Summary
Boston Blue continues to work as a procedural in Episode 4, but it’s extremely lightweight as a drama, sorely lacking meaningful conflict.
It’s a good job Boston Blue is a decent procedural, because if it weren’t for the cases of the week, it’d be the dullest, most conflict-averse show airing right now. In Episode 4, “Rites of Passage”, as in basically all of the others, it’s only the twisty details of the cases – a murder, a hostage situation, a legal conundrum – that compel. Everything else, including the happy-clappy family dinners and their distractingly agreeable approach to religious tradition, and the key dynamics between main characters, is extremely tired. Will anybody in this show ever properly fall out about anything?
The event looming over “Rites of Passage” is Ben Silver’s yahrzeit, the anniversary of a loved one’s death in the Jewish calendar. This, naturally, brings all of the Silver clan together and has them feeling very introspective. You might recall from the premiere that Ben was Mae’s husband, a circuit judge who was murdered on the courthouse steps. All of the family has very fond memories of him, since all of the Silvers were cartoonishly reasonable and upstanding, but Lena is having a bit of a religious crisis all the same.
I say “crisis” – it’s not, really. It’s mostly just an excuse for Lena to share some more of her backstory with Danny and for them to swap anecdotes about their personal relationships with their faith. Lena didn’t convert when she was young, and only really fully embraced Judaism after Ben’s death. But she hasn’t officially converted out of respect for her grandfather being a Baptist pastor, but I’m not sure how that works since he’s at the yahrzeit anyway, and the entire rest of the family is Jewish, so he’s obviously not that concerned.
Mae’s subplot this week is designed to test some of these ideas. She’s confronted outside the courthouse by a woman named Joanna, who claimed her son, Elijah, was unfairly sentenced to ten years in prison for accidentally injuring someone in a bar fight that he didn’t start. Mae quickly discovers that Ben was the judge who sentenced him, and the case never crossed her desk since it was assumed – obviously incorrectly – that she’d simply support her husband’s decision. If you’ve seen the previous episodes of Boston Blue, you already know where this is going.
Mae reversing her late husband’s decision with support from her father is supposed to be a big deal, but it doesn’t come across as one. Ben was clearly wrong in the sentencing, Mae corrects his decision, everyone’s very understanding, and there we go. The acknowledgement that the justice system is ostensibly built around rehabilitation and not indefinite incarceration is nice – and always relevant – but it’s so predictable in its broad strokes that it’s difficult to buy in.
I do like the case that Danny and Lena are working on in Boston Blue Episode 4, and how it intersects with the bank robbery that Sarah is investigating, but this is where I feel the show excels in general, because it’s just flat-out good at these procedural elements and all their attendant interviews, deductions, and action sequences. Sean and Jonah are also roped into this, since a hit and run they’re looking into crosses paths with the main case. There’s still a bit of friction between Danny and Lena and their respective son and brother, because the younger kids want to prove a point and show themselves to be grown-up cops, but they also have to respect the chain of command and proper procedure.
Naturally, this isn’t anything that a conversation can’t fix. And I find myself a bit resistant to criticising the show in this regard since so many stories feel hard to believe precisely because none of their characters communicate properly. Boston Blue is leaning too far the other way, though, making all the interpersonal drama feel much too simple and lightweight. I’m still holding out for some more meaningful conflict as we go, but at this point, it isn’t looking especially likely.
RELATED:
