After over a dozen seasons filled with Sunday night dinners, family togetherness, and wild cases, “Blue Bloods” will conclude in 2025 after entertaining the masses for 14 seasons. While waiting for the Season 14 premiere, which is currently slated for a February 16 debut, one might consider a rewatch. But which episodes feature the show at its most emotional and thrilling and allow viewers to absorb all its highlights without having to watch every single outing from the past 13 seasons? What do new and old fans need to remember, which events ought to be paramount in their mind, and which characters stick out the most?
No need to fear — this list gives audiences a crash course on the most important relationships in the show, its largest plot twists so far, and a rundown of the events during the Season 13 finale. Whether you’re a neophyte with no idea what the Reagan clan does with their time, or a seasoned veteran looking for guidance, here are the five most essential episodes to rewatch before the family closes their final cases and consumes their last supper.
Forgive Us Our Trespassers – Season 13, Episode 21
Sometimes, it’s the case that shines through and makes a “Blue Bloods” episode interesting. “Forgive our Trespassers ” is the final episode of Season 13, and a natural starting point for anyone who wants a crash course in what’s going on with the Reagan clan as Season 14 looms. It’s also got an excellent case that helps highlight what the procedural does well and why it’s managed to stand the test of time over the past decade.
The episode follows Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) and his erstwhile partner Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez) as they investigate a set of copycat murders that emulate those committed by Dr. Leonard Walker (Mather Zickel), a serial killer whom they brought into custody earlier in the season. They aren’t alone in the field and are joined by Danny’s former partner, Jackie Curatola (Jennifer Esposito), now a small-town sheriff. While the trio dig deep into their suspect file, they find their lives are in danger — and things might not be as cut-and-dry with Walker as they once believed.
“Forgive our Tresspassers” is as close to a warm hug of an episode as the drama ever gets, and Jackie isn’t the only long-missing character who returns to the fold. Nicky Reagan-Boyle (Sami Gayle) makes an appearance after a season’s absence. It also keeps audiences abreast of the politics in which the Reagans often marinate, as Erin (Bridget Moynahan) deals with a difficult case and Frank (Tom Selleck) finds himself going toe-to-toe with Mayor Chase (Dylan Walsh) over New York’s battle with homelessness. Not only is this episode an important starting point for a Season 13 catch-up, but also for the show at large.
Something Blue – Season 9, Episode 22
“Blue Bloods” isn’t necessarily known for its romantic entanglements. While Danny managed a long-lived romance with his wife, Linda (Amy Carlson), which was cut tragically short, most of the Reagans are single, their lives revolving around the family and their careers. That’s what makes “Something Blue” so important, as it brings the show’s second longest-lived romantic storyline to a sweet — though not uncomplicated — crescendo.
Eddie Janko (Vanessa Ray) and Jamie Reagan (Will Estes) slowly build their relationship from Season 4 onward. Their fights, make-ups, and steps forward and backward finally result in a wedding that brings the entire Reagan family together in a happy celebration during Season 9. Of course, there are a few issues along the way — like Erin clinging to her conviction that Eddie is at fault when witness testimony in an important case fails to match properly, leading to a familial battle royal at the worst possible time. Danny and Baez investigate a case of love gone very wrong, and Frank copes with work conflicts. But despite it all, the Reagans unite with the Jankos, and Jamie and Eddie embark on a relationship that has generally remained harmonious over the ensuing four seasons since they pledged their troth.
It is harmonious but for many fans, it may be less than thrilling. While later seasons haven’t done Jamie and Eddie’s relationship justice — a sore point for many viewers who want them to have a baby or carry a major story — at least audiences were given this one joyous moment.
The Blue Templar – Season 1, Episode 22
The death of Joe Reagan, who passes away in the line of duty and in a mysterious way before the series begins, has colored and formed the entirety of “Blue Bloods.” Season 1, in particular, deals heavily with the difficulty of Joe’s passing, which weighs on every member of the family. Though we never see Joe in the flesh, nothing else has driven the narrative forward more frequently. That’s true of the following entry and this one, which provides an essential piece to the puzzle. In “The Blue Templar,” which concludes Season 1, the murder of Joe is finally solved. It’s a case that requires the entire family to be on deck and alert. There’s danger all around because a very secret society of cops is gunning for them.
The titular Blue Templars are a group of police officers that once guarded the city against their most corrupt members but now exist as a witness-murdering fraternity deeply involved in drug running. Straight-arrow Joe, naturally, managed to uncover this corruption within the ranks, which led to his murder — a fact figured out by rookie Jamie and shared with the family. Into the breach go Jamie, Frank, Danny, and even grandpa Henry (Len Cariou). In the end, justice is served, with Joe’s name being cleared and his murderers jailed. It gives the Reagan family proper closure to a painful mystery that’s been haunting them for years, and allows the series to move beyond the mystery of Joe’s death — though the puzzle of his life will continue to provide the show with much fodder as it unspools.
Family Secrets – Season 10, Episode 19
This is the episode that changes everything for the Reagan family. During “Family Secrets,” they discover the existence of Joe Hill (Will Hochman), when a DNA match in a database suggests that saintly Joe Reagan may have conceived a child before shuffling off his mortal coil. The brouhaha is set off by Danny’s technology-minded son, Sean (Andrew Terraciano), which is an interesting twist. A little bit of research digs up Joe and his mother, Paula (Bonnie Somerville). Paula admits that she had a child with Joe Senior but that Joe’s police work tore them apart. She has dedicated herself to keeping her son out of the line of fire in the wake of Joe Senior’s death and hopes that the Reagans’ influence will keep newly minted cop Joe Junior out of danger.
This is a universe-shaking revelation for the Reagans; it proves that Joe Senior may have had feet of clay, and it causes everyone to question how well they knew him. It adds a rebellious element to the works in the form of the younger Joe. The episode also includes a fun team-up between Erin and Danny, who don’t always get to shine while working on cases together, and the first stirrings of Eddie’s biological clock have her wondering if she and Jamie ought to form a family of their own. It’s a momentous episode and an important interrogation of “Blue Bloods” history — a history that is better with Joe Hill in it.
My Aim Is True – Season 8, Episode 22
Highly decorated on IMDb, popular among fans, and filled with a certain grim driving conviction as well as a sense of romantic family-centered joy, “My Aim is True” is a heavy slice of procedural that provides an important step in Eddie and Jamie’s relationship, gives Danny a chance to put in some of his best detective work, and offers some of the show’s tensest action scenes. It’s a total package that explains character dynamics and the show’s overarching moral structure better than any other outing the show has embarked upon.
The general plotline follows Danny and Baez’s attempt to unravel a string of murders. Conducting their investigation at a distance, they try to pull the dangling threads of each case until they circle back to the recent release of a set of wrongly convicted prisoners. They must figure out if revenge is the driving motivator or if something else has gone wrong. Meanwhile, Frank tries to deal with the guilt he feels over the prisoners’ long, unjust terms. Elsewhere, Eddie and Jamie find themselves in extreme danger. The near-death experience encourages the couple to finally cement their relationship with an engagement, making Eddie a part of the Reagan clan forever.
“My Aim is True” is another example of “Blue Bloods” combining danger and comfort and familial sweetness and procedural grimness exceedingly well. That arguably makes it the most important episode to watch before Season 14 brings the Reagans’ story to a conclusion.