Recap: Blindspot Season 1, Episode 18 — Mustard on the beat, ho!

BLINDSPOT -- "One Begets Technique" Episode 118 -- Pictured: (l-r) Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller, Trieste Kelly Dunn as Allison Knight, Ennis Esmer as Rich Dotcom, Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe -- (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)

This week’s episode of Blindspot brought back a special guest star I thought we’d never see again. No, it wasn’t Lou Diamond Phillips (boo!). Instead, we got Ennis Esmer! Yes, he’s not exactly a household name, but his character name is one that’s etched in my memory. Remember Rich DotCom, Blindspotters?

Well, he was back — and just as annoying as ever. However, this week our FBI friends needed to partner up with the villain from episode 9 in order to catch a bad guy. Could he possibly be more irritating than the last time he was on the show? Let’s get to the recap!

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

BLINDSPOT -- "One Begets Technique" Episode 118 -- Pictured: (l-r) Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller, Trieste Kelly Dunn as Allison Knight, Ennis Esmer as Rich Dotcom, Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe -- (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)
BLINDSPOT — “One Begets Technique” Episode 118 — Pictured: (l-r) Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller, Trieste Kelly Dunn as Allison Knight, Ennis Esmer as Rich Dotcom, Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)

“One Begets Technique” (which translates to “To Begin the Sequence”) kicked off with four prisoners playing cards. One was Rich DotCom (Esmer). Within seconds, Rich got caught cheating and got the pummeling you wish he had received in episode 9.

Alas, the scene flipped quickly to Weller (Sullivan Stapleton) visiting Bill (Jay O. Sanders) in the hospital. Things aren’t looking too good for dear old papa Weller.

What is looking good is Mayfair (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) — and her possible involvement in the Carter murder. She actually seems interested in finding out the identity of the mystery person in the security footage photo, which makes me think she’s not as guilty as she seems.

Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander) started her day by flipping through the photos Oscar (Francois Arnaud) gave her in the last episode. She was interrupted by Weller, who seemed pretty bummed about the whole hospital visit. Jane offered a sympathetic ear and a hug, which was cut off by Allie (Trieste Kelly Dunn). She leads both of them into a conference room and started a briefing about Rich DotCom and why he would possibly need a second episode.

BLINDSPOT -- "One Begets Technique" Episode 118 -- Pictured: (l-r) Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller, Jay O. Sanders as Bill Weller -- (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)
BLINDSPOT — “One Begets Technique” Episode 118 — Pictured: (l-r) Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller, Jay O. Sanders as Bill Weller — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)

It seems the ass-kicking Rich got at the beginning of the episode put him in the mood to start snitching. Rich said he had info on Shohid Ahktar, No. 8 on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. Zapata (Audrey Esparza) revealed that Ahktar was the bank for pretty much every terrorist organization in the world. The catch? Rich DotCom would only give the information to Weller and Jane.

At the prison, Rich looked pretty beat-down, but of course, he was still pretty chatty. Weller and Jane were all business. Rich started rambling about his link to Ahktar. He said that the mystery villain has a penchant for “unattainable art.” In other words, he prefers his art stolen. Rich offered up the Gardener paintings as bait — as well as a meeting. He said he had already made a plan to meet Ahktar in the next 72 hours, with the goods.

See, Rich DotCom convinced Ahktar that he would break out of prison in order to meet up. He told Weller and Jane that if they would let him out to do the deal, he would definitely come back to prison. Of course, he was hoping to swap his current digs for a minimum security setting. Weller agreed.

“You know what you just did? You just got the band back together,” Rich said.

BLINDSPOT -- "One Begets Technique" Episode 118 -- Pictured: (l-r) Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe, Trieste Kelly Dunn as Allison Knight, Ennis Esmer as Rich Dotcom, Audrey Esparza as Tasha Zapata, Rob Brown as Edgar Reed, Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller -- (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)
BLINDSPOT — “One Begets Technique” Episode 118 — Pictured: (l-r) Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe, Trieste Kelly Dunn as Allison Knight, Ennis Esmer as Rich Dotcom, Audrey Esparza as Tasha Zapata, Rob Brown as Edgar Reed, Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)

As the conversation continued, Rich started asking about the deal between Weller and Jane Doe. Allie seemed super uncomfortable. Of course, everyone’s attitude didn’t seem to lighten up when Rich told the crew that he didn’t actually have the paintings. Instead, he needed the FBI to help him steal them so he could sell them to Ahktar. Weller looked like he was going to flip his lid, while Rich was revealing his plan.

Rich said that the paintings were in the possession of one Professor Randall Turner (Neil Jackson), an art historian and former Marine. This wasn’t his only heist, but apparently, it was something special to him. In fact, he built a house/fortress around the paintings to keep them safe. There are alarms, a concrete gallery, crazy locks, and booby traps aplenty. Weller wanted to get a warrant, but Rich said that Turner had a kill switch around his neck that could destroy all of the artwork at the first sign of danger. Of course, Rich had a plan.

First, Patterson (Ashley Johnson) triggered a gas leak in Turner’s house. When he called the gas company, Reade (Rob Brown) showed up to fix it. Turner seemed suspicious and turned Reade away, but not before Reade swiped all of the info from Turner’s smartwatch.

Inside the FBI, Rich used the smartwatch info to bring up all kinds of crazy code, which could be used to get the FBI crew through a few of Turner’s security measures. Next, Rich asked to go to a storage unit, but instead, the FBI had the contents brought to him — in the office. It was messy, but Rich quickly found a glove that he said would replicate Turner’s handprint and get them through another part of the intricate security system. Of course, Rich’s hand was the only one that could fit the glove, so he needed to go along for the ride.

Weller seemed reluctant about the whole caper, but Allie and Mayfair convinced him that getting Ahktar out of circulation would be well worth the risk.

BLINDSPOT -- "One Begets Technique" Episode 118 -- (l-r) Trieste Kelly Dunn as Allison Knight, Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe, Ennis Esmer as Rich Dotcom, Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller Pictured: -- (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)
BLINDSPOT — “One Begets Technique” Episode 118 — (l-r) Trieste Kelly Dunn as Allison Knight, Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe, Ennis Esmer as Rich Dotcom, Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller Pictured: — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)

Weller, Allie, Jane Doe and Rich arrived at Turner’s house. Jane picked the door lock and the four headed inside, with Rich making quips the entire time. With so many security measures, you’d think that Turner would have motion-sensing cameras, but okay. The group moved through with ease, until they got to the door that should have had the handprint recognition scanner. However, Turner had apparently upgraded his system to an iris scanner. Oh boy.

Patterson cut Turner’s power and Weller wedged the doors open. Meanwhile, Turner got a message on his smartwatch regarding the power outage. He briefly reached for the kill switch, but couldn’t seem to push the button. Instead, he decided to run back home to see if it was a false alarm.

Meanwhile, Rich, Weller, Allie and Jane were working on cutting down each of the stolen paintings from the walls. They needed to work fast, but carefully. Otherwise, the last of the many security measures would blow a hole in someone’s face.

If that wasn’t enough pressure, the bronze eagle that was wedging the doors open suddenly shifted and closed the doors. Oh, and Turner was approaching fast.

BLINDSPOT -- "One Begets Technique" Episode 118 -- Pictured: Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller -- (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)
BLINDSPOT — “One Begets Technique” Episode 118 — Pictured: Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)

Jane managed to get the doors open, but Turner was on the other side with a machete. He disarmed both of the women, but they had no problem fighting him off. Jane even managed to grab the kill switch in the process, which was a nice touch. Weller then used Turner’s own booby trap to take him down, but destroyed one of the paintings in the process.

Of course, Rich knew someone who could fix it. He called in Boston “Arliss” Crab, an art restorer who also forges paintings on the side. The two are former acquaintances and apparently lovers as well. Either way, Crab was both a good name and description for this guy. He even caused Patterson to charge at him!

Crab fixed the painting, just in time for Rich to meet up with Ahktar at a party. The FBI hooked Rich up with a bracelet that had GPS tracking and a microphone. Once Rich saw Ahktar, he was supposed to give the trigger phrase: “Mustard on the beat, ho.” Just in case, he took Jane Doe along as his “date.”

Jane looked stunning at the party. In fact, she looked so good that I almost didn’t notice that her tattoos were completely gone! She said she covered them up because they would draw unnecessary attention. Of course, that would be difficult to do, since Ahktar was randomly shooting giant gold guns into the air and surrounding glass as part of his sweet dance moves.

BLINDSPOT -- "One Begets Technique" Episode 118 -- Pictured: Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe -- (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)
BLINDSPOT — “One Begets Technique” Episode 118 — Pictured: Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)

Ahktar spotted Rich, hugged him and gave him a two-gun salute straight up in the air. He then acknowledged Jane, but quickly moved on to the paintings. Ahktar worked his way through the merchandise, but didn’t seem to like what he was seeing. He claimed that the paintings were fakes and put one of those golden guns into Rich’s mouth. Despite listening in, the FBI waited to move in. They needed that magic phrase!

As Jane begged Ahktar to look again, four guys came in with guns — but they weren’t the FBI. Ahktar asked Rich if he was working for ISI just as the FBI came in. A gunfight broke out as Rich ran through the room shouting out, “Mustard on the beat, ho!”

Rich and Jane followed Ahktar to the roof, where he was waiting with his golden guns. Just as he was about to shoot Rich, Ahktar realized he was out of bullets! He did have two knives, but those were really no match for Jane’s fists (and feet).

As the gunfight wrapped up, the FBI team realized that the ISI had been tipped off by Rich. Meanwhile, he was on the roof, threatening to jump. He did just that, but the giant parachute attached to his back managed to break his fall just fine. When Rich landed, Crab was there to greet him with a kiss, as well as the real Gardner paintings.

BLINDSPOT -- "One Begets Technique" Episode 118 -- Pictured: (l-r) Trieste Kelly Dunn as Allison Knight, Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe, Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller -- (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)
BLINDSPOT — “One Begets Technique” Episode 118 — Pictured: (l-r) Trieste Kelly Dunn as Allison Knight, Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe, Sullivan Stapleton as Kurt Weller — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)

Back at the FBI, the crew discussed how the entire thing had been one giant setup, all the way down to the beatings Rich had gotten in the beginning of the episode. Weller said that even Ahktar wasn’t the real Ahktar.

Weller wanted to unwind with a little alcohol and a lot of Allie, but she wasn’t having any of it. She knew there was something between him and Jane (we all did), so she asked for space. Instead, he headed over to visit Bill, with Jane/Taylor. During the meeting, she said that she remembered him, but that wasn’t really true. Weller then asked if Jane really remembered his dad. She didn’t answer, but instead brought up a fishing trip that was pictured in the photos from Oscar. Weller looked like he was about to cry and thanked her for coming. Just then, she grabbed Weller’s hand.

At the end of the episode, we saw Mayfair in her car, calling the woman she met in last week’s episode. Just as she wrapped up the call, Sofia Varma (Sarita Choudhury) popped up in the backseat. This is Mayfair’s ex, who supposedly committed suicide over her whole involvement in Orion. This is awkward on so many levels, people. Why would Sofia show up after all of this time? What does she want with Mayfair? And more importantly, why isn’t she dead?

Otherwise, this episode had some interesting twists to it. Surprisingly, I enjoyed Rich DotCom a lot more the second time around. I guess that’s a good thing, since it looks like he may be back again at some point.

Of course, the most important thing in this episode wasn’t the Weller/Allie breakup, the lack of Oscar, or Jane covering up her tattoos. It was that this episode didn’t use Jane’s tattoos to solve anything! Was that a good thing? If you don’t think so, sound off in the comments below — and don’t worry, it looks like we’re back to the formula next week. See you then!

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

1 Comment

  1. Did anyone notice that this was NOT the episode that NBC advertised? Where was Mayfair’s “Get out of my house” line? This was a fun episode, but it seemed strange to get it so close to the season finale.

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