The final season of Blue Bloods is off to a tense start, as Jamie is working an undercover assignment embedded with a dangerous human trafficking organization while Frank is navigating muddy political waters.
Keep reading for a recap of Blue Bloods Season 14, Episode 1.
Note: Spoilers for this episode of Blue Bloods ahead
Blue Bloods Season 14, Episode 1 recap
The episode begins with human trafficking victims being unloaded from a boat, when a young girl attempts to run away. We see one of the members of the trafficking crew reassure her that should she return to the group, everything will be okay. The trafficker is actually Jamie, who is working undercover. The ringleader is a man named Quinn, and working with Jamie (who goes by the alias Dolan) are Quinn’s lieutenants, Hader and Fence.
Elsewhere, Eddie is shopping and witnesses a young kid, Brendan, who is shoplifting. After the cashier says the store policy isn’t to press charges, Eddie arrests the kid and brings him to the precinct where he is released to his guardians.
Danny and Maria Baez speak with a young woman, Nia Fox, who has clearly been the victim of physical abuse. The neighbors called the police, and the victim appears to say that it was her husband James who hit her, but she refuses to press charges. Danny and Baez go to the husband's place of work and speak with him, but do not arrest him.
A political quagmire for Frank
Mayor Chase greets Frank in his office and discusses his recent trip to Mexico City. Chase explains that the Mexican authorities were not cooperating with his request to stem illegal immigration. Chase tells Frank that he intends to suspend the right-to-shelter law and that he expects Frank to back him up.
Chase says that illegal immigration is causing a spike in criminal activity and tells Frank to use the crime wave argument to support his decision to change the policy. Frank responds that illegal immigration is not necessarily the cause of spikes in crime.
We go back to the trafficking crew, as Hader attempts to assault one of the young girls, and Jamie tells him the boss wouldn’t approve. Hader threatens Jamie, and the two end up fighting before it is quickly broken up.
Frank summons the Dream Team to his office, where he confides in them that he doesn’t necessarily disagree with Mayor Chase’s opinion. He says that safety nets cannot be allowed to become overburdened, because they become liabilities. However, he doesn’t want to get into political fights and he understands the feelings of the immigrants due to being Irish himself.
Officer Badillo is summoned to 1PP and Frank asks Badillo about his background, his family and how he emigrated to New York City. Badillo says he is from the Dominican Republic, and his large family would gather on Saturdays to spend time together. Frank appears to be thinking about his own family and how he relates to Badillo’s life story.
Danny and Baez respond to a call to James and Nia Fox’s apartment, and find James dead of a gunshot wound to the chest. Nia says that she was upstairs when the shooting occurred, and she doesn’t know what happened.
Danny and Baez bring Nia down to the squad room, appearing skeptical of her account regarding what happened. Darryl Reid, Danny’s former partner, shows up and reveals that Nia is his daughter. Reid claims that he confronted James, a struggle occurred and that he shot James and killed him.
Ending explained
While still with the trafficking gang, Jamie covertly connects his phone to the NYPD. Quinn discovers a tracker and orders everybody to put their phones on the table. He unlocks the phone connected to the NYPD, but it turns out to be Hader’s phone. Quinn orders Jamie to execute Hader and dump his body where it won’t be found.
Jamie takes Hader to a desolate location near some railroad tracks and appears to reveal he is, in fact, a cop. Hader threatens Jamie, who puts a gun to Hader’s head, telling Hader he deserves to die. However, at the last minute, Jamie lowers the gun and NYPD detectives appear and arrest Hader.
Frank realizes that Baker set up the meeting with Badillo, and he says it was not her place to do so. She says she doesn’t regret doing it because it was what needed to be done, even though Frank wouldn’t do it himself.
Quinn tells Jamie and Fence to kill the girls because they are evidence. Fence appears hesitant to follow through with this. A cop arrives and asks the group if they are having trouble with their car. Jamie says he’ll handle it, and locks the detective in the trunk. He says killing the cop will bring too much heat on their crew, and that there isn’t enough time to kill the girls. Quinn buys it, and the three men jump into a car and drive away.
Eddie tells Brendan that he is being charged with a felony, and will be spending time in juvie. Brendan is put in a holding cell with Anthony Abetamarco, who says he was arrested for killing somebody who sat too close to him. Brendan is visibly scared, and moves farther away.
Erin discovers Reid’s false confession after Danny convinced Anthony not to flag it, and Erin berates Damny and Anthony for violating the law. Outside of the courthouse, Reid tells Danny that the judge let him slide on the false confession and that Nia pled guilty to manslaughter. She will likely serve six months or fewer due to the extenuating circumstance circumstances.
Review
The episode ends with the family expressing concern for Jamie’s safety at Sunday dinner as he has been away for a few weeks while embedded with Quinn’s crew, only for Jamie to arrive a few minutes late to enjoy dinner with the rest of the family.
Overall, this was a strong Blue Bloods episode that sets the table for the events that will occur throughout the season. Jamie's undercover mission is clearly very risky, and it's likely the rest of the Reagan's will have to help out at some point.
Keeping in mind that Joe was killed while working undercover, things could get very bad very quickly for Jamie and the family is justified in being concerned. This episode featured a little bit of everything — action, drama, surprising twists and ultimately a happy and heartfelt ending, for the time being. Time will tell if Jamie needs his family to come to his rescue.
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