From its premiere on September 24, 2010, and throughout its 14 seasons on CBS, “Blue Bloods” stood out more as a family drama than a police crime thriller. The series finale, which aired Friday, stayed true to that concept by focusing on an aggravated cop family case in which a notorious gang leader teams up with other gangs to stage violent attacks across the city in an attempt to secure amnesty , and not about a grandiose farewell or a series reflection characterized by flashbacks.

Eddie Janko-Reagan’s (Vanessa Ray) partner Luis Badillo (Ian Quinlan) was killed in an ambush, making the case personal for the entire Reagan clan, including Joe, her husband Jamie’s nephew. Even in the hospital bed, Eddie refused to step away from the case. Since the mayor was also shot, Frank (Tom Selleck) was even more closely linked to the case professionally. And of course there is a personal connection to Danny (Donnie Wahlberg), because there almost always is.

“Blue Bloods,” an ensemble show since its inception created by “Sopranos” alums Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, followed the Reagans, an Irish Catholic family with close ties to the NYPD: “Magnum PI ” 1980s star Selleck as NYPD Police Commissioner Francis “Frank” Reagan, his father Henry Reagan (Len Cariou), known as “Pop,” as a retired NYPD police commissioner, along with son Danny Reagan He works as a detective, daughter Erin (Bridget Moynahan) takes on the role of assistant district attorney and youngest son Jamie (Will Estes) manages to leave Harvard Law to become a police officer himself. For seasons, the series also followed the murder of Frank’s son Joe, also a police officer, on the job. His death is even mentioned in the finale.

Although catching bad guys and helping good people has always been one of the show’s main themes, it’s the past belief in honor and justice that fueled “Blue Bloods.” In his worst moments, Frank rose above all else, almost always choosing to do what was right over what was popular, and frequently clashed with the mayor of New York City. The weekly Reagan dinner with the entire family, including children, grandchildren, and significant others, with Frank and Pop seated at opposite ends as heads of the table, served as a powerful symbol of the honor, respect, and love that bound the Reagans together. while simultaneously implying that it was their values ​​that upheld the principles of New York City.

Nowadays nepotism is often complained about. But in “Blue Bloods,” Frank followed in the footsteps of his father and children working in law enforcement, with two of his sons working directly under his command, and simply showed himself to be “the good side” of the family business. In the past, this dynamic of family policing was far from uncommon in the country’s largest cities, which is why “Blue Bloods” portrayed it as a dying practice, focusing on its benefits and downplaying its potential downsides. Frank, for his part, let his children make their own decisions in life and career. In many conversations with his daughter in the district attorney’s office, he expressed his opinion on a particular situation but left it up to her to decide how to proceed. Whenever his children came to him, he usually found an ethical way to help them.

The Reagans, of course, have their own understandable arguments. Sibling rivalry emerged early in the series. Just minutes later, Danny, the hothead of the family who served in Iraq, was teasing Jamie, the “golden boy,” for disappointing their dead mother and becoming “just another boot in a suit” like the rest of the Reagans , to which Erin had interjected: she’s forcing Danny to acknowledge her higher status in the district attorney’s office. This moment also foreshadowed Danny’s many arguments with his family. While Frank von Selleck is the host or north star of the series, Danny von Wahlberg was arguably the star, as his antics and cases primarily provided the drama in many of the series’ episodes. His evolution as a police officer over time also reflected the American public’s changing attitudes about what constitutes acceptable police behavior, no doubt in the wake of Tamir Rice and George Floyd.

In this very first episode, Danny gets into trouble when he effectively waterboards a suspect by throwing his head into the toilet in order to save a young, diabetic Hispanic girl not only from death, but from potentially unspeakable harm. Several times throughout the series, Danny is dragged off the street with his gun confiscated because he has gone too far and because he always wants to do the right thing and always saves his badge in the end.

However, towards the end of the series, Danny was far more tamed and rule-abiding than at the beginning, no doubt due to the personal tragedies he had suffered in the line of duty.

For both Erin and Jamie, their personal and professional lives have been intertwined with their main storylines from the beginning. Erin raised her daughter Nicky (Sami Gayle) while simultaneously filing for divorce from Jack Boyle (Peter Hermann), a standout defense attorney who played a recurring role at various points throughout the series, including a surprising twist in the series finale.

Jamie’s dating life, from dating Sydney (Dylan Moore), the lawyer he was engaged to, to surprising her by becoming a police officer, has always been an issue. Impressively, Blue Bloods successfully managed his attraction to his partner Eddie from the first episode of season four until they got engaged at the end of season eight, announcing it during a Reagan Sunday dinner, and at the end of season nine Relay got married. Farewell Their mutual attraction, which they pushed aside for so many seasons to protect their jobs, has naturally deepened their bond and love for one another. Keeping a potential relationship going for so long is a television feat that few shows manage, especially when the connection still has more story to tell.

But Jamie’s role on the series required far more professional cunning than Erin’s. Immediately after he became a police officer, FBI agents approached him because his late brother Joe was working undercover with them to investigate potential corruption in an internal group within the NYPD called the Blue Templar. It’s a secret that Jamie originally kept from his father, but it culminated in an explosive season one finale that saw the entire family and close friends secretly work to bring Joe’s killers to justice and root out corruption.

This episode, “The Blue Templar”, is often considered one of the most iconic episodes of the series. One of the most heartwarming moments around Joe was discovering his son, Joe Hill (William Hochman), whom he never knew, coming to the Reagan family’s Sunday dinner in the season 10 finale titled “Family Secrets.”

Danny’s devoted wife Linda (Amy Carlson), whose return to her career as a nurse caused the couple growing pains in previous episodes, was dramatically shot dead in the hospital by the son of a work colleague who was being threatened by a powerful gang, with Method Man as a guest The appearance of leader Mario was another emotional family moment for the fifth season finale, “The Art of War.” It was already an explosive episode for Frank, who was behind the scenes demanding justice for the murder of his friend Deputy Chief Kent (Dennis Haysbert). Although Linda survived the fifth season, she was actually reported dead in an off-camera tragedy in the season 8 premiere. Danny’s struggle to raise his two sons Jack and Sean (brothers Tony and Andrew Terraciano) and do his work despite the grief was tough, which makes it all the more heartwarming that the family came to his aid to have dinner in his new home to eat.

The cast, recurring guests and guest stars over the 14 seasons included more than Dennis Haysbert and Method Man. Whoopi Goldberg, Treat Williams, Lou Diamond Phillips, Aidan Quinn, Stacy Keach, Bebe Neuwirth, Kevin Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, Nicholas Turturro, Tamara Tunie, Ali Stroker, Cassandra Freeman, Michael Imperioli, Chazz Palminteri and Billy Magnussen, to name a few name others, with Edward James Olmos helping to complete the series. Tony Bennett’s appearance with Carrie Underwood in the season two premiere is a particularly treasured moment. Frank’s run-ins with New York’s mayors were also epic, with Bruce Altman playing Mayor Frank Russo (not to mention former mayor Robert Levitt in the third season episode “Men in Black” in what some have called a continuity error) David Ramsey She plays the city’s black mayor, Mayor Carter Poole, Lorraine Bracco as the female mayor, Mayor Margaret Dutton and Dylan Walsh, who completes the series as Mayor Peter Chase.

In addition to the core Reagan family, fan favorites include Frank’s trusted assistant Detective Abigail Baker (Abigail Hawk), his advisors Garrett Moore (Gregory Jbara), and Lt. Sidney Gormley (Robert Clohessy), Erin’s trusted ace Anthony (Steve Schirripa from “The Sopranos”) in the DA’s office and Danny’s longest partner Det. Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez).

Saying goodbye is always hard, especially when a show has lived at the end of a Friday night for 14 years, even during COVID. This difficult part is covered in the hour-long “Entertainment Tonight” special “Blue Bloods: A Family Legacy,” which aired November 29th.

The wonderful thing about this Blue Bloods series finale is that it’s not a dramatic departure from the very first episode. Instead, “End of Tour” reaffirmed the core values ​​of family and honor in duty that have captivated us for 293 episodes while holding great promise for the future. Danny showed up to the family dinner with Baez after a presumed date set by us. His grandfather advises him to find love again in an earlier scene. The finale is Jamie and Eddie’s announcement that a baby is on the way, prompting Erin to hide the fact that she and Jack have remarried.

An ending like this, with so many new beginnings, definitely gives Blue Bloods fans hope that this might not be the last we see of the Reagans. And that’s a good thing.

All episodes of Blue Bloods are available to stream on Paramount+.

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