‘Blindspot’ Spoilers And Jaimie Alexander’s Real Life Tattoo Troubles

This article contains spoilers for Blindspot.

Blindspot tells the story of Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander), a woman with amnesia and only the tattoos covering her own body to help lead her to the truth of who she is, and that journey is coming to a head with the first season finale. Created by Martin Gero, Blindspot has drawn a devoted following with fans enthralled by Jane Doe’s story and eager to see what Taylor Shaw has to do with Jane Doe’s identity. As Blindspot prepares for this week’s season finale, Gero teases a heart wrenching that’s certain to leave fans shocked and desperate for a second installment of the series.

Blindspot Showrunner Martin Gero Teases The Coming Fallout In “Why Await Life’s End?”

As series creator and showrunner, Gero has revealed that the first season had been plotted out very early on and that everything that happened throughout the season was well planned in advance. This holds true for Mayfair, who may be the most tragic character on Blindspot, and even more so than Jaimie Alexander’s own Jane Doe. First, Mayfair was forced out of the F.B.I., and finally, in last week’s episode, she met her demise, while confronting Alexander’s Blindspot character, all of which had been planned. In fact, Gero says the only reason for not killing off Mayfair would have been to keep Marianne Jean-Baptiste on the show. Martin points out that sacrificing the show for one actor was just not an option.

“If you get into a situation where you can have Marianne Jean-Baptiste on your TV show, you should keep Marianne Jean-Baptiste on your TV show. [Laughs] But it became really clear to us that that would be the reason we were doing it, and the story [where she dies] made the most sense, emotionally, for Jane and for Weller.”

Also in last week’s episode, Weller’s father confessed to having killed Taylor Shaw, a revelation that changes everything for Jane Doe and essentially questions much of what she thought she had already learned about herself. The Blindspot creator says that confession and Mayfair’s death will have long-lasting effects and much of that will come to bear in this week’s season finale.

“Mayfair’s death, and Weller’s father’s revelation, completely inform the entire finale,” says the Blindspot showrunner. “There’s no case [of the week], so to speak. It’s all about fallout.”

That confession, made by Weller’s father on his deathbed, is no inconsequential revelation, says Gero. He says that, in putting the spotlight on that confession, Blindspot has laid the groundwork for a huge twist and a season ending cliffhanger. The Blindspot producer says that Weller will be questioning this confession, only because his father was losing his sanity and his lucidity was questionable at that moment, but for Blindspot fans, the confession answers many questions and makes sense of some mysteries introduced into the plot early on in the season.

“There’s a lot of new information. Like we did in Episode 21, we’re going to tie up a lot of loose ends and answer a lot of questions [in the finale],” Gero says of the question of whether Jane was Taylor Shaw. “And new questions will be asked. It’s a big episode.”

Blindspot Actress Jaimie Alexander Reveals Her Real Life Tattoo Problems

There has been concern among fans that the fake tats given to Jaimie Alexander before filming each Blindspot episode were in fact making the actress ill, with fans pointing to blemishes recently seen on the actress’ skin. Jaimie revealed that the marks on her body weren’t caused by the temporary ink; they were the effects of a bad sunburn.

“I have a sunburn because I just went on an amazing vacation in Mexico,” said 32-year-old Alexander. “It’s so funny. The cool thing was, I have sunblock, of course, and I was trying to hurry, because I’m impatient. And I have sunblock and I literally put my hand over my shoulder. And I have a hand print [surrounded by] sunburn on my back and a thumbprint on my chest.”

The problem didn’t end there. Ms. Alexander was only trying to conceal her sunburn and the odd blemishes left on her skin by the unusual tan lines, but she quickly realized that covering up with make-up might not have been the best approach.

“What happened was, I thought, ‘Oh, I should probably cover these with makeup.’ But the problem was, the wrong kind of makeup was used and it looked like I had bruises,” says the Blindspot actress. “If I had that many bruises, the other person would be dead.”

The season finale of Blindspot will air on Monday, May 23 on NBC.

[Image by NBC]