‘Blue Bloods’ season 7, episode 8 review: Jamie, Eddie kiss in season’s strongest hour

Going into Friday night’s new episode of “Blue Bloods,” we imagine that many of you out there already saw the promo photos and were excited about the prospect of seeing Jamie and Eddie finally come closer to getting together. It was an exciting moment, and seeing the two confess their feelings for each other was all sorts of fantastic.

Specifically, this worked wonders because of the performance of Vanessa Ray in particular. Everything began when Jamie decided that he was going to let Tara, a young woman who he and Eddie found living outside her former apartment building, stay with him while she looked for a new home. Eddie had a hard time digesting that, even if his intentions were good, and that caused her at one point to act out of jealousy. She admitted to this to him at the end with a powerful monologue all about how she’s had feelings for Jamie for a long time, even if he’s not the type of guy that she typically falls for. She was of course afraid to tell him because of the complications that would come with it.

As for Jamie’s response, he admitted that he did feel the same — but didn’t seem to bend too much on whether or not it could happen, given the rules and how this could mean the end of their partnership. She went in for the kiss before leaving, and while he said what he said, he didn’t exactly stop it, either!

Maybe this isn’t the end of the will-they-or-won’t-they, but feelings are more out in the open, and we feel like it’s only a matter of time before the two determine that there’s no real value in hiding things anymore.

This episode wasn’t great just because of this particular moment; every storyline delivered in its own way.

Another decision – For Frank, we saw arguably his best story of the season as he had to try and figure out the best way to move forward after a sergeant failed to stand up to a criminal at the scene of a robbery. Why? His daughter was present, and he made the decision to protect her over putting his own life in jeopardy. He was off-duty, but that in the minds of some cops shouldn’t have made a difference.

The reason this story worked is because you had a classic “Blue Bloods” moral dilemma where neither party is 100% right. Both sides had their argument, and we don’t think Frank could make the wrong decision here. Yet, he made the same one we would have, and that is keeping the sergeant employed with a reprimand, given that in his shoes, he likely would’ve done the same thing to keep his own family safe. While not flashy, this was all extremely well-crafted — really a motto for this show.

Danny, Erin’s latest collaboration – While tenuous at times, eventually the two managed to piece together precisely what happened as a woman in Emily shot her abusive ex-boyfriend after some concerns that he was going to do the same thing to someone new in his life. He was physical with her, and while it took some time and getting the right attorney, Emily eventually was able to get the witness testimony on her side in order to clear her name for anything other than self-defense.

Episode Grade: A-. Easily the best episode of the season. Now, the focus for the show should be making what happened between Jamie and Eddie matter. While the temptation may be here for this show to go back to square one for the sake of syndication / the procedural format, this is worth breaking it. You do need to see characters evolve before the end.

(Photo: CBS.)