Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
4.5
Integrity. Humility. Family.
These are values Americans are hungry for, and Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 14 showcased them particularly well.
Sadly, there are only four episodes left of this wonderful series.
The seemingly blown-out-of-proportion conflict over Danny possibly getting an award showcased everything that made me fall in love with it, making it even more heartbreaking that Blue Bloods is almost over.
(Courtesy of CBS)
Grace Edwards’ Reasons For Not Giving Danny The Award Were Completely Ridiculous
For some reason, Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 14 brought back Grace Edwards to be the antagonist in the awards story.
This character was only on once before, appearing on Blue Bloods Season 7 Episode 1.
During that long-ago story, she wanted Frank to stop her son from graduating from the Police Academy.
She felt that negative attitudes toward cops made it too dangerous for her boy to serve as one, but Frank refused to flunk a recruit who had earned his spot just because his mother disapproved of his career choice, and Grace left feeling hurt and angry over it.
Very little of that history came up on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 14, which made her an odd choice for the villain of this story.
Grace was now happy that her son was a cop, as he was doing well, but was unhappy about the idea of the Irish Society giving Danny an award, allegedly because he was a “loose cannon.”
(Courtesy of CBS)
I call BS on that.
Danny hasn’t been a loose cannon in YEARS, and Grace seemed like she had an axe to grind.
She said she wasn’t holding a grudge, but she also said Danny was part of the most visible cop family in New York but would be a stain on the Irish Society’s reputation… what?
I couldn’t tell if she was jealous that Reagans get so much respect or more angry that Frank didn’t do her bidding seven years ago, but either way, her decision on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 14 made no sense.
Danny has been questioned about his hotheaded ways before, but the worst trouble he got into was retaliation for refusing to stop investigating a case some cops wanted to cover up.
(Courtesy of CBS)
That shows integrity, something which I had this sense Grace didn’t have much of.
I’m not basing that only on her insistence that Danny shouldn’t get the award. Her response to Frank’s pointing out her hypocrisy made it clear she would do underhanded things to get her way.
Frank collected the records of other recipients so that he could confront Grace with the evidence that she was being hypocritical. But she kept insisting he was trying to blackmail her and eventually accused him of threatening to release the records publically to embarrass her if she didn’t do what he wanted.
Anyone who has spent five seconds with Frank Reagan knows how ridiculous that idea is. He is the least likely person to ever do that, and he was shocked by the suggestion on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 14.
However, the fact that Grace’s mind went there suggests that she would do that to someone else.
(CBS/Screenshot)
Additionally, she had too much of an ego to consider what Frank was saying.
Instead of accepting that he had proof she was being hypocritical, she continually replied, “Blackmail,” until she couldn’t get away with it anymore. When forced to consider the evidence, she came up with many excuses for why this was “different.”
I think The Irrational‘s Alec Mercer would have a lot to say about the processing errors her brain was making there (known as “mental gymnastics” to us laypeople!).
Danny’s Decision Was More Important Than The Rest Of This Conflict
Meanwhile, on the home front, the Reagans were making a critical error, or at least Henry was: enlisting everyone else to convince Frank to leave the situation alone while leaving Danny out of it.
(Courtesy of CBS)
I understood why no one told Danny.
Frank thought that if Danny had never known about the award, he wouldn’t be upset that it was being rescinded.
That probably would have been fine if Henry hadn’t decided to enlist the entire Reagan family in a campaign to convince Frank to let the cancellation stand because of his superstitious belief that the award caused cops to die.
Everyone keeping this gigantic secret from Danny made for one of the most awkward Reagan family dinners in the series’ history, and when they finally told him, Danny’s anger was completely justified.
Eddie: I don’t understand what just happened.
Danny: I’ll tell you what happened. Apparently I was up for an award that everyone knew about except me, and nobody bothered to tell me about it or see how I felt about it. Instead, you all gossiped about it among yourselves.
Whether Danny wanted the award or not, he was right that Frank and Henry were fighting over who got to decide for him what to do about this situation.
Wanting to spare his feelings was no excuse for treating him like a child who couldn’t handle the truth. No wonder Danny left dinner early!
(CBS/Screenshot)
Of course, the argument wasn’t about the award. It was about Joe, whose death will always loom large over the Reagan family.
The diner scene at the end not only made up for the lackluster family dinner scene but also honored Joe, making it twice as sweet, and Danny got to show his softer, humbler side.
He went into police work for the right reasons; the job is its own award, and he doesn’t want or need anything extra.
The Reagans in general are so refreshing in their commitment to something other than their own egos.
The message that people like that can and should exist is one that this country needs right now, even though it seems like it happens mainly in fiction.
(Courtesy of CBS)
It Was Great To Revisit Witten on Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 14 But…
I usually enjoy Witten’s appearances, but as a trained social worker, I wasn’t sure what to make of this story.
I appreciated the message that it’s too difficult to get services for people with mental health conditions and that sometimes they don’t get what they need until something dramatic happens.
I also liked that Eddie made a point of asking about why someone with schizophrenia had become violent, dismantling the stereotype that mental illness causes violence.
Still, I didn’t buy the idea that, as a social worker, Rachel decided the best way to get the city’s attention was to let her client physically attack her.
When I was a social worker, we were trained to find resources that people didn’t know existed and to think creatively to get people help without having to endure a long waiting list.
I was also trained in what to do if a client was in danger of hurting themselves, and putting myself in the line of fire wasn’t it.
(Courtesy of CBS)
Calling the police isn’t always the best option because there’s a vicious cycle caused by cops not having the correct training and people in need of help fearing the cops because of past traumatic experiences due to lack of police training.
That’s why there are mobile crisis units and other volunteer services that social workers can turn to in these situations.
However, in Rachel’s case, she knows two cops who are better at helping in these types of situations than the average cop.
Jamie is particularly good at it, and Eddie is her best friend.
These two could have helped get Jimmy somewhere safe during his mental health crisis so he could get the treatment he needed without the extra drama.
(Courtesy of CBS)
I also had a hard time following how Jimmy ended up dangling his sister from a window, and I didn’t believe he’d suddenly stop because Rachel told him to trust her rather than the voices in his head.
It seemed all too convenient that she was the only one who could reach him, forcing McNichols to admit she was wrong to get her suspended.
I also thought the cops would have been better off setting up mattresses or other types of safety equipment below the building so if Jimmy’s sister did fall, she’d be more frightened than physically harmed.
None of them knew how to talk Jimmy down, so doing something to mitigate the damage from his threat would have made more sense than trying to.
(Courtesy of CBS)
Random Thoughts About Blue Bloods Season 14 Episode 14
- The award dilemma was so fascinating I barely paid attention to the actual case he and Baez were working. However, I thought the son was going to reveal he was the real killer after his mother was arrested.
- This is the first time I can remember that Erin didn’t have a storyline.
- Danny continues to seem worn down by the trauma he sees on the job. I can’t help wondering if that will figure into his final storyline
- Did anyone NOT know the suspect they were looking for, who supposedly was on a bender somewhere, was going to turn up dead? I guessed it the second they said he was missing.
Over to you, Blue Bloods fanatics.
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the final few episodes of Blue Bloods air on CBS on Fridays at 10/9c and on Paramount+ on Saturdays
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