When it comes to the family meals on “Blue Bloods,” it’s tough being an outsider. When Eddie Janko (Vanessa Ray) joins the weekly Reagan family tradition, they razz her at first, making sure she can handle the family’s signature tough love. In Season 12, Anthony Abetemarco (Steve Schirripa) makes his dinner scene debut, and the Reagans are quick to point out the ground rules.
The dinner table can be a challenging rite of passage, and for Jack Boyle (Peter Hermann), his return to the Reagan household is downright hostile, albeit with some humor to cut the tension. His inclusion, however awkward it may be, is why “Happy Endings” is the best dinner scene of “Blue Bloods” Season 11.
As Erin’s (Bridget Moynihan) ex-husband, Jack is used to a chilly reception from the rest of the Reagan family. His family dinner invite is no exception, with Frank (Tom Selleck) warning his ex-son-in-law to be on his best behavior. Jack arrives with a bottle of whiskey and a pecan pie in tow, but even that good gesture is quickly undermined. “I have a feeling we’ll need some of that tonight,” Pop (Len Cariou) says of the Scotch before taking a beat. “After you leave.” As for the pie, Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) doesn’t beat around the bush: “I see you’re still sucking up, Jack.”
The meal is torture for Erin, too
There’s another layer of humor in “Happy Endings” that’s evident whenever the camera pans over to Erin. The meal is also torture for her, especially when she admits that she and Jack spent the weekend together in Pennsylvania. She can barely look up — for fear of intercepting her family’s judgmental glares.
Eddie, meanwhile, is giddy that she’s not the only newcomer — and that someone else is the subject of the Reagans’ razzing. It helps that Erin, one of her tormentors, has become the tormentee. Jack offers his condolences to Eddie as the only other non-Reagan, to which Danny replies, “We actually like her, Jack. Big difference.” Jamie (Will Estes) pipes in, “I think maybe he likes being tortured.”
The Season 11 scene is another example of the Reagans’ hatred for Jack coming to the fore — behavior they establish when Jack makes his first “Blue Bloods” appearance in Season 3. Their ire isn’t unjustified; he is largely absent during Nicky’s (Sami Gayle) upbringing. Still, it’s clear he is trying to become a better person in later seasons, and some “Blue Bloods” fans can’t stand the Reagans’ treatment of Jack.
In the dinner scene, Frank still has a bone to pick with his former son-in-law, but he at least shows more flexibility than his family members. In an act of goodwill, he asks Jack to say grace, and he dutifully accepts.
