The Man in the High Castle Review: “Sunrise”

Kyle’s Review

I don’t know if I can review The Man in the High Castle’s latest episode “Sunrise” without giving away a heap of spoilers but I’ll try.

The pacing of this episode was outstanding. “Sunrise” balanced The Man in the High Castle’s many story arcs with precision. Slower arcs (what happens behind the scenes with the Germans and Japanese) were explored to provide this world with depth and to give viewers a break from threads with more immediate outcomes (Juliana and Joe in Canon City, and Frank and his extended family). But the jump cuts from short term to long term threads and the leaps back built up tension until you’re left with the spine-tingling end. The episode’s final line is fantastic and a perfect way to hold us over until the rest of The Man in the High Castle’s first season airs next month.

In short, every aspect of “Sunrise” is amazing. I used to pay for Amazon Prime for free shipping and the Kindle’s lending library, but The Man in the High Castle, along with Transparent, gives consumers plenty of reason to sign up for Amazon Video. The show may deviate from the novel at times but the heart of what made The Man in the High Castle a Hugo Award winner is still there. I can’t recommend this show highly enough.

The Man in the High Castle’s Map of the United States

Arrow Review: “Restoration”

Kyle’s Review

Arrow has been one step ahead of The Flash so far this season and it remains one step ahead this week. Similar to The Flash’s “Family of Rogues,” Arrow’s “Restoration” lays the groundwork for the CW’s upcoming series Legends of Tomorrow. But while “Family of Rogues” had The Flash take a backseat, “Restoration” gave equal time and effort on Ollie.

Sure, Sara Lance coming back from the dead was front and center—heck, her story arc gave the episode its name—but I liked the strides Arrow took with Ollie and Diggle’s strained relationship. Sometimes you need a little less romance and little more bromance, and we haven’t seen a good bromance between these two in a while. Curtis and Felicity are getting a lot closer, too. I’m not a big fan of Felicity revealing her involvement with the Green Arrow, and Curtis is quick to accept her as part of Team Arrow, but this isn’t the first time a member of Ollie’s team had an impromptu play date with someone who wasn’t a part of the team, so I guess I can let that slide. But Thea’s story made up for that small shortcoming. Thea’s arc didn’t get tied into a nice bow and it grants Arrow the ability to have repeated visits with the League, Malcolm Merlyn, and Nyssa. That’s fantastic.

I also liked how Arrow wrapped up the Lazarus Pit, for now. I always thought that introducing an element to DC’s TV universe that was as powerful as the Lazarus Pit would make death meaningless. If DC’s TV universe follows DC’s comic universe lead, there should be more than one pit, so may not be the last we’ve heard of a Lazarus Pit. Still I like not having the threat of characters dying and then immediately coming back to life.

If you’re wondering why it’s taken me this long to get to the villain of the week, it’s because there isn’t much to talk about. Double Down was introduced, dispatched, and we won’t see him again. He only served to clean up a few things with H.I.V.E. and gave Damien Darhk a chance to show us his stuff. And I don’t know about you, but I think Neal McDonough’s doing a good job with Damien Darhk. He wouldn’t have been my first choice because I think of McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan (the bowler wearing member of Captain America: The First Avenger’s Howling Commandos) but he’s slipped in as Darhk so well that it took me a while to notice who was playing the character. Great job.

Arrow’s looking good after a few episodes and I’m looking forward to next week. If you want to know more about Arrow, here’s a link to our Arrow secrets page. Thanks for reading.

Arrow Secrets: “Restoration”

Legends

Malcolm Merlyn (in response to Laurel telling Malcolm to bring back Sara from the dead): “What you’re asking for hasn’t been done in ages past—even then, only in legends.”

Merlyn’s line might be a nod to the CW’s upcoming series Legends of Tomorrow or it could be a tip of the hat to Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Spock’s father Sarek uttered the same line when he wanted to imbue his living chakra to Spock’s body. Either way, this line was a nice touch.

Original Team Arrow (OTA)

noun
Arrow fan term to denote Oliver Queen and his first teammates Felicity and Diggle.

I couldn’t help but do that. Marc Guggenheim, Arrow’s showrunner, is active with social media and he’s heard the term a lot. Felicity would’ve been my first choice for a character using this term, as she’s the closest character to a fan.

: The Dodger

Felicity was full of terms and name dropping this week. She mentioned “The Dodger” during this week’s episodes and that’s a nod to Arrow’s fifteenth episode titled “Dodger.” In the “Dodger,” the meets Roy Harper and faces off against a criminal called The Dodger.

You may think this is an odd reference but The Dodger planted a bomb in someone’s neck in that Arrow episode and planting bombs a people’s necks was kind of Papa Snart’s jam in The Flash this week.

Dr. Markov and Markovia

Arrow has used Markov and Markovia on more than one occasion, and it’s always trouble for Team Arrow.

In Arrow, Dr. Brion Markov worked for Unidac Industries, where he developed the Markov Device. The Markov Device has the power to cause earthquakes and it’s the same device Malcolm Merlyn used for his Undertaking (at the end of Arrow’s season one). With the device in hand, Merlyn killed Dr. Markov and his colleagues so they couldn’t get in his way. Arrow’s Markov differs from the comics as the comics’ Markov is Geo-Force, a superhero with geo-kinesis and who happens to be the prince of Markovia.

Double Down

Double Down is a Flash villain in the comics and since he didn’t die in “Restoration,” he could make an appearance in The Flash or even a second appearance in Arrow. Iron Heights doesn’t have the best security, just ask Captain Cold.

Arrow changed the source of Double Down’s powers. He may be a metahuman in this episode, but Double Down gained his powers from a cursed deck of cards in the comics.

Poker Puns

Captain Cold is known for his ice puns in The Flash, and Double Down made his debut the same week The Flash featured Captain Cold and there were plenty of poker puns this week. To be fair, Double Down didn’t utter too many of them, but you’ve gotta love “Deal” and “You ready to call this yet?”

Joker Card

I couldn’t find a picture but watched the scene where we first meet Double Down several times and the card Double Down first uses is a joker card. Coincidence?

Slam

The name of the Island’s super-drug could be a nod to DC’s Slam Bradley. A product of the same team who gave us Superman (Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster), Slam was a private detective who was active during the 1930s and 40s. DC has used Slam sparingly but he has surfaced Post-Crisis in Gotham City because the mayor wanted him to track down Catwoman.

Okay, the slam drug might not have anything to do with the character Slam Bradley but then again, Arrow and Flash have had a lot more obscure references.

T-Sphere

You caught our first glimpse of Mr. Terrific’s T-Sphere this week. These little gadgets work like magic and can do a ton of things. Holt mentioned that his device can record voices and explode but those are only a couple of things T-Spheres can do. Here’s a list of the T-Sphere’s abilities, according to DC Wikia.

Self-propelled flight
Form a laser grid between spheres
Create holograms
Record
Sensors
Link to computers/data
Be used as a weapon by flying into things
Bombs

Genesis

“Restoration” revealed H.I.V.E.’s main objective with a simple, common word: Genesis. There’s no way to know which comic book reference H.I.V.E.’s Genesis is supposed to make because DC Comics has used that term in countless books over the past few decades. The most common book to use the word Genesis is the New Gods, but I don’t think we’ll see either Orion or Darkseid any time soon. Or could we?

Thanks again for reading. If you missed our review of Arrow’s “Restoration,” here’s a link.

The Flash Review: “Family of Rogues”

Kyle’s Review

When I heard that the big cheese (the hammy Captain Cold) would make an appearance on The Flash, I wanted to dislike “Family of Rogues” more than I did. Sure, many of the things that plagued The Flash are still there (character backstory/motivation via dialogue projectile vomiting: Golden Glider, and some rushed and tacked on relationships: Barry/Patty and Caitlin/Jay) but Captain Cold himself wasn’t as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr. Freeze bad as he usually is, so I took that as a win.

Of course, you can tell that “Family of Rogues” was a means to set up the CW’s upcoming series Legends of Tomorrow. This storyline opens the door for Captain Cold to be a hero in a ham fisted way, so while I like that The Flash made Captain Cold into something more than a campy villain, I’m chagrinned that The Flash may be the new waystation for DC heroes/protagonists.

Did I mention the other member of Legends of Tomorrow, Firestorm? No? Yeah, we’re getting a new persona who will merge with Doc Martin this season. I’m okay with that because Firestorm changes personas more frequently than I change my air conditioning filter—don’t tell my wife—but I’m not okay with someone new merging to reform Firestorm as the reason why Caitlin jumped ship so quickly from Ronnie to Jay. This is another peril of fast forwarding months between seasons. We heard—through dialogue again—that Caitlin grieved (for Ronnie) but we didn’t see any of it. For viewers, Ronnie died in the first episode this season.

As you can tell The Flash made plenty of mistakes but I do like how they’re bringing along Iris. She’s being eased into the story this year and what she has to work with could make her a more complete and likeable character. While I’m still unsure of Candice Patton’s talent, she can’t go wrong with more scenes with Jesse L. Martin and this storyline could have legs. I just hope they—and by “they” I mean the writers room—don’t turn this into a super-power or alternate Earth thing. Not everything has to go back to a power.

“Family of Rogues” had its issues but I see it as an opportunity. Captain Cold made his exit—sort of—and that opens the door for other villain(s) to fill his shoes. I’m not dead set against a villain of the week; I just didn’t like how The Flash started killing off villains. I’d prefer The Flash differ from Arrow in as many ways as possible while still existing in the same universe, so reoccurring villains of the week may work and The Flash has plenty in which to choose. Mirror Master, Weather Wizard, Pied Piper, and Gorilla Grodd can and should make multiple appearances this season. Bring on the alliteration, Flash.

Speaking of a reoccurring villain, the stinger at the end of “Family of Rogues” might be the thing Flash fans waited for the most. I won’t spoil it here—if you want to see our secrets for this week’s The Flash, here it is—but I could hear a collective sigh of relief from Flash fans.

Thanks for reading.

The Flash Secrets: “Family of Rogues”

One L isn’t Enough

The Flash revealed the Snart’s patriarch: Lewis. That means that we have Lewis, Lisa, and Leonard Snart. Say that three times fast. Lewis, Lisa, and Leonard. Lewis, Lisa, and Leonard. Okay, I’ll stop. Papa Snart isn’t named Lewis in the comic, his name’s Lawrence, but he was an abusive father.

My name’s Sam

When Barry introduces himself to Lewis, Barry says that his name’s Sam. This might be a stretch, even though it tracks with what The Flash and Arrow have done in the past with namedrops, but Michael Ironside (the actor who plays Lewis Snart) portrayed General Sam Lane in the CW’s Smallville. Yeah, I’m sure The Flash was paying homage to Ironside’s role on Smallville.

Scanners

If you were wondering where you’ve seen someone’s head explode in a similar way as depicted in “Family of Rogues,” look no further than Scanners, the Sci-Fi, horror film by David Cronenberg. We can’t—or shouldn’t—show you a gif of someone’s head explode but if the guy in the above gif looks familiar, he should: that’s Michael Ironside in Scanners.

The Speed Cannon

There is a speed cannon in the comics but it has a very different origin. A scientist named Gorflack from the distant planet Savoth built the speed cannon to defend his planet from alien invaders. When he turned it on, the speed cannon brought Jay Garrick (the first Flash and Flash of Earth-2) to Savoth. Gorflack’s plan worked in a roundabout way because Garrick drove away the invaders. As a means of a thank you—and as a way to have a hero at his beck and call—Gorflack gave Garrick a shard of solidified Speed Force which Garrick and his successors could use to travel to Savoth.

Excelsior

Excited about the success of the Speed Force Cannon, Doc Stein said, “Excelsior.” That’s Stan Lee’s catchword but I don’t mind that we have a DC/Marvel crossover.

Linda Park

Linda Park made her first appearance this season and she brings up plenty of questions. Will we see bits of post-Crisis Flash? Will Wall West, the third Flash and Linda’s husband, make an appearance? The only question we don’t have is whether or not Linda and Barry will reignite their romance. With Patty Spivot in the picture, that’s unlikely.

Danville

Here’s another nod to a DC Universe city. The meat packing plant in this week’s episode bears the name Danville, which is a reference to Danville, OH, the home of Lisa Jennings. While I don’t think we’ll see Lisa Jennings (a school teacher who picked up a kryptonite shard and gained the powers of Superman), it’d be a safe bet that Jennings could make an appearance in CBS’s Supergirl. The same creative team behind Arrow and The Flash is behind Supergirl, so there’s at least a chance that Supergirl will be a part of the extended DC TV universe. I wouldn’t hold my breath for a crossover though.

Kahndaq

Yet another DC location name drop, Kahndaq is the home of Black Adam, Shazam’s primary adversary. This isn’t the first time Kahndaq’s been mentioned. The picture above came from one of Barry’s case files last season, but this is the first time Kahndaq’s been name dropped on either Arrow or The Flash TV show. There is a comic book tie-in for Arrow, called Arrow Season 2.5, which has a version of Black Adam. Could we catch a glimpse of Black Adam on the show?

Big Belly Burger

We’ve seen Big Belly Burger show up in The Flash and Arrow before but this is the first time Big Belly Burger has made an appearance this season, and I like Jay Garrick’s comment that no matter which Earth you’re on, they’ll always be a Big Belly Burger.

Particle Accelerator

Hmm. It looks like the particle accelerator exploded on Earth-2 just like it did on Earth-1. It even looks like the particle accelerator endowed Jay with super speed much like it did Barry. So why is Harrison Wells worshiped as a hero on Earth-2, while he was shunned on Earth-1? I don’t know but I’m sure we’ll find out soon.

Suicide Squad

So Lewis Snart implanted his daughter, a super villain, with a bomb in her neck. Does that sound familiar? It should. Each member of the Suicide Squad, who happen to be super villains as well, has a bomb in their neck (or spine depending on which version you follow) and they’re blackmailed into working for the government. I don’t know if this was a planned reference or not but it can’t be ignored.

The Salamanders are killing ‘em

When Barry and the two Snarts make their way into Kahndaq Diamond Exchange, there are two guards watching a baseball game in the lobby. The Diamonds are playing the Salamanders. Central City is home to the Diamonds as well as Barry Allen but they’re getting “killed” by the Salamanders and the Salamanders call Keystone City home.

The two guards seem to be pulling for the Salamanders instead of the hometown Diamonds but before you think that’s weird, Keystone City is across the state line. Think of Central City as Kansas City, Missouri, while Keystone City is Kansas City, Kansas, so the guards rooting for the Salamanders isn’t that much of a stretch, especially when Keystone City is the home of Jay Garrick and Wally West.

Doing time after a diamond heist

“Family of Rogues” featured a diamond heist and Captain Cold is no stranger to diamond heists. At one point, Captain Cold went to jail after attempting to steal some diamonds. He ended up serving his sentence and was legitimately released rather than escaping. That doesn’t happen very often in comics, and I don’t think that’s how Cold will leave prison on The Flash.

Golden Glider

Lisa Snart rides off on a golden motorcycle at the end of this episode and the bike’s color can’t be a coincidence as The Flash fit in her super villain name, Golden Gilder, during the same scene. Could this be the new way Golden Gilder gets around?

Deathstorm

Blue flames enveloped Doc Stein at the end of “Family of Rogues,” and those blue flames officially announced Ronnie’s death—perhaps. Deathstorm occurred in the comics when one of Firestorm’s two persona’s died. The surviving persona goes on a rampage until it finds another person in which to fuse.

We don’t know if that’s the direction The Flash is headed. Blue lightning also signified Zoom’s speed force, so there could be something to that as well. Perhaps some corrosive energy has found its way from Earth-2 to Earth-1.

If you missed our review of “Family of Rogues,” here’s a link. Thanks for reading.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Secrets: “Devils You Know”

Alisha Returns

Alisha’s the redhead introduced in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s second season and she’s getting a somewhat increased role here. Last season, Alisha was little more than Jiaying’s henchwoman and in “Devils You Know” she’s joining forces with S.H.I.E.L.D. to help out her inhuman friends. Alisha shares the same power as Jamie Madrox, the X-Men’s Multiple Man, and she can make many copies of herself. Unfortunately for Alisha, her clone who tried to warn her friends gets killed by Lash and the death takes its toll. Alisha’s still kicking and I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of her.

Lash

Lash gets named for the first time in the show. He also has the ability to change into a human and that’s something different from the comics. Clearly, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. intends to deviate from the comics a bit but nothing was as far a departure as Lash’s partner in crime Dwight Frye.

Dwight Frye

Okay, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. must have scoured the Marvel universe for the name Dwight Frye. Instead of creating a new character all together, AoS took a little known Marvel character and completely changed him into Lash’s sniveling sidekick. Frye, also known in the comics as Bazooka, only has a few appearances, he showed up in the series DP7, and the two Fryes couldn’t look any more different—on the surface that is. One’s kind of like potato wedges, while the other’s shoestring fries.

TV’s Dwight Frye is a small, timid, white guy who works as an IT specialist before he becomes radar for other Inhumans, while the comic book Dwight Frye is a large, black, military man with a temper and the ability to shoot blasts from his hands—hey, that’s the reference Agent Coulson makes when he says that his new hand shoots lasers; I actually just made that connection.

Anyway, the comic’s Frye and TV’s Frye both got their powers during a global event (the comic’s Frye got his during the White Event which caused many ordinary people to obtain powers) and both of their abilities physically scar them. TV’s Frye gets a rash when he comes into contact with an inhuman, while the comic book Frye would damage his hands whenever he used his ability.

That’s all we have for secrets this week. If you missed our review of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., check it out here. Thanks for reading.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review: “Devils You Know”

Kyle’s Review

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues building on non-powered characters, while Daisy (Quake/Skye) has little to no development. I’m good with Daisy’s focus on saving all inhumans and forming a superhero team, but I’d like more motivation as to why she has this new found focus. I wouldn’t bring this up again except that “Devils You Know” had Daisy deliver the line “I don’t think Lash is just some white whale,” meaning there’s a reason to why Lash’s doing what Lash is doing and it goes beyond animal instinct. It’s ironic that we repeatedly get that bit of dialogue from the one member of S.H.I.E.L.D. who doesn’t appear to have a reason for doing what she’s doing beyond the animal instinct of species survival.

It might sound like I disliked “Devils You Know,” but I actually enjoyed it. The rest of “Devils You Know” centered on the core human agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and their myriad of character flaws, desires, and machinations. Agent May is back in full force and she’s not happy about how Dr. Garner ended things and that he works for S.H.I.E.L.D., Hunter puts his plan to exact revenge against Ward into motion, Coulson and the ATCU’s director Rosalind Price’s tenuous partnership deepens, and Fitz and Simmons continue their dance over what happened to Simmons and her need to return. That last point triggered a pretty good cliffhanger for next week.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a lot of great things going for it. It’s just too bad most of what works is solely on the human side of the equation. With Daisy as a—and even sometimes “the”—central character of the series, we need more from her. It’s not the actor’s fault; Chloe Bennet’s just not given much to work with at the moment. I think there’s still time to grow her character and until the point when she does, I’ll enjoy the other webs Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is spinning.

Yes, we have Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets this week and here’s a link.

iZombie review: “Real Dead Housewife of Seattle”

Kyle’s Review

Liv’s BFF Peyton is back in town, Major is a full-fledged utopium junkie and zombie killer, and this week’s murder hits too close to home for Max Rager. In short, there’s plenty of fallout, and that’s alright with me.

“Real Dead Housewife of Seattle” doesn’t break too much ground as far as the weekly mystery is concerned—not like last week’s—but iZombie continues to surprise me with its consistency. To date it’s the best of the CW comic shows this season and this episode does a lot to complicate the main cast’s relationships. Peyton has both a calming influence (for Liv and Ravi) and a sense of impending doom for Major, since Peyton plans to take down the utopium trade and Major could get caught up in the crossfire.

Vaughn Du Clark (Steven Weber) is taking Max Rager to a higher level and this season’s zombies may be even more deadly than the ones the previous year. I don’t know how Blaine figures into things—he was absent this episode—but I’m sure he’s working behind the scenes somehow. My guess is that since he inherited his father’s fortune, he may be one of Du Clark’s financial backers. Everything working behind the scenes undercut what was a pretty good murder mystery that got wrapped up comically—the good kind of comedy.

I don’t know how I can say this without revealing some spoilers, so you’ve been warned: Spoilers. Frustrated with her friends leaving her, Liv befriends the murderer (by mistake) and then she has to take down the perp while they’re out shopping. We treated to a delightful exchange between the store manager and Liv after Liv goes cave zombie and punches out the killer.

With a nice combination of humor, police procedural, and character development, iZombie is the highlight of the CW’s shows this season—so far.

Machi Koro: Harbor Expansion

Once again you’re the mayor of Machi Koro and your city’s taking to the seas with this expansion. Can you build an economic powerhouse?

Who doesn’t like to make money? I know I do but I like talking about a game’s specifics even more. Let’s cover some of Machi Koro: Harbor’s technical stuff before getting back into the game’s flow and review.

The Fiddly Bits

Designer: Masao Suganuma
Publisher: IDW Games
Date Released: 2013
Number of Players: 2-5
Age Range: 10 and up (I’d still say 8 and up works)
Setup Time: less than 5 minutes
Play Time: around 40 minutes

Game Mechanics:

Dice Rolling
Set Collection

Game Flow:

We’ve covered the base Machi Koro game earlier, so we won’t go into detail about Machi Koro: Harbor Expansion’s gameplay. If you missed our Machi Koro review, here’s a link.

In short, each player rolls the die (or dice) at the beginning of their turn. The die rolls, and when the numbers are rolled, affect which buildings produce money. Buildings are represented by cards and players can purchase new cards with their money but it’s the player who finishes all of their landmark cards (a group of cards each player begins the game with) first who wins the game.

Machi Koro: Harbor Cards

Machi Koro: Harbor does change the game a little bit. The largest difference between the base game and Machi Koro: Harbor Expansion is the fact that all games which use only the Machi Koro base game begin the same way: all of the purchasable buildings cards are available at the onset. Machi Koro: Harbor adds more building cards, and since you have extra cards to choose from, you shuffle all the building cards together and deal out ten unique ones. This makes each game unique.

Machi Koro: Harbor adds another three landmarks, making the game run a little longer for the folks who thought the base game was a little short, and the abilities these landmarks grant add new wrinkles to Machi Koro’s strategy.

Game Review:

I love the Machi Koro: Harbor Expansion but the same could be said about the base game when it first came out. I liked the Machi Koro base game a lot but after a while the playing experience felt canned. Don’t get me wrong, I still play the base game, especially with newbies, but after about five plays, people figure out which strategies work and the games begin to overlap. Machi Koro: Harbor’s addition of a variable market adds some much needed variety.

Machi Koro: Harbor Purple Cards (Special Buildings)

Sure, luck plays a larger role in Machi Koro: Harbor than it did in the base game but I don’t mind a slightly larger injection of luck into the game because building a good moneymaking engine is still the game’s core mechanism.

And yet I can’t ignore the increased role luck plays with Machi Koro: Harbor. I’ve played plenty of games with the Harbor Expansion and while most games have a balanced feel to them, there are some games where red buildings (buildings that allow you to steal money from other players) are too plentiful. Those few games took forever. You don’t get very far when players don’t generate money from the bank and merely swap coins between each other for five or ten minutes. Games like these are few and far between but they do happen and when they do, it’s usually after you played three or four games prior to that one and you curse yourself for not quitting while you were ahead.

Machi Koro: Harbor Fish Related Cards

Despite these occasional problem child games, if you enjoyed Machi Koro’s base game, you should pick up the Machi Koro: Harbor Expansion. The focus on fishing—it is a Harbor Expansion after all—reminds you of Machi Koro’s Japanese roots and the new ways in which you collect money is fast and enjoyable.

Verdict:

Machi Koro: Harbor adds some depth and game length—but not too much—to the base game’s light and fast city building mechanics. If you enjoyed Machi Koro, you should pick up Machi Koro: Harbor. In fact, I’d say that you should purchase the Harbor Expansion as you pick up Machi Koro because Harbor makes Machi Koro a full game.

Blindspot Review: “Split the Law”

Kyle’s Review

While this week’s mystery was okay, Blindspot’s ham fisting of CIA versus FBI was a little much. We even heard dialogue explaining that the FBI works cases within the United States, and the CIA works cases outside the USA. Thanks for that, Blindspot. The best part about “Split the Law” is that Jane Doe’s tattoos could prove as evidence of government corruption. Who else could orchestrate the elaborate nature of Jane’s tats? I’m sure we’ll find out and Jane’s point of origin may be more complex than Blindspot first let on.

I don’t know if I buy in fully with Jane’s complex past. It’s as if Blindspot knows it’ll have to make things murky to justify a series. Sure, you could spend a season figuring out Jane’s cryptic body art, but what happens when you’ve figured out everything? Blindspot hasn’t gotten too convoluted yet but I can see it heading in that direction.

I’ll keep watching until Blindspot gets too silly. I like Michael Gaston as the head CIA agent, Thomas Carter, but Sullivan Stapleton (Agent Weller) needs to show more range. There were moments during previous episodes where I thought Weller was opening up a smidge but Stapleton went back to scowling and emoting an FBI agent with a troubled past and family life. Blindspot has some potential—especially with Jaimie Alexander’s performance—but I’d like to see more from the rest of the cast and “Split the Law” was a small step back in that regard.