Blindspot – Fix My Present Havoc

By starrymag | December 21, 2017

By: Jessica Wolff

 

 

Flashbacks reveal the truth behind Stuart’s (Jordan Johnson-Hinds) murder, showing him struggling to crack a tattoo case. Patterson (Ashley Johnson) continues to brush him off, so he texts Eleanor Hirst (Mary Stuart Masterson) once he solves it. Stuart shows her that the tattoo case is connected to Van Gogh’s self-portrait, hypothesizing that it relates to one of her associates. Hirst thanks him for telling her about it, before killing him.

 

In the present, Kurt Weller (Sullivan Stapleton) and Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander) play with Kurt’s daughter and thank Alison Knight (Trieste Kelly Dunn) for visiting. After Weller denies that anything is wrong, Alison assures him that things will be okay now that Jane is back. Weller has a nightmare of Roman (Luke Mitchell) shredding his passport in Berlin, and then finding Jane standing over a baby crib in an empty room. Weller sees that the baby is in a black duffle bag, and Jane disappears when he looks up.

 

Weller wakes up, and finds that Patterson and Jane are working in the living room. Jane tells Weller that they are all exhausted from their investigation against Hirst, and Patterson shows signs of sleep deprivation. Weller decides that they can focus on the investigation this weekend and continue with their normal work later. Jane hands Weller a box she believes is from his sister, but inside are children’s blocks from Roman. Patterson looks at the blocks, and concludes that Roman is giving them a clue.

 

Tasha Zapata (Audrey Esparza) and Edgar Reade (Rob Brown) make up with each other, deciding that they’re even. Patterson shows the team the tattoo that Stuart was working on, and inserts the letters on Roman’s blocks to represent elements in a molecule. Reade questions why the tattoo couldn’t be solved without Roman’s help, and Jane speculates that he knows about their investigation into Hirst and wants them to take her down.

 

Patterson explains that the molecule is related to a cancer treatment program at a single hospital, and Zapata informs them two nurses died there in the past year. However, they aren’t able to connect the hospital to Van Gogh. Weller suggests that they ask about the dead nurses, but Reade argues that they can’t use their badges or Hirst will find out. They decide to go undercover, and Jane realizes that they can’t bring their guns. Zapata is worried that they’ll need their guns, but Reade argues that it might be the only way to bring down Hirst.

 

Jane and Weller pose as inspectors and meet with the head of the program, Dr. Margaret Palmeri (Jessica Hecht). As she hands Todd (Eric Elizaga) paperwork, Weller asks questions about the program. When Jane asks about one of the dead nurses, Palmeri claims that she didn’t know her. Despite Weller pointing out how small the program is, she continues her denial and tells them that they’re done. After Jane and Weller leave, Palmeri calls Dr. Andrea Park (Di Zhu) and warns her that people are asking questions.

 

Outside Palmeri’s office, Jane spots a similarly wrapped box to the one containing the blocks and opens it to reveal that Roman provided them a map of the hospital and the location of the server. Determining that their cover won’t get them to the room, Reade and Zapata sneak into the room and download the server files. As they wait, Zapata asks Reade why he was meeting with the State Department. He admits that he’s trying to help someone, but doesn’t feel comfortable explaining the situation. Zapata insists that she believes him, and Reade spots a security guard as the file transfer completes. They hide under a desk, nearly face to face as the Hospital Security Guard (Tommy Bayiokos) searches the room.

 

As they leave the room, Reade gets a call from Hirst, asking to meet at his apartment. Reade tells her that he has plans with Zapata, but Hirst insists that he bring her too so she can get to know his team. Back at Weller’s apartment, the team speculates why Hirst wants to meet. Zapata believes they should go in order to not arouse suspicion, and Weller declares they should make the most of their time before the meeting. Zapata shows them evidence that Palmeri was manually choosing who got the treatment and who got the placebo in the trial, suggesting that she was accepting bribes. Patterson shows that that Palmeri lost money creating a cure for a virus that didn’t end up having a massive outbreak.

 

Jane and Weller interview one of the patients, Julian Milliken (Frankie J. Alvarez), who tells them that he’s been in the program for two years and he believes he’s getting better. Weller comments that the patients in the trial seem wealthy, and Julian says that his husband has great insurance. Julian’s husband, Eric Vance (Tarik Lowe), arrives and they notice that he has one ear. After realizing that he is Van Gogh, Jane and Weller chase Vance into an empty room. Weller manages to subdue him, and Jane threatens to take the other ear if he continues to fight.

 

Weller brings Vance to his apartment, handcuffs him to a chair, and pulls off his blindfold before asking why he ran. Vance requests a lawyer, assessing that their method of bringing him in is illegal, thus making it a kidnapping. Reade admits that the evidence in these conditions would never hold up in court, but Weller suggests that getting him to agree to testify against Hirst will help them. Patterson explains that Vance’s record as a marshall is sealed in a secure system that would take days to hack, but suggests that Weller ask Alison for help.

 

Alison criticizes the legality of their investigation, but Patterson pleads that they need her help. She gives them the file, showing them that Vance took a job as security for Hirst before quitting because of Julian’s cancer. Julian claims that Vance has been working these past couple years to support him and asks what’s going on. Jane suggests that Vance tell Julian the truth about his job, getting Vance to admit that Hirst got Julian the drug and that she threatened to take it away if he didn’t do what she asked. He refuses to talk about the nature of his work, telling them that Hirst has leverage on Palmeri. Jane and Weller suggest that they can eliminate Hirst’s influence if they can remove Palmeri from the trial in exchange for his testimony. He agrees as long as they protect Julian and don’t tell him the truth.

 

Reade and Zapata meet Hirst, who asks them how they met. They tell the story of their initial rivalry, and Hirst insinuates that Zapata left the FBI because Reade was promoted instead of her. Weller asks to speak to Palmeri, but Todd tells him that she’s gone. He reveals that he works for the FBI, and Todd tells him that Palmeri is meeting someone named Park. Patterson and Jane look up Park and sees that she worked with Palmeri on the initial virus cure. They look at Park’s purchase history, and conclude that Palmeri and Park intend to create an epidemic to create demand for their cure. Park tells Palmeri that they need six more months, but Palmeri insists that they have to release the virus that day.

 

Weller calls and tells Jane and Patterson that the money Hirst used to bribe Palmeri was in a special account that Patterson realizes was used to purchase a small industrial warehouse. Alison insists that she go with them, and Patterson insist she can multitask with helping them and watching Vance. They arrive at the building and find a lab with several rat cages, causing Weller to admit he has a rat phobia. They find that the virus storage container is empty, and Weller finds a map indicating infection times. As Zapata takes a call from Keaton, Hirst tells Reade that the CIA are snakes and that she wants Zapata off the case. She tells him that he can’t trust Zapata due to his vulnerability due to his addiction history.

 

Weller, Jane, and Patterson speculate how Palmeri and Park intend to spread the virus, and Alison suggests a water treatment plant. Patterson narrows down the location, and they see Park on the dock. They detain her and realize that she put several rats infected with the virus into the water supply. Jane and Alison look at a map to determine how to shut down the plant. Weller shows them a text from Park’s phone that indicates that Palmeri is inside. Patterson informs them that the emergency contamination shutdown has been deactivated and can only be activated with manual override.

 

As they rush inside the plant, Palmeri shoots at them. Jane decides to draw her fire so Weller can get a clear shot. Weller gets her, but finds that she’s running away as he approaches. Jane and Alison try to activate the shutdown, but Patterson finds that the instruction video is incredibly old. Weller corners Palmeri, who warns him not to come closer. He tells her that she doesn’t have a choice, and she hands over her gun. Patterson works with Jane and Alison to figure out the system, and they successfully activate the emergency shutdown.

 

The team tells Vance that they managed to arrest Palmeri, but Vance doesn’t believe that they are free of Hirst yet. Alison tells him that a team of Marshals is collecting Julian from the hospital and they will both be taken to a safe house. Jane asks what he did for Hirst, and Vance tells them that first she had him dig up dirt on someone up for the same promotion as her. He continues to detail his work for her, and admits that Hirst became more and more brutal as time went on. In a flashback, Hirst demands that Vance make Stuart’s murder look like a home invasion and cover up any evidence linking Hirst to the murder. He refuses, but Hirst manipulates him into it by insisting she did it to protect him.

 

Weller thanks Alison for her help, and comments that Vance and Julian’s marriage might fall apart due to Vance’s lies. After Weller argues that Vance was trying to protect Julian, Alison argues that shielding someone from the truth isn’t heroic. Patterson tells them that Julian checked himself out of the hospital, and Weller insists they have to find him. The team tracks Julian and has him pull over on the side of the road. Julian demands that Vance tell him what he did, and that he can’t stay in the trial. Vance pleads with him to stay, but Julian refuses to, knowing that Vance sold their souls for it. Vance begs him to stay in the trial, promising that Julian doesn’t have to see him again.

 

Alison and Weller bring Vance to the safe house, and Weller asks if he regrets keeping the truth from Julian. Vance tells him he doesn’t, as he decided to spare him more pain. Reade suggests that Hirst hired him because he has a weakness she could exploit, telling Zapata about Hirst’s request to have her removed from the team. Zapata insists that they don’t have to worry about Hirst anymore, and Jane flashes back to her memories of her daughter as she looked at pictures of Weller’s daughter. She calls her former associate, and asks for his help to find her daughter. Vance is shot at the safe house, and Weller calls the rest of the team to inform them. Reade answers his phone, and Weller tells him what happened. Hirst enters his office, as Weller warns him that she knows everything.