Blindspotting (2021) is a continuation of the film of the same name, created by Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, with Casal also reprising his role of Miles.
Taking place six months after the events of the film, the show follows Ashley (Jasmine Cephas Jones), Miles's girlfriend and the mother of Sean, their son, in the aftermath of his arrest. Without both of their incomes, Ashley can't afford to stay in their apartment, and so she and Sean must move in with Miles's mother Rainey and half-sister Trish (played by Helen Hunt and Jaylen Barron respectively).
The series contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Ashley's father was physically abusive, to the point that she has a restraining order out against him.
- Affectionate Nickname: Ashley is often called "Ash" by her loved ones, and Miles often calls her "Baby". Janelle is also often referred to as "Nelle".
- Ambiguously Gay: Trish feigns attraction to men for the purposes of her job, but the only person for whom she (thus far) shows genuine attraction is her female friend Jacquie. This is lampshaded in the second season, when Miles and Ashley both gently tease Trish, the former encouraging her to express her feelings. Trish declares her love for Jacquie, though after this she still isn't entirely certain. Jacquie is straight as well.
- Amicable Exes: Nancy is apparently on good enough terms with Dauntes (Collin and Janelle's dad) to paint him in the nude.
- Arc Words: "Welcome to the ordeal."
- Ascended Extra: Ashley, a secondary character in the film, becomes the primary viewpoint character in the series.
- Benevolent Boss: Scotty, Ashley's manager at the Alcatraz Hotel, is definitely this, as he is horrified to learn how she was propositioned by a guest and stands up for her when she is verbally abused by another. He also covers for her when she trashes a hotel room in grief and rage. He also gives her pointers on how to tell Sean about Miles, and gives her the rest of the day off so she can better prepare for it.
- Best Friend: Janelle to Ashley, Jacquie to Trish, and Nancy to Rainey.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Trish, despite being an adult, often behaves like this, especially when she complains about having to wear pants in the house.
- Break the Haughty: The third episode is this for Trish, who has her loan proposal rejected, has to fill in for one of the dancers at her club (when she thought she'd only have to dance when she wanted to), and who ends the episode getting smacked by her mother after picking a fight with Ashley.
- Call-Back: When Ashley meets Niles Turner in prison (played by Utkarsh Ambukdar, reprising his role from the film), he asks her if her boyfriend "has a partner that looks like Krayzie Bone and they set a guy on fire one time", paraphrasing one of his lines from the film and referring to the events that led to Collin's incarceration.
- Caught with Your Pants Down: Ashley is caught masturbating by Rainey at the end of the first episode. Rainey is unbothered, but Ashley is extremely embarrassed.
- Chekhov's Gun: A humorous example in the first episode, that is later referred to as "Chekhov's fun". At the beginning of the episode, Ashley's vibrator turns on in one of the moving boxes, and she frantically hurries to shut it off before Sean gets too curious about what it is. At the end of the episode, when she tries to use it, she gets caught by Rainey and ends up extremely embarrassed.
- Chekhov's Skill: In the first season finale, Rainey mentions that she used to flash cops in her younger days to avoid arrest (or as she calls it, the "flash and dash"). Later in the episode, she tries it again so the wedding can proceed, but it's not as successful.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Earl is eccentric, to say the least. He's particularly strange about his ankle monitor, which he keeps plugged into an extension cord at all times. Even when he goes for a job interview, he brings a backup cord in his briefcase. His parole officer puts it quite succinctly when he calls Earl a "weird motherfucker." This later turns into a Cerebus Retcon, as Earl's paranoia about his monitor actually happens to be rooted in his deep-set trauma about his arrest and subsequent incarceration, and he's revealed to be Properly Paranoid when he's rearrested in the series finale.
- Culture Clash: In episode 3, when Rainey suggests physically punishing Sean after he kicks both Ashley and Trish, saying that it's acceptable to do so three times in a child's life. Ashley (who has been physically abused herself) is appalled when Trish and Miles talk about it like it's totally normal, and continues to be when other characters suggest physical punishment as well.
- Creator Provincialism: As with the film, Casal and Diggs's love for the Bay Area is apparent throughout the series.
- Deadpan Snarker: Rainey is often pretty sarcastic, such as answering her daughter Trish when she asks why she's got to wear pants in the house, claiming the need for a "well-ventilated coochie" with "I love your coochie. It came out of mine. But it does NOT need to be the first one your nephew sees."
- Demoted to Extra: Miles, a viewpoint character in the film, only appears in a recurring capacity in the show.
- Disappeared Dad: Miles's dad was absentee and Trish's had no involvement beyond sperm donation (per Rainey's admission).
- Disney Acid Sequence: Occurs in episode 5, when Ashley, Janelle, Trish, and Jacquie go to the beach and take mushrooms.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Jacquie openly ogles Cuddy, the bank manager, when she and Trish encounter him in the bowling alley, and he returns the favour.
- Establishing Character Moment: Miles and Ashley both get them in the opening scene of the first episode.
- As Miles is getting arrested, he insists, loudly enough for the cops to hear it, that he was keeping the drugs a secret from Ashley and she knew nothing about his intent to sell them. Whether or not this is true, it becomes apparent that Miles is making sure that the cops' attention stays on him and not Ashley, so they will not give her trouble and Sean will not have both of his parents get arrested on the same night. Ashley, for her part, sees what he's doing and goes right along with it, loudly admonishing him for keeping drugs in the house. Ashley gets hers when Miles is being put in the cop car, when she has the presence of mind to ask him several practical questions, including if he needs anything. Both moments go to show how in-sync Ashley and Miles are, both as a couple and as parents to their son.
- Miles gets another later on, when Ashley goes to visit him in jail. When a guard tells Ashley to "watch her mouth", Miles furiously (and creatively) berates the guard before saying that he doesn't like it when people disrespect Ashley. This reaffirms his characterization from the film, as a hot-headed but fundamentally good person.
- Everybody Must Get Stoned:
- Ashley, Rainey, Earl, and Janelle all get stoned in episode four. Ashley and Rainey play games and discuss their shared past, while Earl and Janelle decide to have a cook-off.
- Happens again in episode five, when Ashley, Janelle, Trish, and Jacquie go to the beach and take mushrooms.
- Foreshadowing: In the season two premiere, Ashley reacts to seeing her brother with hostility, shouting at him and forcing him to leave Sean's birthday party. It's not until the season two finale that the reason for this hostility is known. Namely, that Ashley's brother came to her and Miles with drugs, asking her to hide them, which was what resulted in Miles's arrest.
- Good Stepmother: Janelle was one to Tiare, her husband's two-year-old daughter, when she was in Bali. The marriage didn't last long, but Janelle clearly loved her stepdaughter very much and speaks of her fondly in the present day. This is Played for Drama in the second season, when Mustafa reveals that one of the reasons he divorced Janelle was because he (a widower) was not ready to hear Tiare call Janelle "mom".
- Granola Girl: Rainey, the quintessential hippie mom. Imaginary Miles even refers to her as such when he and Ashley are discussing Sean's birth, saying that Rainey didn't want them to go to a hospital and instead wanted her to "squat down in the bathtub."
- Green-Eyed Monster: Trish is profoundly jealous of Jacquie's relationship with Cuddy. She claims it's because he's taking time away from their friendship, but Miles and Ashley both speculate that it's more than that.
- Hidden Depths:
- Earl is full of them:
- He's an excellent cook, and the son of a notable Bay Area restauranteur.
- He's astute enough around children to be able to explain the concepts of probation and house arrest to Sean in child-appropriate terms. He's also the only one who manages to successfully cheer Sean up in episode seven after the visitation with Miles doesn't go well.
- Episode five also reveals that he knows a fair bit about boats, and taught sailing as a teenager.
- Despite his easy-going (if odd) persona, he still harbours a lot of trauma about his arrest and incarceration, especially considering how he was arrested in his parents' restaurant in front of white diners.
- Episode five also reveals that Jacquie is a talented painter, and struggles to reconcile that side of herself with her other interests and goals.
- The series finale reveals that apparently Janelle was married in Bali, and was even stepmother to her husband's young daughter. How this relationship fell apart isn't known (besides an ambiguous "he didn't want the same things I did" from Janelle), but it's implied that its failure was a big factor in her mysterious reappearance at the beginning of the series. It places a whole new meaning behind her implied reluctance to begin a relationship with Earl.
- Earl is full of them:
- Historical Character's Fictional Relative: Episode 12 reveals that Jacquie is a daughter of Dante Basco
, whose role in Hook is referenced heavily. - Hot-Blooded: Trish, much like her big brother, though episode five reveals that she isn't exactly proud of this trait.
- Imaginary Friend: Ashley and Sean both have one.
- A facsimile of Miles shows up in Ashley's mind at several points, offering commentary on Ashley's experiences. Usually, he's friendly and supportive, but he's angry with her in episode 5, since Ashley feels guilty for not telling Sean that his father is in prison. The two of them go on a "date" in episode 6, reminiscing about moments in their relationship, and he helps her come to terms with her guilt about the situation they're in.
- Sean has Thizzly Bear, a Where the Wild Things Are-style version of a stuffed animal that Miles made for him.
- In Love with Your Carnage: A very mild example with Ashley in regards to Miles. During one of her verses, she describes a time in the past when Miles attacked her abusive father, which is revealed in episode 6 to be when she was going into labour with Sean. Though Ashley is generally averse to violence, she admits to herself that she enjoyed it then.
- Insistent Terminology: Trish insists that while Sean is family, Ashley is not, since "Miles never put a ring on that bitch's finger."
- Late to the Tragedy: In the series finale, the entire main cast comes back from Ashley's jailhouse wedding to find Earl's extension cord lying in the middle of the road.
- Jerkass: Trish is a decidedly unpleasant person, especially to Ashley. She morphs into a Jerk with a Heart of Gold towards the end of the first season.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: During their conjugal visit, Ashley and Miles have sex on the couch inside the house provided because Seas is sleeping in the bed.
- Missing Mom: Genevieve, Ashley's mother, who passed away a year after Sean was born. This, combined with her abusive father, explains why Ashley has to rely on Miles's family when he gets arrested.
- Mood Whiplash: A three-fold example occurs in the first season finale, which starts with the incredibly sweet scene of Miles and Ashley's wedding, switches to the shock and horror of Earl's re-arrest, and then concludes with a hilarious mid-credits scene where Miles and Collin catch up over the phone.
- Ms. Fanservice:
- Trish, while at home, likes to walk around with only a sparse top and panties. She is quite pretty, and works as an exotic dancer. Her mother and Ashley get annoyed by this, and Trish is only restrained from walking around fully nude due to their objections.
- Her friend (and fellow exotic dancer) Jacquie is similarly attractive and similarly scantily clad, even being seen fully nude in the first episode.
- Naked People Are Funny: In the first episode, Jacquie, one of Trish's coworkers at the strip club, comes out of the shower fully naked, unaware that six-year-old Sean is in the room. All parties (especially Ashley) are horrified, and Rainey quickly hands Jacquie a towel.
- Nice Girl: Janelle is a very kind-hearted person, which is especially apparent in her interactions with Ashley and Sean. Even with Earl, who she has mixed feelings about living with, she is kind enough to offer to help him look for a job.
- N-Word Privileges: Ashley and Miles have a serious talk with their son Sean in Season 2 about this. Even though he has black ancestry, they tell Sean not to say it until he's 14 (and then only affectionately with other black people) as he won't understand fully until then. They explain that, due to the US' history of racism, other uses just aren't acceptable (even by Miles, who's white).
- Off on a Technicality: Miles is freed in "Return to Ithica" because it was found that the cops who arrested him planted evidence, tainting his conviction, though he'd genuinely been holding drugs at the time.
- Oh, Crap!: Earl in episode five, when he is at his job interview and realizes that his ankle monitor is about to turn back on. He leaves the interview immediately and sprints home, and it's only by sheer luck that he manages to get the job anyway. He has a more subdued, but much more devastating one at the end of episode eight, when he is forced to stay late at work and the light on his ankle monitor turns red, leading to his re-arrest.
- Once More, with Clarity: The season two finale replays the evening of Miles's arrest, while revealing that the drugs that Miles was caught with belonged to Ashley's brother.
- Only Sane Man: Nancy often fills this role, but especially in "Meatfest", where she wisely tries to discourage Trish from telling Rainey that Ashley cheated on Miles, even asking her if her motive for telling is to protect Miles or to hurt Ashley. Trish doesn't take her advice, but still...
- Open-Minded Parent: Rainey applies, since she knew that Ashley and Miles were smoking pot and having sex in their teenage years and was not bothered by it.
- Out-of-Genre Experience: "The Good, The Bad, and the Thizzly", which takes the otherwise realistic show into Western territory.
- Parental Substitute: Rainey sees herself as one for Ashley, saying that the Ashley "practically grew up in her house" and assuring her that she can talk to her about anything.
- Parents as People: Miles and Ashley both love their son very much, but Ashley is often preoccupied with her own issues and Miles, being incarcerated, is unable to properly co-parent.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Name-dropped with Trish and Jacque, though by this website's definition they would fall under Heterosexual Life-Partners.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Downplayed. While all of the characters are funny to an extent, Earl and Janelle often fill this role, especially considering how they're the least connected to the main plot out of all the leads.
- Previously on…: Miles delivers one of these at the beginning of each episode, as if he is being filled in on everything he missed over the phone. This continues in season 2, though usually delivered by other characters.
- Put on a Bus: Collin, the film's other viewpoint character, is mentioned to have moved to Montana after threatening a cop at the end of the movie. He makes a voice cameo in the first season's mid-credit scene over the phone with Miles.
- Rich Bitch: Both of the people that Ashley encounters at the hotel in the second episode.
- The husband sexually propositions her, claiming that his wife "gets off" when she knows he's been with other people.
- The wife asks Ashley if she knows where to get cocaine, claiming that Ashley "looks like she knows where to get some". When Ashley calls her out for being racist, the woman loses her temper and starts verbally abusing her, requiring Ashley's boss to intervene.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Imaginary Miles in episode 6. It's lampshaded when Miles asks her "why he's dressed like Gatsby", to which she says "she just wanted to see it."
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Though Ashley usually looks nice anyway, everyone is awed when she's dressed up in a wedding gown.
- Ship Tease:
- A few instances between Earl and Janelle, especially during their cook-off in episode four.
- A minor amount between Jacquie and Cuddy (the banker), though it doesn't go anywhere until the second season.
- The Stoner: Much of the main cast, but especially Ashley's best friend Janelle, who freely admits that she hasn't been "un-high" since she returned from Bali. Earl also applies, to the point that it was the reason he went to prison.
- Ashley goes into the mountains and rolls a joint in episode 6, though she decides against smoking it when Imaginary Miles points out that she shouldn't be high when she tells their son that his dad is in prison.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- In episode 3, Trish goes to the bank in order to get a loan to start her own club. She enters with loads of confidence and believes that she has convinced the banker to approve of the loan. However, Trish gets rejected, since as the banker points out, she's pitching an all-cash, non-tax-paying business, not to mention the bank's reluctance to approve of a loan for a strip club.
- In episode 4, Janelle mentions that her brother Collin left California after breaking into a cop's house and pointing a gun at him, which was the climax of the 2018 film. While it may have been a cathartic moment for Collin in the movie, he did commit a crime while doing so (and having just finished probation to boot), so his decision to leave the state makes a lot of sense.
- Taking the Heat: In "Return to Ithica" it's revealed Ashley is the one who'd been holding drugs that her brother gave her. Miles took and tries to dispose of them after the police raided, acting like he was the only one involved, therefore sparing Ashley prison time for it.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: Janelle endures a series of awful dates at the beginning of the fourth episode, including one with a white hipster who has the same Oakland tattoo as Miles, despite not actually being from the area.
- Toxic Friend Influence: A mild example with Teena, who Ashley befriends in season 2. She's definitely not a bad person, but spending time with her leads Ashley to drink more than she should and kiss someone who isn't Miles.
- Wham Line:
- The judge sentencing Miles to five years in prison, when both he and Ashley were expecting him to be gone for a month at most.
- When Ashley reveals in episode 6 that she feels guilty about Miles getting arrested because he was "doing her a favour."
- When Ashley finally tells Sean where Miles is, and that he won't be coming back for a while.
- Wham Shot:
- When Ashley is going through a box of Miles's stuff and finds an engagement ring.
- When Earl gets home from the docks in episode eight and finds out that the light on his ankle monitor is still red, meaning that he will be re-arrested.
- What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: An In-Universe example occurs in episode 4, when Ashley allows Sean to watch Reservoir Dogs at a sleepover, thinking that it's a nature documentary. Rainey (and later Earl) try to tell her otherwise, and Sean ends up coming home from the sleepover after (understandably) being traumatized by the movie.
- The Whitest Black Guy: This is a subject of major discussion in episode 6, when Nancy hears Sean refer to himself as "honey brown" and becomes concerned that he doesn't know enough about his black identity.
