Blue Bloods

The New You

A different type of episode, but I liked it quite a bit.

Danny/Baez story – a jogger spots a dead body of a homeless man and reports it. Danny finds it suspicious that three such dead homeless people have been found by the same guy, and he also protested the use of a fancy, now abandoned, hotel to house the homeless. Since the guy was wearing a smart watch, Danny gets Erin to give him a search warrant on just the tracking app. But it turns out the app confirms his story that he was jogging for 2 hours straight before he found the body. Then he wants Erin to expand the warrant. Nope, sorry Danny, that would just be fishing. The scene of Danny, Anthony, and Erin fighting over the request is priceless! And it continues into the Sunday dinner. But for once, Danny just has to check all the other evidence, and the killer turns out to be someone else entirely. It’s actually similar to what happened last week, but handled much better this time.

Erin/Anthony story – I just loved the opening where Anthony complains about how people see him as a mafioso type instead of a cop, after which he finally gets to mentioning that someone at a bar tried to hire him to kill his wife. “Way to bury the lead!” she chides! He goes undercover to get the guy to repeat the request. Again, something similar to last week, but Anthony’s dialogue to the guy would not be considered entrapment. Not that it matters, since it turns out the poor schlub was just depressed about his marriage and really didn’t want a hit man. A total bust. But Anthony turns it around at the end by posing as a mafioso to scare off the brother who was cheating with the wife. Loved it.

Frank/Garrett/Sid/Baker story – Seems simple enough. Garrett makes a questionable comment to the press; Frank wants him to walk it back. Not so simple. Garrett is trying to improve himself and doesn’t want to do something he feels is dishonest. Lots of clever debate ensues, and Frank’s staff really shine in their response (Frank, too, needless to say.) I loved the way Baker made an expression as Garrett entered and then later left Frank’s office. It said more than if she’d spoken a line! Really nice wrap-up as Frank and Garrett manage to reach a compromise with mutual respect.

Jamie/Eddie story – Not a long story, but nice vignettes sprinkled into the show like fine seasoning. She’s excited about learning the five love languages. This is not something made up. I listen to Moody radio at times for inspiration and they’ve spoken to Gary Chapman, the author of “The Five Love Languages”, from time to time. He genuinely wants to help married couples communicate better. Jamie brushes it off, even when she (successfully) uses it to help a bickering couple that they had to bring to the station. Finally, he tries to learn the languages out of respect for her. That’s what good couples do; respect each other.

Just another great episode. I’m anxious to see how they wrap up the season with the 2-hour finale. It’s listed as 2 separate episodes, but the titles imply they are interconnected. We’ll soon find out.

Justifies the Means

Wow. What a start. Joe’s friend Tyce isn’t dead after all. It was Max, that piece of garbage who got snuffed. Good riddance!

Meanwhile, the Reagan family is together waiting on news whether the burned body was Joe. And Danny is still whining about not being in on the loop. Let it go, will you, Danny? The word comes through that it isn’t Joe’s body. Henry tells them all he can’t bury another Reagan – find Joe and bring him back alive.

Joe, meanwhile, doesn’t want to come in until he finds out what the big arms deal was. The ATF mole busts in and is convinced Joe or Tyce is a cop. As luck would have it, Tyce looks more like a cop in the end. But before the mole can shoot him, Joe shoots out both his kneecaps – blowing his cover in the process. Tyce decides his best option is to stick around.

What follows is a cat and mouse game with Jamie and Danny in pursuit of Joe, who is leaving careful clues. Finally, they meet up and he asks for 12 more hours to finish the case. Knowing they’d do the same thing in his position, they give him the time.

Meanwhile, Frank is with Rachel Weber, head of the whole ATF-CIA taskforce finding out that she has a mole and that Joe is Frank’s grandson. She’s played by Gloria Reuben and she’s great – so is the back and forth between them, as when Rachel finds out about the grandson connection:
Rachel: You’re a real piece of work.
Frank: I’ve been told that before.

There was another great pair of lines right after that, but I didn’t write them down and can’t remember them. (We had to delate the show already because we don’t have a lot of space left on the DVR.) I hope she shows up again someday. They traded barbs, but respected each other.

Erin helps by letting Anthony conduct a search on Max’s girl friend’s place without a warrant, gaining some big intel which hopefully will not have to be used in court. Anything to help Joe. We also learn she’d make a terrible crook.

Finally, the big arms buy is revealed: Crooks buying an arsenal to storm a courthouse. There’s a big shootout at the end. Joe is hit, but survives. Poor Tyce is hit twice, and doesn’t. That’s a shame. I was hoping he could testify against the others and someday buy that crepe store. At least he died doing something good.
The show ends appropriately at a family dinner, where they celebrate the fact that Joe is alive, and that he truly is his father’s son.

And another great season comes to a close. I’m looking forward to more great episodes next season. I love these people, and I love the fact that they named them the Reagans. What a show!

Frankly (no pun intended) I think this show has jumped the shark, it has always been a fairytale show, but the plot lines have become laughable.

End his show now, while it still has a few shreds of dignity left.

In the "real life world" Frank would have been fired years ago, and Danny would have either been fired or shoved onto a desk job, Erin would never be allowed to prosecute, or even be involved in, any case involving either of her brothers.

Leaving the above nonsense aside, the plot lines are simplistic, before the opening credits, you know how every situation is going to resolve, the saving grace of this show was the family dynamic, which has faded, and the Sunday dinners have become perfunctory.

Worth noting, actual police officers have consistently ranked the comedy, Barney Miller, as one of the most realistic police shows ever made, other programs on that list include; Hill Street Blues, The Wire, and Police Story (the T.V. show, not the Jackie Chan movie)