Blue Bloods Season Finale

A missing scene? Caution: SPOILERS

Happy New Year to you all. Over Christmas break, I watched the season finale of one of my favorite TV shows still on there air- BLUE BLOODS. It had gone on for 14 seasons and just finished up this December. It was a favorite show of my mentor Mike Uhlmann and many other friends and family I’ve talked to.

There were alot of great things about this show- but most important were the themes advanced: the traditional family, faith, and “backing the blue”. These themes were not very popular in most other corners of our media during the run of the show. Consider some of the events that occurred in America during the years from 2010-2024: Obama apology tours, Same Sex Marriage decisions, Trayvon Martin protests and BLM riots. All of that was pretty demoralizing- so it was nice to have a show on TV that expressed another side on those issues. That’s not to say the characters on Blue Bloods were 100 percent pro cop or pro traditional family. One of the characters, Erin, plays a District Attorney and divorcee, often playing devil’s advocate on many issues. But you always knew at the end of every single show, there would be a sit down dinner with the family- even if they argue and josh each other as we Irish are known to do.

In terms of the art of the show, yes- it was unbelievable that one family (the Reagans) would have a former Police Commissioner, a current Police Commissioner (Tom Selleck- best actor in the show, Magnum PI), a DA (Bridget Moynahan- Tom Brady’s ex ex girlfriend), a Detective (Donnie Wahlberg- of “New Kids on the Block”!), and a Sergeant in it (talk about nepotism!). But who cares- it’s a TV show!

Two of my favorite scenes: the Dad Tom Selleck’s character reflecting on 9/11; the Grandpa and Dad reflecting that the youngest son Jamie might have become a Priest in earlier generations (he ends up getting married and becoming another cop instead; that would have been an interesting plot twist if Jamie had gone to seminary).

Even with fiction, we can call out certain parts of a plot that are unbelievable given what has been revealed about the characters- following what Aristotle says in his Poetics. I feel like there was such a plot hole in the last episode.

(SPOILERS)
Blue Bloods did not end in such a way that the show could not continue; none of the family members dies or even retires! But a minor character, the partner of Jamie’s wife Eddie, gets killed and they have a big police funeral for him. Then at the very end of the show during family dinner, Eddie announces that she is pregnant with her and Jamie’s first child.

That was all great- ending the show with new life- but what would have made alot more sense would have been a scene beforehand where Eddie announced her decision to RETIRE from the police. It would have been drama- a twist- and it would have made sense given what follows, that she will have to be taking care of a child. Perhaps making her a homemaker and a traditional mother would have been out of character for Eddie- but it would have made a whole lot of sense given the promotion of traditional family in the rest of the show.

My two bits. Overall, it was a great show- and we need more like BLUE BLOODS on TV!

PS- gotta love that opening song