Minority Report "The American Dream" (REVIEW)
written by Omar Castillon (omar_castillon)
After a weeklong hiatus, Minority Report made a comeback in the best way possible. This time we finally get a little bit of backstory from Will Blake, Vega’s superior and former partner. The episode starts off with a family having dinner and a young man who we later learn is Blake during the PreCog era rebelling against his abusive stepfather. His stepfather is arrested for the attempted murder of his mother. Of course this becomes a pivotal moment for Blake since he almost acted upon his emotions in order to protect his mother.
Cut to present time and Blake decides he needs to supervise Vega and Dash since they have been able to bring in more criminals to justice since Hawkeye was incorporated to the police department. Obviously this puts the Dash and Vega on edge since they have the sneaking suspicion that Blake has put the pieces together and is going to rat them out. Blake is smart though keeping a distance for some time and letting Dash and Vega follow the murdervision lead based on the clues Dash drew in his journal.
The leads end up in an ethnically themed restaurant owned by a man who has ties to criminal organizations in D.C. This connects to a previous ruling in the future of the 14 which is a blanket legalization of immigrants where they can stay off the grid and still earn a living (not an honest living but a living nonetheless). This little bit of backstory connects to a suspect that was in the murdervision and also sympathies from Blake as he was one of the 14 immigrants when he was younger. That bit of information was enough to make Blake go from a thorn in Vega and Dash’s side to being a sympathetic character who really does know more than he lets off with his cocky attitude in previous episodes.
The tailing continues between Blake, Vega and Dash as Blake begins to suspect the resources Vega has been using in order to capture all of the suspects in the past when Hawkeye was introduced. Sneaky Blake attaches a bug on the picture Dash drew of the octopus tattoo that one of the gangsters had on his forearm. Next thing you know Arthur is now caught red handed by Blake for aiding Vega and Dash in their investigations. By this point Blake has yet to make the connection but he knows something is up. At this point of the episode I wanted to see how Blake would discover the existence of the PreCogs in society. It’s not until Vega and Dash go back to the restaurant where the murdervision suspect was that Blake connects the dots and realizes Dash is a PreCog. At this point of the plot, I was glued to the screen wanting to know what Blake would do to Dash and Vega. Blake threatens to expose everything Vega and Dash have accomplished but then realizes that under his command, he hired Dash and basically putting his reputation on the line as well. Long story short, the murdervision of the week ends up with a dead drug dealer and a struggling immigrant getting a second chance at life.
This then brings up the question of what is Memento Mori. This has been sprinkled throughout the series and there has been almost no explanation as to what it all means. This is a bit frustrating since only now close to the end of the season (or series) do we get to see a big picture plotline with a conspiracy behind it. It would be nice to know what will happen but I doubt the payoff will be satisfactory since there are only 2 episodes left and not much to really flesh out. Who knows, these next 2 episodes might make or break the series and potentially bring forth a second season, but I wouldn’t hold my breath much on this idea. I guess we shall see what happens in the last 2 episodes.
