Blindspot Review: Coder to Killer (Season 4 Episode 20)
After a brief hiatus, Team Weller is back! Blindspot Season 4 Episode 20, “Coder to Killer,” follows the case-of-the-week model, but it also allows for some character development and does so in a way that can’t easily be separated.
I love when Blindspot goes a little bit outside of the mythology and tries to give our characters some semblance of a personal life. The tattoo myths and the puzzles throughout the early seasons were an interesting framework to get us hooked, but now that the audience is connected with the characters the show doesn’t need that to get invested.
While “Coder to Killer” does lean on a case-of-the-week, the episode finds its strength in the characters and relationships that viewers have followed over the last four years. It builds its storyline around a theme of parenthood and family that–although heavy-handed at times–shapes the characters in a more three-dimensional way, and does it in a way that makes the case and the characters hard to separate. Truly a master class in procedural writing.
Perhaps the biggest and most rewarding development is Patterson’s revelation that she might want to adopt in the future. I’m a huge Patterson fan, and I truly believe that Patterson deserves to have something go her way.
She’s had romantic partners end up dead, she’s had one betray her and her sense of personal space, and even the one date we saw her on in Season 3 didn’t leave her with a happy ending. Blindspot Season 4 has been kind to Patterson, but she does deserve happiness.
Seeing Patterson interact with Bethany, making puzzle games for her, and genuinely enjoying her time as an aunt is a new layer to her character. And that’s a good thing that I wish had been explored a little earlier.
Patterson might be kickass FBI coder, but that’s not all she has to be. If a family is something she wants and she feels adoption is a good fit then more power to her.
Rich Dotcom is really showing his soft side in relationship to Patterson’s desire to adopt as well. While he did snoop at her browser history, the gentle shove to send in the form is very sweet of him. Even the running joke that he would help her raise the child is kind of sweet. (We already know that Bill Nye approves of him, so any co-parenting setup there will probably work out.)
Speaking of Rich and Patterson, “Coder to Killer” has officially gotten me onboard their ship. It’s really starting to feel like the Blindspot writers are trying to lay a natural foundation for Patterson and Rich’s relationship.
I’ve adored the friendship that Rich and Patterson have but seeing Rich have a clear head and start thinking about the long term timeline for something Patterson wants warms by heart.
It’s also great to see Kurt being a dad in this episode. Bethany lives in Colorado so he doesn’t get to see her much, but seeing how much he values time with his daughter was another beautiful aspect to this episode.
It also feels like the show may have tilted its hand a little bit and maybe given us a few indications of what’s to come in the finale next week.
Kurt spends a lot of time on “Coder to Killer” lamenting that he only has so much time with Bethany and worried that he’ll have to miss breakfast with her. Jane and Kurt went back to New York when Roman was a threat, but now that it looks like tattoos and Sandstorm might be a thing of the past, it might be okay for them to hang up their caps and eventually think about starting life in the private sector so he can spend more time with Bethany.
It’s very hard to see how that decision may factor into the Season 4 finale, but given that Blindspot was renewed for a fifth and final season, I wouldn’t be surprised if we might heading for that as a possible ending for Jane and Kurt.
Zapata and Reade are also navigating their new living situation and seem to be rekindling the spark of a relationship.
Zapata and Reade had the chance for a relationship last season and it felt like it fizzled out this season. It’s been very hard to trust Zapata over the decisions she’s made operating outside of the team. I also can’t shake the omen that Briana gave to Reade during Blindspot Season 4 Episode 11, “Careless Whisper” when she said that Zapata was too volatile to have a happy ending.
Since then, I’ve been looking for indications that the show is either steering into that breadcrumb or trying to subvert it, and my needle is currently in the center of the gauge.
It’s really enjoyable seeing Zapata and Reade get along, but I feel like there’s a long way for them to go.
The last big surprise of the episode is Briana’s involvement with Dominic.
The call Briana gets from Dominic is a bit of a shock. When she appeared unexpectedly in this episode, it felt like something was up. She’s very helpful and working really well with Rich and Patterson, but it kind of felt like they may be set up to add her as a series regular in Season 5 instead.
I still wouldn’t rule that out, but this turn works much better.
Since Madeline’s arrest, and Dominic’s return to hiding, Blindspot has been missing it’s big bad. The audience needs something to inject that drama and danger into the team’s midst. This development with Briana feels like a natural way to do that.
We didn’t know much about Briana beyond the vents of “Careless Whisper,” but the fact that we had seen her before meant that we didn’t need to be naturally wary of a new presence. Plus, her answers to Rich’s adoption questions, in retrospect, serve as a red flag, giving her motivation. Additionally, she feels eager to get ahead and at the same time like she wants to be on the right side serving with the heroes.
It doesn’t feel like a plot point that can be carried through a season (or even half-season arc) but it does add tension that she show needs going into the final two episodes and if she carries into Blindspot Season 5, I might not be disappointed.
“Coder to Killer” does an excellent job at blending the character development with the procedural elements of the show. If it continues to do that then the Season 4 finale stands to be strong.
Stray Thoughts:
- I love how the math and problem solving had to go analog this episode. While I love Patterson’s computer and all the graphics involved it’s refreshing to see it on a board as an equation instead.
- Anyone else got a feeling that the “cloud-based” system that was just installed might be a big problem in the last two episodes of the season?
What did you think of this episode of Blindspot? Share your thoughts 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.