[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 16 “The Gray Areas.”]
When we spoke with Vanessa Ray earlier this fall, she told us that we’d see how committed Eddie is to her people in the remaining Blue Bloods episodes. That’s exactly what happens in the latest one.
When a report is filed against her partner, Badillo (Ian Quinlan), for smoking weed, she and her husband Jamie (Will Estes) track him down to try to get him to go into rehab so he can’t be drug tested and terminated. Once they do, however, he refuses—he’s with his former partner’s kid—but Jamie then steps up and claims he filed a false report against Badillo. Eddie’s partner is then in the clear, and Jamie gets a citation.
Below, Ray talks about Jamie’s unexpected move and what makes “Jamko” so special, Eddie and Badillo’s partnership, and more.
Last we talked, you said we were going to see Eddie’s commitment to the people in her life, and I feel like we really got that in this episode with Badillo.
Vanessa Ray: Yes. Big time, right? That’s what I was talking about.
Does Eddie think that Badillo should have gone to rehab, or does she understand why he didn’t?
No, I don’t think she thinks that he needed to go to rehab, but I think that she was, anything that could be done to clear his name and to clear any sort of questioning of—She wants him to look, not just to look good, but to be safe and be protected. Because she’s like, I think with Eddie and Badillo, she’s like, “This guy’s in my life forever. This guy’s my brother.” It’s such a different relationship between her and Jamie and that there’s no romance, none of that. It’s just, “Oh, my dumb brother did something and I wanted to do the right thing.”
Yeah, it seemed like that was just the only path he had that would’ve gotten him out of trouble. So she was just looking at it that way.
Yes, exactly. She’s just like, “What can get him out of trouble? I don’t want him to be in trouble. And he was going through something.” So I think she’s like, “Okay, you need to talk to me, buddy.”
What do you think it is about that partnership that has worked so well?
So much of it has to do with Ian. He’s just such a delight and he’s such a giving person in general that what he brings to the character is just such a—it’s really funny in real life, like I said, Ian is so giving and caring and kind, but I mean, let’s not get it twisted. The guy is cool. The guy is cool on camera. He’s got swagger. His character is totally willing to push back against Eddie, and Eddie’s usually the person that gets to do the pushing back. And so here he is just being cool and pushing her buttons and all of those things. And I think that’s what makes it work so well is she gets a little bit of a taste of her own medicine with him.
Was she at all expecting Jamie to do what he did and claim he filed a false report? Or to step up in any way? I don’t think she could have predicted that exactly. What was your reaction to it?
I don’t know. It’s always a surprise when Jamie does something that is sort of out of character. So I think that maybe that was sort of my reading of it was like, “Oh, wait a second. What? What are you doing? What’s happening? What are we doing?”
What is coming up for Eddie and Jamie after this episode? It’s almost over!
I know. When I look at these scripts, at this point because we know these people so well, I think that it’s a little bit of, I’m just going to soak up as much of the relationships as possible, what’s happening—because the story is the story, but what’s happening with them emotionally, and I think Eddie and Jamie are, I mean, they’re such soulmates, you know what I mean? These two are just meant to be together. They’re total opposites and they come from different worlds and they’re all of these things, but they are forever a team and they’re forever going to be supportive of one another. So I think that the audience is going to get to see some of that put to the test. I don’t think people are really ready for what’s going to happen in the next two episodes. Everything is happening. It’s all happening all at once.
Is there going to be any more talk about expanding their family?
You got to watch.
What do you think it is about the relationship that has resonated with fans? Is it what you were talking about, with them being a team?
Oh, I think it’s like mad chemistry. I think it’s fun to watch two characters with a lot of love and respect for one another but who don’t always see eye to eye. It would be pretty boring if they always just got each other, they always agreed and they always saw things the same way. But I think that what has honestly has been interesting and challenging to play is neither one of them, once they got together, changed their position on anything. She still thought of him as a boy scout and he still kind of thought of her as a maverick. And I think seeing them have to pick their battles a lot with one another and not always doing that perfectly. I hope the audience has appreciated seeing that sort of those real challenges that they face where it’s like they love each other and they respect each other so much, but it’s not always easy.
What have been some of your favorite Eddie scenes over the years?
I loved the scene, I think it was Season 8 where Eddie sort of saves Jamie’s life, and that’s the next scene after that is that he’s proposed to her and he brings her to family dinner. There’s a moment in a scene before where she’s avenged to him and he gets out of the car and he realizes, he says, you saved my life. And she says they were coming for you. And he hugs her and he says, I’d spend the money on you. And there’s just this moment in Will Estes’s eyes where it’s so beautiful and honest and playful. And I think that’s probably my favorite. That was one of my favorite scenes because I’m crying and he’s kind of giggling and I love that scene.
So besides with Jamie, who would you say that Eddie has the most significant scenes with in the remaining episodes?
She’s got a really good one with Badillo. That’s I think probably top five favorite scenes I’ve ever shot with him just getting to work with Ian on a scene. It was cool to shoot it because think we had to shoot it about four different ways to figure out what was going to make it in the edit. So that was really fun. And then it’s a lot of family. It’s a lot of being with the family. Yeah, I would say look out for the scenes with Badillo.
What else can you tease about that?
You got to watch. People I think are going to be really, really pleased with how beautifully we leave the series off.
What about any significant Eddie and Frank (Tom Selleck) scenes? Those have been so good over the years.
I know. There was one just this last week that I’d forgotten about and I love it. It’s with Badillo as well, and that was such a fun scene, but I think it was my last time getting to shoot in 1PP and that was really fun to get to go. I always call it Abby’s office, Abigail Baker’s [Abigail Hawk] office because it’s 1PP, but it’s Abby’s office.
Oh yeah. She guards that door. She decides if you’re going in there,
Listen, she’s in charge. She’s running the show. She is the one you got to get in good with.
I cannot wait to see these last couple of episodes.
I’m excited for you to see them, too. I think fans are going to be really moved and I mean, they’re going to be sad and all of the things as we were shooting it, but I will say reading the scripts and getting to play them, it’s been a real honor.
Blue Bloods, Fridays, 10/9c, CBS