The Rule of Three
Episode 3 of Blindspotting begins with Trish ruining into trouble en-route to the bank. And not because of her outfit. Sean comes bounding into the kitchen and karate chops her, splashing coffee down her shoes. The kid is out of control and Trish is not happy. She storms out, telling Ashley to take control and discipline her child. While Sean is in time out, Ashley visits Miles in prison and discusses parenting. She admits that things are hard and the topic of discipline is brought up again. Meanwhile, Trish shows up at the bank to talk to Eric “Cuddie” Cutterson. She speaks up about her business… and immediately throws herself under the bus. Sporting a risky business model, Eric – and the bank – reject her. As the civilized businesswoman that she is, Trish curses and loses her temper, forcing Eric to call security. Trish clings to this rejection too, unable to let it go as she goes about her day. She throws shade on Karl, the owner of the club, and wonders just how he rose to his position. Karl interjects though, encouraging this house Mum to “step the F up” as she’s told to pitch in and cover for the two girls who are missing that night. Ashley’s parenting woes are carried over to work too, as she riffs with Scotty over what to do with Sean. He encourages her to give him a swift slap on the wrist. That night, Trish and Ashley come to blows over who’s the best at adulting. Given she’s been shifting the blame on everyone else, Trish predictably turns that attention to Ashley and claims she’s the real culprit here. Mother Rainey suddenly interjects and slaps Trish hard across the face. This breaks everything up, as Sean heads back in with a card reading “I’m very sorry Mum.” He sees the slap too, and that’s used as a tool for the girls to work together and encourage Sean to not act up.
The Episode Review
With Miles gone, the third episode of Blindspotting sees Sean start too act out and become violent. So the way to teach Sean that violence is wrong…is to show him Trish being slapped in the face really hard and warn that he could be next if he acts out? Okay then. Away from the conflicted message this show tries to portray, there’s also a lot of focus on Trish this time around. She tries to get her loan but when she’s rejected thanks to her being too high-risk, she lashes out at everyone around her. Of course, this inevitably spirals around to focus on Ashley, who finds herself conflicted over how to raise her son. The dynamic works okay, although Blindspotting still feels like it’s not really settled into a consistent rhythm. I don’t want to say this episode was boring but compared to some of the aesthetically pleasing scenes earlier in the season, this one doesn’t really follow suit. Hopefully next week’s chapter can step it up a gear.
