Somehow, whenever a cop does something stupid, Frank ends up with divided loyalties.
It’s not that he doesn’t want to police the police, but other people constantly try to stop him from doing what he knows is right because it’s politically inconvenient.
Blue Bloods Season 12 Episode 10 was no exception, featuring Mayor Chase’s latest attempt to tell Frank how to do his job.
Mayor Chase’s position was ridiculous.
He thought tourists and constituents would be offended by Salter’s stance on defunding the police, so, therefore, another cop shouldn’t be punished for punching him.
But surely those same people who are so worried about crime rates don’t want cops hitting each other instead of stopping the bad guys!
I can’t imagine that most people would applaud the commissioner tacitly encouraging police officers to get violent with people they have political disagreements with. I can guarantee that anyone who is for the defund movement would use an incident like that as ammunition against the cops.
Plus, as Frank pointed out, Chase was sticking his nose into internal police affairs. This incident didn’t reflect on him as a mayor. Nobody elected him on the “I’ll let cops beat each other up” platform He needed to stay out of this.
It did put Frank in the awkward position of defending those who distrust police even though he doesn’t agree with them at all, merely to try to get Chase to understand that he represents all New York City residents, not just the wealthy, well-connected people who put him in Gracie Mansion.
Of course, those blue-collar workers should also have a say in who represents them, so the idea that Chase got his job thanks only to the support of the wealthy is disturbing. But that’s beside the point.
In any case, Frank’s a more patient man than me. I know he has to try to get along with the mayor to keep his job, but it’s got to be hard to stomach having drinks with the man who tried to torpedo your career in the press over a minor disagreement.
Elsewhere, Jamie got a taste of what Frank deals with every day when Sid tried to pressure him to cover up his old mentor’s involvement in illegal gambling.
I had to wonder if Frank knew what Sid was up to. While Frank likes to stay out of his kids’ problems on the job, it’s unlikely he’d have been happy about Sid’s position here.
Eddie: Coolidge is a cop’s cop.
Jamie: That’s not a get out of jail free card.
Eddie: He did a lot of good for this city. And there are no innocent victims in gambling.
Jamie: What does that mean?
Eddie: Sometimes you just have to look the other way.
Sid and Eddie both felt that Jamie should look the other way because Sergeant Coolidge had a lifetime of positive community service behind him. In a way, this was parallel to Frank’s situation.
In both cases, someone felt that the rules shouldn’t apply equally to cops and citizens. In Jamie’s case, too, there was a judgmental, victim-blaming mentality.
Eddie said that gambling victims aren’t innocent, and Coolidge said as much in different words, arguing that Reeves wouldn’t have gotten into debt if he hadn’t gambled in the first place.
But as Jamie said, either Coolidge is involved in illegal bookie activity, or he’s not.
Two wrongs don’t make a right, and a person who racks up thousands of dollars of gambling debt likely has an addiction that needs treatment.
This whole attitude that Coolidge’s behavior was okay because gambling is wrong needs to go — after all, no one would accept a credit card company owner beating up people who don’t pay their bills on time.
Furthermore, Sid’s real problem was that he didn’t think Jamie should speak up about a cop doing something wrong.
Sid is very much a believer in cops protecting their own. He never understands why Frank subscribes to a different code, one where everyone is treated equally, and no one is above the law, and he didn’t understand it any better when Jamie was the one putting integrity over loyalty.
Sid was right about one thing, though: Jamie is his father’s son. Many viewers hope that if and when Blue Bloods ends, the final story involves Jamie taking over as PC — could this exchange indicate that this will eventually happen?
Elsewhere, Danny wasn’t any happier to team up with Waylon Gates than he was the first time around.
I knew Gates was up to something the second he sent Danny off to family dinner. It was lucky for him that Danny knew it too!
Once Danny and Gates caught Lopez, they worked well together. I knew they were faking when they threatened Lopez with fentanyl, though I can’t help wondering what would have happened if he called their bluff.
Danny: You ready to ride? It’s a lot bigger than a horse.
Gates: If I had a horse, I wouldn’t need you.
It wasn’t surprising that Danny warmed up to Gates by the end. That’s typical Danny when he has to work with anyone other than Baez. He always complains and makes fun of them but ends up enjoying their company.
I’m glad Gates sent Danny to dinner, even if it did mean Gates getting himself into trouble.
That random conversation about first kisses was one of the funniest family exchanges in a long time, and then it turned serious when Frank said the first woman he’d ever kissed was Danny’s mother.
It was predictable, but sweet Frank has only ever truly loved one woman.
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Blue Bloods airs on CBS on Fridays at 10 PM EST/PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.