Frank faced a tough decision, but did he do the right thing in the end?
Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 4 forced him again to confront the tragedy of his son Joe’s death. Everyone’s emotions were running high, but Frank developed a novel solution that displayed the empathy his critics claim is non-existent.
Meanwhile, Danny got caught up in trying too hard to help a troubled teenager, but what does this mean for him going forward?
Unsurprisingly, Danny’s troubled kid was Trina, the girl from Blue Bloods Season 13 Episode 14 who got caught with. a body in her trunk. But this time, the roles were reversed.
Instead of Baez wanting to help the girl while Danny’s suspicious meter was set to 10,000, this time, Danny was the one who had a soft spot for the kid. What was going on with that?
Danny claimed he wanted to treat her with the kindness she’d never experienced before, but Baez was right that he was acting like a surrogate parent.
It’s too bad that this NYPD exists in a separate universe from the one on Law & Order: SVU because Danny and Olivia Benson could benefit from the same support group for cops who want to be social workers!
Who Was Trina, Anyway?
Although there were a few references to having helped Trina in the past, Blue Bloods didn’t make it clear what her story was.
Last time around, she’d crashed into Danny and Baez’s car while high, and they found a body in her trunk. At the end of a convoluted story, she snitched on the real killer — that’s who Jayden was.
This story was a great follow-up, though it seemed odd that Danny took such an interest in Trina. He had next to no use for her during her original appearance, and the feeling appeared to be mutual.
Danny’s Been Questioning His Future
After Linda died, Danny planned to remain a widower forever like Frank had done, but recently, he admitted he would like a new relationship but doesn’t want to risk getting hurt again if the person dies.
One of his sons is gone, and the other is a young adult with his own life — could Baez be right that Danny wants to parent Trina, and that’s why he got so involved with her?
Let’s hope she doesn’t pop up again. She made Danny look bad by stealing money from a guy he got to give her a job. She got involved with the bad crowd she was supposed to stay away from, so she wasn’t headed anywhere good even before Jayden came back into the picture.
Why did Danny and Baez fall for the tired TV trope of a perp asking to go to the bathroom so they could escape? It was obvious what Trina intended, and these two aren’t rookies!
Someone should also do something about the cop escorting her being so inept that she quickly overpowered him and took his gun. Considering that she didn’t know how to use it, everyone is lucky that this didn’t end tragically.
Danny Was Also The Only One With Compassion For McFadden
The name Sonny Malevsky brought up strong feelings for everyone, and with good reason. When Malevsky killed Joe Sr., he took a son, brother, and father away from his family.
But no one was thinking clearly.
Frank: How would you feel if you met him on the street?
Erin: I’d feel fine… after I punched him in the nose.
Frank: But why?
Erin: Because of who his father is. The apple can’t fall far from the tree, and that fruit is poisoned.
Erin’s comments were especially annoying. It made no sense to assume that McFadden, who was a kid at the time Joe was killed, had become a cop because he was a troublemaker like his father.
I hope she’s fairer toward criminal defendants than she was to this guy, whose only transgression was keeping his birth name secret so that Frank would consider his application to join the NYPD.
Ironically, no one would have found out his true identity if he’d sucked it up and accepted Frank’s commendation in person. Frank only learned who he was because another cop spoke up about why McFadden was absent.
Shouldn’t his birth name have popped up during a background check? There’s no way the NYPD would have hired him without one.
Details like that made this situation seem contrived, but that’s a minor issue. Once Frank became aware of who this cop was, he had an emotional decision to make.
I’m surprised Garrett was squarely on the side of firing McFadden. Wouldn’t that have been a public relations nightmare?
The NYPD didn’t need headlines in the Ledger suggesting that Frank Reagan fired a cop who had recently helped a pregnant victim deliver her baby to settle an old score.
Frank Eventually Made the Right Decision
Frank grappled with whether to fire the cop for lying on his application by not sharing his birth name. This technicality irritated me even though I understand why the NYPD needs former names.
Criminals should not be able to change their names and become cops. But it felt like Frank was debating whether to punish a cop who had kept his name change secret to protect himself from prejudice.
In this case, Frank knew the cop was not a criminal and was one of his best officers, so it felt like the rule wasn’t meant to catch people like him. But Frank couldn’t ignore it, either, because the rules have to apply to everyone equally.
Bringing Joe Hill in to talk to McFadden was a brilliant solution. Frank could gauge what kind of person McFadden was based on his interactions with the son of the man McFadden’s father had killed, and McFadden passed that test with flying colors.
As I suspected, McFadden was little more than a kid when his father killed Joe Reagan, which was another reason not to judge him solely by his father’s misdeeds.
Fortunately, Frank realized that after witnessing the conversation with Joe Hill, who was surprisingly mature about the whole thing.
Joe has never been one of my favorite characters because he’s a lone wolf who often has a negative attitude toward the Reagans. However, this time, he handled the situation calmly and had the humility to admit he had no idea what to do.
Frank also demonstrated again that he’s one of TV’s finest gentlemen by allowing Joe and McFadden to address each other’s pain instead of rushing to judgment.
Henry Got A Chance To Shine
Henry hasn’t had much screen time lately, so I was thrilled he had a side story.
He and Jamie have gotten into it before. Jamie almost always underestimates Henry, and this was no exception. Henry turned the tables on a reporter looking for a dramatic story of police misconduct.
I applauded Blue Bloods for touching on the subject of the race for clicks. This is a massive problem with media, regardless of where it lands on the political spectrum.
Journalists’ priorities are often stirring up drama and getting clicks and ratings rather than reporting the truth, which can lead to biased pieces reinforcing the audience’s beliefs.
This is one of the driving factors of the polarization and inability to agree on the facts in the United States, and Blue Bloods called it out gently.
Blue Bloods isn’t afraid to support the police even though that’s unpopular in some parts of American society. I loved Henry’s advice to Alison and the speech he gave.
Alison could have painted him in a terrible light. Henry was commissioner when civil rights weren’t considered as important as getting bad guys off the street.
Police officers in his day were allowed to beat confessions out of suspects and otherwise violate their rights, so a biased reporter could have easily used that to paint Henry as a demagogue and an example of what’s wrong with police culture.
Instead, Henry got her to understand a different perspective, and now there’s a potentially viral clip of him explaining why police work is important. Go, Henry!
Who Shot At Erin Was Less Important than Vengalis Bothering Her
Erin Reagan’s storylines are often the least compelling of the hour, and this one was no exception. The Vengalis stuff was mainly silly, and the case was wrapped up quickly after the same idiot tried to run Anthony over and got himself arrested.
There was little investigating, so viewers didn’t get to follow along and try to guess who the bad guy was. The answer was tacked on, along with a threat of more Vengalis bothering Erin.
What did you think, Blue Bloods fanatics?
Has Danny gone soft? Did Frank make the right decision? And did anyone like Erin’s storyline?
Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know!
Blue Bloods airs on CBS on Fridays at 10/9c.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.