8.1

Blindspot: “Split the Law”

(Episode 1.05)

TV Reviews
Blindspot: “Split the Law”

Jane and Kurt are still no closer to figuring out if Jane Doe is really Taylor Shaw, or not. Instead, this week focused on setting up a larger story arc, presumably set to take place throughout the rest of the season, regarding the mysterious CIA man from the past couple episodes—now revealed to be Tom Carter, Deputy Director of the CIA. We still have no clue as to who tattooed Jane, but right now Carter serves as a visible primary antagonist who wants Jane dead. It’s clear more than ever that Carter will do whatever he can to ensure that his secrets Jane and her tattoos may expose do not come to light.

The past couple installments have hinted that Carter would be a character whose goal is to bring Jane down. As if to confirm those hints, we even see him aiming his gun, ready to fire and kill Jane in the cemetery just after they’ve thwarted a terrorist plot. Of course if Jane died right then and there, the show would be over. So naturally someone (Mayfair) was there to stop him. At this point it seems like it’s going to be a weekly thing where Mayfair and Carter share some cryptic words with each other, with Carter telling Mayfair that Jane would cause their downfall. Even if Carter had shot Jane dead, wouldn’t everyone else in the cemetery have noticed? He wasn’t too far away that no one would be able to tell where the shot came from, but then again, Carter is one cocky SOB. As we’ve seen in this episode, he’s not afraid to get dirty and use any means necessary to get what he wants.

And how about that standoff that took place between the FBI team and Carter’s CIA agents with all their guns drawn at each other? It was thrilling to see the line drawn in the sand between Carter and the FBI team. If it had gone down a direction similar to the bar standoff scene in Inglourious Basterds, that would have been a shocking way to end the episode, leaving people on edge about who survives and dies next week. Alas, Blindspot is not that kind of show. It’ll have surprising moments, but it’s not (at least as of now) going to take a Game of Thrones route, where any character could die at any time.

This week’s closing shocker was not the most exciting, especially compared to past episodes, but it did provide some closure to my problem from last week’s seemingly random Zapata subplot. Now we see she’s decided to be on Carter’s payroll, acting as a mole to give him information on Jane. We still don’t know much about Zapata, as the show has taken little time to explore her character, but perhaps this will take us down a road where we’ll learn what kind of person she is, and how taking on the role of a mole will end up for her.

We did get one small clue this week regarding Jane’s past. We see a flashback of Jane as a little girl being led down the stairs by a man into a basement filled with children lying on cots. We’ve seen Jane concerned before from her flashbacks, but this is the first one that visibly shakes her. This then leads to a great moment of character development between Kurt and Jane. A few weeks ago when the pilot premiered, the idea of Kurt and Jane becoming love interests would have come off as a cliché, simply because they were the two main characters, and each a different gender. But now the idea of them developing feelings for each other seems natural. Kurt wants to protect the woman he believes is his childhood friend, as he puts her hand on his heart to help calm her down, telling her he’s here with her. To call Jane a damsel in distress would be ridiculous, as she’s quite capable of taking care of herself, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t need somebody emotionally there for her. Right now Kurt is the only person who really can be, and is the only one who can remotely try to understand.

This episode took a big step conveying the intense emotion behind the idea of Jane being Taylor, for both Jane and Kurt. Jane is afraid that she can’t live up to the idea of Taylor that Kurt has in his mind, while Kurt is afraid of the possibility that Jane may not be Taylor. He admits to Jane he blames himself for Taylor’s kidnapping.This is the most honest and flawed we’ve seen Kurt yet, and he may have to face the harsh reality that Jane is someone else. If that’s the case, then how would that affect his feelings for her? The growing attraction is becoming visible to both of them. Soon enough we’ll see where that road takes them, as they continue along their mysterious journey.

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