Everyone knows that "stay put" are fatal last words on television.
No matter what the show, when someone tells a character to wait for them and not go wandering off, it's a signal to the audience that that character is going to ignore directions and get in trouble.
Blue Bloods Season 12 Episode 3 was no exception... and then on top of it, Danny had a hard time dealing with what happened to his son.
Danny's fears for Sean were reasonable if only he'd expressed them properly.
He lost both his brother and his wife in recent years, so the idea of Sean putting himself in a situation where he might have been killed had to have been scary.
Danny doesn't do scary well, though, so his fear turned to anger and that caused unnecessary problems.
Danny's behavior only alienated Sean further and made him feel like Danny never listens to him. And in some ways, Danny got ridiculously petty.
Being upset that no one gave him a heads-up that Sean was riding along was one thing. But refusing to pass the cream to Eddie at dinner or even talk to anyone was obnoxious.
It was only after Jamie talked honestly to Danny about what it was like to grow up in his shadow that Danny began to come around. I'm glad he and Sean made up but is this the end of this?
The whole thing made me wonder what will happen if Sean decides he wants to become a police officer. Danny might balk at that, too, and that'll cause a bigger rift -- especially since it'll be hard to explain why being a cop is good enough for Danny but not for Sean.
In addition, this whole thing made Linda's absence all the more poignant. Linda knew how to calm Danny down and stop him from going too far, and without her, he was left to sulk and snap at everybody.
Danny's case took a back seat to his family drama. The case wasn't all that interesting and was in some ways utterly predictable.
When Maya quickly confessed with fifteen minutes to go in the hour, it was obvious she was covering for someone, and the only person she could be covering for was her son.
The only twist in this was that Maya insisted on sticking to her confession even after Danny proved she had no idea how to shoot a gun, leaving the detectives to go after her son at Rikers.
I'm not sure how this would play out in real life. A lawyer could easily claim the boy's confession was coerced, and the fact that both mother and son confessed might create enough reasonable doubt for both of them to walk.
Too bad Erin wasn't asked to weigh in on this whole mess. I'd love to know how she intended to prosecute this thing.
Elsewhere, did anyone think Frank was going to take that job at the NFL?
Despite Lenny's promise that Frank could bring Sid, Garrett, and Abigail with him to the NFL, taking him up on it would be the effective end of the series. Frank is supposed to be the tough but fair commissioner who always acts with integrity, so he can't be a security guard for the NFL.
Besides, as much as he loves football, that job didn't sound like it suited him, and anything that comes from Lenny should be viewed with more than a healthy dose of suspicion.
The most interesting aspect of this scenario was Lenny's suggestion that Frank should put himself first for once.
Despite Frank's well-known insistence on doing what he thinks is right, he does tend to fall into the same trap as many people who go into service-oriented careers for the right reasons: putting his own needs last because he doesn't want to inconvenience someone else.
I was thrilled that he came to the conclusion that for him, the "selfish" thing to do is to stay in his job even though that would make it harder for Erin to run for DA and Lenny thinks he would be happier elsewhere.
I expected no less of Frank and his towering integrity. Well done.
As for Erin's potential political run, undoubtedly she will have campaign advisors who will point out potential pitfalls and how to circumvent them.
She was right to point out that her career aspirations shouldn't be the main factor in Frank's decision.
If she decides to run, she and her campaign people will figure out how to overcome the public's reluctance to have two Reagans at the helm of law enforcement.
I'd think it wouldn't be nearly as big a deal as Frank was making it out to be anyway. After all, Erin has tried hundreds of cases as a Reagan, so she can point to her record as an antidote to people's concerns about this.
And if worst came to worst, she could always run as Erin Boyle, I suppose.
Of course, people would know she was a Reagan anyway, but it might put some minds at ease if she did that.
Your turn, Blue Bloods fanatics! What did you think of Sean and Danny's conflict, Frank's job offer, or Erin's political aspirations? Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know.
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Blue Bloods airs on CBS on Fridays at 10 PM EST/PST.