Blindspot Review: This Profound Legacy (Season 3 Episode 5)

The web of mystery and conspiracy is starting to coalesce.

Blindspot Season 3 Episode 5 “This Profound Legacy” balances a case-of-the-week with threads of Stuart’s murder and Jane’s daughter. Oh, they also don’t forget about the possibility of a mole in the FBI.

As interesting as the overall plot is, there is one line at the very top that reads like lazy storytelling, and which hangs in the back of my mind.

When Patterson is breaking down the authenticity of the birth certificate Jane received at the end of Blindspot Season 3 Episode 4 “Gunplay Ricochet” she says that there’s no way to tell if Jane had actually given birth.

Try googling “how to tell if someone has given birth years later” and you will find lots of information that could have provided a clue. Sure, some of the ways aren’t particularly sexy, but that doesn’t change the fact that biology isn’t being acknowledged in this scene.

Not to mention, it’s been how many years? Has Jane not seen a gynecologist who may have noticed something?

Yes, Blindspot is an action/adventure/crime show, and I realize it doesn’t serve the story to have Jane spend a whole episode at a doctor’s office, but to have Patterson say: “Pregnancy tests exist. Birth tests don’t” is a blatant lie.

It’s especially interesting that none of this is explored when you consider the case-of-the-week involves untested rape kits, a pregnancy from a certain assault, and an international crisis involving an heir to the throne of Kazarus.

The number of untested kits is a very real problem, and it’s very smart writing on the show’s part to include it.

Yet, it feels so frustrating watching this, knowing there are 20-year-old rape kits that can be tested, and yet, according to Patterson, there is no way to tell if Jane gave birth eighteen years ago.

These two points stay with me the entire episode, but eventually end up being a moot point when Jane decides she doesn’t want to look for her daughter.

Let’s break this down: they’ve introduced this thread about Jane’s daughter, but now they aren’t going pursue it after one episode? Clearly, something else is going on here.

And of course, in the final moments of the episode, we get an answer as to what happened in Berlin. Guess what? It applies to this storyline!

The last few moments of the episode flashback to six months ago during the eighteen-month time jump where we find out that both Kurt and Jane’s daughter were looking for Jane. They just happened to be in Berlin at the same time.

It’s impossible to not be angry for Jane.

She’s had her memory erased. She thought she was Taylor Shaw only to have that belief ripped away from her. She found her adoptive mom and brother and then had to betray them. Having Kurt keep this big secret from her now, is going to backfire spectacularly.

On some level, it’s easy to understand why he hasn’t told her. Jane doesn’t remember having a child because of the ZIP she was given prior to Season 1.

Now, that there’s evidence in front of her and she’s going through something, Kurt hasn’t come clean. This is really puzzling when he admits that he can’t help her at the top of the episode.

And that leaves two big questions for the next episode. The first is, what exactly happened in Berlin? The second, where is Jane’s daughter now?

Stray Thoughts:

• Tasha and Zapata’s cuttlefish mission is a fascinating b-plot. I cannot wait for this to jump into the foreground. In the meantime, their friendship adds a layer to the show that is serving to make it more character driven, and I really like that.
• I actually started to like Hirst, but given that Tasha and Patterson just found out that she might be framing Reade makes me dislike her again. Okay, maybe dislike is the wrong word, but I definitely mistrust her.
• Where do I start with Weitz? He feels like the most unhelpful smarmy Congressman ever. Why is he even in this episode? Did it really need a smarmy congressman?
• The way Roman is pulling at Jane’s strings in this episode is really compelling. He only appears for a couple of moments, but at least this call made more sense than his actions in the previous episodes. This at least has a clear objective, unlike killing Tom and putting a tracker on a bracelet.

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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