Blue Bloods Season 10 Episode 1 Review: The Real Deal
Jack Ori
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One thing's for sure: there's never a dull moment in the Reagan family.
On Blue Bloods Season 10 Episode 1, Frank and Henry staged an argument at the family dinner, but it wasn't too far off from the real thing.
And between Frank, Erin, Danny, and Jamie, there were more than enough dramatic decisions to go around!
Let's start with the obvious: Danny and Maggie's interest in each other goes beyond working on cases.
I figured that their relationship would go in this direction sooner or later. It's been two years since Linda's death and Maggie keeps popping up in Danny's life, so where else could this go?
Related: Blue Bloods Season 10: Should Viewers Be Part of Eddie and Jamie's Full Wedding?
The only surprise was Baez's reaction.
She seemed annoyed every time she and Maggie crossed paths, and it wasn't just because she thought Maggie was wasting their time with this case.
No, she was jealous.
On TV, police partnerships are like a second marriage, and that's especially true for Danny and Baez. They finish each other's sentences, tease each other mercilessly, and always have each other's backs.
Related: Blue Bloods Review: Danny's Softer Side
It's natural that Baez would want to protect Danny from what she sees as an opportunist looking for excuses to be around him, but it seemed like her feelings went far deeper than that.
Is Baez responding to the possible loss of her "work husband" or is there something more there?
Blue Bloods generally stays away from the soap opera-like stuff, but a Maggie/Danny/Baez triangle might be interesting.
Baez is often the voice of reason that has been lost from Danny's life since Linda's death and she and Danny bounce off each other as only people who have known each other a long time can. Maggie seems too out there for Danny, but he is gradually coming around, so they could turn out to be a decent couple.
Maggie: I have no ulterior motive except to catch the person who murdered Emily Miller.
Baez: Why are you doing this? You're not a cop.
Maggie: I had a daughter who was murdered when she was in college. It took me a long time to get over it, and the way I did was by giving back.
I'm not generally a fan of characters that are spacey, New Age-y psychics, but more Callie Thorne is never a bad thing, and Maggie's backstory added a new dimension to her character. Plus her butting heads with Baez is all sorts of fun. So let's see where this goes!
Bad news for Jamko fans: Blue Bloods didn't listen to our passionate desire to attend the rest of their wedding.
At least they didn't jump right back into a case. That's coming on Blue Bloods Season 10 Episode 2.
Instead, they overcame a major hurdle of married life: deciding where to live now that they have to work in separate precincts.
This could easily have become ridiculous fluff, but it was handled seriously.
It was unsurprising that Eddie and Jamie would be on opposite sides of whether or not to take the huge apartment with the Reagan cop discount or that they would bicker about it. But what WAS surprising was that Eddie didn't win this one.
Most of their arguments on Blue Bloods Season 9 revolved around Jamie being too stubborn and too practical for his own good and Eddie convincing him that the world won't end if he throws caution to a very mild wind.
But this time, Jamie turned out to be right and Eddie got over it.
I'm not sure what was the difference between Jamie's commanding officer giving them a rent-controlled apartment and the precinct realtor giving them a rent-discounted apartment, though. In both cases, they got special treatment as a favor from someone connected with their police department.
Related: Get CBS All Access via Prime Video Channels for Hit Shows, Exclusive Originals & Live TV!
And if it was a test of their integrity, the commanding officer could have asked the realtor to withdraw the discount so they could still get the big, beautiful apartment that Eddie loved.
But that's a minor point. If they're happy in the smaller apartment, that's all that matters.
There's only one thing for sure when Lenny Ross shows up, and that is that nothing is for sure.
Garett
Meanwhile, Garett was right: Lenny is unpredictable and mostly causes trouble for Frank.
It was odd how all of the concern over how Carrie's arrest might play out in the press evaporated once Frank learned that Carrie was a con artist.
Surely that whole mess would have been as much of a PR nightmare as anything else!
Frank wrestled with the question of whether to tell his old friend the truth about Carrie's parentage, but did anyone have any doubt what he would do? Frank is Frank, after all. Keeping this kind of secret isn't in his blood.
Erin's case was interesting, though she could use a social worker on her staff to explain how domestic violence works.
I cringed when Anthony was badgering the girl about how she could be so stupid as to stay with a guy who beats her. Walking away is not as straightforward and simple as media often makes it appear, and shaming a victim for choosing to stay is one of the worst, most unhelpful things to do.
Anthony: What does she want?
Erin: Absolution, I think.
The focus of this story seemed to be more on Erin's rivalry with this defense attorney than anything else.
I wish there'd been time to delve more deeply into why Olivia was staying with her abuser and why she chose to protect him on the stand, only to grab a knife to defend herself against him the next day.
There also wasn't much fallout between Erin and Anthony after Anthony's investigative techniques backfired and Olivia recanted her story on the stand. There should have been some fireworks there. Anthony lost Erin the case and indirectly led to the altercation between Olivia and John!
What did you think, Blue Bloods fanatics? Did "The Real Deal" live up to your season premiere expectations? Do you think Danny is falling for Maggie -- and do you want him to? And should Erin have torn into Anthony for his poor handling of the domestic violence case?
Weigh in below, and don't forget you can watch Blue Bloods online if you missed anything!
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.
