After a few leads, Danny and his new partner Jackie Curatola find their main suspect is Ricky Russo, the son of a famous old-school mob boss nicknamed “Happy Jack.”
To catch the killer of an off-duty cop, Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) used some of his usual strong-arm tactics, but it was Grandpa Henry (Len Cariou) who ran afoul of Commissioner Frank (Tom Selleck) this week, when he sought out an old crime rival for his help, one retired gentleman to another.
It was fun to see 'The Sopranos' Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) as an honorable thug who pressured his less-honorable son to do the right thing. This week also saw the introduction of Danny's new partner, played by Jennifer Esposito, who seemed a lot more tolerant of Danny's maverick ways than his former partner, wherever he went.
Jamie's fiancee Sydney still hadn't broken up with him, despite her fears that Jamie will be the next cop killed. In a nice scene, Danny's wife Linda (Amy Carlson) talked about how she manages to make it through each day as a cop's wife.
Jamie (Will Estes) wasn't around much in this episode, except to ask Danny about his Blue Templar pin. "What are you, a cop or a reporter?" Danny asked, before telling his younger brother, "It's nothing for a rookie to worry about."
If we're going to root for Jamie to pursue the subject further (and there's no way the show will let such a juicy storyline simply evaporate), it would be a good idea to give Jamie more of a personality than we've seen so far. Right now, I'm sure most viewers sympathies are firmly with Danny, regardless of how often he crosses the line, than with the bland Jamie.
There was also very little of Erin (Bridget Moynihan) this week, except for a chat with her father about how he feels guilty about brother Joe's death. She assured him, "You inspire people to do the right thing. The price is sometimes what we pay for the life we choose."
At the weekly Reagan family dinner, there were no heated arguments, apart from whether criminals were more decent "in the good old days." And everyone laughed over whether it's "leave the gun, take the cannoli," or the other way around. It was nice to see the family in sync, for once, and able to share a laugh.
Frank has the whole police force in a church service for a fallen officer.
