Created by Martin Gero, Blindspot opens with a strong visual that sets up an extremely shaky premise for an ongoing series as an naked amnesiac whose body is covered in tattoos is discovered in the middle of Times Square. Clues from Jane Doe's (Jaimie Alexander) tattoos lead to the involvement of Agent Kurt Weller (Sullivan Stapleton) on her case and prevent a terrorist attack in a (rather cheap) stage set of the Statue of Liberty. Just who Jane is, what her connection to Kurt is, and why his name appears so prominently on her largest tattoo are but three unanswered questions the show will no doubt continue to tease audiences with over the course of the season.
Alexander is by far the best thing the "Pilot" has going for it but because her character is stuck in neutral for at least two-thirds of the premiere Blindspot struggles to get out of the starting block. There's plenty of foreshadowing about what a bad ass Jane may become over the course of the series but she's little more than a victim here. Stapleton does nothing to sell me on his character. Had Weller been cast with a peg leg it's hard to imagine he'd be any more wooden than the FBI agent comes off in the pilot episode.
The tension and mystery of the "Pilot" isn't done well enough to stop the audience from immediately poking holes in the foundation of the show and its writing. The premise of why someone would go to the trouble of tattooing Jane up and throwing her to the FBI (while realizing the sensitive information inked into her skin will get less and less accurate and meaningful over time) is as ridiculous as anything NBC has attempted to cram down the throats of viewers over the past few years. And the complete chance occurrence of her recognizing a Chinese tattoo and leading to the capture of terrorists in time to prevent an attack rewrites the meaning of convenient in television plot.
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