How ‘Blue Bloods’ Season 14 Premiere Set Up Final Season

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Blue Bloods Season 14 premiere.]

Blue Bloods‘ final season kicked off on Friday, February 16 on CBS, marking the beginning of the end of the crime procedural.

Much of the plot of the Blue Bloods Season 14 premiere was the typical fare found in the cop show — Reagan family squabbles, differences in how and when to carry out justice, and more. But two plot lines will stick as some of the main issues facing the cop family throughout its final episodes.

Jamie (Will Estes) is on a dangerous undercover mission in a sex trafficking ring that will continue across the episodes. In the premiere, viewers saw him intaking kidnapped women and bringing them to a secret location. While holding the women captive in a secret warehouse, Jamie butts heads with the detestable Hader (guest star Aaron Abrams) as he tries to stop the criminal from sexually assaulting one of the women.

Their plan is later compromised, and Jamie frames Hader as a snitch before secretly arresting him. The ring leader then decides they need to kill the women by burning them alive, but Jamie convinces him that’s not the right move. Jamie unexpectedly makes it home for family dinner after three weeks away at the end of the episode, but he has to go back undercover shortly after.

Estes previously told TV Insider that in the episode on February 23, viewers will see Jamie come across his nephew, Joe (Will Hochman), while they’re both on secret assignments involving this sex trafficking ring.

“Jamie loves Joe, but he does business a bit different than Jamie does, and they butt heads,” Estes said.

Elsewhere, Frank (Tom Selleck) gets a favor called in from Mayor Peter Chase (Dylan Walsh), who’s choosing to suspend the right to shelter law in response to an influx of buses of immigrants seeking shelter in New York City. Instead of being for the unhoused, the mayor says it’s really being used as a “catch-all” that’s costing the city $5 billion to handle.

“This is coming from the guy who a minute ago was greeting those buses with hot coffee and handshakes,” Frank says, criticizing the politician and his motives. Chase says he needs Frank’s support to suspend the law, as it could be a controversial move.

Dylan Walsh as Mayor Chase, Tom Selleck as Frank Reagan in Blue Bloods Season 14 premiere (Peter Kramer/CBS)

“This is not a cop thing,” Frank declares. The mayor displays his priorities (politics over people) when asking Frank to “work up some numbers” to justify this policy decision. “You can talk about the crime wave,” Chase says, as Frank replies, “The crime wave isn’t caused by this influx.”

“I’ve seen you cook the book for your cops like you have four Michelin stars,” Chase adds when Frank continues to challenge him. In his office, Frank reveals to his inner circle, “I don’t disagree with the mayor’s position — not to leave this room.”

“The right to shelter is supposed to be a safety net,” he argues, but it’s now being overwhelmed by the increasing number of immigrants. “You overload the safety net, it becomes a liability, a hazard, and it defeats the whole purpose.”

Detective Abigail Baker (Abigail Hawk) challenges Frank’s perspective by covertly setting up a meeting with Eddie’s (Vanessa Ray) partner, Badillo (Ian Quinlan), a Latino officer whose parents were immigrants. The officer gave him some valuable insight about cops taking a political stance, saying it gives criminals the chance to paint themselves as “the opposition” party. Frank initially tells the mayor that he can’t publicly support this political move.

This experience makes Frank sympathize with how tough the mayor’s job may be — a struggle they realize they share. “It’s lonely at the top,” Chase says. Frank’s exhaustion by the job is then made clear when he admits he sometimes considers quitting his job as NYPD commissioner.

He doesn’t quit because “over time, I think this job became my definition, so if I quit or you fired me, I don’t know who I’d be.” Despite being a “pillar of the community,” Frank feels he’d be nothing without his job. This will undoubtedly be the main question on Frank’s mind throughout the final season.

Frank makes a change in favor of the mayor at the end of the episode, signaling his willingness to adapt and take political stances, albeit metered ones. He agrees to stand with Chase as asked, but made edits to the mayor’s speech so that he’d be comfortable endorsing the statements. Frank would rather “take the hits” from his cops than see their numbers cut in possible budget slashes.

Through this episode, Frank’s clearly found an ally in the mayor, but Chase will soon mention retirement to the commissioner. We’ll see how that goes.