Critic’s Rating: 4.8 / 5.0
4.8
The closer Blue Bloods gets to the end, the more upsetting it is that this show is going off the air.
Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 16 did the impossible: It explored contentious, potentially divisive issues and explored them in a way that takes a stand without feeling heavy-handed.
As always, these issues were viewed through the lenses of people who love each other and want to do the right thing. The characters had their opinions, but the audience was free to form their own.
Frank Needed To Stand Up To The Mayor AGAIN But Had To Find A Different Approach
On the surface, Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 16 presented a story that has been part of this police procedural many times before.
Frank always butts heads with mayors who don’t respect the NYPD or consider its needs when setting their policies.
This time felt different, and not only because Blue Bloods is almost over.
The Mayor’s proposed policy had far-reaching consequences beyond how it would affect the morale at the police department.
Asking the governor to send in the National Guard means the mayor is declaring a state of emergency, and I’m not sure how that would affect other freedoms in New York City.
Additionally, National Guard officers could overreach in ways that Frank has no authority over, which doesn’t seem like a great idea. And what happens if National Guard and NYPD officers clash on how to handle a situation?
Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 16 didn’t delve too deeply into these other concerns, other than Frank calling the proposal “the mayor’s security state.”
However, these concerns seemed to be part of his calculations about this idea, while the rest of his Dream Team was more concerned with whether using the National Guard would be effective.
Despite Frank’s political disagreements with both his team and the mayor, the story wasn’t really about that.
It was, as always, about Frank doing what he thought was right no matter what anyone else thought, including the mayor.
However, this time, he realized that his usual methods were contributing to an endless cycle of the news breathlessly covering arguments, leading to more division in the city.
Frank was listening to the mayor’s accusations when the mayor refused to admit that doing an end run around the NYPD commissioner before instituting a new anti-crime policy was wrong.
Frank: We could have worked together on a solution.
Chase: You don’t work with anybody. You back them into a corner and call it collaboration when they do what you want.
I dislike Mayor Chase because he’s egotistical enough to put his hurt feelings above considering whether Frank has a point.
He takes it personally that Frank won’t be his yes-man and is frustrated that Frank’s popularity — which comes from his integrity — makes it impossible to fire him and replace him with someone who will carry out the mayor’s agenda instead of the NYPD’s.
I thought that the mayor was talking about himself when he said that Frank forces people to agree with him instead of collaborating in good faith, but Frank seemed to have taken it to heart.
His new plan mostly made sense. He brought a written proposal to the mayor that would allow the NYPD to improve its ability to patrol subways and other dangerous areas so that there was no need to call in the National Guard.
It’s interesting that this is the second time someone has recently accused Frank of blackmailing them when he’s the least likely person to do any such thing.
That says a lot about how other people conduct their business. Sheesh!
Jamie And Eddie Dealt With A Ridiculous Rule On Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 16
It’s taken far too long for Jamie and Eddie to work together during this final season, so I’ll take whatever I can get for their storylines.
Badillo was stupid to smoke weed right outside a police charity event, but hiding in rehab isn’t the right thing to do.
There were no signs he had an addiction issue, and it would have taken space away from someone who needed it if Badillo had gone.
Captain MacNichols is usually Ms. By-The-Book, so what was she doing suggesting Badillo hide from the consequences of breaking department policy by going to rehab unnecessarily?
Regardless, Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 16 did a great job of building up suspense around Badillo.
His disappearance, his mother’s fears, and the trek through the Boy Scout campgrounds in Staten Island all pointed to a horrible fate, at least for those of us who watch too much Law & Order.
Fortunately, it was all a red herring, and Badillo was secretly taking his late partner’s kid fishing.
I agreed with him that there was no need to cut his trip short because the higher-ups wanted him to do a drug test over a few joints of weed.
Badillo used poor judgment when he smoked that weed in front of the police charity, where any cop who felt a certain way about it or about him could see, but he had his priorities straight afterward.
The kid came first, period.
Erin Again Handled A Potentially Sensitive Issue Properly
I appreciated the Chris storyline on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 16 because it showed how complex issues like racial bias can be.
Both sides could potentially have been acting out of bias.
Chris: You know how this goes. Once you’re in the system, the system follows you. And you paint all people like me with the same brush.
Chris assumed the prosecutors thought he was a criminal because he was a Black kid who grew up around gangs while it was equally possible that the prosecutors did have some unconscious bias.
A lot of shows get the bias on the part of law enforcement piece but never touch the idea that the expectation of bias is not always accurate either.
That said, I wasn’t sure what was so hard to understand about Chris’ claim that, as a teenager, he worked as a lookout for the gang so they’d leave his family alone.
Haven’t Erin and Anthony worked on organized crime cases before? Have they never heard of gangs demanding something in exchange for protection?
As soon as Chris was arrested, I figured the woman who came in second set him up so that he wouldn’t win the mock trial competition or be in line for a job at the prosecutor’s office, and that turned out to be exactly what happened.
It shouoldn’t have taken much effort to figure out that was a possible line of inquiry instead of focusing on what Chris was supposedly not telling them.
Danny’s Case Was The Least Interesting on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 16
The murder of this fighter over his refusal to throw the fight wasn’t terribly compelling, but the case almost didn’t matter.
Danny and Baez spent quality time together, and I found myself laughing aloud at a lot of their lines, especially when Baez had no clue about fighting and found the whole thing strange.
The set up of the fighter’s opponent using himself as bait without confirming to the cops that’s what he was going to do was weird.
You’d think they’d do something more than have Danny and Baez in the audience for this kind of operation!
Over to you, Blue Bloods fanatics.
What did you think of Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 16? How sad are you that there are only two more episodes left in this beautiful series?
Vote in our poll to rank the episode, and then hit the comments with your thoughts.
Blue Bloods airs on CBS on Fridays at 10/9c and on Paramount+ on Saturdays. The series finale airs on December 13, 2024.
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