Blindspot Review: Nor I, Nigel, AKA Leg in Iron (Season 2 Episode 10)

After a six-week hiatus, Blindspot comes back strong with gunfire, car chases, torture, and a healthy sprinkling of Jeller moments.

Blindspot Season 2 Episode 10 wastes no time getting down to business. The fall finale “Why Let Cooler Pasture Deform” left us with one of the cruelest cliffhangers we’ve ever experienced as Patterson and Dr. Bordon struggled over a gun.

Shortly before the episode cut to black the gun went off, but they didn’t reveal who got shot.

Within a few minutes of the episode opening we see that it’s Patterson, and that revelation alone is enough to twist our insides into a knot.

There is no denying that we love Patterson. She’s a quirky woman who is good at her job and constantly saves Team Weller’s rear while they’re out investigating tattoos. Needless to say, the fear for her safety was imminent.

Fortunately, it’s a non-fatal gunshot wound, and she’s with a doctor, so she’s alive, but also with Shepherd, and Shepherd wants information.

This is where the knot in my stomach tightens, because we know where this is headed. When has a terrorist ever talked about “extracting information” and not have it lead to torture.

Guys, Patterson is Sandstorm now!!!! ….Oh… maybe she was just being facetious. #Blindspot pic.twitter.com/BFruCaBrBy

— Blindspot Writers (@BlindspotRoom) January 5, 2017

Shepherd is no different, and her brand of torture includes some uncomfortable scenes with a large needle and Patterson’s ear. This tweet from Martin Gero is probably the best summary of my feelings about this scene.

This episode has 300% more ear stabbing then I would like. #Blindspot

— Martin Gero (@martingero) January 5, 2017

As an audience full of people who love Patterson, we’d prefer not to see her strapped to a table while Michelle Hurd repeatedly perforates her eardrum. Sure, a perforated eardrum heals, but these scenes are jarring to say the least.

Still, I have to give props to Michelle Hurd, Ashley Johnson, and Ukweli Roach. Their performances make these scenes hard to watch but also captivating. I visibly cringe during them, as I should, because this is not comfortable subject matter and it should never be comfortable subject matter.

The other aspect of these scenes that caught my eye, was the way they were intercut with Roman entering FBI custody. On one hand, you have a terrorist organization treating a woman who works to bring them down with ruthlessness and threats. On the other, you have the FBI treating a known terrorist, albeit one with no memory, with a soft touch.

These scenes together read like two extreme examples of the “Good Cop/Bad Cop” routine.

While Patterson’s dire circumstances are at the forefront of the episode, there is also the matter of Roman’s newly wiped memory. The plot may be a second thread throughout the episode, but it is just as important because it lays the groundwork for Roman’s future with the FBI.

While I assumed Roman would “find himself” in a different fashion than Jane did, I hadn’t considered the implications of what the FBI knows about him.

Mainly, how culpable will the FBI will hold Roman for his actions as part of Sandstorm.

It’s such an odd situation to have him in custody when he doesn’t remember anything. He’s not an asset that they can get information out of, but at the same time, the person you now have doesn’t remember committing the events and may not go back to Sandstorm and commit more.

Call me crazy, but isn’t this what the corrections system is supposed to prevent?

Yet, when FBI Director Pellington questions Roman we see that the fact that Roman doesn’t remember anything isn’t a factor in his treatment; he’s guilty. I know he’s guilty, we’ve seen what he’s capable of, and yet I feel empathy towards Roman, and I am torn in my empathy.

Ultimately, I walked away from this episode asking myself how I would decide Roman’s fate if I knew everything the FBI does.

I don’t have an answer yet and I will probably be wrestling with this question for the rest of the season as Roman grapples with his new blank past.

Stray Thoughts

• This episode doesn’t have enough Reade. I know he was injured and needed surgery, but dang it, the scenes we do get are heartbreaking. Especially the end with Zapata! (He loves you girl! You’re really gonna make this hard?)
• Luke Mitchell has amazing talent. I am drawn in to this new vulnerable Roman and I want to see where this goes. Give this guy an award! Or just supercut the silent parts of Roman’s appearances when this season is over. (I have a feeling.)
• The diner scene is a perfectly good waste of pie!
• Borden’s true colors really came out in this episode and I wonder if he could redeem himself? Maybe if we have some Borden and Remy flashbacks to add some context to how he got from A (the death of his wife) to B (almost killing Patterson) will help?
• Apparently Sandstorm can’t kill Kurt? Why? I am going to be asking this question until it is answered and I get the feeling it isn’t coming anytime soon.
• Unlocking the phone and finding a “Rough Draft Jane” with a tattoo that was removed is pretty cool. I wonder if there are others in this rough draft.
• Can we all agree that we should get behind a Romane bromance ship? The scenes between them this episode are just so touching.

What did you think of this episode of Blindspot? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Blindspot airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC.

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