NBC just announced that it has renewed Blindspot, making it the first new show this season to land a permanent spot in NBC’s 2016 lineup, but not everyone is happy about it.
In fact, some viewers are downright angry, and we totally don’t get it.
Despite these angry tweets, the show — an action-heavy crime drama about a tattooed amnesiac found in a duffel bag and the FBI agent whose name is tattooed on her back — has been doing really well in the ratings. And we’re pretty sure it will continue to do well, because honestly, the show has a lot going for it!
Here are all the reasons we love the show and why we think it’s awesome news that NBC renewed it for another season.
Awesome female lead
Actress Jaimie Alexander is awesome. A wrestler in her youth, Alexander is no stranger to physical confrontation and, as such, she’s played some truly strong female characters. Her Blindspot character, Jane Doe, is no exception. Although we don’t know enough about Jane’s history to understand why she’s so gifted in combat, her skills are undeniable and it’s great to see a woman on television capable of going toe-to-toe with her attackers with expertise.
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But even if she weren’t physically in charge, it’s exciting to watch Jane handle herself each week amid the insanity that is her new life. The woman has no memory to speak of — except what she has been able to glean from a few recent flashbacks — and is treated like a human guinea pig by the government agencies trying to “help” her and, yet, she’s never a victim. Instead, Jane is proactive about trying to find answers and, as such, is a really strong female protagonist we can get behind.
Sullivan Stapleton is hot
It may not be the most mature reason to like a show, but we can’t help it if Blindspot‘s leading man, Sullivan Stapleton, is all kinds of handsome. Sure, Agent Weller is overly brooding and intense, and we probably wouldn’t be able to ignore his emotional distance if his character stepped out of the television screen and invited us to dinner, but come on — this man is just the right combination of drama and sex appeal for a super-satisfying weekly eye-candy fix!
Intrigue and double-crossing
Anyone a fan of Shonda Rhimes here? Yeah, I thought so. Listen, we’re not saying Blindspot feels like a Shonda Rhimes program, but the show’s use of nefarious characters who may/may not be weaving a web of deceit around Jane/her past is totally taking its cue from shows like Scandaland How to Get Away With Murder. Rhimes has cornered the market on twisty characters and Blindspot is definitely capitalizing on the fact that today’s audiences gobble her stuff up!
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Science and stuff
Of course, we know it’s just television and the FBI can’t really do all the cool things Blindspot says it can… but we have to hand it to the show’s creators for putting a cool (if somewhat exaggerated) spin on the science behind the show. Just like certain other serialized crime shows, much of the show takes place in a lab. The difference here is that, because most of the show’s clues come from Jane’s tattoos, instead of scanning bones or DNA for evidence, we get to spend our time trying to decipher codes, cryptograms and all sorts of other puzzles.
And that’s good for your brain. Seriously.
Chrissy Seaver all grown up!
Speaking of science, the show’s resident brainiac is played by none other than Growing Pains‘ Chrissy Seaver, which totally had us geeking out during the first episode and — to be honest — we’ve never really recovered. And sure, Ashley Johnson has been working pretty steadily since her Growing Pains days, but that doesn’t mean she’ll ever stop being Chrissy Seaver to us.
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Romance… maybe
OK, maybe there are people out there who don’t appreciate an obligatory “will they/won’t they” plot line.
But did we mention that Kurt Weller is super hot?
I mean, sure, we’re all about strong female characters here — and the fact that neither Jane nor Weller has succumbed to the sexual tension building between them is definitely the right choice. I mean, with so much trauma and their work relationship on the line, allowing either of these characters to jump each other’s bones would seem wildly out of sync with where they’re both at.
But we have to admit, we’re kind of digging the possibility that these two might wind up locking lips in the future. So, the Weller/Doe collision is one that the writers will really need to earn. But the rising sexual tension between these two characters is super yummy and yet another reason to keep tuning in.
We love a good mystery
There’s just no denying that humans enjoy a puzzle. We can’t help ourselves — our clever little brain stumbles across a good “whodunnit” and our imagination runs wild. Well, Blindspot, with its thoroughly crazy premise that a woman would show up in Times Square, covered in cryptic tattoos that point to future crimes, offers us mysteries in abundance. Not only do we wonder who this “Jane Doe” woman is, but we can’t help but fantasize about who is behind her amnesia and tattoos, as well as speculate as to what her real connection to Agent Weller is.
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And while the show hands us a few breadcrumbs every week, it also feeds us a steady diet of suspense as individual tattoos are deciphered, revealing even more secrets and questions — and sometimes lies.
Of course, the problem with this is that, as some Twitter users have pointed out, the set-up leaves the show feeling a little formulaic.
And maybe that’s ultimately the problem with Blindspot — along with every other serialized cop show on television — they all revolve around the same basic formula. But in an age of CSI Everywheres dominating the genre, it feels impossible to create a completely original crime show anymore. Basically, the trick is to put a cool spin on the genre — something we think Blindspot has definitely done.
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