Episode 3 of the 14th and final season of Blue Bloods is an action-packed hour of television that wraps up some storylines nicely and leaves others feeling incomplete. We see the conclusion of Jamie’s undercover arc and some more head-butting between Jamie (Will Estes) and Joe Hill (Will Hochman), and Danny’s (Donnie Wahlberg) old CI Bugs returns for a final episode.
Recap
The Blue Bloods episode begins with Joe Hill in the hospital watching over Maria, his CI who had been shot at the end of the last episode. She is alive but in a coma after suffering two gunshot wounds. Jamie comes to the hospital to meet with Joe, who shares the background story of who Maria is. Joe explains that Maria is his CI who was working with him to find her sister, and Joe shares his suspicions that Ruiz is the one who shot Maria.
Jamie asks Joe who Maria’s sister is, and Joe says her name is Carla. Jamie mentions that he has overheard the human trafficking gang he is embedded with mention Carla’s name before, and asked what she looks like or if Joe knows of any identifying characteristics. Joe says that Maria and Carla have matching tattoos.
Danny finds an old friend
Elsewhere, Danny goes to meet with Bugs, who angrily accuses Danny of having an angle and running a gang investigation. Bugs furiously tells Danny that he should have done a better job of protecting his brother Marcus and that if one of them had to die it should have been Danny. With that, Bugs storms off. Danny goes to talk with Erin and accuses her of working with his CI behind his back. At this point, Anthony drops a bomb on Danny and says that Bugs is a member of the Ace Double Treys street gang.
Frank receives devastating news
Frank (Tom Selleck) is meeting with Sid and Garrett when they are interrupted by Baker, who informs Frank that Tess Ross has been arrested. Tess is the daughter of Frank’s best friend, Lenny Ross. Frank talks to Tess, who shares that Lenny died the night before.
Back with the trafficking gang, Fence is getting nervous about the cops being on to them. Quinn says that they are going to get a fresh start and that his business partners will take care of Detective Hill. Jamie asks questions, and Quinn appears to be suspicious but ultimately says that he plans to make the girls disappear.
At a gas station, while Fence goes inside Jamie finds Carla and attempts to give her a chance to make a run for it. However, Carla asks questions and takes too long. Fence comes back and orders her back into the van.
Joe and Jamie clash once again
Jamie meets with Joe and they exchange intel. It turns out that Ruiz is one of Quinn’s partners, and Jamie shares that Ruiz was tasked with getting rid of Joe. However, when Jamie admits that he found Carla and didn’t get her out, Joe accuses him of not being willing to take a risk.
Joe goes to a bar looking for Ruiz, and the bartender says he hasn’t seen him but gives Joe an address. Joe points out his car on the security camera and tells the bartender that if he ever speaks about their interaction, Joe will be seeing him again. The bartender immediately calls Ruiz, but Joe is one step ahead. He parks the car in an isolated location as a trap and gets the drop on Ruiz. Unfortunately, Ruiz refuses to put his gun down and Joe shoots him. Ruiz dies before Joe is able to get the information that he needs from him.
Joe and Jamie argue about Joe’s decision to bait out Ruiz and ultimately kill him. Jamie angrily says that Quinn moved up the operation, and Joe learns that Maria is awake.
Back at the Reagan home, Henry asks Frank if he wants to talk about what happened with Tess, and then says that he thinks Frank should have handled the situation differently.
Toward the end of the episode, Frank visits Tess at the bar. It is revealed she isn’t drinking, but instead, she is the bartender. Frank gives her the card of a defense lawyer and invites her to Sunday dinner. She accepts but ultimately doesn’t show up.
Bugs saves Danny’s life and Joe saves Jamie’s life
Joe goes to talk with Maria, who tells him the location of the stash house, which is Fence’s old place. Danny and Anthony are in position to take down the ADTs and the gun dealers, but the plan goes awry. Bugs appears to pull a gun on Danny but then saves Danny’s life by shooting and killing a gang member who was behind Danny. After this scene concludes, it is hinted that Bugs stole money from the ADTs to start his new life.
Jamie reveals he is a cop to Fence, and forces Fence to take him to the stash house. His cover is blown when Joe raids the house, the girls are rescued, and after Quinn takes Jamie hostage, Joe gets a clean shot and kills Quinn to save Jamie’s life.
Review
Overall, this was a very strong episode of Blue Bloods. It is exceedingly rare for Blue Bloods to show Frank being in the wrong, and for him to be receptive when called out on it. Although he didn’t seem too receptive to Baker’s attempts to get through to him, he accepted he was wrong when Pops talked to him and reminded him to try and see the situation from Tess’s perspective.
One frustrating aspect of this episode is Joe Hill’s storyline. We still don’t know what is going on with that, and the way Joe and Jamie left things is uncharacteristic of the family culture on the show. If this is the last we see of Joe, it will be a somewhat disappointing ending to his character.
Joe would have been a great character to bring into the family more and build around. The last few seasons have gotten stale in a lot of ways, and having Joe in a more featured capacity would have likely alleviated this problem. Joe would also be a great character to follow in a spin-off series, but it doesn’t appear that the writers are laying the groundwork for that to happen.
Even with that caveat, the storytelling in this episode was strong. Jamie and Joe worked well together although they didn’t end things the way that I would have expected. Knowing this is the final season, they brought back Bugs’ character and wrapped up his storyline well, and as a tribute to Treat Williams this episode paid respect to his character and did right by the late actor.
It is clear that the different storylines are being tied up as the show comes to an end, and hopefully, this isn’t the last that we see of Detective Joe Hill. For that matter, although Tess Ross didn’t show up to dinner, it would be great if she made another appearance later in the season to end that storyline on a better note.
Other than these few minor disappointments about how the storylines of certain characters developed, this was a very strong episode and had the level of action that we haven’t always seen is reminiscent of the earlier seasons of Blue Bloods. This was a throwback in a lot of ways, and if the show wasn’t coming to an end, the presumed conclusion to Joe’s storyline would have been easier to accept. As a standalone, this is a nearly flawless episode, and it’s hardly fair for the individual episode to be knocked due to outside circumstances. Unfortunately, in the context of the show ending, this episode gets taken down just a notch.