Blue Bloods is coming to an end after 14 seasons, with two parts, airing in winter (starting February 16) and fall 2024. And this is one show where we have a pretty good idea how it will end (and we have zero complaints): with a family dinner.
The meal is a staple of the CBS procedural drama, taking place at some point in each episode (sometimes at the end), almost always at Frank (Tom Selleck) and Henry’s (Len Cariou) house (though it has rarely been elsewhere), with all the Reagans who can make it — it used to be only family, though some people have received special guest invites in recent years — in attendance.
And it’s impossible to imagine the show signing off with anything other than the Reagans gathered around that table, having said grace and moved on to some debate or conversation topic, perhaps reminiscing about the past, as it all fades to black.
You know that last meal onscreen will have to have Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Erin (Bridget Moynahan) butting heads over something. All the kids (who aren’t really kids anymore — Nicky (Sami Gayle), Jack (Tony Terraciano), and Sean (Andrew Terraciano) — have to be in attendance, whether they’re in town for a special event or not.
Joe Hill (Will Hochman) should be there, with a line or two of dialogue to remember his father, the late Joe Reagan. Something should be said about Danny’s late wife, Linda (Amy Carlson), as well. And what better way to do all that than in the last scene of the show?
Sure, it could end, instead, on the commissioner’s office. Maybe it’s just the end of another regular day, with Frank looking out over the city before heading home for the night. Maybe it’s his last day in the office, and the series ends on him turning off the lights and the empty office.
It’s much too soon for anyone in the family, such as Jamie (Will Estes), to step up to take over, unless there’s a time jump, but if there is one and that does happen, it could end with that person as commissioner.
But none of that would hold the same weight that a family dinner would. Because yes, this is a procedural drama about cops and lawyers, but it’s also, more importantly, a show about family. And that’s the note it should end on.
Blue Bloods, 14th and Final Season Part 1 Premiere, Friday, February 16, 2024, 10/9c, CBS