Blue Bloods’ Ending Fell Short in Several Key Areas

Contains spoilers for “Blue Bloods” Season 14, Episode 18 — “End of Tour”

Even the best episodes of the most highly-decorated dramas may falter a little in their execution. While there were a lot of triumphant, sweet and even character-evolving moments in “End of Tour,” the series finale of “Blue Bloods,” it’s hard to ignore the fact that the long-running CBS police series did have a number of failures during its closing episode. Whether we’re talking about the killing of a character, the absence of one important party at the show’s climactic family dinner, or even the fact that several of the show’s most treasured fixtures should have gotten better or different endings, there’s a little room for correcting a flaw or two, as happy as the Reagans’ ending was.

Here are a few letdowns the final episode of “Blue Bloods” brought to bear. This list of plot quibbles just goes to show that the series definitely deserved a little better as it exited the airwaves, even though it managed to both choke up audiences and delight them.

One minor character did die during the action-packed conclusion of “Blue Bloods” — Luis Badillo (Ian Quinlan), who has been Eddie Reagan’s (Vanessa Ray) partner since Season 12. While it definitely helps personalize the gang violence the Reagans must face down, audiences have only known Luis for three seasons, and he’s never carried this much plot weight before. While a nice guy, Luis was also clearly a plot dodge that helped the writers avoid killing off a more important member of the cast in the process. 

While it might be unthinkable, let’s face it — killing off Luis is a sad notion, but it’s definitely not as interesting as, say, killing off Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) or Henry Reagan (Len Cairou) or even someone close to the family but not part of it, like Anthony Abetemarco (Steven R. Schirripa). While Luis’s death packs a punch, it could have been a knockout blow with a little more thought.

Erin Reagan (Bridget Moynahan) got a couple of meaty moments during the final season of “Blue Bloods,” but not nearly enough compared to all of the storyline pull that Danny, Jamie Reagan (Will Estes) and even Joe Hill (Will Hocham) did. Sure, she runs for office — but is pulled back to her life as a district attorney for New York State. Forever passionate about her cases, Erin hates losing, so it’s surprising that she decides that her place is still in the prosecutor’s office. It would have been nice to see at least one of the Reagans try to go national on the political scale.

The sudden late-story decision to have her remarry ex-husband Jack Boyle (Peter Hermann) off-camera at City Hall, without telling a single family member beforehand, does further disservice to Erin’s character. Even worse, her big moment is stolen when Jamie and Eddie announce that Eddie’s pregnant. It seems as if every other Reagan got to hit a major life milestone during Season 14 — but Erin ends up circling the drain with a repetitious storyline that doesn’t grow her prodigious talents.

Poor Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck). He’s never been lucky in love and now he never will be. Though the final episode of “Blue Bloods” sees him proudly looking over his happy family as they toast new beginnings, there’s no new beginning ahead for Frank aside from the one his kids and the law offer him. That’s too bad, since he really should have been given a life outside of his kids, just like the one that Henry suggests Danny needs to get now that his boys are both in college.

But nope, Frank’s heart lies with his family and the city he loves. He witnesses the end of a major crime wave under his stewardship in his episode, and that seems to be enough for him. Since not developing a love interest is the one thing that Selleck regrets most about “Blue Bloods,” saying it kills him that they didn’t go there, at the very least he could have landed a date with an attractive secretary or something. Alas, it was never meant to be, and Frank Reagan leaves the world stage as a single man.

It finally happened — the couple a whole lot of “Blue Bloods” fans wanted to happen finally took their first steps toward romance, with Danny inviting his partner, Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez), out for pizza. It’s a cute scene that leaves the door wide open for more — but would it have killed the show to have Maria there for the Reagans’ final dinner? The whole clan was there, so it wouldn’t have been a huge hardship to invite Maria to the table too. 

To be fair, a few faces were missing — including the underserved Anthony Abetemarco, who recently got his due with a love story, and other close friends. But Maria should have been there to add a little closure to the picture. After all, fans have been rooting hard for her to get together with Danny for years. The temptation is left hanging — but perhaps the “Blue Bloods” spin-off series CBS has in the works might be about the two of them.