Most of the time, Frank is a pillar of integrity. He makes decisions that aren’t popular and that his staff doesn’t understand, but they make sense because of his commitment to his cops and his family.
Blue Bloods Season 13 Episode 6 was the exception to the rule.
Frank declined a speaking invitation that would have allowed him to share his wisdom with a bunch of students interested in criminal justice, all because he felt a previous crop of students had disrespected the NYPD. That wasn’t an integrity-based decision. It was purely petty.
Frank’s reasoning made little sense here. Refusing to speak to this year’s students because a previous group had asked loaded questions didn’t accomplish anything.
Going through with that plan would only deprive the current students of the opportunity to learn from Frank. If anything, it would solidify any anti-cop sentiment if the current commissioner refused to engage with students.
Unfortunately, in today’s world, anti-cop attitudes are a problem that needs to be dealt with. Avoiding situations where these negative opinions might come up is no way to deal with them. It’s also out of character for Frank to run from this type of situation.
Frank: Last time, it was an ambush. Students asked questions that made the department look bad.
Garrett: That was three years ago. Those students are gone.
Frank: The professors who were behind it are not.
Garrett: It’s a criminal justice program. I’m sure it doesn’t have an anti-cop agenda.
Frank: And some professors with an agenda are doing their best to change that.
A better solution would be to address the students’ concerns and correct misconceptions. If Frank thinks the professors have a biased, unfair agenda against the police, then the truth is his best weapon.
As Frank said, actions demonstrate who the NYPD are; his willingness to engage with potentially hostile students honestly, respectfully, and fairly could go a long way toward resolving their issues with cops.
Instead, he nearly chose pettiness. That would have been a terrible idea!
Fortunately, Frank’s staff knew what to do to get through to him when Henry couldn’t. I hope Frank had an inkling that Henry would ask him to speak and had some remarks prepared.
Respect seemed to be the word of the hour. Perceived disrespect was also behind Danny and Jamie’s conflict, and Erin wasn’t happy with Joe either because she thought he was disrespectful to her.
As most brothers do, Jamie and Danny have a long, complicated history. In addition, Jamie was right: Danny was too close to this case because it involved a man who had lost his wife to a violent crime.
After all was said and done, the big boss was in jail, and Elijah was returned to Danny in handcuffs. So why was Danny so deadset against this operation? It wasn’t like Elijah was going free.
How did Andre find out about the deal Danny allegedly cut with Elijah? Danny was angry that Andre was now in jail too, but that wouldn’t have happened if someone hadn’t leaked the arrangement to Andre.
Elijah: I didn’t mean to shoot that woman. I didn’t have a choice.
Danny: You pulled the trigger. You had a choice.
Danny is also big on personal responsibility. He told Elijah that he could have chosen not to pull the trigger, so why doesn’t the same thing apply to Andre? Andre’s frustration was understandable, but his choice to try to shoot a handcuffed man was what got him in trouble; it’s ludicrous to blame Jamie for that.
This feud between Jamie and Danny doesn’t appear anywhere near over. Jamie’s attempt to smooth things over went nowhere, and it’ll take time before these two can have each other’s backs again.
If Linda were alive, not only would Danny not have taken this case so personally, but this argument would never have reached a fever pitch. Linda would have put her foot down about Danny walking out on Sunday dinner over it. She had a way of getting through to Danny that no one else can imitate.
Erin and Anthony’s case was interesting. I was surprised Davis was alive when Anthony and Joe went to his apartment. I figured Manny had killed him.
Ultimately, Erin proved that Manny had been extorting an ADA and added extra charges to his case, which is a good result. Not so good: her pettiness about the way Joe behaved.
It doesn’t matter that Joe is her nephew rather than her brother. Like her brothers, he is a cop, and when the DA’s office interferes with his case, he will give her crap about it.
Erin seemed petty when she told Joe his father would be ashamed of him. Using Joe’s late father, whom he never knew, against him like that was seriously uncool.
Joe has the same temperament as Danny and will get angry when someone messes with his case. Erin needs to learn to deal with it instead of acting like he’s a lesser relation who doesn’t have the same right to confront her when a case goes south.
That doesn’t mean that Joe’s behavior was appropriate, but Erin’s response certainly wasn’t. It’s good that Joe wasn’t at Sunday dinner; Danny and Jamie’s argument was bad enough without Erin and Joe getting into it.
I almost wished there was a second dinner scene. There never is, but the family dinners are supposed to be warm and offer a more lighthearted tone than the main stories. This drama-filled one made me feel cheated!
What about you, Blue Bloods fanatics? Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts about this episode.
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Blue Bloods airs on CBS on Fridays at 10 PM EST / PST. The next new episode airs on December 2, 2022.
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.