Blindspot – Solos

By starrymag | April 4, 2017

By: Jessica Wolff

 

Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander) wakes up in a bed next to Oliver Kind (Jonathan Patrick Moore), and figures that the men who barged into her apartment drugged them.  Oliver tries to open the door, but is shocked when he touches the handle.  Jane sees a camera in the room.  Edgar Reade (Rob Brown) is awoken by a kid, Zander (Emperor Kaioyus).  His mother, Nikki (Meagan Kimberly Smith) tells Zander not to bother her friend and Reade is surprised that she has a kid.  She tells him that he showed up at her apartment wasted and that drinking and drugs isn’t a regular occurrence for her.  He tries to defend himself, but Nikki tells him that they can’t see each other anymore.

 

Nas Kamal (Archie Panjabi) tells Kurt Weller (Sullivan Stapleton) that she recovered a hard drive from a Sandstorm fixer.  The hard drive contains several fake passports for Shepherd (Michelle Hurd) and one for Roman (Luke Mitchell).  Shepherd took Roman on a trip to the Bahamas years ago, and security footage shows him entering a bank and emptying a trust fund account of thirty-three million dollars that belonged to a deceased person.  Kamal speculates that Sandstorm killed somebody to access their bank account.  Patterson (Ashley Johnson) visits Dr. Karen Sun (Li Jun Li) and tells her that she doesn’t need therapy anymore.  She argues that she is fine now that Dr. Robert Borden (Ukweli Roach) is dead and the headaches were related to the bug in her tooth.  Dr. Sun doesn’t agree with that assessment, as she still has to deal with Dr. Borden betraying her and violating her privacy with the bug.  However, Patterson continues to insist that she is fine and wants to move on.

 

Jane apologizes to Oliver for getting them into this situation, believing their kidnap to be Sandstorm related.  She explains to a confused Oliver that she has very powerful enemies.  Jane looks for a way out, but Oliver says it’s dangerous based on their location.  Jane slams him against a wall, and accuses him of working with Shepherd.  He has no idea who Shepherd is and confesses that they were kidnapped because of him.  A voice comes up on the loudspeaker, addressing Oliver Steele.  The voice tells him to record himself reading from a script.  Jane reads the script, which asks for the money that Oliver’s father, Magnus, stole to be transferred, or else Oliver and Jane will be executed.

 

Oliver explains to Jane that they are in the Vermont ski cabin his father rented.  He tells her that he discovered that Magnus and his business partner, Edith (Tracy Shayne), were involved in a Ponzi scheme and he fled when Oliver threatened to notify the police.  He hasn’t heard from him in years, but he leaves him a voicemail every Christmas and the inbox is never full.  He left his father’s company, started his charity, and changed his name.  Weller passes the file with pictures of Roman’s trip to the Bahamas to Roman and he has a flashback to his dealing with the bank to withdraw the money, but he doesn’t know who the account belonged too.  He assumes that he killed whoever it was for the money, and calls himself a monster.  Weller assures him that he’s not that person anymore, and that he watched Jane go through the same struggle.  However, Roman isn’t convinced based on his recovered memories.

 

Jane tells Oliver that she plans to destroy the camera, and asks him to hand her a lamp.  Oliver questions how she knows what to do and how to fight, and she admits that she’s from a family of criminals and once was a criminal herself.  She knocks out the camera and fights the person who comes through the door.  She is soon outnumbered, and she and Oliver are recaptured.  Reade visits Weller, who confronts him about what Tasha Zapata (Audrey Esparza) told him about Reade’s drug use.  Reade tries to make excuses, and Weller orders Reade to take some time off and get help.  However, Reade gets angry and accuses Weller of not caring about him.  He slams his badge on the table and quits the FBI.  Storming out of the office, he tells a worried Zapata to go to hell.

 

The lead kidnapper, Herman (Zach Grenier), tells Oliver that his daughter invested in his father’s company and lost all of her money.  She killed herself afterwards, and Herman wants justice for her death.  He gives Oliver the script and forces him to read the message.  Jane tells him to do it, and he reads the message at gunpoint.  Another kidnapper, Darren (Jonathan Brooks), gets a message from his walkie-talkie and tells Herman that the other people have complied as well.  Patterson shows the team the video that Oliver recorded, and Weller sees Jane’s tattooed arm in the shot as well.  Patterson pulls up a second video of two teenagers reading a similar message.  Zapata figures out that the two groups are being pitted against each other, the first parent who sends the money gets their kids back and the second parent gets to watch their kids die.  Patterson shares details of the Ponzi scheme and that Magnus is off the grid while Edith destroyed her cell phone as soon as she saw the video.

 

Weller informs Roman of Jane’s kidnapping and assures him that the team is doing everything they can to find her.  He tells Roman that Shepherd is a master manipulator and that his murders were likely on her orders.  Roman tells Weller that Jane is the only family he has left.  Herman tells Oliver that the teenagers will be killed if he and Jane try to escape again.  Jane tells Oliver that everything will be fine if she can find a way to contact her team.  Upon questioning, she reveals that she works with the FBI, and Oliver is disturbed to find out the truth.  Jane reminds him that they both kept secrets from each other.  She tells him that they need to trust each other to get out of this, and tells Oliver that they need access to a phone.  Oliver tells her that his father’s office was below his bedroom and Jane leads him through the chimney to access the room.

 

Before Jane can use the phone, Darren comes bursts in.  As they are lead away, Jane and Oliver see another residence on the security monitor.  Patterson finds that Edith has been making contact through a payphone and that she is trying to pay the ransom without getting arrested.  Weller tells Patterson and Kamal that they need to intercept them.  As Darren forces them onto the couch, Oliver whispers to Jane that he knows where they’re keeping the teenagers.  Zapata questions Edith and asks for help to find Magnus.  However, Edith tells them that Magnus is dead.  Patterson confirms Magnus died of cancer six months ago and they strategize how to save all of the hostages.

 

Herman confronts Jane and Oliver for their escape attempt, but Jane tells him that they were trying to contact Magnus about the money.  After some convincing, Herman allows her to call Magnus.  Oliver starts the phone call, but Jane grabs the phone and instructs him to hand over 200 million and to sell the Roman sculptures, the Shepherd painting, and the Phase Two condo.  The Sandstorm keywords alert the NSA and the team listens to the message.  Weller brings Roman upstairs and Kamal questions the decision to bring him.  However, Weller argues that he should know that his sister is alive.  They listen to the rest of the message and Patterson decodes it to reveal the message: “Save Kids At White Shore.”  Roman demands that they save the kids and Jane, but Weller reminds him that Jane can handle herself.

 

Jane informs Oliver that they will try to escape after the kids are confirmed to be rescued.  Weller and the team storm the resort and rescue the kids.  Weller demands the kidnappers to tell him Jane and Oliver’s location.  A walkie-talkie message confirms the teenagers’ rescue and Jane yells to run.  She attacks the kidnappers and Oliver pushes an assailant into the antlers of a mounted deer head.  Jane finds Oliver in shock over the man’s death, but Herman and Darren stop them before they can run.  Herman questions why Magnus hasn’t contacted them yet, and he points a gun at Oliver declaring that he doesn’t care about the money as long as he gets justice.  Jane tells Herman that killing Oliver won’t work, as Magnus doesn’t care about his son.  However, broadcasting his crime to the world will help the authorities track him down.  Jane reasons with him that killing Oliver won’t bring his daughter back and that she wouldn’t want her father to become a murderer.

 

Herman lowers his gun, but Darren shoots him.  He tells Jane and Oliver that he was promised 80 million of the ransom and orders Oliver to get it for him.   Oliver tells him that he doesn’t have it, but Darren demands that he get it.  He puts a knife to Jane’s throat, and Oliver tells him that he can get the money through his charity.  Darren orders him to start the wire transfer, but Oliver tells him that he needs another board member to authorize a large transfer of money.  Darren orders them to be transferred, and Jane carves a pattern on the couch for the team.  Kamal consoles Roman, and he tells her that he understands that he has to be locked up.  He asks for updates on Jane, and Kamal promises him that she will.

 

The team arrives at the house and finds that it has been deserted.  Zapata sees Jane’s pattern and determines that it is the symbol for Oliver’s charity.  Darren drags Oliver into the charity building by gunpoint while Jane waits with the other kidnappers inside the car.  Oliver’s associate, Jill (Amelia Workman) sees him being held at gunpoint and Oliver asks for her authorization to complete the wire transfer.  The team arrives at the scene and Patterson confirms Oliver’s location from the security footage.  Jill tries to type in her password at gunpoint, but makes an error.  She fails again and Oliver pulls the gun away from her head.  Jane spurs into action, fighting off her captors while Oliver wrestles for the gun.  Kamal shoots Darren and Jane kills her captors.

 

At headquarters, Jane tells Oliver that Edith confessed to fraud.  He asks about his father, and Jane informs him of his death.  Patterson shows him records of Magnus making large anonymous donations to Oliver’s charity in the last two years of his life.  Once Patterson leaves, Oliver questions whether his father actually cared about him or was trying to clear his conscience.  Oliver tells Jane that he can’t be in a relationship with someone whose life is as complicated as his own, and they part ways.

 

Dr. Sun questions Weller and Kamal’s decision to release Roman on house arrest.  Weller argues that Roman is their biggest asset against Sandstorm and they feel that they should treat him like an asset instead of a criminal.  Unconvinced, Dr. Sun believes this is a mistake.  Jane asks Zapata about Reade, and Zapata checks in on her.  She tells Zapata about her breakup with Oliver, and Zapata believes that she and Oliver weren’t right for each other.  Weller brings Jane to Roman wearing street clothes and an ankle bracelet.  Dr. Sun tells them that there are conditions to his release, but Jane is ecstatic to bring Roman home.   Jane thanks Weller as she and Roman leave.  Reade gets drunk at a bar and watches a nearby drug deal.

 

Jane and Roman arrive home and she hands him some takeout menus.  Roman has a flashback to his trip to the Bahamas and realizes that the account belonged to Alice Kruger, or Jane.  Patterson sees the copy of the Oregon Trail that Borden gave her and cuts it before tearing up her house for bugs.  Reade approaches the dealers, but one of them recognizes him from a previous bust.  He insists he’s not a cop, but the dealers beat him up and leave him in the alleyway.  As Weller and Kamal discuss Sandstorm, Weller is served with papers.  The rest of the team is served with identical players, and the man tells Weller that the team is being investigated for aiding a terrorist organization.