Blindspot: The Complete First Season

NBC's action thriller Blindspot begins with a doozy of a hook: a naked woman crawls out of a mysterious bag left abandoned in Times Square, her body covered in enigmatic tattoos and her memory completely blank. The FBI calls her Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander) and the name of Special Agent Kurt Weller (Sullivan Stapleton) is etched across her back. Each tattoo is a puzzle that leads Weller's team to an unsolved crime or hidden conspiracy. Meanwhile, Jane finds that she has the reflexes and training of a Navy SEAL and joins Weller, but also discovers that she herself helped mastermind the conspiracy that she is investigating. Blindspot features hidden agendas, secret government agencies, and a crack unit of professionals tossed into dangerous situations and violent battles, with each episode presenting a single investigation from start to finish while adding pieces to the larger story. In some ways it plays like a network TV version of a Cinemax action series, with precise execution and a big budget for elaborate action scenes, built around another absurdly elaborate conspiracy plot with deep mysteries, complex puzzles, and obscure clues. The impressive action scenes and production values help overcome the more arcane hints and unlikely twists, and the cast matches the material with seriousness, intensity, and impressive physical commitment. Compiling all 23 episodes from the 2015-16 debut season, extras include an audio commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)