After eight months and 23 episodes, after weathering hackers, art thieves, terrorists, and warlords, Blindspot wraps its first season with the takedown of Jane Doe.
Last episode, we left Jane futilely attempting to save Mayfair from a gunshot wound inflicted by Oscar. This week, we open with Jane attempting to shower off her guilt. Again, futile. It’s unclear what occurred between Mayfair’s death and this shower. Whatever it is, Jane’s lost track of Oscar and spends the first half of the finale searching for him. She makes a visit to the alt-hacker girl from episode six to trace a phone number. She drops by Oscar’s fixer under false pretenses. Finally, she spots Oscar and follows him. He stuns her, then she wakes up tied to a chair in a barn, as Oscar prepares to inject her with mind-erasing drugs once again.
Pause. Rewind. The entire time Jane is searching for Oscar, pieces of her memory flood back. First, she sees herself with Oscar practicing hand-to-hand combat; she comments that he should try harder so that his feelings don’t cloud his judgment. She flashes back to a moment when she tells him he shouldn’t be her handler anymore and they need to tell “Shepherd.” Then she remembers a conversation in which they vow to “find each other on the other side” and watch as a fuzzy figure comes to fetch them. (It’s probably Shepherd?)
Un-pause. As Jane sits tied to the chair, Oscar matter of factly explains that she is not Taylor Shaw. She’s simply a plant, and her DNA has been made to match Taylor’s. He then explains what their leader, Shepherd, has planned for “Phase One” of this whole operation: Take down Mayfair, watch as Weller replaces her, and control the FBI via Jane, thanks to her close relationship with Weller. Phase two? Burn everything to the ground so something new can rise from the ashes. This sounds vaguely cult-y. He also explains that he killed Beardo, a.k.a. Marcos, because he’d left a trace behind, compromising the mission, which in turn set off Cade (the guy he threw from a boat). Jane suggests that he’s left his own trace — the one Mayfair found — and Shepherd hasn’t been made aware. And just as soon as Oscar attempts to inject Jane, she’s out of the chair and swinging hard.
The pair dances through a sad, unromantic fight scene with melodramatic music, complete with a burning background. (Because, of course, there’s a lantern that’s been overturned and set fire to the entire place.) The scene ends with Jane sticking a scythe through her ex-lover’s abdomen, and her triumphant flight from the burning barn. She pens “For Marcos” a.k.a. Beardo, on the side of Oscar’s truck to make it look like Cade’s vendetta kill.
Meanwhile, Kurt is dealing with all of the emotion that comes along with losing a father who killed his childhood best friend — the same friend whom his girlfriend claims to be. (It’s complicated.) Following up on his dad’s tip about burying Taylor Shaw underneath their backyard fort, Kurt and his sister spend all day digging only to discover that there is nothing to find. Until, that is, Kurt remembers another fort — the one they used for camping trips as kids. He goes digging in the rain, and eventually comes upon a tiny rain boot occupied by a small shin bone. It’s Taylor.
Kurt waits for Jane at her house. She’s bruised and beaten. He’s pissed. He delivers one of the better monologues the character has handled this season, all while shaking Taylor’s muddy doll at Jane for emphasis. Jane tries to plead her case, but Weller will have none of it, and brutishly handcuffs her without hearing her reasoning. This seems to be a shortsighted decision on his part, given that it’s always been news to Jane who she is and isn’t. It’s strange that Weller would automatically assume she’s at fault, especially when she’s been such an asset to the FBI. She’s had his back at every turn, no matter the threat. But down she goes anyway. Next season will almost certainly open with Jane in a cross-examination room.
Beyond Jane and Kurt’s discovery missions, Zapata and Reade continue to dig for Mayfair. They let Patterson in on their secrets, and she’s hurt they haven’t trusted her all along; a staunch believer in Mayfair, she’d do anything to help her out. The three discover the warehouse where Oscar shot Mayfair and spot her blood on the floor, which leads them to her house, where they find a USB code. After some code play, they break the USB and find every single dark and dirty file they need to understand Daylight and Orion.
Blind Sides:
- The anagram for the week’s episode is a tricky one. The one that makes the most sense to me is “when it’s filed away.” Any thoughts?
- The codes that Patterson cracks seem like a desperate attempt to draw some connections between the first episodes and this finale.
- It turns out Weller’s dad was a wackadoo, unconnected to Jane in the slightest. No wonder he always seemed so sketchy.
- Is hacker girl coming back next season or was that just a random appearance? Maybe she and Rich Dotcom will take a liking/hating to one another.
- The chance for Borden-Patterson romance still seems pretty dead.
- I’m not sad Oscar is gone.
- Who is Shepherd? Are Jane and Oscar part of some post-special-ops cult that wants to take down the government?
- I hope Weller chills and lets Jane go. A prison season would not be desirable.
