So much for figuring out whether or not Jane Doe is Taylor Shaw. It’s a shame, too, considering how exciting and action-packed last week’s episode was, whereas this week’s installment had a surprisingly dull tattoo mystery-of-the-week plotline and Jane Doe’s identity is back to being more mysterious than ever. Although, let’s be honest, was anyone really expecting the Jane Doe identity mystery was going to be solved just three episodes in? “Bones May Rot” serves as a reminder that there’s still a huge chunk of the first season to go, and another clue toward knowing Jane’s identity will bring more questions than answers.
The relationship explored between Kurt and Jane in this episode feels like a tease by the end of it. Jane spends time with Kurt asking him questions about their childhood, her mother, and the night she went missing, only for us to find out that she once again may not actually be Taylor Shaw. Jane doesn’t realize this yet, and Kurt is now probably going to be more driven than ever to figure who Jane is—and understandably so. We see how he’s developed not just more personal feelings toward Jane, but also a type of dependence. Not only does he now trust her in the field with his life, but she fulfills a part of him that’s been dying to know what happened to Taylor Shaw. Now that he thinks he’s found her, it’s awkward for both of them, as Jane wants to know more about her supposed identity and Kurt reminisces about a time when he and Taylor Shaw were close like a family.
It’s really random how that twist involving Jane’s tooth was thrown in the end there—not necessarily the twist itself, but how it was conducted, with Patterson revealing to Kurt that after examining one of Jane’s teeth, it’s concluded that she was born in Sub-Saharan Africa. Wait, what?! This is a little too bizarre. At least Kurt is just as surprised as we are, arguing that it’s impossible, because Taylor Shaw was born in Pennsylvania. But both test results are conclusive, Jane Doe’s DNA matches Taylor Shaw’s, but she was also born in Africa. Clearly, one of these results isn’t correct, and it’s possible we may not find out for a while. But Blindspot has been pretty good about not lingering on one particular question for too long. Sure, we’ve been on the issue of Jane Doe’s identity since the pilot, but the series has managed to provide a sort of give-and-take approach—giving one answer, but then providing another that pulls back what came before it. It’s never a lingering question that goes completely unanswered. Answers are provided… they just may not be accurate.
And while we’re on the subject of random plotlines, what was up with that beginning of the new subplot focusing on Zapata? In the past few episodes she’s been a pretty minor character (and she still is), but now, it’s as if the writers suddenly decided they should add more to her narrative with a story involving her owing a good chunk of change to some mysterious guy. Of course we’re given almost no information, but this isn’t even that interesting to begin with. If Zapata was somehow connected to Jane Doe and the FBI doesn’t know about it, then that would be something to pique interest, but a personal gambling problem is so out of left field. Even if this does somehow turn into a bigger dilemma that involves the rest of the team in future episodes, its first impression isn’t especially exciting.
The mysterious white guy that spoke with Mayfair last week comes back toward the end, and once again he’s all paranoid about Jane’s tattoos exposing whatever Daylight is. It’s not clear whether Mayfair is good or bad, but it’s very clear that this mysterious guy, whom we find out is head of the CIA, is a shady person. He wants Jane. He’s not willing to give up and hopes that whatever information her tattoos may be carrying won’t ruin him. Hopefully this is the development of a visible bad guy for Jane, Kurt, and the rest of the team to fight against throughout the season. Even though there’s a unique bad guy with each episode, there needs to be some ever-present and visible opposition against them and not just some invisible, unknown group responsible for tattooing and memory-wiping Jane.