Jimmy Buffett brought double the fun on Blue Bloods.
After Lyle Lovett returned as Waylon Gates, another singing legend stopped by with Danny on the trail for a sneaky con artist. Meanwhile, Jamie, Erin, and Frank all faced their own challenges with their co-workers in On the Arm.
Danny gets star-struck…and scammed
In his office, Frank was being informed that veteran NYPD Captain Irene Terrell (Regina Taylor) was accused of regularly using her badge to indulge in free food from local markets. While Frank thought this was a bit much, he still ordered an eye kept on her.
Jamie talked to Captain Espinoza about “fixing a broken window.” He didn’t mean in the building but bringing back an old code about any uniformed officer saluting the front desk as they entered, a rule older than Espinoza. He chuckled that many officers might not like it.
Anthony found some office interns joking about a blog that accused Erin of, among other things, being ticked about not becoming D.A., always running to her father, and even having large feet. Erin was not amused.
Danny was treating Baez to a birthday dinner when he spotted none other than famous musician Jimmy Buffett sitting at the bar. Baez pushed Danny to talk to Buffett, who was happy to meet a fan, with Danny delighted to pay Buffett’s tab.
Danny’s good mood ended the next day when he saw just how expensive Buffett’s meal was. Baez had to break it to him that Buffet had been doing a concert in a rainstorm in Austin, Texas, so unless he caught one speedy plane, Danny was scammed.
Jamie’s new salute policy was already going poorly, with Badillo reluctant to go along with it and Jamie not helping by lecturing how to do it properly.
Frank learned Terrell wasn’t using that food for herself but meals for military veterans. While he appreciated her passion, Frank couldn’t look the other way to someone taking goods and services “on the arm.”
Terrell defended herself, stating that she never ate any of the food herself (she was diabetic and didn’t drink alcohol) and was moved to do this because of her own soldier brother’s ordeals in hospitals. She pointed out the merchants were more than willing to give her what she wanted as Frank seemed wary of punishing her.
Erin was obsessed with the blog and what people in the office thought about her. It wasn’t helped by how she barely knew some of her staff’s names as Anthony promised to find the culprit.
Danny broke it to the restaurant waitress they’d been duped as it turned out she’d gone to bed with “Buffett.”
Tension in the ranks grows
Eddie had to ask Jamie about the salute rule and warned him about the cops not liking it. He insisted it was about caring for the little things, and “it doesn’t matter if they hate me. It matters if they follow me.”
Danny tracked “Buffett” to a beach where his ID revealed he was Dickie Delaney from Savannah. When Danny threatened to arrest him, Dickie had a sheet detailing how, technically, he never actually said he was Buffett or openly requested any gifts so Danny had to let him go.
When Badillo made a weak salute, Jamie wrote him up to cost Badillo a vacation day, adding to the tension. Eddie had to walk in on the cops joking about her and Jamie with Badillo pushing on where she fell on all this. He told Eddie they all liked her, but “you have to choose a side.”
Erin had to tell Anthony that according to the IT guys, he was the blogger. She didn’t believe it but wondered who would want her to think it was him. At which point, she got an alert the Post was about to publish a story on the whole thing, and both figured it had to be Crawford.
Jamie and Eddie had it out about how Jamie’s actions were affecting Eddie’s standing at the station with her sarcastically saluting “Sgt Stick Up The Butt.”
Terrell tried to play the soldier card again, but Frank wasn’t playing that game. He warned her to drop it, but Terrell was willing to take this to the trial room.
Tracking some fakes down
The next day, Jamie was struck by how one officer failed to salute him. It took just a little questioning to realize the guy wasn’t a real cop and swiftly arrested him.
At her trial, Terrell showed various ads offering discounts to cops on items, with Frank countering it was different than someone demanding them. He was also upset Terrell acted like she was fighting some outdated rule on her own, with the judge thanking Terrell for her advocacy.
Erin made a rare visit to Moore for help with him speculating that someone wanted Erin to think this was Crawford and that he’d take care of it.
At the family dinner, Erin revealed she was a “Parrothead” as Danny confessed he’d snuck out as a kid to see KISS…only for Sean to reveal he’d done the same thing to see 50 Cent. Everyone was then amazed to learn Frank had never been to a concert in his life as “your mother and I made our own music.”
Danny was still kicking himself over this when Buffett showed up, as in the real Jimmy Buffett, complete with ID. It turned out he and Dickie went back a ways as Dickie had been pulling these scams for decades.
Moore revealed that intern Ashley Adams (Susie Carroll), the mayor’s cousin, was the blogger who framed Anthony. This was never about Erin but rather giving Chase some ammo against Frank. Moore said the best bet was to let Ashley stay at work so they could feed her false information. “Your father refuses to play politics. That’s why he has me.”
Finding Dickie trying to scam a shop owner, Buffett talked like the two were old friends as he got Dickie to pay back Danny for the meal (Jimmy covering the rest) and told him to take a break from this whole thing for a bit. He even asked about the guy’s family.
Danny was bemused at the pair getting along. Buffett admitted he liked Dickie and didn’t mind him playing on Buffett’s fame now and then to escape a hard life that had Danny moved.
With the court finding against her, Terrell still remained firm. She finally confessed to Frank that she’d reached her limit being hit with suspicion from family and friends over being a black woman who was also a police officer. This was her only way of feeling accepted in her community.
Frank had to admire her strength and told her to simply make it “discounts, not handouts” — as long as the discounts were big enough.
At roll call, Espinoza praised Jamie for how his salute rule stopped the impersonator who had robbed two previous police stations. Badillo led the squad in first salutes and then applause for Jamie, with Eddie smiling with pride.
The Buffett appearance was fun as well as Jamie winning the respect of his men while Erin’s “mole” is likely to play into bigger storylines down the road.
Blue Bloods Season 12 airs Fridays at 10/9c on CBS.