Blindspot Trailer!

And the trailer for Blindspot...



This is the Jamie Alexander Show that she had to get out of doing stuff as Sif For Marvel...and actually it looks intresting, not the least from an SWM standpoint. she stars as a Woman left in a bag in Time Square naked except for a series of tattoos on her body and with no memory of who she was or how she got there.

As a trailer, this isn't great-it has the trailer problems of taking to long to get to the point of it all and then spending to much time on the premise...but the show itself is intriguing, and Jamie if she doesn't show a lot does give a little bit of a performance as a woman in a complex situation she doesn't know how to deal with and kinda wants to stop. The people around her..well will see.. and the idea of the plot which has this great sence of someones really doing a practical joke on a gigantic level-why go after the statute of liberty, has a good creepy vibe, as does the cinematography.

and yeah watch the last 30 seconds. Alexander is playing one of those ultimate badass types who is amazing at everything almost to superhuman levels(and some of the materials about the show suggest beyond that), and in the final scenes fights a guy destroying the hall there in the process..which looks as an action scene pretty cool on any level. Alexander more then a lot of actors on TV of either gender has always been really good at playing a badass and she does so here pretty well.

This show seems a bit under the radar, and maybe that suggests NBC is a little unconfidant in it....but what here could be kinda cool

Just saw the trailer and looks pretty interesting imo. As some have noted its Memento-meets-Bourne, which could work as a series.

I always fancied Jamie Alexander as a possible contender, like many, for the role of WW. And she looks pretty good in this, from the limited scenes we see of her.

My only concern with this is that, if the ratings do not take, then it WILL be cancelled and to hell with the conclusion of the story. Because I am pretty sure, the mystery of her tattoos and purpose will not be solved in season 1. Here is hoping that a) I am wrong; and b) they have a contingency plan if it does get cancelled.

Ever the optimist, I'm hoping this is a big hit Looking forward to it

Peace.

/K

Greg Berlanti, executive producer of Arrow, Flash and Supergirl , produces this show as well. He's going to have two tough woman shows on network tv this fall.

This had my interest at "Jaime Alexander".

I too am suspicious of shows with a "big mystery" ... I really think shows like this need the network to commit to a post-cancelation 2-3 movie deal. If they don't pick up the show, the show is automatically funded for those TV movies. And if the network doesn't want to show them, they're automatically freed up to be moved to Amazon/Netflix/Hulu (and this is automatic if the show was shown there).

Furthermore, if the show NEEDS it's mystery, it's a dangerous line. It's good and generates plot ... but if the eventual reason seems hokey/bad/ill thought out, it'll color the entire show. Like I stopped watching Battlestar Galactica as I didn't want to deal with the relentless depression of the show-- but tuned in for a few episodes (confirming I didn't want to get back). I watched the final episode and now I have absolutely no interest in watching anything I missed.

Probably the worst in this regard is John Doe which I really liked. Later I find out what the explanation was from the people of the show, and it just seemed stupid and at odds with the content of the show. But at least they had one when they started. (I'm looking at you Battlestar Galactica and Lost.) SO I guess that's the other one: have an explanation up front for the mystery, even if only a few people know it.

Though a good idea to test if the mystery is needed: if the show is rewatchable *after* the mystery is out, then it's a good show, and the mystery is a nice spice. If you have no interest in ever seeing it again, well, then it really wasn't all that good to begin with.

This looks like it has some fun train potential, and it's not hard to watch Jaimie.

Though I'm putting my bet in that the tattoos change across time though some mechanism.

Well if the show is any good, it doesn't really need the mystery.

Lost is the modern Godfather of these shows...and while the mystery was there..which made it good was they found an intresting idea of how to tell two stories at once in every episode, create a lot of really great and unique characters, and let them have sci fi action adventure, soap opera, and yeah if not solve the mystery reinturtpt it frequently enough so it was always fresh. Theres a lot of neat ideas, and if yeah the last episode solves it all in just okay...well the journey is something.

The show that Blindspot most reminds me of is....Person of Interest, which involes a man set in motion fighting crime and terroism through the aid of a mysterious Sciece fiction goobligook machine-but as that show has devoloped, the goblgook machine..its not as important. Initially the show kinda suggested more was going on then it was saying, but agian that kinda stuff is going away. Whats left? its a show i don't watch every week or all that often but i can see the appeal. Castival is an actor who is good at playing a silent badass but give him a fair amount of humanity around it. Micheal Emerson from Lost is good as a guy who maybe a touch mysterious but does want to help..and the cast around them and the situations they get into are formula but formula done well.

So we have this-about a mysterious badass who has probably a vaguely science fiction goblgook around her. Alexander is great at playing a badass, and a very good actor all around. Recently read that her Chief type character was the daughter from Secret and Lies which is a weird the acting world is a small place bit. And like i said. This does at least have a good someone must be fucking with us vibe which is neat if nothing else.

Will it all work? Don't know but its intriguing at least.

And i suspect probabbly pretty soon the show will turn from "Hey this mysterious tattoo lady...what is her secret" to "Jamie Alexander is a badass who fights terroists" type show..which....... has possibility

New Trailer:



Pretty much the same as the last one in terms of footage(though maybe a couple more)-but this one is a lot shorter which helps it.

Still maintain this is one of the more intresting shows of the new season and looks neat...though yeah its not getting all that much attention, which is a shame. Do think the Fight Scene at the end of the first trailer maybe a better ubergirl fight then the one in supergirl

castor

Hey guys without spoiler I've seen the pilot and there is a little of badass superwoman action but too little in the pilot to really make the crowd here happy. The show is good though, among the best at those L.A Screenings this year and both Warner bros AND NBC are ULTRA confident in the show, NBC is planning on scheduling in the slot just after The Voice, so It might be the new Blacklist.
It has a "The Long Kiss Goodnight" feel for those who know the movie.

Sorry this took awhile as i had a hellious week wanted to give my thoughts on the pilot for Blindspot

But first About a month ago i read the book Horns by, which i am not going to say is a great book(its structured like a mystery that revels who did it about 1/4 of the way in, and spends way to long on the murder afterwards) but it did strike me as something.

The Book is a story about A man who gains special demon abilities(afinity for Snakes, the ability to get people to revel there darkest secrets and act upon them) and uses them to solve a crime and deal with a villian who has implicitly special angel abilities.

In other words it reads a lot like a superhero novel, though i don't think it says this on the tin.

Right now on TV there is shows like limitless, Minority report, Grimm, Izombe, Sleepy Hollow and Person of intrest which all play with the same idea. These are people with special abilities. They Fight Crime. These are also all kind of superheros. Which is kinda of Blindspots problem. Or more precisly its to comicbook.

Its stars Jammie Alexander as Jane Doe Who in the first really good scene of the show is found nude in a duffelbag in the middle of Time Square in the middle of the night-presumibly a bomb, covered in ellaborate tattoos(that she aparently just got). She has no memory but the name of an FBI agent is tattoed on her body, so hes brought in-as well as information about a real bombing...as she jane gradually revels she maybe one of the most skilled and powerful combatants in the world.

The show is obviously cribs a lot from Bourne identity(more of that latter, but i thought a lot about The Thor movies which Alexander was a co star in. Last week i wrote a review of them where i commented that when there on earth i think there kind of fun.. but stuff in Asgard and the other fantasy realms are kind of borring, except when it deals with her. This felt a lot like this show.

Alexander is as before great in every scene-shes wonderful as a confused person with not a lot of idea of who or what she is-and better as a badass. The show does touch on the concept that is rarely brought up in Amenesia-that the kind of you loose all your memory type amenesia may not actually exist. the show does suggest that this maybe an ellaborate act, and that works for it. And when she turns full badass, its incredible to watch. There are few actresses(and yes probabbly helped a lot by stunt women) who can do action as well.

But this kind of persepctive does mean the show doesn't really give her a momment to let it sink in. I think the bueaty of Bourne was the it knew its premise was kind of ludicrious as did he-and he wanted off. Its partially the pace of the epiosde-which turns into a case of the weak in the middle much to its determinet(and its a pretty silly case about chinese nationals blowing up the statue of liberity), but there is never a momment when she wonders why- forthere is no normal,


Which to compare Early on in the first episode of Izombie Liv gains a superpower...she can speak Bulgarian. Thats a funny joke. In this episode Doe revels that she can speak mandrin. This is not played as a joke but like most of the stuff on the show Dead serious. Izombie-its not realistic a show. its a show more then any other on TV revels in the fact that it is based on a comicbook(though it doesn't actually take that much from the comicbook)...but its still a show with a normal reality. People Eat Pizza, watch TV have fun go on dates, waste time, may not be communicative-So when something ludicrious happens you get even they realize its ludicrious.

Blindspot never gets there. Blindspot is a show that desperatly wants to be serious that never quite laughs...such that your kind of laughing at it.

The fact that she works with the FBI is intresting from a storytelling standpoint, but not actually intresting --it struck me about 15 years ago the show probabbly would have been written as her running from them Ala Bourne Identity. The good guys aren't criminals any more there part of the system. Which takes away from it. She maybe an uber badass-but her unlimited resources(this is one of those FBIs without a budget) takes away a lot of the drama of the show.

And the FBI is both so by the number and not. Marian Batiste is okay as the barking head(fun fact: She was the daughter in the movie Secrets& Lies. How things go), most of the rest get a touch of something butSullivan Stapleton ....as the main hero is just terrible. He never quite works as a square jawed hero, which i am not entirely sure hes going for and he comes across as an akward tough guy in every scenes in like someone brought in from an italian version of a bad 80s action movie. Its suposed to be a rommantic relationship with Doe(which i think to the shows credit is suggesting maybe what ever is causing thises plan) but its kind of doesn't work as well in practice.

The show exists most in poorly lit quarters and fashionable offices-this does not look like any law enforcmentworld i have seen except the Movies, or a moody comic. But it is pretty, i will give the show that..

But to compare it. I zombie despite staring a former power ranger isn't a good action show(it got better as the season went along, but even by TV standards was never great). The action in this, in the last 10 minutes is pretty damm great. Jamie Alexander is amazing at playing action and her fight in a hall where she litterally destroys it, maybe TV deep but its an effective little peice of uberpowered action.You don't necessairly have to blow up the world in my book here..and it works. I doubt on Jessica Jones, Supergirl any of it your going to get as effective peices of action.

Which is where i am with the show-there is something okay here-the opening the ending, a few scene in the middle which do go to mystery. The next episode may have a little more time to breath, more time to get a genuine spark....but..

castor wrote: Sorry this took awhile as i had a hellious week wanted to give my thoughts on the pilot for Blindspot

But first About a month ago i read the book Horns by, which i am not going to say is a great book(its structured like a mystery that revels who did it about 1/4 of the way in, and spends way to long on the murder afterwards) but it did strike me as something.

The Book is a story about A man who gains special demon abilities(afinity for Snakes, the ability to get people to revel there darkest secrets and act upon them) and uses them to solve a crime and deal with a villian who has implicitly special angel abilities.

In other words it reads a lot like a superhero novel, though i don't think it says this on the tin.

Right now on TV there is shows like limitless, Minority report, Grimm, Izombe, Sleepy Hollow and Person of intrest which all play with the same idea. These are people with special abilities. They Fight Crime. These are also all kind of superheros. Which is kinda of Blindspots problem. Or more precisly its to comicbook.

Its stars Jammie Alexander as Jane Doe Who in the first really good scene of the show is found nude in a duffelbag in the middle of Time Square in the middle of the night-presumibly a bomb, covered in ellaborate tattoos(that she aparently just got). She has no memory but the name of an FBI agent is tattoed on her body, so hes brought in-as well as information about a real bombing...as she jane gradually revels she maybe one of the most skilled and powerful combatants in the world.

The show is obviously cribs a lot from Bourne identity(more of that latter, but i thought a lot about The Thor movies which Alexander was a co star in. Last week i wrote a review of them where i commented that when there on earth i think there kind of fun.. but stuff in Asgard and the other fantasy realms are kind of borring, except when it deals with her. This felt a lot like this show.

Alexander is as before great in every scene-shes wonderful as a confused person with not a lot of idea of who or what she is-and better as a badass. The show does touch on the concept that is rarely brought up in Amenesia-that the kind of you loose all your memory type amenesia may not actually exist. the show does suggest that this maybe an ellaborate act, and that works for it. And when she turns full badass, its incredible to watch. There are few actresses(and yes probabbly helped a lot by stunt women) who can do action as well.

But this kind of persepctive does mean the show doesn't really give her a momment to let it sink in. I think the bueaty of Bourne was the it knew its premise was kind of ludicrious as did he-and he wanted off. Its partially the pace of the epiosde-which turns into a case of the weak in the middle much to its determinet(and its a pretty silly case about chinese nationals blowing up the statue of liberity), but there is never a momment when she wonders why- forthere is no normal,


Which to compare Early on in the first episode of Izombie Liv gains a superpower...she can speak Bulgarian. Thats a funny joke. In this episode Doe revels that she can speak mandrin. This is not played as a joke but like most of the stuff on the show Dead serious. Izombie-its not realistic a show. its a show more then any other on TV revels in the fact that it is based on a comicbook(though it doesn't actually take that much from the comicbook)...but its still a show with a normal reality. People Eat Pizza, watch TV have fun go on dates, waste time, may not be communicative-So when something ludicrious happens you get even they realize its ludicrious.

Blindspot never gets there. Blindspot is a show that desperatly wants to be serious that never quite laughs...such that your kind of laughing at it.

The fact that she works with the FBI is intresting from a storytelling standpoint, but not actually intresting --it struck me about 15 years ago the show probabbly would have been written as her running from them Ala Bourne Identity. The good guys aren't criminals any more there part of the system. Which takes away from it. She maybe an uber badass-but her unlimited resources(this is one of those FBIs without a budget) takes away a lot of the drama of the show.

And the FBI is both so by the number and not. Marian Batiste is okay as the barking head(fun fact: She was the daughter in the movie Secrets& Lies. How things go), most of the rest get a touch of something butSullivan Stapleton ....as the main hero is just terrible. He never quite works as a square jawed hero, which i am not entirely sure hes going for and he comes across as an akward tough guy in every scenes in like someone brought in from an italian version of a bad 80s action movie. Its suposed to be a rommantic relationship with Doe(which i think to the shows credit is suggesting maybe what ever is causing thises plan) but its kind of doesn't work as well in practice.

The show exists most in poorly lit quarters and fashionable offices-this does not look like any law enforcmentworld i have seen except the Movies, or a moody comic. But it is pretty, i will give the show that..

But to compare it. I zombie despite staring a former power ranger isn't a good action show(it got better as the season went along, but even by TV standards was never great). The action in this, in the last 10 minutes is pretty damm great. Jamie Alexander is amazing at playing action and her fight in a hall where she litterally destroys it, maybe TV deep but its an effective little peice of uberpowered action.You don't necessairly have to blow up the world in my book here..and it works. I doubt on Jessica Jones, Supergirl any of it your going to get as effective peices of action.

Which is where i am with the show-there is something okay here-the opening the ending, a few scene in the middle which do go to mystery. The next episode may have a little more time to breath, more time to get a genuine spark....but..

You make some good points about the Blindspot pilot episode. Clearly Jaime is extraordinary in these kinds of roles, but that comes as no surprise.

The main problem for me is that she underplays the horror of having amnesia. I say horror, because if you've ever had true amnesia, even for a short time, you remember how frustrating it is to not remember things you know you should, and the anger and depression that comes with that. The horrible fear of not knowing if you'll ever get it back. After all, our memories, and the experiences that formed them, are what define us.

The way Jamie is underplaying it, you'd think it was a blackout from drinking too much.

That leads to two possibilities:

1) The writing and acting suck with regards to her amnesia.

2) She knows the amnesia its temporary, and she's playing the FBI agents.

Obviously I'm hoping for #2. That could lead to her being a bad guy, or someone who is there to take down a bad guy who's embedded high in the FBI or other government agency. In which case she's using the FBI.

The other was that the FBI agent (whose name is tattooed on her back) seems a bit of a doofus. So far, he's not handling Jamie's Jane character very well, nor anyone else. I had some real-life dealings with a very senior FBI agent once, and he just exuded a sense of confidence and control. You immediately got the sense that this was NOT someone to fuck with. That character in Blindspot doesn't give me that feeling.

The pilot was just good enough for me to keep watching to see which of the scenarios (or maybe one I haven't thought of) plays out.

shadar wrote: [q

That leads to two possibilities:

1) The writing and acting suck with regards to her amnesia.

2) She knows the amnesia its temporary, and she's playing the FBI agents.
.

I think you put the nail on the head for the shows big problem-it really wants to keep the ambiguity of this a major issue.

This however has the effect of creating a lot of distance between the audience and the audience, and forcing her to always keep that in mind-which could be intresting mystery but isn't very intresting TV watching.

it also makes the Duffy FBI guy the main viewpoint character...which doesn't work very well. Hes no Dana Scully

castor wrote:

shadar wrote: [q

That leads to two possibilities:

1) The writing and acting suck with regards to her amnesia.

2) She knows the amnesia its temporary, and she's playing the FBI agents.
.

I think you put the nail on the head for the shows big problem-it really wants to keep the ambiguity of this a major issue.

This however has the effect of creating a lot of distance between the audience and the audience, and forcing her to always keep that in mind-which could be intresting mystery but isn't very intresting TV watching.

it also makes the Duffy FBI guy the main viewpoint character...which doesn't work very well. Hes no Dana Scully

I'm very functional when I'm thinking about shows, how do the devices used in the show work as we integrate across time?

I think the show has it's own built-in weakness: her tattoos. I don't mind them, they're a wonderful device, for a mini-series. The problem is there is a limited set of them, and they're all going to lead to clues. It's not possible for this to provide more than a season. The mysterious person who gave them to her couldn't possibly have fitted her up with 2+ years of clues that the FBI and NSA can't figure out for seasons. After they're resolved you've got a lead who is tattooed up with worthless tattoos. What's she going to get knocked out and come back with a completely new set? For the show to work they will have needed to figure out the transition from this state to the longer term, this is already hard for shows to navigate. If this was a limited series it'd be perfect.

It just seems that they'd put a team on those tattoos now, and probably pretty quickly figure out a bunch of them, and that's a problem for the show too. If they don't, they need to leave open an explanation on why they couldn't be figured out before the time the episode needed them. I'll give the language problem to the first episode -- they didn't have time to send them off to a linguist to figure out the languages used. But by next week? Someone will have figured out EVERY language that the clues are in, and found someone trustworthy to read them. You can't use that trick again.

Also the trick of her seeing one and reading it giving them a clue? They don't get to use that one past the next episode and only then if it's the show opener. The FIRST thing they'd do is let her look at the pictures of her own tattoos to see if anything clicked like it did in the first episode.

Though they can play the "she gets a partial memory and that allows her to figure out a tattoo", but as a plot device that will get pretty old too. There really isn't a way for someone to plan that, and it'd mean the clues could be solved in a random order, which I doubt is true.

If they hang too much on her personal mystery: how did she end up with no memory and body full of tattoo clues, naked in a bag in time square? If that is too much in the show, I suspect that I'll find the answer underwhelming and a good chance "extra stupid". If its a minor part of the show, then it won't matter too much if the other elements are good. If you build up on a secret, it needs to be a good one -- or just something you use to ramp people up to become interested in the characters and a larger plot. So in one way I hope she slowly looses her amnesia before the end of Season 1.

I know realism can be taken too far -- but if we're left with the characters being really stupid as a necessary device, then it won't be convincing when the episode needs them to be skilled and smart. And, to use a term used by the Leverage head writer, part of why people watch shows like this is competence porn: seeing really pretty smart people be really skilled at something. They can't be that and be incapable of only figuring out one clue a week.

TwiceOnThursdays wrote:
And, to use a term used by the Leverage head writer, part of why people watch shows like this is competence porn: seeing really pretty smart people be really skilled at something. They can't be that and be incapable of only figuring out one clue a week.

I'd never heard the term "competence porn", but I totally get it. It IS interesting to watch really smart people figure out seemingly impossible things, accompanied by a loudly ticking clock counting down to some disaster. So many movies and shows are built around this and it doesn't really get old.

But as you say, the plot gimmick in the show has a limited life. Likely they'll stretch it out by only decoding a single tattoo each weak, and each one will be like cracking a code, but there are only so many of them.

(In the real world, given the growing awareness of her importance, teams of people from different disciplines would be working in parallel, and the real challenge would be putting all that work together. But this is an action show.)

Shadar

Though i think the concensious on this board and more general intrest places i see on the net for this show is -ehhhhh

it should be noted that Blindspot, the kinda Girlpower show(thats not a *wrong* description) is the first show of the 2015 season on to get pickedup for a full 22 episode run. its probabbly not going to be the last, but NBC aparently thinks people want to see Jamie Alexander kick ass.

Will see , and will see how long the Tattoo Gimick goes with it.

I have to say I like seeing Jaime kick ass, so I'll keep with I for awhile.

But only so much time in the day and all. That alone won't sustain me. It started well the question is can it keep it up.

I may be strange but shows wrapped around a mystery like this tend to annoy me if they don't get on with it. The show needs to be more than that.

I loved the show John Doe. And when I learned the explanation for the show it was idiotic (show never got there, and I was glad). Actually a similar setup to this show: man who knows everything but who he is.

I bailed on Lost early on, they had no clue, and I could tell. For all the good writing and acting the show had no idea what the secret was-- Bailed episode 3. No interest.

If lost wasn't so heavily invested in puzzles and secrets I could watch it -- but it doubled down on the secret. It was boring because I knew it was just mindless meaningless disconnected stuff. And yes this was apparent by ep 2 and nothing I read since (including the ending) leads me to think I'm wrong.

unfortunately for me, it was a big hit and the industry learned all the wrong lessons from it.

So I hope this show doesn't go there, and rises above.