Article originally published as BLINDSPOT Review on Seat42F.
NBC’s
BLINDSPOT has an intriguing opening. A naked woman, covered in tattoos,
is found in a bag in Times Square. She has no memory of who she is,
what happened to her, or how she got all the tattoos, which were done
recently. But some of the ink on her body holds clues, both to her past,
and to future crimes.
Unfortunately, BLINDSPOT is not nearly
as cool as its premise. The muck ups start early in the pilot when agent
Kurt Weller (Sullivan Stapleton, Strike Back) is called on the scene.
His name is on the girl’s back, and yet he is placed in charge of the
case. I understand why Mayfair (Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Without a
Trace), the boss, would want him involved, given his connection, even if
no one can explain why his name is there yet. But surely it presents a
conflict of interest to have him running the investigation?
Then, Kurt brings the woman (Jaimie
Alexander, Thor, Kyle XY), whom he suddenly begins calling Jane (as in
Jane Doe) mid-episode, with him into the field. Not only that, she gets
to go into dangerous buildings and be near bombs. That she ends up being
capable of handling herself and lending the team support is of no
consequence. She is an unknown quantity and not an agent, so should not
be allowed out.
I admit, the central mystery is
intriguing. There are lots of tidbits sprinkled into the episode to hint
at Jane’s story without giving too much away. A flashback or two is
quite illuminating, and I am left wanting to know more about her and
what is going on.
However, the approach BLINDSPOT makes
feels forced and false. It is trying too hard to craft a puzzle, merely
tossing up the façade of a deep, serial drama. It resembles high quality
programming, but fails to live up to the high bar itself. A showdown in
a familiar setting seems completely artificial, favoring style above
substance.
There are many good things going on with
BLINDSPOT. Alexander is terrific, and while it takes a bit of time to
warm up to Stapleton, I get what he’s doing and appreciate it. The
supporting cast, which includes the delightful Ashley Johnson (The
Killing) and Rob Brown (Treme), is enjoyable. The production builds
suspense appropriately, and manages to toss in a few unexpected
surprised.
But at the end of the day, BLINDSPOT has
plot holes and some weak elements, as mentioned above, that bring it
down. It also seems very likely to be a procedural, with the core
mystery only being brought out in little bits, most of the hours being
devoted to tracking down individual criminals who will see justice
before the ending credits roll.
What’s more, because of the obvious
weaknesses in setting up the main plot, I have little confidence that
things will be concluded in a satisfactory manner. The first tattoo on
Jane leads to an immediate danger, but how can the others possibly be
laid out to take her from one event to the next? That would require a
TON of knowledge of the future, and this show lacks the supernatural
bend necessary to make that work. So I’m left assuming that the writers
don’t have a clear idea of where they are going, or even if they do,
they’ll take short cuts that don’t make sense, as they did in getting
Jane and Kurt out into the field together so quickly.
If the total sum of programming in the
world were still confined to the broadcast networks, there is no
question that I would consider BLINDSPOT one of this fall’s series to
look forward to; even with its flaws, it is far more creative and
interesting than most of the fare on the Big Four. But living in the age
of a multitude of choices on cable and streaming outlets, this one
fails to make the cut, outshined by many, many higher quality choices.
BLINDSPOT premieres next Monday at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.