Blindspot – Droll Autumn, Unmutual Lord

By starrymag | January 18, 2017

By: Jessica Wolff

 

After Roman (Luke Mitchell) spends his night reliving painful memories of his time in the orphanage, Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander) visits him. She is worried about his refusal to eat, but Roman says that all he wants is to go home. Kurt Weller (Sullivan Stapleton) finds Nas Kamal (Archie Panjabi) sitting outside a mosque and she informs him that she still checks for news from her Sandstorm source. Weller questions whether her source has been burned and whether it’s safe to keep checking. However, Kamal insists that nowhere is safe as long as Sandstorm is still active.

 

Weller goes to the hospital and realizes that he’s missed Allison Knight’s (Trieste Kelly Dunn) doctor’s appointment. He tells her that he’s sorry for missing the appointment and that he wants to do better for their kid. Despite the awkwardness, Tasha Zapata (Audrey Esparza) is glad to see Edgar Reade (Rob Brown) back at work and fills him in on everything he’s missed. Reade attempts to apologize for trying to kiss her, but she brushes it off and asks if they’re still good. Despite Zapata’s recommendation that Patterson (Ashley Johnson) take some time off and rest, she is determined to get back to work and bring down Sandstorm. Zapata wonders if the mysterious tattoo left off of Jane’s body is a dead end, but Patterson believes that the tattoo might be the key to exposing Sandstorm.

 

Jane pleads with Weller to not treat Roman like a prisoner since she wasn’t treated like one when she was brought in. Weller doesn’t want to show the same comfort to the man responsible for the death of twelve FBI agents and who only seems to remember how to kill. Jane reminds him that Sheppard is preparing phase two of her plan and Roman is their only lead. When Weller refuses to budge, Kamal offers to have an analyst from the NSA talk to Roman to help him regain his memories. Patterson shows the team the latest tattoo, which leads to a shipping container identification number. She shows them security footage of the man collecting the boy. The man is identified as Anton Stepulov (Mark Ivanir), who was previously believed to be dead.

 

In their investigation, the team discovers that Stepulov wired money to a woman with no prior record, Arlene Turner (JoAnna Rhinehart). When brought in for questioning, Turner tells them that she thought that the money was life insurance for her brother. She mentions that her brother’s dying words were that his death would be meaningful and that she never saw the body after he died. Patterson confirms that her brother was a patient at the hospital, but was transferred to a private hospital. The team speculates that he took the money from Stepulov to be a suicide bomber. Jane brings Roman a cup of coffee and a cup of tea, telling him how she discovered herself. She tells Roman that she knows he is a coffee drinker and that he won’t have to start from scratch like she did. He asks her if their mother loved them, and Jane tells him that she believes she did in her own way. Roman asks why he would wipe their memories and Jane tells him that it might have been her way of trying to get them back.

 

Patterson shows the team the hospital log and uses security footage to track the visitor’s vehicle. The team intercepts Stepulov’s car and CIA Agent Keaton (Chad Donella) reveals that Stepulov is working with the CIA. Zapata opens the trunk and sees a bio container, which Keaton tells them contains a human heart. Jane is surprised when Weller mentions his confrontation with Keaton in Bulgaria. Keaton tells them that Stepulov’s son is in need of a heart transplant and that Turner agreed to give his heart before he died. He tells them that he needs to complete the transplant quickly in order to receive Intel from Stepulov, but Jane urges Weller not to trust Keaton. Weller offers to do the surgery at FBI headquarters.

 

As the FBI works to hack Stepulov’s phone, Weller asks Reade and Zapata to interrogate Stepulov. Zapata asks to work with Patterson instead and they leave Jane in the room with Keaton. She confronts him about the torture he put her through when she was at the CIA and he reminds her that she is the daughter of one of the deadliest domestic terrorists. Keaton claims that the torture wasn’t personal, but Jane is still furious about her treatment. Jane asks Weller how he can be comfortable working with Keaton after everything, but Weller says that they have no other choice and assures Jane that he wanted to kill Keaton back in Bulgaria. Kamal brings in her friend, Dr. Karen Sun (Li Jun Li), who refuses to let Jane sit in on her sessions with Roman.

 

Jane goes to see Stepulov and gives him an update on his son. He tells Jane that he agrees to help Keaton because he found the only surgeon able to operate on his son and that the worst thing is for a parent to lose a child. Reade tells the team that Stepulov’s son died on the operating table and that they’ve lost their only leverage. Keaton suggests they lie to Stepulov to get the Intel, but Jane tells him that he already doesn’t trust them. Keaton, Weller and Jane go to see Stepulov and Keaton tells him that his son is in recovery. Weller blurts out the truth and apologizes for his loss. Stepulov tries to attack Keaton and Jane assures him that the surgeon did everything she could for his son. She asks him what his son would do in this situation and asks him to give them the Intel to honor his memory. He tells them that tonight the city will feel his pain and there is nothing they can do to stop him.

 

Patterson is able to track the location of a phone that received a text from Stepulov. Weller orders Keaton to stay and try to get Stepulov to talk as the team goes to the location. Dr. Sun refuses Kamal’s request to sit in on her meeting with Roman. She tries to talk to Roman, but he demands to be let out of his cell. She tells him that he probably belongs in that cell and that he has no choice but to cooperate. As Weller drives, Jane questions what will happen when he realizes that she’s the one who took his memories. He reminds him that she was grateful for the memory wipe and now he will get a chance to get a fresh start like she did. In another car, Reade asks Zapata how long things will be awkward between them and she confronts him about the kiss. He assures her that the kiss meant nothing.

 

The team arrives and starts searching the area. Weller finds a man loading a truck with basketballs and calls out to him. The man runs and Weller sees a bomb strapped to the basketball rack. He runs away as the bomb explodes and the truck disappears in the explosion. During their speculation, Jane realizes that Stepulov intends to target a basketball game that Keaton’s daughter is playing in. Kamal watches as Dr. Sun tries to work with Roman. He gets frustrated that he is unable to recall any new memories. Dr. Sun turns out the lights and Roman recalls a memory of him stabbing a kid in the orphanage.

 

Weller advises Keaton that they shouldn’t evacuate the arena as to not cause panic. Keaton refuses to let anything happen to his daughter and Weller assures him that they will stop this attack before it happens. Keaton texts a woman who pulls his daughter from the game. They try to escape, but the door is chained shut. A man shoots the woman and Keaton’s daughter locks herself in a nearby closet to hide. The man unlocks the door and pursues her. The team arrives at the game and looks for the bomb. Jane, Reade and Zapata see armed men in the hallway and announce themselves as FBI. Both sides start shooting at each other. They find several racks of basketballs and find the bomb strapped to it. Reade sends a picture of the bomb to Patterson and orders an evacuation. Keaton gets a call from his daughter, who is running around the school hysterical. Weller gets on the phone and gives the girl instructions on where to meet.

 

Patterson tells them that the only way to prevent the bombs being set off is to cut off cell service. Once Weller gives Keaton’s daughter further instructions, Patterson turns off cell service and disables the bomb. Weller meets up with Keaton’s daughter and finds that one of Stepulov’s henchman has her at gunpoint. The man tells Keaton that he will release his daughter once Stepulov has been freed from custody. Keaton puts down his weapon and asks to take his daughter’s place. The man aims at Keaton and Weller shoots him. Keaton embraces his daughter and Jane kills another henchman who aims at the two. He thanks Jane for saving them, and she tells him that it wasn’t personal.

 

Dr. Sun tells Jane the results of her time with Roman. Due to his neutral reaction to both pleasant and disturbing images, she diagnoses him as having a personality disorder. She tells them that Roman’s upbringing has destroyed his potential for empathy and love. When Jane argues that she had the same upbringing, Dr. Sun tells her that she hasn’t examined her yet. She recommends that Roman be put in a mental hospital and that trying to bring back the traumatic memories is a bad idea. Zapata asks Reade to get a drink with her and he reluctantly agrees. Patterson and Jane watch Roman play with sugar cubes in his cell and Patterson tells her that there still might be hope for Roman because Jane. She reminds Jane that Weller brought out the best in her and that she can do the same for Roman.

 

Reade and Zapata get drunk at the bar and laugh about the kiss. Reade jokes that Zapata isn’t his type anyway and apologizes. Zapata accepts his apology and leaves him at the bar to flirt with another woman though she appears jealous as she looks at them. Patterson spills her aspirin and has an epiphany. Weller shows Allison the room he made for the baby, but Allison tells him that he got a job offer in Colorado. Weller is disappointed, but thinks it’s a good idea for her. Patterson shows the team that Roman has been playing mancala in his cell and realizes that the spots in the missing tattoo are mancala boards that lead to a social security number. The security number belongs to a woman that is seen meeting with Roman on security footage.