‘Blue Bloods’: Danny Goes ‘Off the Rails’ After Lou Diamond Phillips Twist

This week’s episode of Blue Bloods provided a stunning twist for viewers at home by bringing back Lou Diamond Phillips’ drug cartel hitman Luis Delgado to frustrate Danny Reagan, and revealing that Delgado is working for the Drug Enforcement Administration. Later on though, we learned Delgado was just playing the authorities.

In “By Hook Or By Crook,” Delgado surprisingly resurfaced, confirming that the headless, burned body that washed ashore at the end of the season nine premiere was not actually his body. This gave Danny one more shot to get Delgado behind bars.

Danny and Maria Baez learned Delgado was still alive after they discovered a severed head in a garbage pile. That head belonged to the body they discovered, not Delgado’s.

Baez warned Danny not to go “off the rails” while trying to track down Delgado. That did not stop him from going to Delgado’s house and confronting his wife. He threatened to hurt Delgado’s children, bringing Delgado to the home. Once there, Delgado dropped the surprising news: he is working for the DEA.

At the precinct, the DEA officer confirmed that Delgado was not lying. They are using him to get close to another Mexican cartel leader, Rojas. Danny insisted he gets to arrest Delgado, but the DEA agent suggests they can work together.

Delgado agreed to wear an ankle monitor while meeting Rojas for a deal. Danny still did not trust him, and DEA Agent Molina believed it was too personal for Danny to work on the case. Danny said he could do it, and the DEA let him stay on the team.

Unfortunately, the deal turned out to be a set-up. They did not realize until Delgado started running from the scene. Danny tried to chase him down, but by the time he caught up to him, Delgado was already zooming off on a motorcycle.

Danny thought Delgado double-crossed them, but the DEA Agent Molina noticed that Delgado went back to his home. Delgado was not actually at home. He spoke to Danny online, telling him that his wife Linda was really killed by the mob. The reason why the GPS showed Delgado was there was because he put the monitor on a dog. It was all a big scheme to slip through the authorities’ fingers.

During “Playing With Fire,” Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) discovered that Delgado was the man who torched his house at the end of season seven. He tried to pin a murder on Delgado, but he botched a chance to get him on tape confessing. He even entered Delgado’s home without a warrant.

Later in the episode, Erin Reagan (Bridget Moynahan) said there was enough evidence to get a warrant for Delgado’s phone at least. Danny used it to track down a drug sale, which he and Baez (Marisa Ramirez) busted to make Delgado look like a snitch.

At the end, a headless, burned body washed ashore on the Hudson River, so everyone — including Erin and Danny — assumed Delgado was dead. Clearly this was not the case, as he just went into hiding.

During the season premiere, Delgado also dropped a tantalizing sentence. “First your house burns up and then a chopper goes down — that’s some pretty bad mojo you carry around,” he told Danny.

How did Delgado know Danny’s wife Linda (Amy Carlson) died in a helicopter crash? Was Linda murdered?

“The fact that Delgado brings it up certainly sounds alarms for Danny, and likely does for the audience as well,” showrunner Kevin Wade told TVLine.

“By Hook Or By Crook” also saw Eddie Janko (Vanessa Ray) finally introduce Jamie Reagan (Will Estes) to her mother Lena, played by guest star Christine Ebersole. An officer with a connection to a member of Frank Reagan’s (Tom Selleck) team is attacked, and Erin runs into some trouble with her new boss.

In last week’s episode, “Trust,” Eddie got a new partner, Maya (Yasha Thompson). Eddie and Maya got into trouble with Jamie because of their response to a neighborhood disturbance outside a convenience store. Jamie discovered that Maya was holding back in her reaction because she feared people were filming her actions. He told her she could not do that, and Maya surprisingly thanked Jamie for taking the time to talk to her.

New episodes of Blue Bloods air on CBS Fridays at 10 p.m. ET.

Photo credit: CBS