Greg Berlanti has done it again! The executive producer behind Arrow and The Flash is now producing a new TV show that is sure to stimulate, in one way or another. In case you haven’t heard of Blindspot yet, The Noobist has the rundown on all the essentials for this new show that is likely to become a fall TV season highlight. Spoiler alert.
The Premise
Imagine waking up stark naked in the middle of Times Square with no memory of who you are? Well, that’s exactly what happened to Jane Doe (Jamie Alexander) in the pilot of Blindspot. As if being an amnesiac wasn’t enough to deal with, Jane was suddenly thrust into the melee of an FBI investigation, seemingly because of the whole I-was-found-in-a-duffle-bag-in-the-middle-of-Times-Square thing. Then again, could you blame the government? They didn’t know what was in the bag, even after they realized it was a person. She could have been a human explosive for all they knew. But wait, I haven’t gotten to the best part.
Perhaps one of the coolest aspects of the show is that Jane Doe is completely covered in fresh tats, which obviously will guide us through the entire series, starting with the pilot. Aside from the rather large tattoo on her back that read Special Agent Kurt Weller’s (Sullivan Stapleton) name, the FBI Critical Incident Response Group decidedly zeroed in on a tattoo on her neck that ended up inadvertently giving us our first clue about Jane Doe: she speaks and reads Chinese. Boom! And just like that we’re off on what will presumably be a wild ride of revelations about our main character.
Who Is Jane Doe?
Luckily for viewers, the writers on Blindspot didn’t waste any time in the pilot delving into who our protagonist is. With the first clue revealed—the address in Chinese that I just mentioned—the FBI Critical Incident Response Group, which included Special Agent Kurt Weller, FBI Agent Edgar Reade (Rob Brown) and FBI Agent Tasha Zapata (Audrey Esparza) with Jane Doe in tow, was off on the first mission in the hopes to learn something that would expedite the investigation into Jane Doe’s identity. And learn we all did. Aside from stopping a Chinese terrorist (named Chao) from blowing up the Statue of Liberty, we learned Jane Doe is a badass with a soft side. Turns out, Jane Doe is a do-gooder, busting into a couple’s apartment to rescue a battered woman and then proceeding to teach the husband a thing or two when he tried to intimidate her. Point for Jane Doe. We approve.
The only thing that remotely came close to watching her rescue a battered wife was witnessing her hand-to-hand combat skills and later on her mastery of firearms. For a woman who had just woken up naked nearly 24 hours earlier in the middle of Times Square, scared and confused, Jane Doe had sure turned into a masterful superhero-like character by the end of the pilot.
What We Can Look Forward To In Season One
Who says you have to be weak and/or fragile just because you have no idea who you are? Jane Doe may not have a clue as to who she really is—ok, she has a bit of a clue by the end of the pilot—but, we are definitely in for a wild ride, if the pilot is any indication of what the rest of the first season of Blindspot will be like. She’s the antithesis of the damsel in distress, which makes this show all the more appealing. That is, if you like strong women that can totally handle themselves, yet presents fragility that is both sympathetic and relatable.
Is Jane Doe really Assistant Director Bethany Mayfair as was sort of suggested by the end of the pilot? Who is the mysterious man that killed Chao (the Chinese terrorist) in the hospital and also gave Jane Doe the amnesia causing drug in the first place? And those are just the questions we have so far. This should be a good one. Stay tuned, I know I will.
Blindspot airs Mondays on NBC at 10:00pm EST.