Blue Bloods Season 10 Episode 9 Review: Grave Errors
Jack Ori
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The times, they are a-changing, as the song goes.
On Blue Bloods Season 10 Episode 9, Frank got his first taste of dealing with the new mayor.
He and Garrett seemingly passed Mayor-Elect Chase's test. But have things changed, or is Chase yet another mayor that will continually butt heads with Frank?
Frank's not usually one to shy away from speaking his mind, nor does he care about the consequences of defying ridiculous orders coming from the mayor's office.
He often states that the mayor isn't part of the NYPD and doesn't know what cops deal with every day.
So it was weird that he entertained thoughts about Chase's desire to replace Garrett--or anything else--for more than half a second.
Frank: Garett Moore is great at his job.
Chase: He's smart, good on his feet, and well liked by the press.
Frank: And how is that a bad thing?
Chase: He needs to be liked. He basks in it. He's a golden retriever when you need a pitbull.
Chase's perception of Garrett was all wrong, and Frank knew it.
Garrett is the one to put Frank in his place when he needs it, and any man who dares stand up to Frank is as tough as they come.
So why, exactly, was this a dilemma for Frank?
Frank: There may be some personnel changes in my office, but they're confidential til they're not.
Danny: Well that clears things up.
Frank: And I'm realizing something about myself. I don't like change.
The only thing that makes sense is that Frank and the new mayor are both feeling each other out.
Chase likes to put obstacles in his employees' paths to test them, and Frank was trying to figure out what kind of relationship he wants with this mayor.
More importantly, he was trying to figure out what makes the mayor tick and what he truly believes.
Frank's biggest issue wasn't the staffing question.
He wanted to keep Garrett around as long as possible even though he understood Chase's reasons for wanting him replaced, and more than that, he wanted to make sure Chase wasn't trying to buy Garrett out to get his way.
As a boss and as a friend, he couldn't let Garrett be used that way, and made sure Garrett was aware of the politics behind his sudden job offer.
That's one of the reasons Frank is admirable. His integrity and loyalty to his friends, including his employees, knows no bounds, and he will do what it takes to make sure they are treated fairly..
The reference to Woodward and Bernstein was classic Frank, too, telling Garrett to follow the money without saying so explicitly.
Frank and Garrett both passed this test, but there's probably a lot more trouble to come from this new mayor.
His parting shot that once he's sworn in, he makes the rules sounded ominous, especially considering Frank's critique of Chase's suggested policies.
Stop, question, and frisk, in particular, is a controversial policy that in real life, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently apologized for supporting.
In the real New York City, the policy resulted in racial profiling, non-white residents of the city often being treated like criminals, and an erosion of trust of the police, especially by minorities.
Frank will undoubtedly want to enforce this policy in a way that doesn't alienate residents and keeps people safe without breeding racism or resentment of police, and if Mayor Chase doesn't like that, they will have a problem with each other.
Meanwhile, Eddie discovered that not everyone loves Frank and that being married to a Reagan can be a double-edged sword.
It's a good thing she discouraged Jamie from getting in the middle of her conflict with McNichols.
McNichols already had enough resentment of the Reagan name without Jamie defending his wife.
Besides, Eddie was right.
Jamie would have come off as the parent telling the school bully not to pick on his kid if he'd tried to intervene on Eddie's behalf, and Eddie didn't need that.
McNichols' backstory was interesting.
Eddie: Did Jamie do something to you?
McNichols: Not your husband.
Eddie: My father-in-law?
McNichols: Frank Reagan is a hypocrite and a fraud. He sits up there in 1PP saying we're all one big family, but he doesn't give a rat's ass about any family except his own, and certainly not mine.
Her perspective was probably skewed from living with an abusive husband.
In those situations, you learn quickly that your abuser is always right and the rest of the world is always wrong.
And it didn't help that Frank couldn't get the guy for the big stuff, so he disciplined him for small stuff, essentially nickel-and-diming him out of a job.
Steve McNichols probably ranted at home that Frank was picking on him, and his then-wife didn't dare question that, not even in her own mind.
Eddie's way of dealing with the situation was creative.
At first, it seemed risky -- what if McNichols had reported Jamie's "abuse" to the authorities?
But Eddie is a good cop and knew this was the best way to get through to McNichols. Besides, she made it clear quickly that she'd made up the story about Jamie to open the door to talking about Steve.
And McNichols even admitted she shouldn't have believed Jamie was capable of assaulting his wife.
Anyway, hopefully McNichols took Eddie's words to heart -- or at least will stop picking on her because she's married to Frank's son.
If there was a moral to Blue Bloods Season 10 Episode 9, it was that grudges aren't worth it.
McNichols' grudge certainly wasn't, and Erin started developing one against a psychiatrist who was just doing her job.
Erin's behavior towards the psychiatrist was obnoxious. She didn't want to believe that this defendant could be incompetent to stand trial and was more than ready to shoot the messenger.
Thank goodness she cooled down and acted like an adult eventually. It was good she changed her mind about refusing to ever work with this psychiatrist again, but can she undo the damage to the woman's career?
The psychiatrist said other DAs offices were refusing to work with her too, so hopefully, Erin will make a few calls and straighten that out as part of her amends-making process.
Danny dealt with a suspect who had a longstanding grudge, too.
His story about the pool cue killer seemed random and irrelevant to anything.
Then it turned out his so-called victim was the pool cue killer's daughter who wanted to get revenge on Danny. What?
THAT was a twist I never saw coming.
It was better than what appeared to be happening, which was a woman way too young for Danny flirting with him, though.
But still, that was an elaborate plot to avenge an arrest that happened several decades ago.
Thank goodness Baez had Danny's back on this one.
What did you think, fellow Blue Blood fanatics?
Do you like or hate the new mayor so far? What did you think of how Eddie handled McNichols?
And did anyone see the twist coming in Danny's story?
Share your thoughts in the comments, and don't forget you can watch Blue Bloods online if you missed anything.
Blue Bloods continues to air on CBS on Fridays at 10 PM EST/PST. The next new episode will air on December 6, 2019.
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.
