Review of Blindspot, starring Jaimie Alexander and Sullivan Stapleton
If you’ve seen the trailer for Blindspot, you know what the show is about. There are no twists, there are no secrets (at least, not in the pilot). A mysterious duffel bag in Times Square catches the attention of the NYPD, who sends in the bomb squad. The bag does not contain a bomb, but a woman, alive and naked, save for tattoos that cover her entire body.
The woman, dubbed Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander), has no memory of who she is, how she got there, or what the tattoos mean. FBI agent Kurt Weller (Sullivan Stapleton) heads up the case, because his name is tattooed on Jane’s back. There is no record of Jane in any database; there are no pops in facial recognition software; she is a ghost. When examining photos of her tattoos, she sees one written in Chinese and translates it instantly. It is an address and today’s date. Nothing else. Investigating the address leads them on a race around the city, trying to stop a terrorist attack by a Chinese national. Clearly, they stop the crime, which they assume was the point, but now the bigger question: why the game?
Blindspot seems to be part Memento, part National Treasure, with just a touch of The Blacklist tossed in. Part procedural, part mystery. The pilot episode doesn’t really tells us which direction the series is going to go. There are enough questions to make me want to tune in for a second episode, but I don’t know that the show will ever fully capture me.
Part of that is the two leads. Jaimie Alexander is appropriately wide-eyed and scared without ever making her character obnoxious. Sullivan Stapleton is not as engaging. His monotone FBI character is dull and flat. I can’t even come up with another way to describe him; there is just nothing remarkable about him. Stapleton and Alexander have zero chemistry together, romantic or otherwise.
Blindspot could become a fascinating treasure hunt as the team tries to figure out the meaning behind Jane’s tattoos; or it could be a frustrating puzzle that is never solved. Unfortunately, we are just going to have to wait and see which direction it goes.
Blindspot premieres September 21 on NBC
