‘Blue Bloods’ season 7, episode 15 review: Why is Jamie still a beat cop?

Friday night’s new episode of “Blue Bloods” is an episode that posed many interesting questions, but at the core of them is one that we’ve wondered for several seasons now: Why is Jamie a beat cop after all of these years? We know him to be an incredibly good police officer, and at the same time, he brings a number of other skills to the table. He’s smart, resourceful, and highly regarded by everyone else in his department. With this being said, it only makes some sense that he be considered for a higher position.

Where things get interesting is when it was suggested to Frank that he was being intentionally hard on his son because of who he was, and was not giving him an opportunity to advance forward in the NYPD. What he did not realize, however, is that Jamie doesn’t want to be anywhere else. After an elaborate conversation — one that included many metaphors involving barstools — we eventually saw the two men decide that they were going to be on the same page moving forward into the future. Jamie was happy where he was, and Frank wouldn’t push him for a promotion.

Now that we’ve said this, we absolutely believe that said promotion will be there if he ever wants it. There’s no rush. (The one disappointment we had with all of this — where in the world was Eddie this week?)

Danny and Baez’s controversial move – Is there such a thing as justified revenge? This is what you had to wonder after a horrific man, one responsible for taking someone’s wife and child from the world, was found dead, and most of the evidence was pointing to the widower. He denied his involvement, and did everything that he could in order to claim that he was innocent.

However, the facts were the facts, and in being good cops, neither Danny nor Baez could look the other way on this. Therefore, they eventually went to him in the interrogation room using all of the information and evidence that they had. However, in the process what we also learned in the process was that they had specifically found him an attorney who would be knowledgeable and skilled enough to ensure that this guy would have a favorable trial. They did the right thing for their jobs, but Danny himself mentioned that if he was the guy, he would’ve probably wanted to do the same exact thing if someone was responsible for killing his family.

Other odds and ends – The Erin / Anthony story was both interesting both in terms of seeing some dissension in terms of seeing how he wanted to handle an old friend with ties to the mob, and for seeing Erin try to bribe him with baked goods. Also, how often do you see a Reagan family dinner start without Frank there? He and Jamie got caught up in barstool chatter, and they rushed in at the last second.

This was a good episode overall — there was a lightness to it at times, but also some serious moments throughout. Grade: B+.

Next time – An “Entourage” alum is going to be entering the mix!

(Photo: CBS.)