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more--than--anything · 4 years

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Episode Review: "Just have a little faith, people." [S05E08]

So… can you dry your eyes long enough to work on this review?

Y: Excuse me, but how dare you?

L: I’m still dehydrated. This might be the first time ever that I really did not want to rewatch an episode. Or even think about it. In terms of fictional demises... Patterson’s is up there with Han Solo’s death on my list of “things I will never recover from.”

The case this week is two cases, actually, until… well, until it’s not a case at all. What exactly happened in those painful and intense 42 minutes?

L: Jane’s Cerberus tattoo shows up in a newspaper ad in three different cities: New York, Denver, and Cape Town; three towns where Jane has lived. The company in the ad doesn’t exist, but the tattoo decodes (sadly, we are not told how) to a secure FTP site, which contains a very complex, very processor-heavy digital puzzle that Patterson and Rich immediately start trying to crack.

But the tattoo is far from the only thing the team has to worry about. The tracker the Wellers placed on the cannisters of ZIP is moving, and Patterson and Rich locate it on a container ship heading across the Atlantic to the US. Even more worrying are the messages Ivy is sending to Madeline, “On the move. Ready to strike.” It looks like whatever Madeline is planning is going to happen soon. Trying to get ahead of the game, Rich hooks Kurt and Jane up with a ride on a cargo plane heading to the east coast with an unnamed friend of Rich’s in the “import/export business.”

Weller is still puzzling over the signal Allie gave in her interview. “Mission is a go.” He had assumed it was meant for him, but what mission? It would make more sense if she was signaling someone else, if she was working with someone to help the team and send them the tattoos. Tasha agrees that the timing would work out; the ads were placed after Allie’s press conference. Now that the team has received a third “message” from their mysterious friend, Patterson is able to figure out (again, sadly without a technical explanation) where the messages originated: Malta. The only person they know in Malta is Jake Keaton, who got exiled there by the CIA at the end of season four. He is a likely candidate to be helping the team, so Tasha sets out to pay him a visit.

Keaton confirms to Tasha that he sent the team the messages, helped by Allie and Boston. Boston went off the grid when the team rescued Rich, but he left the Cerberus puzzle with Keaton to release if one of them got caught. And Tasha tells Keaton that the team is tracking ZIP that Madeline is moving across the Atlantic to the US, where she plans to weaponize it. Before Tasha can tell him more, she realizes that his laptop camera is uncovered and pointed right at them. I love their last exchange: Tasha asks him how his family is—guessing correctly that Madeline is using them to control Keaton—and he confirms, “They’ve been better,” as they draw their weapons on each other. Tasha tries to help him, but they’re both trapped. Madeline bursts in, and Keaton tells Tasha, “Good luck,” before he tries take out Madeline and is shot himself in the process. Tasha doesn’t go down without a fight, but she ends the day in Madeline’s custody.

Patterson is still grinding away, trying to solve the Cerberus tattoo, without success. “Every time I solve one quadrant of this thing, the whole thing shifts and then it gives me another part to solve. It’s like it’s a... This puzzle is... toying with us.” She realizes with horror that longer they interact with the puzzle, the more hints at their location they are providing. And those hints have led Madeline and Ivy right to their door. Weller and Jane never make it out of the elevator; Ivy uses the local police to force them to surrender their weapons, knowing that they won’t kill cops to escape. Below them in the bunker, Patterson and Rich pack up to leave, setting bombs the server room to destroy any electronic evidence they leave behind. Unfortunately, there is no earth-shattering kaboom when Patterson flips the switch, so she has to go back to the server room to improvise a detonator timer out of her watch to trigger the explosives. Rich tries to divert Ivy’s team, but her goons get him, and under their gunfire, Patterson isn’t able to escape the server room before the detonator hits zero. And goddamn it, I will never be able to watch that scene without crying, but the whole sequence: flashing to the timer, to Rich, to Patterson mouthing “I’m sorry,” to the flames raining down behind the door, while the music drowns out everything but the sounds of my sobs... It’s horrible and awful and everything hurts, but it was so freaking well done. I’d say, “Bravo!” if I could get anything out besides sad dolphin noises.

This week delivers, by far, the biggest, most painful loss the team has ever suffered. Being captured by Madeline is bad. Losing Keaton as an ally and knowing that he betrayed the team rubs salt in the wound. But losing Patterson? There just aren’t words for this. This is a defeat that feels impossible to recover from. Madeline has won. And the thing that really gets me here is that this kind of all-hope-is-lost moment usually happens at the end of the penultimate episode of the season. But we still have three more episodes ahead of us. I’m happy we’re not quite at the end—because I will never be ready to say goodbye to our Tattoo Squad—but I’m also terrified because that means whatever is coming will be even worse before it (maybe) gets better.

But any way you look at it, this was a hell of an episode. It was masterfully cut from scene to scene, building intensity, and well, it also ripped my heart out, shredded it up, threw it on the floor, and stomped on the pieces. Well done, writers. You brilliant, unfeeling bastards.

Y: What is there to say here? I mean, Madeline found Keaton. Tortured enough intel out of him to be able to find the team. And then we cried. As far as how things have been going for our team, this week is the worst they’ve had since... forever? Four of them are in custody, one is dead, and their friends with means are locked up, in hiding, and dead. The only thing going for them is a lab tech and her not very trustworthy sidekick. Very very not good. Seriously, and I know it’s bad luck to say this, but can it even get any worse at this point? What are they gonna do? Shave Weller’s beard? Put him in another bad wig? I cannot handle any of this anymore!

It’s a good thing we watch the episode a few times before we properly start reviewing. The only thing I got from watching it live is the emotional impact, to be honest. It was such an intense and emotionally exhausting episode that it was really hard to pay attention to everything. But watching it a second time made me realize just how thematically heavy this episode was. And you know how I love a good thematically-rich episode.

Obviously most plot lines in this episode intersect, except maybe for what The Resistance was up to, but we try our best to break it up in a way that makes our lives easier and also makes it easier for you guys to keep track of our ramblings.

Anyway, everywhere you look in this episode you find one or two of these themes being tackled: the choices one makes and protecting one’s family. They’re not themes that are foreign to Blindspot, but this week they kind of take center stage.

These themes were ones almost every character had to deal with this week, and for the sake of this section, I just wanted to talk about Madeline Burke for a moment. It’s funny how we’re just coming off of Madeline making a very clear and controversial choice of zipping her own son, of choosing her mission over her child—over doing what should be the most instinctual thing for a mother to do. And this choice carries with her into this episode. It is a dark cloud that hovers her throughout the episode and it’s interesting how we see her try to project that guilt onto other people, mainly Tasha. What’s also interesting is comparing the choices that Madeline and Ivy for that matter make compared to the decisions that the team and their friends make, and for once on this show, the line between good and evil isn’t blurred.

I think the most important decision Madeline makes this week is to take the team in alive. We know she has no problem killing them—she did, after all, drone them in Iceland. I understand why she’d want the glory of being the one who captured them. But you know what, Maddie? This is one decision that’s going to come back to haunt you. You just arrested the four most dangerous people and you also killed their most precious Patty. I do not feel sorry for what they’re going to do to you.

L: We’ve been rooting for Madeline to get her comeuppance pretty much since the moment she arrived on our screens. But after this week... You know, I finally think I understand her hatred of the FBI after her father’s death. After watching what happened to Patterson—and then Madeline’s smug gloating about it—I think my hatred of her might be even stronger than her hatred of the FBI. And that’s good, because in a weird and twisted way, it’s helping me to relate to her.

Bad guys who are bad for the sake of being bad are boring. It’s the ones who are striving for a compelling goal, driven by some uncompromising motivation, that really get you invested in the battle to stop them. And similarly, a bad guy who is just bad is less interesting than one with a rigid, if somewhat inverted, moral code that they can’t compromise. That’s what made Shepherd such a great villain; she had horrible plans, yes, but she had this deep belief that she was actually helping to make the world a better place, and it meant she had to make hard sacrifices to reach that goal. All of which made her fascinating to watch on our screen.

For a long time, we struggled to understand what made Madeline tick. And because we didn’t really understand, it was hard to see her as the same kind of threat as Shepherd or even Crawford. Even after we learned about her father and how she blamed the FBI for his death, it was hard to translate that into something more than just distaste. But in the past few episodes, wow, she’s really turned the knob up to eleven.

Last week we saw an unprecedented degree of emotion from Madeline when she zipped Greg. And this week, we see even more. We see her dwelling on the trail of destruction she’s left in her wake. We see genuine fear when Tasha attacks her. And we see her replaying Tasha’s words in her head. “You zipped your own child. Was it worth it?” It’s not much by normal human standards, true, but it’s more than we’ve seen so far. Just as we root a little harder for a good guy who thinks about giving up before pressing on, a bad guy who falters for just a moment becomes that much more interesting to us.

Because it’s not just enough to bring Madeline down anymore. No, we need to see her know that she’s been beat. We need to see her recognize what it’s cost her. And we need to see her regrets, her recognition that it wasn’t worth the cost. It needs to be a defeat on absolutely every level, and it needs to be complete, without the slightest glimmer of hope left to her.

And honestly, after the crushing losses this week, focusing on that goal is what’s going to keep me (and the team, judging by their faces in the NYO at the end) going.

Y: One more thing I wanted to touch upon in this section is the choice of tattoo used in this episode. I think it’s safe to assume that this is the last tattoo the team is going to work on, and I love the choice of it being the Cerberus tattoo. Don’t worry, I’m not going to go too deep into Greek mythology and symbolism here, but it’s fun to consider these things, especially considering how important mythology has been to the show and how important visuals and graphics have been in the Blindspot universe.

Cerberus’s three heads are said to represent the past, the present, and the future—all of which are themes and topics that are essential to Blindspot’s narrative tools and mythology. And this tattoo, being the last one the team works on and ultimately being the key to their “demise,” is a powerful parallel to Cerberus being the final threshold and the last creature one encounters before crossing from one world to the other.

I’m sure there’s someone out there more equipped than I am to properly analyze all this, but in my humble understanding, I thought this was an interesting thing to bring up.

The Resistance is still resisting, even if they don’t exactly agree on how they should be going about it. How strong do we think their resolve is?

Y: You just gotta love The Resistance. For the most part they haven’t really been that successful, or at least they haven’t really been able to see the effect of their efforts, but they still try and try and try.

You also gotta love that this little resistance is made up of such an unlikely duo. Weitz, who for the most part has been a recurring character and generally an annoyance the team could never really get rid of. And then you have Afreen who up until last season was just a background character, and then just a bit part supporting character with a few lines every bunch of episodes. We didn’t really know much about her except that Patterson trusted her in the lab. Who knew she was such a total badass with an incorruptible moral compass and zero bullshit meter?

This week the Resistance gets access to Shirley’s computer and his database of bribery and blackmail. Because everyone has one of those on their desktop, right? After some back and forth, some banter, and some of Afreen’s trademark owning of Weitz, they decide that Afreen should corrupt the files to remove the leverage Madeline has on these people.

One of the best things about these two working together is that they cannot be more different in every aspect that matters, and Afreen has come out of nowhere to be the one person who can finally stand toe-to-toe with Weitz and really make him shake in his boots. Also, the chemistry between Aaron Abrams and Ami Sheth is just so good. Those two work so well off of each other, it’s almost magical. And they might be the C plot in the episodes where they appear, but they absolutely steal the show every single time.

Afreen is so morally incorruptible while Weitz is morally questionable. Afreen is driven by serving the greater good and doing the right thing, while Weitz flirts endlessly with what’s right and what’s right for him. Afreen has no tolerance for bullshit while Weitz… well I might be mistaken, but isn’t bullshit his middle name? Having these two work together is a stroke of genius by the writers.

Afreen is initially reluctant to work with Weitz. And then again reluctant to corrupt the files because it means she gives him an easy way out after finding out exactly what Madeline has on him. She’s so adamantly a champion of what’s right, and it’s a beautiful thing to watch, especially since she’s not a pushover. She puts her foot down and even though Weitz has the more senior job title, in this relationship, Afreen is the boss. And somehow, working with her has put Weitz’s redemption arc in high gear.

But the thing with Matthew is that… it’s always one step forward, ten steps back. He’s so infuriating. And after what just happened with Keaton, I really hope we don’t see Weitz relapse again. The good thing for Weitz is that he has Afreen there to kick his ass every time he screws up, something Keaton didn’t have. And Matthew Weitz just keeps getting all these second chances… but some day those second chances will stop coming and he will have to live with the last choice he made. So, Matthew… are you going to start making the right choices? Because we’re all really running out of time, and we need you to choose a side once and for all.

L: We are definitely seeing Afreen taking charge of Weitz in this episode, and words cannot express how much I love this. (At least one thing we didn’t see coming—this quirky partnership—is awesome, right?!) I love how she refuses to help him until he confesses all of his sins, all of the leverage Madeline has on him. She refuses to give him copies of Madeline’s blackmail files, telling him point blank that she thinks he’s just going to use them himself. And then she tells him to go get her a cup of coffee (and a blueberry scone!) while she works on corrupting Shirley’s files. And the best part of all of this is that Weitz—who is smarmy and self-serving but not stupid—realizes that he’s lost control of this situation and follows her lead. Weitz is many things, but he’s not a leader. He’s smart and able to figure out the right angle to make a situation work out to his benefit—whether he’s building a case against Mayfair or working his way in the directorship of the FBI—but he’s always struggled with assuming responsibility and giving direction to others.

Afreen is both lab-smart and people-smart, and she really understands what makes Weitz tick. “I know you want to be the kind of person that does the right thing. I just still don’t know if you will.” Because she understands him so well, she’s able to anticipate what he might do and cut him off at the pass—whether that is preventing him from using Madeline’s blackmail files for his own benefit or stopping him when he’s about to run away. In times of stress, we tend to revert to what is easiest and most familiar, and for Weitz, that is definitely covering his own ass. But Afreen won’t stop pushing him to be the better person that she knows he could be. Maybe it’s not quite as effortless as the team inspiring Rich to mend his crooked ways, but so far, it’s still been pretty effective. And I loved the way this played out in our second slow-motion, music-swelling scene of this episode, when Madeline and Ivy bring the team back into the NYO. Even though the team is mostly expressionless, you can see the panic and helplessness on Weitz’s face as they are paraded past. He truly believed that they were eventually going to succeed and return triumphant to take down Madeline, which would take the pressure off him to step up and save the day. But now that he knows they won’t, that he (and Afreen) are the only ones who are still able to stop Madeline. Your move, Matthew.

As much as I love the way Afreen seems so much braver than Weitz, I do want to note that she doesn’t have quite the same perspective he has. She’s aware that Madeline killed both Briana and Susan Shah, but she wasn’t there when Madeline cold-bloodedly gunned Briana down. There is a difference between being aware that something happened and experiencing it firsthand the way Weitz did. She is able to react to the threat Madeline poses intellectually. Weitz, on the other hand, has a far more visceral response. He’s reacting from his gut, his human instinct for self-preservation urging him to flee the impending danger. As much as I want to smack him and tell him to toughen up, I can’t entirely blame him for his all-too-human failings here.

But I am also even more worried now for Afreen. Everything she’s done up until now has been kind of behind-the-scenes, with no digital trail. Madeline might have her suspicions about Afreen, but nothing that she can prove. But breaking into Shirley’s computer from inside the NYO... where we know Madeline has every inch under surveillance... Afreen just stuck her neck out, and we know Madeline won’t hesitate to chop it off the second she figures out what Afreen was up to. Honestly, I kind of wish Weitz had turned the tables and convinced Afreen to leave town with him!

I also want to point out the tiny arc we see in Afreen in this episode. We see her begin to take charge of the lab, to assume control of it rather than just hold it until Patterson returns. She is rearranging the furniture—and clearing out the lab at lunchtime to work on special projects with Weitz. Which makes the moment at the end, when Madeline almost gleefully announces Patterson’s death to the lab team, even more poignant. No matter how much Afreen might have wanted to be in charge of the lab, we know that these are not the conditions under which she would have wanted it to happen. Turning the screens dark is such a quiet but powerful way to pay tribute to the person whose lab this truly was... That moment of data silence in Patterson’s honor once again makes me cry all the tears.

Y: Oh! The team’s return to the NYO! I cannot believe I almost forgot to talk about this! I realize I’ve said this about practically half the scenes I’ve talked about but this one is the absolute best. Seriously, probably one of my favorite sequences in Blindspot—the way it was shot and edited, the music, the close ups, the acting—everything was so good. Not a single word was spoken but so much emotion just burst through the screen. It was so chilling and menacing and heart breaking. Everyone involved did an absolutely spectacular job translating this momentous scene from paper to screen. From the smug look on Madeline’s face, to the terrifying death glare that never leaves Ivy’s face, to the shock on Weitz’s, the heartbreak on Afreeen’s, and then the pure rage on every single member of the team. And it’s impossible to forget that not only have they been arrested after fighting so hard against these false accusations, but they’re only a few hours into learning about Patterson’s death.

I hate this show.

In the last episode, two members of the mysterious group that has been secretly helping the team were unveiled. This week, we learn more about what they’ve been up to. How much help can the team hope for now?

L: Weller was right when he guessed that Allie was signaling someone else to continue the mission. And we were pretty excited when we learned that it was Keaton. But I’m even more excited now that we’ve gotten their “origin story.”

It’s no secret that we adore Allie, and finding out that she is essentially the ringleader of our band of renegades, recruiting both Keaton and Boston to her team, wasn’t really all that surprising. Allie has always been as strong as they come. She’s smart and she’s determined. And this is her family that’s at stake. Kurt may be a “mama bear” when it comes to protecting his “cubs,” but Allie is a literal mama bear. Her daughter’s happiness and safety are at risk, and Allie isn’t about to let Madeline destroy her family.

And this team just makes so much sense: Keaton has access to CIA intel but can’t move around. Boston has the tech skills to plant puzzles that will catch the team’s notice but can’t be easily cracked by their enemies. And Allie knows all about how to stay off the grid and escape the attention of law enforcement. (I especially loved the revelation that Allie was the one to trigger the screens in Times Square!) They really are an espionage dream team.

Y: One of my absolute favorite parts of the episode was the flashback we got to how the little group of vigilantes was formed. It’s no secret that the three people involved in it are among my favorite on the show, and I was still reeling from the reveal from last week. Although it didn’t end the way I would’ve wanted it to end, it was still a satisfying storyline in the episode because it was so well done.

Of course, I’m going to start with Allison Knight because Allison Knight is the absolute best. That’s a scientifically proven fact. I had no doubts that she’s the one who started all this and seeing her go straight into action just seconds into watching the news report on tv makes me love her even more. Allie is so fiercely protective of her family, and her loyalty to them and her faith in them is unwavering. It’s a joy to watch. I also sighed in relief to know she made sure Bethany (and I’m assuming Conor) is safe during all this.

Allie goes straight to Keaton which is a decision that does make a lot of sense. He’s worked with the team and knows that all these accusations are a lie. She knows he is good at his job and will be able to get access to information they need. And Allie being Allie, she doesn’t need to long to convince him.

Next is Boston, who in these few months has apparently become quite the successful artist and enjoying that life. But Boston is still Boston and we know he loves a good adventure. He also loves Rich and cares about this team a little bit, even if he won’t admit it. And given the chance to do some hacking and designing a theatrical event in Times Square? You know Boston will jump right on that!

L: The tattoos—and the complicated puzzles they represent—are the backbone of this show. They are artistic, challenging, and chock full of secrets. And let’s be real, they aren’t something that the average person, or even an above-average person like Allie or Keaton, can duplicate. Boston is one of the few characters on this show who can go to toe-toe with Patterson and Rich, and he might be the only one who can design tattoo references that only they can decode. So it makes complete sense that he would be the one to design these hidden messages.

I’ll admit I am still puzzling over the last tattoo, though. Keaton tells Tasha that Boston gave it to him and told him to release it if one of them got caught. But the tattoo is a trap that leads Madeline to the team. So either Keaton was lying about Boston designing it, or he was lying when he said that he didn’t know what it meant. If it was a trap that Madeline set, then someone on her team must have designed it. But who on her team has the technical savvy (and sheer geekiness) to set a trap to catch Patterson? Up until now, Ivy’s team has mostly seemed like just hired muscle. A trap like this would be far more sophisticated than anything we’ve seen them do thus far. So it’s more likely that Boston designed it and Keaton was Keaton lying to Tasha when he said that he didn’t know what it did. He knew it would allow someone to pinpoint the team’s location, and he told Madeline about it so she could use that information to capture the team. But in that case, what did Boston plan to use it for? And will its use draw him out of the woodwork (pretty please!) in the next episode?

Because, let’s face it, we need a superhero—or at least a skilled hacker—to sweep in here right now.

Y: That’s a pretty interesting question you ask… honestly I hadn’t thought about it much watching the episode—I was too busy stuffing chocolate into my face hole—but now that I do it’s worth contemplating. I don’t think the show is going to give us much of an answer but if I may venture a theory, I think that Boston did design it and he designed it to do just that. And they all knew what it does. Keaton said it was designed to be released when one of them gets captured.

I think in such a case, the other two would be compromised or in danger of being caught themselves. They knew that was a possibility and if it happened then they too would need to go on the run. But they would also still want to help the team. So maybe Boston designed it so that they could track down the team’s location so that the remaining members of this little group could join them. I don’t know… it seems a bit of a shaky theory, but I cannot see Boston purposely designing it to sabotage the team.

Speaking of sabotaging the team… let’s talk about Keaton now.

What sets Allie and Keaton apart in this group is that they both work for the government and the stakes are that much higher for them but so is the motive, the desire to set things straight because they’re entangled in this mess of corruption. Their entire careers and lives have been part of this, and moving forward they will be defined by how this unravels and their role in it.

Allie’s choices are clear and straightforward. She will protect her family—all of her family—no matter what. This includes Bethany and Conor, and it also includes Kurt and Jane and the others. We saw her last week, just how badass she is, and saw how she managed to do both. This is a woman whose moral compass is as straight as can be. Also, she’s totally the most awesome character in like... ever.

Is my Allie bias showing? Good. Because Allie deserves all the unabashed admiration that she can get.

As for Keaton, his situation, his journey and his character, while they bear some similarities to Allie’s, are also different. And the juxtaposition of Keaton’s choices with Allie’s from last week—and also for that matter Kurt’s for the past few episodes—explains why things ended the way they did for Jake. And I’m not going to lie, the Keaton stuff in this episode absolutely destroyed me. I’m a huge fan of Keaton and the journey the writers put him on and how they’ve taken a character we first met as Jane’s torturer and turned him into someone the team consider an ally and at least one team member considers a friend and see him go as far as betray his country to help them.

Which is why it was so hard watching this episode. A part of me just knew in that opening scene of someone being tortured that it would be Keaton. I don’t know why but I just did. And the poetic justice in all this has not gone over my head. The first episode we see him, Keaton is torturing Jane. And in the last episode we see him, Keaton is being tortured because of… well… Jane and the rest of her team. Can we count this as Keaton having paid for what he did to Jane? That it’s all come full circle?

I really feel horrible for Keaton. When we find out that he’s filming his meeting with Tasha and streaming the video to Madeline and essentially betraying the team, I felt a dagger go through my chest because this one really hurt. Keaton has come a long way and for the most part even though he and team never really saw eye to eye on most things and liked to be thorns in each other’s sides, he was always more or less on the same side as them. And that dynamic always worked. They didn’t especially enjoy working with him and he felt the same way but still, they always did for the greater good and it was always a good thing.

So that’s why when we found out he’s betraying the team I wanted to absolutely cry. But then we found out why he was doing that—what Ivy and Madeline had done to him and then Madeline having his family—and I wanted to cry some more. From the moment we truly started get to know Keaton, we’ve known that his daughter and his wife are his pressure point. And here’s where the parallel to both Allie and Kurt comes in. Keaton had a choice to make and he picked the one that he thought would protect his family. And for him, that was not really a choice because Madeline didn’t give him much of that. I mean, who wouldn’t make the choice that Keaton made in his situation?

Well, Kurt and Allie wouldn’t… but that doesn’t make me judge Jake honestly because he doesn’t have the faith and the support system that those two have. Allie had the advantage of knowing Madeline couldn’t touch her family. I have no idea where she’s hidden Bethany and Conor, but if anyone knows how to hide people, it’s Allie. And what Keaton also doesn’t have in this situation is the support system that Kurt has—essentially Jane. We saw Kurt come close to abandoning the mission and taking the risk of going after Ivy to try and negotiate and exchange for Allie in last’s week’s episode. And he probably would’ve done that if Jane had not been by his side to talk him out of it and promise him that there is another way of doing this. Keaton didn’t have any of that. He just had the “help us or we kill your family” choice and he did what any father put in this situation would do.

I really hate Madeline for doing this to him. To all of them but you know, in this situation… she made Keaton have his last act be one of betrayal to the team. And honestly, Keaton doesn’t have the same experience with her as the team does. And Tasha is right when she says that there was no win for him in this. All Keaton had was Madeline’s word that helping her meant protecting his family. But you know he regretted it. You could read it all over his face in the last scene with Tasha. And it was so heartbreaking for both of them. These two had become close friends and to have things go down like this was hard to watch.

And watching Keaton spend most of this episode with Tasha reminded me of the season 2 finale, the first time those two really spent time together, and made me think of just how far they’ve come from then, and how far Keaton has come… We’ve said goodbye to a lot of characters this season—some main characters and some supporting—and as far as the latter category goes, this was absolutely the hardest to deal with, because it was not just the fact that Keaton died but how it all went down and how in the end he still tried to do the right thing despite everything.

Jake Keaton has had one of the most interesting arcs on this show. It may have been turbulent and unconventional and controversial and divisive, but dammit it was good. And now he is gone. And I am sad.

L: I am too.

Like you, somehow I knew that was Keaton when we saw Ivy torturing someone at the start of the episode. Maybe it’s because of the irony: In the first scene in the first episode where we see Keaton, he is the torturer, and in the first scene in this episode, he is being tortured. I can’t decide what applies better here: “What goes around comes around” or “Live by sword, die by the sword.” I’m gonna go with the second, because if there is one thing that we’ve learned about Keaton over the years, it’s that he’s a company man. He didn’t torture Jane because he took pleasure in it; he was trying to do his job, protecting the security of the US from someone who posed a threat to it. He worked hard at his job for his country and for his family. Even though we didn’t like some of his actions, we couldn’t argue with his motives.

And I agree, to see his arc come to such an abrupt end in this fashion really hurt. He was a good ally when he worked with the team, and he tried to help the team while they were on the run. We can clearly see that he didn’t want to betray Tasha and the team, but with his family’s safety on the line, he made the only choice he could. And in the end, he chose to try to help Tasha, to kill Madeline, knowing that he was signing his own death warrant. And I suppose that’s our only consolation. In his last moments, he chose to go out a hero, trying one last time to help the team. And that’s how we’ll have to remember him, I think.

I’m angry at Madeline for what she did to him, but I’m also weirdly angry that we weren’t able to really process and mourn his loss before it was overshadowed by another. I can’t handle so many traumas so close together!

The team collectively and individually faced what was probably the worst day of their lives. I mean… it was pretty tough… there is no other way of putting it without bursting into tears. Where does this leave them, both individually and as a group?

L: I’m just gonna rip the bandaid off and start with Patterson. Oh, William. I can’t even think “Patterson” without tearing up. And I will say, again, that the scenes leading up to her death were just amazing. The writing, the cinematography, the music, and of course, Ashley Johnson’s performance. It was so incredible. And I sincerely hope I never ever sit through another scene like that again, because my poor little heart just couldn’t take it. I completely broke down and sobbed. And I’ve cried every time I’ve rewatched the episode. And once we’re done this review, I might never be able to watch this episode again, unless I need to donate tears for some unknown cause.

And it’s not just that scene. Everything that leads up to that point hints at what is to come, even though we don’t want to go there. It starts with the unveiling of this week’s tattoo. The team is... not enthusiastic enough to suit Patterson. “Come on, people. I get it. You have a lot on your minds, but... these are the tattoos. We used to love these.” In all likelihood, this is the last tattoo the team will solve together, and it feels like the writers are using Patterson to draw attention to this moment, so we can say goodbye to the tattoo squad as group, too.

And the goodbyes continue as Patterson sees each team member off on their respective journeys. She hands each of them a little Tamagotchi-like digital pet to take care of. She tells Tasha to tap its nose to show it affection, and Tasha taps Patterson’s nose in response. She gives Weller his and tells him that he’s “like a mama bear, anyone who gets between you and your cubs will get torn to shreds” (and because he’s scruffy). We know how fierce Weller has gotten when something’s happened to Patterson or his other “cubs” in the past (and we see him break down when Rich tells him that Patterson didn’t make it out). Jane tells Patterson, “I was just thinking about how you push buttons to look after us. We’re kinda like your virtual pets.” Weller agrees and thanks Patterson for all the times she’s kept them alive out in the field. And then Patterson tells Rich—with all sincerity—“You are the best hacker I know. And you’re a pretty awesome person, too.” If she were to have a deathbed scene, it seems like these are all the things that Patterson would say to the team, and they would say to her.

I’m trying to find some comfort in the idea that they did get to say their goodbyes, even if they didn’t realize that’s what they were doing at the time.

But the internet loves nothing more than a good conspiracy theory, and the second this episode ended, it lit up with people insisting that Patterson must have survived. In the interest of full disclosure, I am reluctant to get on this train because I just can’t bear to get my hopes up only to have them dashed to pieces, but even I must admit that there are a few clues we could cling to.

Patterson is the team’s tech goddess, and a lot of my hopes rest on tech. The first gadget of hope is the Beaconer device they got from Ice Cream that they’ve been using to follow Madeline and Ivy’s communication. When Patterson and Rich are clearing out the bunker, she puts it in her bag, and it’s with her in the server room at the end. “We need to protect this device at all costs. Intercepting her private messages will be the only thing we have to take her down.” If Patterson is alive, then the device is still operational and in her possession, and the team still has an edge over Madeline. (More importantly: Tasha didn’t tell Keaton about the device, so Madeline doesn’t know that Patterson is spying on her.)

And then there are the little digital pets that Patterson gave every member of the team. They’re not just adorable; they are her way of contacting the team. Sure, Ivy’s goon squad probably patted the team down and took all of their weapons and personal effects when they brought them in. But then again, they aren’t real, trained FBI employees, so it’s possible that they just collected the obvious weapons and left their 1990’s keychain toys alone. Imagine one of those little gadgets chirping at the team and giving them all equal shots of shock and hope. “This is gonna tell you what your next move is,” Patterson said to Tasha. And man, I’m not gonna lie, I very much want that to be true.

And then there is Patterson herself. “This is not over,” she says to Rich as she stuffs the Beaconer into her bag, followed shortly by “I always have a plan B.” She tells Rich tunnels are full of “refuge spots” in the event of a cave-in. Some of them were filled in, but others remain. It is possible that there was one in the server room; even if it didn’t go all the way to the surface, if it had a solid door between her and the explosion, it could have provided enough shelter to shield her from the blast. “There is nobody I have more confidence in in the entire world than you, including me,” Rich tells her. If there was a way out of that room, Patterson would be the one to find it.

“Just have a little faith, people,” Patterson tells the team while she’s working on the puzzle. And “having faith” and “taking a leap of faith” have been ongoing themes this season. And if Patterson wants us to have a little faith in her....

Well. Who are we to argue?

Y: Did you really have to start with Patterson? I was hoping we would keep her until the end and then I could distract you with chocolate and Jeller gifs until you forgot about it.

You know what’s funny? That whole entire scene felt like such an out-of-body experience for me. I still remember watching it, remember what I thought while watching it, and remember what I felt what watching it. And I never knew the true meaning of denial until then. I have to admit I didn’t cry, because I didn’t believe it was happening. I just couldn’t understand what was happening on the screen. Because how can any of it make any sense? This is Patterson. Patterson. Our Patterson! Our MVP. Our LeBron. This cannot happen. This isn’t happening.

And the denial continues to be strong.

I’ve read all the analysis and theories and the intellectual breakdown of hints and clues of how Patterson could’ve survived, and I hope they’re right, that somehow she did. But all I feel is numb. I don’t know… I’m clinging to the fact that Patterson always has a plan B and that we didn’t see a body. On Blindspot, we’ve learned that if we don’t see the body post explosion then there is a chance the exploded person could have survived.

And here’s the thing. Remember the last time this happened? Yeah, it was Borden. We all assumed he died in that explosion, and then he showed up again very much alive. It would be quite the parallel if the same thing happens with Patterson, given the connection between the two characters. We already saw the same thing with Keaton—torturing Jane in his introduction to the show and then being tortured himself in his exit from the show. It would be a nice touch if Patterson pulls a Borden on us and returns to save her family.

Because let’s face it, at this point, the only way the team can get out of this is if they have someone on the outside with Patterson’s IQ helping them out. Jane and Kurt’s comments about Patterson protecting them from behind her computers and keeping them alive has to be some sort of foreshadowing… actually all those moments with the virtual pets, with Tasha and Kurt and Jane, with Rich later in the bunker… those were not goodbyes. They couldn’t be.

And this is why Patterson cannot be dead. But also because it’s Patterson and I am still rowing down The Nile and refusing to accept it.

And also, they wouldn’t do that to Bill Nye, would they?

Can we stop talking about Patterson now and talk about someone else? Can we talk about Rich for example? Rich and his beautiful journey of redemption and becoming the heart and soul of the team?

This week, Rich was once again all of this. He brought his usual brand of humor to lighten things around the bunker. He also pulled his weight in solving this week’s case by getting in touch with one of his friends and securing a covert flight back to the States for Jane and Kurt, and when things got really bad, he was, again, incredible. Both conversations between Rich and Patterson are probably my favorites in this episode. I guess the emotional impact was bigger because shit was hitting the fan when they happened, unlike with Tasha or Jane and Kurt, when it was a routine tech briefing before heading out.

The best part of Rich’s speech was the amount of self-realization in there. We saw a bit of it last season when Jane came back from her Remi phase and she had that moment with Rich in the van. And we saw more of it here. A huge part of Rich’s redemption has relied on him owning up to his past and identifying his mistakes and learning from them and realizing what parts to hold on to and what parts to change.

And that has given us one of the best characters ever, which remains true to his essence but allowed him to grow and learn and evolve and become so self-aware that he has the freedom and intelligence to really make himself who he knows he deserves to be.

And finally, we have to give Ennis credit to how he played those scenes when the thermite went off and he watched Patterson disappear in the flames and when he’s thrown into the military vehicle with Jane and Kurt. He absolutely destroyed me. I don’t think we’ve ever seen Rich so broken, so absolutely destroyed that he cannot even speak. Dammit, he was just so good, and his pain and heartache just exploded through the screen.

L: My god, yes. Ennis destroyed me in those scenes. I was in shock and denial about what was happening on my screen, but his reaction was so visceral that it just forced you to accept what you didn’t want to.

And I agree; those two definitely-not-goodbye scenes between him and Patterson, when they admitted how much respect they have for each other, while also saying without words how much their friendship means to each of them? Man. Those choked me up almost as much as that scene-I-want-to-forget.

So let’s move on to Tasha, who is having the second-worst day on the team. We talked a lot about Keaton and his arc, but we can’t ignore Tasha’s role in that journey. Just as we saw the team inspire Rich and even Weitz, Keaton went from viewing them as competition to being a fan of theirs, too. So much so that he recruited Tasha to work with him, his own way to try to produce the kind of results that the team made seem so effortless.

Tasha worked so closely with Keaton, and she trusted him implicitly. When she wanted to abort the undercover mission with Madeline, he urged her to stay the course. He had faith in her, and she worked hard to live up to that. While she was with the CIA, he was her whole team. And so finding out that he’d betrayed her and then losing him like that? It’s not quite as painful as losing Reade, but it’s damned close.

And then she has to listen to Madeline gloat about it. “Everywhere you went, you left bodies behind... Your NYPD partner, and then your FBI partner, and now your CIA partner.” Of all of Madeline’s lines, this is the lowest blow, and the most painful, because it’s not false. We learned in 1.19 that Tasha’s partner at the NYPD was shot and killed while they were responding to a domestic disturbance. She’s lost her FBI partner (and Madeline is again right, Reade was much more than that), and now Keaton. We know Tasha already blames herself for Reade’s death and for her NYPD partner’s death. There is little doubt that she will hold herself responsible for Keaton’s death as well. If she hadn’t accepted his offer to move to the CIA, if she hadn’t come to Malta to see him today... Logically, we know that the responsibility for Reade’s and Keaton’s deaths lies solely with Madeline, but we know it’s not so clear in Tasha’s heart. “I don’t know what’s worse, the grief or the survivor’s guilt,” as she says to Keaton. Tasha was as much a victim of Madeline’s plans as they were, but it’s not something she would be able to admit, knowing that she is walking around when they no longer are.

And it’s the contrast between these two extremes, between Tasha and Madeline, that plays out over Keaton’s dead body. Tasha has no defense against Madeline blaming her for these deaths, because she accepts all blame, even for things that were outside of her control. But when she confronts Madeline about zipping her own child, Madeline responds, “You left me no choice.” Madeline blames her own actions on others, while Tasha blames herself for the actions of others. One shows great heart and character... and the other is a psychopath.

We haven’t seen Tasha take any real action with regard to her pregnancy, either embracing it or deciding not to go through with it. In some ways, her inaction is a decision of its own; after a certain point, there is only one outcome left. To be fair, she’s also on the run for her life, so it’s certainly not as easy as scheduling a prenatal appointment at the local health clinic. But as tough as nails as Tasha is, we know how fiercely protective she is of her family, and there’s no question that she would be even more so for a child of her own. And we see that in her abject horror when she discovers that Madeline zipped her own son. Look Tasha, motherhood is hard, yes, but this is a pretty low bar to beat. Without even trying, you’ll be better at parenting than Madeline!

Y: Tasha’s line about the virtual pet being for baby practice and then saying that she knows they have to be fed is one of the best lines of dialogue on this show ever. And Audrey’s delivery was just so perfect.

It worth mentioning that the way the team breaks up in this episode puts Tasha on her own. I know as an odd numbered group, this could always be the case, but it was relevant this week because her outing puts her in two head-to-head confrontations with two people who have had such an important role in her life. And both Tasha and Audrey are so good in both those confrontations.

With Keaton, even though he eventually became an ally to the team, he wasn’t so at first. And one of the first things he did was recruit Tasha to the CIA and cause that rift between Tasha and the FBI team. Her relationship with Reade was strained for a long time after that, and her relationship with Patterson was never the same again. Don’t get me wrong, Tasha is as much a member of this family as anyone else, but for a while Keaton’s presence in her life strained her other relationships.

And then her undercover op with Madeline really pulled her away from the team for a while and even upon returning she had a hard time finding her place again. So it seems right that she went on this mission alone and faced these two people on her own. Her realization that Keaton was betraying them was so sad to watch. For a minute, she allowed herself to hope that maybe this group of people helping them can really make a difference. And what made it harder was that she was opening up to him on personal stuff. We know how hard this is for Tasha. She never talks about her feelings, and to let her guard down like this only to get burned is heartbreaking.

L is spot on in her analysis that Tasha blames herself for everything. And the guilt she’s carrying around has to be crushing her. And this made the confrontation between Tasha and Madeline that much better. Of all the team, Tasha is the most ruined by Madeline—the months she spent with her were brutal, emotionally and psychologically and socially and professionally. Tasha was forced to do things and witness things that were unbearable and then after all that, after believing she finally got her, Madeline turned all the tables on them and sent the team running for their lives and costing Reade his.

The conversation about the track of destruction was so poignant. It drew a parallel between both women, but also placed them on the extreme ends of the spectrum. And that parallel was further highlighted by how both women perceive their path of destruction. Tasha carries all the responsibility and the guilt even though none of it is hers. And Madeline is so devoid of any feeling of guilt or responsibility and somehow manages to project responsibility onto others.

In many ways, everything that happened this week with the team played the role of emphasizing that they’re the good guys. Every choice they made served as a reminder that they’re the good guys.

But in the end—at least the end of this episode—they lose. A bleak representation of the real world, I’m afraid, but since this is tv and shows provide a good platform to provide hope in a miserable world, let’s just cross our fingers that the last chapter of this story is one that gives us an alternate view.

Oh, and don’t get me started on the fact that we didn’t see Tasha react to the news that Patterson’s dead or that she has lost her two best friends in a span of three months.

Jeez, this turned pretty dark from me. I’m sorry.

Here, think of Tasha boop-ing Patterson’s nose instead.

Boop.

Just like their team, Jane and Kurt were faced with a couple of impossible decisions this week, but those two will go on fighting until the bitter end, right? Right?

Y: In a fangirl’s lifetime, they would be lucky to get one or two ships—maybe three if their stars align properly—that will bring them endless joy and manage to fulfill all their shipping heart’s desires. Jeller is one of those ships for me. It hasn’t been without its hiccups, but dammit going into the finale chapter, it’s everything I could have ever wished for or imagined.

As intense as this episode was, somehow Jeller managed to give us a handful of their trademark sweet little moments that they always know how to steal in the madness. They also gave us one of their typical epic moments—the kind that goes down as a ship-defining moment. And at the end of the day they threw in the ultimate power couple “you just messed with the wrong people” look.

It was once again one of those episodes where we cannot separate Jeller in the review because they were glued together the whole time. I mean other than their entrance to the interrogation room, there was only one scene where they weren’t together, when Kurt was talking to Tasha.

Jeller once again give us a standard to aspire to in their relationship in the way they support each other and the way they find a balance and open dialogue all the times. They both have different opinions as to how to move forward and when Kurt decides that Jane’s course of action—heading to the east coast to stop the ZIP—is the right one, Jane starts to question the decision herself. But then all it takes is for Kurt to tell her to go with her gut—because he trusts her gut more than his own. That element of trust and honestly and codependency is what makes those two such an amazing couple.

I absolutely loved the moments they shared with Rich and Patterson. The comedy with Rich is always a treasure and we’ve gotten to a point in their relationship with Rich that his idiosyncrasies are no longer a thing of annoyance. Rich asks a question that should stop any sane person in their tracks. “Are you allergic to any endangered animals?” And to that, Kurt just shrugs and carries on. It’s a nice little nod to the fact that they’ve accepted Rich for who he is and just embrace him and love him for it.

And then the scene with Patterson. Jeller pretty much calls her their guardian angel. She urges them not to die. And before all that she gives us the best possible description of Kurt that could ever exist. Kurt’s the mama bear who’ll protect his cubs no matter what.

And Jane is the flamingo. The elegant and striking creature that is surprisingly fierce and resilient.

The moment Jeller shares in the military vehicle where Jane seeks comfort and reassurance and Kurt offers it via reminding her of who their team is—assuming in that moment that Tasha, Rich and Patterson are still out there. The trust and faith they have in their family is a beautiful thing.

Obviously, my favorite moments in the episode with these two occur when they’re stuck in the elevator. First, Jane stating that they won’t kill cops is a testament to who these guys are. It’s such a simple line, but it is right at the core of who they are. And it once again emphasizes a major running theme. There’s a good side and a bad side. The choices you make define where you stand. It was evident with Keaton and still ongoing with Weitz. So pick carefully because the lane you end up in defines your legacy.

And speaking of legacy, it seems Jeller are going for being the ultimate power couple and battle couple. And I mean, I don’t see that many couples even coming close. That kiss in the elevator with their hands on their weapons, poised for battle, ready to go down fighting for what’s right, declaring their undying love for each other and heading into battle with all the trust in each other and devotion to each other.

Excuse me but they’re the worst.

And if they don’t get their happily ever after... I guess I’ll be resigned to the fact that there isn’t justice in the world.

L: Speak for yourself. I will be angry on a level that will make Game of Thrones fans seem “mildly perturbed.”

I have expectations for this couple. They have fought so hard and so long, and throughout it all, they have never given up on each other. No petty squabbling (and in that they are doing better than pretty much every single couple stuck in quarantine together), no poor communication leading to big misunderstandings. Just... quiet faith in each other and way of working in sync that feels almost telepathic in nature. They have sacrificed almost everything they hold dear to do the right thing... And if they don’t deserve a happily ever after, then no one does.

But yes, that scene in the van. The last time they were handcuffed in a police van was in Iceland. And Tasha and Rich and Patterson got them out. Ivy captured Kurt, but the team found him, and Tasha brought him home (after she and Patterson and Rich saved Jane’s life). So it’s easy to understand why Kurt seems so optimistic this time. “With Patterson, Rich, and Tasha still out there? Yeah, I like our chances.” And knowing what we know at that moment, about Keaton and Tasha and Rich and Patterson, that lighthearted moment felt like being smacked in the face with a lead pipe. It is yet another example of how the cross-cutting from scene to scene in this episode was so incredibly effective.

So let’s just focus on the message that Kurt is giving us there. That this team is made up of individuals, who can be individually arrested and restrained, but they know that they are so much more than that. This team is a force. It’s strong enough to reform a dark web hacker. It makes a CIA company man go rogue and help a band of outlaws. It makes a self-serving smarmy lawyer start a resistance. It pairs up a couple of jaded federal agents with a convicted criminal/artist/hacker. This team is good, and they push the people around them to be better than they were before.

For that, if nothing else, we have to have faith.

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Well that was one of the most traumatizing and emotional episodes in the history of Blindspot. I guess that’s what they meant when they said we’re in the endgame now. Have you stashed enough chocolate? Is such a thing possible?

—Laura & Yas

#blindspot #blindspot: episode review #character: jane doe #character: kurt weller #character: tasha zapata #character: patterson #character: rich dotcom #character: matthew weitz #character: afreen #character: madeline burke #character: jake keaton #character: ivy sands #character: allison knight #character: boston arliss crab #ship: Jane/Kurt

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