Some investigations don’t always end happily.
Just after dealing with cases involving a challenging murder investigation and a drug deal with Joe Hill, this week’s Blue Bloods had the Reagans dealing with a possible cop gone bad.
Meanwhile, Erin and Henry got their own investigations going but didn’t like where they led in Cold Comfort.
A hero cop…or is he?
The episode opened with a man (Lee Aaron Rosen) walking down the street at night when he was accosted by some thugs, flashing a badge at them. They backed off when he put a hand to his gun. However, the man hadn’t walked far when a pair of masked figures beat him down with clubs.
Frank arrived at the hospital to learn this was Detective Peter O’Neill, promising his wife, Sarah (Kara Jackson), that they would find who was responsible. Sarah pressed she would speak at a press conference and the “cop haters” wanted blood.
Eddie was surprised Badillo knew about Abenthy & Daughters, a rare bookstore that had been broken into overnight. Alice (Miriam Silverman) led them in as her sister Lila (Keri Safran) and brother Charlie (Connor Lawrence) reported that several rare books had been stolen, with Eddie astounded Badillo was able to identify them.
Erin ran into Anthony at a coffee shop with a woman named Yelena (Evgeniya Orudzheva), who described herself as a “nomad.” Erin was quite interested and a bit suspicious of Yelena.
Danny and Baez pulled up to an alley to find informant Bugs (Derek Gaines) who, to avoid being arrested for drug possession, shared that O’Neill was in deep with a gang called the Dead Twins.
Jamie joined Henry at the funeral of his former chief of staff, Harold, and was met by the man’s granddaughter, Ellie (Traci Wolfe). Henry’s attention was caught by how Harold didn’t die of a heart attack but a bad fall.
Danny approached Frank over Bugs’ accusations about O’Connor and admitted he had his own suspicions about the man. However, they knew that accusing a cop the media was calling a hero could backfire, especially if he never recovered.
Eddie was still wrapping her head around Badillo being an antiquary literature nut who insisted on taking charge in this case and realized he had more depth than she believed.
Erin found Anthony in his office to warn him about his history of women taking advantage of him. He ordered her to drop it with Erin taken aback at how upset he was.
Some private investigations begin
Jamie found Henry already convinced Harold was murdered and worried he was too close to the case and trying to cope by seeing something that wasn’t there. However, Henry believed the killer was Chris Kelly (Joe Barbara), who Harold had put away years before and recently released.
Erin got another staffer to give her info on Yelena, who moved around a lot and her father was a Russian gangster in jail for double homicide.
Pressed in interrogation, Bugs finally gave up his source as his own half-brother, Marcus (Sean Nelson). He brought the detectives to Marcus’s bar, the man at first denying he was still in the gang life. He finally gave up someone named Tee might have been involved.
Badillo noted this antiquary book world was small and pressed for who might be dealing in these books. Alice admitted it was odd their latest shipment included a copy of Watership Down their late father had bought in an auction from a rival collector.
Jamie questioned Ellie about Harold’s routine of jogging through a park and that Harold and Kelly had exchanged letters when the latter was in jail.
Moore noted Sarah was complaining about there being no press conference about her husband and knew Frank was hiding something with things getting tense between them.
Danny and Baez tracked Tee (David E. Chen) to a housing complex only for his men to fire at them. The two escaped unscathed but now convinced Bugs set them up. He denied it, which left Marcus.
Getting to the ugly truth
Frank saw O’Neill’s kids visiting him and was troubled by whether the man was guilty. He then talked about how most of O’Neill’s gang arrests just happened to be rivals of the Dead Twins. O’Neill admitted the Twins had given him info to bust other crooks but never gave them any information in return. Sadly, he did admit to making money and when he tried to give it back, he was beaten.
O’Neill apologized for letting Frank down, but Frank retorted that his family and fellow cops needed the apology. O’Neill was sure he was already punished as he was likely to never walk again, and there was no sense hurting his family too by making this all public. Frank mused on that as he walked out.
Jamie came to see Kelly about Kelly meeting Harold the day he died. He was surprised to learn the two were friends as Kelly had accidentally killed someone while working as a mob enforcer as a teen. He’d reached out in letters to Harold who got him to turn his life around and Harold was the one who helped a reformed Kelly be paroled. To top it off, Kelly had an airtight alibi for the time of Harold’s death.
With that dealer not panning out, Eddie and Badillo chatted over the case with him pointing out that Charlie appeared to have been cut out of the business and wondered if he could be an inside man. Eddie retorted that there was also the chance it was the sisters for insurance fraud as the store was going under. The partners realized it was time to do a little trickery on the siblings.
Erin saw Anthony nicely dressed for dinner and, of course, had to follow him to a bar where he was meeting Yelena. He was upset about her checking on him as he was the one who put Yelena’s father in jail and wanted to make sure she was doing all right. He just wanted to keep it quiet and that Erin had no business knowing about this.
Outside his bar, Marcus was snapping at Bugs when Danny and Baez came up, noting Marcus’s nervousness. Suspecting someone was inside the bar, Bugs entered and was shot in the shoulder. Two gunmen raced out with a wounded Bugs managing to trip one to be arrested before Marcus checked on his brother.
At the Reagan dinner, Jamie and Eddie revealed they were now in a wine club to share some with the family. They enjoyed mocking the pair on paying for this, with Erin pointing out someone could easily switch cheap wine with expensive labels.
Frank added that it was about being careful with Jamie pointedly telling Henry that being cynical made someone “see ghosts.” Henry retorted that they might have been cynical, but “we’re all here in one piece.” Frank agreed that “it’s good to look at the light at the end of the tunnel…in case the train is coming at you.”
Erin apologized to Anthony but was thrown that he wanted them to be more professional and not hang out so much outside the office, leaving her shaken.
Eddie and Badillo warned the Abnethys about the consequences of insurance fraud, then on Charlie being cut out of the business. They were ready to arrest Charlie which had Alice confessing she was the thief to the shock of her siblings.
Frank welcomed Sarah to his office, relating they had arrested O’Neill’s attackers. When she pressed on Frank not caring because he wouldn’t talk about her husband, he fired back he did and didn’t want to say more at risk of exposing Peter’s corruption. She left in a huff, unaware Frank was sparing her the pain of knowing what her husband had been up to.
Henry was upset to hear Harold’s death really was an accident. It was clear he simply refused to accept the younger man could be dead while Henry was still around. Jamie gently reminded his grandfather that sometimes the world could be unfair. Henry was fighting back tears as the two shared a drink in Harold’s memory.
It was a tough episode for the Reagans as Henry and Erin learned that sticking your nose into other affairs can backfire while Frank had to handle a cop who paid for thinking he could do a little bad for the greater good.
Blue Bloods Season 12 airs Fridays at 10/9c on CBS.
All episodes of Blue Bloods are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
The link above is an affiliate link. This means that for any qualifying purchase you make, we may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.