Blue Bloods season 8 premiere review: A Linda shocker; a new Mayor

Blue Bloods season 8 really wasted zero time getting the ball rolling on Friday night. The episode began with Frank Reagan in deep trouble with a police shooting while Erin’s ex Jack Boyle was in the midst of a medical crisis after being attacked. Meanwhile, Jamie and Eddie found themselves a new case courtesy of a murder in a nightclub.

Like we said, eventful right away! Let’s try to assess these stories the best we can … but be warned that as exciting as things were in the beginning, they’re going to get REALLY sad really quickly.

Who would want to kill Jack? – It was clear that he was targeted by someone, but who? Erin wanted her brother to investigate what happened, but Danny was ready to walk away from the force in the aftermath of his house burning down.

Danny went to therapy to try to resolve some of his trauma, but it was clear moments later that he was not able to let it go. He still blamed himself for the fire and what happened to his family.

The biggest surprise of the entire episode – Learning that Linda Reagan was no longer a part of the show. Amy Carlson was listed as a series regular going into the episode, so we assumed that she was going to be a part of it. However, she was nowhere to be seen and in his conversation with his therapist, the insinuation was there that his wife had died.

Ultimately, we did learn that Linda passed away in a helicopter accident completely unrelated to what Danny did or the fire — he still blamed himself, and that was why he was struggling so much to move forward. He did end up helping Erin, and Jack ended up being okay. That doesn’t mean his future is cemented by any means, but we do think he will try to move forward. Having his family at his side helps, and that scene with Frank and the dinner table at the end may have been the most sob-inducing family dinner of all time. We can’t imagine what it was like for Donnie Wahlberg trying to make sense of how to play something this steeped in sorrow.

Personally, though, we’re still going to be feeling the pain of what happened here for quite some time.

Frank vs. Margaret Dutton – Frank was doing his part to address the police shooting in a press conference when the acting Mayor Dutton showed up. She was unhappy about his handling of the incident and the shoplifter who was killed.

This was very much a classic Frank Reagan storyline, done in a rather different way. She tried to fire him for not releasing information publicly, but he wouldn’t bite. She couldn’t fire him, and that allowed him to battle for a little while (though he almost gave up at first). Margaret a.k.a. Maggie ended up finding a way to apologize to him for jumping the gun, and maybe these two will figure things out yet. They probably have more in common than they realize.

Jamie and Eddie go undercover – What happened at the nightclub involved drugs, but unfortunately, it also involved the reunited parties going undercover as a couple in order to figure it out. This was probably the most fun we had with this episode, and while we do want the two to get together, we’re glad it didn’t quite happen here. Save it for an episode with happier moments and not because they are pretending to be a couple.

Overall CarterMatt Take

We have to say that this was NOT what we expected, and while there were amazing performances from Donnie Wahlberg and Tom Selleck in the hour, we were almost so taken aback by what happened with Linda that it was rather hard to concentrate on anything else. This was devastating, and our main hope now is that the show finds that same thing: Hope. These characters know how to handle grief, and we hope this season shows that in a way that is poignant and beautiful.

What did you think about the Blue Bloods season 8 premiere?

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(Photo: CBS.)