Tess’s view of the suspect’s car

Minutes later, while investigating the disappearance of Kelly Chan (Sydney Bell), Tess experiences a sudden loss of sight, leaving her able to see only shadows and shapes, and giving her a nasty headache. She mentions the headache, but tells no one about the loss of sight. As the detectives drive back to the station, Jake spots the suspect’s car and gives chase. The suspect is soon cornered, but Jake is pinned in the car. Newly-blind Tess can’t take the shot, and the suspect gets away.

Tess, who was previously diagnosed with Leber’s Neuropathy, visits her doctor who tells her she is clinically blind and will not likely regain her sight. She visits Superintendent Bennett (Roger Cross) and hands in her badge and gun without explanation.

Mia Moss

The crime scene indicates that Kelly lost a lot of blood, and Jake jumps to the statistically supported conclusion that the woman is already dead. Tess clings to the hope that Kelly is still alive, but has no supporting evidence.

A long time friend Matt Alleyne (Jared Joseph) shows Tess an app designed to connect the visually impaired with a guide person who sees for them through a mini-camera and speaks to them through an earpiece. Tess uses uses the app to hire Sunny Patel (Agam Darshi), initially to help her find her clothes the morning after a dating app-sourced hookup. She also uses Sunny to help her continue the investigation into Kelly’s disappearance.

Jake actively discourages her continued investigations. Though he wants his partner to come back to the force, he does not take her advice or trust her instincts.

Sunny Patel

The apartment (condo?) where Tess lives seems fairly expensive for a police detective’s salary. Tess has told neither her partner nor her boss of her blindness, and they are clearly not aware of her medical history, so they are both puzzled about why she quit. She does not contact family after losing her sight, and rejects help (at least for the moment) from doctor-prescribed assistant Mia Moss (Alice Christina-Corrigan).

Not too long ago, Sunny Patel was a successful advertising executive in New York City, but a traumatic experience has left her agoraphobic, housebound, and very security conscious. Though she never goes out and lives vicariously through the experiences of those she assists online, she is always well-dressed. In a brief flashback to the trauma that precipitated Sunny’s phobias, we catch a glimpse of a bloody knife. Sunny also suffers from an intense fear of heights.

Mia’s dog Wilbur (Brass the Dog)

The episodes most intense scene happens when Tess tracks the victim’s brother-in-law’s cellphone to a warehouse in Port Coquitlam but the the guy who has it points a gun at her. Sunny is freaked, but calmly explains the situation to Tess, who adapts quickly. “Hey, I’m just looking for a friend.”, says the former detective. The guy with the gun isn’t fooled and tells her “I know a cop when I see one.”

Once the case is solved, Tess has another conversation with Jake.

JAKE: “Dammit, Jess, just come back. I’ll grow up and buy the coffee.”
TESS: “I can’t, Jake.”
JAKE: “What are you not telling me here? Look, I think you need to get over missing this damn shot…We [pauses] I need you back.”

She says she’s sorry, but still doesn’t tell him anything.

An abstract painting hangs by the door in Tess’s apartment

In an interview with Alex Smyth of Accessible Media Inc. Dolly Lewis says that the show tries to visually demonstrate that blindness is a spectrum by showing the viewer what Tess actually sees. Lewis is herself partially blind, but says her condition is less severe than that of her character. I haven’t needed to tap into one of those [apps] yet,”, she explains, “but it’s amazing to see just how far technology has come…The flip side of this is that it can really shut people out. Everything is a touchscreen these days and for somebody who can’t see that and needs to rely on texture, that’s an incredible barrier.”

• Nikolijne Troubetzkoy, who co-created SIGHT UNSEEN with her half-sister Karen Troubetzkoy, also wrote the the ORPHAN BLACK episode “The Antisocialism of Sex” and the KILLJOYS episode “Blame It on the Rain“.
• Episodes 2 and 4 are directed by VAGRANT QUEEN creator Gem Garrard
• ORPHAN BLACK co-creator John Fawcett directs episodes 1, 3, 7, and 8
• The fourth episode, “Mia” is written by Lisa Codrington of LETTERKENNY
• Each of the first seven episodes (there are ten in total) is named for one of the show’s main characters.
• Sharon Lewis, who directed episodes 5 and 6, wrote and directed the sci-fi fantasy BROWN GIRL BEGINS, and the 2021 documentary WITH WONDER.
• First Season guest stars include Jess McLeod, Nhi Do, Zach Smadu, Siobhan Williams, Hiro Kanagawa, Millan Tesfazgi, and Kai Bradbury.