S01.E20: Swift Hardhearted Stone

[Trini]

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When a mysterious young girl with a tattoo connection falls into Borden's (Ukweli Roach) care, he brings her case to the FBI team-- but her ties to a terrorist organization prove dangerous for all of them. Meanwhile, a conflicted Jane starts to grow close to Weller again, and friendship blossoms between Borden and Patterson.

[thuganomics85]

OK, I'm no law enforcement expert or anything, but if I was protecting a girl who might be on a hit list for a terrorist organization, and we had to do a food run, I would think it would make more sense to have at least one of the experienced field agents (or in Jane's case, someone who uses a gun a lot) stay behind, and not just leave the girl with the tech expert and the therapist.  You know, just incase something crazy happens.  Dumb call, Kurt. You didn't need Jane with you just to find food.  You are so lucky that Patterson and Borden are more then capable, or you would probably be losing your badge after that stupid decision.

Totally knew the CIA agent was crooked, because William Ragsdale will always be Gary Hawkins from Justified to me, and being cahoots with a terrorist family would be something I can see Gary doing, although he would more then likely stumble upon it by accident.

In the end, all this stuff with Mayfair and this woman she met at the bar ends up being just to kill the lady off, so Mayfair knows shit is real.  How lame, cliched, and dated.  Having the love interest being part of the conspiracy would have still been cliched, but better then just dying.

At least Reade and Zapata have each other, since they both were just regulated to side-lines for this episode.

Oscar gives Jane a flashdrive to copy files for mysterious reasons.  She complies, but it looks like she was tailing him to his hide-out, so maybe this will finally go somewhere.

I guess they are going to try something with Patterson and Borden now.  I guess having to blow up your crush's family vacation home is one way to kick off a relationship!

[Free]

20 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

OK, I'm no law enforcement expert or anything, but if I was protecting a girl who might be on a hit list for a terrorist organization, and we had to do a food run, I would think it would make more sense to have at least one of the experienced field agents (or in Jane's case, someone who uses a gun a lot) stay behind, and not just leave the girl with the tech expert and the therapist.  You know, just incase something crazy happens.  Dumb call, Kurt. You didn't need Jane with you just to find food.  You are so lucky that Patterson and Borden are more then capable, or you would probably be losing your badge after that stupid decision.

Totally knew the CIA agent was crooked, because William Ragsdale will always be Gary Hawkins from Justified to me, and being cahoots with a terrorist family would be something I can see Gary doing, although he would more then likely stumble upon it by accident.

In the end, all this stuff with Mayfair and this woman she met at the bar ends up being just to kill the lady off, so Mayfair knows shit is real.  How lame, cliched, and dated.  Having the love interest being part of the conspiracy would have still been cliched, but better then just dying.

At least Reade and Zapata have each other, since they both were just regulated to side-lines for this episode.

Oscar gives Jane a flashdrive to copy files for mysterious reasons.  She complies, but it looks like she was tailing him to his hide-out, so maybe this will finally go somewhere.

I guess they are going to try something with Patterson and Borden now.  I guess having to blow up your crush's family vacation home is one way to kick off a relationship!

Kurt messing things up as usual.  I just hope it's leading somewhere and not jus another Taylor Shaw back and forth like last time.

[slf]

I love Jaimie Alexander and the show's concept but I find it difficult to care about this show or to look forward to it. I think I would've liked it better if it focused exclusively on Jane's past/mission. Anyway, on to this episode:

Liked the interactions between Jane and Maia, especially when Jane brought out her own sketch book. I was hoping she'd have something like that. Jane was the most logical choice to connect with the little girl, though the show resisted really digging into the meaty possibilities. 

Patterson was MVP this episode. Her unfortunate field excursion really toughened her up; she was dropping bad guys, jumping off the roof, and blowing up poor Borden's house. 

It was cool how the show un-killed the lesbian last week so why they gotta turn around and kill a lesbian this week? C'mon show, that was pointless. Speaking of pointless: 75% of Mayfair's dialogue is just stating the obvious and Marianne Jean-Baptiste's line delivery is weird, like she's explaining something slowly to a really dumb person.

[Dowel Jones]

Was it Home Alone week at the writers camp?  Two shows with the same predictable results.

Did it occur to anyone on the FBI staff that a young girl just in from Syria might not speak or understand much English?  They should have gone for the translator as soon as they identified her.  She does have some illustration skills, though.

So much for the honey trap.

Again with the suicidal mercenaries.  When will they ever learn, or at least demand payment up front?

[dwmarch]

Pretty good episode overall but do these writers ever love themselves some cliches. The worst was Borden killing a dude with a Hollywood nail gun. They just don't work like that. Also we had Hollywood photographic memory, in which the kid can recreate something she has seen down to the last brick. This ability only exists on TV and in movies.

And of course the helpful State Dept. guy turns out to be the bad guy the whole time. Hawaii 5-0 does this all the time too. The more they want to help the more likely it is they're the actual bad guy.

I wish Reade would just spit it out already when he's trying to warn Zapata. There are people shooting at you on a weekly basis! But oh no, I must keep secrets because some mystery bad guy out there is talking shit! They'd have unraveled this frigging conspiracy by now if anyone on the team would actually communicate with anyone else!

This is one of those rare episodes in which the 2-for-1 tattoo concept actually works. There's no way that Jane's black ops outfit figured out that there would be this little girl whose mother would talk to a reporter who would then smuggle them into the country thus exposing State Dept. shenanigans. The tattoo obviously refers to the terrorist group rather than the autistic little girl they all hated. I imagine we'll be seeing them soon enough.

I got a laugh out of Jane telling the transparently obvious lie that she needed to get her coat (that awesome leather jacket) and selling the lie by keeping it on throughout game night. Take your coat off Jane, stay a while!

Although they stole it in its entirety from last week's Blacklist (hero character in remote location has to improvise weapons to fight off a horde of bad guys) I greatly enjoyed seeing Patterson spring into action. I especially loved her quick survey of the power tools etc in which she declared "we could kill somebody with this!" And Patterson isn't going to try taking on assault rifles with her pistol, she's going to BLOW UP THE GODDAMN HOUSE even if it is her friend/new love interest's place. My girl!

Edited May 3, 2016 by dwmarch

[omgsowicked]

Cracked up when I realized the "journalist" kicking ass in the hallway was actually Mr. Scruff, Weller. LOL. Somehow I didn't connect my "geez, they look similar" thought to "because Weller will impersonate him".

I liked that Borden got more to do (and now he needs some therapy, after killing a dude), and I'm liking him and Patterson so far. Never got vibes between Reade and Zapata before but I saw some in that locker room scene. I'm not mad. Oscar/Jane continue to outshine Weller/Jane.

I was getting shady vibes from Mayfair's new love interest but I guess she was innocent, or maybe she was part of the bad crew and got screwed over, I don't know. I don't see why that was necessary, just call Mayfair and tell her to back off in that creepy voice. I wonder, is it Oscar and his crew doing this to Mayfair and Reade? Since Oscar killed Carter, and they have his body, they'd want to cover their asses. If so, when Jane finds out... ooh, boy!

[Trini]

Ugh, so like every other show, it's fatal to be the love interest of someone in law enforcement.

Not as interesting as last week. But finally some movement with Shadowy Organization's plans for Jane. Nice to see the psychologist; they really should use him more.

And yeah, Reede and Zapata should just tell each other everything.

[blackwing]

I enjoyed this episode, although I was hoping for more "Home Alone" hijinks in the cabin.  I guess when Patterson was filling that bucket with water, I was hoping for some kind of electrified trap.  But now I realise she was probably soaking that rope with kerosene.

Agree that it was really stupid for both Weller and Janelor to leave the house, knowing that there was probably still danger out there.  The psychiatrist killing the guy with a nail gun was right out of "Lethal Weapon".  He should have said "nailed him" like Danny Glover did.

Poor Bethany.  It was speculated that Alexandra was a honey trap, when in the end, she was just another young woman looking for love in all the wrong places.  Sad that she had to die.  If the voice on the phone wants Bethany to stop looking into Tom Carter's death (and I'm assuming the Voice is Tree Tattoo Guy or someone in his club)... why wouldn't they just try killing Bethany?  They clearly have no qualms about killing.

What's up with that locker room?  It appears to be a unisex locker room.  Are there separate sides for showers for men and women?  Does it ever get used?  We always see random towels hanging on hooks like they are being used but every time we see someone in the locker room, they are just putting something away.

[Texasmom1970]

2 hours ago, blackwing said:

What's up with that locker room?  It appears to be a unisex locker room.  Are there separate sides for showers for men and women?  Does it ever get used?  We always see random towels hanging on hooks like they are being used but every time we see someone in the locker room, they are just putting something away.

Of course the FBI cant afford separate locker rooms. Its necessary so Weller and Jane have another place to exchange looks of longing and other crap!

[MissLucas]

13 hours ago, dwmarch said:

 Also we had Hollywood photographic memory, in which the kid can recreate something she has seen down to the last brick. This ability only exists on TV and in movies.

 

This is one of those rare episodes in which the 2-for-1 tattoo concept actually works. There's no way that Jane's black ops outfit figured out that there would be this little girl whose mother would talk to a reporter who would then smuggle them into the country thus exposing State Dept. shenanigans. The tattoo obviously refers to the terrorist group rather than the autistic little girl they all hated. I imagine we'll be seeing them soon enough.

The autistic girl (who certainly didn't look very Syrian to me) and her skill-set were probably based on Stephen Wiltshire. It's rare but it does exist - Wiltshire is just the most famous example.

I think the tattoo referred more to Russell than the Ahmadis themselves - all the tattoos have dealt with shady government stuff, corruption etc. So I'm not sure we'll see the Ahmadis again.

Soso episode with plenty of stuff that made no sense as usual. Weller and Jane caught the idiot ball so that Patterson could go all badass McGyver (well the fan-trick was out of 'The Bourne Ultimatum') on those mercenaries. And why were Reade and Zapata not on that little trip to the country side? Weller had said to Franklin before 'We'll all go'. Also why go after Maya in the first place? The FBI had already scanned her whole sketch book.

The scenes with Maya and Jane were very well done. And Patterson and Boden were cute - there's definitely some sail-setting going on. But Patterson is a dangerous lady to be around. She got her fiancé killed and now blew up her next prospective love interest's vacation home (I wonder if the FBI insurance covers the costs) - dating Jane seems less dangerous.

[misstwpherecool]

Seemed a bit of a contrived and predictable episode. I guess the question is are Jane's handlers trying to manipulate events vs those who want to cover stuff up.  Could Mayfair's friend be a victim of her own stalker and these events are nothing but a red herring?

Zapata's confronting Reed about Mayfair was one of those contrived or forced events. But to push the story they need the set up for next week.

[jhlipton]

On 5/3/2016 at 8:19 AM, Trini said:

Ugh, so like every other show, it's fatal to be the love interest of someone in law enforcement.

I think we should have seen her face her killers and say "Is this because I'm a lesbian?" #NeverNotFunny

[Lugal]

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The worst was Borden killing a dude with a Hollywood nail gun. They just don't work like that.

But I would love to find one of those things that doesn't need an air compressor.  That would be awesome.

[Margherita Erdman]

On May 4, 2016 at 8:16 AM, misstwpherecool said:

Could Mayfair's friend be a victim of her own stalker and these events are nothing but a red herring?

Doesn't anyone else think that the show is doubling down on gay plot tropes and Mayfair is being set up as her hookup's killer?

Edited May 7, 2016 by Margherita Erdman

[jhlipton]

9 hours ago, Margherita Erdman said:

Doesn't anyone else think that the show is doubling down on gay plot tropes and Mayfair is being set up as her hookup's killer?

Maybe to the first, but not the second.  She had her gun in her hand, not the knife, and it didn't look like anyone was accusing her at all.

[LisaM]

I don't think that Mayfair is being set up as the girlfriend's killer - but I do think that there is a plot to take her out of her job. 

Cannot believe how incredibly stupid it was for the two armed FBI operatives to LEAVE the cottage to pick up food -- leaving the shrink and the tech operative to guard the target. Took me right out of the show because of the stupidity. Having said that, loved seeing Patterson figure out interesting ways to defeat the bad guys who were in the house. MacGyverish.

[Beatriceblake]

On 03/05/2016 at 8:08 AM, Dowel Jones said:

Was it Home Alone week at the writers camp?  Two shows with the same predictable results.

Did it occur to anyone on the FBI staff that a young girl just in from Syria might not speak or understand much English?  They should have gone for the translator as soon as they identified her.  She does have some illustration skills, though.

Yeah I was surprised they never tried to see if a translator could get her to speak her first language.

I'm not sure if they are trying to set Mayfair up for Alexandra's murder or just to try and scare her into getting sloppy or something but unless they do something left-field with that plot I'm already bored. Maybe Alex is part of the Conspiracy somehow and faked her death with pills and fake blood.......

It didn't feel in character for Weller and Jane to both leave Maia with Borden and Patterson only even if Maia was thought to be safe at that point. Patterson is still my favourite character though. Textbook Ensemble Darkhorse ;-) (tm TVTropes).

Edited May 17, 2016 by Beatriceblake

[John Potts]

This is the third show in a row where I've posted "Why are the characters so STOOPID!?" IF somebody is in protective custody, then maybe leave somebody actually protecting them? Yes, your computer geek and psychiatrist combo was surprisingly effective, but maybe somebody who handles a gun on a daily basis might work better (and if Jane & Stubbly hadn't returned, despite the defenders good showing, everyone in the house would be dead). But besides that, if the girl is Iranian, maybe offering some Persian food first? OK, maybe she actually loves cheeseburgers, but children - ESPECIALLY autistic ones - are pretty bad about trying new stuff. In any case, in my strictly childless opinion, if you want to get information out of a child, growling at them "This information could be VITAL in preventing a TERRORIST ATTACK!" is perhaps not the most effective way? Maybe try talking to them as if you don't regard them as the enemy - as they say, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar* (it may even work better with adults too!). Jane actually sat down and talked to her about something that interested the girl and got her to respond, so it even seems to work in Blindspot. Who knew?

 

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thuganomics85 Totally knew the CIA agent was crooked

 

Well, considering EVERY SNGLE ONE OF JANE'S TATTOOS involves government corruption on some level, it was pretty obvious! Of course, none of our heroes have managed to make that connection...

 

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 omgsowicked - I liked that Borden got more to do (and now he needs some therapy, after killing a dude)

 

I did like the way that he acted as if killing somebody (and I'm sure everyone is right that nailguns totally don't work that way) was actually a big deal. And I also liked that it was Patterson who got to be the "Guy" in that relationship by going "Yeah, sucks to have to kill somebody, but we've got to go NOW!" I guess it fits that Patterson (as a FBI employee, even as a techie one) is more acquainted with violence and so less likely to freak out.

Incidentally, did anyone get the anagram? Both Wikipedia & TVTropes have let me down!

* I forget who it was that added "Well, you catch even more flies with shit but people don't respond well to that!"

Edited May 19, 2016 by John Potts