Blue Bloods

Two scenarios: She dies in the house fire, Danny spends all season going after the cartel, or this season actually has Danny being more human trying to raise his sons. People were always complaining about his character being so pissed off all the time. Now they have a different direction for his character.

Yes, but they were letting the actress go. So instead of having her die in the fire, & have Danny go manic & kill people in the cartel. They had her die doing her job, so Danny doesn't blame anyone. Although he initially blames himself. They can now write his character to do something different than he has been all these seasons. 

I agree with you on these^ three points. I bought Season 7 of Blue Bloods on DVD for someone as a Christmas present and we've been watching it together. 

I really like Baez. I think she's Danny's best partner since Jackie. I didn't mind the other female partners he had, but they didn't really stick around long enough. She and Danny have had some good back and forth banter so far this season. The most recent instance I can remember ended with Danny quoting Bond (only changing 'James Bond' to 'Daniel Reagan' - though it was a bit weird to hear Danny refer to himself as Daniel).

I think one of the best things this show has done is giving Sid something to actually *do* in the show, whereas prior to his change in job, he didn't really get to do much except interact with Danny, if I recall correctly. He's so much better off interacting with Frank, Garrett & Baker. Speaking of Baker, I loved one of the early episodes this season showed her actually smiling/laughing (not sure we've gotten to see that previously) - as were Sid and Garrett - at a caricature of Frank...though then all three looked like kids getting caught doing something 'bad' by their father when Frank walked in. I kind of felt sorry for Baker when he included her as he asked them into his office. On the bright side, in one of the most recent episodes I watched she had some really good one-on-one scenes with Frank about his birthday. And I can't recall if this was the first episode where they came right out and said/showed that Baker was pregnant (I think up until now they were maybe hiding it? I'm not sure if they'd mentioned it previously or not).

I was so happy to be seeing her get more screentime/dialogue in some of the episodes...though it's still not enough for me. I want to see an episode devoted to Baker (in my mind, whenever we don't see her, she's off being a hero and saving people/stopping criminals, etc. When we *do* see her, she's assumed her 'secret identity'. Yes, that's what I'm going with until the show gives her an actual proper storyline). Garrett's Sid impression in a recent episode I watched was highly amusing (and dead-on too).

I felt the same way about the Reverend. Usually, he irritates me, but the episode did a good job of 'fleshing him out' some, showing us his family, and then dealing with the tragedy he and his wife suffered. I thought it was pretty realistic that he didn't suddenly 'soften' when Danny and Frank were trying to help. He remained his usual self (I thought Danny saying that he respected him for not suddenly changing rang true), but by the end of the episode he did show that he was capable of acting reasonable for a change and was decent to both Frank and Danny. 

Not relating to any of the above^ points, but Jamie and Eddie made their feelings known to each other in a recent episode I watched. It'll be interesting to see where they go with things. I saw in another one of your posts that Eddie/Vanessa Ray seemingly disappears from some episodes towards the end of the season - I'm not sure if that coincides with when she would've been doing filming for the final season of the TV series Pretty Little Liars or not. She played a rather crucial part in a big reveal during the previous season of that show. Since I watched her in both shows, it was kind of amusing seeing her play two very different roles around the same time. But I digress.

I really like some of the interactions we've gotten between characters that we don't typically get. There's been some between Jamie and Erin, Erin and Danny (when they're *not* arguing for a change), and other different dynamics, which is appreciated. I especially liked Eddie greeting Erin with a chirpy "Hello!" in a recent episode. I'm not sure if they've really interacted at all previously. 

I'm just over halfway through Season 7 of Blue Bloods at the moment. Shall post thoughts on more episodes as I watch them. Thank you for keeping this thread alive (since I'm so behind, my thoughts are for a season you've already seen some time ago).