Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Blindspot: Season 2

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season 1, but no major season 2 spoilers+++

The second season of Blindspot picks up three months after the events of the season 1 finale in which Weller discovered that his father did indeed kill the real Taylor Shaw and that Jane had been faking Taylor's memory (unbeknownst to her), and the death of Mayfair. Jane has been in CIA custody since being arrested and ends up breaking out and she convinces Weller and the team to use her as a triple agent against the terrorist organization, Sandstorm, to which she is somehow tied. From there, the show mostly follows the format of season one, with some case or mission of the week, that is usually tied into the larger story arc of Jane's identity and Sandstorm's plans (which are revealed throughout the season). In addition to the returning main cast, this season sees the inclusion of Archie Panjabi (from The Good Wife), the great character actress Michelle Hurd, and Luke Mitchell. Ennis Esmer also returns for a few episodes as Rich Dotcom to "help" and/or make life miserable for the team and steals every scene he is in. The season ends on a partial cliffhanger that includes a two-year time jump. 

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the A/V quality is very good, and the extras include deleted scenes, a gag reel, a portion of the 2016 Comic-Con panel, and a handful of making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes. All totaled, the bonus features end up at a little under an hour, give or take. They are not extensive, but what is included is good if you like watching the bonus content.

The season is very good. While most of the character development is centered on the new characters, there is some for the established characters. Patterson (Ashley Johnson) is a bit more involved in the action this season and is not always stuck in the lab, and the characters of Rede and Zapata are fleshed out a bit more. Jamie Alexander and Sullivan Stapleton are great as the leads, and the show does a good job of throwing wrenches in the way of their relationship. This is definitely not a show that you can just jump into in season two without seeing season one because even though it is partly a procedural show, the episodes are not totally self-contained and often contribute to the larger serial arcs. But, if you liked season one, then this is definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Blindspot Season 1

 

Blindspot was a combination serial and procedural drama from 2015 starring Jamie Alexander (best known for her role as Lady Sif in the MCU) and Sullivan Stapleton (best known for the series Strike Back). The show opens with a mysterious bag in the middle of Times Square that suddenly stops moving. A naked, heavily tattooed woman (Alexander) emerges from the bag with no memory of who she is but has the name of FBI agent Kurt Weller (Stapleton) tattooed on her back. She is dubbed "Jane Doe" and brought to the NY FBI field office where it is discovered that the tattoos contain a clue leading them to a terrorist, and subsequently discover that other tattoos contain clues to active plots, old cases, etc. The series then launches into a blend of a case-of-the-week procedural in which the team tries to solve a new tattoo and several serial arcs. One of the serial arcs involves Jane's memories slowly coming back through flashbacks and the other involves a childhood friend of Weller's who went missing as a kid.

The show has a very strong supporting cast including Rob Brown as Edgar Reade, an FBI special agent and member of Weller's team, Audrey Esparza as Natasha "Tasha" Zapata, an FBI special agent and member of Weller's team, who used to be an NYPD officer, Ashley Johnson as Patterson, an FBI special agent and head of the FBI Forensic Science Unit, Ukweli Roach as Robert Borden, an FBI psychiatrist who helps Jane to retrieve and understand her memories, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Bethany Mayfair, assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York Field Office.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the A/V quality is very good, and what special effects there are, look great in HD. The extras include featurettes on the tattoo clues, several deleted scenes, a portion of the Comic-Con panel, a gag reel, a commentary track on the pilot episode with the series creator Martin Gero and the director Mark Pellingham, and then there are several making-of featurettes that range in length from a few minutes to just under ten. So, if you like watching the bonus material, there is a good amount there for you.

Overall, the season is very good. It has a good blend of action, suspense, and drama, with some humor mixed in. The humor is mostly dry humor from the overly stuffy (with the exception of Patterson) FBI agents, and the non-dry humor comes in large part from the character of Rich Dotcom, played by Ennis Esmer, who is in just one episode in season one but would become more involved in subsequent seasons. It is definitely a show that you have to watch from the beginning to know what is going on because, even though some of the main storylines of particular episodes are self-contained one-off storylines, there is always a secondary storyline about one of the larger serial arcs that will make little sense if you just jump into it. But, if you are a fan of crime dramas that have a lot of action, then this is definitely a good one to check out.