‘Blindspotting’ Recap: ‘Ghost Dad’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Six of ‘Blindspotting’.
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If there is one thing that a parent wants for their child above all else, it would be for them to live a stress-free and happy life. Because parents only want the best and smoothest route in this life for their children and many go to great lengths to make that happen by offering up a safe environment at home, one complete with love and open air and everlasting care. But despite the best efforts of parents everywhere to ensure that their little ones are safe and secure and happy, deep down they know that their efforts can only last so long and that eventually, the tougher aspects of the world will find a way to touch and influence their child or children and that’s difficult to reconcile for certain. And to complicate matters further… sometimes it turns out, that the parents are the ones that have to be involved in that lesson. 
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After all, the chaos of the world can touch our families at any time as well and really, all of this is relevant to our discussion today, simply because this conundrum is precisely what Ashley had to deal with in the next episode of Blindspotting. For after weeks of putting it off, she knew the time had come to tell Sean why Miles has been absent from his life for some time now, but she didn’t quite know if she should in fact… tell him the truth or is she should figure out another way to keep him from facing the harsh reality that his dad was another prison statistic and well, her struggle to figure out the right way to handle this, allowed for ‘Ghost Dad’ to blossom into quite the relatable and engrossing tale. One that more or less took the time to examine how we come to big decisions in our lives and in this case, a little imagination had to come into play.

Because in order to properly sort out her thoughts, Ashley let her visual representation of Miles stick around for far longer than usual, so she could bounce ideas off of him and be honest with herself about this situation and this was just fascinating to watch. In part because it allowed for Rafael Casal and Jasmine Cephas-Jones to shine as actors, since they played off of one another in a magnificent manner. But more so because… this felt real, and the frustrations expressed here and the pain that came with knowing that Sean was going to have to learn a harsh truth, is indeed what parents want to avoid, especially in regard to this mess. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that this vignette revealed why exactly Ashley isn’t super upset with Miles, since it would seem she had a little involvement in the drugs found at the apartment.

How exactly she is tied to that, will have to wait for another time. But that does explain some of the guilt she’s been experiencing and why she’s been regressing and it would seem, the final segment of her journey in this tale, has fixed that. Simply because, she finally did the thing and told her son where Miles is at and that is a solid first step toward rebuilding her family’s foundation for the future and we’d be foolish to not point out the visual poetry/commentary present in this part of the story as well. Since the prison ‘dancers’ in this finale segment, served as a fine message that we need to not stigmatize all prisoners as violent offenders and monsters. Because they are fact, dads like Miles and people that were in the wrong place at the wrong time who have a story to tell and should be heard and the deep nature of this story, didn’t end there.

Because while Ashley and mind-Miles were hammering out what comes next for their family, Nancy and Janelle, and Trish and Earl… pondered upon what it means to be Black in America right now, and the horrors of appropriation and gentrification and everything in between. And well… it is definitely best, that this writer focuses instead on the importance of these scenes rather than trying to speak to or relate to or analyze what these characters had to say. For that would be counterintuitive and disrespectful to do, since the experiences of a Hispanic writer cannot compare to that of African Americans. So, what matters more here, is to point out that this conversation happened on a major cable network. Because this is the kind of stuff, we need to see on television more often. For this is representation at its finest and hopefully that conversation is one that will inspire other writers and directors to do the same in their own work and help to educate the world in a manner as dynamic as this.

In the end however, this was just another quality episode from a series that quite frankly… gets it. It gets the world; it understands what drives us and what we fear and that really does make this the most human show out there right now. Because this writer is also hard pressed to think of another series tackling these kinds of everyday topics and conversation and concerns in such a frank and beautiful manner. But all observations aside, at long last, Ashley is pushing ahead in life and finding her rhythm as a mother and she is embracing that role and embracing the future since there is little else, she can do in the now, and well… that definitely leaves one hungry for more and counting down the minutes until the next chapter in the ordeal. So we can see how Ashley is going to use her newfound strength to remove herself from her current funk and put her family back together. Until next time.