There were all kinds of important questions asked in Blue Bloods Season 7 Episode 18. 

Such as, is a mandatory retirement age fair? Can the desire to make amends go too far?

And who put the shaving cream in the donut?

We’ll start at the top…

I never knew that New York state required all police officers to retire at age 63. 

It is what it is. You might as well go out with a bang and an open bar, right?

Frank

• Permalink: It is what it is. You might as well go out with a bang and an open bar, right?

Maybe not.

There was a time when I’m sure nobody questioned the retirement age, but 63 isn’t what it used to be. 

As Travis pointed out, shouldn’t experience count for something and is choosing an arbitrary age fair, or legal?

Should there be other standards that should apply? Perhaps an overall fitness for duty test, similar to how some state’s require driver’s over a certain age to be retested to renew their license. 

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I didn’t balk the way Frank did by Travis asking the question. 

Even Frank had to question his own reaction to Travis’ lawsuit…

Frank: The creed of every significant relationship and organization that informed my life could be boiled down to tow the line, obey the rules.
Abigail: And don't rock the boat. You're the boss. The boss isn't supposed to rock the boat. The boss is supposed to steady the boat.

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But if no one ever rocks the boat then nothing ever changes, and maybe it should, or at least the standards should be reviewed from time to time to see if they are still relevant as times change.

I thought Travis going on the raid with Danny was a little silly. I suppose it was to show us that he’s still capable of doing the job, but do Police Chiefs normally go out into the field with the SWAT team?

Which leads us to Danny’s case. 

Ellen was determined to make amends, and it appeared that she was willing to take her former partner down in the process. 

I questioned the judgement on all sides of this one. 

Given that Ellen was an addict and admitted to drinking and popping pills during the case, could her recollections be trusted? 

At the same time, Russ always appeared as though he was hiding something.

He even got angry at Danny for pointing out the obvious, which was that it was in Russ’ best interest to tell Internal Affairs everything and get ahead of it before they started looking at him as a suspect in Ellen’s murder. 

Even Russ moving in with Ellen’s son at the end felt off somehow. I just didn’t trust the guy. 

The highlight of the entire case was the firefight in the elevator. 

What are the odds that the two people Danny and Baez are searching for will walk into their elevator?

But I found it unbelievable that Danny and Baez got out of that shootout unscathed. You’d think at least one of them would get hit by a ricochet. 

Now on to the fun part of the night.

Jamie and Eddie were in a prank war with Officer Welch and his rookie partner. 

I couldn’t tell if Jamie or Eddie rigged that donut, or if they did it together, but the moment Welch bit into it I knew something was wrong. They kept calling it a jelly donut but it looked like cream inside. Shaving cream!

But watching Jamie and Eddie ride around in the Smart Car was priceless. I wonder if the NYPD actually has such a program. The problem is that everyone would simply dismiss their patrol cars as parking enforcement. 

The expression on Jamie’s face when he downed that shot of Peppermint Schnapps was comical. 

I thought the punishment of swapping partners made a lot of sense and I’m hoping they might extend this storyline for at least one more episode just for the fun of it. 

Plus we need to know if the rookie is really working with Internal Affairs. 

In the end, my favorite Blue Bloods quote came from the Sunday family dinner. It usually does.

Linda: What will you do when you retire?
Frank: Besides just being a burden to my children?
Danny: I thought that was a hobby.
Erin: Not that you're not good at it.
Frank: Thank you very much. One thing I know for sure, on Sundays, I'll be right here and I hope all of you will be too.

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Here’s to hoping we get a lot more Reagan family dinners in our future as well. 

Check back next week for my review of Blue Bloods Season 7 Episode 19.

And if you want more, you can always watch Blue Bloods online here at TV Fanatic.

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