'Blindspot' Recap: Zapata Kidnapped Into Sex Slavery

Warning: This recap for the “Rules in Defiance” episode of Blindspot contains spoilers.

The main tattoo story felt rushed this week to make room for Kurt and Allison’s hook-up, Reade’s investigation, Zapata’s second double agent gig, and more Jane and Oscar fights. Which isn’t good or bad, but your enjoyment of the episode will vary depending on how much you care about any of those stories.

The Tattoo

Two separate tattoos of a bull and a lion have a Shakespeare quote in Spanish: “Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall.” The “sin” in the quote refers to the trigonometric function sine, and two more numbers in the tattoos — 0.9658 and 0.8367 — are the sine of angles. Using the lions at the New York Public Library and the Charging Bull on Wall Street as two points of the triangle, the team finds a mural for a missing girl at the third point.

The Plot

Paloma Diaz disappeared seven years ago after being deported, and her boyfriend is being executed for her murder tomorrow. The team discovers an operation where deported immigrants are being trafficked as sex slaves. Zapata goes undercover, but the team loses her. Jane figures out that they’re not being taken away, but are instead being kept at a nearby brothel for local businessmen and senators. When the traffickers realize Zapata’s undercover, they set the building on fire with all the women inside. She gets the women out, but is trapped herself; Weller and Reade kick down the door and pull her out just as the building explodes. Reade continues to investigate Jane’s alibi the night of Carter’s (still unproven) murder and finds traffic camera footage of someone else driving Carter’s car. He is knocked out before he can tell anyone.

Everybody’s Got Secrets

Zapata’s gambling past continue to hound her; while she was selling FBI secrets to the CIA to pay her debts, a federal prosecutor bugged her house and now they’re blackmailing her for more of the same. Last time, she almost resigned before Carter’s murder covered her tracks. Maybe Oscar can kill this guy, too? And then the NSA guy who was following him, then the DHS gal who was tailing him, then the MI5 guy who was investigating her…

Jane, meanwhile, seems perpetually on the verge of telling everybody about her secret handler. She threatens to cut off contact, but Oscar reveals that he’s the carrot of the operation; the stick is, if she tattles, they’ll kill Kurt. Besides, how can she tell the team when AD Mayfair keeps staring pensively out of her office like she’s got a secret? There are still many layers of betrayal to get through before we’re all done here.

Kurt Uses His Safe Word

An old flame appears to be rekindling: Kurt and Allison had a one night stand that turned into two. Bad news for those hoping to see him and Jane get together as the second night looked to be a full-on date. That’s probably good for Kurt, since much of his emotional involvement with Jane seems to be tied up in the little girl who disappeared years ago. But that means that poor Jane is stuck with a guy who acts like a spy, but looks like a jobless 25-year-old stoner sleeping in his mother’s basement. Would you trust a guy who looks like he’d leave a covert op on a skateboard?

Blind Thoughts

— The episode titles are all anagrams. In the first half of the season, they spelled out a message that seemed like it was relevant to the story. The writers must have realized how much of a pain in the butt it would be to continue that because since then, the titles unscramble to generic spy tips like, “Find a Secure Line to Contact Your Handler.” By Season 2, we may get helpful anagrams like, “Don’t Tell Anyone You’re A Double Agent” or “Remember to Load Your Gun.”

— When Kurt texted Allison for the booty call, do you think he went with “u up?” or is he the kind of guy who spells it all out, “You up?” These are important things to know about your commanding officer.

— Could’ve saved a lot of time if they had just put a second tracker in Zapata’s shoe instead of just the highly conspicuous locket. Why does nobody put a tracker in the shoe?

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