Blindspot midseason finale postmortem: Boss breaks down big fall finale twists

Warning: This story contains major spoilers from the midseason finale of Blindspot. Read at your own risk!

The team was so focused on catching the Russian spy that killed Patterson’s boyfriend that they never saw the warning signs that Jane was a target.

During Blindspot‘s midseason finale, the team was able to prevent further bloodshed by the Russians after Jane (Jaimie Alexander) and Weller (Sullivan Stapleton) caught and killed the red-headed spy that was to blame for David’s death. After Jane basically celebrated by kissing Weller, she was kidnapped and tortured by Carter (Michael Gaston), who was desperate to discover Jane Doe’s real identity.

Unfortunately for Carter, Jane’s mysterious ex — a.k.a the tree tattoo guy, now known as Oscar (Francois Arnaud) — came to her rescue and killed Carter in the process. Oscar then produced a video of past-Jane telling her exactly who was to blame for the tattoos and her memory loss: Herself. What’s next? EW caught up with executive producer Martin Gero to find out:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Where are we picking up in the second half of the season?

MARTIN GERO: It’s an immediate pickup.

Can we trust the past-Jane video saying that Jane did this to herself? Or could that have been done under duress?

You never know. I think she’s going to trust it.

Is it more meant to infer that she volunteered? I can’t imagine she actually planned all this.

Well, wait and see. [Laughs]

Jane says in the video that she wanted to be in the vicinity of Weller. What does that say about Weller? Can we trust him?

I think we can. Obviously, the Taylor Shaw of it all is a very important part of the puzzle here. There was a reason that she wanted to be near to him.

Is Jane going to be able to question Oscar about what’s really going on?

Certainly, it’s just a question of how much Oscar’s going to tell her. What she realizes now is that there’s a plan in place, but Oscar’s the one that’s carrying the playbook. As uneasy as she feels about the whole thing, she suddenly has a direct line to some truth. Also, she remembers being engaged to him. She remembers the feelings she had toward him. It’s pretty intoxicating for someone who has been fumbling around in the dark, looking for an actual memory, to connect with someone she remembers. Even though she might have trouble reconciling who she was in the past, you can’t deny the fact that there’s now someone standing in front of her that knows way more than anyone on the entire show.

Will she struggle with keeping this a secret from Weller and the team?

Yeah. What’s so fun for us is this is a moment I’ve had since I pitched the show before I wrote the pilot. It was one of the big turns in the pitch. There was a lot of discussion about where it should go. I really always felt like this was the exact right place. Jane’s a great character, but it’s hard to write a character on a show like this that doesn’t have any secrets. This adds a layer of tension and intrigue to the show — augmenting it without breaking it, basically. We were obviously nervous about it, because it changes a lot, but now that we’re half way through writing episode 17, we’re just like, “Oh God, this is so much more fun. It gives her so much more to do.” We’re really excited about it. Episode 11 has been the hardest episode to write for all sorts of reasons. It’s basically another pilot. That one took me over a month just to get the tone and balance right. We’re really excited about the direction the show takes in the second part of the season.

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Can you talk about some of the themes we’ll be seeing in the second half?

It’s tough to talk about it thematically, because it points to what the ending of the first season is. We’re so excited about what we have in store the whole way through. Even though you can have as much planned out as we do, in a first season show, the first 10 episodes are a learning curve. You take risks that don’t work, you take risks that do. Even on a production standpoint, you’re finding the boundaries of the show. What I think is really exciting about the second half of the season is it feels so much more assured. We’ve learned the lessons from making these first 10 episodes to allow us to make even bigger episodes — episode 11 is one of the biggest episodes we’ve done — and also allows the Reades, Zappatas, Mayfairs and Pattersons of the world to have a little more screen time, because we are engaged in them a little bit more. It balances out the show in a way that I think is really satisfying and exciting without letting up on this mystery that we’re also engaged in.

How does Oscar’s reappearance in Jane’s life complicate things with Weller?

It just does. This happening, regardless of it coming from Oscar, is going to give her pause about every decision that she’s made so far. It complicates things. A triangle develops between Oscar, Weller and Jane — not even a love one, but suddenly Weller’s not the guy that understands her the most. There’s somebody out there that knows her a lot better, but she doesn’t know if she can trust him. She knows she can trust Weller. It’s a balancing act that she has to go through.

How does the big kiss between Jane and Weller change their dynamic?

What’s heartbreaking about the series of events in this episode is she’s, in many ways, finally found her family. At the end of episode 9, she was hanging out and just eating pizza in a casual way. It was the first time we’ve seen a lot of them just laugh and smile together. When Patterson says, “I couldn’t have done this without you guys,” she really feels like she’s part of the team finally. Then she kisses Weller, which she’s wanted to do probably since episode 5. In a lot of ways, for just a moment, she’s on solid ground for the first time. Then Oscar shows up and the floor falls out from underneath her.

Will we get more flashbacks to the time when Jane and Carter briefly crossed paths?

That time is a real important time, so yes, we eventually will. Orion is a huge piece in the entire series mythology, so that’s stuff that we’re definitely going to look into in the back half.

And Orion is what’s happening with her, right?

No.

She’s not Orion?

That’s a difficult — no comment.

We still don’t know definitively that Jane is Taylor Shaw, correct? When will you dive back into that story line?

We get into it pretty seriously in episode 11.

How will Carter’s death shake things up?

It’s a huge deal. We had been setting him up properly as the big bad of the season. There is a bit of a vacuum now without him there that will allow for some other great stuff to happen.

Will Jane come clean that she was there when it happened?

No. I don’t think so.

Without the knowledge of how exactly Carter died, what’s Mayfair’s reaction? I have to imagine she feels everything closing in on her at that point?

Yeah, I think that’s right. That would be a good guess. But also, she’s powerless to do anything. Really, her only ally — as much as she detested Carter — was Carter. There’s not a lot of people she can go to and talk about this stuff with. It’s put her in a weird position.

Now that Carter is dead, what does that mean for Zapata’s resignation?

Hopefully she finds out about it before she hands it in.

What’s Zapata’s mindset when she finds out Carter is dead?

It’s relief and terror, because she certainly has a motive if there was foul play involved, which we know there was. It’s not over for them. They don’t get out of it that easy.

Reade got a call in the closing moment of the finale that sounds like it may be from a girlfriend. Are we going to get into Reade’s personal life?

Good catch. Yes, we will. It’s a big part of the next part of the season.

So he does have a girlfriend?

Yeah, he does.

Blindspot returns Monday, Feb. 29 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.