‘Blue Bloods’ Season 11 Episode 1 accurately portrays police reaction to BLM as Frank gets overly defensive
Spoilers for ‘Blue Bloods’ Season 11 Episode 1 ‘Triumph Over Trauma’
Episode 1 of CBS’ police procedural drama, ‘Blue Bloods’ Season 11 started on a strong note. And while the whole episode had many things going on for it, it was Commissioner Francis ‘Frank’ Xavier Reagan (Tom Selleck) and City Council Speaker Regina Thomas (returning guest star Whoopi Goldberg) who shone brightest.
Building on the Black Lives Matter movement, complaints about police brutality against minorities and people of color and demands for defunding of police, this episode saw Regina return to become a necessary pain in the butt of Frank. She took to the news to call out the NYPD. And in person, she pointed out to Frank just how exactly he was behaving wrongly by so vehemently defending his officers.
For his part, Frank’s reaction to the accusations, though restrained, completely mirrored how most senior policemen across the board reacted to accusations of systemic rot in the police -- he was in denial. His first instinct remained to defend the force. He kept repeating that he had a track record of firing dirty cops, without trying to understand that it was not just dirty cops who were part of the problem. And he simply did not even try to understand Regina’s point of view.
At one point in the episode, as Selleck had pointed out, Frank even had a resignation letter prepared. He felt he could not justifiably come up with a good solution to the problem and thought it better to just step back. Selleck said earlier, "Frank is seriously considering resignation. The job is so wearing on him. He's looked for ways out before, but this time it's serious. He doesn't think he's being effective in this antipolice climate, and he can't protect the rank and file. So maybe it's time for new blood."
But, he doesn’t. He is reassured and convinced that what he believes -- only a few rotten apples make the whole cart look dirty. Although we do see him take the amicable way out to solve the crisis of faith the public seemed to be having in the NYPD -- he sat down with Regina to appear on radio to discuss the ongoing problems.
While this was happening, the show did take an approach to make the police seem nice as well. Officer Edit ‘Eddie’ Janko-Reagan (Vanessa Ray) showed restraint and did not arrest a Black woman for creating trouble at the morgue, trying to find her father’s body after it was misplaced during the outset of the pandemic. Instead, she helped her. The two had dialogue. And finally, she helped her find closure as they visited the mass grave where he was buried.
In more ways than one, despite the promise of not being too political, the first episode of ‘Blue Bloods’ Season 1 somehow managed to be a more accurate portrayal of the situation in America as compared to some of its more “woke” neighbors like ‘NCIS: New Orleans’. It showed that when challenged with a radical notion, those in power always choose the status quo.
New episodes of ‘Blue Bloods’ Season 11 airs Fridays at 10 pm ET on CBS Network.
