Blindspot recap: Eight Slims Grins

The third episode of Blindspot begins where we left off last week, with Jane being attacked in her apartment. She takes down the Man from the Woods Flashback (or “Ruggedly Handsome Man” as IMDb calls him) long enough for him to say he’s there to help her and not to trust “them.” But before she can find out anything else the man is shot dead right in front of her — and it wasn’t the FBI. Another day, another opportunity eliminated for Jane to find out who she really is.

Adding further frustration, Weller and the team discover that the mystery man is a ghost, just like Jane. There are no prints, records, or clues into whom this man might be — er, was. Their focus is shifted from the mystery man to a robbery downtown, where a group of super-thieves who call themselves “The Candymen” have robbed a jewelry store. The group is known for their colored face masks and impressive robbing skills. Their score sheet includes being in and out in under one minute, and they have racked up $70 million in stolen gems. This time, the team got cocky and stayed a few seconds too long; one of them was shot and left behind.

Of course, there’s a link to Jane with this case. The injured thief’s name is Casey, and he has the exact same tattoo as Jane’s original Navy Seal one that was covered up by her mystery artist. The significance is that there is (rarely) never two Seal tattoos that are the exact same. With no other leads into their case, this is worth looking into. Weller could also use the distraction from his investigation into Jane’s DNA match with his long-lost childhood bestie, Taylor Shaw. Bethany informs him that they’ll have the results by the end of the day, so Weller quickly gets the team together to dive into the robbery case.

Patterson finds a lead through ALPR, automated license plate recognition technology, and the gang heads to a strip mall where the possible thieves’ vehicle is parked. Of course, Jane insists on going in with the team to investigate the mall’s stores, but Weller makes her sit in the car to radio in anything that might happen in the parking lot. I know she has major Jason Bourne vibes with her fighting skills and an uncanny ability to hit any target she aims for, but it’s still a little ridiculous that Jane is given (almost) all freedom on these FBI missions — you’d think it’d be the opposite with her extreme skills. Yes, she’s essential to uncovering the mystery behind her, and yes, Weller has some possible emotional ties, but shouldn’t they put a little more caution into her involvement with high-stake crimes?

Jane continues to prove her worth, though, and she sees one of the suspects leave and re-enter a store. She follows him in — but of course doesn’t radio this — and awkwardly approaches him, allowing him to turn and run. She throws a few punches with him outside of the store and learns that he doesn’t know who she is, and by the time the rest of the team shows up, he’s gotten away. Weller is understandably upset with the escape, which drives a deeper wedge of mistrust between him and Jane.

The FBI find another lead for the team to follow up on, this time being a friend of one of the suspects who was spotted on surveillance cameras scoping out the jewelry store. She gives up that the thieves have a boat in the harbor, and Weller sends half of the team to investigate while he heads to the hospital with Jane. Casey has woken up, and there’s no time to waste in seeing if he knows Jane.

NEXT: Jane and Weller find more than one surprise at the hospital.

When they arrive at the hospital, Casey is going in and out of consciousness and still in rough shape. While they wait for him to wake again, the hospital’s power goes out and guns are fired. The Candymen have come for their teammate, and they’ve jammed all communication in and out of the hospital. Weller and Jane wheel Casey into the kitchen to hide, and Weller gives Jane a gun (moving up on the scale of trust!) and leaves her to watch their suspect. Between the two of them, they take down all the Candymen except for Casey’s brother — the same guy from the mall chase earlier.

The two thieves escape the kitchen and Casey’s brother poorly disguises himself as a doctor when attempting to leave the hospital with the rush of people pouring out. He sees the FBI agents camped outside, and in a desperate effort to save his brother, he heads back into the hospital where he runs into Weller and Jane. He pathetically tries to take both of them down, but just gets himself shot and killed. Jane rushes to Casey and begs him to tell her where he knows her from. He’s delusional and asking about his brother, but before he dies he says the word “orion.” Maybe Orion is a secret operation they both worked on before she had her memory wiped?

Speaking of secret operations, Patterson discovers that one of Jane’s tattoos is a number for an FBI case file. She finds the file and gives it to Bethany, who appears more stressed than normal. Later on Bethany meets secretly with CIA Deputy Director Tom Carter, and we are introduced to Operation Daylight. Tom suggests that Bethany “eliminate” Jane, but she quickly dismisses the idea, saying they need her to get to the real threat — whoever put the tattoos on her. Whatever Operation Daylight is/was, it sounds like a government cover-up that Tom will do anything to keep secret.

In more positive news, Patterson gets the DNA results back, and they are a match. Jane Doe is Taylor Shaw. Bethany also tells her that Weller and the other special agents rallied for her to be officially on the team, complete with weapon access. Combined with her newly appointed team member status, “Taylor” has now secured more resources into finding out the mystery behind her tattoos and why her memory was wiped.

Questions:

• What is Operation Daylight, and who are the three people involved? Tom mentioned only four people knew about it and that one of them is dead.
• What’s the deal with Jane/Taylor? Why was she taken as a child and missing for so long?
• Why did “Taylor” have her memory wiped? Either she got into a mess she couldn’t get out of, or this is the most elaborate method ever to infiltrate the FBI. I wonder if she knew about the tattoos when she agreed to have her memories wiped — I’d hate to be the artist who did that to her when she finds out if not.