12×08 Reality Check

Danny partners with Anthony to solve a double homicide when Anthony’s shady cousin, Joey (Anthony DeSando), proves to have gang ties to the crime. Also, the boundary between Eddie and Jamie’s work and personal relationship is strained when Eddie and her new partner, Badillo (Ian Quinlan), ask Jamie to reassign them to different partners, and Erin questions the sacrifices she’s made for her career when she allows her law school friend to dig into her personal life to prepare for a potential run for district attorney, on the CBS Original series BLUE BLOODS

CBS Press Release

Initial Thoughts

These are my thoughts on the eighth episode of season twelve. 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.

After Be Smart or Be Dead, I’d speculated that Badillo might be dealing with the loss of a past partner; and be the reason for him getting rid of partners as quickly as possible. I hadn’t expected that when that history was revealed, it would touch on the impact of Vinny’s death on Jamie. This made it a more personal story for Jamie and Eddie, even if it was very work-focused. It definitely left me wanting more.

Scene by Scene Breakdown

Badillo’s Non-request

Badillo doesn’t put much effort into giving a reason for why he thinks he should get a new partner. Eddie being too bubbly isn’t a valid justification. He won’t admit that he wants a new partner, which Jamie practically challenges him to do. Instead, Badillo quickly switches to the personal, suggesting that Eddie has been complaining about him at home. Was he hoping that he’d embarrass Jamie into approving the change?

Part of Badillo’s coping mechanism seems to be that he can’t be the one who requests the change. Have to think that Jamie had noticed that, and it’s why he turned the question around on Badillo. Badillo won’t agree and unsubtly makes it about Eddie again. It’s like he wants to avoid admitting it’s his weakness; if he can force someone else to request it, then he isn’t to blame.

Eddie’s Request

Eddie was clearly frustrated, but apart from saying that Badillo is annoying, she had no specific reason to request the change. It’s likely to be a sign of how tired Eddie is of the situation as she repeatedly addresses “Jamie” and only switches to calling him sergeant once he’s closed down the request.

Although it’s a very informal conversation, it’s a clear demonstration of how wrong Badillo is about how Eddie has been handling this. Based on their discussion, they weren’t talking about this at home: the lines may be blurred, but they keep a distinction between what happens at work versus what happens at home.

Dangerous Impatience

Badillo’s need to rush in and deal with the situation is likely to be why he’s ended up with so many commendations. It can be a fine line between recklessness and heroic actions. All his usual tricks had failed, so he probably felt the stress of being stuck with his current partner.

In Be Smart or Be Dead, Badillo appeared to have a basic level of trust in Eddie when they responded to that incident. Here, he disregards Eddie completely. Admittedly what he does in the store isn’t that different to what Danny did in My Brothers Keeper, but it potentially placed Eddie in danger as there was no other backup.

Breaking Point

This shouted conversation makes Jamie realise the issue has gone beyond Eddie and Badillo simply annoying each other.

Badillo acts like Jamie turned up only because it involves Eddie – they’re shouting at each other just two steps from Jamie’s office area. It’s a reasonable assumption that Jamie would check what’s happening to whoever was involved. Although, the concern on Jamie’s face would be reserved for Eddie.

Helping to Heal

Knowing that Eddie felt unsafe, Jamie realised he had to reveal more. However, Jamie doesn’t simply explain Badillo’s situation but also says so much about how the loss of Vinny continues to affect him. There shouldn’t have been a need to warn Eddie; Badillo has apparently been safely working with PTSD for five years. Something must have changed unless his previous bosses turned a blind eye to his issues and didn’t warn Jamie. The alternative is that Badillo was only coping by continuously changing his partners, so the cracks have started to show.

There’s clearly at least one difference between Jamie and Badillo, Eddie entered Jamie’s life immediately after Vinny’s death, but Badillo’s grief was left unaddressed for five years. His way of dealing with his partner’s death has now become an ingrained habit. We don’t know anything about Badillo’s background. Jamie had understanding support from the family in the aftermath of Vinny’s death, but there’s no way of knowing whether Badillo had anything like that.

Reagan Family Dinner

Erin spent some time pointing out how insular the family is, as you can only get an invite to family dinner if you’re a family member or work partner. (But would Frank really refer to Paula as Joe Hill’s mom? Unless it was done to reinforce the distance between Joe and the family). 

With what we’ve seen in the promo for Firewall, the focus on Henry’s bridge club during this dinner feels like it will be in sharp contrast to the next episode. As Henry possibly goes from flying high with friendly flirtations to questioning his personal capabilities.

A New Understanding

Eddie takes the blunt approach and revealing that she knows about Badillo’s past initially looks like it will prompt anger from him. However, telling him about her and Jamie’s history means she immediately builds a bridge with Badillo of shared experience and understanding. To emphasise the similarities of their situations, they overstate Jamie’s reaction to Eddie becoming his partner as he never seemed to want to get rid of her. They joke about how much time Eddie spent preparing her speech, but what she says really seems to demonstrate how she fits into the family, and it’s easy to imagine Jamie and Frank saying the same thing.

As Badillo’s lived this way for five years, it won’t be an instantaneous fix (it remains to be seen whether this is touched on in future episodes). This leaves the minor question of whether Badillo was transferred to the 2-9 because they’d run out of people to partner with him in East New York?

Final Thoughts

It was a meaningful story for Jamie and Eddie, and it might be greedy, but it felt that it could have benefitted from an extra scene between them, especially after Jamie expressed how Eddie had saved him from turning into someone like Badillo. This is a particularly compelling theme to follow as the loss of a partner has to be such a significant event in the life of a cop, and it hasn’t had much time given to it. Following Vinny’s death, the focus was mainly on Frank and Danny, with only a couple of moments given over to how it might be affecting Jamie. While we wouldn’t want scenes drowning in grief, there is a lot to think about with this, and so far, it’s only briefly been touched on. Especially when the need to avoid talking about the loss of a partner and not be treated differently can cause such a long-term problem.

We gained further insight into Jamie; in addition to talking about how he still thinks of Vinny, he again demonstrated why he’s a good boss. Whoever had been Badillo’s boss for the previous five years has seriously let him down. Although based on what happened with Baker’s husband in True Blue, that seems to be a common problem within the NYPD. Jamie may keep things to himself, but his empathy means he can understand what’s needed. With the number of commendations Badillo has received, it appears that his former bosses have enabled his behaviour rather than attempting to address it. 

With the loss of a partner being such a sensitive subject, it’s played out in a restrained way. As the audience, our knowledge of Jamie and Eddie’s history heightened the impact of what’s said. When I wrote about Unwritten Rules, I commented on how you can feel the weight of the loss of Vinny even though it was never mentioned. It’s a sign of something exceptional that a season 12 story can add extra context to a season 4 episode. I’m not sure what we’ll see between Jamie and Eddie during the next couple of episodes; hopefully, the new year will continue to show off different aspects of their relationship.