1. Sammetsfan

   10

   A top-notch cop show. Has lots of character and characters. Excellent cast and writing that feels very real. One of my favorite shows. I highly recommend getting lost in it.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 1 users said Yes.
2. Rosco

   8

   Another solid season from CBS' Blue Bloods! I enjoyed every moment of the first series and season 2 lived up to the expectations. The Reagan family are certainly unique and the way each episode brings heated debates and arguments round the family table just captures the show and does so again this year. The first episode of S2, 'Mercy,' has Commissioner Frank Reagan (the awesome Tom Selleck) at loggerheads with the mayor over the murder of one of his supporters. Whilst also setting Jamie up for a familiar theme over the course of the season as he foes undercover. Eventually it leads to him taking an undercover assignment to bring down the Sanfino crime family. Elder brother (Donny Wahlberg) is a natural and proves his credentials furthermore as hardass Danny. He himself has a lot of drama throughout the season. In episode 2 'Friendly Fire' he shoots a fellow cop which leads to an Internal Affairs investigation, he deals with a dangerous bank robbery led by a former cop, a cold case is re-opened leading him to a long-standing conflict with Jamie, his friendship with partner Jackie flourishes and it was good to see the two of them get more screen time particuarly in 'Working Girls' and he goes toe-to-toe with his sister, Erin. Erin herself has dilemmas, a complicated love-life in which an art dealer becomes the centre of a police investigation and she's also offered an intriguing job from the Mayor which would lead her on a collision course with her dad. Frank, who is dynamite by the way, Tom Selleck continues to excel in the lead role, and he too comes across some complex situations. From ploitical crisis, to appeasing the Mayor's needs and requests as well as the reveal off his secret lover, the pressure shows though and Selleck sells every moment in the Finale when Frank has to stop a biological attack against the time whilst not being able to tell his family. In amongst all their personal stories and conficts at the centre their all united by the Reagan dinner table, it's elegant yet so appropriate and heart-warming at times no matter what the topic is, the Reagan's never shy away from the conversation. All in all, a fabulous follow up by the guys at Blue Bloods in what is certainly delivering terrific television.… Collapse

   • Helpful? 0 of 1 users said Yes.
3. A_Northerner

   5

   I want to like Blue Bloods, I really do, it has a decent cast, led by Donnie Wahlberg and Tom Selleck but the writing really lets the show down.
   
   
   Firstly, the writing for the children on the show is complete drivel. Thanks to the writers, Blue Bloods's children may well be the most annoying children in the history of moving picture. I cannot accept that any 10 or 13 year old, no matter how well they have been raised, or even if they are a Reagan, would ever come out with such sickly sweet and pretentious lines, delivered in the majority by Erin's daughter. What world have these writers been living in? The following are two of my vomit-inducing favourites, Nicki saying "I do know what it means, I buried my Uncle when I was 13" and Danny's son (about 10 or 11) on the family business, "I think you have two lives, one you are born into and one you choose". I rest my case.
   
   
   Moving on. The family is so self-righteous and respectable it is tedious. I have lost count on how many times I have been told what it means to "be a Reagan" or why anyone one else would do this or that but not Selleck's brood because they are Reagan's. This saintly and holier than thou attitude is served up by Selleck for family dinner each week and gives me indigestion. It is in stark contrast to Danny, apparently the only detective in New York it would seem, running around slapping 10 bells out of any criminal he can get his hands on.
   
   
   Thirdly, the family dinner. The writers use the weekly family dinner as an opportunity to discuss the moral implications of the episodes cases. Given Erin's role as Assistant District Attorney, like Law and Order, the show is able to argue cases from both sides of the arrest with Erin arguing for the law, right or wrong, and Danny arguing for justice at whatever cost with Tom Selleck acting as judge from the head of the table. If it wasn't for the way the writers get the children involved in the discussions, or use the unflinching Reagan moral compass as a way of discussing the cases, these discussions could really deliver a decent view of the episodes cases. As it is though, the family dinner is usually a cringing low point of each episode. All the above spoils what is actually an average show. The idea of a police version of the Corleones, with Selleck as the Godfather and all his offspring in the family business of delivering justice in one way or another is a unique one. The episode plots are pretty simple but it can be enjoyable watching Danny, Jackie and Erin work their cases episode to episode. The writers clearly made the decision to build in a longer length story arc each season, Jimmy and the Blue Templars or Jimmy and the Mob in the case of season two, but they just don't dedicate enough time to develop this arc week to week for it pay off at the end of the season with any satisfaction.
   
   
   I think Blue Bloods is probably the first show to give an insight into the mixed political/police role of a police commissioner. While Selleck's role was interesting in the first season, the writers seems to be fast running out of story lines for Frank Reagan this time around. The episode featuring the Catholic Church visiting him to get his opinion over a sainthood for his conflicted childhood priest was the worst by far.
   
   
   
   The terrorist threat and missing child cold case season finale felt like we were covering old ground from the first season and apart from Frank resignation dilemma was a disappointment.
   
   
   The show has been renewed for a third season so they are obviously doing something right, either that or maybe the network boss is a Reagan.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 0 users said Yes.
4. ThePagoda

   4

   The high hosannas that are being handed down to this show are baffling. For a start it defies any sense of verisimilitude with each member of the family filling in for every cliche of the cop/legal process - the rookie, the tough cop, the lawyer, etc - and of course each of them ending up working their various angles on every case as if there are only a dozen cops in the city. The plots in each episode feel like half-remembered rehashes of some by-the-numbers show that you might have watched when you stayed up late with your dad (which is also their main virtue I guess) and go predictably...from A...to Z. There's not so many false notes just a sense that you really, REALLY have been here before and would quite like to have that hour back.
   Donnie Wahlberg - usually so good - seems like he's been sucked into the stereotype ensemble and Tom Selleck has decided to go for broke, aiming at maximum dignity, but dignity is hard-going when you're weighed under stodgy lines and a head full of hair dye.
   Maybe worth catching if it's 12.30am and you've got mild insomnia and staying at a Best Western, but there have been some truly terrific and (often) innovative shows over the past few years (The Wire, Mad Men, The Killing, The Shield to start), so otherwise, why?… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.

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