BLUE BLOODS

The “Hold Outs” episode of the BLUE BLOODS television series is one of the better episodes of the police drama in a couple years. Set in New York City, the story involves a series of gang muggings of some senior citizens, a new investigation of a murder case that resulted in a hung jury, and the police chief’s new conflict with the mayor who’s just been re-elected. All the stories in BLUE BLOODS:  Hold Outs are compelling, with some nice twists, and all of them together feature a strong Christian, moral worldview with a positive view of American justice and American police.

The episode begins with Officer Jamie Reagan and his female partner, Eddie, pose as an elderly couple to capture some gang members targeting senior citizens in one small neighborhood of apartment buildings. They capture three gang members, including two lookouts, but the fourth gang member who pulled the knife on Jamie and Eddie gets away. Jamie suspects there’s more to the story than just some random gang muggings.

Meanwhile, Prosecutor Erin Reagan has been given a carjacking and murder case that just resulted in a hung jury. Erin’s female rival in the DA’s office has fumbled the case, and Erin’s upset she has to clean up the mess. After interviewing the murdered victim’s wife and the disgruntled black juror who caused the hung jury, Erin discovers another witness, a prostitute, disputed the wife’s story.

Finally, while swearing in a young police officer, whose life he saved as a baby, Jamie and Erin’s father, Police Commissioner Frank Reagan, answers questions from the press. The press wants to know why the newly re-elected mayor has yet to ask Frank to continue as police chief. It becomes clear that Frank is so upset about this that he’s thinking about saying no if the mayor asks him to stay.

All of the separate plots in BLUE BLOODS:  Hold Outs are compelling. They also have compelling twists. Kudos should also go to the direction and editing, which mixes the stories superbly. As always, the acting is excellent and extremely believable. The good guys are heroic and appealing despite their flaws. All the characters are well delineated, even the minor ones.

Even better, all the stories in the “Hold Outs” episode are held together by a strong Christian, Pro-American, moral worldview. Included are positive references to Jesus, prayer and studying the Bible for solutions to personal problems. After being sworn into office, the new police officer, whose life the police chief saved, makes a wonderful short speech about a policeman’s duty to protect life and change lives for the better. His speech is reflected in Jamie’s investigation of the gang muggings and in Erin’s investigation of the carjacking and two murders. During the Reagan family’s Sunday meal, Frank reveals that, as is his practice, he’s asked his friend the cardinal’s advice for his conflict with the mayor. He winsomely reveals the cardinal gave him several biblical passages, so now Frank has to study the passages to find the solution to his little problem. This scene ends with a Christian prayer in the name of “Christ our Lord,” and the whole episode ends with a celebration of the birth of a baby. Taken all together, these stories extol justice, service to others, doing the right thing, and Christian life, faith and prayer.

This episode does contain some foul language. It’s mostly light, but it warrants a caution for older children. Also, the black juror Erin interviews tells her he doesn’t trust white people and doesn’t trust lawyers, so she has two strikes against her as far as he’s concerned. He points out to Erin, however, that the original police report shows there was a second witness, who says the carjacking killer was white, not black as the wife contends. The second witness happens to be a missing prostitute, and her murdered body is later found. This casts suspicion back on the murdered victim’s wife. Erin figures the wife probably didn’t kill her husband herself, but had an accomplice do it. Finally, Erin makes a politically correct comment about Sarah Palin answering foreign policy questions when she describes her second interview with the widow.