‘Blue Bloods’ season 5, episode 11 (100th episode) review: Was ‘Baggage’ a worthy tribute to the show?

Five years ago, “Blue Bloods” first came on the scene as a relative mystery. While it had names like Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg, it also had many challenges. One of the biggest ones was merely a timeslot, having to air Friday nights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, when many young viewers were likely off doing something else.

However, the show did over time manage to find itself, and has become beloved in many ways by its fans. It not only has solid cases, but it surrounds itself with interesting moral questions that separate it from most other shows within the whole police drama genre.

Tonight’s 100th episode brought that to another level, since we witnessed a series of events leading to a bank robbery, but one that was not done by ordinary robbers. Instead, they had military connections and were operating with a purpose, which in turn generated a surprising amount of sympathy out of Danny … but not enough to defer him from his job.

This story was for the most part powerful stuff. Seeing the way Danny got to the bottom of this was methodical, and the story really ended in the only way that it could, given the circumstances. You have to stand by your principles, even if you do at the same time hold a certain amount of pride in your past. Seeing Frank’s involvement in all of this was great, just from the standpoint of that other voice of reason that has become so important in the series.

Our only major criticism here would be simply that we did not fully receive as many tributes to the past four seasons as we would have liked. This felt ultimately more like a really good standard episode than one that was special for this particular moment in time. Grade: B+.

What was your take on the 100th episode of “Blue Bloods”? Share with a comment.

Photo: CBS