Blindspot Review: Cease Forcing Enemy (Season 1 Episode 11)
What a tangled tattooed web Blindspot weaves. Fans have waited months since the show aired its mid-season finale with a startling revelation: Jane Doe did this to herself.
Watching Blindspot is a lot like following a train of breadcrumbs. The writers tease out bits of information at a time but keep it well-paced so that you maintain interest in the story, but they reveal just enough background each episode to leave viewers wanting more.
“Cease Forcing Enemy” is the perfect example of a great Blindspot episode. It welds together a ripped-from-the-headlines main plot, office affairs, and the question of who Jane should trust all into one neat package. Although the neat packages always bring up a few more questions than answers.
The episode opens with some gruesome shots of tattoo equipment. As the mechanisms move up and down and buzz, the camera pulls back and we see Jane, lying on a table while what appears to be four tattoo artists work on various sections of the masterpiece that is Jane’s tattoos.
It’s one of those sequences that should yield a breadcrumb. Some tiny tidbit of information about what happened and what exactly the tattoos mean. Through the artful shots and the shallow depth-of-field I get the feeling this is a scene where there must be a subtle clue if you know to look.
Very quickly, the episode pulls away from the past to show us Jane with her psychiatrist and then flashes back to when Oscar saved Jane.
Oscar is a character that I wanted to trust when I saw the mid-season finale, but now going into the second half of the season I distrust him. He claims that because of Jane’s orders he can’t reveal certain things to her. He can confirm that she’s Taylor Shaw but he can’t tell her when she’s been for the last twenty-five years unless she earns his trust by completing missions he has for her.
This is a cringe-worthy moment. The scene reads like Oscar is asking her to become a double agent; which made me doubt his origin and intentions. We know so little about Jane and what led to choose to take the drugs that wiped her memory that we can’t even deduce if it really was her choice. It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out in future episodes.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Agent Patterson is amazing this week. She ends up facing an inquisition for the death of her boyfriend, David Wagner with an internal affairs goon named Fisher. The sequence starts a b-plot with lots of office politics, but it gives Mayfair and Patterson a chance to really show what they are made of.
Patterson seems to be quickly digging her own grave as Fisher questions her leading to her suspension, but Mayfair isn’t having any of that. Instead, Mayfair bursts in and gives him a good verbal whiplashing to make one thing really clear: Patterson is needed on this team because no one can do what she can.
I always think of Patterson as the Blindspot team’s Oracle. She’s their Barbara Gordon with her computers and facts, but also with an amazingly smart brain. You don’t bench Oracle when the team is in trouble.
When she’s trying to figure out how the team can safely land a plane she quickly does some math in her head and that leads to the best exchange in the entire episode:
Patterson, to Jane and Kurt: You can for sure maintain enough airspeed. I did the math.
Fisher: How? Where?
Patterson: In my head, where math is done. Please don’t interrupt.
This just proves that Patterson is a valuable part of the team. Sure, getting her boyfriend involved with the clues and the puzzle isn’t the smartest idea, but when the team really needs her she can save their bacon and bring the team home without losing lives.
Stray Thoughts
- This episode has a lot of unresolved sexual tension between Kurt and Jane. There are quite a few terrifying moments and genuinely sweet scenes. Now Oscar is in picture—or at least, in the shadows—so that is just going to spell trouble. (Let out the Darth Vader-eque scream.)
- Jane Doe and airplanes should just be a meme already.
- Jane Doe is Taylor Shaw. I am trying to ruminate on this and the more I think about it—the less I believe it.
What did you think of this episode of Blindspot? Who do you think Jane should trust? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Reviewer Rating:
User Rating:
Blindspot airs Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.
Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.