Mom's Minute

Now that the season finale has aired, I think this is a good time for me to review the Blindspot television show.  I intended to review the show earlier, but was on the fence on just how I felt about it.  Whenever I decided that certain improvements were needed in the show, sometimes the story line delivered what I was looking for.   Other times, in fact most of the time, Jaimie Alexander's character was pushed too far in the background.

The main reason I watched Blindspot was I thought the female lead character would actually be the lead character and not just someone tagging along behind a male lead.  Of course it was understandable that Jaimie Alexander's character would be a follower in the beginning because she was relatively new to what was happening all around her.  Coupled with the fact she lost her memory, it seemed logical she would not have a prominent part in the series during the beginning episodes.  

However, as the episodes moved along and Jaimie Alexander's character showed she was just as capable of being an FBI agent as her male lead, I was anticipating she would move out more on her own.  This did happen in one episode when she parted ways with her partner and was leading another FBI agent who was helping her guard one of the bad guys.  This was one of my favorite episodes along with about two other episodes where Jaimie Alexander's character came out from under the shadows of the male lead.

The problem I see with Blindspot as a television show that seems to be advertising heavily that it has a female starring in an action role is the large cast of characters in the show. In fact, there are so many other characters in the series sometimes Jaimie Alexander's character has little to say or do mainly because the other characters share their take on the events stemming from the tattoos on Jaimie Alexander's body. Consequently, Jaimie Alexander's character sometimes appears to be just a map.

Spoiler alert.  The  problem of the gigantic cast of characters in Blindspot was sort of rectified when a few were eliminated and one of the FBI agents resigned.   This happened in the season finale.  However, in this same episode, yet another female character was introduced to share her views on the case they were working on.

During the season finale, there was a scene that would have been an exciting cliff hanger which I think the writers overlooked.  This happened after Jaimie Alexander showed her male counterpart  she was attracted to him when she met him after sneaking away from the safe house.  Within minutes of their  separate departures, she was kidnapped and snatched away in a white van.  In my opinion, the season finale could have stopped there leaving viewers with lots of questions, such as why was she kidnapped, who kidnapped her, would she remember who kidnapped her, etc.

Instead the finale moved to a scene where she is being water-boarded by the suspicious CIA character who had  previously appeared in the television series.  Thankfully, just when she was getting ready to be put in a lot of pain by this CIA agent, she is saved by a male who she has flashbacks of as being her finance.   He shows her a smartphone with a video saying she  tattooed herself and wiped away her own memory.  In the mean time, her FBI partner calls her phone and looks worried when she does not answer.

In my opinion, this was a cheesy type ending, but it's an ending I will accept.   Why?  Because finally, the television show is focusing on Jaimie Alexander's character as it should be.  There is not an array of other characters around trying to give their two-cents worth of information on an impending case.  There is no FBI female director around who appears to have a shady past.  There is no research person around giving her interpretations of the tattoos who seems to be trying to take over Jaimie Alexander's position as the lead actor.  And even more importantly, no latter scenes with them chasing criminals up the stairways, culminating in fist fights or other altercations.  To me, these series of events became repetitive after awhile.

After watching every episode of Blindspot since its debut, with some exceptions, it was the final few minutes of the television series where it appeared the writeres remembered this show is about a female action star, who should have scripts and action scenes written with that in mind.

Based on a rating of 1  to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate Blindspot 2 1/2 stars mainly because the story lines pushed Jaimie Alexander's character in the background in more of a supporting role instead of a leading role.  There were a few exceptions, but in the majority of episodes, Jaimie Alexander's character was relegated to asking questions, looking puzzled, and acting unsure of herself.

The good news is Blindspot returns to NBC in February, 2016.  Hopefully with Season 2, the writeres will get Jaimie Alexander's character right, and let her become more of a leader and a true female action star the second time around. 

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