Recap: Blindspot Season 1, Episode 19: School Ties

BLINDSPOT -- "In The Comet Of Us" Episode 119 -- Pictured: Rob Brown as Edgar Reade -- (Photo by: Paul Sarkis/NBC)

Last week, Blindspot stayed away from the usual formula and the plot did not revolve around Jane Doe’s (Jaimie Alexander) tattoos. This week, we’re back to business — and it’s a much-appreciated return.

However, “In the Comet of Us” took a different approach than every other Blindspot episode. This week, we got to see how each member of our favorite FBI team handled the same situation, as well as the events that led to each one’s path.

BLINDSPOT recaps: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8 | Episode 9 | Episode 10 | Episode 11 | Episode 12 | Episode 13 | Episode 14 | Episode 15 | Episode 16 | Episode 17 | Episode 18

BLINDSPOT -- "In The Comet Of Us" Episode 119 -- Pictured: (l-r) Rob Brown as Edgar Reade, Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe, Audrey Esparza as Tasha Zapata, Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller -- (Photo by: Barbara Nitke/NBC)
BLINDSPOT — “In The Comet Of Us” Episode 119 — Pictured: (l-r) Rob Brown as Edgar Reade, Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe, Audrey Esparza as Tasha Zapata, Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller — (Photo by: Barbara Nitke/NBC)

The episode kicked off where last week ended, inside Mayfair’s (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) car. Sofia (Sarita Choudhury), her ex, was asking for help — or more specifically, for money.

Of course, the reunion was brief. The action flipped to the FBI building, where Zapata (Audrey Esparza) was briefing the team on a newspaper article that featured the last four championship scores from Hudson University’s football team. Of course, she wasn’t just talking sports; these numbers were part of a tattoo on Jane’s body.

The crew went on to discuss how the team was under investigation for scholarship fraud. Lead investigator Ed Mackey said there was no wrongdoing, but then went on to become a bigwig at an athletic apparel company. The former CEO of that company is Karen Morris, the current president of Hudson University.

It doesn’t really seem like the type of case the FBI would bother with, but when Reade (Rob Brown) took the team to see Coach Jones at Hudson, the conversation was cut off pretty quickly by President Morris. Sort of suspicious, no?

Even that little blurb was brief. Two seconds later, the team tried to check in with Patterson (Ashley Johnson), but their radio connection got cut off. Shots began to ring out. There was a shooter on campus!

BLINDSPOT -- "In The Comet Of Us" Episode 119 -- Pictured: (l-r) Audrey Esparza as Tasha Zapata, Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe -- (Photo by: Paul Sarkis/NBC)
BLINDSPOT — “In The Comet Of Us” Episode 119 — Pictured: (l-r) Audrey Esparza as Tasha Zapata, Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe — (Photo by: Paul Sarkis/NBC)

When the show came back from the commercial break, it was four hours earlier. We saw Zapata in a support group for addicts. She didn’t seem like the sharing type, though.

Back at the university, it was complete chaos. The FBI team decided to split up. Zapata went into the cafeteria. Jones came running into the room, with the shooter right behind him. The shooter put a bullet into the coach’s leg and fired off a few rounds at Zapata, before leaving the room. The coach definitely seemed like a target. The two escaped into an auditorium, but the shooter followed. A gunfight broke out and Zapata ran out of ammo.

Just then, the show flipped back to five hours earlier, when Oscar (Francois Arnaud) and Jane were finishing up some … well … business. He gave her a cup of tea and told her that he probably shouldn’t be her handler anymore. Despite Jane’s disappointment, he said it would be best for the mission. She tried to talk the whole thing over, but got called into work.

The action then flipped back to the present, just as Jane paired off with Weller inside the school. The two decided to split up, in an attempt to cover more ground. Jane went into the gym, where she saw Coach Jones run through with the shooter behind him. She checked out a few of the bodies on the ground, just as campus security came in and tried to disarm her. Disarm Jane? Good luck with that!

BLINDSPOT -- "In The Comet Of Us" Episode 119 -- Pictured: Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe -- (Photo by: Barbara Nitke/NBC)
BLINDSPOT — “In The Comet Of Us” Episode 119 — Pictured: Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe — (Photo by: Barbara Nitke/NBC)

After gaining his trust (or at least his gun), Jane told the security guard to follow her into the cafeteria. Zapata and the coach had obviously been there you could tell by the blood spot). Shortly after, Morris came in with a pretty nasty hole in her abdomen. Jane retrieved a spatula (which just happened to be sitting on an open flame) and a towel. She gave Morris the towel to bite down on, while she burned the injured president on her wound. She then told the security guy to get out of there and took off.

Jane entered the auditorium, just as the shooter was closing in on Zapata and the coach. She fired a shot into his shoulder and when the guy turned around, Zapata nailed him with a big book!

Just when you started to think that the whole nightmare would be over, there was an explosion. “You can’t hide from this,” the shooter said. “You have no idea what’s coming.”

Of course, we had to wait to find out exactly what was coming, since Weller still had to have his spotlight. It seems that three hours before the shooting, he was visiting his father. His dad said that the whole town thought he had killed Taylor, so he didn’t blame Weller for thinking the same. He then went on to say that he had forgiven his son.

BLINDSPOT -- "In The Comet Of Us" Episode 119 -- Pictured: Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller -- (Photo by: Paul Sarkis/NBC)
BLINDSPOT — “In The Comet Of Us” Episode 119 — Pictured: Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller — (Photo by: Paul Sarkis/NBC)

So where did Weller end up during all of the shooting? After separating from Jane, he found an injured teacher inside a lab. Here we realize that there was actually more than one shooter. The teacher identified the second suspect as Levi Hart, the football player from the newspaper. Weller took off to find him, but instead came across a ton of explosives.

Of course, he couldn’t go through the booby-trapped door. Instead, Weller broke a window and made like Spider-Man around the side of the building. He then broke another window, in order to get closer to the bomb. Shortly after, he encountered Levi firing away. During the gunfight, the bomb exploded.

Back at the FBI, Mayfair was looking over her savings account when Patterson came in to tell her about the shooters. She touched base with Weller, who was with Jane and Zapata. However, Reade was nowhere to be found.

That was a nice little segue into Reade’s day, which started with a tailor. The guy was dressing Reade. Is Reade rich? Maybe he’s actually Batman and this guy was Alfred? He did give Reade a bow-tie — which looked completely awesome, by the way.

He had the same tie on while searching for the school shooter. Instead, Reade found a student named Valerie who was crying over her dead boyfriend, Nick. He talked Valerie into leaving Nick to find safety, along with another group of students. Reade went to lead the students through a doorway, only to find out it was the same one with the bomb attached. All of the kids (except Valerie) fled the scene and left poor Reade holding onto that door handle. Thank goodness Valerie stayed, because Reade used one of her earrings to “put a pin” into the bomb.

BLINDSPOT -- "In The Comet Of Us" Episode 119 -- Pictured: Rob Brown as Edgar Reade -- (Photo by: Paul Sarkis/NBC)
BLINDSPOT — “In The Comet Of Us” Episode 119 — Pictured: Rob Brown as Edgar Reade — (Photo by: Paul Sarkis/NBC)

Reade survived the blast, but was met by Levi in the aftermath. Levi wanted to see Coach Jones. As the two walked through the school, the FBI team started to pick up their conversation. Reade was wired, so they could hear him trying to help the shooter. Reade said something about going to the field house, so the team followed.

During the walk, Reade found out that the coach wasn’t exactly the nice man he remembered. Apparently, he had molested quite a few kids — and just when Levi was going to rat him out, he was conveniently busted for drugs. Reade offered to help Levi, but he wasn’t very receptive, so Weller shot him in the head.

It turned out that the championship numbers on Jane were specifically the championships associated with Coach Jones. The school also had a scholarship fund that was actually hush money for the victims. The athletic director, the university president and plenty of others were all involved.

At the end of the day, Jane confronted Oscar. She said she needed him and didn’t want him to leave his position. She then told Oscar that she almost died that day, but seeing him made her feel safe. Back at the FBI, Weller ran into Reade and the two made peace over a little scotch in the locker room.

BLINDSPOT -- "In The Comet Of Us" Episode 119 -- Pictured: (l-r) Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller, Brian O'Neill, Rob Brown as Edgar Reade -- (Photo by: Paul Sarkis/NBC)
BLINDSPOT — “In The Comet Of Us” Episode 119 — Pictured: (l-r) Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller, Brian O’Neill, Rob Brown as Edgar Reade — (Photo by: Paul Sarkis/NBC)

Next, we saw Zapata back in her support group, ready to share. She explained how she lost her partner one night while answering a call about a domestic dispute. She said she turned to gambling and felt in control, but she doesn’t feel that way anymore.

Mayfair turned over the entire contents of her savings account to Sofia. Her ex wanted the two to run away together, but Mayfair said she couldn’t forgive her. She did offer to help, but Sofia took off.

The episode ended with Oscar and another guy with a body bag that had a very stiff looking Carter inside!

Wow! This was a powerful episode. In fact, I’m going to say this may be my favorite episode so far this season — definitely in this second half. This was the first episode that seemed to be filled with action from beginning to end. (More of that, please.) I liked how they sprinkled everyone’s business throughout the episode, which was a nice way to take a breather now and then. Of course, there wasn’t as much Patterson as I typically like, but maybe she needed a break after episode 17.

What did you think, Blindspotters? And have you been following the episode titles and the anagrams? This second half of the season seems to be some kind of message. I’m guessing it’s one Jane left for herself. Without peeking at the weeks ahead, so far we have: “In Case of Emergency / Follow These Instructions / Stay Where You Are / Find a Secure Line / To Contact Your Handler / Find What You Need / In Almost the Last Place You Look / To Begin the Sequence / Focus on the Time.” Think you can solve the riddle? Sound off in the comments below!

Blindspot airs Monday nights at 10/9CT on NBC.

3 Comments

  1. There’s a couple of threads on IMDB with all the anagrams solved as well. 🙂

  2. LOVED this ep! Sure, the show has its flaws (conveniently placed spatulas notwithstanding) but it’s well written, the acting is excellent, the back stories are layered and complex, the actors have chemistry — and just when I think I know where it’s going or who we can trust, they yank that out from under us yet again. Awesome!

  3. Very nice recap. If you go to REDDIT Blindspot they have solved all the anagrams and you can see both messages from the first half the season and the back half.

Comments are closed.