Lenny Ross’ stories are usually goofy, but not this time.
On Blue Bloods Season 13 Episode 20, Frank had to decide whether to let Lenny fade away or try one last time to get through to him.
Meanwhile, Danny and Baez got closer after a perp threatened Baez in a way that viewers can interpret as romantic or platonic, depending on who they ship.
Lenny’s story started as usual, making Frank’s discovery about his health issues as shocking for viewers as for Frank.
He’s always evasive and usually into something he shouldn’t be. This time, it seemed like his daughter was in trouble — and then the story took a heartbreaking turn.
Although it was hard for Frank to absorb Lenny’s news, that didn’t take up much screen time. In a way, giving Lenny cancer was a wasted opportunity.
Frank quickly learned that Tess was abusing her courtesy card and that officers were putting up with it because she kept name-dropping Frank. Meanwhile, Lenny kept using his diagnosis to excuse Tess’ behavior.
That was a fantastic setup that went nowhere. After Frank decided to confiscate Tess’ courtesy card, the story disappeared until the last scene.
I’d have liked Frank to have argued on-screen with Lenny or Tess about whether Tess deserved a courtesy card. They could have also involved Erin in this, as the family once went through something similar with Nicky.
Instead, the hour focused on whether Frank should let Lenny make an “Irish exit –” that is, ghost him rather than let Frank support him and Tess during Lenny’s last days.
That was an emotional conflict for Frank, but Tess’ story made the same Irish exit Lenny attempted to make when it could have contributed to Frank’s decision-making process.
Lenny: You put a tail on me? Who does that?
Frank: A concerned friend.
Lenny: Well you know now. You can go.
Frank can be overbearing sometimes. It wasn’t surprising that Lenny didn’t want him in the loop!
Frank reacted to Lenny keeping secrets by tailing him and pressing Lenny’s doctor to share information. That didn’t seem appropriate.
Understandably, Frank wanted to know what was going on with his old friend. But constantly invading Lenny’s privacy didn’t help anything. If I were Lenny, I’d feel twice as uncomfortable about cluing Frank in after he did all that!
The final scene was a perfect send-off for Lenny, though. He went out with lights and sirens blazing and will probably not appear on Blue Bloods again.
Lenny’s loud and childlike behavior doesn’t endear him to many viewers, but it’s how he wants to be remembered, and his ending was true to himself.
Anthony’s story wasn’t nearly as satisfying, mainly because it was hard to tell what was going on.
Joey owed money to Leroy Lucerno, so Anthony wanted to force him to turn CI so they could arrest Leroy. I got that part.
But was Joey’s weird behavior at Leroy’s office part of the plan?
It’s possible that Anthony wants to plant Joey as a mole and that Joey stealing some of Leroy’s money was part of that plan. But it’s also possible that Joey went rogue and Anthony improvised.
Erin: Are you okay? What happened?
Anthony: My idiot cousin happened, that’s what.
Either way, let’s hope this is the last time Joey pays a visit.
He’s annoying, he’s always dragging Anthony into some nonsense, and his stories tend not to make sense.
Can he be banished from our screens, please? He’s second only to Law & Order: SVU‘s Kim Rollins on my list of characters’ relatives that need to go.
It wasn’t believable that a man like Leroy would easily give in to Anthony’s threats. Mob bosses tend to believe they’re smarter than cops; why would this one let Anthony break in and push him around?
Baez and Danny’s story was one of the biggest of the hour.
Danny was so protective of Baez, including when she decided to go rogue.
Hopefully, Sam Evans won’t tell anyone who cares that Baez tried to kill him. He would do anything to cause trouble, and Baez and Danny don’t need anyone investigating this.
Think about the people who love you. Think about your family. Your daughter can’t make it without you. Neither can I.
Danny
More importantly, Baez and Danny demonstrated their love for each other. The thing I loved about this was how ambiguous it was.
Danny/Baez shippers could read their behavior as declarations of romantic love. At the same time, those who don’t want these two together romantically could argue that Danny was just a good (work) partner and friend.
And they’d both be correct because the way Baez and Danny were with each other during this ordeal could point to either interpretation.
It’s not often that a series can find a compromise that pleases both shippers and anti-shippes of a couple. When Scrubs tried it with JD/Elliot, it was a disaster.
But Blue Bloods did it perfectly, using ambiguous statements and a situation where Baez and Danny acted true to their characters.
Did anyone else wish we’d tagged along to the bachelor party Jamie went to?
I related to his story about realizing he’d grown apart from his old friends, and it would have been amazing to experience on-screen. It also would have been more interesting than Eddie trying to convince Badillo to stop ghosting women.
Your turn, Blue Bloods fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and tell us what you thought of this episode.
Don’t forget you can watch Blue Bloods online whenever you’d like.
Blue Bloods airs on CBS on Fridays at 10 PM EST / PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.