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Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15 Review: Ridiculous Rules, Jamie and Eddie On Opposite Sides, And Other Things That Make The Cancellation Heartbreaking

Critic's Rating: 4.8 / 5.0
4.8

I know I keep saying it, but Blue Bloods’ cancelation is the worst television news in a long time.

We’re more than halfway through the final batch of episodes now.

Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15 had everything that made me fall in love with this show and then some. I don’t know what I’m going to do with my Friday nights after December 13.

Joe standing with his arms crossed as he and Danny examine evidence at a crime scene on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15
(Courtesy of CBS)

Joe Just Had To Be Joe On Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15

I’m still hoping that Joe Hill will end the series by becoming a fully accepted member of the Reagan family.

To me, closure about his father’s death means the entire family embraces Joe and vice versa.

I’m not sure that will happen now, though.

Danny saying Joe was a great detective was a step in the right direction, but Joe did the same annoying thing he always does that makes his uncles dislike working with him, and that often carries over into their personal relationship.

Joe’s stubborn streak is far more annoying on him than it is on Frank or Erin. He always feels a need to work the case his way, even though his way is going to get someone killed.

He was disobeying Danny’s orders while Danny was in the room. Sheesh.

Joe Hill returns to work with Danny on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15
(Courtesy of CBS)

It’s taken me a long time to warm up to Joe because of that.

Maybe if he’d been part of Blue Bloods from the beginning, I would shrug it off as Joe being Joe, but as is, he comes across as disrespectful, hotheaded, and annoying.

He was less so than usual this time, though, so maybe there’s hope for him yet, especially since Danny seems to have gained respect for Joe.

Erin: Want to lend a hand?

Danny: I will. Right after a drink.

Henry: You still worked up about working with Joe?

Danny: I’m not worked up. He’s a great detective, smart kid. It’s just he seems more into making the collar and not so much into the people involved.

Additionally, Joe did save Danny’s life during the climactic scene. I will never understand why the ten million police procedurals on TV insist on having cops go into situations without proper backup, but Joe’s shooting the bad guy who was trying to kill Danny has to count for something!

Joe triumphantly holds up a cell phone in a bag on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15
(Courtesy of CBS)

I wonder why Joe wasn’t at the Reagan family dinner, though. He’s appeared at the last few, but his absence this time allowed Danny and Erin to talk about Danny working with him.

Although Joe’s working with Danny was important, I’d have loved for Baez to have been involved in this storyline on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15.

I always want more Baez on general principles, but in this case, her inclusion would have made sense.

She might have been able to help with anyone who only spoke Spanish and possibly give some insight into the culture among the compañeros, which could have made it easier to solve this case.

Erin and Anthony meet with someone at a restaurant on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15
(Courtesy of CBS)

Erin’s Case Demonstrated Why She Should Have Run For DA After All

Crawford was beyond annoying.

I understand that she has cases to close and is the boss. I also understand that she resents Erin’s relationship with the Reagans.

Additionally, her snide remarks pointed to one thing: she’s focused only on raw numbers and doesn’t get why anyone would bother to care about the human beings involved in the cases they close.

Erin is an ADA because she wants to get justice for victims, not merely so she can brag about how many cases she’s closed.

Crawford’s opinion that Erin shouldn’t care about Del because she’s not a social worker aggravated me.

It added insult to injury that she visited him in the hospital after he risked his life and acted like she thought he was a hero all along. GO AWAY.

Eddie stares at a file folder Jamie gives her on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15
(Courtesy of CBS)

New York City needs more people like Erin and less like Crawford.

I REALLY hope this is her last appearance. With only three episodes left, I’m not in the mood to waste any more airtime on her.

A New Recruit Was Fired For Saving a Life On Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15

Even Crawford didn’t make me as angry as the way new recruit Jaylen was treated.

He charged at a robber who was holding a woman hostage, saving her life as well as Eddie and Badillo’s lives, only to be kicked out of the academy because non-graduates aren’t supposed to get involved in life-threatening situations.

Jamie talking to Eddie in the parking lot of the police precinct on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15
(Courtesy of CBS)

In what world does that make sense?

I understand that recruits should not enter dangerous situations because they are not yet equipped to handle them.

However, in this case, the guy saved someone’s life and the situation likely would have ended badly if he had not.

Jamie was willing to send Eddie to the hospital so they both could think about how to handle the report (though he ended up submitting it early). Why not say in the report that Jaylen was acting as a bystander, not in any professional capacity?

Problem solved. As Eddie pointed out, if Jaylen were a private citizen, he’d be hailed as a hero.

Jamie and Eddie hugging on a NYC street on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15
(Courtesy of CBS)

Jaylen’s termination was probably more because the idiot husband sued than anything else.

That’s doubly unfair because Jamie uncovered evidence that the entire lawsuit was fraudulent and the woman Jaylen saved had torn her ACL months ago.

It’s great that he can still work in Nassau — I guess that doesn’t count as being out of residency — but the thanks he got for saving a life should not have been a frivolous lawsuit and the loss of his position in the academy.

I hated that Jamie and Eddie got into a fight over it, but Eddie was right. Jamie should not have filed that report without talking to her.

Sometimes Jamie is too much of a straight arrow for his own good. He takes after Frank that way.

Frank wearing a trench coat and suit and tie and sitting in a green chair in someone's office on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15
(Courtesy of CBS)

No, Sid Isn’t Leaving, But Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15 Made It Seem Like He Was

Frank struggled with what to do when he learned Sid was living 80 miles away when cops were supposed to live in New York City. When he confronted Sid about it, Sid admitted he was ready to retire.

That seemed like an answer to what will happen to one of the characters when we get to the finale in a few weeks, but then Frank decided to unofficially allow cops to live where they wanted.

While the residency debate was interesting, I was irritated by the Sid situation.

It could have been solved easily if Sid had spoken to Frank about what was going on in the first place.

Sid at home with a bag of groceries on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15.
(Courtesy of CBS)

Frank tries to do what’s right and sometimes can adhere too rigidly to the rules.

However, does ANYONE think that if Sid had come to him and told him that his mother was dying and he needed to be upstate with her, Frank would have responded by firing him for not staying in the city?

Of course not. It would have ended the same way it did, with Frank agreeing to look the other way on this, only without the extra drama that took up a third of Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15.

It’s not surprising that Frank would make an exception without admitting that’s what he was doing.

People often mistake Frank living by his own moral code for being so rigidly rule-bound that empathy and humanity go out the window.

But that’s a misunderstanding.

Frank lives by HIS values, and most of the time, those values include following the rules. Sometimes, though, his value system requires him to put a bigger cause ahead of the letter of the law, and that’s what happened here.

Garrett standing with his reading glasses on and looking upset on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15
(Courtesy of CBS)

As for the residency requirement itself, I agree with Frank and Jamie that cops ought to live in the neighborhoods they patrol.

I think that at least some of the tension between police and citizens comes from cops who live elsewhere and whose only interactions with citizens are when they are pulling them over or arresting them.

When cops live in the community, they become neighbors as well as police officers, and when they and the residents of a neighborhood get to know each other, both sides see each other’s humanity.

Additionally, Eddie’s comments about living paycheck to paycheck and Garrett’s complaint about the optics of Frank living in a big house while the rank-and-file struggle to pay rent aren’t indicative of a problem with NYPD policy.

Danny questioning someone with big earrings on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15
(Courtesy of CBS)

It’s a problem with the high cost of living in New York City, and someone needs to talk to Mayor Chase about focusing on doing something about that instead of wasting time with policies that don’t do anything for anyone.

Over to you, Blue Bloods fanatics. What did you think of Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 15?

Vote in our poll to rank the episode then hit the comments with your thoughts.

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Blue Bloods airs on CBS on Fridays at 10/9c and on Paramount+ on Saturdays.

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Michael

Sunday 17th of November 2024

Where was the GoFundMe page to save this show?

Logan Devendeer

Sunday 17th of November 2024

Far from "problem solved", I'm afraid. Certain professions (military, police, firefighter, emts) you might not be on duty, but you are always representing it. That is why you can be called back at any time, why your shift might be extended, vacations canceled, and so on (of course, some departments have more regulations than others about it), and just as importantly, you have a duty to act even when off duty. So, although in this particular situation you have the opposite (the duty to -not- react), the gist of the situation is the same... you are always bound by those set of rules, and he broke them. Unfair, sure, but cannot be avoided.

Regarding Jamie, I thought he was actually a lot less straight arrow than usual. Convincing Eddie she was 'injured', getting her to waste a doctor's and emt's time based on a lie so they could coerce witnesses to change their statement (another lie, this one on official documents) to cover another break of regulations, all offenses that could lead to suspension, being fired and even jail time... no wonder he got cold feet when pressured by his boss. He should have called her before sending the report, I agree, but I guess he either didn't have time or was just too nervous.

I enjoyed Erin's story, for once. I could understand Crawford... she has no clue about the guy, just that one of her subordinates is mixing with a criminal under investigation, which can lead to all kinds of legal drama, plus drama with the co-worker investigating/prosecuting the guy. He is a criminal robbing people, not a decent guy. And she is a politician aiming for higher offices, so every win counts on her next run for election. But she should have trusted Erin when she wanted to take a closer look, as she knows how fair she is as a prosecutor. Still, Erin disobeys her every other episode, sometimes saying to her face she won't do it and how stupid that decision is, and no boss, especially one so proud, would accept it. In real life, the gossip of the office would be how Crawford is in charge but Erin does what she wants, and that is humiliating, especially for someone like her.. which made the resolution to the story even better in my eyes, of course.

Joe's problem is that he is in Narcotics, I think. In his realm, even the victims are hardly innocent, if not sometimes worse than the criminals being prosecuted and sought after. He needs more experience to see everyone as people first. And being a Reagan, being stubborn and territorial is a given. Experiences like this will hopefully help him learn.

I am not too sure about the rule regarding living in the city, though. Sure, small towns, higher positions like Frank's, Sid, or the captains, it is obviously impossible to hide, but almost every cop I know (besides the TikCoppers, of course) does their best to hide his or her profession from everyone. Being targeted is more and more often a real problem, and almost every detective or patrolman that worked against a gang in bigger cities had threats dropped in their mail, their houses shot at, not to mention the unfortunate fact that, with lower wages, they have to live in rougher places... many times among the very people they arrest. You bring a guy in the morning to jail, you are back home and his brother lives in the same block, if not the same building. Then all the neighbors hate you, your car is smashed... that is why there are places with rules that prosecutors cannot have their addresses exposed.

Of course, the opposite is also true... if you live in a nice place with decent people around, your kids go to the same school, you have lunch in the neighbor's restaurant, everyone will definitely trust you more. So, I think it depends on the city and place, in the end. As you said, not the fault of the rule itself, but the circunstances of each spot, each individual job (a narcotics guy like Joe is a lot more in danger than Jamie, for example) and city.

Last, I agree. I am not too sure Frank would bow down to Sid's situation without Badillo and Eddie's encouragement, or at least not so easily, but they would save a lot of drama if they could just talk properly. Sid is of a generation that you avoid it, unfortunately.

And I'll definitely miss this show. Funny how some things go... we should be happy it got 14 seasons when the majority barely finishes one, but still feels way too son.

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