Blindspot Review: Fix My Present Havoc (Season 3 Episode 7)
After a couple weeks of Blindspot shifting focus, it seems like things are finally starting to come together, but it may be too little to late.
Blindspot Season 3 Episode 7, “Fix My Present Havoc,” relies on past tropes from several seasons, including the idea that the upper echelon of the FBI is corrupt.
“Fix My Present Havoc” is actually quite compelling and enjoyable mostly because it actually starts to answer some of the questions that have been festering throughout this season.
However, when the sequence opens, recounting Stuart’s obsession with the molecule tattoo and Hirst’s involvement in his death, I have to ask, did is it really surprise to anyone?
This episode really gets me thinking about what we expect from female villains. I’ve been nursing a theory that when it comes to compelling female villains we expect them to be calculating and measured. Hirst embodies that and does it with scalpel-like precision.
At the start of the season, Hirst seemed genuinely concerned and wanted to do what was best for the team. As this season has progressed, I’ve started to find my trust wavering as her actions become more illicit.
This kind of sneaky, underhanded play is the kind of game that we’ve come to expect from characters like Hirst, and I’m not sure if it’s clichéd or surprising anymore.
As an audience, it feels like we’ve come to expect grandiose gestures and showmanship from male villains, but female villains operate much more in the dark.
That was definitely the case with Shepherd last season, and the pattern seems to be holding with Hirst. Heck, even Mayfair in Blindspot Season 1 operated in the black before she was killed off.
What is particularly interesting about this episode is how Hirst’s conniving actions take center stage against a trail of breadcrumbs that Roman has left for Jane and Weller to follow. The scavenger hunt of clues (really just two clues) are overt displays meant to lead Weller and Jane to an answer, whereas everything Hirst does is a misdirection.
The thing is that Roman is playing a game very similar to Hirst; the difference is we’ve already painted Roman as the bad guy so we suspect malicious intent. Yet, I am going through all the cases that the team has decoded so far from Jane’s new tattoos, and I can’t find any evil subplots.
Yes, there is no question that Roman is messing with Jane and Weller’s minds, and his actions are sociopathic in nature, but there hasn’t been anything that puts Team Weller in danger. (At least, no more than usual.)
If anything, Roman’s interventions with the tattoos have been timed to help stop devastating incursions from happening.
Like in this episode, which puts them on the trail of the cancer drug trial, and simultaneously directs them back to Stuart’s murder, which makes me wonder what Roman knows about Hirst’s activities.
The dichotomy is odd because everyone is worried about Roman, when Hirst is much closer to their work and has actually killed a federal agent. In the end, the only takeaway from this is that there is no one in this show that the audience can completely trust.
Stray Thoughts:
- Bringing Bethany back into the story is a great way to start tugging at Jane’s heartstrings. Seeing Jane change her mind makes a lot of sense, but I still cannot forgive the show for the hemming and hawing that occurred in Blindspot Season 3 Episode 5 “This Profound Legacy.”
- This change in Jane’s demeanor also makes me really hope this child isn’t dead.
- Kurt’s guilt over the fact that he knows about Jane’s daughter is also interesting to watch. His dream was trippy and one of my favorite sequences of the series so far, but if this whole subplot doesn’t payoff, it is all going to feel like it’s for not.
- While watching this episode, I actually said, “The Reade and Tasha vibes are strong in this one!”
- I actually missed Roman romancing that rich girl while pretending to be Tom. Any chance they’ll answer what’s up with that next episode?
What did you think of this episode of Blindspot? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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Blindspot airs Fridays at 8/7c on NBC.
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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.