‘Blue Bloods’: Tom Selleck Tangles With Fellow TV Legend With Family Troubles

New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan has many friends, and they usually look very similar to television icons. In this week’s episode of Blue Bloods, viewers were introduced to one colleague who looked an awful lot like Tony Danza. In “Allegiance,” the Who’s the Boss? star made his debut on the show as a police lieutenant caught between a rock and a hard place because his son is doing some dirty deeds.

The episode started with Frank (Tom Selleck) arriving at the home of Lt. Raymond “Ray” Moretti (Danza), which was damaged in a drive-by shooting. Ray was wounded, and couldn’t get a good look at the shooters. Frank vowed to find out who was behind it while Ray and his family stayed at his in-laws. Ray’s two grown sons also didn’t see anything.

Later, Gormley (Robert Clohessy) reported that the shooting at Ray’s house was not connected to any of the cases he was about to testify on. During his digging, Gormley discovered that Ray’s son Vincent (Tom D’Agustino) has faced drug charges and has “serious debt” on the street involving a deadly gang. Frank ordered Gormley to bring Ray to his office to get to the bottom of this situation. Gormley wasn’t too thrilled, but Frank reminded him that they can’t pick and choose which rules to follow.

When Ray came up to Frank’s office, he knew exactly what the situation was about. Cops aren’t supposed to knowingly be around someone breaking the law, even if that person is their son, and not report it. Ray argued for an exception, but it wasn’t going to work. Frank told Ray that Vincent is the reason he got shot, but Ray believes he’s the reason. He thinks he dedicated too much of his life to the job and ignored his son, who turned to drugs. Ray asked Frank what he would do if one of his sons had the same problem. He left in a huff before Frank could answer.

Despite insisting Ray follow the book, Frank himself was trying to find some justification to make sure Ray doesn’t have to be suspended. During a chat with Gormley, Frank pointed out that plenty of good cops knowingly associates with criminals who are informants! Gormley suggested that Frank had a little room to bend the rules in this case, but Frank tried to convince himself otherwise. “Any wisdom offered to make someone feel better about themselves isn’t wisdom,” Frank told Gormley. “It’s just blowing smoke.” Gormely’s response: “Nobody ever laid on his deathbed going, ‘I wish I’d been more of a hardass.’”

That night, Frank talked about the situation with Henry (Len Cariou). In this discussion, Frank was the one who trying to find a soft way out of the conundrum. Henry pointed out that the rule at the center of this issue himself. He remembered having to cut out a brother-in-law named John (yes, Frank’s mom having a brother was news to Frank!), who started a loan shark operation. John refused to stop and responded by attacking Henry and his partner. Henry cut John out of the family. Frank’s mom was upset about it, but Henry never regretted it because he protected his family.

In the end, Frank told Ray that he has to kick Vincent out of the house or quit the police force. Frank suggested Vincent go to rehab, but it didn’t really matter. If one of his sons was in this situation, he would still kick his son out of the house because it was time. After all, Ray’s house was shot at because Vincent is still living there! Although Vincent may call his dad a “hardass” for years, Frank told Ray this is a good thing. “Because it means he’ll still be around to call you that, and you’ll still be around to hear,” Frank told Ray.

Elsewhere in the episode, other allegiances were put to the test. Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Baez (Marisa Ramirez) investigated the mysterious death of a talk show host (Judy Torres) who fainted – and later died – during a commercial break. Eddie (Vanessa Ray) worked with the SVU on an undercover case and decided against becoming a sergeant even though she passed the exam. Joe Hill (Will Hochman) worked with Erin (Bridget Moynahan) after he slept with a lawyer involved in witness tampering. Blue Bloods airs on CBS Fridays at 10 p.m. ET and is available to stream on Paramount+.