Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Directors: David M. Barrett, Robert Harmon, John Behring, Ralph Hemecker, Jackeline Tejada, Alex Zakrzewski, Heather Cappiello, Eric Laneuville, Doug Aarniokoski, Rachel Feldman, Dean White, Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Cast: Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, Will Estes, Len Cariou, Sami Gayle, Marisa Ramirez, Vanessa Ray.
The thin blue between good cop and bad cop is conspicuous in this police procedural drama created by Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess. A palpable code of ethics is espoused in the Blue Blood series as we follow the Reagan family of police officers with the New York City Police Department.
The Irish Catholic family, with a history of work in law enforcement, has a tradition in which “being a cop is a family business”. It stars Tom Selleck (Jesse Stone, Magnum P.I) as New York City Police Commissioner Francis ‘Frank’ Reagan; following in the footsteps of his father, Henry (Cariou), a former NYPD beat cop, who rose through the ranks to become Police Commissioner.
Frank’s only daughter Erin (Moynahan) is a Manhattan Assistant District Attorney; older son Danny (Wahlberg) is a NYPD Detective 1st Grade and lead investigator with the 54th Precinct’s Detective Squad; and youngest son Jamie (Estes) is a Sergeant assigned to the 29th Precinct with a law degree from Harvard University.
Frank is also a loving grandfather to Erin’s daughter, Nicky Reagan-Boyle (Gayle), and Danny’s two children, Jack (Tony Terraciano) and Sean Reagan (Andrew Terraciano). Then there’s Marisa Ramirez, as Danny’s partner Detective Maria Baez, and Vanessa Ray, as Jamie’s partner ‘Eddie’ Janko.
Working in the inner circle for Frank Reagan are Gregory Jbara as Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Garrett Moore; Robert Clohessy as Lt. Sidney Gormley; and Abigail Hawk as Detective Abigail Baker, Frank’s primary aide.
The Reagans are not immune to tragedy, misfortune and joy. The show prides itself in many ways on being ethically balanced as well as surprising. Frank leads by example. In fact, Selleck’s two television characters — Frank Reagan and Jesse Stone — are both moral, principled men of few words.
In season nine, the scene is set for tectonic storyline shifts after Danny’s house was burnt down, but his wife and two sons were safe in season seven. However, Danny’s wife, Linda (Amy Carlson), was killed-off in a work-related helicopter crash in between season seven and eight.
In the opening episode, appropriately titled ‘Playing with Fire’, Danny takes a case involving a drug cartel member who he believes torched his house. He is hot-tempered and stumbles into the drug war. The stakes just got a lot higher if the Mexican mafia has targeted the Reagan family.
The first episode is bloody, with murdered headless bodies, and the return of Blue Bloods also cuts deeper into what really happened in Linda’s abrupt death. Lou Diamond Phillips portrays ruthless Mexican mafia member Louis Delgado. He hints at having a hand in the “accidental” death and mocks Danny with these words: “first your house burns up and then a chopper goes down — that’s some pretty bad mojo you carry around”. Danny doesn’t look at life through rose-coloured glasses: “if there is one thing I’ve learned in the last year, closure is overrated”.
Erin is given a promotion, but finds herself in a challenging situation when both Danny and Jamie ask her for help with their investigations. Addictive series!
PS News has been given three, five-disc sets of Blue Bloods, The Ninth Season — each with 22 episodes (and almost one hour of special features) — to give away to some lucky readers. To be a winner, all you have to do is answer this simple question: which other series sees Tom Selleck’s character being morally upright as in Blue Bloods? Entries should be sent to [email protected] by Monday, 18 November 2019. Names of the winners will be announced in Frank Cassidy’s PS-sssst…! column on 19 November 2019.
