Seven episodes remain before Blue Bloods signs off, and “Life Sentence” offered a potent reminder of what we’ll be missing. The episode skillfully blended interconnected cases, personal struggles, and those signature Reagan family dinners, now tinged with the melancholy of impending finality.
The episode bucked the usual procedural structure by connecting several disparate cases, eventually leading to a shared antagonist. Eddie’s story (Vanessa Ray), centered on a traumatized child, was particularly well-executed, and her yearning to start a family with Jamie (Will Estes) felt especially poignant given the show’s imminent end. Erin’s (Bridget Moynahan) legal woes, however, strained credulity, seemingly engineered to reignite her romance with Jack (Peter Hermann).
Frank (Tom Selleck), as always, faced a thorny ethical dilemma involving capital punishment, demonstrating the show’s ability to address weighty topics without becoming overly didactic. But it was Jamie’s storyline that packed the biggest emotional wallop, as the theft of his late brother’s car forced a reckoning with long-dormant grief.
Blue Bloods airs Friday nights on CBS.
