"Blue Bloods" Season Two (2011)

Under construction 

"The Rookie" Season 1 (2018)

Overall grade for Season One: A-

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Perhaps one of the most heartbreaking scenes was the line of duty death (LODD) of Captain Anderson who gave her life for the rookie John Nolan in "Greenlight."  The moral significance of an officer -- and a captain no less -- laying down her life in a LODD for another merits a solid A at this time.  Overall, Season One earned an A- due to "Greenlight" which gave a realism to what officers go through being in harm's way.  "Greenlight" then ranks at the top of Season One.  Characters development came to fruition in "Greenlight" where characters like Training Officer (Corporal) Bradford and even Nolan refuse to execute Anderson's murderer for revenge but rather let the justice system play out.  They said that their slain by-the-book captain would want it that way.  ("Plain Clothes Day" showed how each character is able to grow into something or someone outside their current image so far.)

Second, on a separate but related note, the series presented certain moral issues, both police ethics as well as general social ethics.  For example, Nolan and his fellow rookie, Officer West, do their utmost to protect themselves from possible corruption (such as accepting favors of free rent and even free food) as part of professional police ethics, while the larger ethical issue of lying (or evading) to protect relationships by another fellow rookie, Officer Chen, is a consistent theme.  While not a direct violation of department policy (police ethics), Chen and Nolan protect their relationship even to the point of violating the moral law through lying (general ethics).

Furthermore, the season is packed with both action and even humorous moments, and perhaps the main critique is killing off the actress who playing the captain as well as avoding the hook up details which the story could have done without. I'm not sure that lower subordinates poke fun at their training officers in real life, but there is a bond to protect each other.

Finally, the spirit of the law and the letter of the law receive fair treatment to highlight the humanity of the police officer as an enforcer of the law.  West, for example, should have left or even assisted with a sick dog instead of writing a speeding ticket for the dog's owner, and he later learns to assist the public instead of being a cold public servant by giving an old watch to the wife of a murder victim and through this finds peace with West's action in favor of the spirit of the law.  Characters grow through such moments in the series making the first season enjoyable and also ethically thought-provoking. 

Posted Here After Several Years Hiatus

 AMDG

"Blue Bloods" Season One (2010)

 Grade: A

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Law enforcement series follows a New York family of cops, starring Tom Sellick who plays the NYPD Police Commissioner (PC) Reagan.

One theme from the first season is the ethical balance between the vocation of police officers and family obligations.  Balance is the key word, since commitment to the job reinforces the other commitment to family.  They are seen as "mutually beneficial" overall and not in conflict.  For example, by the end of the season, Jamie, a law-school-graduate-turned-cop faces the problem of possible corruption in his family; however, it turns out that it was bad cops gaslighting the situation to make it look like the Reagan family were the criminals.  The Reagans find the truth of who killed Joe, a family member cop killed in the line of duty.

Second, related to the first point, when PC Reagan finds out who killed his son, he's tempted to kill his son as human psychology would do; however, his high moral sense prevent him from killing his murdered son's killer.

Perhaps in a surprise character development, PC Reagan's granddaughter quoted a key line from the series's lesson about learning from mistakes, "What matters is what happens next."  This shows human redemption in the face of tragedy that gives the series a high mark from this reviewer.

Finally, aside from Tom Sellick's fine acting, his character fits his distinguished personality to give viewers a sense of doing the right thing even when there are sacrifices.  There are consistent moments of integrity such as PC Reagan's prudence before rushing to approve a canonization process for a priest and stepping up beyond his job to help uncover the truth of a poor kid's mom's death.

The actors' acting and the attention to detail for real law enforcement protocol adds to the quality of the film, along with the ethical promotion that the movie radiates.  Characters may bleed blue, but they also bleed common red just like the rest of humanity.