Whatever evil exists in the world, America must ultimately be at fault. That’s the tone of NBC’s series opener for “Blindspot.” The freshman drama centers around “Jane Doe,” a woman who emerges stark naked from a duffel bag in the middle of Times Square in a state of drug-induced amnesia. Jane’s entire body is covered in fresh tattoos, a series of coded clues that will be deciphered throughout the series.
The pilot episode’s antagonist, a Chinese immigrant, blames America for being too free and too indifferent to the struggles in his homeland. In a propaganda video set to upload after his bombs have detonated, the terrorist lays out his anti-American claims:
-Jane: He says, “Today’s action, the jackal politician, the mother of exiles, is just the start. America has ignored Chinese suffering for too long. America sits back and savors its freedom while atrocities are committed and families are destroyed. Today, America has felt the pain of loss and suffering. Today, the reckoning has begun.”
-He's speaking in the past tense. When was the video set to upload?
-Three and a half hours.
-What's he gonna use those explosives for?
-We got three and a half hours to find that kid and stop him.
Later in the episode, we learn the full story—conveniently documented in the bomber’s email account:
-What happened?
-We lost Chao. He uncoupled the car that we were in and tried to blow us up.
-Oh, my God.
-He was improvising. He knew that we were on to him. That was not the target.
-Look, I've been reading his emails, and I--I think I stumbled on to why he's doing this. He just found out his mother was killed in a Chinese prison camp. He and his sister have been begging the U.S. Government for years to help her get released, but they didn't.
-His mother. "Mother of exiles." It's from a poem. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses." All right, it's on a plaque on the city's biggest tourist attraction. "Mother of exiles." Chao's gonna blow up the Statue of Liberty. Come on.
It remains unclear how murdering innocent American civilians will prompt the United States government to intervene in Chinese domestic affairs. Or exactly why the bomber absolves the Chinese government of responsibility for the atrocities it commits. Stay tuned.
