Synopsis of: The team gets much more than they bargained for on a trip to an off-grid secessionist town. Weller confronts Mayfair about Daylight. Patterson has relationship issues.
Rating: ★★★★★
Finally an episode that made some great use of the secondary characters! After Mayfair continually stonewalls Patterson about the FBI case that’s tattooed on Jane, Weller goes to ask her why. She tells him that Guerrero, the man the case is about, used to be an informant to the FBI and she was his handler. She says when he turned on them and killed a whole bunch of people before going missing, it was a bureaucratic nightmare and a big embarrassment for FBI brass and for her, and she doesn’t want anyone digging it all up again. He’s pissed, pointing out that the track record of significant and political conflict Jane’s tattoos have uncovered make refusing to run this down ridiculous and potentially dangerous. She tells him to go away.
Meanwhile, Jane’s hidden stenography tattoo from the last episode is decoded, leading to an address in Michigan. It turns out to be an area controlled by well-armed and dangerous anti-government people. They turned on capitalism and American society after being forced to turn to illegal gun-running to keep their town afloat when the government would do nothing. Weller and the team tell the sheriff of the next town over that they’re investigating a cold case and can’t reveal any leads (rather than explain the tattoo situation). He tells them it’s their funeral, and even the cops don’t go anywhere near this place, especially because it’s a dead zone – no internet or cell service whatsoever.
When they get there, lo and behold the very first person they run into, is Guerrero!
Back at the base, Weller watches Mayfair question Guerrero and realizes they’ve never met before. He calls her on her story and she promises to tell him something only three other people in the world know.
Like I said, this episode actually focused relatively little on Jane and Kurt. It was about Mayfair’s secrets, Patterson’s struggle with a job that she loves but “takes all of her,” leaving no room for a “normal” life – something reflected to varying degrees in all the characters. We got a lot of fantastic Reade/Zapata banter (my favorite) and a great scene where Jane and Reade are left alone to watch Guerrero and are forced to bond. Their relationship has been strained from the beginning, and this was a lovely moment of open trust – the first we’ve seen between them. It was subtle too, there was no big declaration or near death experience, he simply stops her on the way to shoot some people and says “I got you”. That’s it. And that’s all that was needed.