The show I was able to watch was Blindspot with Jaimie Alexander (Kyle XY, the Thor movies, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as Jane Doe, an amnesiac who is freshly tattooed and dropped off in Times Square in a duffel bag, and Sullivan Stapleton (300: Rise of the Empire and Strike Back) as Kurt Weller, an FBI agent who is brought from Kentucky to New York when his name is discovered tattooed on Jane Doe’s back.

Watching this show, it was very hard not to look for comparisons Blacklist, the other major conspiracy thriller on NBC. I also found it hard to not compare this show to both Kyle XY and John Doe, both shows about an amnesiac involved in a major conspiracy which were both cancelled before their time.

Overall, I felt satisfied with the pilot. The only problem is that this type of satisfaction is not necessarily indicative of anything. I cannot count the number of times that I have loved a pilot, only to see the show go downhill quickly, particularly with this type of show, which requires a serious balance of question answering and mystery in order to sustain it for any decent length of time. I really hope that this show can maintain that balance, because it does look like a very interesting ride. By the end of the pilot, we have at least two threads in the overarching mystery about why Jane Doe is tattooed and why she has no memory and we have at least one future story relating to an FBI agent and a file.

Along with Weller and Jane Doe, you have a cast of supporting characters. There is a doctor who is helping Jane retrieve her memories, the FBI agent in charge of New York, two agents who Weller brings up to New York with him, a tech, and other assorted agents.

Honestly, when I watched the pilot, there were very true surprises in terms of twists I didn’t see coming. There was nothing that grabbed my attention and screamed that this is a must see. That being said, I do hope that the show continues and really strengthens itself over time because I really want this show to work and keep going, mainly because I love the idea. My main concern is that people will abandon the show if it doesn’t parcel out the secrets in a decent manner.

Check back next week for true review of the second episode!

Grade: B-

About The Author

Matthew Vandover

Television Reviewer

Matt Vandover has been writing television reviews since the first season of One Tree Hill in 2003. He started writing for one email lists and has expanded both the number of reviews he writes and where the reviews go. Matt has written reviews of One Tree Hill, Kyle XY, The Secret Circle, Ringer, The Tomorrow People, Under the Dome, Political Animals, and Life Unexpected as well as individual episodes of Supernatural, Glee, and several other shows. He currently writes reviews of Teen Wolf, Falling Skies, The Flash, Arrow, The Vampire Diaries, and The Originals. He has his own tv blog and currently writes for Pop-topia.com as well as The Rogers Revue.

Outside of TV reviews, Matt is the membership coordinator for the American Society of Addiction Medicine in Chevy Chase, MD and works for a local Huntington Learning Center as a tutor. He also volunteers as an election judge and as a judge for the county, state, and national levels of the National History Day competition. He also writes poetry, songs, and political commentary (among other things) on other blogs that he maintains. He also occasionally writes blog posts about cooking for the blog Journeying Beyond the Ashes.

When he is not writing, he enjoys relaxing with family and friends, reading his poetry at open mic nights, and watching a lot of TV. He is on Twitter and loves to hear people’s thoughts about what he writes, so please feel free to comment!

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