'Blindspot' Recap: 'Orion Is Where You Died'

Warning: This recap for the “Scientists Hollow Fortune” episode of Blindspot contains spoilers.

A strangely-paced episode of Blindspot this week, with the emotion of the tattoo story drowned out by the potential life-changing confession of Weller’s father. It was solid, but if this had been stretched into a two-parter, it could have been great.

Related: Head to Toe: Every ‘Blindspot’ Tattoo So Far

The Tattoo

Names on the back of Jane’s left leg. The individual letters were chopped into four bits, then rotated. One of the names, Sergeant Charlie Napier, is a decorated veteran who supposedly died a year and a half ago, but is found wandering down a road near a military base.

The Plot

Charlie acts a little like Jane – dazed, but when threatened, reveals exceptional military skills, killing three soldiers and a bystander. The team catches him when he returns to his childhood home. His body is filled with a drug cocktail that makes him into a kind of super-soldier; it also includes Zip, the memory erasing drug used on Jane. The Army takes custody of them over the team’s objections, but they’re ambushed by Northlake, a Blackwater-type military contractor. They’ve been faking the deaths of soldiers, then experimenting on them to create a super-soldier. The mad scientist is captured, but Charlie is still drug-addled and Weller shoots him before he shoots Jane.

Jane’s Other Mission

Is Tree Guy (fine, Oscar) more or less trustworthy this episode? He gives Jane a pen to switch out on Mayfair’s desk. The pen is completely harmless — she realizes it was just a test of her loyalty. In return, Oscar tells her the bearded man who was shot in her house was with them, but he won’t say who killed him. And, regarding the project that Jane has heard scattered mentions of: “Orion is where you died.”

Also, his line, “We have another way,” probably shouldn’t go unnoticed. They know the director’s favorite pen, but they don’t have cameras. Do they have an inside man? Is Mayfair their inside man?

Weller’s Emotional Roller Coaster

Wow, Kurt really jumped on the grenade there, relationship-wise. Instead of asking Jane why she didn’t show for their late-night talk, he says that he didn’t show so that Jane can pretend like she did and not feel awkward. Then later, he finally gets his dad to admit what he was doing the night of Jane’s disappearance. The suspicious muddy shoes weren’t because he kidnapped the girl — they were because he tried to commit suicide by drowning that night. After all those years of blaming his dad, it turns out he should have been helping him.

And things are about to get a whole lot more complicated once he finds out that his sister is dating his teammate, Reade. Those awkward locker room moments are about to get seriously weird.

Slow Down!

This week’s threat was smaller than the usual nation-destroying plot. They weren’t trying to spread plagues or dirty bomb New York — they just wanted to build a Captain America with steroids and meth. At the same time though, it felt like they should have devoted more time to it. Jane felt a kinship with Charlie and for good reason: They’ve both been subjected to horrible medical procedures, turned into weapons, and drugged to forget. That mirroring felt like it had deeper thematic implications, and it would have been nice to see the two of them connect more before killing him off like they did. Plus, we barely had time to acknowledge that the doctor is a Nazi Germany-level war criminal who, in some shows, could have carried an entire season.

Blindthoughts

— Is there no other place for Kurt and Jane to talk besides the locker room? Surely there’s a broom closet, a fire escape, something more private than an echoey room where the rest of the team routinely gathers?

— Kurt bonds with his sister over PB&J sandwiches. He bonds with his dad over green smoothies. What food will he and Jane bond over? Falafel pitas? Froyo?

— Line of the Night: “The ear’s a treasure trove. You don’t even want to know what I can do with an ear.” Depending on the context, Patterson’s line can either be sexy, terrifying, or deeply nerdy. Here, it’s maybe a little bit of all three?

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