‘Blue Bloods’ Uncovers a Major Family Secret in Season 10 Finale (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Season 10 finale of Blue Bloods, “Family Secrets.”]
If the end of “Family Secrets” gave you déjà vu, it’s probably because it made you think of the Blue Bloods Season 8 finale and that family dinner.
The unintended Season 10 finale saw the Reagans learn about a new part of their family, as Sean’s (Andrew Terraciano) school assignment timed with a visitor for Frank (Tom Selleck) leads to a surprising discovery.
And while Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Baez (Marisa Ramirez) prove that Erin’s (Bridget Moynahan) key witness’ death was caused by the person he was testifying again, Jamie (Will Estes) and Eddie (Vanessa Ray) deal with a much more personal case. After finding a baby left in a duffel outside the precinct, Eddie gets attached (and even names him) and they uncover an adoption ring. And as Jamie tells her in the end, there is a way to get a baby that’s theirs to keep…
But for now, let’s break down the big family secret that disrupted Frank’s day.
It Was Supposed to Be a Regular Day…
Sean’s a bit panicked when he stops by to see Frank. What was supposed to be a regular school assignment about his family ancestry resulted in a DNA match to a male first cousin from Frank’s side of the family. But his grandfather is certain he’d know if anyone in the family had a skeleton in their closet.
(John Paul Filo/CBS)
He’s proven wrong when a woman, Paula (Bonnie Somerville), he knew a long time ago stops by to request that her son be transferred out of the fire arms unit. Why? “Because your son Joe was his father,” she reveals. “And because as his mother, I’d like him to have a safer assignment.”
Not a Skeleton, But a Real-Life Guy
Paula dropped out of the academy because she was pregnant. Joe didn’t know, she says, because she wasn’t interested in being in a relationship with him. But now her son is asking about his father and doing DNA testing.
Frank has Gormley (Robert Clohessy) give him the rundown on Joe Hill (Will Hochman). His grandson graduated the academy in 2016, and he moved to the FIU after four years. He intervened in a bodega robbery, subdued the perp without injury, saved a woman and her baby, and was given is choice of assignment. Frank has Gormley set up a meeting, but after the other man leaves, Baker (Abigail Hawk) pushes the commissioner on what’s on his mind. He confides in her about Joe, and while he’s unsure about how to proceed, he plans to do so “with care for all concerned.”
Frank stands facing the window when Joe comes in for the meeting, and the entire time, it’s pretty obvious that he’s taken aback by having his grandson in front of him. Frank starts with small talk about his latest operation before turning to his request for the fire arms unit.
“I didn’t join the department to get cats out of trees, you know what I mean?” Joe asks and notes that the job runs deep in his boss’s family. Yes, it runs deep in his family, too, the young detective agrees, but “not like you Reagans.” Since it’s clear that Joe has no idea they’re related, Frank claims he’s just meeting with members of specialized units. But before Joe leaves, Frank notes that he’s wearing the color of the day and how important that is and advises him, “watch your six.”
(Patrick Harbron/CBS)
“It Was Familiar”
Frank calls Erin, Danny, Jamie, and Sean over to join him and Henry (Len Cariou) and gets right to it: “Joe fathered a son he never knew about.” Sean assures them it can’t be a scam; the company is the same one used for crime scenes and very accurate.
What’s he like? “I just met the guy, and he’s my grandson,” Frank says. “I will say this. He carries himself in a certain way, the way he kind of sets himself before he’s going to say something, you know what I mean?” Danny does, and Henry even gestures to him.
It was “familiar, same way he talked about being on the job,” Frank continues. “Like all of you when you first came on. Being a cop was like playing for the Bulls with Jordan or the drums with Springsteen. It was just familiar.”
All that’s left to do is meet him as his family, but how will he feel about them being Reagans? “He’s one of us, he’ll be fine,” Henry insists. And with that, they decide to invite him to Sunday dinner.
And the Reagans Are Joined By (a) Joe Once Again
That plan hits a snag when Paula learns that Frank isn’t going to transfer her son to a safer assignment. For now, she’d rather he not contact them, and she’s sorry Joe ever found out about them.
But Joe still comes to Sunday dinner, with Sean, and he meets his family. He hopes it’s okay he’s there, he tells his commissioner, who assures him “it’s more than okay. And call me whatever you want … except sir.” And with that, he sits down and joins them for grace.
(John Paul Filo/CBS)
Will Joe become a permanent member of Sunday dinner with the Reagans? We’ll have to wait and see.
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Conversation18 Comments
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Comments are closed on this story.
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G
What can I say. I loved it! That show can do no wrong. IMO. A bit far fetched, maybe, but in the grand scheme of things a well balanced show and I hope there are more family dinners with Joe involved .
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W
I know, this show is amazing. One of the best things on TV.
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G
Great episode.
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C
Love the show! Watched it three times and cried each time! It was perfect ! Thanks Blue Blood family.
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O
I love this show it just gets better and better. Yes I admit I cried through the show
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W
Wonderful episode and season finale. This show stays fresh and relevant even after a decade on the air.
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G
Blue Bloods is the best show on TV, we watch a re-run every night. This show is a fantastic family show, Tom is great! The whole family is a blessing to all of us.
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O
one if the best
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C
That was a good season ending. It pulled at my heart strings. Great job.
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R
Setting up the ramp in front of the shark tank. At least is wasn't cousin Oliver. Wait...It was a cousin. At least he isn't named Oliver.
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O
Always liked the show, partly because nothing significant ever happened "out of the blue" [no pun], major events always fit the running storyline. Until now.
Anyone else remember when Fonzie "jumped the shark"?
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J
Sorry Tom, there WAS a dry eye in my house. Two of them, in fact.
And I have to admit I'm having a bit of trouble with this timeline. On one hand, Nicky is by now in her early-mid-twenties, so in that regard, the age of this young man is plausible. On the other hand, Jamie is probably in his late 20s or close to 30 himself. (You have to remember that TV years are NOT necessarily the same as actual, real-time years.
Anyway, the problem is we don't know for sure where Joe fell in the family hierarchy. In early seasons, it was suggested that he was between Danny and Jamie (which would partly account for the age gap between those two, and the fact that Jamie and Joe had a special bond). If that's the case, it's really not feasible for any son of Joe's to be 24 now.
Bottom line: I have a hard time believing that Joe could have fathered a kid who is only about 6-8 years younger than Jamie.
Otherwise, I liked the episode. However, why couldn't Joe's kid have been a girl? And why not have him/her be something other than a cop? Joe loved cars, so why not a mechanic?
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O
How do you work out that Jamie is still in his late 20s/early 30s? He would've been in his mid-20s when he graduated from Harvard in 2007. If Erin was saying she was 36 in season 2 and celebrated her 40th in season 6 it seems likely that the show is based on 1 season per year.
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J
Well, even if Jamie is 35, he would have been 11 when the kid was conceived. Jamie's next-oldest brother, Joe, would have had to be at least 20 at that time. And I have a hard time buying such a big age gap between Joe & Jamie. Not in a strict Catholic family, at least. :-p
And now that I think about it, I think the writers sort of went overboard with this kid, taking the easy, cheesy route in having the son (!) be such a stellar highly-praised cop. If he has to be NYPD, why not just an ordinary beat cop?? This sort of goes a bit too far in proving that the Reagans are all heroic and anointed.
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O
If you look at the headstone on Joe's grave it says he was born in 1977. It's always been said that Jamie was a lot younger than his siblings, but he wouldn't have only been 22 when he graduated from Harvard, he was briefly a lawyer which means two degrees, so he would've been at least 25 when he graduated.
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G
Joe was the oldest. Then Danny,Erin and Jamie the baby.
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J
See, that's part of the problem. Yesterday I looked at various sources online, and there are conflicting reports of the order of the kids. Some say Erin is eldest, others say Danny is eldest. But nowhere did I see that Joe was the eldest of all the Reagan kids. (There was some question of whether he was older than Danny, but most sources have Danny as the oldest son, which would put Joe between Danny and Jamie.)
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W
Agreed. Plus, since this child was born when he was in the Academy and Erin had her daughter after law school the timeline works, actually quite easily.
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