Considering it’s been over three months since the last episode of Blindspot, its mid-season return, unfortunately, turned out to be not as entertaining as one might expect. Episode 10 left us with the realization that Jane is responsible for everything that’s happened to her—the tattoos, the memory wipe, working with the FBI—all of it was concocted by her. Instead of an explosive return investigating Jane’s original identity, her relationship with Oscar (the guy with the tree tattoo) and why she’s done all of this to herself, we’re taken on a forgettable, by-the-book tattoo mystery of the week.
What’s unfortunate about this week’s tattoo mystery was that it really had a lot of potential to be something more. This time, the FBI team finds themselves traveling overseas to a remote island located in the Black Sea. Taking some inspiration from real-life headlines, the team stumbles across a missing passenger jet that was thought to have crashed in the ocean, but had never been found. The passengers are still alive and being held hostage by a group of terrorists. What happens next? Jane and the team must try to save the day and get back home! While there was a great idea behind this plot, the execution felt too familiar. As if that weren’t enough, Jane is then faced with the task of landing a plane—but can she do it? Turns out she can, what a surprise! Everyone gets to go home safe and sound, but just by the skin of their teeth of course. It’s all simply another day in the life of Jane.
While the gang is stranded on an island full of terrorists, Patterson is under investigation for having shared secret documents with her deceased boyfriend, David. An internal affairs agent named Fisher is intent on suspending Patterson for the recklessness, which eventually led to her boyfriend’s death. Demonstrating that she is too valuable a team member to be suspended, Patterson later gets to prove herself in front of Fisher as she tries to direct Jane on how to land the plane. It was a great moment for Patterson, and it showed us that maybe she should be more than just the smart lab character—you couldn’t help but root for her as she talked back at Fisher while quickly coming up with a solution to help Jane. If anything, this moment showed that Blindspot’s supporting characters—specifically other members of the FBI team—can have their shining moments as well.
As if suddenly remembering that we’ve been waiting months to find out if Jane was Taylor Shaw and what the deal with Oscar is, we get a few minutes between Jane and Oscar towards the end of the episode. We now know for sure that Jane is Taylor Shaw, as it is confirmed by Oscar. This is one of the biggest questions the show has been keeping up in the air since the second episode of the series. Now that we have confirmation that Jane and Taylor Shaw are the same person, the next big question is why was she kidnapped as a child, and more importantly, who took her? Oscar promises he’ll reveal more once he feels he can trust Jane, which he’ll know after giving her a few missions—which will probably unfold over the course of the next few episodes, if not the rest of the season.
While “Cease Forcing Enemy” may not have been one of the better episodes of Blindspot, it led us off into some potentially great territory with lots of questions. This is the first time in the series Jane will be keeping a big secret from the Kurt and the rest of the team. Oscar told her that no one in the FBI can be trusted, but does that distrust extend toward Kurt, who has done all that he can to protect and help her? Will Jane recall more romantic memories with Oscar, which could then lead to a love triangle between her, Oscar and Kurt? If Jane does start to remember more of who she was and what the point behind all of this is, is she going to change back into this former person, or is she going to choose to start a new path for herself? There’s also the issue of Carter’s death in the mid-season finale, and who will take his place as the big bad wolf of the show? And, when oh when, are we ever going to learn the truth about how Kurt’s father was/wasn’t involved with Taylor Shaw’s kidnapping? Maybe some of these questions will be answered in the next episode, or perhaps we’ll be spending the rest of the season patiently waiting to find everything out. Either way, it’s looking to be an exciting journey for the second half of season one, even if this mid-season return was somewhat disappointing.