'Blindspot' Recap: Jane Is Shot by One of Her Own

Warning: This recap for the “Older Cutthroat Canyon” episode of Blindspot contains character and story spoilers.

Jane achieves a whole new level of distrust this week as she has to leave her team to work with the team her old self created — all to stop someone from her old team who’s now turned against them. And, of course, her new team can’t know.

The Tattoo
A burning rose, which turns out to be an art piece by ZOMO, a Banksy-like artist who hides his/her identity. That mystery turns out to be a red herring, though; Cade (Tom Lipinski), an operative from Oscar and Old Jane’s operation has gone rogue and he uses the artist to draw out and attempt to kill Jane.

The Plot
The theft of the painting was a set-up; once Jane arrives, a bomb goes off, sending Weller to the hospital. They track down ZOMO, only to find him dead and once again, a trap for Jane. She goes AWOL, realizing her presence puts the team in danger. She reaches out to Oscar, who helps her track Cade. Both her and the team separately track Cade to a cargo ship; while the team is trapped, Oscar shoots Cade in the stomach and tackles him into the water.

Cade
Ah, it’s nice to have a simple, straightforward villain again. After too many episodes that focused on ambiguous threats like who’s the mole and Jane agonizing over whether she can trust Oscar, we finally have a new Face We All Want to Punch. He’s got a simple motivation — destroy Oscar for killing someone he loved — and he’s a genuine threat. He’s already put Weller in the hospital, shot Jane, survived a gut shot, and pulled himself out of the harbor. His face isn’t as punchable as Carter’s (the almost impossibly smug Michael Gaston), but he makes up for it with crazy eyes.

Reade and Weller(’s Sister)
So, Reade gets kidnapped after discovering the traffic cam footage. He’s given the standard black ops “we’ll kill the ones you love” threat, then breaks up with Sarah to protect her. This appears to be everybody’s understanding of love on the show: Jane distances herself from Kurt to protect him from Oscar’s people; Patterson blames herself for David’s death (and not his near-cartoonish curiosity). Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with creating a team of celibate, special-ops monks who fear love and outside contact with humans — but it’s going to make for a duller (and weirder) show.

Blind Thoughts
*The deeper Jane gets with Oscar, the more things take on a Three’s Company-like vibe. Oscar shooting, then tackling Cade into the water felt a lot like Jack Tripper shoving a girlfriend into the kitchen because Mr. Furley is poking his nose around the apartment.

*RIP Danny, who seemed like a good guy probably? Why didn’t they make either of the two friendly black dudes we met tonight the contact person for Jane instead of the creepy, obviously suspicious Oscar?

*You know how Hulk Hogan used to “hulk up,” ignoring the blows of his enemies and pretending like the last ten minutes of beatings he took didn’t exist? You know how silly that looks unless you’re a 10-year old kid? Yeah, that’s how we felt about Weller hopping out of his hospital bed with a torn jugular and chasing after Cade.

*They missed a real opportunity with that muscle car, ditching it like that. She could have had her own Janemobile.

Blindspot airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on NBC.