Blue Bloods season 8 episode 3 review: Danny takes a risk, protects Erin
It felt as though Erin was going to fight hard in order to ensure that Chao was put away once and for all. What got in the way this time around? Well, it was so simple as the sitting judge dying, seemingly without foul play. Danny was on the case, but it wasn’t an even case when you consider that there wasn’t a whole lot of evidence. If they could find a way to link Chao to what happened that would nail her to the wall. The NYPD had their best people on it, but Frank and Anthony aren’t exactly adept at getting along.
Meanwhile, Erin decided to visit the Coroner in order to get some more evidence that Chao was responsible — she couldn’t find much right away, and both her and Danny struggled to learn more in a conversation with Chao herself.
The good news is that Danny did get to an answered as to what happened with the judge during the middle portion of the episode. Unfortunately, it (seemingly) had more to do with the superintendent Joe Wheeler than it did Chao. Oh, and there is some more bad news: Erin was clearly being targeted as the person wanting to bring her down.
Can you turn really bad news into good news? Well, this is what Danny tried to do as the investigation went along. The timing of Erin’s attack suggested that the superintendent may have been paid off to kill the judge, and he came very close to making a confession. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Time was running out on Danny and Anthony to pin the judge’s death on Chao. Eventually, they had to turn to one of her lieutenants in order to make a move in the right direction. It was a controversial move, but it was one that worked. It made it easier on Wheeler to confess to doing what he did to the judge and, in turn, made it so that Chao could be charged for murder. Suddenly, the human trafficking case isn’t as important to keep her behind bars.
Oh, and Danny eventually also booked Chao’s lieutenant for going after Erin to “send a message” — in his mind, he didn’t break any deal in doing so.
Frank vs. the Mayor … again
Frank thought that he had laid the groundwork for a very smart, effective public safety initiative. What was the problem? Well, it was as simple as the fact that he couldn’t quite get the Mayor on board with it.
So who did he need to speak to in order to ensure that things turned around? Think in terms of City Council Speaker Regina Thomas. She realized, based on her past interactions with Frank, that it was better to team up with him rather than fight against him. Basically, she could get him the votes necessary so that he wouldn’t even need to worry about Dutton. Given that Thomas had Mayoral aspirations, she had some skin in the game here. From here, Garrett tried to use Regina’s proposed deal as a way to work some of the Mayor’s team.
Frank is a smart guy, and he was smart enough to realize that Regina had alternative motives to want to help him with community policing. She did like his plan to some degree, but he struggled with the notion of her doing it for politics just as much as her thinking it was right. He didn’t want to take her up on the deal; instead, he wanted the two to go to the Mayor together to try to strike a compromise for everyone. She wasn’t down for that, and Frank as a result of that walks alone again.
CarterMatt Verdict
We were disappointed with the lack of Eddie in this episode, and Jamie was nary a blip on the radar.
Aside from that, we liked the case pairing up Anthony and Danny (it’s fun to mix things up every now and then), and Whoopi Goldberg remains a nice addition to any show she appears on. Good on Danny for doing whatever he could to help protect his family — even if it meant taking an unexpected route.
(Photo: CBS.)