Thursday, January 5, 2017

Blindspot 2x10 Review: "Nor I, Nigel, AKA Leg in Iron" (I'm Not Speaking To Martin Gero) [Contributor: Jen]


"Nor I, Nigel, AKA Leg in Iron"
Original Airdate: January 4, 2017

We're back, Blindspotters! "Nor I, Nigel, AKA Leg in Iron" is an absolutely wild, stressful, and terrifying return to Blindspot. Don’t get me wrong — it was a fantastic episode. But let’s never do it again.

CASE OF THE WEEK


The case of the week is obviously Patterson. The tagline for most of the winter promotion was "Who will live?" Of course, it had to be Patterson because the earth must keep turning for me. Martin Gero teased in TV Guide that Patterson would be in a lot more danger that we anticipated. Though this basically confirmed she's alive, I thought, “How bad can it be?”

Bad. Really, really bad. It was all the badness. Not only did I-just-cooked-you-eggs-for-breakfast Borden shoot our beloved Patterson — wait, let's take a minute. That needs more emphasis and unpacking. BORDEN FREAKING SHOT PATTERSON.

I understand that Borden is a grieving widow, but I officially don't care about his reasoning. Borden shot my girl. For that, he must die. That is all. There must be a massive amount of pain. I don't care how. I don't care when. It just needs to happen.

Okay, minute over. Not only did I-have-dreamy-brown-eyes-that-are-pools-of-love Borden shoot Patterson, but then Mama Sandstorm finds them and tortures Patterson for information.

All together now: NOOOOOOOOOOO!

Seriously, watching her torture Patterson was brutal. Patterson is the precious unicorn that leads all of the other precious unicorns on this planet. So seeing her with a bullet wound in the gut while the Wicked Witch of the West tortured her was too much to take. Would you like to see a puppy tortured? No, you would not. But that's what happened. Blindspot tortured their metaphorical puppy.

So I feel at this time it would be appropriate to inform you, Mr. Gero, that we are not talking. That's right, sir! I have nothing to say to you until you make this one up to me. But never fear, because I have ways you can make this up to me. There’s actually a list:

#1. Patterson rules the world.
#2. Kurt and Jane sleep together.

That's my list. Concede to my terms and we can be friends again. Until then, well... it's the dog house for you, mister!

Of course, The Puppy is a complete rock star and takes her torture like the FBI soldier she is. Jane would have been so proud. Patterson tells Mama Sandstorm where to shove it (repeatedly). But first, she tells her nothing. After a couple of rounds with a needle in her ear (yes, a needle in the ear. Feel free to shudder. Goodness knows I did), Patterson concedes some information. She informs Shepherd that Team Blindspot knows everything about Sandstorm.

Which is not remotely true, of course. We know almost next to nothing, especially since Jane decide to zip her brother, but that's just details. Patterson is sticking it to the man! Er... woman.

Patterson goes in for the kill, next: “Are you slow or something?” (Ha! Glorious. Also... yes) and then: “I'm loyal... unlike your children.”

Ooooh! That one was a BURN. Patterson keeps twisting the knife by saying that first Jane, betrayed Shepherd and then Roman. Soon, Borden will too and all her followers with him. “Everyone will leave you!” she says.

Shepherd knocks Patterson out with a metal pipe to shut her up. Patterson has a lot of heroic moments — and many are behind a keyboard — but this is my favorite all-time moment. Pain, fear, and facing certain death are often expedited ways of revealing the true nature of a person. We already knew Patterson was kind, accepting, forgiving, loyal, sweet, off-the-charts intelligent with a charming sense of humor.

But Patterson also has a lot of Jane Doe in her. I think that's one of the reasons they connect so well. Of course their shared compassion is obvious, but Patterson has the same resiliency as Jane. She makes herself steel and fights back against the enemy. She's unstoppable. What's wondrous about this scene is that Patterson is weakened and she doesn't have the fighting skills Jane Doe does, but she makes Shepherd bleed nonetheless. It reminded me of one of my favorite Buffy Summers lines: “You had to tie me up to beat me.”

Whenever I am comparing a character to Buffy you can rest assured that is the highest possible praise. Shepherd and Borden had to tie Patterson up to beat her... and even then, they did not break her. They lost before they even began.

Shepherd decides she's done with Patterson and it's time to kill her. Borden volunteers because he wants Patterson to die humanely. Borden saved Patterson from her bullet wound. He offered some convincing wincing during the torture and even demanded that Shepherd stop. Now, he's offering a humane death? But he's a hardcore Sandstorm follower. Sorry, buddy, but I’m not buying it. And neither is Patterson. What's fabulous is that Patterson used the exact same reasoning for evidence of Borden's buried humanity as I did: he made her breakfast in bed.

No man who makes eggs that good can truly be all evil. Patterson is my spirit animal. She gets down to the nuts and bolts by making Borden confront his feelings about her. Yes, he loves his wife... but a part of him also loves her. Borden buckles. He can't kill her.

And then the cavalry arrives! Hallelujah. I spent 90% of the episode screaming, “Move faster!” at them. Here's the problem with kidnapping Patterson. We always need Patterson to save Patterson and so it always takes the team an excruciatingly long time to find her. I have a solution — let's just stop kidnapping Patterson!

Nas discovers some arbitrary book of Shepherd's that Jane photographed and somehow they decided that was the key to tracking Patterson down and blah, blah, blah, I don't even care. It was ridiculous how they pieced together where she was. It was all way too convenient, but whatever. I will accept any silly code book trope Blindspot wants as long as Patterson is saved.

Kurt and Jane come barreling through in their black SUV and they hit some kind of detonator. It flips the car and I thought, “It's adorable how Shepherd thinks that will stop Kurt and Jane.” And of course it doesn't, because THEY ARE KURT AND JANE. Also, Zappata helps out. Yeah, Zappata! Go team! Then, Zappata and Jane save Patterson. The girls have my girl and I can officially start breathing again. I wept tears of joy.

Never. Again. Gero.

TEAM SANDSTORM


“I zipped him.”

Can you think of a more fantastic description for erasing someone's memory? I can't. I love this show.

Jane erased Roman's memory in the midseason finale, and now we have to deal with the hot mess of fallout. Of course, Jane can't get through a simple car ride with Roman. He flips out, they fight, and Roman ends up with the car. Sigh. You had one job, Jane!

Props to Jane for immediately coming clean with the team about what she did. She could have lied about what happened, but she didn't. That, however, does not stop her from lying to Roman about what she did once they bring him in.
Jane: How can he trust me if I lie to him? 
Nas: How can he trust you if you don't?
This will bend your noodle if you think on it for a second. Storylines are only strengthened when a moral argument can be made for opposing points of view. This one is a doozy. Tell him the truth now, and Roman will never trust Jane. Lie to Roman, and Jane may regain his trust temporarily, but it's a house of cards that will come toppling down. Jane took Roman's identity. Once Jane crossed that line with Roman, she eradicated any trust between them. There is no win here. There's only managing the aftermath of the nuclear bomb Jane set off inside her brother's head. Jane wants her brother, but the FBI wants the asset. From Kurt's perspective, the only way to get both is to lie to Roman. Kurt gets Jane on board with lying to Roman, but it's Jane who decides how to lie to him.

She tells Roman that Shepherd — their mother — wiped his memory.

It's so delicious, yet so wrong, that I audibly cackled. Listen, there's no love lost between me and Mama Sandstorm so I have no problem with Jane sticking it to her. That said, the truth always comes to light on Blindspot and this colossal lie (and mistake) will too. It will burn Jane in the end, and her relationship with Roman to the ground, probably around the time they are bonded again. But that's what season three is for right? Right.

Something interesting to note about zipped Roman versus regular Roman — there isn't much difference. He's aloof, sporadic. He lies. He's volatile. This is not reassuring. Jane was far more compassionate, pliable, and gentle in her post-zipping state. Jane zipped Roman because she wants to strip away everything that keeps Roman from his true nature. By failing to differentiate between his past and present self, Blindspot wants us to wonder whether Roman's true nature is a killer. At least for now.

Still, there were glimmers of light in Roman. While eating at the diner, he has a wonderful scene with a little girl:
Little Girl: Are you a pirate? 
Roman: I don't know.
Such a sweet, honest, funny, and refreshingly innocent response by Roman. When Sandstorm's goons show up, Roman orders the waitress — the girl’s mother — to take the little girl and run. It's an instinctual, compassionate, and protective reaction. It's the same instinct that stopped Roman from killing Jane. It's the same nature we've seen in Jane since the pilot.

TEAM BLINDSPOT


Reade and Zappata kissed! My ship has set sail. Of course, Zappata immediately shot Reade down post-kiss, so we've run aground fairly quickly.  Zappata cites their friendship as the reason not to get involved while Reade argues it's the reason to get involved. Again, I love storylines when arguments can be made for both sides. Is Reade feeling vulnerable and confusing his friendship with Zappata? Is Zappata afraid of something real? All questions to be answered, but I am glad Blindspot opened the door to romance officially, regardless of where Reade and Zappata end up.

JELLER


Oh Jeller, how I missed thee. Right off the bat, Jane is being hauled into the FBI in handcuffs. Kurt comes barreling out the office like the alpha male we all know and love and orders the cuffs removed because, as Dirty Dancing taught us, nobody puts baby in a corner. When Jane pleads with Kurt that she didn't know the raid was a set-up, Kurt tells her emphatically that he knows she's innocent and then... he hugs her.

WE HAVE PHYSICAL CONTACT! Praise the Lord.

It's important to note this hug took place in front of Nas, and Zappata gave her a look during the hugging. What kind of look, you ask? It was a “Hey Kurt's girlfriend, are you seeing the totally-not-platonic hug going on right now? Because it's totally not platonic.” And yes, Nas did see it.

The hug itself is wonderful. It lasts for a while, neither of them break physical contact. Jane closes her eyes in absolute relief. Kurt believes her. Kurt trusts her. Kurt is holding her again. It feels so good, that despite the absolute madness around them, Jane gives herself a moment to revel in the contact and what it means.

More important than the hug though, is the emotional growth in Weller. Kurt's distrust of Jane in the beginning of the season was understandable, but her reasons for lying were also understandable. As were Kurt's reasons for lying to Jane. There's plenty of sin to go around and there needs to be forgiveness in order for these two to move forward. In “Nor I, Nigel, AKA Leg in Iron,” we got Jane's Kurt back. He was emotionally supportive, absolutely confident in her trustworthiness and innocence, and protective. Swoon. I missed you, Kurt. Welcome home.

Kurt came with her to retrieve Roman and once they retrieved him, Jane looked to Kurt to be her moral compass. Jane knows she's on shaky moral ground with Roman and wanted to mitigate the damage she'd done. Hence, the push for honesty. She doesn't want to make the same mistakes with Roman that she made with Kurt.

However, the fact that Kurt pushed Jane into lying, when he's been so angry about Jane's betrayal, was an interesting turn. Kurt is focused on Roman as an asset, but I also think he wanted Jane to have a chance to save her brother. From his perspective, lying was the only avenue to that chance. In some ways, Kurt is putting Jane's needs before Roman's, but that's what Kurt does. Or at least that's what he did. He puts Jane first.

Kurt can finally see that the answers are not always black and white. There are shades of grey and that's where Jane lives a lot of time — in a world of grey. She's simply trying to navigate it as best she can, but she makes mistakes. Kurt recognized that despite how wrong Jane was, her intentions were good. For Kurt to actively advocate for Jane to lie shows some kind of a deeper understanding for the choices she has to make.

Was Kurt wrong to tell Jane to lie? Yes... and no. At end of the day, Kurt believes Roman is better off with Jane than without her. Kurt knows this better than anyone because he's been in Roman's shoes. Jane betrayed him too. Kurt's takeaway from the fallout is that he is better off with Jane in his life than without. So, instead of focusing on the betrayal or the mistake, Kurt focuses on her intent. He's trying to learn from his mistakes too.

Kurt also had Jane's back. When the FBI Director wanted to hand Roman over to the CIA, Kurt threw down. He threatened to walk if Pellington didn't release Roman and reinstate Nas. This is why this moment is so important — Kurt did for Roman what he failed to do for Jane. No, he did not want Jane taken by the CIA, but Kurt didn't put himself on the line to stop it. As difficult and as painful as her torture was, her brother being tortured is something far more painful to Jane. Obviously, Kurt makes a compelling argument and has his reasons for wanting Roman in FBI custody. However, Kurt doesn't trust Roman. The person he cares about is Jane and he was willing to do whatever was necessary to protect her from pain.

Interrogate Roman, save him, shut down Sandstorm, and then go make all the babies, Jeller.

It is the movement we've been waiting for: Jane was honest and upfront with Kurt. She was loyal to Team Blindspot. It was her reparation. Kurt believed in Jane and saved Roman from the CIA. It was his reparation. This is forgiveness in action. And now, finally, they can begin again. Kurt and Jane can never go back. She will never again be Taylor Shaw, but they are headed someplace new... someplace better.

Stray Thoughts:
  • “Rough draft Jane” was a great line.
  • Missing tattoo! Say what? And it's a big one! Some kind of very large feline. It looks like a cheetah to me. Theorize away!
  • Did we always know Nas had an informant in Sandstorm? Someone she doesn't know the name but has his or her phone? Is that new? Too much time passes during winter hiatus that sometimes I forget stuff.
  • Roman shot the pies. It was sad because they looked yummy.
  • Borden is a ninja. Who knew? I think the car wreck gave him the edge in the fight because Kurt wasn't at his best.
  • I know that Kurt wants to know why Sandstorm won't kill him, but the answer is very simple: You are the male lead of the show, Kurt.
  • “You didn't tie me up like an animal.” Kurt was making heart eyes at you Jane from minute one. He's not making heart eyes at Roman.
  • Kurt brought Patterson flowers. They talked loud because she couldn't hear. Kurt said, “yes ma'am” when Patterson told him what's what. I love this family.
  • Kurt couldn't stop Patterson from being Patterson in the hospital because she's Patterson. GET 'EM, GIRL.
  • I felt like I needed an oxygen tank during commercial breaks. SO MUCH STRESS.
  • I shrieked so loud and so many times during this episode that my dog eventually came downstairs to check on me. Then he guarded me for about three minutes. Once he deduced I was the source of all the crazy, he shot me “calm down, Mom” looks for the next 10 minutes and then fell asleep. True story.
What did you think of Blindspot’s return? Sound off in the comments below!

2 comments:

  1. Great review, Jen! What about the "Creeper name" comment from Patterson? I thought that was hilarious!!!

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  2. Great insightful review as always! Okay, I’m with you about Gero being in the dog house…! Why? BECAUSE Nas is still walking around Weller and the rest of The Team ~ Can we spelling “UGH” now!!! There have been numerous opportunities to be rid of her bony ass (Nas could’ve died 3 times in the Sandstorm ambush, but NOT…! DAMN!), and yet, she’s still strutting around like the bossy bitch she is…!!! Pellington is NOT my fave at all, but I gave him a loud cheer and “high-five” when he fired Nas and had her thrown outta the building!!! But MUCH to my chagrin, Weller (still in his stupid man phase!) blackmails Pellington into reinstating Nas. So the “Nas-wedge” between Jane and Weller is back again and again! Until Gero finally kills her off or worse (is there something more worse than “kill”? If yes, do that then…!), he is definitely, for me, in the poo-poo house for sure!!!

    BTW Gero, when are we gonna see more Jeller screen time as you alluded to and promised, Bud?!! There needs to be more kissing, hugging and lotsa Jeller bedroom scenes ~ Plural!!!

    “The Hug” is among the best highlights of the episode!!! And yes, I loved watching the expressions of Nas and Zapata ~ priceless payback to the two women who have been less than stellar in their treatment of Jane!!! Yeah, Nas… In yo-yo face, Bitch! Boo-yah! Drop the Mic! Your days with Weller are gone!

    The other “thing” that needs to be swiftly handled and gotten rid of is Allie and her brat! Y’know, there is surely something really fishy about her pregnancy story. So prove it! Let’s have a DNA test to confirm that Weller is not the baby daddy!!! Allie has such an irritating personality that any ‘co-parenting” between her and Weller will make the kid a fricking “hot mess”, IMO. And which nitwit writer came up with this “co-parenting” crap?!! Really soap opera-ish and a good way to get the show cancelled! Oh wait, it’s already on the block for possible cancellation because of stupid storylines like Allie’s! So let Allie go forward to live a “happily ever after” with her new guy, Connor, who most likely is the baby daddy in the first place. With Allie and Nas gone, it will make the rekindling and reconciliation between Jane and Kurt so much sweeter and lovely!!! JELLER RULES!!!

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