Among the most-watched cop dramas on television, “Blue Bloods” stars Tom Selleck as Frank Reagan, New York’s Police Commissioner, tasked with lowering crime and keeping his family together at the same time. The series isn’t your typical police procedural, with much of it focused on the family dynamic of the Reagans, a law enforcement clan that includes Frank’s son, Detective Danny Reafan (Donnie Wahlberg), beat cop Jamie (Will Estes), and Erin (Bridget Moynahan), a prosecutor who later in the series becomes the city’s District Attorney.
Debuting in 2010, “Blue Bloods” was an instant hit for bringing a fresh take to the cop show genre. Though formulaic at times — each episode ends with a family dinner where all the problems of the day are hashed out — the series never fails to deliver meaningful drama, whether it’s a gripping, suspenseful murder mystery, an action-packed thriller, or a tear-jerking romance. But with 13 seasons and counting, it’s also found itself full of plot holes. Some of them are broad continuity issues, others are contrivances that don’t jive with the real world, and others are just sloppy writing that leaves fans wondering what the heck just happened.
Whether you’ve watched every episode or just a handful, you’ve probably noticed at least one “Blue Bloods” plot hole. The series has managed to tie up a few, but these are the ones we still can’t explain.
How old is Joe exactly?
At its heart, “Blue Bloods” isn’t a police drama, but a family drama, centered the Reagans, who are all involved in law enforcement in one capacity or another. The head of the family is Frank Reagan, the city’s top cop, while his children — Danny, Erin, and Jamie — also work for New York as servants of the law. But there’s one more Reagan child, whose death they’re all still reeling from when Season 1 kicks off: Joe Reagan. Somehow, though, it seems the writers have never been able to exactly nail down just where in the family Joe sits. That’s because he’s been at different times said to be the oldest child, the middle child, and the youngest child.
Confused? So are fans. One online commenter on Reddit was miffed when an episode gave us a glimpse of Joe’s gravestone, which officially listed his birthdate as 1977. This posed a problem because that would make him the youngest Reagan in the family. However, a Season 2 episode had suggested he was born much earlier, saying he was in diapers during the Watergate hearings. Meanwhile, Joe was often referred to as being “the bridge” between elder brother Danny and younger brother Jamie.
But that’s not even the end of the confusion. Because on several occasions, Frank Reagan has suggested himself that Joe was indeed the oldest. So which is it? Who is right and who is wrong? The world may never know.
Danny and Linda’s wedding
When it comes to the date of important milestones in the life of the Reagan family, the birth date of the late Joe Reagan isn’t the only one to cause plot holes on “Blue Bloods.” Looking at the life of Joe’s younger — or perhaps older — brother Danny, there’s another major life event whose place in the timeline doesn’t quite add up, and it also involves his wife Linda (Amy Carlson). Because the year they were married has fluctuated based on which episode you’re watching.
In the Season 2 episode “Parenthood,” Danny is asked about his marriage to Linda, to which he replies that they’ve been together and married for 12 years. Then, less than a full year later, in the early Season 3 episode “Scorched Earth,” we get contradictory information. In that episode, the couple are celebrating their wedding anniversary, but state that it’s their 16th year as a wedded couple, not the 13th it should be based on what we heard in “Parenthood.”
Flash forward one more year, to the Season 4 episode “Growing Boys,” where the date of their wedding is referenced again. But did the writers go by what had been established in Season 2, or base it on the timeline given the previous season in “Scorched Earth”? Well, it seems they went with the former, because Danny states they’ve been together for 14 years, meaning we can probably ignore the 16th wedding anniversary.
Blue Bloods doesn’t get the law quite right
Over the years, “Blue Bloods” has gained quite the fervent fan following, with legions of viewers heading online after each episode to discuss what they just saw. Sometimes it’s ordinary audiences praising that week’s story or criticizing a bad effort, but occasionally an expert in a field related to the show chimes in to point out a plot hole. Such was the case with the Season 13 episode “Past History.” After the installment hit the airwaves, a legal expert called the episode’s courtroom wranglings into question.
“I can’t get past the stupid in Friday’s episode,” one user pointed out on Reddit (relayed by the Express). In the episode, a murder suspect confesses to her crime, but her admission doesn’t make it to the grand jury. After the jury decides there isn’t enough evidence, the murder weapon is found, but District Attorney Erin Reagan claims it’s too late: the grand jury already let her off and they can’t try her again. That’s where the legal expert watching the episode jumped in. “The stupid [thing is] Erin saying that it’s too late now as the knife purchase was tracked after the grand jury declined to indict,” they said, declaring, “There is no double jeopardy in grand juries.”
Unlike a contradictory date that changes from one moment to the next, this is one plot hole that isn’t as forgivable, because it unravels the entire premise of the story.
Jurisdictions have no meaning in Blue Bloods
For “Blue Bloods” viewers who may be watching from outside of the New York Metropolitan area, you might never notice this next plot hole. But if you do live in the New York region or are at all familiar with the geography, it will definitely ring a bell, and is probably something you’ve laughed at more than once. Because no matter where a crime takes place in the series — be it on the Upper West Side, the Lower East Side, or Brooklyn — it always seems to be one of the Reagans responding and getting to the scene first.
Of course, anyone from NYC knows that each of those areas have their own precincts. In fact, Manhattan Island has 22 separate precincts. Cops from Manhattan don’t just casually stroll to a murder scene in Queens, nor vice versa. Yet Danny is there when a victim turns up anywhere across the five boroughs, or Jamie just happens to be the cop on the beat whether a crime occurs uptown, downtown, or anywhere in between. Putting aside the ludicrousness of the Reagans always being present when the worst cases arise — because this is a TV show after all — they don’t seem to even pay attention to how New York police actually operate.
The Reagans work cases no cop should
We’ve already talked about how the Reagans always seem to find themselves investigating almost every crime in New York. But the show wouldn’t be that interesting if they didn’t have an exciting case each week either, even if after 13 seasons it starts to stretch the bounds of believability. We don’t question those sorts of things, after all, on other cop shows like “Law and Order” or even sci-fi adventures like “Star Trek,” where it’s always the USS Enterprise dealing with the galaxy’s worst dangers. What we can question, however, is how the likes of Danny and Jamie Reagan often work crimes that really shouldn’t be the purview of the NYPD.
Sometimes that means hunting child traffickers and tracking down foreign terrorists — which should be handled by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security — or taking down a gun-running operation that would be the jurisdiction of the ATF. Regardless, it seems like the Reagans are always involved in any case no matter the crime. Sure, on some occasions the writers try to justify it by having other law enforcement divisions call the Reagans in for an assist — such as when the ATF recruits new nephew Joe to go undercover for them — but it happens so often that it begins to make little sense. Such is the case when a show runs as long as “Blue Bloods,” and has to come up with an exciting new story every week.
Ummm… conflicts of interest anyone?
In terms of getting the law wrong, “Blue Bloods” does more than just mix up a few details in random episodes. One of the biggest plot holes of the series relating to the law is actually baked into the very premise of the show, as the Reagan family works at all levels of the justice system: from father Frank serving as the city’s police commissioner to his daughter Erin being both a prosecutor and later, the District Attorney. And with Danny and Jamie being officers in the NYPD, it would be wholly inappropriate for Erin to be handling cases where one of her own brothers was the investigating officer.
Throughout the series, we’ve seen this play out over and over, and yet time and time again, the defense never seems to raise this questionable conflict of interest. And conflicts of interest are something the show has brought up: When Erin was running for District Attorney, her father refused to endorse her candidacy for fear of how it would look to the public, in an attempt to give her some sense of impartiality from the police department should she be elected. Nevertheless, Erin Reagan is repeatedly getting involved in cases worked by her own immediate family, and nobody ever really seems to bat so much as an eyelash at it.
Ghosts of the Past doesn’t add up
Many fans have pointed out that “Blue Bloods” is riddled with plot holes that go beyond a character’s age, and even includes head-scratching developments within individual episodes. One such case is the Season 2 entry “Ghosts of the Past,” which features guest star Lorraine Bracco from “The Sopranos” as Interim Mayor Dutton, who comes into conflict with Frank Reagan over attending a parade that honors a man once convicted of attacking police. But it’s the B-story that earned fans’ ire, with many pointing out a gaping plot hole related to the case of a runaway who returns home after 13 years.
Investigated by Danny and Baez, the case arrives with immediate questions when the woman — who had disappeared as a teen — shows up as if nothing really happened. Claiming she just felt it was time to come home, in the end it’s revealed that she’s not the same person who disappeared and is involved in some kind of strange, twisted scheme. The problem here is that it never added up even from the beginning, and despite the show making Danny out to be some world class detective, he never once even bothered to ask where she’d been for the past decade. Of course, if Danny had done his job, there might not have been much of a story, but it seems like a step any decent detective would take in a case like this.
On the Arm is a head scratcher for all the wrong reasons
“Ghosts of the Past” may have presented us with a plot hole that you could drive a squad car through, but the episode “On the Arm” tosses out a series of nonsensical narrative problems that are each more confounding than the last. The episode has four separate concurrent stories, the most prominent being about a con artist who is impersonating musical icon Jimmy Buffet – who guest stars in dual roles as the con man and as himself.
Once again, though, it took dutiful fans to catch the writers in the act, and the episode indeed fell into the Reddit plot hole dumping ground. “It seemed like all four segments were confusing and written by interns,” said one disgruntled viewer, adding, “The Jimmy Buffet appearance was totally wasted on the weak storyline and huge plot-holes.” It was a fairly far-fetched storyline already, with the real Jimmy Buffett enabling a man who was impersonating him, but the notion that Danny would get so obsessed with arresting him for a simple case of mistaken identity — when the man hadn’t done anything illegal — just doesn’t add up.
Linda’s death left more questions than answers
Fans of “Blue Bloods” were blindsided by the Season 8 premiere, because it revealed the shocking, off-screen death of a major character. Though we never see it happen, we learn that Linda Reagan, Danny’s wife, has been killed in a helicopter accident, and her death has ramifications that reverberate through multiple episodes. Unable to cope with the unexpected tragedy, and now finding himself a single father, Danny contemplates leaving the force and taking a higher paying job at a security firm, citing the loss of his wife’s income as a major reason why.
The plot hole that some fans pointed out with this development isn’t readily apparent, but things begin to unravel the more one thinks about the situation. If Danny and Linda were such good caregivers, and both had good, well-paying jobs, surely they’d have life insurance policies that would help provide for the family should the unthinkable happen. As an emergency room nurse, Linda would have known the importance of such insurance, as would Danny as a veteran officer who puts his life on the line every day.
Not only is no such life insurance policy ever mentioned, but were their financial troubles so bad that he has to quit a job with the NYPD that would offer a healthy retirement plan and pension? Once again, it doesn’t seem like the writers were thinking things through and just wanted to create problems for Danny to overcome.
McNichols’ rank
There are times we’re just forced to accept unrealistic plot holes for the sake of convenience, to move the story forward and keep things running smoothly. It doesn’t make it any less confusing sometimes, and that’s exactly where Captain Paula McNichols (Stephanie Kurtzuba) comes in. A recurring character introduced in Season 10, McNichols is first seen as a Sergeant. But fans noticed something odd when Season 13 rolled around, because suddenly she was a captain, and for those familiar with police procedure, it didn’t really add up.
“Last spring Sgt. McNichols was close to getting forced out for assaulting an officer while on duty,” said a user on Reddit. “First episode of the Season 13 and she has Captain bars.” While the change in rank might not have seemed that strange to casual viewers, the fact is that a promotion to captain is something that isn’t easy. “Promotions are very competitive,” added the user. “Only the best or most connected make captain or higher.”
If you want an explanation for this one, it’s probably not in-universe. “These types of serials operate with black holes sometimes,” another fan responded. “They needed a captain. They used one of their favorite actors who happened to be a sergeant before.”
Anthony forgets himself
It seems that Erin is always in the middle of a plot hole, but at least this time it’s not her fault. Instead, it’s that of Anthony Abetemarco (Steve Schirripa), a retired detective who works for Erin Reagan as an investigator for the District Attorney’s office. In another case of confusion between seasons, it seems that Anthony totally forgets what happened the year before when Season 13 begins. Because in Season 12, it was Anthony who was urging Erin to run for District Attorney, encouraging her to pursue the highest position in the office.
Then, suddenly, in Season 13, Anthony’s tune changes entirely. And it’s not just a case of him changing his mind, either, because without any explanation he seems downright confused as to why Erin is running, to the point where he even asks her why she wants the job in the first place. This didn’t go unnoticed by audiences either. “Last season, he was trying to get her to run, even trying to draft the other Reagans into getting her to run,” said a fan discussing the show on Reddit. “And now he’s questioning her, almost seeming to try to talk her out of it? That makes no sense.”
How did Danny join the NYPD?
Contrary to popular belief, joining the NYPD isn’t as simple as filling out a form and grabbing a badge and a gun. There are some stringent requirements to serve under the blue banner in New York City, and one of them is that you must have a college degree or a minimum of two years of military service. The problem is, it’s not quite clear which one Danny Reagan actually had when he joined up, because massive continuity errors have confused fans regarding his post-high school years.
Examining the timeline of Danny’s life, fans have noted that an early episode of the series clearly established that he’d joined the military shortly after 9/11, when he was already a police officer with the NYPD. This means he must have had his college degree to qualify for the force years before. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, the problem is, Danny has also said unequivocally that he didn’t go to college. Some fans have suggested that he must have served in the military years before 9/11, and voluntarily re-enlisted after the terrorist attacks, but with little concrete explanation on-screen, it remains yet another noticeable “Blue Bloods” plot hole.