They’re under attack!
Main Cast: Jaimie Alexander, Sullivan Stapleton
Creator: Martin Gero
I cannot review Blindspot without noting two things:
- This series contains a massive 100 episodes in five seasons. Not only is that unheard of in these days of 8-episode seasons, but the fifth and final season is short, with a mere 11 episodes. The others clock in at 22-23 episodes each.
- This is a deeply ridiculous show on every level.
So let’s move on, shall we?
Blindspot ran on NBC from 2015 until 2020. The central premise is this:
A woman awakens, naked, in Times Square just as a member of the bomb squad unzips the giant duffel bag in which she has been slumbering. She has no memory and is covered in cryptic tattoos. One tattoo leads to the New York office of the FBI, where agents spend 100 episodes deciphering that mysterious ink.
Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander) doesn’t remember her name or anything else about her life. She doesn’t even know if she likes coffee or tea. The FBI team, led by Agent Kurt Weller (Sullivan Stapleton), is wary of this husky-voiced beauty. Not only is she attractive and mysterious, but she seems to have a hold on Weller, making the others suspicious.
Will they come to trust her? Will they work magnificently as a well-oiled machine? Will those tattoos lead to vast conspiratorial machinations?
Obviously, the answer to all of the above is a resounding YESSSSSSS. Blindspot may be a ridiculous show, but it isn’t a stupid one. It knows what the audience wants.
But why is it ridiculous, you ask? I mean, you read the premise, so that’s probably enough right there. But it doesn’t stop with just an outline. Every episode is over the top in at least one way. Here are some of my favorites:
- Everyone’s a ninja. Every agent, supporting character, bad guy, or man on the street has been trained at the finest schools of performative pretend martial arts. Back flips, leg sweeps, flying tackles – you name it, they’re going to do it.
- Escalating technobabble. If you’ve ever seen an episode of Star Trek, you know that technobabble can be a true art form. In Blindspot, they turn it up to 11, with a computer genius who dances verbal rings around the mere mortals as she describes her latest hack or tattoo clue.
- Flying bullets. There is a cartoonish amount of violence in this show. This team of FBI agents kills hundreds of villains (and various villain-adjacent extras) through the series. Rarely does anyone question this wanton bloodshed, or even mention it after the scene is over.
- Bad guys are bad shots. There is a LOT of machine gun fire in Blindspot. Weirdly, the villains rarely hit much. The agents, with their single-shot revolvers, are far more likely to find their mark than their bullet-spraying foes.
- Conspiracy theories. As with many long-running series, the larger story arc gets overly complicated. It’s a lot of episodes to fill, and they aren’t inclined to do too many stand-alone tattoo-of-the-week plotlines.
- Hallmark with guns. The series doesn’t ignore the personal lives of the agents. Their love lives are about as deep as an average Hallmark movie, but strikingly less entertaining. This is the weakest part of the series. The couples are without chemistry, and their interactions are almost painful to watch.
Reading all this, you might think that I hated Blindspot. You would be so very wrong. It’s garbage TV, for sure, but I loved it. It’s so unrealistic that you can get caught up in the fantastical mysteries and pretend science, and just go with it.
After nearly 100 hours with this show, I believe I know why it works for me. It all comes down to Patterson, the computer genius mentioned above. Played by Ashley Johnson, this character single-handedly adds both heart and much-needed lightness to what could otherwise have been a soulless jumble of badly choreographed violence.
Patterson keeps the team on track with her keyboard brilliance and actually feels genuine. Her character is perhaps the silliest, with her remarkable tech skills, but also the one I most look forward to seeing in a scene. She keeps us invested in the team as a whole.
I don’t think I’m alone in this feeling, as the showrunners bring in two more rather delightful computer geniuses as the seasons roll by. They are all fun in a way that the rest of the characters are decidedly not.
I enjoyed my time with all the foolishness that is Blindspot. It’s bloody and unrealistic and stuffed to the brim with action clichés, but it revels in its excess in a way that ends up being entertaining. If you’ve ever wanted to watch a bunch of people decode tattoos, then for sure give this a try. For the other 99.99999% of you, try an episode or two and see if you like the vibe.
Sue reads a lot, writes a lot, edits a lot, and loves a good craft. She was deemed “too picky” to proofread her children’s school papers and wears this as a badge of honor. She is also proud of her aggressively average knitting skills. TV and indie movies are her jam.
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