Tell-Tale TV Series Premiere Panels: Blindspot

Fall TV is back! While we all love catching up with our favorite shows, part of the fun of Fall TV is getting sucked into a brand new addiction. There are a ton of new shows premiering this fall, and all of us at Tell-Tale TV are breaking them down to see which ones are worth watching.

In the premiere of Blindspot, the FBI are called in when the NYPD discover an abandoned duffel bag in the middle of Times Square. As if that isn’t strange enough, there’s a woman inside the duffel bag covered in tattoos, and she has no idea who she is. There’s one clue: “Kurt Weller” and “FBI” are tattooed in big letters on Jane Doe’s back. The FBI takes over Jane Doe, and they work on uncovering her true identity and the meaning behind her many tattoos.

Our panelists are:

• Alice Walker, contributing writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Lyra Hale, contributing writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Allison Nichols, contributing writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Carissa Pavlica from TV Fanatic
• Caralynn Lippo from The TV Junkies

1. Give it to me straight, did you like the premiere?

Alice: I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I am a huge fan of Memento, so I was a skeptical this would be a lesser knock-off. But it found its own footing quickly. The influence is there (it’s hard not to be with memory loss and tattoos as clues), but the focus is split between Jane and determining what kind of “treasure map” her body has been converted into. It’s a pilot episode, so they had a lot of ground to cover, and there was plenty of exposition. However, even with all of the stage setting, there was action, progression, and stakes. I was drawn in by it, which is a tough thing to do right out of the gate.

Lyra: I absolutely loved it! I knew from the first moment that Jane popped out of that bag, that I was going to see something different — something fresh! Jaimie Alexander managed to be a badass while grasping onto a vulnerability that I’ve never seen in a character. To top it off, the tattoo work on her body is extraordinary. It covers every inch of her and the producers aren’t afraid to show it!

Carissa: I didn’t, really. I felt it was just another procedural. That said, I happened to be lucky enough to meet Jaimie Alexander at Comic-Con and fell in love with her. I hope beyond all else it’s a breakout hit, because she’s amazing, did a fantastic job with what she was given, and is adorable.

Caralynn: Like Alice, I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this premiere. I’m typically not a big fan of procedurals, but I wanted to tune in to this series because of the interesting, unique premise. I do love superhero origin stories, and this struck me as a type of origin story along those lines — Jane, with no memories, has no idea what she is capable of. Similarly, we (the audience) are discovering what her “superpowers” are as we go along. It’s a pretty cool idea! I feel like they can probably sustain this format (tattoo/case of the week, with one recovered memory) for one season, but beyond that they’ll need to come up with something bigger to deal with. In all, I think this was an engaging premiere, and I definitely came out of it wanting to know more about Jane.

Allison: I did. It kept me guessing. I liked that the case of the week was secondary to the mystery of who Jane Doe is. It helps to separate it from other procedurals, especially those who put the case before the personal storylines.

2. What’s the show’s biggest problem?

Alice: Most of the characters remain two-dimensional stereotypes at this point (The sassy hacker! The Gruff Cop!) and could all use more development, though at this point I don’t think that’s a huge flaw. The dialogue was the weakest link, either exactly on the nose, or over the top dramatic. They have it dialed up to an 11 right now, there needs to be a little more faith that the viewers are following along just fine.

Lyra: I felt like I was trying to catch up and take in as much information as I could before it disappeared. They were so busy trying to make sure I came back and watched that a lot of things weren’t explored. This left me feeling a little disjointed and in the need for a re-watch.

Carissa: It didn’t feel like anything new to me. The hook (the tattoos, the memory loss) won’t hold up over the long term, from what I saw in the pilot. Of all things, I wish we were never given the reveal at the end of the

hour. Now, it could completely surprise me. Unfortunately, I don’t know that I’ll stick around week to week to find out. Binge-worthy? Perhaps, depending upon the reviewing going forward.

Caralynn: The dialogue was absolutely the biggest flaw. Obviously, the exposition and laying the groundwork for how the series is going to work was really rushed (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) but that resulted in so much expository dialogue (my pet peeve). Particularly most of the interactions between Mayfair and the various FBI folks where they sort of took turns explaining what the deal was with Jane, what her condition was, etc. It was all a bit ham-handed, in my opinion. Also, there was some uneven characterization, specifically with Kurt Weller. He struck me as a lone wolf upon his introduction, so I found it hard to swallow that he would be so immediately caring/protective/comforting with Jane. And they hugged like four times in the span of the 45 minute episode!

Allison: The tattoos and the mystery behind them. The pilot suggests that one person (or maybe two thanks to that end flashback) somehow orchestrated all these crimes that are going to happen at some point in the future. The payoff needs to somehow make sense, and there’s a question of how can we get answers when the whole show is about this mystery. Does the show end whenever the tattoos and who put them there are solved?

3. What’s the show’s greatest strength?

Alice: Jaimie Alexander, hands down. Her Jane Doe is like Jason Bourne mixed with Sydney Bristow, and she alternates from panic, sadness, anger, and vulnerability in almost every scene. She is a treasure, and with any luck this will propel her into the next level of stardom.  Really strong performance — if they had a weaker actress in this role it would never have worked as well as it does.

Lyra: Agree with Alice. Jaimie Alexander, hands down. Every single detail. Scared and shaking woman one moment and fluent speaker of Chinese in the next. She played the role without making the viewer feel like she was forcing everything. It was also relatable in that I felt like I would react to these situations like her, slowly and with reserved shock.

Carissa: Three for three on this one. Jaimie Alexander is amazing. She played the role to the hilt and became Jane Doe. There is just something very magical and loveable about her, even if we don’t know for sure she’s somebody we should be supporting. We just do. In contrast, I felt the weakest link of The Blacklist was Megan Boone, so the way Alexander commanded we watch her as Jane was a pleasant surprise.

Caralynn: Four for four; Jaimie Alexander was the obvious standout. Without such a strong and wide-ranging lead actress, I don’t imagine this premiere would have been remotely as engaging. She really made the character of Jane Doe come to life with her nuanced performance. Also, they seem to be coming out of the gate strong on the whole Kurt Weller-Jane Doe romance thing — the two have nice chemistry, so I thought that was a strength as well.

Allison: Five for five! Jaimie Alexander really nails her performance and does a great job portraying how confused and scared Jane Doe is. I instantly wanted to protect Jane, and then I was applauding when she went into badass mode.

4. Who or what do you want to see more of?

Alice: The serialized mystery. Jane is covered in intricate tattoos that are clearly leading to something big. It’s that mystery mixed with the pathos that makes it interesting. Let’s lean into the mythology, without getting lost in it.

Lyra: The tattoos. I know that this will come over time, and it’s the central premise of the show, but I want it now. I want to see how far they go and maybe even a scene or two where they show her getting them.

Carissa: Why Jane made the decision to wipe her memory and become what she is now. Whether she’s a pawn in a conspiracy or at the heart of it are what I find the most compelling at this point. The tattoos seem secondary to her story, because she’s the most exciting piece of the puzzle.

Caralynn: Mysterious bearded fellow. I really want to know who he is, what his relationship is (or was) to Jane, and why he had to kill Chao. What secret was he protecting that led him to murder?

Allison: I really want to see more of Jane just trying normal things to figure out who she is. Let’s see her eat a bunch of things off a menu (or several), and then watch her eat something she immediately hates or loves. Jane finding herself will be interesting, but it can also be funny and bring humor to the show.

5. Who or what needs to go away and never come back?

Alice: Nothing comes to mind, except gratuitous shots of Jane being naked just for the sake of having a hot naked lady on TV. Her body is a huge part of the show, but let’s keep it classy, shall we NBC?

Lyra: Have to say, I’d like to see less of the hacker/tech expert. As much as I love it, it’s an old trope. Give me a fresh faced, different take on an expert, like you did with Jaimie. Don’t give me what I’ve seen over and over.

Carissa: Hmmm. In my happy little world there wouldn’t a case per week, but I don’t really know if that’s the route we’re going, so perhaps I just can’t weigh in on this yet. I didn’t dislike anything to a terrible degree. I was more ambivalent on some things.

Caralynn: This isn’t necessarily a single thing that needs to disappear, but I would suggest the cut down on the supporting roles. Right now, it seems like there are a lot of FBI agents in various roles who are serving as basically stock characters. It will be easier to develop a select few of them if the less engaging ones are weeded out, allowing more focus to develop the more promising ones. So far, I like the guy on the medical team who gave Jane the choice between coffee and tea along with that sweet little pep talk.

Allison: Hopefully we get over the “stay in the car. No I want to help” bit. It made sense to want to keep Jane out of harm’s way in this episode, but we can’t keep having this struggle. By the end of the episode, I was already just yelling at Kurt to let her go and not waste time with another pointless argument until he realized that Jane would be more useful out in the field.

6. Favorite quote/moment from the premiere?

Alice: The opening shot of Jane emerging from the duffel bag was wonderfully done. She somehow looked like a bird hatching from its egg, a butterfly shedding its cocoon, beautiful and utterly terrified all at the same time. Striking. The cinematography during the fight in the Statue of Liberty was beautiful, and managed to give me slight vertigo!

Lyra: Right after Jane attacked the Chinese neighbors on the ground floor, we saw her collapse into a more vulnerable state. Her face was drawn back and you could tell that she was coming back to herself and realizing that she shouldn’t be able to do this. She was scared and surprised. All of this played on her face and made me feel like somehow I could see her pain and confusion in me.

Carissa: I agree with Alice. The opening scene was really special and it sold the pilot. There’s a reason they included it and why so many people tuned in. It was more than a naked woman emerging in public, but the fear and wonder at what the hell was happening. It was really well done and unexpected (even though we saw it too many times prior to air). If they had managed to keep it hidden, that would have been an amazing surprise scene for a pilot.

Caralynn: The opening sequence was very strong. I liked basically everything about it — from the opening overhead shot of the Manhattan skyline to the very abrupt cut to a completely empty Times Square as the bomb squad attempted to figure out who was in the duffel. Jaimie Alexander’s performance in that scene (which, physically, couldn’t have been a simple task!) was also fantastic. Jane Doe’s emergence from the duffel was weirdly beautiful (like Alice said) and also at the same time very surreal. I really loved the musical score during the opening scene as well!

Allison: The end scene. I loved that we got to see that Jane knew what she was getting into. We got a pretty big answer in the pilot of all places. I was impressed.

 

Enough about what we thought, what was your impression of the premiere? Leave us your thoughts in a comment below!

Blindspot airs Mondays 10/9c on NBC.