“Blue Bloods” continues to perform well for CBS in its Friday night time slot after more than a decade on the air. The police procedural has proven to be a powerful and long-lasting force on network television.
“Blue Bloods” fans are a devoted bunch, as evidenced by the ratings. Though “Blue Bloods” hasn’t recently reached the 14.07 million average viewers (via Deadline) that it did in Season 7, the show still manages to draw a consistent 6 million viewers in the middle of Season 12 (via TV Series Finale).
However, no show is perfect, and this is especially true for any series with nearly 250 episodes (according to IMDb). Just as “Lost” has “Exposé,” “Stranger Things” has “The Lost Sister,” and “Dexter” has “Remember the Monsters?.”
“Blue Bloods” has a few episodes that fans dislike. Consider the three lowest-rated episodes of “Blue Bloods.”
S5. E3 Bridges Are Being Burned
According to IMDb, “Blue Bloods” Season 5, Episode 3 is the series’ lowest-rated episode. The episode, titled “Burning Bridges,” received 6.7 stars out of 10, well below the series average of 7.6 stars. According to Rotten Tomatoes, “when an officer is outed and his partner refuses to ride with him, Danny and Baez are asked to work with new partners temporarily; Eddie and James try to steal a collar from a pompous detective; Frank speaks out about equality on the force.”
So, which part of the episode did IMDb reviewers find particularly troubling? In a review titled “Weak and inconsistent plot,” IMDb writer Phil-58620 detailed his issues with two interconnected plots. According to Phil-58620, “this episode attempts to deal with homosexual prejudice in the police force and brings in Catholicism only to insult both institutions.” Phil-58620 admitted that he found the plot intriguing at first, but called the episode “a missed opportunity to show growth between the officers and convey how the Reagans draw strength and clarity from their religion as they have in previous episodes.”
A number of other negative reviews mentioned the episode’s plot being timely. However, one reviewer named Edwagreen chose to stand out from the crowd and gave the episode 10 out of 10 stars, calling it “outstanding.”
Legacy
The second-worst-reviewed episode of “Blue Bloods” is Season 8, Episode 15, titled “Legacy,” and it comes in second place to “Burn ing Bridges.” The episode has a 6.8 out of 10 star rating on IMDb. The narrative of New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) received the majority of the attention in the IMDb reviews. In the first few minutes of the show, a police officer who appeared in a popular video is charged with racial profiling. After meeting with the officer and talking to his advisors, Frank decides to fire her from her position. Frank plainly dislikes making this tough choice, but he ultimately sticks with it.
However, a number of IMDb reviewers were critical of Frank’s choice. Sbc17644 gave the episode one out of ten stars in a review titled “Thumbs down,” saying, “Frank was so out of character.” He has always defended his cops. This episode is completely unbelievable. What became of the writing? If this continues, you will have lost me as a viewer. Get real and leave your agenda at the door.”
Jrogers-02938, who asked, “What happened to Police Chief Frank Reagan?” posted the most positive IMDb review. “These writers have changed the character Frank Reagan from a proud confident leader who always backed his officers,” the writer continued, later adding, “In this episode, we see for the first time a seemingly worn down Frank Reagan.” He gives in to political correctness and throws a good officer of the law under the bus.”
Triumph Over Trauma
Whoopi Goldberg has appeared in three episodes of “Blue Bloods,” albeit some people might not recall it. The most recent appearance of the “Sister Act” actress occurred in Episode 1 of Season 11. With only 6.9 out of 10 ratings on IMDb, “Triumph Over Trauma” is the third-lowest rated episode of the entire series. Why do viewers find this episode of “Blue Bloods” so upsetting, then?
Jduyrhfngj, an IMDb user, left a review on the site that stated their opinion in the title alone. Jduyrhfngj stated in a review titled “Deserves a zero rating,” “It is simply the worst of the entire series.” Ignoring the Whoopi segments, I would have given this a 5 because the Danny and Baez segments were simply incredible.” Jduyrhfngj later stated that, while they disliked the episode for a variety of reasons, they were particularly triggered by Goldberg’s role.
Jduyrhfngj concluded the review with a direct message to the show’s creators: “To the show runner [sic] and writers: we, the real fans, hate her and don’t want her back.” While Jduyrhfngj was the most direct, they were far from the only IMDb user to express dissatisfaction with Goldberg’s appearance. Another user titled a review “Whoops” and gave the episode 5 out of 10 stars.
While none of these three episodes appear to have been particularly well received by fans, the most recent episode of “Blue Bloods” suggests that the show is still doing well. Season 12, Episode 7, which aired on November 19, currently has an average rating of 7.7 on IMDb.