Blue Bloods Season 4 Episode 6 gave us a glimpse into Danny's past that was pretty but a little trashy.

No, not his past as a cop. It was his needy ex-girlfriend Marianne from high school who liked to think she could pull Danny back in whenever she needed him, like when her fiance decided to use her as a punching bag.

The best part of the entire story was Linda's reaction to the trashy ex. First it was her recommendation to tell Marianne that there's this thing called 911 she can call when she's in trouble. But best of all was Linda grabbing the woman's phone and deleting Danny's from the contact list.

It wasn't so much that Linda didn't trust Danny. She'd just had enough of this woman's crap and it was time stake her claim. And Linda made sure that Marianne knew there was no place for her in Danny's life.

Even better was everyone reminiscing about Marianne on Sunday. It made for one of the funniest family dinners in quite a while and was a welcomed change from the angst we've had over the last few weeks.

I don't think anyone's story could top Henry's about Marianne volunteering at the high school car wash and his late wife wanting him to arrest her for indecent exposure for her soaked through attire.

In an unexpected twist, Danny remembered the day he'd first kissed Linda and how it changed his life forever. He even swore he'd kept the ticket stubs from their movie.

And just as I was thinking how odd it was that Danny would be the romantic who'd save ticket stubs, Linda shot back with this Blue Bloods quote…

Linda: I'm going to need to see those ticket stubs.
Frank: My thought exactly.

• Permalink: My thought exactly.

Back to Marianne's sleazy fiance, I loved that they sent Baez in under cover. Accusing the physical trainer of thinking she was butch and walking away in a huff when he accused her of being a cop was downright brilliant.

When they locked the trainer in the room for the night I had no doubt the other man was a cop. Of course that didn't make their interaction any less funny.

Jamie and Frank had to deal with the more serious issues of the night.

I thought it was pretty naive of Jamie not to insist on driving Tomas home. Those guys did everything but skywrite that they planned to ambush the kid when he left that night.

But he was right about asking for a housing component to be added to the program. There's no way a kid is going to be able to leave that life if the people threatening him live next door. It's an impossible situation.

Inspector General Kelly Peterson made another appearance and went head to head with Frank once again. It made me wonder if this will continue to be the point of this character. I hope she's around for more than that or her interactions with the PC could get boring fast.

I had two more favorite parts of tonight's episode. One was Garrett finally spelling it out for Frank why he comes to him with issues concerning his kids...

Because there are two Reagans on the job and I feel that it's my duty to let you know when they're involved in job related conflict. It's not because I expect you to intervene.

Garrett

• Permalink: Because there are two Reagans on the job and I feel that it's my duty to let you know when...

The second was Jamie telling his dad how he's begun to realize how important having a father present has been and how grateful he was that Frank has been a part of every single day of his life.

On how many other shows do you get to hear that sentiment spoken so simply yet eloquently? Almost nowhere. That's what makes Blue Bloods so special.
 

C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.