen to her. And I’m surprised to agree with everything that this cruel and evil psychopath tells Jane. She has tried to separate Jane and Remi as much as possible, creating a wall between the actions and feelings of each of them and every time that Remi’s actions are introduced in Jane’s life, that wall trembles and threatens to fall … and it’s something Jane can’t stand. But it doesn’t work like that. Nothing works like that.
It is not about separating into two identities, into two different people. It’s about understanding and accepting that they are the same person. The feelings that she decided to promote as Jane were also in Remi, only that as Jane got rid of the manipulation to which she had been subjected all her life and could realize that her actions as Remi were not the right way to try to make the world best. But the feelings are the same. She is the same. That is why there was no change as such in “becoming” Jane. It was always the same. What did exist was freedom.
As Jane got rid of Shepherd’s manipulation and was free to think and act on her own. But her feelings, her desire to change and improve the world never changed or magically grew when she became Jane, they were always there … even as Remi did horrible things to achieve that goal. It only remains for her to accept that fact and the things she did as Remi. Everything horrible. But also accept the good feelings that were always there, both when her name was Remi and when she is called Jane.
Accepting that is the first step to regain balance. That necessary balance that only reached when she gets to accept everything and forgive herself. But taking one step at a time. Little by little … and she’s on the right path.
I loved watching Kurt’s look of pride and love when he saw Jane appear ready for action and walking safely towards her recovery. He knew that she could get it. She is incredibly strong and brave and he has always trusted her.
Having said that, I think Patterson’s reaction to the knowledge that Borden were helping Jane was worth mentioning. She has stood for a moment, the second in which her heart has stopped and everything has been flooded with painful memories … but she has breathed deeply and has overcome that moment. It shows that it still hurts but Jane and her recovery is more important. As for everyone else.
Of course, there is a difference between this reaction of Patterson and the one she had with Tasha at the time. It’s not just because Patterson has made more progress in overcoming it than Kurt has told her. Tasha hid her, lied to her and let her be found out by other people … Kurt has told her and he hasn’t lost a second in doing it. The combination of everything makes a difference.
RICH AND BOSTON
I love these two! Rich’s concern for Boston and his desire to see him are palpable from the beginning of the episode. Until he has him there. But Boston treats him with disdain, almost doesn’t even look at him … and Rich is desperate because he does it, desperate to get close to him. That is why he has bought all the photographs of his exhibition. It’s a way to maintain that connection, to be there, in his life … to not let him go.
Patterson realizes this and exasperates her. Rich loves Boston and vice versa, only that Boston wants to appear indifferent and Rich doesn’t know how to approach. He is afraid to do it in case he rejects him. Going around Boston doesn’t compromise him. He doesn’t let him go … but he doesn’t risk having to do it because Boston tells him he doesn’t want him in his life. So it’s close … but far away at the same time using his usual tactics. Although that is not the answer.
Both need to stop talking nonsense and spin around each other and just be honest, tell themselves what they feel. They have had lies, deceptions and games for a lifetime. And they have overcome them by the hair. Of course, another deception is not ideal for them to be together again and be a couple. No matter how white, innocent and pious this deception may be. And that’s what Rich is doing by buying all those photographs from the Boston exhibit. He needs to be honest so that, if they are going to start something, there are no more deceptions in between.
As I’ve told you before, I love these two. But sometimes it pisses me off. Boston, specifically. Sometimes he says or does things to Rich that can be considered unfair and cruel. It happened like this when he planned to get involved in the FBI, no matter how important it was for Rich. And it has happened now when Boston has shouted at Rich that he would be nothing without him and that he is envious of his success. Both are good at what they do. Together they are better and complement each other but the two have managed to get where they are on their own merits.
At the end of the episode, something has happened that has clarified everything. Rich could have done many things, he could have told him the truth about his exhibition, he could have sunk him … he had it in his hand to do it but he loves Boston too much for that. So, he has followed Patterson’s advice in his own way and has been sincere in confessing to Boston that he is proud of him. It is what he feels. He is proud of what he is capable of doing and of everything he has achieved.
So Boston gives back that sincerity in his own way, and lets him know that he knows he has bought the photographs of his exhibition. He has known all along … but none of them has said anything. They have danced around each other in a dance that only they both know. Patterson is surprised. The normal thing is what she has said: to be sincere one without the other without any type of game in the middle.
But they don’t go normal. They are above that. It has always been that way for them. Like a game … always playing around the other … like a cat a mouse, trying to trap each other … and getting it at the end. Through that prism, suddenly, the actions and words of Boston cease to be cruel and unjust and become part of this game. Boston didn’t want to enter the FBI without caring how important it was for Rich. He wanted to get close to him … and force a reaction from him, return to his life. He also doesn’t want to hurt him with his words in this episode, it’s a provocation, a trap to see if he enters the game and how he reacts. As a kind of test … which is far surpassed by Rich.
Both love each other with madness and that is their way of doing it, to demonstrate how important they are to each other. Each couple is different and speaks a unique language that most of the time only they understand and can be a locurs for others. This is the language of Rich and Boston. And it’s beautiful.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this episode is the definition of the game of cat and mouse in all aspects. Finally we return to the rhythm that the previous episode broke and we continue in crescendo towards the end of the season. What has seemed a great victory for the team has ended with an unexpected, abrupt end … that has changed the rules in which the team has been moving so far.
In addition, Jane / Remi’s duality and Jane’s feelings about that have been deeply deepened. In her acceptance process, totally necessary to achieve the balance she should has in her life. And the plot has been brought to perfection. Although I didn’t like the appearance of precisely that character from the past … it has had logic and I have understood why it should be precisely him.
In short, this episode returns to the path that they shouldn’t forget and direct us towards what will be a great end of the season.
Agree? Disagree? Don’t hesitate to share your opinion with us in the comments below! The series has around the corner a small hiatus. We’ll be back on April 5 with 4×17 “The Night of the Dying Breath” And here’s the promo for the next episode.
Blindspot returns Friday, April 5 at 8 / 7c on NBC.
