S01.E18: One Begets Technique

[Trini]

In order to capture a dangerous international criminal, Jane and Weller are forced to collaborate with the only person he will meet: their former target, Rich DotCom (guest star Ennis Esmer). Jane must decide whether to risk hurting Weller by executing a morally questionable order from Oscar (guest star Francois Arnaud).

[HunterHunted]

I guess it was good to have a break from the typical episode structure of the something happens, the team realizes it relates to one of Jane's tattoos, Jane's tattoo reveals something something something, the team jumps into action, it comes down to hand to hand combat, Weller is incapacitated, Jane has to save him, and Weller gives Jane the puppy love eyes.

I'm not sure how much I liked the episode. I also question Rich Dot Com being a queer character, when he'd never been written as one in the past.

Edited April 19, 2016 by HunterHunted

[Trini]

Doing a heist movie is a cliché at this point, and I didn't like that they brought back the most annoying character on the show so far. And he's loose now.

 

But yeah, I guess a change in format is not unwelcome.

[Free]

Doing a heist movie is a cliché at this point, and I didn't like that they brought back the most annoying character on the show so far. And he's loose now.

 

But yeah, I guess a change in format is not unwelcome.

 

Agreed, annoying and basically free now.

[Dowel Jones]

As soon as they walked down the hallway past the samurai swords, I said to myself, "Aha, the Chekhov Samurai Swords."  And so it was, in the dumbest fight scene yet.  Everyone stood around and let Jane do the work, although each of them, save The Mouth, would have been armed.

 

Highlight of the evening was seeing Jane without tattoos.

 

Yeah, Kurt, you all got played.  And you all deserved it.  Sloppy work all around.  By the way, you cannot hide a parachute container, even a BASE rig, underneath clothing.  It will show.  But what the hell.

 

Who was that woman that got into the car with Mayfield?  Through an unlocked door, no less.

 

I like how the FBI team meets up on the roof, pointing guns at The Mouth, and ordering him not to jump.  Or else what?

[thuganomics85]

 

Who was that woman that got into the car with Mayfield?  Through an unlocked door, no less.

That was Sophia, Mayfair's supposedly dead wife.  I guess she's not so dead after-all.  No surprise: I figured there had to be a reason to get Sarita Choudhury for this role.  I really doubted they were going have her do one flashback.

 

I guess it was kind of interesting seeing a mission that wasn't related to the tattoos.  And I actually get a kick out of Rich Dotcom, because he annoys everyone so much, and, frankly, he really is smarter then the lot of them.  It was so obvious that he was playing for him, but each and every one of them fell for his act at one point. Actually, I noticed when he showed up, both Zapata and Reade got shuffled off to the side-line, so I blame that for their downfall.  In particular, Reade wouldn't have believed a word out of his mouth, and would have been on him like a hawk. 

 

Really find it hard to believe that neither Jane or Allie had a gun and could just simply shoot Abraham from Sleep Hollow (I think his name was Randal, but whatever, Neil Jackson is still Abraham to me), instead of get into a long sword-fight, that ends with Kurt just taking the picture and letting Abraham get shot in the face.  Oh, and damage the painting.  Which.... how did that fit into Rich's grand plan?  Did he just assume one of them would damage that painting at one point?

 

Still, the episode did end up finding a way to get Jaimie Alexander in that green dress and rocking the 40s look, so that at least makes it probably the best episode since the mid-season hiatus.

[dwmarch]

I loved this episode embracing its ridiculousness and just rolling with it. Rich Dotcom is certainly the most fun character this dour show has ever seen. I greatly enjoy how he will say what everyone else is thinking, turning everyone's sacred cows into leather jackets and hamburgers. He even called Weller "stubble"!

 

Damn, does Jamie Alexander have some mile-long legs. It's a shame she only gets to dress up every so often on this show.

 

The professional courtesy offered to the ISI commandos was weird. As if a CIA SAD team would get the same courtesy if they were operating in Pakistan! Beyond that, pointing a gun at a cop gets you shot, end of story. No cop is going to throw his badge to a gunman and say "hey there, we seem to be on the same side!"

 

I think the show glossed over something there with the fake paintings. The FBI lab (with all the FBI techs standing around) has the capability to manufacture fake paintings? Or did Dotcom's buddy bring them with him and somehow switch them while everyone was watching?

 

And in the we knew it all along file, Mayfair's old flame is still alive. I hope this storyline goes somewhere interesting.

[Free]

Yeah, Kurt, you all got played.  And you all deserved it.  Sloppy work all around.  By the way, you cannot hide a parachute container, even a BASE rig, underneath clothing.  It will show.  But what the hell.

 

Seems to be a recurring problem for him.

[misstwpherecool]

 What's with the Gatsby thing again? Yes it was nice to see Alexander without tattoos but it did look silly her the only one there over dressed to say the least. Loved the look of 'huh?' she gave the criminal in the interrogation room early in the epi.

 

Channeling Leverage this week I see. Samurai sword fight? Dancing pistol guy was stupid and annoying. I kept on thinking the movie True Romance during the shootout between to the two agencies. So the expert told them where to get the scanning machine?

 

Now if they were stealing ie breaking & entering to steal on private property wouldn't the purposely positioning the owner to be shot(Weller using the painting booby trap) a felony for the average criminal? If someone gets killed during the commission of  felony isn't that felony murder for everyone there?

 

Dead wife pops up where they only showed a suicide note early in season not a surprise. But never the less a soap opera twist with her new mate now in the picture.

[MissLucas]

Rich Dotcom, the most fun villain - ah, hell the most fun character this show ever created! He's ridiculously over the top just like the show and when he's on, the show embraces that and immediately gets much more watchable!* A heist! The team gets played! No convoluted tattoo mystery! Seriously what's not to love? Best episode ever! (Yes, there was a lot of Leverage in this episode - no wonder I liked it so much. I actually thought 'Rich Dotcom is this show's Jim Sterling', he!)

 

 Which.... how did that fit into Rich's grand plan?  Did he just assume one of them would damage that painting at one point?

 

Well since Weller was part of the team it was a pretty safe guess that would sooner or later happen.

 

I think the show glossed over something there with the fake paintings. The FBI lab (with all the FBI techs standing around) has the capability to manufacture fake paintings? Or did Dotcom's buddy bring them with him and somehow switch them while everyone was watching?

 

IIRC correctly Boston had brought along his own 'special art restorer's' scanner. Actually his whole story about needing to scan the  paintings in order to create similarities made zero sense (what similarities dude? those paintings are from different painters and different time-periods). But the whole thing was entertaining enough I'm willing to handwave that away - at least Patterson objected but since everyone was so keen on getting Ahktar nobody bothered to listen. I'm also willing to over-look yet another incredibly gifted art restorer/art forger in his 20's with a skill set that requires decades of practice. If Elementary managed to get away with it so does Blindspot.

 

*I'm pretty sure Jaimie Alexander is also a fan of Rich Dotcom. The episodes he featured in were the ones she had to 'lose' the tattoos.

Edited April 19, 2016 by MissLucas

[Artsda]

I liked the Ocean's 11 like heist and stand a lone that wasn't all about Jane's tattoos.

[misstwpherecool]

I liked the Ocean's 11 like heist and stand a lone that wasn't all about Jane's tattoos.

I liked that it was different but the freed criminal came about because one of the tattoos.

 

And even though a different epi it was still filled with some of the same stufffff wether it be silly, stupid or over the top. Got to get that action in. Also for a while the supporting cast was getting a lot of time which I liked but this epi they were back to background.

[Dowel Jones]

Something else occurs to me.  Other than plot requirements, why wouldn't the FBI do just what the ISI agents did?  Assuming, 1)that their target is in the building, 2)he can be identified by The Mouth, and 3) the building can be sealed off, it would make far more sense to just take a SWAT team up there and lock down the entire floor.  You're all under arrest, don't move.  Yeah, it's nice to recover the Gardner paintings, although it doesn't jibe with real life.  And speaking of the paintings, why the worry about alerting the art historian/thief about their presence?  Again, "We're the FBI, buddy.  We're taking the paintings.  Got a problem, call the cops.  Explain why you have them."

[snuffles]

Another week highlighting how incompetent the TV FBI agents are on "Blindspot" and "Quantico". I really truly hope the real FBI are not like this otherwise we are in big trouble "against America's enemies".

 

So I'm thinking Marcus is going to turn out to be evil and in on the honey pot trap. Or depending how the wind is blowing in the writers' room, he'll be an innocent by stander forced to do evil for the greater good.

 

It feels like RichDotCom's purpose was to show how dumb the FBI are and continue to shove the anvil sized Weller-Jane relationship hints down our throats. Of course the team is going to outsmart RichDotCom and his boyfriend eventually, but they have to show how brillent RichDotCom is before then. So it makes it appear how awesome the FBI is once they catch RichDotCom. In actuality it just shows how incredibly stupid the FBI are.

[AV8n]

Wow, Patty totally missed the parachuting base jumper tattoo on Jane's right ankle. Should have seen that one coming!

 

The whole thing was a little too elaborate to catch a guy who there was no sense of urgency to catch. Besides, those guys always have a #2 ready to take over. They could have arrested the art thief and sent Rich Dotcom back to maximum security.

I guess it was good to have a break from the typical episode structure of the something happens, the team realizes it relates to one of Jane's tattoos, Jane's tattoo reveals something something something, the team jumps into action, it comes down to hand to hand combat, Weller is incapacitated, Jane has to save him, and Weller gives Jane the puppy love eyes.

I'm not sure how much I liked the episode. I also question Rich Dot Com being a queer character, when he'd never been written as one in the past.

Mr. Dotcom is a hedonist. He'd fornicate with darn near anything. And probably has.

[saber5055]

I didn't like that they brought back the most annoying character on the show so far. And he's loose now.

Total word to this. I can't stand that character and his constant smart mouthing and dwelling on Weller/Jane attraction. Why does he even care about that anyway? Dialogue was to hit us over the head with anvils we get hit with every week, every episode anyway. The writers treat us like we are a bunch of dumb asses, then we have to listen to the biggest dumb ass of all tell us repeatedly what we have known since episode 1.

 

I noticed Jane was having a bit of trouble fighting in those six-inch strut heels. It irks the heck out of me that all police women/female detectives on tv wear heels so as to make them MORE ATTRACTIVE to male viewers. Screw the fact that they can't run or fight to catch any bad guys while wearing heels. But, by gosh, they gotta look leggy and hot for their male partners (and viewers).

I'm also willing to over-look yet another incredibly gifted art restorer/art forger in his 20's with a skill set that requires decades of practice.

Neal Caffrey managed it, and looked pretty darn good while creating forgeries. Although to his credit, he was a trained artist and took great care to replicate the pigments from those centuries.

 

I want one of those freebasing parachutes that fit undetected under a dress suit coat. I'm checking eBay now.

 

This episode made it really hard to flip back to it while watching other shows during commercial breaks.

Edited April 19, 2016 by saber5055

[blackwing]

I think Rich Dotcom is irritating, but I loved this episode.  I love heist movies, and the narrative of all the security measures was so much fun.  If there had been no hole blasted in the Vermeer, I wonder if Rich would have damaged one of the paintings himself so he would have an excuse to call in his boyfriend with his "scanning" machine.  It did seem odd to me that these priceless old canvasses would be hand cranked through a scanner, but I guess that was only so the real ones could be rolled up inside and the fake ones unrolled out.

 

I also question what Rich was going to do if the FBI and the ISI didn't get into a shootout.  He was going to break away from Jane and run to the roof?  I suppose he is smart, so he would have known there was roof access and he knew exactly where his parachute would land so told the forger to park there in advance.

 

Yeah, Kurt, you all got played.  And you all deserved it.  Sloppy work all around.  By the way, you cannot hide a parachute container, even a BASE rig, underneath clothing.  It will show.  But what the hell.

To be fair, Kurt was the only one that said it was a bad idea, but he got overruled by Mayfair and his (ex) girlfriend.

 

 What's with the Gatsby thing again? Yes it was nice to see Alexander without tattoos but it did look silly her the only one there over dressed to say the least. Loved the look of 'huh?' she gave the criminal in the interrogation room early in the epi.

Rich said that Akhbar was having a Gatsby party, so they needed to dress up.  His tux had a built in parachute, and he needed an excuse for them to let him wear the tux.  I'm surprised they wouldn't have checked every inch of that tux for hidden compartments or tech gadgets.  Or that they wouldn't have put an ankle monitor or exploding head necklace on him as a failsafe.  He probably would have said that Akhbar would have detected it, but at least the show could have shown them contemplating it.  As it is, they looked inexperienced.

[miracole]

So I have no clue what happened in this episode, I didn't pay attention to it at all. However I did notice that  Sasha Beloff from Make it or Break it and Malenga from an episode of PBS's Ghost Writer(yeah, that show was the stuff) were in this episode. So, best episode ever...  

Edited April 19, 2016 by miracole

[dargosmydaddy]

The two RichDotCom episodes have been the only two episodes that I have found truly entertaining this season. Given all of Rich's snarky commentary on what the main characters are doing, I kind of wonder if he's not the writers' way of admitting how ridiculous the mess they've created has become.

 

I'd totally watch a spin-off of Rich and his boyfriend committing silly heists.

 

 

He even called Weller "stubble"!

 

I believe he also called him something along the lines of "you ridiculous little munchkin" at some point? Whatever it was, I snorted.

[Texasmom1970]

Seeing Jamie in that gorgeous dress made this goofy episode worth it. I need a dress like that stat, and having legs like hers would be nice as well!

Tired of werewolf Wellers girlfriend, slam piece, whatever the hell she is. Sick of her taking screen time up that could be given to Patterson, Mayfair or Reade or a janitor. I would find anyone but her infinitely more interesting. I don't care about them trying to create a triangle, quadrangle between them all!

[sluggish neko]

Neal Caffrey managed it, and looked pretty darn good while creating forgeries. Although to his credit, he was a trained artist and took great care to replicate the pigments from those centuries.

I was so hoping to see Neal and Peter show up when they needed help with the stolen paintings. This show really needs a dose of Neal Caffrey's breezy banter and stylish fashion. Everyone looks like they dress to match the fluorescent lights. At least Jane got a brightly colored knock-out dress.

 

I kind of enjoy Dotcom's stream of snark, but in this episode it was too much. It was way too obvious they're forcing the Jane-Weller-Ally triangle. Whatever. At least Dotcom got beat up and shot so for those who found him annoying, there's that. Anyway, I tune in mostly to see Oscar and he wasn't in this one, so meh.

[Trini]

Another week highlighting how incompetent the TV FBI agents are on "Blindspot" and "Quantico". I really truly hope the real FBI are not like this otherwise we are in big trouble "against America's enemies".

 

...

 

It feels like RichDotCom's purpose was to show how dumb the FBI are and continue to shove the anvil sized Weller-Jane relationship hints down our throats. Of course the team is going to outsmart RichDotCom and his boyfriend eventually, but they have to show how brillent RichDotCom is before then. So it makes it appear how awesome the FBI is once they catch RichDotCom. In actuality it just shows how incredibly stupid the FBI are.

 

I just wasn't sure what the point of this episode was. The FBI got played... but the FBI has been getting played since the Pilot.

[Dowel Jones]

I think they just wanted a seventh inning stretch, so to speak.  After last week, the groundwork was laid for revisiting each tattoo for a new clue.  I hope it doesn't go there. 

 

If anyone is allowed to bring Dotcom down, it should be Patterson.

[saber5055]

Anyway, I tune in mostly to see Oscar and he wasn't in this one, so meh.

 

Yeah, what's up with that? I was looking forward to more Jane/Oscar "mistakes."

[Black Knight]

Totally ridiculous per usual, but I laughed my ass off when Dotcom sailed away from the rooftop in his parachute. I love him. He injected so much energy into this episode, and I enjoy when Weller is fuming.

 

I also enjoyed that the heist was in regards to the Gardner paintings. I've been to that museum and seen the blank spaces left on the walls where the paintings were, awaiting the return of them one day. I really do wonder where they are...in real life, I mean, not on this show, where we have an answer, with Dotcom and his boyfriend. Haha.

[kili]

Oh, and damage the painting.  Which.... how did that fit into Rich's grand plan?  Did he just assume one of them would damage that painting at one point?

He probably planned on it. He knew every scrap of information about the security system except that it had a retina scanner? A retina scanner seems more like the thief's kind of security system anyway, so it probably always was. That mistake meant that they had to shut down the power which would alert the thief and he would return to the house in a half hour. DotCom made sure that he took his time cutting the paintings off the wall. When the fight was going on, he stopped altogether leaving Weller holding a painting during all that disturbance. He might have not known what Weller would do, but he was counting on that painting getting shot.

 

I also question what Rich was going to do if the FBI and the ISI didn't get into a shootout.

He was the one who told ISI to be there, so it was part of his plan. He's just lucky in that all of his plans work perfectly. He must have figured the FBI would try to stop the serious looking guys with guns.

 

It is unbelievable that they wouldn't have checked his suit and noticed a parachute. One wouldn't even need special tools. A tux jacket should never be thick enough to hold a parachute. I knew he had one as soon as he was threatening to kill himself. As if. He will always think he can make a deal.

 

I still don't get the scanner trick. I thought they used the scanners that the FBI had. Didn't he say that he was sure that the FBI must have them and demand Patterson have them scanned? I can understand slight of hand when you are talking cards, but how does one slight of hand huge paintings?

[MissLucas]

I still don't get the scanner trick. I thought they used the scanners that the FBI had. Didn't he say that he was sure that the FBI must have them and demand Patterson have them scanned? I can understand slight of hand when you are talking cards, but how does one slight of hand huge paintings?

 

No, Crab asked specifically for his own scanner s. quote below. He had it with him when he arrived at the FBI. There was also a brief Leverage-inspired flashback to the scanning process with a shot showing what happened inside the scanner: the original was transported over rolls into the scanner where it was getting rolled and a previously placed fake was unfurled and rolled out at the other end of the scanner. Patterson mentioned that Crab was very particular about the order the paintings were getting scanned. (Nevermind the engineering skills required to build such a gizmo. Crab's definitely a wunderkind.)

 

Like much of the rest of the episode this only works with massive amounts of handwaving.

 

1. The reasons Crab cited why it was necessary to scan the paintings made zero sense:

 

The buyer is going to want to inspect all of the paintings, so if I'm going to restore this one, I need to match it to the others. Light damage, dust accumulation, pigment fail. They need to be uniform, so why don't you show me just how special you are, special agent whatever, by getting me my scanner and rounding up all the other paintings so I can get started doing the thing that none of you know how to do with not enough time to do it?

 

All the paintings had been stored under perfect conditions for several years by the OCD thief, so they would be uniform with regards to any parameters dealing with recent storing conditions (dust accumulation). They could never be uniform with regards to pigment fail and light damage as those are parameters depending on each paintings unique history. If they were uniform they would be fakes.

 

2. Scanning - just like photographing - can cause damage to paintings (i.e. it's the light exposure that's problematic). That's one of the reasons why photographing is not allowed in most art museums. Art conservators get all twitchy for good reasons when you talk about scanning an old canvas.

 

3. But if you really need to scan a painting it will be done in a special flat bed scanner (those things are huge) not in a gizmo used by Crab which had the potential to cause mechanical damage because the canvas was supposedly transported through the scanner over rolls. (And speaking of mechanical damage - only lunatics would transport old paintings all rolled up but then Dotcom is a lunatic).

Edited April 24, 2016 by MissLucas

[LisaM]

This was my favorite episode of the series. I love the energy and snark that Rich Dot Com brought to the show. It really helped to liven up the normally dull proceedings. I laughed out loud when he parachuted off of the roof. 

[TV Anonymous]

If having the art thief killed is an acceptable outcome of this mission, and there is a concern that by using legal means of obtaining the paintings he will press his pendant and everything will go up in flames, why the team not just kidnap him or shoot him on the head so that the said pendant will not be pressed? It will have the same results, will be not less illegal and will save much more time and effort in doing so.

 

Too extreme? Then why did Zapata and Reade not stop him from getting in his house? They did follow him, did they not?

Edited April 24, 2016 by TV Anonymous

[John Potts]

Definitely the most enjoyable episode of the series because Rich Dotcom is simply having so much fun as a villain. Our heroes got played rather too easily, but that's how a good con works: people into a situation where "Your way" is the only way to make it work (in fact, it reminded me of Burn Notice, since that was pretty much Michael Weston's MO for dealing with the CotW). Though he did manage to infect everyone with STUPID somehow since when Stubbly was holding the painting he kept distracting Jane when she was in the middle of a sword fight. Also, if I was told that there was a shotgun behind each painting maybe don't stand directly in front of it? Dude, it's your life, but I'd try to lift it from the side. Also, if the FBI had left anyone in the car to watch the building, Rich's plan would have failed because they would have intercepted him as he parachuted down.
 

Quote

 

dwmarch  The professional courtesy offered to the ISI commandos was weird

 

 

I assume the ISI guys were fake, which makes the FBI showing even more embarrassing.

 

Quote

 

HunterHunted I also question Rich Dot Com being a queer character, when he'd never been written as one in the past.

 

 

IIRC, he wanted to have sex with either Jane or Stubbly or both, so he'd been depicted as fairly sexually flexible. But I'm definitely not going back to check!

[Jordan27]

Rich was a great character, but the plot was silly with...

...the painting getting damaged.   How did he know that would happen? 

And how did he know he would be able to get to the rooftop and do a perfect landing near the car?

But, it was still an enjoyable ep.

[PurpleTentacle]

Well this didn't make super much sense. I mean how could Rich know one of the paintings would get damaged and specifically in a way that could be fixed fast? He risked getting shot to death by his aquaintence over fake paintings? He knew he would get to the roof somehow?

But the character is fun, so I'm willing to forgive a lot.

On 4/19/2016 at 5:26 AM, HunterHunted said:

I also question Rich Dot Com being a queer character, when he'd never been written as one in the past.

I mean he has been in one episode before and there wasn't much opportunity to talk about his sexuality. It's not like this is an episode three seasons later, so I assume the writers had this in mind from the start.

On 4/19/2016 at 8:53 AM, Dowel Jones said:

Yeah, Kurt, you all got played.  And you all deserved it.  Sloppy work all around.  By the way, you cannot hide a parachute container, even a BASE rig, underneath clothing.  It will show.  But what the hell.

Yeah, it would have been easier to buy a wing suit than a parachute. You can't exactly do a smooth landing with that, but maybe he could have had something prepared to safely crash into. But oh well.