For 10 years,The Blacklistdominated the crime thriller genre on television, reinventing the rules for what was possible for a small-screen serial drama. Once you’ve finished watching all 218 episodes of the show, it’s hard to know where to go next for something else that can even compare. Luckily, two years afterThe Blacklistfirst aired, another crime drama was made for NBC that serves asthe perfect complement to James Spader’s most famous TV series. In fact, this show even has its own equivalent to Raymond Reddington.
Although it had a shorter run and is much lower-profile,Blindspotis the perfect fix for fans ofThe Blacklistwho want something else similarto watch. The show centers on a character with a mysterious backstory, which is gradually revealed during the course of the series, partially through repressed memories. LikeThe Blacklist’s main characterRaymond Reddington, this mysterious figure is picked up by the FBI and used to investigate high-level criminals. The two shows are virtually unique in sharing the curious premise of an enigmatic protagonist of dubious origins working with a federal crime agency in this way.
Blindspot Is About A Mysterious Woman Helping The FBI Solve Cases
Jane Doe Is The Show’s Equivalent To Raymond Reddington
The central character ofBlindspotis Jane Doe,a woman of unknown identity who’s discovered naked in a duffel bagin the show’s first episode, with no memory of how she got there. UnlikeThe Blacklist’s Red, Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander) has no known criminal history, because she has no identifiable history at all. On the other hand, just asThe Blacklistconceals who Raymond Reddington really isfor much of its run, the mystery of Jane Doe’s true identity is a long-running plot thread inBlindspot.
Likewise, whenJane’s murky backstory begins to be revealed, shocking details about the kind of activity she was involved in come to light. Jane Doe wasn’t sharing any secrets with the Soviets, as Red did before the events ofThe Blacklist, but she was participating in a regime that committed crimes against humanity.
Jane Doe’s Tattoos Are Blindspot’s Version Of Raymond Reddington’s Blacklist
They Contain Clues To The People & Locations Behind High-Level Crimes & Security Threats
What’s more,Blindspot’s Jane Doe provides the authorities with information via the show’s equivalent to Raymond Reddington’s blacklist. When she’s found,Jane’s body is covered with recently inked tattoos, each of which turns out to be a cluein the hunt for what happened to her, and for dangerous criminals who pose a threat to national security. Almost all the tattoos are indirect allusions that need to be deciphered, with whole episodes of the show sometimes taken up with cracking the encoded message hidden in a single tattoo.
Blindspotis made even more intriguing by the fact that Jane knows just as little as we do about her past and the secret meanings of her tattoos. WhileThe Blacklist’s Red is merely concealing various secretsfrom us,Blindspot’s protagonist has to work to discover the truth along with the show’s audience.
Blindspot Didn’t Run For As Long As The Blacklist, But It’s A Great Mystery Show
The Series Ran For 5 Years On NBC, Unraveling Its Mystery Across 100 Episodes
While it’s true thatBlindspotdidn’t get the acclaim or attention thatThe Blacklistreceived during its original run, the show isone of the most fascinating crime thriller seriesto have premiered on network TV during the past decade. It ran for five seasons between 2015 and 2020 on NBC, with 100 episodes of the series produced in total. MCU star Jaimie Alexander is excellent in the main role as Jane Doe, while Australian actor Sullivan Stapleton features asBlindspot’s other main character, FBI Special Agent Kurt Weller.
For those who loveThe Blacklist, or who simply enjoy a good, unsettling mystery thriller,Blindspotis certainly worth a try. The show will leave you scratching your head in its first few episodes, but will soon have you hooked into the story of who Jane Doe really is, and what her tattoos are trying to tell us.
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WHERE TO WATCH
Blindspot is an American crime drama series that aired on NBC between 2015 and 2022. There are five seasons in total, which between them boast exactly 100 episodes. The story centers around a heavily tattooed woman who is discovered naked inside a travel back in Times Square. She has no memory of who she is or how she got there, but her tattoos may hold some of the answers.
