Blue Bloods season 8 episode 5 review: Jamie’s powerful story

On Blue Bloods season 8 episode 5, what we ended up seeing was a story of struggle for so many different characters.

Let’s start things off here with Jamie, which makes some sense given that this is the biggest story for Will Estes we’ve seen on the show in some time. He found himself trying to be tough on a young woman arrested for drugs when Eddie advocated for a little more restraint. He felt that the law was the law, so he brought her in and prepared for her to be imprisoned overnight. Yet, when he went away to speak to her parents for a moment and left her unsupervised, she died. He had this death on his hands and he felt incredibly guilty about it.

Yet, what was so interesting about this story was that it became one of compassion rather than one of peace. It would’ve been so easy for Blue Bloods to paint these parents as angry or ready to burn Jamie to the ground for what happened; yet, they were grateful. They felt that without him, they wouldn’t have had a chance to say goodbye.

Note to Blue Bloods writers that if you keep giving Estes great material, he is going to deliver on it.

Frank wins a battle

We’re not sure that it’s a battle that he’ll keep winning, but he found himself in a position where Mayor Dutton had to somewhat acquiesce to him when it comes to solitary confinement. He felt as though she was prioritizing some prisoners over some cops, and he didn’t have the same stance. One of the things that continues to work about this show and about Frank is that there are so many different ways in which you can look at these stories. There is no clear right or wrong with some of his dilemmas here and there, and we consider this to be it.

The one thing that we do want to see is Frank having to acquiesce a little bit more to Dutton given that right now, these stories are feeling very much like he’s going to almost always get some sort of victory against her. She’s formidable, and we therefore cannot imagine it always being that way.

Finally, Danny relates to a suspect

At first, his latest investigation felt pretty obvious — a single mother died, and her ex-husband had a history of violent behavior. More than that, this guy had a lawyer on retainer — if you’ve got this, the vast majority of time this is a sign that you are basically up to no good.

As it turns out, though, it was more complicated this time and therefore more interesting. This man wasn’t responsible for what happened and instead, Frank got to have a conversation with another father about what that responsibility means after the death of their children’s mother. It’s an experience he can share in some ways with Frank, but not that many given that she died when he was older.

CarterMatt Verdict

Blue Bloods season 8 episode 5 was entitled “The Forgotten,” and while we wouldn’t consider this the most unforgettable ones of the season it was near the top of the list. There were overall many big, interesting developments and a performance from Estes that will make it memorable down the line.

(Photo: CBS.)