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more--than--anything · 6 years

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Thorns & Roses: Our Thoughts on Season Three

With all eyes on the imminent Season Four premiere, let's take one last look at Season Three. Blindspot survived its sophomore season and came into its third season with what TPTB called a soft reset. With a brand new set of tattoos, a shiny new villain, and airing on a new night—the often-feared Friday death slot—Blindspot promised a lighter and more fun season and sold that premise by promoting everyone’s favorite Rich Dotcom to a recurring role.

So what was our overall impression this season? How did Blindspot fare in the death slot? Did the fresh new look and feel succeed? Was it as light and humorous as they promised?

L: I don't know about the light and humorous part. I mean, should I still feel traumatized by the finale almost four months later? (At what point is it no longer socially acceptable to cry over the death of a fictional character?) But angst aside, I felt this was a pretty solid season. There were some really good plot twists, solid character developments, and interesting, action-packed cases, but there were also some plots that dragged while others felt rushed or inconsistent. If I have one complaint about this season, it would be that there seemed to be too much going on, and trying to keep up with all of the storylines left the pacing of the individual threads rather uneven. I really loved Roman's storyline this season, but if I had to rank seasons, I would have to put the first two ahead of this one, simply because of the pacing issues.

Y: I agree. It was a very solid season, strengthened by the Roman storyline as its backbone, and with the soft reboot, the characters came back with fresh and interesting new baggage that made getting to know them again all the more exciting. I’m not saying it was flawless—like you said, some plot holes, some dragging plots, and a few questionable character decisions here and there—but it was definitely fun, explosive, and nerve-wracking, and months later I still haven’t stopped using the finale as an excuse to occasionally stuff my face with chocolate. And to answer your question, I don’t think there is a statute of limitation on the whole crying-over-the-death-of-a-fictional-character situation.

Rose: Roman's expanded role as Villain/Mastermind

Y: Ever since we saw Roman walk away in the season two finale, bid Jane farewell and turn his back and limp away like the gorgeous bastard that he is, we knew things wouldn’t end well, or at least, he was going to be somewhat pissed off for a while. And pissed off he was, for over two years.

But he was patient and he was diligent and he was kind of stalker-ish? Either way, Roman came back in season three a new man. With his childhood scar magically—or surgically—gone and his entire existence focused solely on one thing, Roman was the puppet master of this season. But unlike his mother, Roman was not driven by some greater goal, not by a belief that the country needs to be fixed, not by a logic—faulty as it may have been—that theirs is a cause that is worth all the crimes and sacrifices being made. No, Roman was driven by revenge, by anger, by betrayal, by loneliness, and by heartbreak.

And that made for a far more complex and enjoyable villain this season. He was methodical, he planned his playbook play by play for years, and he knew what he wanted, yet being driven by emotions rather than logic made him even more volatile and unpredictable. Add to that the fact that he was sick and dying and, with at some point literally nothing to lose, Roman—and Luke for that matter—owned every moment of season three.

L: He really did. And even though his journey didn't end the way I'd hoped it would (I still cannot watch his final scene without crying), his arc over the past two seasons was one of the best in this show. When we first met Roman, he was functioning mostly as Shepherd's puppet, lost and adrift without his sister's influence to keep him on track. At the end of season two, we saw him align again with Shepherd and then turn away from Jane, so he entered this season as a real wildcard. Whose side would he be on? Would he try to break Shepherd out of prison? Would he go after Jane? Or would he reconcile with her and become part of Team Fed? And I'm not going to lie, as damaged and sociopathic as he might have been, I was rooting for him to turn away from the Dark Side and reconcile with Jane. But even though that didn't happen the way I wanted, his journey was still fulfilling. I liked that he didn't try to pick up where Shepherd left off, nor did he just go after Jane. Instead, he chose his own target, which was slowly revealed to us. And he did ultimately succeed in this task—he brought down Hank Crawford—and he reconciled with Jane before he died. I guess I need to find some comfort in that?

Even though Roman began this season as the villain, abducting and tattooing his sister without her consent, I feel like he was trying to work his way back to Jane in his own unique way. The new tattoos seemed intended as punishment for ZIP-ing him against his will (especially given that it was, in essence, a death sentence). And the target he selected was one who had harmed both of them, so he was trying to bring down Crawford as much for Jane as he was for himself. By using the FBI to investigate crimes and feeding them information, he was acknowledging that Jane hadn't been entirely wrong in choosing that course. But the tragedy of Roman is, of course, that things didn't work out the way he'd planned. He fell in love with a woman he wanted to make his future, but instead she ended up being the cause of his death. He faltered in his plan, torn between Blake and his goal. Crawford ended up dead, but his empire is alive and well and in the hands of the woman who cold-bloodedly killed Roman. He reconciled with his sister, but too late to fill in all the gaps between them. And he left behind a host of other mysteries—new tattoos, hidden drives, some anonymous family member on the other end of the phone?—that will ensure his legacy lives on.

Going into the next season, I am really excited to find out who was on the other end of Roman's mysterious phone calls. And I am very interested to see how Remi handles the news of his death, given how close she was to her brother. I foresee her seeking vengeance against Blake... and maybe against Tasha for her part in Roman's demise.

But I'm still going to really, really miss Luke Mitchell on this show.

Y: I think one of the most important things was seeing Roman with Blake. It’s true he didn’t get the ending we wanted for him, but I think in some ways, he was redeemed. Despite his misguided ways, he was working to bring down someone evil. I can’t blame Roman for his ways. He was broken in that sense beyond repair, but he still saw Hank and the evil he presented. His ways may not have differed much from Hank’s, but his intentions were good. He didn’t know any other way that the world works and yet, inside of him was someone who hated what had been done to him and who he was and who tried in the only ways he knew how to make the world a better place and remove the evil from it. If that’s not tragic and heartbreaking, I don’t know what is.

But back to Roman and Blake. We already knew that Roman loves Jane or Remi, in the twisted way that he did. But the weight he carried with him since season two—thanks to Dr. Sun—was that he was incapable of love. He was convinced he was too far gone, a monster who was not capable of love. And I’m not saying his relationship with Blake was healthy necessarily, but it did prove that underneath all the damage, there was still a beating heart, a human being, who wanted nothing more than to love and be loved.

I’ll never be okay with how Roman’s story ended or his entire story for that matter. I’ve never come across a more tragic character. Luke Mitchell deserves all the awards and all the recognition for pulling it off. Roman managed to terrify us and infuriate us and break our hearts. I still weep to this day thinking of the life he had to live and the fate he met. The final scene with Jane just brings it all together to deliver what is probably the most emotionally scarring scene on this show ever. And they barely spoke ten words.

Rose: Hank Crawford as this season's Big Bad

L: Last season, we got to watch the FBI go up against Shepherd. And she was a pretty damn good villain. But Crawford? He was even more chilling. Not only did he show a total lack of remorse for what he'd done to the Krugers and scores of other defenseless children, he was proud of his so-called "passion project." Even as he was dying, he was smiling, because as he told Jane, "I made something great." He was an adversary worthy of our FBI team, and I am eager to see them take apart the rest of his empire and Kira Evans and Blake (and maybe Tasha with her??) in the new season. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about Blake suddenly moving up into the Big Bad desk, so I am interested to see what they do with her, or if we ultimately get a bigger Big Bad to contend with.

Also, Hank Crawford gave us Director Hirst, who was a pretty damn good villain in her own right (kudos to Mary Stuart Masterson for her portrayal, which hit just the right note between utterly charming and downright alarming). All the action and drama with the Crawfords during the second half of the season kind of eclipsed the team's struggle to bring down Hirst during the first half, but that challenge certainly delivered its share of gut punches, as we agonized over Stuart's tragic death, Reade's questionable loyalty, and then the team's race to bring Hirst down before she destroyed their careers. The last episode in the Hirst arc was one of the best this season.

Y: What is it about this show and creating these villains who are so morally ambiguous that you cling to every scene they are in and every line of dialogue they say? I thought Shepherd last season could not be topped, but I was wrong. Crawford was just as complex, just as manipulative, just as twisted, and just as fun to watch. I love how they manage with their villains to take you down that thread where you listen to them and think that you actually agree with them, or at least that their ideology isn’t so wrong, and you find yourself being pulled into what they’re saying—until they pull a stunt like nuking the eastern seaboard or stealing children to create merciless super soldiers.

Hank Crawford and David Morse in turn were a gift to season three. And that scene in the orphanage in the finale was just mind blowing. In every sense of the word and in every aspect of it, that scene was mind blowing. That is all.

I just hope season four can continue with this trend of villains that make you question your own moral compass and provide one chilling and spine-tingling moment after another.

Rose: Team Fed 2.0—Rich is in, Tasha is out, and Reade is in charge

Y: I love this team. I love them to pieces. I absolutely loved where they got to at the end of season two—as a badass crime fighting team, as friends who support each other through everything and as a family who would sacrifice everything for each other. But season three started with that two-year time jump and as much as I would have loved to see the team back where we left them, that would have been absolutely ridiculous. And the time jump and all that happened during that time was exactly what we needed and what they needed to keep it all interesting and to challenge them to become even stronger and closer and a more tight knit unit. Or at least they were that for a while.

Tasha leaving for the CIA brought in the tension and that feeling of unintentional betrayal, Patterson leaving the FBI and going to Silicon Valley only to be dragged back in gave us that homecoming that we all were feeling, Reade becoming the boss injected new blood into the whole office and shuffled the dynamics in a most interesting way, and finally Rich Dotcom joining the team was just everything we all needed in our lives but never dared to ask for. The time jump, the distance and separation, the new roles and new alliances provided a fresh new dynamic to a group of people we already love and pushed them through new unexpected challenges of themselves and each other and their relationships and allowed for interesting arcs and journeys individually and as a team.

Of course it did not all end well. Patterson and Tasha spent a handful of episodes wallowing in angst that was at times almost too much to handle, Tasha and Reade danced around their feelings and the awkwardness hit a whole new level and Rich… well, Rich is Rich. But at the end of the day, the team were willing to give anything to have Tasha come back to the FBI after her humiliating departure from the CIA but she had other things on her mind, and where that puts us for the next season is in a very very exciting place. But despite all that, once again we reached the end of season three with this team as close and as tight knit as ever, with Rich now a welcome member of this family. And that is all I’ve ever wanted. Seriously.

L: Look, I'm gonna be honest here. The tattoos are mysterious, the explosions and the fight scenes are cool. But the reason I tune in each and every week for this show is to see these characters. I love this team. I love the way they interact, the way they all bring something unique to the table. I love the way they trust and look out for each other—both in the field and in their personal lives. They are a family, to quote Reade from the season two finale, "And families fight. Sometimes, they lose hope. But what they damn sure don't do is give up." And this team never, ever gives up on each other.

I wasn't sure about the time jump when it was first presented in the season two finale, but I love the way it gave each of these characters new depths. By the time we rejoin them, we see that Reade has settled into his role as AD of the NYO, Tasha has fully embraced life at the CIA, and Patterson has left the FBI behind for a glamorous new career in Silicon Valley... which she abandons in about two heartbeats to take charge of the NYO lab again. And that makes sense, too, because all of these characters (and Jane and Kurt) are driven by similar forces: They thrive on adrenaline. They embrace the puzzles and challenges the tattoos represent. And they are driven to protect innocent people from the bad guys who refuse to play by the rules.

I thought there would be more friction from Kurt and Jane having to report to Reade, but I think his promotion to NYO made sense (especially in light of Hirst's agenda), and I liked that both Kurt and Reade realized pretty quickly that it made more sense for Kurt to call the shots in the field (as he did even when Mayfair was in charge of the NYO) and for Reade to handle the bureaucratic, suit-wearing side (which just made Kurt impatient and cranky). The writers could have drawn this conflict out more, but I'm glad that they didn't, because it kept the focus on solving the new tattoos and bringing down Hirst.

Patterson's arc this season was a little more subtle, but she did get her own episode (in which she proved that she is so badass she can solve tattoo cases while in a coma), and overall, I found her evolution this season to be one of the more satisfying arcs. When we first see her again, we find out that she's packed up and moved to Silicon Valley and left the FBI and the NYO behind. But as we watch her struggling to cope with Stuart's loss, we realize that she hasn't resolved her issues so much as run away from them, which means that she brought them all right back to New York with her. We feel her betrayal by Tasha when she realizes that Borden is still alive, and the scene at the end, when she declines to speak to him, is one of the most powerful scenes of the season. "In my head he's become this great mythical monster. But now that he's in front of me, all I can see is a weak, broken shell of a man. No meaning has to come from this happening to me. It's just a terrible thing that happened in my past." A terrible thing she can finally leave behind, which is a huge victory for her. And I loved that this led into the bit with Jack Izenberg—it was an absolutely terrible, horrible, no good, very bad date, but it was a date, and she survived it, and we finally feel like she's ready to move on, past David and Borden, and embrace whatever her future has to offer.

I absolutely loved Rich's role this season. Yes, I was worried that it might make the show seem more frivolous and less believable, but I think the writers hit exactly the right note with his character. Yes, he's outspoken and over the top and has no filter whatsoever, but he also really cares about this team. I think my favorite Rich moments occurred in 3.08, as the team was trying to bring down Hirst. Rich knew that if he helped the team, there was a good chance that he could go back to prison forever. But even when Hirst offered him his freedom and the chance to be reunited with Boston, he still chose the team. I'm really excited that he's been promoted to a series regular this season. Is it too much to hope that we can also get him back with Boston in season four? I really need one ship that doesn't seem doomed.

Thorn: Pining Tasha and the unnecessary love triangle

Y: Sigh… where do I start with this one? I can talk about how this storyline drained one too many scenes and minutes out of a show that often rushes through things so fast that it gives you whiplash. Or I can talk about how it took one of its most interesting and most influential female characters and had her do nothing more than pine for a guy for half a season when she could have been doing a thousand different things. Or I can talk about how they took one of the best written friendships on TV and sent it into a messy, unnecessary, awkward romance arc.

But, L said I can express exactly how I feel about Love Triangles and that is what I will do. So if I may step up on this podium to let you know how I feel about Love Triangles. This whole thing would probably not have bothered me as much had they not used a love triangle to up the ante on its dramatic effect and in the process ruined the story arcs of three poor innocent souls and reduced them into… whatever they ended up being as part of participating in this trope.

Don’t get me wrong, I love tropes. I am a huge fan of tropes. Tropes are good. There is a reason they are tropes and used so often. There is absolutely nothing wrong with tropes.

Except the love triangle. Ok, maybe there are a few more that are more problematic, but by being one of the absolutely most popular, the love triangle gets the bulk of my hatred and bitterness. Why? Because it’s lazy. Because it is the easiest route to follow when you want to inject drama into a relationship. And because no one ever comes out of a love triangle looking better than they were before or even looking good for that matter. Characters become despicable and the exaggerated drama is never ever believable or useful or constructive to the narrative.

And it’s just lazy! So lazy! There are so many different ways your couple or two characters who have feelings for each other can face difficulties or obstacles or drama, there is no need to shove a third innocent character into the mix and make a mess of things. And even worse, no love triangle has ever been wrapped up narratively in a way that was satisfying for anyone.

I just really really hate love triangles, okay? So much.

I’m going to step down from this soap box now and step outside for a minute.

L: I don't hate love triangles quite as much as Y does. And there have been times that I thought this show used them quite well. Jane/Oscar, Kurt/Allie, and even Jane/Oliver were all used effectively to further Jane and Kurt's individual character journeys. Kurt and Nas last season was an example of a less-effective triangle. And then there's this one, with Tasha and Reade and Meg. Maybe it's a case of diminishing returns? Have we hit our love triangle limit on this show?

Honestly, even with the perspective of a few months, I still really don't get why it was necessary. We had the awkward kiss in season two, and it seemed like that was enough to put a lid on this plotline. But for some completely incomprehensible reason, we had to dig it back out and shove it into this season's storyline, which didn't work for me for a whole bunch of reasons. First of all, I really, really loved the deep friendship we saw between Reade and Tasha in the first two seasons. It was so refreshing to have such a deep friendship between and man and woman that wasn't a sexual relationship. Sacrificing that for another tired love triangle seems like a poor trade indeed.

As Yas said, this triangle didn't do anything good for Tasha's character. She's always been a no-nonsense, take-charge kind of character. She left the FBI for the CIA because she just wanted to get the job done, without wading through all the bureaucratic limitations. But instead of seeing her actively moving in this new direction, we have to get a seemingly-endless number of scenes of her pining hopelessly after a man she'd apparently left without a backward glance a year ago. And now that he's happy with someone else, it seems like if she truly loved him, she'd just shut up and be happy for him. (Consider for a moment the way Jane awkwardly told Kurt how awesome Allie was, or how Kurt encouraged Jane to date Oliver—in both cases, it broke their hearts, but they cared about each other so much that the other's happiness was more important than their own.) But nope, now that we've headed down this plot path, we have to achieve full awkwardness, so Tasha has to wait until Reade is engaged and then dump her feelings on him and cause his relationship to implode—which makes her look incredibly selfish at best. And then, having finally achieved the relationship she's been pining for all season, she picks up and walks away from him (for the second time in two years) for reasons that are apparently more important that her feelings—which forces us to question just how deep those feelings really were, if they are so easily abandoned.

In the same vein, this plot didn't do any favors for Reade's character either. In three seasons, we've now seen him profess love for three different women: Sarah Weller, Meg, and then Tasha. Honestly, his deep and undying love seems somewhat superficial (and that's even without comparing him to Weller's borderline-obsessive commitment to Jane, which we'll get to in a minute). I'm going to admit here that the whole Sarah Weller plot still feels like unfinished business to me. Reade was forced to break up with her by Sandstorm, not because his feelings for her were in question. He was in love with her, Sarah was in love with him—and Tasha knew he was in love with Sarah, and she showed no jealousy at all. In fact, when he told her they'd broken up, Tasha told Reade, "I think you're making a mistake with Sarah. You were really happy with her. Like, happier than I've ever seen you. If I were you, I would hold on to that."

I'm also pissed off that we never found out what happened to Meg. She was a really interesting and compelling character with a solid arc of her own who was jettisoned the second she stopped being an impediment to Tasha and Reade hooking up.

But lastly (and probably most importantly), I felt like this plot sucked up a lot of screen time in what was already a very jam-packed season. We ran through the Avery rescue/Clem revelation/Jeller reconciliation plot at lightspeed, ditto Boston's ten-minute reappearance in Rich's life, all of which were handled quite perfunctorily and would have greatly benefited from more screen time. The whole Tasha/Reade storyline could have been cut with zero impact on the rest of the season, and the time saved could have been spent flushing out other plots that were rushed through far too quickly or abruptly dropped.

Rose: Character cameos and surprise returns

Y: There’s something about this show and knowing how to write guest characters and supporting and recurring characters who you instantly fall in love with and eagerly wait for them to return. Some are quirky and hilarious, others are morally ambiguous and intriguing, some are complex and mysterious, and all are just so much fun to have around and manage in their short appearances to add so much more. So every time I find out about one of them returning, I just get so giddy with excitement. And season three did not disappoint with the returns—except that Sarah and Sawyer seem to be the only two who will never ever return but I digress.

We saw Matthew Weitz make a visit to the NYO and this time be more useful than any other time he’d shown up but still equally smarmy and sleazy and annoying to viewers and other characters alike. Even when he’s helping them, Weitz finds a way to annoy the hell out of everyone and get on their nerves.

The Sandstorm survivors all came back and managed to cause mayhem and chaos even while handcuffed and locked up in interrogation. I mean, for the most part. Borden came back from the dead to break up one of the most precious friendships on the show—Tasha and Patty—and begin the downward spiral for our favorite CIA operative. Shepherd’s return was absolutely incredible as she managed to get into Kurt and Jane’s heads and under their skin. She also proved that being held in a black site is absolutely no reason to not have flawless hair, skin, and make up. Cade was probably the least problematic on his return, but he did manage to break our hearts with his tragic story, and his return helped us see clearly where Keaton and the CIA stand when it comes to former Sandstorm operatives, which I think is something that will be of significance next season.

And speaking of Keaton, he had a few more appearances this season, too. And I know he’s not everyone’s favorite, but for me, Keaton is one of the most intriguing and enjoyable characters on this screen. He presents a certain dichotomy within the FBI universe, and it’s always a challenge to know where to put him and how to react to him because essentially, he’s one of the good guys, but he’s not one of our good guys. I love that Keaton exists in this universe and he will always be there to challenge us as viewers and the characters as well.

And speaking of good guys who sway in the grey, how awesome was Nas’s return? I think that episode alone redeemed the mess they made of her character in season two and justified her existence. What we saw in episode 3.13 is the Nas I wanted to see all throughout season two, and I’m glad she had her chance to come back and make things right.

It was also nice seeing David and Pellington make a comeback in the Patterson-centric episode where she finally managed to find closure for their deaths. Pellington had less to do but watching David help Patterson crack the case and solve puzzles gave me all kinds of feels. But it was cathartic, as much for me as it was for Patterson, I think.

Her dead ex-boyfriend was not the only surprise appearance involving Patterson. We finally got to meet someone from her family and excuse me, but I cannot say this without all-caps but BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY IS PATTERSON’S FATHER AND KURT WELLER IS A BILL NYE FANBOY!

If you put a gun to my head and make me choose my favorite thing about this season, it won’t be Roman’s storyline, and it won’t be that Jane and Kurt are married, or that Bethany is a grumpy toddler who takes after her father—no, it would be that Bill Nye guest starred, made a Star Wars dad joke, and had to watch Kurt Weller fanboy around him. What can I say? It’s the truth.

L: BILL NYE IS PATTERSON'S FATHER. I'm pretty sure the novelty of that one will never wear off. Is it too soon to start begging for him to come back in season four??

I do love the way Blindspot brings back characters. I mean, Rich Dotcom started out as a guest star who has now graduated to season regular. Yes, he's a special case, but I love how we never really say goodbye—even deceased characters come back in dreams and explosion-induced comas. (Which gives me hope that we haven't seen the last of Luke Mitchell on Blindspot.) I can't help but wonder who will show up in Remi's flashbacks next season, besides Roman—Markos? Oscar? Parker? Nigel Thornton? The mysterious Hobbes? Speaking of Hobbes, will we find out what he's been up to since he last encountered Jane? I think we can count on Shepherd showing up again, but I'd love to see Hirst again too.

I loved Cade's encore, and while I am a teensy bit annoyed that we had to learn he was still alive via the deleted scenes on the DVDs, it does give me hope that we will encounter him again and maybe see him be reunited with his husband and child.

I'm sure Keaton will continue to be a controversial figure in this fandom. He tortured Jane, but he helped her escape from the assassins who were after her. He seemingly turned on Tasha, but he's been a solid ally for Team Fed. I look forward to continuing to debate his position along the spectrum from villain to hero in season four.

I will always miss Sarah and Sawyer (and be forever bitter that they apparently skipped Kurt's wedding), but at least we did get to see Allie (and her superlative snark) and Bethany this season, in a far-too-brief visit. I want to see more of them next season; there is no such thing as too much Allie, and I'd love to see what Remi thinks about the mini-munchkin she's been helping to raise.

Rose: The introduction and evolution of Avery

L: I know that Avery was a bit of a lightning rod for viewers this season, but I absolutely loved her introduction. Jane has been able to distance herself from her past (from Shepherd and her childhood) fairly easily, and even though Roman gave her a family tie, he essentially disappeared from her life as soon as he regained his memories. Avery is the first person who was part of Jane's past—a rather significant person, as her loss apparently changed the whole course of Remi's life by leading her to enlist in the military where she was recruited by Orion and ultimately returned to Shepherd's side in order to take Orion down—who also becomes a fully-cognizant fixture in Jane's present.

Y: I admit that I did not know how to react to Avery’s introduction at first and I wasn’t sure I would enjoy the storyline when it first came to light that Jane had a daughter. But I cannot deny that it did not take long for me to jump on board that development primarily because of what it meant to Jane and what it brought into her story. Like you said, everything from her past had been dark and unattractive, and Jane had spent her whole time as Jane trying to distance herself from it. On more than one occasion even, Jane vocalized that very notion, saying that she just wants to focus on the present, that she’s done with her past, etc… but Avery brought in something neither Jane nor the viewers expected, and it turned things upside down for our heroine.

L: I loved that Avery shows up angry and resentful. And although at first I was hoping for more of a secret agenda from her (this show loves to give us mysterious introductions for characters who turn out to be more ordinary than we hope—cough, Nas, cough), I was very satisfied with the arc that Avery's character goes through this season. It's easy to see how a young woman who has lost her parents and is alone in the world could fall prey to Roman's machinations, and I liked that it took her a while to warm up to Jane. It also helped Jane's character a lot this season, giving us a chance to see her vulnerable side that was in rather short supply this season.

Y: What you’re saying is someone in that writers’ room has a teenager in their life and drew a lot of that experience? But yes, I agree. They could have easily had Avery and Jane just run into each other's arms, but I like the approach they took better. They were both in new and uncharted territory, and the time and effort it took both of them to adjust and warm up to each other, and the journey they went through separately and together was very satisfying.

L: I also liked how Avery's introduction was used to give depth to Kurt's character. Meeting his missing wife's adult daughter was a total sucker punch for him, but he immediately recognized that she really was Jane's daughter. And then quickly set out to tell her how great her mother was, which made Avery teaming up with Roman to frame him for her murder even more tragic. But we never see any anger or hostility from Kurt toward Avery for that. And there is no denying that the scenes in which Kurt deals with Avery's supposed death at his hands packed some of the most powerful emotional punches of this season. Sullivan Stapleton does pain and anguish like no one's business, and you'd have to have a heart of stone not to react to his confession to Jane.

I really want to see more of Avery next season. How does Remi respond to having her fully-grown daughter reappear in her life? Does Avery pick up on the differences between Jane and Remi? But I have a bad feeling that Avery is going to go down the same path as Bethany and Sarah Weller—family members who disappear the second they are no longer vital to the main plot.

Y: Yes, Avery has the potential to play quite the pivotal role in season four. She can definitely be used as a device to mess up all of Remi’s plans and shake things up emotionally and psychologically for her. But very much like you, I have that same feeling that she’ll be shipped off somewhere off screen and we’ll find out about it by accident from someone like Brianna or Afreen in the background of a deleted scene.

Thorn: Clem and the blink-and-you'll-miss-it triangle

Y: If you thought my feelings about a love triangle involving a couple I do not ship are over the top dramatic then I think you can imagine how I feel about it when it involves my OTP. You’ve been warned. So with my hatred of all things love triangles established, you can imagine how I feel about any love triangle that involves Jane or Kurt. If we put Kurt’s relationship with Allie aside—because that one did make sense in my books even though I didn’t like it—I have a raging hatred for every other love triangle involving these two.

But the Clem thing? Oh the Clem thing has its own special place on my hate list. I never thought anything could replace the Kurt/Nas fiasco. That thing did no one any favors and ruined the potential that Nas had, but the Jane/Clem shit storm? Oh boy. The problem is that I understand why Jane would sleep with Clem. I don’t justify it or forgive her or condone her actions, but if I put everything except plain logic aside, I can find a way to understand the act itself. What I can never wrap my mind around is what the point of writing that storyline was if they were never going to do it any justice in how they resolved it, and if it was not going to play any role in threatening or affecting Jane and Kurt’s present relationship, and if it is going to have zero impact on the characters, and if it’s just going to go poof at the end of the same episode it was introduced in!

I. Just. Do. Not. Understand. What. The. Purpose. Is. From. A. Narrative. Point. Of. View.

Did it move the plot forward? No.

Did we learn anything new about anything that is important? No.

Did the characters learn anything from the experience? No.

Did it prompt any character breakthroughs? No.

Did it have any emotional impact? Did it have any narrative impact? Did it introduce a new conflict? Did it resolve any conflict? Did serve as a test for the characters? Did it do anything useful whatsoever?

No. No. And No.

So, not only did we have to suffer through one of the most irritating tropes that could ever be used, it was not even useful narratively in any way, shape or form.

The only thing it did do was make me look at Jane during these episodes and not like her at all, and worst of all, not even recognize the Jane I love.

I am just so angry.

I’m gonna step away from my computer now and go look at pictures of puppies. And I’m going to let L take over from here. Hopefully her contribution is more useful than my angry rant.

L: This plot point was definitely one of the hot-button issues this season. There were people who hated the Clem storyline so much that they quit watching (or at least threatened to quit watching) the show because of it. I don't think the idea of Jane having slept with Clem was so far-fetched, but the way that it was presented was clumsy at best.

Part of the problem is that the idea of "Jane as an action hero" seems to have eclipsed "Jane as a fully-realized character." What sucked me into this show in the pilot was not Jane kicking butt. It was the way that Jane went from being so lost and vulnerable to kicking butt and then back again; the contrast between these two extremes is what made her character so compelling. This season, it felt like writers have become so enamored of Jane as a superhero that they skimped on the side of Jane as a whole person, with all the self-doubts and weaknesses that made her so human, that made us care about her (and by extension this show) so very much. And again, some of this is due to the overall unevenness of the pacing this season—it feels like we're spending more time on explosions and elaborately choreographed fight scenes (or, ahem, unnecessary love triangles), and less time on character development. And Jane's character bore the brunt of these cuts.

The lack of vulnerability in her character is most apparent in the whole Clem plot. The writers are careful to show us how devoted Kurt was while Jane was on the run—he took a leave of absence from the FBI, sold the house in Colorado, used up all of his life savings to search for Jane. And of course, our hearts melt for him. What a man! Look how much he loves Jane! But we're given no information about Jane during that time, except that she "found her purpose" working K&R jobs. Hardly sounds like she was pining away for Kurt, does it?

And then we find out that she slept with Clem, while Kurt was giving up everything to scour the world for her. And frankly, in that light, she looks pretty selfish and uncaring. The writing in the Clem scenes didn't do her any favors at all. I think we were supposed to feel like Jane had given up on ever being able to return home to Kurt, that she'd given up hope that he would still be waiting for her even if she were able to return. (And to be fair, in seasons one and two, Kurt's method of dealing with not being with Jane was to immediately hook up with Allie or Nas, so honestly, I wouldn't blame Jane for thinking that after eighteen months without her, he'd gone back to his usual coping strategies, hopefully with more reliable birth control.) But none of Jane's vulnerability comes through in the Clem scenes. What we're given instead is Jane being all badass, as usual, working K&R jobs and sleeping with Clem. When she tells Kurt, the actual reveal is given off-screen, and all we see is her being completely unrepentant (and frankly, rather callous) about it. We see zero regret or self-recrimination from Jane, either immediately after sleeping with Clem or when telling Kurt about it. No vulnerability, and as a result, zero sympathy from the viewers.

And it is frustrating as a viewer because when she's given the chance, Jaimie Alexander does vulnerable incredibly well. And she's the main character, the reason we've been watching this show for three years. We want to love her, to understand her, to root for her. But we're just not given that opportunity.

Even when Jane and Kurt reconcile later, the subject of Clem is never mentioned again. It feels like it was thrown in by the writers so that they could say, "Oh, Kurt lied to Jane? See, she lied to him, too. Even-Steven. All good, move on." Except that we know that two wrongs never make a right. You can't "cancel out" infidelity. Instead of having no issues to work through, they now have two major issues to make their reconciliation exponentially harder. Only we never see them working through anything at all. But I'll save that rant for the Jeller section.

Thorny Rose: The very uneven Jeller relationship arc

L: So all of this ranting about love triangles and dropped plots brings us to the Jeller relationship arc. I wanted to love their arc this season so much. I was so excited about the prospect of the two of them finding their way back to each other after such a long separation (probably nearly as long as they had known each other, if the events of the first two seasons each take place over a series of months, with Jane's hiatus with the CIA in between). And it started off so promisingly, with the two of them basically flinging themselves back into each other's arms and into their relationship and pretending that nothing had changed. Starting them off this way made it pretty clear that they were going to run into problems as soon as they inevitably discovered the things that the other one was hiding. And those problems would have been plenty, but as we talked about above, we aren't given equal perspectives for both Jane and Kurt.

We're shown how desperately grateful Kurt is to have Jane back. He is loving and understanding when Jane informs him that she "found purpose" working the K&R jobs. He barely bats an eye when she shows him her cache of passports and money. He hardly reacts when she tells him about Clem—and that's really part of the problem. He basically accepts whatever she tells him and loves her anyway, without question, without hesitation. As much as I loved his devotion, I also wanted to see him react. Knowing that Jane had lost faith in him, in them, during their separation had to hurt. Knowing that she'd slept with another man—and we never see her really explaining the nature of that relationship to him, that it was more of a one-night stand than a six-month love affair, so from his perspective it must have seemed like she found purpose and a new life partner with Clem—must have torn him up inside. But we never see him reacting in any way to this knowledge. All we see is him trying desperately to atone for Avery with Jane.

On the flip side, we see Jane being rather matter-of-fact about her return to New York and to Kurt. We don't really get any sense that she suffered during their separation as we are shown that Kurt did. Or that she was trying to come home to him as desperately as he was trying to find her. Or that she gave up and resigned herself to what little purpose she could find in lieu of happiness. We're left to guess what was going through her mind. What we do see is her walking away from Kurt when he confesses the truth about Avery and being unable to forgive him. We see her being as happy to see Clem as she was to see Kurt in Nepal, and see her dump her affair with Clem on Kurt rather callously, with zero remorse. All of which seems to create a very uneven balance of power in this relationship. Jane's seeming indifference makes Kurt seem almost obsessively devoted. And in the face of his devotion, Jane seems far less so.

And then we get to the big reconciliation scene, which was so powerful and emotional (and one of the best scenes between them this season) and made it clear that these two were taking their first, tentative steps toward each other, but that they still had a long way to go to rebuild the trust and the foundation between them. Again, such a promising start! Finally, a little vulnerability from Jane! And then... the writers immediately drop this thread. We see absolutely nothing between the two of them after that, episode after episode. We're given one throw-away comment from Kurt to Nas about the two of them "getting there" toward being happy together again. But scenes (or even brief moments) between Kurt and Jane that actually show them working toward that? Not. A. Single. One.

What makes this so incredibly frustrating to me as a viewer is that we know these writers are more than capable of giving us exactly this. This type of slow, gradual arc is what made season two so powerful: the tiny, careful steps Kurt and Jane made toward each other, as they rebuilt their trust and acknowledged their feelings. The moments where we see them admitting that they trust the other, moments when they can't hide how much they care, packed a wallop. Not even necessarily full scenes, just those tiny moments in the quiet lull between more action-packed scenes. But this season, we didn't get to see any of this. At all. Even more inexplicably, we didn't even get to see the more expected signs of affection. After Jane walks out on Kurt, she shoves him out of the way just as the hotel freezer explodes. She immediately rolls over and puts her hand on his chest, checking to make sure the husband she just left is unharmed. But several episodes after their supposed reconciliation (when all of their problems have apparently magically fixed themselves off-screen), their romantic date is interrupted by assassins, and Jane is told point-blank by Roman that Kurt is dead, along with the rest of her team. And when he shows up she flings herself into his arms in abject relief, right? Just kidding. She... looks in his direction.

And that kind of sums up my dissatisfaction with Jeller this season. The writers want this to be the main ship. They want us to respond and cheer and cry for them. But then they skip so many moments when we would have done exactly that. So I keep coming back to... Why? Do they still believe the ridiculous rumor that married couples are boring and that viewers don't want to see them? Was there just too much plot going on that there was no room for these kind of character moments? Or is Jane as the action hero just so cool that we're not supposed to care what makes her tick anymore?

And that's probably my biggest fear for season four. Remi has already been shown as being more hard-hearted and action-driven than Jane. So I am afraid there will be little to no chance that we'll see any of the vulnerability that we've been sorely missing in Jane. I don't want to lose the aspects of her character that made me root for her—and they aren't her abilities to fire weapons and take out combatants. I really miss Jane's heart, and the way she wore it on her sleeve in the first two seasons.

So if there's one thing that I'm hoping for in season four, it's that we will get to see the tiny steps that Kurt and Jane-as-Remi make to find their way back to each other. Because even though Remi has forgotten all about being Jane, I do believe that somewhere inside of her is the woman who loves Kurt and will find her way back to the feelings she has for him. I hope. Because I still really adore both of these characters, and I love watching the two of them on screen, whether they are defusing a bomb or debating the merits of vegan entrees or backing each other up in a gun fight. This show is at its very best when it doesn't shy away from showing these two are navigating their lives—the good, the bad, and the ugly—together.

Y: Can I just sit here, nod my head passionately and say over and over that I agree with every word of this? Because I do. I agree with everything L said up there. My love for Jeller has not wavered or become any less, and I have moments from this season that easily fall into my top ten moments of all time, but with that said, the frustration is still there. And my frustrations are not at the storylines but at the two things L has highlighted—the lack of balance in their relationship and at how rushed some aspects of it were and how the writers seemed to forget what had made Jeller so special in the first two seasons and the complete lack of those moments that have always made this relationship the heart and soul of this show.

And it takes us back to what we brought up in the beginning. With so much focus on the action and on the cases, we lost so much of the character, we lost all these vulnerable, real human moments—with Jane and Kurt and with the other characters. And I am not talking about fifteen minute soap-opera-ish scenes of characters monologue-ing their feelings, that was never what Blindspot was about. On the contrary, it’s always been about these small moments, in subtle lines of dialogues or touches or looks. Season two was the perfect example of how to do this, of how to take a broken and fractured relationship and rebuild it slowly and meticulously and carefully. And that’s where our frustration lies. We have experienced firsthand what these writers can do when it comes to these two characters and to this relationship and yet when they had the chance to do it in season three, they did not.

And yeah… I’m not going to add anymore to what L said because I just… what she said. I just co-sign what she said up there.

I think one way of putting it simply is that one major beef with this season, when it comes to Jeller and many other storylines, is the lack of emotional resonance. So many things happened that were just that, just things happening, without any emotional reaction or resonance or consequences.

But for the record, I still flail uncontrollably every time I see their wedding bands because I’m a sucker who just loves them so much and still cannot believe those idiots are married. I can’t help it. They own me.

Rosebuds: Those cliffhangers and the things we're excited to see blossom in the new season

Y: Every show out there likes to end its season with a cliffhanger. It’s normal. But a cliffhanger—a single cliffhanger—apparently was not enough for Blindspot this season. No, we had to go out with three mind-blowing, nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat bombshells before the months-long hiatus. That’s just the way we like it.

I think the cliffhangers set up season four quite nicely—and by nicely I mean it has the potential to destroy us emotionally from the very first episode. One thing we probably know for sure is that they won’t kill off Stubbles. At least not yet. So, of the three major cliffhangers they left us with, this one I’m least concerned about.

The Tasha/Blake cliffhanger is insanely exciting because we have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on there. There are people who are already condemning Tasha, convinced that she’s officially joined the Dark Side. I’m on the other team, the one that’s picked up a few crumbs in season three to make me believe that maybe, just maybe, all of this is a deep cover op for the CIA and she’s not actually on Blake’s side. But all in all, what this gives me is hope for a juicy storyline for Tasha where for once she’s not the sidekick but at center stage.

And finally, there is Remi’s return. True story—I went shopping this morning to buy my premiere chocolate stash. I bought chocolate. I bought a whole lot of chocolate.

L: This is sound planning. I have chocolate and backup chocolate. I should pick up some backup to the backup, too, shouldn't I? Just in case.

Remi's story is going to open up a whole new angle to Jane's story, and I am beyond excited about it. As we talked about above, it's been relatively easy for Jane to divorce her present from the life she lived as Remi. And while that might be the easier approach, we've always known that eventually there would be some sort of reckoning—at some point she was going to have to come face to face with what she'd done as Remi and reconcile both of her halves into one whole person. Now, I totally admit that this isn't how I thought it would happen, but it's kind of even more interesting this way, watching Remi have to reconcile herself with Jane, instead of the other way around. And I can't wait to see who we end up with at the end—not Remi or Jane, but someone new, someone totally herself, who owns her past, present, and future. And who is still no doubt a force to be reckoned with!

Tasha is long overdue for a meaty storyline of her own. She's been kind of a secondary character in Reade's two storylines—Coach Jones and his relationship with Meg—but I am excited to finally see her in a spotlight of her own. I can't wait to see how her partnership with Blake plays out. Is she still working with the CIA? Has she jumped ship to yet another agency? Turned to the Dark Side and decided to become a crime lord? I love Tasha, and I really want to see her have some adventures of her own. And while I know that her relationship with Reade is supposed to be the big cliffhanger here, I am worrying far more about her repairing her already-damaged friendship with Patterson, because the fracture between the two of them broke my heart more than any romantic conflict this season.

I might be most excited about finally discovering the identity of the person on the other end of Roman's mysterious phone calls, the person he wished he could have "just been a family" with. Is this the person who appears to be a third Kruger child we glimpsed in the flashbacks to Jane's childhood? If meeting Roman rocked Jane's world, I think meeting this new sibling—possibly someone Remi didn't know had survived—could rock the foundations of Remi's existence. And given that she's a wildcard to begin with, the fourth season of Blindspot promises to take this wild ride to higher heights than ever before!

That's all from us! What are you excited to see this season? Have you stocked up on enough chocolate? Is that actually possible? Come talk to our ask box!

We'll see you back here in a week when we kick off our Season Four review series!

—Laura & Yas

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