Blue Bloods Season 13 Episode 19 Review: Fire Drill
Jack Ori
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Thank goodness for Henry!
An anti-cop protester almost messed up Eddie's career with a lie, and Frank didn't think he could do anything about it because he and Eddie both wanted him to act with integrity.
If Henry hadn't come to the rescue on Blue Bloods Season 13 Episode 19, that protester might have gotten away with forcing Eddie off the streets when she hadn't done anything wrong. But did this situation have to go down like this in the first place?
The incident occurred partially because the cops were too scared of being seen as violent to respond to anti-cop protesters.
People have a right to peacefully protest against the cops or anyone else. But throwing bottles and shoving people aren't peaceful forms of protest. If Eddie hadn't told that other cop to ignore someone throwing a bottle at him and tried to walk away herself, the situation might have gone differently.
The protester who shoved Eddie had an agenda of her own. She deliberately pushed a cop, dared Eddie to shoot her, and rolled around dramatically on the ground to make it appear that Eddie was hurting her.
When are we going to take a stand and say enough is enough? Every cop is not a short fuse waiting to be lit.
Sid
Where was that other cop? Civilians filmed that incident from their point of view, but he stood back and did nothing. At the very least, he should have come forward as a witness to what happened between Eddie and that woman.
As Henry said, the woman's behavior was an Oscar-worthy performance; it also should have alerted the cops at the scene that this arrestee would cause trouble.
The woman faked many injuries and made one complaint after another, hoping that something would stick. Could the cops have headed this off at the pass by having her checked out for her supposed injuries post-arrest?
Maybe it wouldn't have made a difference, but I'd have loved to see the look on her face if they called EMTs to the scene to check her out. That should have put an end to her scam before it began.
The more significant issue was the one Sid pointed out. Somewhere along the line, cops got so afraid of reinforcing any part of the anti-cop protesters' beliefs about them that they began letting them get away with violent behavior.
That policy doesn't make any sense. Being a cop should not be a political job where other people's opinions are more important than enforcing laws. Otherwise, anti-cop protesters get to dictate how cops behave. That way lies anarchy.
I'd also liked to have known what the protest was about. The cops were there to make sure things didn't get out of hand -- not that they were effective -- but the protesters seemed to be random people who were angry at the cops for some unspecified reason.
Advocates for police reform shouldn't want people like that violent protester involved with their movement. It gives them a bad name and makes people doubt their cause.
When incidents like this happen, the cops blame protesters for instigating violence, while the protesters accuse the cops of planting violent people among them to disrupt the protest. This effectively stops all dialogue and interferes with either side's ability to hear the other.
But that wasn't what this episode was about, for the most part. After the incident, Eddie and Frank began doing this strange dance where Eddie wanted him to come down hard on her to prove that he wasn't going soft, and he wanted to follow the rules to the letter and was left with no way to stand up for her.
It felt like their integrity was being used against them. Fortunately, Henry had no qualms about using subterfuge to get proof that the protester was making up stories about being seriously injured.
Meanwhile, a fire at an NYPD storage locker wreaked havoc on everyone's ability to keep criminals behind bars where they belonged. Erin and Anthony were drowning in cases that needed a new angle, while Danny had to find a different way to prove a drug cartel leader was guilty of murder.
Danny: I should have seen it coming.
Baez: Lopez getting killed is not on you.
Danny: I should have had the statement ready. Put him in federal protection or something.
Baez: They still might have got to him.
Danny: What gets to me is Rodriguez walking around free. He acts like he's above the law. I'm starting to think he is.
Given that one of the beneficiaries of the case was a cartel boss who didn't think twice before ordering hits on anyone who could incriminate him, it was bizarre that the fire had nothing to do with him. Instead, it was a disgruntled employee with an idiotic idea about starting a fire and then putting it out so that he could get a promotion.
I find it hard to believe that Rodriguez, an expert at covering his tracks, simply had good luck, and there was no connection between him and the arson case.
With Jamie heading that case, I expected Danny to presume such a connection and pressure his little brother into proving it. Surprisingly, the two investigations stayed completely separate this time.
That's okay; we didn't need another fight between Danny and Jamie during this high-stakes case.
Danny used himself as bait to catch the hitmen, which led him directly to Rodriguez. But he'd be foolish to think this was over.
Rodriguez's comment that he chose the wrong people to take out Danny felt like a warning. He may try again to get him, especially now that Danny got him re-arrested just as he was about to walk free.
Usually, these things don't play out immediately, but I'd expect Rodriguez to make trouble for Danny and his family sometime during Blue Bloods Season 14.
Anthony's determination to get the person who killed his friend was interesting. There was a similar case on East New York Season 1 Episode 12, again underscoring how great it would be for these two series to have a crossover episode.
I'm not sure how Anthony went from Erin's pep talk to setting up a sting, but I knew he would come out of nowhere to arrest the perp as soon as the robbery began.
Your turn, Blue Bloods fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and tell us what you think of this episode!
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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.
