Blue Bloods season 7 episode 19 review: Perspectives — and Erin’s ex
For most of the main story on Friday’s “Love Lost,” we saw the perspective of one Erin Reagan on Jack Boyle, her ex-husband and opponent in court. She wanted to perceive him as the enemy in so many obvious ways, and you can make the argument that her focus on this perspective hurt her in the trial after it was dismissed with prejudice. Meanwhile, her perspective of Jack as a sleazeball chasing some long-gone youth was shaped by his decision to date a 25-year old. This frustration was aided further by the reaction at the family dinner table towards the news. (The way they carried on about it was probably one of the episode’s few missteps in an installment otherwise marked by subtlety.)
The fuel of the anti-Jack fire was all around her, as Frank and Danny didn’t have the best sentiment towards the man. This may have caused her to overlook some of his redeeming qualities, even if there were not many of them sometimes. The two did share a nice moment together the case was over, one where he revealed that he was no longer seeing his girlfriend after having a moment where he realized just how strange it was to be revisiting a part of his life some decades in the past.
As for Erin, maybe she can move forward now realizing that distance is good, and separating emotions is even better.
What is justice?
For Danny Reagan, his story of perspective can in the form of a young mother’s death. What was not clear was her personal struggle, and how she knew her health was deteriorating to the point where she would die a slow, painful death. She wanted to be euthanized, but when the medicine didn’t completely take, her husband was left in a position where she asked him to end her life when she went unconscious. This was an impossible task to ask of any spouse, but he did so out of love for her. Now, he still has to face the consequences of it.
There is a difference between sentiment and law, and this was reflected in some of Danny’s final words to the husband in this episode. He related to what he went through; it didn’t leave him anywhere beyond the inside of a cell, but this was not your typical Blue Bloods murder.
For Frank, he took on a different murder case, an unsolved story of gun violence in East New York after a mother came and professed her frustrations at the department for not looking into her son’s death. What he found was that her son was involved in a gang, and through seeing things more from her own state of mind, what she needed wasn’t so much an answer as it was a feeling that the NYPD cared. Frank achieved that by attending one of the vigils, something that he’s done in past episodes in other similar forms.
The best moment of the entire episode actually came in something that was not said — when Frank was challenged by the mother over him supposedly never having to go through the pain of losing a child, he stayed silent. He didn’t try to reinforce she was wrong by bringing up Joe. He realized that it wasn’t about him, and it was more about her seeing, through actions rather than words, that he cared and he wanted to make the situation better.
Finally, where was Eddie?
After a reassignment, Jamie found himself working with a new officer in Brenda Patimkin, someone not perceived well by his fellow colleagues over her ties to Internal Affairs. At first, he was rough and even cruel on her, and his rage was justified further when she accidentally let a guy they’d already arrested escape. Yet, as he started to actually understand why she did some of what she did with IA, he understood what the job meant to her — his own affection for the work allowed the two to forge a connection.
This was a nice side story in a very good episode, but we do still hope that Vanessa Ray returns shortly. That’s the partnership we’ve come to care about.
Overall
One of the best Blue Bloods episodes of the season. Even if you could chart note for note every moment in Frank’s story, the writing her and in other parts of the episode was strong enough to make it stand out and be remembered. Grade: A-.
Be sure to sound off in the comments with your thoughts on “Love Lost” now.
(Photo: CBS.)