Blue Bloods Season 10 Episode 14 Review: Fog of War
Jack Ori
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If there's one thing you can learn from Blue Bloods, it's that cops take it seriously when they have to shoot to kill.
On Blue Bloods Season 10 Episode 14, both Jamie and the officer who pulled the trigger blamed themselves for the accidental death of a fellow officer, while Frank struggled to find the right words to say about the situation.
It made for one of the most emotional episodes of Blue Bloods in a while.
There was plenty of high drama, but my favorite scene was the one where Frank walked in on Eddie fighting with a fellow officer in the hallway.
Eddie was doubly embarrassed because Frank was both her boss and her father-in-law, and fistfights aren't exactly professional conduct. And Frank could have taken a hard line on that type of behavior.
Both Eddie's loss of temper and Frank's quiet rebuke demonstrated how high tensions ran after Price's death and how difficult it was for the cops to go back to normal.
It was as if they had reverted to middle school, where a sneering comment best left unsaid could lead to a fight.
But Frank's suggestion that they respect Price's memory by refraining from that type of behavior was perfect. He didn't reprimand anyone as much as he evoked their better selves by appealing to the desire to do their late commander's memory proud.
The other scene that got me (and there were plenty of good ones!) was the funeral scene.
We didn't see the funeral, but that didn't matter. The important thing was the forgiveness and compassion that Jason showed to Addison, who was struggling with so much guilt that he was contemplating leaving the force.
When Jason hugged Addison, it brought tears to my eyes. I didn't expect it, but it was such a genuine moment, and that was powerful.
Eddie: We had a drug bust at this location a month ago.
Other Cop: What do you bet we're gonna collar the exact same knuckleheads?
Jamie's insistence that the accident was his fault was admirable, but ultimately wrongheaded.
Jamie can't be everyplace at once and he did his best to make sure the other supervisor was up to speed -- what more could he do?
I found it strange that nobody questioned the other supervisor, at least not on-screen.
He was the guy who supervised the mission. Regardless of what Jamie's plan had been, the other supervisor made the decisions on the ground.
So why was nobody as much as asking him a few questions about how and why he made the decisions that he did?
In any case, the other guys were right -- Jamie was being too much of a perfectionist.
Hindsight is not only 20/20 but tends to romanticize alternatives that were not taken.
Jamie was convinced that Price would still be alive if he'd supervised the mission himself, but there's no way of knowing that.
It was equally possible that Price would have died either way. It's funny how the mind so easily accepts one possibility but not the other.
Meanwhile, Erin's case was more interesting than usual
Anthony: People are calling him a hero.
Erin: They're also calling him a white guy who took down two unarmed black guys.
Lately, Erin tends to be on the opposite side of issues than I would be, and often her rationale is no rationale at all.
But in this case, she was spot on.
Defensible's become a politician's word. Last I checked, you are still a prosecutor.
Frank
Anthony was forced to admit that Landry hadn't acted in self-defense and it was crystal clear in Erin's mind that allowing people to play vigilante set a terrible precedent.
She just needed to find the backbone to stand up to Mayor Chase about it.
Chase's objection to the case was personal instead of professional, and he needed to know that Erin wasn't going to let him get away with it. With him, everything is a test, and he could just as easily have been testing whether Erin would put loyalty to him above her sense of morality.
In any case, Erin gave him some good advice about not letting personal feelings cloud one's professional judgment. Chase likely won't take that advice, but it was sound anyway.
Danny's case was mostly played for comic relief. I was glad, too, because at first, I had trouble following it.
I kept feeling like I was missing something. I understood that they were looking for this guy Travis Wiley and that he had something to do with a shootout that Danny and Baez got involved in.
I was confused as to exactly who Travis was, why they were looking for him, and what the heck they were doing each time they followed a lead.
Lyle Lovett was fun, though. He and Danny played well off of each other, and several of Danny's cowboy jokes were funny.
Although the storyline ultimately ended up in a serious place, it was mostly played for laughs.
Danny: I thought you guys caught bank robbers and lassoed desperados.
Gates: We still do that on the weekends. Tourists love it.
Gates proved himself to be Danny's match, responding to his New York sarcastic streak with a bit of homespun Texas wisdom: taking Danny seriously when he said ridiculous things.
You lose that funny accent, you'd make a decent Ranger.
Gates
Danny's good-natured teasing went by the wayside when he learned that the case was personal for Gates and after that, he was determined to do everything he could to get justice for Gates' late partner.
And it was cool that Gates turned out to be a Marine sniper, too, which just went to show that you can't judge a book by its cover.
Who'd have guessed that gentle Mr. Gates was a sharpshooter?
What did you think, Blue Bloods fanatics?
Was Jamie being too hard on himself? Were you glad Erin stood up to Mayor Chase? And what the heck did you think was going on in that Texas Ranger plot?
Hit SHOW COMMENTS and share your thoughts.
Want to see the episode again? No problem. Just watch Blue Bloods online.
Blue Bloods airs on CBS on Fridays at 10 PM EST/PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.
