Blindspot Season Finale Review: In Memory (Season 3 Episode 22)

Blindspot goes back to where the story of Alice and Ian Kuger and Remy and Roman Briggs all began: Cape Town, South Africa. Blindspot Season 3 Episode 22 “In Memory” finally answers a big question, but sets up even more threads for the upcoming season.

We finally know why Roman was dismantling Crawford’s life. Crawford built the orphanage he and his sister were taken to after their parents were murdered and that orphanage was where their conditioning to be child soldiers began. In short, forget Shepherd, Crawford got them on that path!

Hearing this backstory, really put into perspective the events and reasoning behind Roman’s rhetoric in Blindspot Season 3 Episode 1 “Back to the Grind.” But it also, skewed it a little, because it was never really about hurting his sister, it was all jealousy over the fact that she managed to get away from what was done to them in the orphanage.

It’s a struggle to find the words to explain how skewed that perspective is because it all has to do with the fact that Jane was given a drug that induced, what we thought, was a permanent amnesia, and therefore erased who she was before. In turn, this created a new personality, that would then be influenced by those around her.

Jane tried to do the same with Roman until he remembered that Jane injected him with ZIP and tried to attack her. That’s how we ended up here.

Naturally, this episode ends with both Crawford and Roman’s deaths. What was ultimately surprising is that Roman’s death comes from none other than Blake.

Blake feels like the natural choice for this because Jane can’t pull the trigger on her brother. She’s come close twice, but can’t be the one to end that story. Blake’s betrayal is rawer and more cutting, especially with her last words to him:

ROMAN: Did you love me?
BLAKE: How could I? I never knew you.

It’s no secret that I’ve found Blake to be a very inconsistent character this season. She gets nuggets of information and then forgets them. So, in some ways, it’s refreshing to have all the cards on the table for her to see.

Not so refreshing, Zapata was the one who laid those cards out. Zapata’s loyalty has been in question for most of the season, and given the events of Blindspot Season 3 Episode 21 “Defection” we can’t rule out that her decision to align herself with Blake isn’t just another game.

This new dynamic between Zapata and Blake makes for a compelling relationship for Season 4, and I can’t wait to see where it goes and what they do from here.

Roman’s death also led with the sweetest brother/sister moment that Jane and Roman have had.  There have been times where Luke Mitchell’s performance as Roman was terrifying, and there are times where I’ve thought there was a mushy center underneath it all.

This moment under the tree is so beautiful and Luke Mitchell and Jamie Alexander give amazing performances. I don’t care that Roman was the “villain” of the season, I am going to miss him and the complicated brother/sister relationship.

However, with Roman’s death comes a poetic twist as we delve into what’s been ailing Roman this season. We finally have an answer for what’s going on with Roman and Jane’s headaches: ZIP poisoning. This revelation is a little unsettling, and not in a good way.

When Jane was first brought to the FBI in the pilot, they say that her system was flooded with ZIP, and it induced a permanent amnesia. This establishes that the FBI knew about ZIP, but how did they not know about the side effects? Throughout Blindspot Season 1 we saw little glimpses of Jane’s past, but it never sounded like she could become Remy again.

When Jane wakes up in the hospital having forgotten everything about her time as Jane Doe and she makes a phone call, it sounds like this was the plan all along. Yet, the fact that this is happening seems to contradict how ZIP works and I am hungry for clarification on this.

Yet, there is also a symmetry in Jane’s regression. The return of Remy comes at a time when there’s no one she can align herself with. Roman is dead. Shepherd is in prison. Oscar is dead. In many ways, Remy is as alone as Jane was when she came out of the bag in Time’s Square.

The one difference is that Remy has a mission that can propel her into next season as she navigates her relationships with Team Weller.

Stray Thoughts:

• I am sad that Roman is dead, but I am hoping that having Remy “awake” is going to finally give us some interesting flashbacks to their life with Shepherd. Bring on kid Roman and Remy and Sandstorm Roman and Remy bits, please!
• Jane and Kurt have been through a lot this season, so when Jane tells Kurt that she thinks she’s pregnant, it’s impossible not to want that to be the case. These two deserve some happiness, they’ve been through a lot this season!
• Who was Roman on the phone with? Does anyone have any theories?
• When the team breaks the news to Weller that Jane has ZIP poisoning: Rich, Reade, and Patterson are all very choreographed in the information they give him. It’s like they all have a piece of the puzzle, even though I am pretty certain Patterson would have normally delivered all of that information herself.
• The whole “What three words” bit at the very beginning was really funny and I love how that was scripted and delivered. Please, let Rich DotCom come back for Season 4, if only because I want to see Remy’s reaction to him being the Number 1 Jeller shipper!

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

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Blindspot returns Fridays this fall at 8/7c on NBC.

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