“Bone May Rot” feels like a turning point in the arduous process of figuring out how I feel about Blindspot. It’s a good moment that really establishes the foundation of this show.
After last week’s huge (potential) reveal surrounding Jane’s true identity, Blindspot viewers have been patiently waiting to see how Jane and the rest of the cast will react to this news. It’s briefly unpleasant and takes getting used to, but once you jump in and wade around for a while, you’re glad you did. At the rate the show is going, it could be another decade before Jane knows all of the secrets of her tattoos. If the audience is willing to accept the idea of an FBI team investigating a 1950s sideshow attraction, it deserves a show that plays fair within those parameters. Everyone has a turning point somewhere in this episode, and it all plays out against this backdrop of a truly scary idea of fatal viruses on the loose.
Jane is no longer Jane, having been identified as Taylor Shaw a childhood friend of lead agent Kurt Weller who went missing when they were in grade school. This show is like watching a massive action movie, with an intimate character drama hidden inside. That would make sense, but it would apparently be too predictable. In tonight’s episode, Patterson (Ashley Johnson) and her puzzle-expert boyfriend, David, (guest star Joe Dinicol) decode a tattoo clue that sends the team to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Jane doesn’t see his face, but the fact that she’s able to call up something that far back in her memory is interesting. Patterson runs an isotope test on Jane’s tooth that reveals she was born in sub-Saharan Africa, which doesn’t work if she’s actually Taylor Shaw, who was born in Pennsylvania. After the now seemingly required scene in which Reade discusses with Weller that he’s concerned about Jane, the team rolls up on the CDC offices. Knowing Patterson didn’t solve the leaf tattoo on her own, Mayfair loosely infers she stay out of the way lest it be revealed she’s had a code tutor.
As per TV by the Numbers, “Blindspot” had 10.61 million people tuning in and earned an impressive 3.1 rating when it aired its pilot episode. But the ultraviolet tattoos are especially stupid, even for those who have already bought into the already kind of stupid premise. “[The ordeal] will probably show why he became an agent”. Frankly, it sounds ridiculous, but not implausible considering Blindspot’s consistently ideal timing for discovering terror plots just before they destroy civilization.
One thing’s for sure, Taylor fights and uses weapons like the Navy SEAL that Mayfair believes her to be. As sweet baby Patterson pushes Mayfair to examine the redacted case file she discovered in connection to one of Jane’s tattoos, Mayfair gets edgier and sharper. With an audience of mostly New Yorkers, the panel fielded questions about filming in the boroughs. That lent “Bone May Rot” a few unintentional comedy, but if that’s not what this show is going for, it’s in a bit of trouble.
