Blue Bloods (TV Series) Critical Condition (2011) User Reviews

Near and dear to the Reagans

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 22 June 2017]

Three bank robbers wearing masks and who look like they know what they are doing hold up a bank. But those things you never count on always occur. A civilian who was a diamond dealer had a licensed weapon and he shoots one. Another helps the wounded guy out of the bank and the third is left in the bank with two hostages.

Donnie Wahlberg and Jennifer Esposito catch the case. It turns out the one left in the bank is near and dear to the Reagan family especially the older ones Tom Selleck and Len Cariou.

I won't say any more, but there are plot elements in this one that are from one of my favorite noir films Kansas City Confidential.

Watch and see what I mean.

I can see a winner coming from a mile off!

[akicork · 9/10 · 22 August 2023]

Another triumph for the US "Healthcare System"! A flawed cop, but otherwise OK human being, is driven to bank robbery in order to meet the medical bills he will receive in order to keep his daughter alive. What sort of a third-world country is this? No, in some third-world countries she would get the care she needed. The US is driven below the level of a third-world country by the stranglehold of the insurance industry and Big Pharma. One of the greatest regrets of my life is that in 1961 my father was asked to use his experience in the UK NHS to set up a similar system for an American state: I think it was Illinois, where he'd done some work. I remember it began with "I", and Illinois certainly had the financial clout to pull off such an introduction. But he turned the invitation down and went to work in the UK for the WHO instead because he didn't want to be parted from us for the time the project would have taken. Had he accepted, that project could have been the seed that would grow into a real healthcare system for the USA today. So, I feel guilty, sixty years on: hey, that's my problem! As to the episode itself, I find myself in general agreement with edwagreen and bkoganbing, but entirely out of agreement with the reviewer who reacts so strongly to Donnie Wahlberg's character. We may not like him but he has to be there - he is a formulaic character who has to be there, at least until the series is established. We see Elliot Stabler in the Law & Order franchise, Hank Voight in the One Chicago franchise. Scene chewing Jack Nicholson replacements have to be there. The question is, how do the scriptwriters handle them? We will see.

Bluebloods ****

[edwagreen · 8 October 2011]

This episode depicts what the cops'families go through and is even better, when it shows that the human element is involved. Police are human too and will do just about anything when their families are involved.

The hostage situation in the bank may have been predictable, and just so convenient that the diamond merchant, a guy wearing a Yarmulka, was licensed to use a gun and used it to kill one of the perpetrators. How convenient that the teller was a nursing school dropout and was able to comfort our religious victim.

The story then focuses in on the remaining bandit in the bank. An ex-cop whose daughter needs a life-saving heart transplant and as a result, he works with the other 2 guys to rob the bank.

Politics is never overlooked. When Danny goes into the bank to try to resolve the situation, the press clamors that his father, the commissioner, has done this for political gain. Does political machinations ever stop?

Yet, it is Danny's wife who shows great emotion when she confronts her cowboy-like husband after the hostage drama ends, and her discussion with her sister-in-law about the lives of a cop's family.

WAHLBERG HURTS ANOTHER GOOD EPISODE

[dranthonykstevens · 6/10 · 22 April 2021]

This episode is a good example of how Wahlberg playing Danny keeps hurting a very good and enjoyable series. He is a screen stealer and used his influence to cause Jennifer Esposito to leave the series because he had to constant cut her off. We all really enjoyed her. In this episode, his Hollywood power was used to have his character override a hostage negotiator which was so stupid. He really hurts a good series. Who wants to watch an extremely arrogant person on the screen. His control must be gigantic.