Blue Bloods is back!
Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, and the rest of the Reagans have returned to CBS’ police procedural for its final set of episodes. After 14 seasons of New York’s premiere law enforcement family battling crime and corruption, the series began the home stretch of its last season on Friday night. (The show aired the first 10 episodes of season 14 from February to May, and is now underway with the first of its eight remaining episodes.)
Season 14, episode 11, titled “Life Sentence,” is an all-hands-on-deck case — even though it doesn’t immediately look that way. The episode begins with ADA Erin Reagan (Moynahan) preparing to prosecute Carlos Ramírez (Manny Perez), a member of the Ace Double Treys gang.
Before the hearing even has a chance to begin, his defense attorney calls for a mistrial, alleging that Erin contacted a jury member to tamper with the outcome. Erin defends herself, and the judge dismisses the jury — but as they’re walking away, one juror yells, “ADA Reagan told me to vote guilty… she told me she wanted to put the defendant away for a long time.” The judge throws the case out, placing Erin’s career in jeopardy.
Meanwhile, Eddie Janko-Reagan (Vanessa Ray) is called to a seemingly unrelated case, and finds a dead woman in an apartment and her young daughter, Amelia, hiding in the closet. Since the social workers can’t immediately find a family member to contact, Amelia stays the night with Janko and her husband Jamie (Will Estes).
Elsewhere, Danny Reagan (Wahlberg) is called to a crime scene, where he discovers a murder victim with Erin’s business card in their mouth. Erin identifies the victim as Angel Cruz, the key witness in her case against Ramírez, and quickly ascertains that the whole situation is fishy.
And it gets fishier. Upon returning to her office, Erin is met by Queens D.A. Evaline Romano (Debi Mazar), who is heading up an investigation into Erin’s potential tampering with the witness. Erin needs help, so she enlists an unlikely ally as her defense attorney: her ex-husband Jack Boyle (Peter Herrman), who’s recurred in almost every season since his introduction in season 3. Any remnant of animosity between the ex-lovers has completely dissipated, as Erin and Jack share several moments of emotional intimacy throughout the episode.
While all of this transpires, Frank (Selleck) grapples with his own personal dilemma: Archbishop Kevin Kearns tips him off about a murderer who is going to turn himself into the authorities, but pleads with him to convince New York’s governor to avoid extraditing the perp to Ohio, where he’s wanted for murder, and could face the death penalty if he returns there. Frank doesn’t want to bend to the archbishop’s wishes, and struggles to determine if it’s right to save a murderer from potential execution.
And Jamie also embarks on his own mini-side mission: tracking down his car, which has been stolen and holds a special place in his heart because it used to belong to his late brother Joe. “He understood me like no one else,” he says in an emotional monologue. “Danny and Erin always thought of me as the boy scout. They still call me that sometimes. But Joe, during one of our driving lessons, he said that he was the wild one, Danny was the funny one, Erin was the daddy’s girl, and that I thought that meant I had to be the smart one. ‘But you don’t have to live up to anything,’ he said, ‘except your own expectations.’ I only passed the bar to prove I could, to make my parents proud. Joe gave me permission to become a cop. I only wish he’d lived long enough for me to thank him for it.”
Later, Henry Reagan (Len Cariou) gives Jamie a word of advice he received from his mother: “Never worry about material things,” he says. “Only ever worry about things you can’t replace. That simple sentence lived with me forever.” Henry’s words ultimately encourage Jamie to turn the car over to Joe’s son, also named Joe (Will Hochman), once they retrieve the vehicle.
Back at the precinct, Janko releases Amelia back to her grandmother after bonding with the young girl the previous night. As she departs, Amelia hands Janko a drawing — of a guy with an Ace Double Treys tattoo. After running the tat through a database, Janko and Danny realize that Amelia’s dad is Ramírez, and Danny rushes to the heliport to intercept Amelia before her dad gets her to the chopper.
Meanwhile, Jack makes significant headway with the rogue juror, who admits that she was blackmailed into lying about Erin because her parents are being held hostage in Mexico. This proves to be enough to get Romano off of Erin’s back.
In the end, after consulting with Erin, Frank tells the archbishop that he persuaded the New York governor and the Ohio governor to show the murderer mercy, so he’ll serve consecutive life sentences instead of facing the death penalty. “With a few favors called in, I might have to give an endorsement come election time,” he says. “I honestly don’t know how to thank you,” Kearns responds. “Four hail marys and an all-father,” Frank jokes.
There are two main takeaways from the episode that may impact the remaining seven of the series. The first is that Jack is invited back to the Reagans’ famed family dinners, despite objections from Henry and Danny. “How long do I have to be held responsible for mistakes that I made in my early 20s? Or is the backlash just in perpetuity?” he asks. After Frank jokes about Irish grudges persisting even through Alzheimer’s, Erin defends her ex, and they seem genuinely happy to be back in each other’s company.
The other, bigger development in this episode occurs just before the family dinner. As Janko reflects on her connection with Amelia, she makes a massive announcement to Jamie. “Working that case with Emilia, I dunno, kinda got me thinking,” she says, “about being a mom. My mom was great and everything, she just wasn’t exactly nurturing you know? With my parents, I always kinda felt like I had to be the adult in the family. You know, exactly the opposite of your family.”
Jamie reassures her. “It doesn’t mean that you’ll be like that,” he says. “Yeah, I guess I kinda always thought it did. You know, like being a mom like my mom was a given. But it’s not. I think I’d be a good mom,” she responds. “I know you’d be a good mom,” he insists. The couple commits to trying to have a baby — so don’t be surprised if Janko ends up pregnant by the series finale!
Blue Bloods airs new episodes on Fridays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.