Fires at NYPD storage units are rare. These facilities hold evidence needed to turn arrests into convictions, so the authorities take every precaution.
That’s probably why Blue Bloods Season 13 Episode 19 spoilers say that Jamie investigates whether arson is to blame for an all-consuming blaze.
The fire destroys evidence Danny collected against a notorious drug cartel boss, which means this story will have wide-reaching consequences.
Could the criminal in question be the one Lyle Lovett’s character helped Danny transport on Blue Bloods Season 13 Episode 15?
That guy was especially dangerous, attempting to threaten the Reagan family after Danny refused to let him escape in exchange for ten million dollars. It tracks that he, or someone in his organization, would destroy evidence to block his prosecution.
Hopefully, the arson can be traced to him, but will it be too late? Without evidence of wrongdoing, Erin’s office might be forced to dismiss the case, and if that happens, the perp will likely disappear before he can be arrested for any new crimes.
Future spoilers state that Danny must protect Baez and her baby on Blue Bloods Season 13 Episode 20. If the perp walks because of the fire, he could threaten Baez on his way out the door to stave off any further attempts to prosecute him.
With only three episodes left in the season, we’re setting up for an explosive cliffhanger in the finale!
Meanwhile, this case may cause friction between Danny and Jamie.
It’s Jamie’s job to investigate the arson. He’ll want to do a thorough job and collect as much evidence as possible to hand Erin an airtight case.
Arson cases aren’t easy to prove, and if a cop were involved in setting the blaze, it’d be twice as hard. Cops aren’t known for talking when one of their own breaks the law, and some may actively block the investigation.
That may not be good enough for Danny, who might want the drug cartel boss charged immediately. His gut instinct will likely be that the guy is guilty, and he has reason to believe it — and that the man is extremely dangerous and needs to stay locked up.
Still, Jamie can’t proceed without evidence, and Danny knows this. So does Erin, who’ll take Jamie’s side on this if it becomes an issue.
If the cartel boss benefited from the arson without being involved in it, that’d be a fascinating twist!
Of course, we’ll never know if he had nothing to do with the fire or did an excellent job covering his tracks.
But if the evidence points elsewhere, the cops won’t be able to hold him for the arson either, and he may walk away scot-free from all his crimes and retaliate by threatening Baez.
Jamie must work with the FDNY, which could present an additional challenge. On Blue Bloods, cops and firefighters tend not to get along, so a power struggle might be involved with this case.
Different department heads squabble over who gets to lead an investigation so often that it’s become a cop show trope. And this time, it could have deadly consequences for Danny and his case.
All that arguing wastes time that could be spent closing the case, so let’s hope nobody does that.
Meanwhile, Eddie has her own problems after she arrests a protester at a rally that turns violent.
These types of situations can be tricky for cops to navigate. Protesters have First Amendment rights IF they stay peaceful. There is no such thing as the right to riot as a form of protest.
But in today’s hypersensitive political climate, the public won’t assume that a protest got out of hand if people are arrested. Instead, they’ll give the protester the benefit of the doubt and accuse cops of making illegitimate arrests or riling up the protesters themselves so that they have an excuse to detain them.
Depending on what the protest was about, Eddie might be accused of bias or of violating people’s civil rights — regardless of why she arrested the protester.
According to spoilers, Eddie asks Frank to place her on modified duty. Usually, this happens when the higher-ups need to investigate potential police misconduct.
In this case, Eddie asks Frank to do it, so most likely, there’s no investigation at all into her conduct in this case. Eddie may think that putting her on modified duty will allow tensions to die down following the incident.
Finally, Anthony asks Erin to let him take the lead on a murder investigation after his friend is killed.
The first rule of investigative work is that you can’t get involved with cases in which you have a personal stake. But TV cops rarely follow this rule, instead becoming determined to get justice for their loved ones.
Erin may balk at letting Anthony do this because he is close to this investigation, but there’d be no story if she wins that battle. Anthony will likely get to search for his friend’s killer, but will he be able to put aside his personal feelings and find the guilty party?
What do you think, Blue Bloods fanatics?
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Blue Bloods airs on CBS on Fridays at 10 PM EST / PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.