Blind Man's Bluff



Our episode today is Blind Man's Bluff. As usual, plenty of spoilers to follow and many observations on the attractiveness of Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg.

The basic story line is that a new designer drug called Golden has appeared in Cascade. It is very dangerous, reacting to each individual differently. It also has a property where the user sees Golden images. A young girl has taken the drug and is walking on the Cascade dam, telling Jim she sees a golden castle in the sky. She commits suicide by unzipping her jacket when Jim tries to keep her from falling by hanging onto her coat.

In this episode, Jim wears his black leather jacket and Blair wears his brown one. Blair is wearing a brown shirt over a cream one and jeans. Jim is wearing an olive green sweater over a gray t-shirt and brown pants. The very first scene has the guys eating hot dogs in the park. I like when they do everyday stuff like this. They are just too cute together.

After the suicide, they are in Simon's office talking about the Golden and how to stop its distribution. Blair is wearing a wonderful fifties shirt of royal blue with white diamonds on it and jeans. Jim has on a burgundy shirt and dark pants. The guys set off to find out information about the drug from Jim's snitch, Sneaks.

In a wonderful scene, with Jim being very outgoing and funny, he eats donuts and gets info from his snitch. Blair is confused because Sneaks keeps asking Blair about his shoes. Turns out that he's a sneaker freak and besides the money Jim gives him, he'll give out the information only if Blair gives him his Nikes. We find out that Blair wears an 8-1/2 and is wearing his favorite argyles.

They find out that "Cyrus" is looking to buy Golden. It turns out that "Cyrus" is a code word used by the DEA and other law enforcement agencies world-wide to catch drug suppliers. They are also told that the connection is at an amateur drag strip. Jim and Blair go to the drag strip and pose as Cyrus' point men for the area. They con the bad guys into setting up a meet and the bad guys toss a sample bag of the drug on the ground at Jim's feet. This is where Jim gets the drug on his hand, rubs his nose and then his eyes, and wham! He falls to his knees with Blair trying to hold him up. The drug blinds him, and he's only able to see Golden shadows. The scene where Blair holds him by the arm is very nicely done. Blair knows that the drug has affected him at this point.

The next scene is at the doctor's office when he explains that Jim is not blind in a conventional sense and he wants to run tests on him. Jim refuses, of course, and I like when he calls immediately to Blair to help him. Blair is very sweet; helping Jim up and the first person Jim calls on for help is Blair.

The bullpen scene is priceless. The guys decide to fake Simon out that nothing is wrong. Jim is wearing a brown v-neck sweater over a grey t-shirt and grey pants. Blair is wearing a brown shirt over a black t-shirt and black pants. Jim has on sunglasses. Simon looks at him strangely and when he offers coffee, Blair refuses it, which tips Jim off that Simon's holding out the pot. He also refuses the coffee and removes the glasses when Simon mentions them. Simon has figured something is up. It's too funny when Jim goes to leave and Blair drops a file. Jim opens the door and promptly whacks Blair on the head. I love it when Blair is yelling "ouch" and Jim's hands are rubbing Blair's head.

Simon yells that someone better tell him what's going on and they finally spill the beans. Simon orders Jim off the street but Jim refuses. Simon is irritated but Blair suggests a trial run through the bullpen. Jim uses his senses to get through the room very nicely and Simon reluctantly agrees to let Jim take the first step on setting up a buy on the Golden. I love the glare that Simon gives Blair and Blair just grins. Oh, there is a BOTW in this episode, a woman whom Jim wants to meet, but she is irrelevant.

The next nice scene is Blair and Jim in the loft. Blair is explaining to him about how bats navigate using echoes (remember this for later) and about a room's ambiance so Jim can uses his other senses to map out the layout of a room. I like when Jim gets up and stumbles. Blair immediately reaches out to help Jim steady himself. The bad guys set up a meet and the next scene finds Jim and Blair at the meet site.

Blair realizes that this is stupid and Jim can't fake his way through the meet. Jim has other ideas and he wires himself and gives Blair binoculars and a transmitter to help him through. He talks Jim through the buy but things go bad when the bad guys locate the wire on Jim. When they draw down on Jim, Blair smartly uses this laser pointer he uses for lectures to make the bad guys think that someone has a laser site on them and will take them out if they don't behave. The deal is set up for a final payment and Jim is able to hightail it out of there in one piece.

There is a very nice scene in the loft when Jim is struggling to see. Blair has told him to try and make the connection by a force of will. Blair tries to feed Jim in this scene. Nice Blair. Jim has on a greyish-blue cable knit sweater and dark blue pants. Blair has on a red and brown plaid shirt over a tan t-shirt and tan khakis. Oh, the BOTW shows up and Jim kicks Blair out so he can spend some time with her. Bad Jim. I like that Jim gives Blair a buck (which he uses later, BTW). On his way out the door, he returns Jim's earlier favor by banging Jim a good one on the head with the door.

I love the donut scene. Only Jim could have an olfactory orgasm over a donut. He describes how it smells and tastes. It is very cute. Blair wants nothing to do with the donut. Blair has on a black and grey plaid shirt over a grey henley and black jeans. Jim has on a dark green shirt and brown pants.

There is another buy set up but things go bad and it falls apart. Actually the father of the girl who committed suicide mistakenly thinks Jim is part of the drug ring and blows the set up, almost getting Jim killed. Jim still can't see and Blair helps him locate the father who is shooting at anybody who moves and Jim is able to catch the man. The bad guys hightail it out of there and are royally pissed. They plan a bit of revenge against the Cascade PD.

Next is one of my favorite Blair shots. Jim and Blair are in Simon's office talking about the case. Blair's close-up is wonderful. This is definitely an AngelBlair shot. Well, that's because a very bad thing is going to happen and he looks extremely sweet in this scene just before it happens.

In the bullpen, Blair gives Jim the file on the Golden that has come from the lab and Jim goes to share with Simon. The infamous pizza is delivered at this point and this is where Blair gives the pizza guy a dollar. I happen to think it's the same dollar Jim gave Blair the other night at home. Then we see Blair take a piece of the pizza.

The next shot is Jim and Simon coming out of Simon's office and Jim immediately senses something is wrong. He goes to his desk and when Simon goes to touch the pizza, Jim tells him that it has Golden on it. Simon opens the box with his pen and notices a piece is missing. Jim panics, calling for Blair and then he starts searching his desk. Henri comes in and says they have a situation in the garage just as Jim discovers his .38 is gone.

Now we have the best GM scene in the entire series. Blair is on the hood of a police car with Jim's .38. He is yelling about the demons and shooting anything that moves. Simon and Jim come in and dive behind a cop car while Blair is angry and yelling, shooting wildly. Simon has to tell Jim what's going on and he orders everybody to hold their fire while Jim stumbles out to talk to Blair.

By now Blair is crying and yelling and angry and upset. Jim talks very calmly while approaching Blair inch by inch. Blair says he sees Golden fire people and tries to shoot them. Jim calls him Blair very nicely in this scene and he tells Blair that the gun won't kill the fire people, only the bat echo trick will kill them. Blair doesn't look like he's going to fall for this until Jim finally makes it right next to him. When Blair points the gun at Jim, Jim's hand reaches up and Blair finally gives the gun to him. Jim is very sweet when he tells Blair to clap so the echoes will kill the Golden fire people.

Blair allows Jim to help him off the car and he's whispering he's sorry when he collapses into Jim's arms. Yea!!!! Jim holds him close and tells him that everything will be okay. God, this is such an emotional scene it's not even fair to put in on a list of the best TS scenes filmed. Just remember how sweet and kind Jim Ellison is here in case you forget it in the last episode when Jim's evil twin brother makes an appearance. LOL.

In the hospital scene, Blair is on life support and Jim looks like hell warmed over sitting beside Blair's bed. Unfortunately we get about three or four minutes of this scene and ten minutes of a stupid shootout. Argh! Jim is sitting beside his partner's bed (holding a magazine for some unknown reason. Ah, Jim's blind, remember!?). It's very nice when Simon comes in to check on both of them. We find out that Blair will be okay once the drug is out of his system but that he's still unconscious. Jim and Simon discuss the case and they leave to go to catch the bad guys. This is where Jim should have kept his butt at the hospital, but then I didn't write this episode, darn it anyway.

So they find out where the bad guys are and Jim goes with them for some unknown reason, considering he's still blind. Simon makes him stay in the car but when the bad guy sneaks away, Jim drives after him. He forces himself to see and catches the bad guy when he runs into a warehouse. They should have spent more time on poor Blair in the hospital.

The final scene shows Blair up and around. It's a miracle! He's well! Jim is lying on the sofa reading a book. He has on a nice blue shirt, black pants and white socks (of course). Blair has on his brown jacket, jeans, and a plaid flannel shirt over a grey t-shirt. The BOTW shows up. I like when Blair asks Jim is he's ready (he hasn't actually seen the woman yet and there is some stupid thing about her not being pretty) and he does his little huffing thing with his breath. I think it's cute. (Blair, not the woman!).

There you have it. Blind Man's Bluff. A very nice episode, if I do say so myself. Next we have Hear No Evil, another one that I always enjoy.

The End.

BTW, if someone has not seen an episode and wants to see it in still pictures, there is a site on the net that takes each episode and has at least three pages of stills. It's quite easy to follow along with the pictures and this is a very nice site. A lot of the pics on this website are from Starfox's Mansion, and there is another link to her site on my main page. Thanks, Starfox!

http://www.wolfpanther.com

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