08×13 Erasing History

When Henry is the key witness on Danny and Baez’s case, his meddling pushes Danny’s buttons until he leads them to valuable information. Also, Nicky shocks her family by siding with her activist friend, Chrissie (Naian González Norvind), who defaced the NYPD flag at One Police Plaza, and Jamie and Eddie learn a parole officer is taking advantage of his power over parolees, on BLUE BLOODS

CBS Press Release

Initial Thoughts

These are my thoughts on the thirteenth episode of season 8. A lot of it is my interpretation of what is not said and may exist purely in my imagination. If you agree or disagree, please let me know, as I’d still love to hear from you regardless. I just ask that you’re polite. It’d be great to debate ideas and see what thought-provoking theories emerge.

This is an episode I had been thinking about revisiting ever since Past Tense aired. Voorhees’ eventual return in Fallen Heroes meant it finally reached the top of the list. It’s strange to realise how few of these older episodes I’ve written about recently, the limited downtime between new episodes was one of the positives of season 11’s schedule. This episode occupies a unique space; one of the final episodes before season 8 launched into the build-up to Jamie and Eddie getting together. The story is quite unusual as the bad guy is part of the law enforcement community, and the victims are serving a sentence. There’s a lot of fun between Jamie and Eddie, especially with the brief contrast of the distinct differences in their backgrounds.

Scene by Scene Breakdown

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to link to the scenes on YouTube as family dinner is the only clip currently available. So the best option is to dig out the DVDs or find somewhere it can be streamed.

Responding to a Call

The scene opens with Eddie and Jamie pulling into a street with the siren on. What’s unusual is Eddie is getting out of the driver’s seat; Eddie’s so proud of her driving skills. We’re left with so many questions after their initial comments especially with Eddie saying, “if you let me drive more often” and Jamie’s response that it’s unlikely. No explanation is given for why Jamie has rescinded driving duties: so how did Eddie get to grab the wheel this time? Did they have a bet that Jamie lost? Was it because Eddie kept making comments about how she got to drive while partnered with Welch? This must be the first time since Unwritten Rules that Eddie has avoided being the passenger with Jamie. I’m not looking for a serious answer, but it is fun to speculate.

As they approach their suspect, there’s some fun interplay between Jamie and Eddie. Eddie states she’s scared of heights so isn’t willing to chase up the fire escape, but Jamie’s practical response of dislodging the ladder means a chase is unnecessary. The thing that seems odd about this is that they never call out to their suspect, they approached the area with sirens on, so it’s clear he knows they’re there, but shouldn’t they have at least asked him to stop? Even if it’s seemingly suspicious behaviour rather than someone approaching their own front door. At least the fall isn’t too bad, and he’s able to start explaining his actions. Although claiming someone is “my everything” could be considered either romantic or stalkerish, so at this point it’s not clear what the situation is.

She’s My Everything

This scene works so well to establish how much Gabe and Liza care about each other. In addition to demonstrating their affection, it also starts to spell out the treatment Gabe has received from Voorhees. With the little that’s said, it still sounds like Voorhees is trying to set Gabe up to fail.

Meeting Voorhees

Jamie believes Gabe, but Eddie remains sceptical about what they’ve been told. This simple conversation is used to highlight the differences between the two characters. It all comes down to their family backgrounds; Eddie suggests that Jamie is more willing to believe because he didn’t have an untrustworthy father (the spectre of Armin again). Eddie has an idealised view of Jamie’s childhood: which he then clarifies by saying they had savings accounts rather have piggy banks.

Voorhees soon arrives at the precinct and seems creepy right from the start. Everything about his tone and manner suggests he’s looking for a way to manipulate the situation, his distasteful desire to find Gabe guilty. Although he’s showing some deference to Jamie and Eddie’s position, it feels offhanded.

Saunas & Speed

It starts with a typical RMP conversation with Eddie sharing the details of her gym sauna horror story, delivered in a way to ensure she grosses Jamie out. However, Jamie’s reaction is cut off when he gets a call from Gabe. Their chance to speak to Gabe provides Eddie with an excuse to try and set a new speed record, causing Jamie to say that her driving makes him car sick. This again raises the question of how is it that Eddie managed to take over driver duties? (Eddie’s not so excited about driving anymore, probably because it’s no longer such a rarity)

Digging Deeper

We don’t know if Eddie set a new speed record in their trip to the park, but they only have a few minutes for Gabe to explain the crimes he’s being forced to commit before Voorhees turns up.

Post-Dinner Advice

Is it wrong to suspect that Jamie’s only hung around long enough to help with clear up so he can have this conversation with Erin? Jamie pulls his regular trick of talking Erin into helping him investigate what Voorhees is doing by getting him the details of a Corrections Officer she knows. How many times has Jamie pulled this trick on Erin? In addition to this, there’s also season 8’s Heavy is the Head and season 7’s Genetics. Can’t help but think it’s moments like this that caused Erin’s reaction in In Too Deep; she was finally getting payback.

Another Victim

Erin obviously gave in because Jamie has spoken to a correctional officer and found another potential victim. Unfortunately, Voorhees is moving fast, so Jamie and Eddie have to rely on the father to give them details of what Voorhees has been up to that morning. This also explains how Voorhees is manipulating the situation by using false evidence to pick up Gabe.

Confronting Voorhees

Voorhees’ story ends with the confrontation, and even with his subsequent appearances, his actions have never been explained. A certain amount of his behaviour could be ascribed to a power trip as he simply enjoyed having so much control over the lives of his parolees. However, when Jamie and Eddie encounter him, the situation appears to be escalating, and you have to wonder why he was sending his parolees into prison to carry out an attack. Was this a result of Voorhees feeling he had another way to make the money he felt was his due? It looks like he was almost offering to arrange hits on request.

Jamie’s final conversation with Gabe shows he’s a romantic at heart. Jamie stepped in because of the love Gabe and Liza had for each other.

Final Thoughts

One of the unique moments of fun in this episode is Eddie having a great time in the driving seat. It’s such a rarity that Jamie is a passenger while Eddie is driving; the only other occasions that come to mind were in Unwritten Rules and Ripple Effect. In Drawing Dead, Jamie compared Eddie’s driving to his brother’s when he was 14; we’ll assume he meant Danny rather than Joe. In contrast, Eddie has suggested Jamie drives like her grandmother; these small comments all add to demonstrate the differences between the characters.

As noted at the beginning, there’s a playfulness in Jamie and Eddie’s interactions, and of course, any time Eddie mentions Sunday dinner takes on a whole new meaning now. Through these conversations and their different driving styles, we’re reminded of their contrasting personalities and how they complement each other.

Revisiting this episode after Fallen Heroes highlights how far Voorhees rehabilitation has come. It’s almost hard to believe it’s the same character. In this episode, Voorhees was highly manipulative as he took advantage of the control he had. By Fallen Heroes, he was struggling to maintain an income; however, being reminded of the type of person he was here, did the loss of authority drive that change. Is there the risk that he will revert to old habits if the opportunity arises? Especially when you consider the type of crime he was attempting to engineer when he arranged for Gabe and Leo to be sent to Riker’s. In light of that behaviour, it becomes more shocking that Erin’s office abandoned pursuing charges even if the witnesses were serving the terms of their sentence.