'Blindspot' Recap: A Child's Garden of Terrorism
Warning: This recap for the “Swift Hardhearted Stone” episode of Blindspot contains spoilers.
A young girl with astonishing artistic skills is at the center of this episode. Two couples — Jane and Oscar and Patterson and Borden — grow closer as another is cut short by death.
The Tattoo
The crest of the Ahmadi family. It’s found in the sketchbook of a mute autistic girl, who is discovered wandering the streets covered in lacerations.
The Plot
The girl, Mya (Oona Laurence), turns out to be the granddaughter of Tarek Ahmadi, the head of a terrorist organization. Her photographic memory means she could help expose her family, but she’s unable to speak. The team gain her trust and offer to take her to Borden’s cabin until her grandmother can be brought into the country to care for her. Patterson and Borden are trapped in the cabin as armed men try to break in and take Mya; they hold them off with improvised weapons until Weller and Jane arrive. It turns out the men weren’t Ahmadi’s; they were sent by the Assistant Secretary of State (William Ragsdale) trying to cover up government money funneled to the Ahmadis before they became terrorists.
Unlucky in Love
Alexandra — who seemed too good to be true and, therefore, probably a spy — turns out to have been just an unlucky bystander the whole time. She goes on a date with Mayfair, and when the director leaves her alone for a moment, someone slips in and kills her. “Stop looking into Tom Carter’s disappearance,” the voice on the phone says. How many covert organizations are there trying to take down this particular branch of the FBI? Old Jane’s crew can’t be powerful enough to assassinate loved ones regularly, but still need Jane to plug a USB drive into a computer. And is Zapata’s handler working for them, too?
Hollywood Autism
Good to see the trope of the Magical Autistic Child is still alive and well. The MAC is barely communicative — often spending their time doing something cute, but amazing, like solving Rubik’s Cubes or making photorealistic pencil drawings — but provides necessary story information at dramatically appropriate times. Like the Magical Negro and the Manic Pixie Dream Girl before them, they exist solely to advance plots and the development of other characters.
Rance and Raves
Is the rockstar journalist Jeremy Rance going to be part of a future story? If Mya and her mother had just snuck into the country, Rance could have easily been deleted from this episode, so maybe he’s there to connect to a future tattoo? Or was it just an excuse for Weller to go undercover as a rockstar journalist? Everyone on the team must’ve been jealous that Jane got to wear that amazing flapper dress a few episodes ago — they all should be allowed to play dress-up once in a while.
Blind Thoughts
Patterson absolutely deserves a love interest: She demonstrates zero chill (“I’ll go! I can… I… I like cottages”) and it’s adorable. But she realizes that dating your therapist who’s also your coworker is beyond the worst idea, right?
In case you’ve lost track (it’s easy to do): Zapata used to be Team Mayfair, but now thinks she’s crooked; Reade used to think she was crooked, now he’s Team Mayfair; Weller used to be TM, then was Team Crooked, and is now Team Mayfair again; Jane is Team Jazz with Oscar?
Why did it take so long to figure out that a Middle Eastern girl who only likes familiar things might not be eating because they keep giving her non-Middle Eastern foods? That being said, Oreos and hot chocolate are universal.
Could they have found a whiter actor to play a little Syrian girl? The answer is yes, but it would be very, very difficult.
That looked like the first person Dr. Borden’s ever killed. Where does the trauma counselor go for trauma counseling?
Line of the Night: “Sorry I blew up your house.” Hard to make a line like that flirty, but Patterson makes it look easy.
Blindspot airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on NBC.
