Summary
Boston Blue doubles down on family drama in “L’Dor Vador”, and it provides some well-handled and intriguing personal dilemmas that are much more interesting than the case of the week, coupled with a really good performance from Sonequa Martin-Green.
Boston Blue is big on family. Always has been. With most of the Reagans having been left behind in Blue Bloods, a lot of the focus has shifted to the Silver clan, and results have been decidedly mixed in that regard. Episode 17 really excels in the family drama arena, though, entangling a couple of personal subplots to raise some pretty big questions and dilemmas that clearly aren’t going to be smoothed over within a single episode like conflicts in this show typically are. “L’Dor Vador” also features no Sean and Jonah at all, which ends up being a plus; like the previous episode, trimming out mandatory subplots means giving the main storylines appropriate attention.
Edwin’s heart surgery ends up being the catalysing incident. The surgery is fairly routine and plays out that way, but he wants Mae to open up to Lena just in case, and she agrees, which means telling her who her biological father really is. His name is Chris Williams, and far from simply being an absentee, he was incarcerated for an armed robbery. Lena, now a law(wo)man like the rest of her family, is the scion of a criminal.
This is a twofold blow for Lena, who has to deal with being the progeny of a bad guy but also the reality that Mae kept her parentage secret for decades. Chris seems to have turned his life around, having become a local Police Chief, but even that’s hard for Lena to reconcile, and thus, she tries to track him down.
The recurring theme of “L’Dor Vador” is Lena consistently discovering information about her father that doesn’t jive with the idea of a criminal mastermind that she has built up in her head. Detective Reed, one of the local cops she meets while poking around, thinks he’s solid. He has a stand-up career; he has risen to a position of real influence and authority. It’s hard for Lena to understand and process, and Sonequa Martin-Green does a really good job of wearing that. There’s a moment when she accompanies Reed on a ride-along and almost dies, and her hysterical reaction is a really fine moment of acting.
Ultimately, Lena decides she doesn’t need to know Chris and swerves a planned meeting with him. But at the same time, we get to meet Chris, who goes to visit Mae. And it quickly becomes obvious that Mae has been keeping more from Lena than she initially realised, including that Chris has a daughter, meaning that Lena has a sister she didn’t know about. Unfortunately for Mae, Lena discovers this herself when Detective Reed introduces her to his wife… the Chief’s daughter.
When Lena sits with the rest of the family around Edwin’s bedside, she and Mae share a look that says very strongly that this isn’t over. I’m all for it.
Meanwhile in Boston Blue Episode 17, Erin is in town to help Danny hunt down a deranged serial killer named Abraham Nemes. This is a bit forced, like when Baez magically showed up out of nowhere, and the whole thing is oddly unengaging relative to what you’d expect. There’s a semi-fun cat-and-mouse element to the whole thing that is okay, and it’s obviously nice to see Danny and Erin together, but it’s surprising how much less interesting this is than the Silver family drama.
The C-plot, if you want to call it that, finds Phoebe – that’s Sarah’s boyfriend’s daughter, if you’re keeping track; she’s not in the show much – getting some nepo baby privileges in the police academy. This initially seems like a bit of a go-nowhere side story, but later, Phoebe collars a passing criminal in the station, getting injured in the process, and the hospital lets her mother know. Now, a nice bit of work experience has turned into a custody battle, with Phoebe’s mother trying to take her away to Japan. That’s another fight on the horizon, one which has deeply personal implications once again.
It took most of the season, granted, but it really does feel like Boston Blue is becoming proper procedural appointment viewing. Better late than never.
