On this week’s Blue Bloods, it was the cops who provided most of the problems.
True Blue had the Reagans dealing with issues of police officers causing trouble from Baker’s husband to Eddie’s partner that pushed one office into a major decision.
A cop crosses a line
The episode opened with Jamie riding with one of his officers to find off-duty cop Kyle Dorsey (Joe Carroll) helping an obviously drunk Mark Adams (Chris Chidron), out of a car. When Kyle tried to lead him away, Adams punched him with Jamie tackling Adams to the ground to arrest him.
Eddie and Witten were talking about Halloween when they saw a man accost a homeless woman. While Eddie arrested the man, Witten tried to help the woman, only for her to snap that she hated cops and spat in her face, affecting Witten. She refused to talk about it with Eddie later, still clearly shaken by the events earlier in the season.
Danny and Baez were called to a ritzy prep school where Kayla Johnson had been killed and no clues to who did it as the school had removed the security cameras.
Moore called Frank to a private office to show him a video of a patrolman slamming a suspect against a dumpster in a rough arrest while screaming insults at the perp and the person filming. The cop in question? Brian Baker (Jarid Faubel), Abigail’s husband.
Jamie talked to Dorsey, who revealed that Adams thought he hit something and rather than take him home, he took him toward O’Rourke’s, a bar acting as a “safe space” for cops and firefighters who got in trouble while drunk. He seemed upset Jamie actually wanted to see Adams punished for this.
Baker stormed into Frank’s office, knowing something was going on. She was upset to hear about her husband’s video with Frank ordering her to take the day off.
Jamie went to see Erin who was surprised Jamie was taking this so seriously but intrigued by the idea of a cop/fireman “sanctuary” to reach out to Anthony. Anthony was reluctant to talk about O’Rourke’s but did share that Dorsey was a bit too gung-ho and cared more for protecting other cops than citizens.
The school has some bad lessons
To Danny’s annoyance, medical examiner Megan Carson (Leigh Ann Larkin) refused to confirm if it was homicide despite evidence Kayla’s hair was torn out. But she did reveal the girl was four months pregnant.
Her mother, Lisa (Chantal Jean-Pierre) was shocked to learn this. She shared how Kayla had been seeing a rich older student named Noah Barber (Chris Gray), who had been expelled for posting a racist video.
Gormley and Moore related how Brian was facing suspension and had been showing a worse temper since being shot two years earlier. Frank was still suspicious of what could have set a good cop off.
Noah appeared shocked to learn Kayla was pregnant while denying killing her. He did suggest they ask David Anderson (Ty Jones), the head of the school, who Kayla looked up to as a mentor. A test proved Noah wasn’t the dad while the video was just him singing an Eminem song.
The detectives uncovered a hint a female student had left after a relationship with a teacher. Another talk with Noah suggested Anderson was close to Nadia Antonov (Ellie Ricker), the daughter of a Russian diplomat who seemed “off.”
Anthony and Jamie shared with Erin how the video showed Adams had been driving drunk with his kids in the car, making this a much more severe case. Dorsey claimed he’d had no idea about that but still wanted to help his friend.
Baker was still furious about Frank dealing with all this without telling her first as he defended he was looking out for her. Abigail revealed she and Brian were separating as he clearly felt some jealousy that she’d risen up the ranks while he was stuck on patrol. Frank suggested that Brian had never fully recovered mentally from his shooting.
In interrogation, Nadia claimed to have no idea about Kayla and Anderson and that he would never be inappropriate with a student. However, she changed her tune when Danny started reading from a love letter to Kayla (which were the lyrics for an REO Speedwagon song) and Nadia’s reaction had them figuring Anderson had written the same note to her. Nadia refused to say more on the grounds of diplomatic immunity.
Goodbye to a familiar face
Eddie was wrapping up her shift when Witten entered the locker room to say goodbye as she had just put in her papers. “I just ran out of gas.” Eddie asserted she didn’t think Witten was a quitter but pressed her to say something to Frank first. The two shared a hug with Eddie assuring Witten, “I got your six wherever you go.”
Meeting Baker, Frank deduced the man was set off as the perp he collared looked like the man who’d shot Brian before. Frank pressed on Brian to get his head on straight before he went back on the streets.
Danny and Baez raced to the school where Nadia was holding Anderson at gunpoint. It came out that Anderson had slept with both women and Nadia was so upset learning of Kayla being pregnant that they argued and she pushed Kayla too far down the steps. Anderson was arrested for statutory rape, with Nadia handcuffed for the accidental death.
Jamie tracked Dorsey and Adams to O’Rourke’s, where Anthony got the owner to take them to the basement. It turned out that the “safe space” involved a fighting ring where Dorsey was beating some sense into Adams’ head to get the man to accept some help for his drinking.
Baker told Frank how Brian wanted to come home to try and work things out, with Frank being honest in that he never told anyone to talk to the man. The family dinner had Jamie bringing up O’Rourke’s with Frank, Henry, and Danny all admitting they’d used the place themselves and that sometimes it was better to look the other way to help the cops and firemen settle their own differences.
Witten took Eddie’s advice to see Frank in person and apologize for leaving. Frank pointed out that she had a year to change her mind and that when that time came, Witten would talk to him “if not to re-up, at least to catch up.” Before Witten took her leave, they saluted each other with Frank stating, “Good luck, Rachel.”
Thus, a familiar recurring face is gone from the show with an episode that also put Baker’s problems front and center.
Blue Bloods Season 12 airs Fridays at 10/9c on CBS.