‘Blue Bloods’ Invites Reagan Family Member Back to NYPD, Snubbed for Family Dinner

Blue Bloods saw Joe Hill make his first appearance in Season 12, although it wasn’t quite as explosive as the Season 11 finale. “Be Smart or Be Dead” showed that there is still some tension between Commissioner Frank Reagan and his recently-discovered grandson, who was attacked by a criminal he previously put away. Although the episode ended with Frank and Joe on better terms, Joe was surprisingly snubbed when it came to the family dinner this week.

At the beginning of the episode, Frank (Tom Selleck) rushed to the hospital to meet Joe (Will Hochman), who had a black eye and a broken wrist after a run-in with a person who attacked him. Joe refused to even describe the attacker, which surprised Frank because he knew Joe was a better cop than that. Frank refused to believe this was a random attack, but Joe wanted his grandfather to leave the case alone and treat him like any other cop.

Of course, Frank wasn’t just going to let this be, so he had Gormley (Robert Clohessy) and Abigail (Abigail Hawk) look into it and they discovered that Javier Estevez, who was just released from prison, was the attacker. Joe testified in court, helping put Javier behind bars, and now that Javier is out, he sought revenge. After this discovery, Frank stopped by Joe’s apartment in an attempt to convince Joe to help them put Javier back behind bars for assaulting a police officer. Joe was convinced he can handle this by himself, even in an off-the-book manner, but Frank didn’t want to see his grandson attempt to be a vigilante. It’s clear that Joe wanted to prove he could handle a situation without leaning on his Reagan family ties.

While Gormley had officers keep tabs on Joe’s attacker, Joe met with Frank in his office. “We’re going to get the guy whether you are cooperating or not,” Frank said. He told Joe he would be required to pick the perp out from a line-up. If Joe refuses to answer questions from a supervisor, he would be suspended. Joe was still frustrated, but Frank reminded him that he wanted to be treated just like everyone else and, well… this is how it works.

At the end (following a family dinner that Joe missed), Joe did as he was told and identified the attacker, who was later arrested on federal charges. Frank showed up at Joe’s apartment again, this time with a photo of Joe’s late father, Joe Reagan. Earlier in the episode, Joe noted that he didn’t have a picture of his dad, and Frank wanted to remedy that. “He’d be proud of you,” Frank told Joe. Before Frank could leave, Joe asked if he could go to the next family dinner. “Bring the desert,” Frank said as walked through Joe’s door.

Elsewhere in the episode, Jamie followed Danny around as they tried to figure out why a woman tried to kill him. There was a rare story involving Eddie and Henry after she and her new partner (Ian Quinlan) learn about an anonymous good Samaritan who stopped a bodega robbery. Eddie discovered that Samaritan was none other than Henry. Lastly, things went bad for Erin (as usual) when she finally brought the murder trial involving D.A. Crawford (Roslyn Ruff) to court, only to see her intentions questioned. Sandra Harris (Cheryl Freeman) was found not guilty of the murder Crawford witnessed, and Erin suspected Crawford intentionally sabotaged it to hurt her career chances. Blue Bloods airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.