‘Blue Bloods’ season 6, episode 19 review: The past is not the past
Friday night’s episode of “Blue Bloods” was ultimately titled “Blast from the Past” for a reason. Over the course of the hour, what we effectively ended up seeing was many of the main characters on the show confronted with something important that heavily influenced their decision-making … or at least the characters of Baez and Frank. For what ever reason, the storyline with Jamie and Eddie is the one that we really did not get too much from in terms of content or enjoyment.
To us, the most fascinating portion of the episode was Frank continuing to struggle with the issue of police violence; specifically, what to do in the case of someone who was up for a promotion, but also previously-acquitted of murdering an unarmed teenager. Even if the courts found this man in Scully not guilty, that does not mean the public shares the sentiment. It’s a hot-button issue in real life, and as a result of that, of course this is a hot-button issue on the show and something that Frank had to examine on all fronts. Jamie advised him that he is someone new recruits were able to learn from, and he had passed the Sergeant’s exam with a very high grade. These are scenes that Scully was a competent cop, and were it not for the shooting would be a perfect Sergeant.
Through this story, the show tried to prove that no individual circumstance is black-and-white, but sometimes there are mistakes that happen on the job that, even if cleared of criminal charges, you still have to pay for. Frank’s call was one that gave Scully a chance, but did not jeopardize his own men in the process. He opened the door for him to land a job in one of many other precincts around the country, but refused to give him a promotion that would put him out on the street. A very well-executed end on the part of the show that satisfies all considerations.
Meanwhile, we did enjoy from a story point of view what happened when Danny and Baez were forced to collaborate on a case with someone who just so happened to be a former love of hers, and what she learned through this re-interaction with him was that fundamentally, he had not changed much when it comes to matters of the heart. Maybe you can argue that he was good at his police-work, but sometimes your occupation and home life don’t quite mix. He was shot, and there was another female officer particularly concerned about him that told her that his heart would always be aflutter for someone else.
While we found, as mentioned, the Jamie / Eddie storyline somewhat dull, we would say as a whole that this was a winning episode of “Blue Bloods” that brought intrigue, drama, and forced some of the characters to at least question where they stood on particular subjects. It was a stronger one than any we have seen in recent weeks. Episode Grade: B+.
(Photo: CBS.)