https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSmQuwc7hGo
Blue Bloods is a police procedural with a lot of heart and emotion and tonight’s episode on CBS at 10p brings a lot that for Tom Selleck and his character Frank Reagan.
Reagan comes to work and he finds out that a young woman from his past has come to visit him. Back when he was a beat cop and she was just a child, he saved her life. Sarah (Amelia Rose Blaire) was six years old when a man came into her house and murdered her parents and younger brother. Frank was one of the first cops who arrived at the house during crime, and to this day it’s the most disturbing crime scene he has ever witnessed.
Since it left such an impact on him, he has remained like a surrogate father to Sarah. So much so, she is there to ask him to walk her down the aisle later on in the week. Sarah also came to see him to tell him that the man who killed her family wrote her a letter, but she can’t bear to open it and would like Frank to do that. When he reads the letter, he finds out that the killer (Kevin Riley) wants to meet Sarah and tell her he is not the same man that he was that day. Sarah doesn’t know if she wants to meet the man who said in court, a year after the murders, that he wishes he killed her too.
She eventually decides that she wants to meet him and she asks Frank to join her. He agrees. When the three of them are sitting in that cold, puke-colored, confined room together having their confrontation, you will witness a scene that is so impactful that you will not be able to do anything but watch and sit there numb for a few minutes.
It is a scene that resonated so much with Tom Selleck that he talked about it on a conference call earlier in the week. Selleck described what his character is going through ealrier in that episode. Frank has such a bond Sarah that he wants to protect her, especially during the week of her wedding. He doesn’t want her to go; but when she can’t get the letter out of her head, he knows she has to and he will be there to support her. Selleck said, “We lead up to the scene where she confronts a cold-blooded killer, who claims to have remorse. It was just very moving to me, and the actress, of course, delivered as the character.†Then he added, “It was a very difficult scene as an actor. Look, we don’t become someone else, but you believe in the situation. It was a very dark place for Frank to go and for Sarah to go. Those aren’t easy scenes. At the same time, she was so good, it was pretty easy for me.â€
Executive Producer, Kevin Wade, was also on the call and he described the atmosphere in the studio as they filmed that poignant scene. He said, “It was the first time I’ve really seen everybody kind of drop to dead silence and crowd around the monitors. The commitment on part of all three actors in that moment. It was something that, you know, we didn’t prepare them for it, but all of a sudden this silence came over the set as they were working as everybody crowded around to watch it.†Wade has been working on the show since almost the beginning and he doesn’t remember that happening before on the set.
Imagine an episode that is so powerful that the lead actor who rarely does press wanted to do some to promote it and a cast a crew stopping everything they were doing to watch it in silence, that is exactly the impact it has. It is a side of Frank Reagan that we’ve never seen before and I think that plays a part in the scene that is so tense, you can cut the tension with a knife. Blaire also gives an award-winning performance as her character confronts the man who ruined her life.
It’s an emotional episode, but not one that leaves you feeling depressed when is over. It plays out in a way that Blue Bloods has perfected during the 5 years it has been on the air.
Make sure to watch an episode that proves excellent television still exists tonight at 10p on CBS.
