Blue Bloods Season 8 Episode 5 Review: The Forgotten
Christine Orlando
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I have to ask after watching Blue Bloods Season 8 Episode 5, did people really take those anti-drug ads from the 1980s as seriously as Danny made it sound they did?
I remember those ads that claimed this was your brain on drugs, with the egg being fried, and I also remember how people made fun of them.
Of course some of those people are dead from overdoses now. I'm not really sure how much has changed, other than the drugs keep getting cheaper, easier to get, and deadlier.
Frank: Tragedy doesn't have a minimum age, sad to say.
Jamie: It's like the modern plague.
Danny: It's worse. The plague is a sickness that you catch. You don't say, 'Hey, let's go out and score some plague tonight.' Kids are doing this to themselves.
Jamie: And you can't just go, just say no.
Frank: Yeah, but sometimes the simplest answer is the best one, and the right one, not just the catch phrase, but the point, the education.
And yet people continue to take them.
Is it lack of education, or self destructive human nature?
I did have to laugh at how Henry and the rest of the family reacted when Nicky asked where the "Just Say No" campaign came from.
I'm not sure why they were so shocked. Nicky wasn't even born during the Reagan administration, so why would she know that was First Lady Nancy Reagan's catch phrase.
However, I did apprecciate Frank's sentiment in this Blue Bloods quote...
When I think I've had a tough week I remember not as tough as being the parent of a teenager.
Frank
It feels as though every week is a tough one for Frank these days. They're not exactly a barrel of laughs for viewers either as we are constantly treated to Frank and the mayor butting heads.
It doesn't even seem to matter which mayor is in office for there to be ongoing issues.
There were a few things in this story that left me with questions.
First, when the mayor decided that prisoners could no longer be placed in solitary confinement, what was her alternative?
It's my understanding that while solitary can be used as a punishment, that it is also a tool to keep certain prisoners safe. Either way, what's the replacement? What's the better option?
Second, Garrett mentioned that the mayor got along well with all of the male members of her NYPD protection detail, but took issue with the one female member, yet they never said why.
Frank: What's the detail say about our mayor?
Garrett: In terms of?
Frank: In terms of how she treats our cops?
Garrett: They like her, to a man, so to speak. She treats them with a lot of respect and has a nice variety of snacks.
In the end, the mayor mentioned she was going to take Officer Clarice Boonwell's advice on revising the prison solitary confinement policy, so was it as simple as the female officer shared her feedback and the male officers were more easily placated with a nice assortment of snacks?
It was hard not to feel sympathy for Jamie. He did everything right and still got treated as though he did something wrong.
However, I did enjoy it when IAB interrogated Jamie about his actions surrounding Gina's death. Where Danny would have more than likely lost his cool, Jamie remained in control and gave well thought out answers.
When they asked him what kind of training he'd had to administer the naloxone, he replied that he was given the department training. When asked if he gave the drug correctly, he said he did it the way he was taught.
The manner in which Jamie responded to their questions reminded me that he was an attorney before he became a cop. He was smart about his answers.
But there's smart, and then there's being a decent human being and the two don't always coincide.
Officially Jamie shouldn't have let the parents spend time with their daughter, but it was the decent thing to do.
In the end, even the parents realized that without Jamie, their daughter probably would have died in a holding cell and they never would have had the opportunity for that final conversation.
Was Jamie correct to begin with? Is providing an antidote for overdoses to drug users really an answer? Or is Frank's theory that better education is the key?
To heck if I know the solution, but I've had friends and family who have died from drug overdoses so I hope an answer can be found.
Elsewhere, Danny and Baez caught the case of a mother of three teenagers who had her throat slit in her own home.
Not that she deserved to die, but what kind of mother pushes her son to lie in a court of law that his father beat him and his family?
The most touching moment was when Danny went to the father to encourage him to be there for his kids once again.
Danny: Finding myself making breakfasts and lunches and talking about emotions are things I never really had to do as a father.
David: I can't picture you in an apron.
Danny: I can't cook a TV dinner, but in many ways it's been the best opportunity of my life. An opportunity that I might not have taken, probably wouldn't have stepped up for if not…
I do like this more serious, thoughtful side of Danny. He can't just rely on Linda anymore to keep him grounded and keep the family together. It's all on him now.
However, I wonder if we'll see more interaction between he and his sons, because they're currently mostly around just to fill chairs and make quips at family dinners.
I find that a little odd. Given Linda's death and the fact that they're getting older, it seems the perfect opportunity for them to become a larger part of the story.
Between Jamie and Eddie having an actual story, and seeing a more introspective side to Danny, I thought this week's installment was definitely a step up from Blue Bloods Season 8 Episode 4.
Check back next week for my review of Blue Bloods Season 8 Episode 6, and until then, you can watch Blue Bloods online any time here at TV Fanatic.
C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.
