Blindspot 4x19 Review: "Everybody Hates Kathy" (A Mother's Love) [Contributor: Jen]

"Everybody Hates Kathy"

Original Airdate: April 19, 2019

"Everybody Hates Kathy" vacillates between Kurt's heavy mama drama and very odd Patterson/Rich Dotcom hijinks that eventually wind their way back into the larger story arc for the season. It's not Blindspot's best endeavor, but it has killer guest stars and the actors, particularly Ashley Johnson and Ennis Esmer, elevate the material.

CASE OF THE WEEK

More nukes. There is a data breach at EVC, a company that builds robotic space craft. One of the stolen files links to a tattoo. It is a series of numbers that connects to a classified government project.  EVC has weaponized a satellite that is equipped with live missiles, which can be launched from space. Unfortunately, Team Blindspot cannot locate the device which has the stolen files or the person who took them.

The prime suspect is Evan Myers. He was supposed to give a presentation at EVC, but he never showed up. He leaves with his son Thomas, who is a diabetic with an extremely high-tech insulin pump. Patterson believes it can store data and is the hard drive they are looking for. Evan knew security wouldn't confiscate a medical device once the data breach was discovered. The plan is to sell the launch code to the Russians. It's always the Russians in this show.

And you don't hire Juliette from Lost, Elizabeth Mitchell, to play just the spouse. Evan is obviously not the culprit here. He took his son to protect him from his mother and the Russian mob. What I don't understand is why Evan didn't call the FBI once he figured out his wife was evil. Instead, he goes on the run. You literally had an FBI agent in your house. Pick up the phone, point them in the right direction, and say hello to full custody.

Evan is shot at a gas station when a Russian operative catches up with him and his son. Thomas calls his mother and they meet at the place where they watched the fireworks. Team Blindspot has to wake up Evan from anesthesia to find out where that is.

It all ends up in a standoff between Kurt, Zapata, and Reade against Scarlett Myers. She uses her son as a shield while simultaneously arguing that she only wants what's best for him. I can assure you that working with Russian mobsters is not what is best for him. Criminals, I'm telling ya; they have some wonky logic. Thomas talks his mother down, and she releases him. This kid has a future at the FBI.

This all dovetails into Kurt's storyline with his mother. His takeaway is that mothers are the worst, whereas Jane wants to give Scarlett credit for not continuing to use her son as a human shield. It proves she really wanted what was best for him in the end. Sigh, Jane. What am I going to do with you?

 Jane's parents were murdered and she grew up with a terrorist for a mother. So her parameters for "good" parenting are broad to say the least. I'm Team Kurt on this one.

TEAM BLINDSPOT

Onto the weird Patterson and Rich subplot: Remember when Rich and Patterson were part of a hacker team called the Three Blind Mice and they exposed corruption? Yeah me neither, but Blindspot's incessant use of flashbacks proved helpful. Kathy, the third mouse, turned out to be nutty, held Rich and Patterson hostage, and then Reade saved them. Reade agreed to overlook their criminal hacker behavior as long as the Three Blind Mice were over.

Well... Kathy's back! She was let out of prison on good behavior. There's a cyber attack on the New England National bank. Every member of the bank was alerted that their bank was committing fraud and it was signed by the Three Blind Mice. Rich and Patterson are concerned Kathy is going to rat them out, so they track her down based on a clue she left in Three Blind Mice signature. Then... it just gets weird.

Kathy is planning a wedding and she wants Rich and Patterson to be bridesmaids. There's a whole scene of Rich and Patterson trying on formal clothes (they really did look nice). Patterson essentially agrees to pay Kathy off to the tune of $400,000 by making a donation to her wedding fund.

O...kay. It's always enjoyable to watch Rich and Patterson's work spouse banter, but this whole subplot felt oddly placed given the gravity of what Kurt is dealing with. I guess that was the point, but it just didn't really flow for me. It also didn't have anything to do with the larger plot. Until it did.
Dominic is Kathy's fiance, and Patterson just gave $400,000 to Project Helios. Yeah, that's gonna come up in a court document someday.

KURT AND JANE

Time for the good stuff. Kurt and Jane have gone back to Philadelphia to track down his mother, who is now a waitress in a diner. Jane promises she had no idea Kurt was one of Shepherd's information; and by that she means that Remi had no idea. I am really glad the writers decided to make Jane aloof about this particularly clue. I am so over the secrets between these two.

Kurt's mom, Linda, is an addict. She refused to go to treatment, and Kurt cut off contact years ago. What he doesn't tell us is that his mother is played by Lisa Emery! She plays Darlene Snell on Ozark and is fan-freaking-tastic. Watch Ozark. You can thank me later.

Needless to say, Kurt is standoffish, whereas Jane fully embraces her "good cop" role. Linda admits to knowing Shepherd, but she knows her as Ellen. She met "Ellen" five years ago, and they had been friends ever since. She received an envelope from Ellen's lawyer with a key in it telling her to go to a building (Sandstorm hideout) and pick up some money Ellen left in her will.

Kurt and Jane break the news that "Ellen" was a terrorist trying to gain information on her son. Unfortunately, making friends with a terrorist is not the only problem Linda has. She's in debt to her Oxycontin dealer to the tune of $100,000. HOLY CRAP, LINDA!

Linda agreed to be a drug mule to clear the debt, but she chickened out at the last minute and now her dealer is a little ticked at her. Kurt and Jane bring her back to their apartment where Jane and Linda have a few heart-to-hearts while Kurt tries to stop a nuclear attack and figure out what to do about the drug kingpin his mother is in debt to.

The backstory on Linda doesn't exactly fill me with overwhelming warmth and understanding. Linda knew Kurt's father was a monster and once she found out Taylor Shaw was missing, she left with the kids. She didn't tell Kurt why they were leaving, so when they arrived at the women's shelter, he called his father. Kurt was 10 years old and scared. Bill threatened to kill Linda and the kids if she ever tried to take them from him again.

So Linda left Kurt and his sister, Sarah, with a man she knew to be a pedophile and murderer. She left because she thought it was the best way to protect the kids, but Linda stayed away because of her addiction.

There was an active police investigation into Taylor Shaw's disappearance. Bill was the prime suspect for years but the police couldn't charge him because they couldn't locate a body. Couldn't Linda have shared her suspicions? Maybe she could've connected some missing dots. Maybe they could have located Taylor's body sooner if she had agreed to help. At the very least, she could have got on record that she feared her husband and thought he was a murderer. The community shunned Bill for years because of their suspicions. The police looked at him for YEARS. Surely, someone could've helped Linda.

I understand Linda was afraid of Bill. She probably didn't say anything to the police because of his threats, which were terrifying. The show really didn't get into whether or not he was emotionally or physically abusive toward her, but it's not a tough leap to say he was. And no, the police cannot always protect women from their abusers. We see cases like that every day. I am not saying this was an easy decision by any means, but nobody can help if they don't know.

The thing I have the most trouble with is leaving Kurt and Sarah behind. I cannot understand leaving her children with a man she knows is a pedophile and murderer. How is that what's best for them? How is that SAFE? And she never went back for them. Linda left her small children alone with a monster. Did Bill abuse the kids? No, but you can't WIN Russian roulette. You just get lucky.

Kurt spent the rest of his childhood, and most of his adulthood, convinced his father was a murderer WHICH HE WAS while Bill played father-of-the-year with Sarah. Kurt didn't cut off contact with his mother until years later due to her drug addiction. Linda couldn't have said to Kurt at some point, "Hey kiddo. You're on the right track about Dad." And I thought Jane's family was messed up.

Linda acknowledges she missed Kurt's whole life as she stares at Kurt and Jane's wedding picture. Jane being likened to Christmas morning to Kurt feels like the most accurate thing this show has ever said. God bless Jane with her infinite goodness and compassion. She's made a lot of mistakes too; both women acknowledge their fight with personal demons. But one thing Jane Doe is not is a hypocrite. She listens patiently to Linda, offers her a lot of tea, and genuinely tries to help repair the damage with her relationship to Kurt.

We've sat through a lot of really bad plots on Blindspot because Kurt and Jane wouldn't be honest with each other. We call this period in the show "The Bad Place." We don't want to go to The Bad Place again, so Jane giving Kurt the 411 on your little talks, Linda, is a GOOD THING and you just need to deal.

As for Kurt, he's just mad. Kurt tells Linda that he used to think he became an FBI agent to stop people like his father, but now he realizes he became one because of her. She couldn't protect them from Bill, so Kurt became someone who could protect himself and others. He's not saying it to be mean. Kurt is saying it because it's true. The minute Linda left, Kurt became responsible for Sarah. He became responsible for Bill in many ways too. Kurt was the only one left to fight for Taylor Shaw. The minute Linda left, Kurt stopped being a little boy.

That said, Linda is still his mother and he's not going to let a drug dealer murder her. Kurt agrees to pay off her debt even though it probably means wiping out most of his and Jane's savings, but those two never cared about money. Jane would be the first person to sign the check. Kurt also pays for his mother to go to rehab.

This is where Kurt and Jane's stories with their parents diverge. Jane's biological parents are dead. Her adoptive mother was a zealot and a terrorist. Shepherd was a monster like Bill. And Roman... Jane made mistakes with her brother, but he didn't want her help until it was too late. So Jane is on the other end where there is no possibility anymore. There's no hope things can ever be fixed.

Kurt still has that with Linda. She could get better and maybe they can repair their broken relationship over time. Jane wants that for Kurt more than anything. So she offers compassion and hope when Kurt can't do it for himself. It's not his mother's love which made all the difference in Kurt's life, but Jane's. And vice versa. Kurt offers to help his mother — not because he trusts Linda, but because he trusts Jane.

Shepherd was right, in some strange and awful way: Remi was the perfect person to infiltrate Kurt's life. They have a lot in common. Kurt and Jane's terrible luck with parents is one more thing that binds them. It will be one of the many reasons Kurt and Jane will be wonderful parents to their own children. Their romance may have been born from darkness, but Jeller's love turns everything to light.

Stray Thoughts:

• "Why did they arrest her?" Patterson is no fan of Linda.
• Did you see all the flirting between Reade and Tasha? Because it happened. There was all the flirting. They argue like an old married couple.
• "I just have so much money." Patterson's blase attitude about her wealth is so Patterson. I love it.

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The World of Dystopia: A Review of The Voyage of Poe Blythe [Contributor: Megan Mann]

(Image credit: Penguin Teen)

Years ago young adult literature was leaving the world of vampires and werewolves behind. The mythical creatures and their love stories were on the way out, making room for a new genre: dytospian fiction. Yes, dystopias took the world by storm with books like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Selection by Kierra Cass, and Matched by Ally Condie.

It was a genre that focused on the future rather than the past. Dystopias ask the questions, “What if everything goes south? What would that world look like? Would the human race survive, or tear each other to pieces? Does our past influence what comes next when the world is unrecognizable?”

While some of these novel’s landscapes are unfathomable to us, they also aren’t exactly out of the realm of possibility either. That’s what allows writers the freedom to create a future that’s just enough to make you wonder, “Is this possible? If so, would I survive?”

And Ally Condie does just that. In her dystopian trilogy that began with Matched, Condie showed a future where we meet our life partner at seventeen years old in a tightly controlled society. In her latest dystopian take, the focus is less on believing that you’re in a Utopian society and instead discovering its seedy underbelly. This book is about knowing exactly where you stand in a future where you have to do what you can in order to survive.

That’s exactly what Poe Blythe intends to do: survive and seek revenge.

At the beginning of The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe, we meet Poe and her best friend turned boyfriend, Call, as they sail down the river in a mining ship. It’s a less-than-desirable job since there are often Raiders lurking on the shores waiting to rob the ship of whatever gold it dredges from the river. It’s a dangerous journey, but Poe believes not as important for Raiders anymore as there are less and less outlets willing to trade in gold.

Poe and Call have a plan: they’re going to set sail as if they are going on a regular mission but instead of turning around and heading back to the Outpost, they’re going to keep sailing and see what the wilderness has in store for them. It could change their lives for the better and they’ll be together in this new adventure. As they talk about their escape plan during an excursion, Poe’s help is needed inside the ship. When she comes back on deck with two other crew members, she can immediately tell that something is wrong.

Raiders.

As the Raiders take over the ship, she notices that Call is missing. Poe hopes that he’s simply hiding and didn’t have time to raise the alarm letting the rest of the crew know they were in trouble. But when they bring him up to the deck, she knows with certainty that Call is dead. Her hopes, her dreams, her heart is shattered in that moment. The Raiders take the ship and allow the rest of the crew to leave with a message to the Outpost that the Raiders, or drifters as they call themselves, will no longer allow them to take the gold from the rivers. As the group makes the long trek back to the Outpost, with the ship exploding in the distance, Poe feels the fire ignite in her.

“I make them a promise, as their smoke and fire blot out the stars. I will make you nothing too.”

Over the next two years, Poe does seek revenge on the Raiders. Through dreams, she sees Call creating armor to protect the mining ships and sets to creating it. Ever since she brought the dream to life, the last remaining ship has yet to be raided and its gold taken. This has allowed Poe to move up at the Outpost and live in her own apartment while working with the Admiral. But her need for revenge has not yet been quelled. When the Admiral tells her that she will be making another voyage, this time on a river that has yet to be mined by the Outpost, Poe isn’t sure how to feel. However it’s not an option; it’s an order.

It’s been two years since she had been on a ship and now as Captain, she’s unsure how to feel. She wonders about the crew and whether or not they can be trusted. She wonders if they will have a problem with being lead by someone who is just 17 years old. She wonders why the Admiral wanted her on this voyage in the first place. The ship fills her with memories and also suspicion. This is surely going to be the voyage that Poe was not anticipating.

Dystopias have to draw me into a version of our future while keeping me grounded in something relatable in order to be good. They have to make you believable in the relative impossible while keeping you glued to the page. The story has to be intense with great plot and action sequences because if you have to fight to survive, it better be a good fight. As a writer, you have to build the suspense and make the reader feel like they can’t put the book down.

The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe did all of that and more for me. It kept me guessing and wondering what was going to happen next. It was a story of survival, sure, but it had so much heart as well. It was, as somehow most dystopias are, a coming of age story set against an impossible backdrop. Being the captain of a ship where your boyfriend was killed and dead set on revenge at such a young age is a lot grapple with.

I enjoyed the mystery aspect of the story as well. Since Poe doesn’t know what all of the mining is for, we don’t know and you’re constantly wondering along with her. There are little tidbits here and there throughout the plot that come back around brilliantly. I love when writing brings small things back around and proves they were actually big pieces to the story.

If you’re looking for a story that is going to pull you in and keep you guessing, The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe by Ally Condie is the perfect read for you. It’s a fresh take on the pirate story that will have you racing through the pages trying to figure out the mystery of it all. It’s fresh, exciting, and it’s the perfect summer read just waiting for you to dive into!

Get your copy of the book today!

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Grey’s Anatomy 15x21 Review: “Good Shepherd” (Three-Ring Circus) [Contributor: Julia Siegel]

“Good Shepherd”

Original Airdate: April 11, 2019

Family reunions are always awkward. Just ask the Shepherd family. We have slowly been introduced to the opinionated, overbearing, and dysfunctional Shepherd clan since Grey’s Anatomy’s pilot, and finally meeting the last unseen sibling is the icing on the cake of their family saga. No episode featuring even a quasi-Shepherd reunion goes smoothly, and this one is no different.

Amelia and her new “friend” Link make their way to New York City for a complicated spinal surgery only to get bombarded by Amelia’s worst case scenario: keeping up false pretenses and lying to her family. Amelia surprises herself, her family, Link, and the audience when she introduces Link as her husband, Owen, setting up a hilarious series of events to follow in this excellent bottle episode.

RING ONE

The episode begins with Link and Amelia in New York City enjoying some alone time together the night before their big surgery. We all knew that one-and-done scenario that Amelia pitched a few weeks back wasn’t going to stick. The two surgeons seem to have a good connection, yet Amelia doesn’t want the relationship to go any further than its current status. Too bad she goes and wrecks that the next morning when they arrive at the hospital and bump into Amelia’s sister, Nancy, who is covering the OBGYN department. Nancy has made one previous appearance on the show, in a season three episode back in 2006. If you don’t remember, she is the kinder, most understanding sister.

Nancy is thrilled to see her youngest sister for the first time in years and even happier to meet the guy she is with, whom Nancy presumes is Owen Hunt. Amelia goes along with it and introduces Link as her husband Owen. Link has no idea what’s going on and plays along for the moment to help get themselves out of going to Nancy’s house that night for dinner. Nancy is sad that they won’t be in town long enough to catch up, but doesn’t push. Amelia and Link can’t believe they dodged that bullet, but Link is upset that Amelia didn’t tell her sister the truth... prompting her to admit that her family doesn’t know anything that has happened to her over the past two years or so.

Link and Amelia continue about their day and see their teenage patient before the surgery. Afterward, they are caught by Nancy in the hallway talking about how they will have at least 24 hours between the surgery and their flight back to Seattle to keep checking up on their patient. Nancy is thrilled that their trip has been extended and convinces them to come to her Connecticut home for a nice meal. Link really doesn’t want to go, but Amelia caves to her sister and gets her “husband” to do the same.

On their way to Nancy’s, Amelia drills Link about the details of their “marriage” to make sure they are on the same page about every little detail imaginable. Link doesn’t believe when she says that her family is super intrusive and will grill them about anything and everything. Just as they feel that they are prepared as much as possible, they arrive at Nancy’s home to find that they have a fourth dinner guest: sister Kathleen, the psychiatrist.

RING TWO

Amelia is visibly frightened when she learns that Kathleen will be joining them for dinner for two reasons: Kathleen is the most intrusive sister, and there are now two sisters who can team up against her. The previously mentioned yet never seen Kathleen has been quite a mystery over the years, as the only details ever revealed about her were her name and specialty. Amy Acker makes her first appearance as Kathleen, and this might be one of the best guest casting decisions the show has ever made. Acker was the perfect choice to play the nosy, overly analytical sister who makes it her personal mission to share a psychoanalytic profile about every sentence.

Amelia and “Owen” try not to fumble when Kathleen and Nancy start grilling them about details of their lives. Link almost trips up when Kathleen asks him about his army days, including where he was stationed, how hot it got in the summer there, and the best tourist destinations in the Middle East. The Shepherds are quite impressed with “Owen” and immediately think he is a surprising and great match for their sister. Kathleen makes several great quips during the dinner conversation like how “Owen” isn’t anything like she pictured, “Owen” is full of fun surprises, and somehow Amelia has the hottest husband of the bunch. Between Amelia and Link trying to keep up with Nancy and Kathleen’s rapid-fire questions and the sisters’ side remarks, this might be the most entertaining meal the show has put on. Everything goes according to plan until dessert, when matriarch Carolyn Shepard walks in unannounced and asks who Link is.

RING THREE

While reeling from the surprise visit from her mother, Amelia quickly introduces Link as her husband Owen. Carolyn immediately says that this man is not Owen, as she met the real Owen Hunt when she visited Derek. With the cat out of the bag, Nancy and Kathleen can’t get enough of the drama that unfolds as Amelia tries to scramble to tell the truth about her divorce from Owen and her new situation with Link. It’s always wonderful when someone like Tyne Daly walks into a room and totally disrupts everything. Daly was last seen on the show in a season five episode in 2009, and having her back as the sassy and straight-laced Carolyn is a real treat.

Now that her lies have been exposed, Kathleen and Nancy take the opportunity to start hashing out Amelia’s dirty secrets and past mistakes to show her that she is still the black sheep of the family and to scare off Link, who doesn’t know anything about Amelia’s past. The two older sisters, especially Kathleen, act like ravenous wolves preying on the fearful, unstable, and emotional Amelia.

Eventually, Amelia shuts them all up by telling them that she is happy in her current relationship with Link, at the top of her field as the chief of neurosurgery at Grey Sloan Memorial, and had a massive benign brain tumor. The whole family, and Link, are shocked to hear about the tumor, but the sisters say that Amelia was always impulsive way before the tumor and imply that she is making up excuses.

Link has had enough of the blackballing at this point and decides to intervene and support Amelia by telling the family off. He paints a wonderful picture of Amelia and all the good that she does in the world. He tells them that the Amelia they are describing isn’t the person he knows and that they don’t know their own sister. Link goes on to accidentally spill the beans about Betty and Leo, whom neither Carolyn nor the sisters know about. That piece of info puts Amelia over the edge as she storms out of the house full of shame. She is quite upset at Link for sharing personal details about her life with her family. However, they are forced to get serious when they simultaneously get paged with bad news.

Their patient has gone into respiratory distress, so the surgeons make their way back to the hospital. The surgery that they performed earlier that day wasn’t successful so Amelia proposes a very risky option to the patient, which includes removing a vertebra and replacing it with a metal cage. Link advises against the surgery, but the patient decides to have the operation. After hashing it out in the scrub room, Link and Amelia perform their most daring surgery to date, and this time, it actually works. Amelia proves to herself that she is better than what her family thinks of her, which should be a big confidence boost for her down the line.

After the surgery, Amelia finds Carolyn in the hospital lobby. The two have a lovely heart-to-heart conversation and apologize for all the wrong they have both done. Carolyn is sorry that she didn’t attend Amelia and Owen’s wedding and hasn’t been there for her daughter as much as she should have been. She also apologizes for substituting Derek as her mother and wants to be more involved from now on. She then compares Amelia to her father, which hits Amelia hard. Amelia is very happy to make up with her mother and even tells her about Betty and Leo and how motherhood has been her hardest challenge. While the trip might not have turned out anything like Amelia envisioned, she should be happy that she was able to reunite with her siblings and create a better relationship with her mother. Unfortunately, we don’t get a scene where Amelia goes back to stick it to Nancy and Kathleen, but I guess that wasn’t necessary to the story.

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Blindspot 4x18 Review: "'Ohana" (Whoa Mama) [Contributor: Jen]

"Ohana"

Original Airdate: April 12, 2019

Blindspot likes to follow emotionally fraught and nail-biting episodes with a lighter kind of FBI justice, which is what we get "'Ohana." Genetically modified bees are not typically my thing, but we get Bill Nye the Science Guy out of the deal, so it ain't all bad. There's also a holy freaking Moses shocker, which is why I love this show.

CASE OF THE WEEK

Did we know Patterson's dad is Bill Nye? I feel like this is information I would've retained over the years. Suffice it to say, my reaction was along the lines of this:

(Never miss an opportunity to use a Nick Miller GIF. That's a little life tip from me to you.)

I love that Blindspot didn't pretend Bill Nye was anyone, but Bill Nye. It breaks the fourth wall a bit, but who cares? Geek out activated!

Rich and Patterson bring everyone in to inform them Jane has a deadly poison on her body. Not IN her body, but ON in the form of a tattoo — TTX. The momentary confusion leads to some great physical comedy from Kurt and Reade as they take a big step away from Jane. I roared.

TTX is tetrodotoxin and people are dying all over New York City because the poison somehow ended up in cantaloupe. My dad almost died from food poisoning after eating cantaloupe. It was super scary. True story.

They trace the contaminated melons to a research farm where Patterson's dad, Bill Nye, is currently working at with his research assistant, Ginny. Someone has genetically modified bees with TTX using CRISPR technology. So now there's a whole bunch of bees carrying a deadly poison. The cantaloupe became contaminated after the bees pollinated the melon plants.

At first, the evidence and Patterson's jealousy over Ginny makes her the prime suspect. She wrote a research paper on genetically modified bees and was generally acting shifty in the beginning of the episode, but we know the first suspect is never the real culprit. This ain't our first rodeo.

The real culprit is Nick Pomeroy who stole Ginny's research and tries to sell the bees to a defense contractor who wants to weaponize them. Yes, really this is the plot. Team Blindspot stops the sale and Nick dies a brutal death by bee in the process. It is YUCK.

Unfortunately, this defense contractor isn't easily deterred, so they send another team to hold Bill, Ginny and Patterson hostage in exchange for the bees. Thus commences one of the more ridiculous plot resolutions for Blindspot. Ginny and Patterson release the bees, which kills the goons. They are not harmed because they sprayed benzaldehyde all over themselves, which kept the bees away. Don't make me explain how Ginny gets the genetically modified bees back their hive. I'm all science'd out.

Typically, I enjoy a good Patterson-focused episode, but this was a little too much "light and airy" for my taste.

TEAM BLINDSPOT

Patterson spends most of the episode threatened that Bill is replacing her with Ginny, which of course is nutty. Bill is very proud of Patterson and is simply trying to respect her busy and important job. Patterson does have a tendency to hide behind her computer screen, which also seems to apply to her family. Jane reminds Patterson that family isn't around forever and when they're gone, she'll wish she had spent more time with her parents. It hits me right in the Roman feels.

Bill tells Patterson to bring her boyfriend around sometime for dinner and we both had the same reaction: "What boyfriend?" Bill Nye the Science Guy is referencing Rich. Wait a minute. Did I miss a ship rising? I mean... Rich did say he was Catwoman to her Batman. I never really thought romance with the two of them, mostly because Rich seems pretty in love with Boston. I kind of viewed them as platonic soulmates, but I've been wrong before!

Tasha is going full speed trying to track down Dominic. Claudia, her MI-6 undercover counterpart, reaches out and together they get a lead on Dominic. Tasha wants to loop in her team, but Claudia insists on going it alone despite Zapata's protests. We all know where this is headed. Tasha finds Claudia dead. It's pretty devastating for Tasha because she knows it could've easily been her.

Blindspot is leaning heavily into this whole "Tasha hasn't decided what team she's on" plot, which I find to be a bit tiresome because she's clearly chosen the FBI. She's not vacillating. Zapata asked for her job back, she's crashing at Reade's apartment, she wanted to bring her team in to help her. I'm not sure what else Tasha can do to prove she's playing well with others again.

Perhaps, this is less about what's going on in reality and more that Madeline got in Tasha's head. Regardless, she's exhausted of doing this all on her own and Reade FINALLY is there for her in a real way: "I know you have the team, but you also have me. I promise I'll be a better friend to you."

I think Reade has held on to Tasha holding him hostage and lying about well... everything for far too long, but that's Reade. He holds a grudge. He's not as forgiving as Kurt. But finally the wall cracks and the real olive branch is extended. I've missed this partnership. I've missed their friendship.

You may be disappointed at Reade's use of the word "friend," but we have to walk before we can run friends. Reade and Tasha are best friends and they have to get that solid framework back before launching into a romance.

Besides, Tasha is too freaking exhausted to do anything, but sleep on Reade's couch. But the look on Reade's face as he watches Tasha sleep tells us exactly where this is going.

KURT AND JANE

I love my unproblematic ship. Isn't this so nice, y'all? Jeller is the calm in the storm. The anchor couple who tease each other adorably and drink wine post-mission as a prelude to... well, you know. Jane said: "I used to think of Remi as this boogey woman, but she's a part of me." And Kurt replied: "You really believe that?"

YES WE DO, KURT. GET ON BOARD. I was ready to slap him.

Jane is full-on zen after her therapy session and being buried alive. Different techniques work for different people. Let's not judge. What's important is that Jane can look through the safe house memorabilia from her life as Remi without it crippling her. Dare I even say, Jane enjoys the walk down memory lane? When was the last time Jane actually smiled about her past? She's learning how to take the good with the bad.

The bad includes a goth period and some very emo poetry, which Kurt teases her mercilessly about. We've all had a goth phase, Jane; this is a safe space. Mine was more grunge than goth. I was deeply in love with Kurt Cobain and Gavin Rossdale.

Finally, Kurt gets on board. Not that I really believed he ever wasn't, but it's nice to hear it verbalized. I mean, Remi did try to murder him. Just wanted to be sure he's cool with her. I also love that Kurt can recognize there is happiness in Remi's past too; it wasn't all darkness. Jane needs to hear that and be reminded of it. Nobody's opinion carries more weight for her than Kurt's, which is why I've been harping on him the last couple episodes. But I'm good now.

I want them to always be this happy. I don't actually mind the writers throwing drama at Jeller, just as long as it is external and not internal. No more lies, giving each other up for the greater good, or CHEATING.

There is one item Jane doesn't recognize and it's a card from a local women's shelter. She recognizes the name of one the employees at the shelter — Chelsea Chalgren. They haul her in for questioning and she confesses Shepherd came by years ago looking for a "Jessica." Chelsea gave Shepherd whatever information she had so she could track her down. Jane is rightly ticked off because women's shelters shouldn't be handing out information to perfect strangers. Defeats the point!

They believe this "Jessica" is the Sandstorm informant caught on the street camera outside the drop site. Jessica is wearing the same jacket in the video and Chelsea recognizes it. She wants to make her mistake right, so Chelsea agrees to sit down with a sketch artist.

This episode is ho-hum, but it's worth watching for the BOOM at the end. Rich brings the sketch by and Jane recognizes "Jessica." I had prayed it was not another secret kid. And it's not! The sketch looks exactly like Kurt's MOM. And he is none too pleased about it. Yahoo! Let's dig into more Weller family drama. Hopefully, it's less dark than his monster of a father.

Stray Thoughts:

• They went a little heavy on the eye makeup with Tasha. She didn't look exhausted. She looked like she had pink eye.
• Friendship is texting at 4 a.m. asking for bagels. Now I'm craving bagels.
• READE IS GIVING TASHA KEYS TO HIS PLACE. EVERYBODY STAY CALM.
• Kurt is a Bill Nye fanboy and Jane thinks it's the cutest. Kurt is a fanboy about a lot of things.
• Anyone notice that Jeller likes to booze a lot after missions? Respect.
• PEOPLE NEED TO STOP INTERRUPTING MY JELLER SEX.
• "You need someone to film it?" Yes we do, Richard.

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Ask an Author: The Girl Who Never Read Noam Chomsky’s Jana Casale [Contributor: Megan Mann]

With her debut novel, Jana Casale tells a story that is more identifiable than most literature. Instead of relying on literary tropes to tell a story about a woman as she navigates life, Casale instead looks to the realities a woman goes through. It's a relatable read and it's a book that, unlike Noam Chomsky, you won't just purchase and never read.

So what does Jana Casale think of her book? Keep reading to find out!

Congratulations! Your debut, The Girl Who Never Read Noam Chomsky, is now in paperback! How does it feel?

It feels many different things, but overall I feel incredibly grateful and very humbled by all the amazing things that have happened to my little book. 

What was the catalyst for this story?

I was in class at Emerson College and a student was giving a presentation on Noam Chomsky. The professor asked her, “Have you read any of his work?” and she said, “No, but I’d like to when I have more time.” And I thought, "That’s never going to happen." Nothing against that young woman or course, it just seemed like one of those things in life you hope to do but never get to.

I found myself identifying with a lot of this book (especially when Leda’s mother said, “Dreams first, boys second”). Were you hoping that female readers would identify with Leda in one way or another?

I felt that there was a real gap in literature in terms of representing much of the female experience, and I really wanted to write something that was as vulnerable and honest as possible. I think when you do that you run the risk of alienating people because you’re usually talking about very specific, very personal things. But without being that open and raw about your own experiences, I think you are unable to really give your reader something to fully connect with. It’s thrilling when I hear that women do see themselves and can relate to my character because that was really my hope with this novel. I wanted women to feel a little less lonely when reading it.

Including Rochelle’s rape story may be too much to handle for some readers. But for many women, this situation occurs far more than it should. Was that what made you want to include it?

I really appreciate this question because this chapter to me is such an important one in the novel. I didn’t think it was right to write a book about womanhood and the female experience and to not talk about rape. Rochelle as a character was a way for me to be frank about the violence women face and the way that violence is just part of so many women’s lives. To some degree Leda acts as a mirror to the way society does and turns her back on Rochelle, which is why that final image of Rochelle at the end of the chapter is so important. It’s a complicated chapter, but I feel very proud of it. And even though it’s not essential to Leda’s narrative, I think it is incredibly essential to the narrative of the book thematically.

The difficulties of friendship segued into Leda’s spiral into depression about upending her entire life from Boston to San Francisco for John’s job. This left her entirely without aspects of her identity: friends, family, job, school. This is more common than ever now. Why choose for them to uproot their lives for him instead of her?

Part of what I wanted to do with this novel is talk about the ways in which women get so much self-worth from having men in their lives. In reality Leda is so happy with having John [that] she is willing to make that sacrifice for him and move to California. We see later on that having a great boyfriend in and of itself is not fulfilling enough for her, but the initial decision is based very much around that. And I would suspect the reason they don’t leave is because John does not feel the same sense of accomplishment by having a partner as Leda does and so is likely less motivated to make a big change just for her. To be fair it was also a smart financial decision for them and life, I think, just gets away from you very often when you make a big move like that, so that was part of it as well.

Something that I think is so important for you to bring up in this story is how social media has turned motherhood into a competition. It’s also creates this insidious world of mommy shaming. Do you think mothers reading this will scream “YES! THIS!” when reading your novel? 

I hope so! I find social media to be so depressing in my own life, and I think very often it feeds into the worst of ourselves and our relationships with other people. Women can be so hard on each other, and I hate the way all too often we use each other’s faults and failures to feel better about our own lives. The good thing about social media is that it’s very useful for writing. So many interesting and complicated human interactions happen through it, and because it’s all written, it really lends itself to the medium of prose. We’ve all seen those scenes in television and movies where they try to integrate texting or social media, and it really doesn’t work but it’s absolutely perfect for books.

I think we’ve all had the experience in the dressing room with the bathing suits. (Except for maybe Kendall Jenner.) Instead of creating a story that’s clear-cut, you created a story that’s realistic and messy. It makes it easy for the reader to identify at some point. What made you want to tell a straightforward story that didn’t rely on the themes we generally see in fiction?

The bathing suit scene is the one most frequently brought up to me which isn’t surprising because every woman (probably even Kendall Jenner!) has gone through something similar to that. Hating our bodies is so intrinsic to the female experience, but it’s almost never discussed. Honestly, so few protagonists you read about seem to struggle with many of the experiences women struggle with in their lives, and I think the reason is that many writers write in a way that is more derivative of art than of reality. I really wanted to write something that was not built on women that I’ve read about but built on women that I’ve known, and so I tried to be as messy as possible. And what’s messier than bathing suit shopping?

Okay, so here’s a few fun questions! If this were to become a Netflix series, who would you cast?

Believe it or not I never think about this kind of thing! I think I’d just want Leda to be played by someone with a sense of humor.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on my second novel which is about three different women who are in love with terrible men. It’s tentatively titled, How to Fall Out of Love Madly.

(Megan’s note: I’m here for it. Very excited for this already!)

What’s the best writing advice you received during this process?

To think about your career holistically and to only publish what you really want out in the world. 

What are you reading right now?

I just finished Mary Laura Philpott’s book of essays called I Miss You When I Blink. It’s coming out this spring and it’s amazing. So hilarious. So touching. I highly recommend!

(Megan’s note: This book is, in fact, incredible and I also think everyone should read it.)

And last, because I have to ask, what’s a book you bought and then never read?

Honestly, there are too many to name! I love books, which means I over buy in a big way. But I did read Noam Chomsky!

The Girl Who Never Read Noam Chomsky is available now in paperback! And find Jana on Instagram!

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Grey’s Anatomy 15x20 Review: “The Whole Package” (Old Habits Die Hard) [Contributor: Julia Siegel]

“The Whole Package”

Original Airdate: April 4, 2019

It seems that we have at least a three-episode arc of family visits in the back half of season fifteen of Grey’s Anatomy. In the last episode, we learned the devastating truth of Jo’s origins when she met her birth mother for the first time. This week, the Hunt family is examined, and it seems a similar situation will play out in the next episode which will feature a Shepherd family reunion. Plenty of characters have been struggling lately and are unwilling to open their eyes without someone blatantly calling them out. This episode actually doubles as a great catch-up because all of the big storylines are exposed and cross-examined.

SURPRISE VISIT

After last week’s depressing dual plotlines, this was the perfect time for Megan Hunt to show up and lighten the mood of the show. While she is only checking in for one episode, it is always a pleasure to see her feisty spirit come alive and take action. Meredith and Jackson have assembled a team to operate on one of Megan’s patients: a military veteran who suffered several devastating injuries while in battle and needs abdominal wall, penal, and scrotal transplants. The writers couldn’t have come up with a better case to get Abigail Spencer to reprise her recurring role and talk some sense into her character’s very stubborn brother.

Meredith greets Megan when she arrives and accidentally spills the beans about Owen and Teddy’s baby in the process. Owen didn’t know that Megan was coming to visit and had yet to mention anything about his unborn baby, most likely because he didn’t want the ensuing attack from his sister. Let’s just say that Megan is very disappointed to hear that Teddy and Owen are not a couple and gives both of them several earfuls of her opinions. Megan knows that Teddy and Owen have loved each other for long enough that a baby in the mix should have catapulted them into a real relationship. She is beyond angry at Owen for his treatment toward Teddy (i.e. how he went to Germany for a one night stand and didn’t try to win her over), and can’t believe that he gave her his job instead of a marriage proposal.

Megan’s antics are quite entertaining, and she is incredibly spot-on with everything she says. Teddy and Owen have a complicated history which they have been trying to avoid like the plague for too long. Since trying to convince both together and separately that they belong together didn’t work, Megan decides to take a more drastic step at the end of the episode. She catches Owen off-guard with a very accurate mental health profile of him and how he is unwell. Citing the Germany incident, being with his ex-wife, and fostering Leo and Betty as examples, Megan paints a picture of Owen being mentally unstable and in dire need of help. This is something that I haven’t thought of and wasn’t necessarily apparent until Megan says it. Now that she mentions it, it does make a lot of sense.

GETTING BACK ON THE HORSE

Meredith and Jackson recruit Megan, Owen, Catherine, and Schmidt to help out with their extremely difficult surgery. When they present Catherine with the idea of the surgery, she is overjoyed that her son has given her the best gift ever. The light and fluffy demeanor of the episode is quite charming in this moment and provides a good laugh. The surgery is quickly in jeopardy when the team finds out that the patient lied about having a support system in place. Catherine refuses to operate if the patient isn’t going to have the help he needs post-op. Jackson confronts her about her decision to see whether she is more afraid for the patient or of her first time back in the OR since her own surgery.

Owen has a heart-to-heart with the patient and learns that he is really insecure about not currently having his manhood. This is exactly what Owen thought the problem was, so he gives a speech about how letting people in is the best way to deal with the problem. The patient had broken up with his girlfriend after the accident and doesn’t want to let her back into his life. Owen convinces him to give her another chance, and it all magically works out. Since the patient has a support system, Catherine agrees to do the surgery, which goes perfectly.

CREATIVE SOLUTIONS

This episode also marks the end of Alex’s reign as chief of surgery, as Bailey officially takes back her full duties. Alex takes on a new patient, while Bailey is left trying to figure out where all of the business reports are and how to teach some high school students about leadership, which was an unfortunately-timed prior commitment. Helm helps Alex treat a young autistic boy suffering from chest pain and fatigue. The boy doesn’t like to be touched and has trouble communicating, so they have to get creative to do an exam. The parents tell Alex that their son loves architecture, so Alex strikes up a conversation with the kid about a building.

Alex uses architecture metaphors to get the boy to tell him exactly what is wrong. They find that he has a tumor on his thymus gland, but they can’t surgically remove it right away because the patient is anemic. Alex brings Maggie on the case, and they give him a blood transfusion to treat the anemia, but the boy’s body rejects the blood. After several blood tests, the doctors find out that the kid has the rarest blood type in the world: AB with no Rh factor. Since the child’s blood isn’t AB+ or AB-, they need to find blood that is an exact match. However, only a few people in the world have this rare blood type, so finding a donor will not be an easy task. Maggie is surprised to hear Alex tell the patient’s parents that he will do whatever it takes to find a donor and treat their son.

Meanwhile, Jo has spent the past week curled up in bed and not talking to anyone. Alex sends Link to the rescue to see if he can get Jo to talk about what happened with her birth mother. Jo isn’t thrilled to see Link, who tries to take care of her even as she constantly rejects his help. He gets Jo laughing and having a decent time after she downs almost an entire bottle of vodka. She begins to tell him about how whenever a situation gets tough she runs away. She says that it’s in her blood to handle problems by running away and states that her mom still does the same thing. Jo almost tells Link the truth, but quickly shuts down and finds more alcohol to drink. When Alex gets home, Link tells him that he has seen Jo go through some rough times, but nothing like this. Both men are very concerned for Jo and are both silently hoping that she doesn’t revert back to her old pattern of disappearing when things get tough.

SHOWCASING TALENT

The last important story of the episode sees Richard giving DeLuca a solo surgery. DeLuca is worried that it is a test of both his surgical skills and his commitment to Meredith, as he will be trapped in an OR under the watchful eye of Richard. Meredith is also nervous that the surgery will take a hard turn and DeLuca won’t be able to prove himself. It’s odd that Meredith has next to no confidence in her boyfriend, which is a telling sign that their relationship probably won’t work out.

DeLuca decides that Richard is going to be more of a father figure rather than a teacher and wants to impress Meredith’s pseudo dad. Since this is the comedic episode, DeLuca is very wrong in his assumption and continuously says and does the wrong things. It’s fun to watch DeLuca trip over his words and try to find hidden meanings in everything Richard says, especially when he keeps saying way too much about caring for Meredith.

However, when he discovers dead bowel in the patient, DeLuca stay calm, cool, and collected and easily converts his laparoscopic surgery to an open procedure. Richard wants to take over at this point, but DeLuca tells him that he can do it and wants to see it through. DeLuca shows Richard that he knows exactly what he is doing and wants to become a general surgeon. Richard is impressed and even puts in a good word to Meredith about DeLuca’s surgical and personal skills.

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You Do, Don't, Wanna Be Crazy: A Farewell to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend [Contributor: Jenn]

I grew up listening to musicals.

If you met me today, you might not know that, given the fact that once I got to college, I didn’t follow the Broadway musical circuit as much. Today I couldn’t even tell you what musicals are nominated for the Tony Awards. It’s a little sad, actually.

The reason I loved musicals then and still do today is because of their escapism. There’s something so unbelievably satisfying about spending a few hours engulfed in a world where people randomly burst out into song whenever they’re feeling something deeply. In musicals, people get the chance to live in fantastical worlds. There is no limit to what is possible, generally, in a musical.

When Crazy Ex-Girlfriend came onto our screens a few years ago, it sought to be a conversation-starting, groundbreaking musical comedy. It was racy and funny, but also incredibly poignant. And it followed on the heels of other shows, mostly dramas, with its portrayal of a complex anti-hero. As the show ends tonight, I wanted to take some time to reflect on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s significance. Looking back, it made such an impact on me that I wrote multiple posts about it (here | here | here).

The little-show-that-could ended on its own terms, and credit goes to Aline Brosh McKenna and Rachel Bloom, as well as the show’s numerous writers, for constructing such an interesting and crucial arc for Rebecca Bunch. The woman we met in the pilot is not the same woman we watch sing in the finale — and for that, I’m eternally grateful.

SING ME A SONG OF AN ANTI-HEROINE

The rise of the anti-hero in film and television in recent years has been an interesting one. People are quick to point out Walter White from Breaking Bad as a typical example, but essentially an anti-hero is someone who’s the central figure of a story but lacks a lot of the traditional heroic characteristics.

It leaves the audience a little confused — on the one hand, we are conditioned by popular media to root for the main character. But anti-heroes do things that heroes don’t. So are we supposed to root when Rebecca Bunch lies to Josh, breaks into homes, steals, manipulates the emotions of others, and seeks to split Josh up with Valencia? Are we supposed to reward her bad behavior just because she’s the main character in the story we’re watching?

I think Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s ability to ask that central question without telling the audience how or what to think of Rebecca is important. While so many television shows are heavy-handed with exposition or “subliminal” messages about what to think about a character or situation, a lot of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s storytelling has involved allowing the viewer to craft their own thoughts and opinions about Rebecca Bunch and her behavior. We’re given permission to root for her, but also be disappointed by her. We’re allowed the space to dismiss her actions as villainous altogether (“I’m the Villain in My Own Story” is my favorite song from the show for this reason).

Ultimately the show portrayed a character who was incredibly broken and flawed, surrounding her with characters who were broken and flawed (sometimes in less obvious ways), while also not allowing Rebecca’s actions to be without consequence. Did you root for Rebecca to get away with her lies? Or to get caught? Did you want her to find love with Josh? Or Greg? Or Nathaniel?

The importance of an anti-hero is their arc: Rebecca didn’t stay the way she was in season one. And she faced consequences for her actions too by actually owning them.

A FUNNY AND SOMETIMES DARK LOOK AT MENTAL HEALTH

Rebecca began to truly own her behavior when she identified the root cause of it. For most of her life, Rebecca was misdiagnosed by mental health professionals; she received incorrect or dangerous diagnoses. Mid-way through the third season of the series is a pivotal moment in the show’s trajectory — Rebecca’s attempted suicide. Not only was the moment a tonal shift for the series (I cried when I watched the screener), but also a pivotal character-centric and plot shift as well.

When Rebecca is diagnosed with BPD, she begins to approach life, her recovery, and therapy differently. Armed with a reason for her behavior and a path forward, Rebecca begins to actually take ownership for her issues rather than blame-shift them onto others. As a result, she starts her journey in becoming a healthy, honest individual.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s contribution to a national (or worldwide) discussion on mental health can’t be overstated. The show isn’t the first to tackle the discussion but its musical comedy format allowed it to have an entire La La Land-themed number about how common it is to be on antidepressants. Rebecca sings a song called “My Diagnosis” when she receives her BPD diagnosis. A musical format is the perfect way to approach these discussions in funny, accurate, and engaging ways.

The way the show didn’t oversimplify the issues that come with mental health was of utmost importance. It didn’t minimize struggles or try to present a neat and tidy solution where there is none. Sure, Rebecca begins to improve when she receives her diagnosis and is on the right medication. But it also showed us a musical number where someone’s medicine isn’t working for them and they need to switch. Mental health is an ongoing conversation and a complex issue. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s constant dedication to the honoring and elevation of the subject matter is not just admirable — it’s downright invaluable.

I’m incredibly grateful this show allowed us all the chance to explore our own motivations, issues, and watch a woman grow and heal from the wounds that she and others have inflicted.

THE GIRL AND GUY SQUAD

The character development in the series isn’t just limited to Rebecca Bunch though. I’m incredibly grateful that the series conveyed the importance of community. One of my favorite images of the series is Valencia, Heather, and Paula sleeping outside of Rebecca’s door after her suicide attempt just in case she needed them. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend actually managed to flip a tried narrative on its head (two girls rival for the same guy), by allowing Valencia to grow and Rebecca to grow as well — to the point that they’re now more evolved versions of themselves and actually very good friends.

Paula changed so much from the beginning of the series too, and it was important to me (even if earlier on it felt like this part of her life was neglected by the writers) that Paula wasn’t a young single woman. She’s a married mother of two who serves more as Rebecca’s mother than her sister — a dynamic, of course, the show readily explored. But how amazing is it that Paula advanced in her career and became a lawyer? That she wasn’t just brushed aside as “only a mom” by the series, and was allowed the chance to have dreams and goals independent of motherhood.

Furthermore, members of the supporting cast were allowed to be fully-realized characters and grow on their own. Valencia, Heather, Nathaniel, Greg, and (to some extent) Josh all became better versions of themselves by the end of the series. Valencia found love and vulnerability, Heather found her purpose, Nathaniel found his empathy and humanity, Greg found release from his addiction and anger, and Josh found... well, I’m not sure yet. Forgiveness and closure, maybe?

There are people in our lives who shape us into who we’re meant to be, and I feel like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend did a great job at reminding us that healing happens in community — whether sitting on a couch with your girl group, in therapy with others, or by having an honest conversation with your best friend.

GOODBYE, WEST COVINA

So much of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was... well, crazy. It had intensely catchy, lyrically genius songs. It had nuanced, layered characters who grew and changed and became people we wanted to see succeed. It had production-breaking musical numbers (I’m looking at you, “Love Kernels”). Its fourth-wall-breaking humor cannot be praised hard enough.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was meta and wild and wonderful. It celebrated so many things that, as women, we’re told to be quiet or delicate about. It stepped boldly into conversations about difficult subjects without pretending to have all the answers. It opened up a space where we could grapple with our own issues and feel like we belonged — no matter what.

There’s nothing like this show, nor will there likely be anything else like it. As Rachel Bloom hoped, I do believe we left Rebecca Bunch in a better place than when we first found her.

Is there anything better than that?

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