‘Blue Bloods’ season 7, episode 12 review: Danny’s new gig; Jamie, Eddie face police gossip
Perception is not always reality, and for much of Friday night’s new episode of “Blue Bloods” entitled “Not Fade Away,” we had a prime example of that. We saw Danny Reagan do his best to help an ex-convict after twelve years behind bars, and the results of it proved themselves to be rather heart-wrenching. Meanwhile, Jamie and Eddie were forced to fight against police chatter that everyone assumed that the two of them are together, even if that may not be necessarily the case.
Danny’s new job – It just so happens that Ernie, the aforementioned convict, was a rather wealthy man with a history in the sporting world. He hired Donnie Wahlberg’s character to the tune of $10,000 over two days in order to look after him, just to ensure that he could finish up some of his business in town and potentially get to spend a little bit of time with his son. The perception for some was that he was responsible for pulling the trigger so many years ago to get him locked up, but as we inferred from his chat with Danny, that wasn’t exactly the case. He was a guy trying to reclaim some semblance of a future, and when he thought that he wasn’t going to be able to find it, he tried to leave.
However, Danny pushed him to stay and help him take out some of the dangerous people who were suddenly coming after him … and that is a decision that he may struggle to live with given how violent and bloody this all turned out to be. You like to think that police officers in particular have a memory that allows them to move on quickly from the hardships of the job, but that isn’t always the case. Maybe we didn’t get official confirmation of what happened to Ernie, but he certainly appeared dead given what happened to him.
Kudos to Wahlberg on this performance, given that we do think that this is some of the better work we’ve seen from him since the Thomas Wilder storyline played out.
Jamie and Eddie’s relationship limbo – For the time being, the needle is pointing more words “won’t they” on the “will they or won’t they” scale, and a big part of that may have to do with them seeing a couple get into a massive argument while out on the job, one that led to the two of them facing some steep consequences. That’s not a situation that either one of them want any part of, but part of them here is that the majority of the people in uniform already think that they’re dating. Couldn’t they just try to give the people what they want? Sure, but that doesn’t mean that it’s better for them.
It’s frustrating as someone who wants to see the two of them together to see them keep having roadblocks thrown up in their face, but at the same time, it makes some sense. This is real life, and they’re probably going to avoid being together for as long as possible until they just cannot stop themselves anymore.
Frank’s birthday – He simply hasn’t been a fan of them over the years, and at the end of tonight’s episode, we started to understand why: A repressed memory from his childhood that was causing him to want to downplay them. That’s what made the scene at the end of him making a big spectacle of it a little more interesting. He actually allowed himself to have a little bit of fun for a change!
Overall – This was a powerful episode of the show, largely because of the Danny storyline. There were some other interesting things that happened, but we cannot imagine what happened with Jamie / Eddie pleasing too many people. Grade: B.
Next week – You’re going to see Jamie and Eddie try to move forward, amidst a wide array of other things.
Photo: CBS