Oh man, this one has been getting to me something fierce. It’s been nibbling at my brain for years, and I need to get it off my chest. 

Blindspot’s ending annoyed the f*ck out of me.

It’s been five long years since the conclusion of the show that I enjoyed for the majority of its five-season run. Following a special unit of the FBI led by Kurt Weller (Sullivan Stapleton), this procedural had me glued to the screen each week as they tried to uncover the truth behind the amnesiac Jane Doe’s (Jaimie Alexander) mysterious appearance in Times Square.

With the help of lab tech Paterson (Ashley Johnson), they discover that Jane’s tattoos are a source of covert intel that leads them to the baddest of the bad in town, all the while trying to discover who is behind her memory loss and who inked her with secrets! That first season was very special. 

Another four seasons later, most of those puzzles had been solved, and we were left with the aftermath. A new player called Madeline Burke (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), a key (but unknown to the unit) part of the original conspiracy and someone who was legit enough to challenge the team. In fact, they had to go on the run for most of that last season!

So, what’s my issue? Well, it’s not about the final season as a whole. It’s about the literal ending of the finale.

Just the facts

Going back slightly, you need to know about ZIP. That’s the substance that induced Jane’s amnesia at the start of the series, and it’s been a common tool used throughout the show. ZIP is toxic and can cause hallucinations and a complete brain shutdown (i.e., RIP). There is an antidote, but there’s no telling the amount of permanent damage if ZIP is abused.

Back to the finale, and Jane had been gassed with ZIP. She’s taken it before, so who’s to know the tolerance she’s built up? RIGHT? Well, no. Jane is given the patent-pending Paterson ZIP Antidote, but the ZIP concentration is so great that she begins to hallucinate a bunch of peeps from days gone by, dead or alive, friend or foe. Instead of completing her regimen of antidote then and there, she remembers a crucial detail about an impending terrorist attack, back where it all began: Times Square.

Jane and Weller find and diffuse the bomb just in time, and then we’re treated to a Fast and Furious-like dinner scene with all of our protagonists giving an update on their lives following their exit from the FBI. Paterson and Rich are treasure hunters (SPINOFF NOW PLEASE!), Zapata is a P.I., and Jane and Weller are fostering children… 

…or are they? Because Jane is remembering something different. Like, maybe they diffused the bomb, and then she succumbed to her ZIP poisoning. The scene keeps cutting back and forth between the dinner table and a body bag in the middle of Times Square, being zipped up. 

So, was the good ending real? Or was it the last hallucination of a dying woman? 

The Bad Ending Was Real

JANE IS DEAD. 

She didn’t do what the doctor ordered, and she died as a result of ZIP poisoning. Both she and her brother Roman had had close run-ins with this powerful memory-killing drug before. They each were pretty close to the end before they were either cured or shot to death (soz Roman). It was freaking dangerous! 

The bad ending is kinda more poetic than the good ending. The series comes full circle, starting and concluding with Jane in a zipped bag in the middle of Times Square. This time, however, she won’t be getting herself out of it. She dead. She dead-dead! And, let’s face it, although she’s been an integral part of the team, Remi Briggs (her real name before the amnesia) was an asshole and a terrorist. 

Jane’s death was the comeuppance that she deserved after doing all that awful sh*t, including posing as Weller’s dead childhood friend for the majority of the opening season. 

The Good Ending Was Real

And they all lived happily ever after. Awwwwwwwwwwww!

The jump forward in time to catch up with our heroes is a classic finale choice. iZombie and Grimm are two such shows that chose to do something similar. Seeing Paterson and Rich partnering up, talking about searching for lost artifacts across the globe like a hi-tech Indiana Jones tag team was fantastic. Seeing Zapata thriving as a Private Investigator while raising Reade Jr. as a single mother was great. 

Most of all, seeing Jane and Kurt as a cohesive unit, fostering children in a non-evil way (unlike how Shepherd did with her and Roman), was a satisfying, if corny ending. It also meant that the “it was all a dream” cop-out was null and void. I HATE THAT TROPE. It’s lazy writing, and I can’t stomach it.

The good ending also left things open for potential spin-off appearances, so why not? 

Who is right?

Unfortunately, nobody and both. Creator Martin Gero said that he meant for the finale to be ambiguous, and you should make up your own mind. That’s really unhelpful, Martin, but thank you for your input. 

So here’s my two cents: I hate fake-out endings involving dreams or going back in time to make sure things don’t happen the way they did. They suck really bad. That’s why I choose to believe the good ending is canon.

But, from a writing POV, you’ve gotta admit that the symmetry of the bad ending is cool. If they had ended it that way without muddying the waters with the “hallucinations,” I’d be fully on board. The bad ending, I think, is objectively better. 

And there it is. That’s the dichotomy of Blindspot’s ending. The good ending is boring, and the bad ending is a fake-out. Both endings infuriate me in different ways. And that’s why it’s been on my mind for FIVE F*CKING YEARS! 

Apologies. I’ll calm myself. 

What did you think of the Blindspot finale? Are you a Good Ending or a Bad Ending person? And would you like a Paterson and Rich Dotcom spin-off like me? Of course, you would.