Contains spoilers for “Boston Blue” Season 1, Episode 1 — “Faith and Family”
Don’t worry, “Blue Bloods” fans — “Boston Blue” won’t leave you behind as it tries to forge its own identity. There were plenty of references to the drama’s parent program sprinkled throughout the first episode. Whether it was Erin Reagan (Bridget Moynahan) showing up to support her brother through a huge family crisis, the revelation that Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) and Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez) are definitely an item now, or the whole Silver clan gathering for a dinner that included prayer, casework, and fond memories, “Faith and Family” tried its best to make “Blue Bloods” fans feel like they’re still in Brooklyn. Even the opening credits echo the ones from the mothership show.
First things first: Daez fans, your day has definitely arrived. The first time we see Danny, he’s with Maria in his bedroom, and both of them are in a state of semi-dress. Their dialogue clearly indicates that they’re lovers now. Unfortunately, the canoodling ends here, as Danny learns that Sean (Mika Amonsen) has been injured in a fire and flees to Boston.
Maria isn’t the only “Blue Bloods” character who appears or gets mentioned in “Faith and Family.” Danny calls his father, Frank (Tom Selleck), to update him on Sean’s condition. While the audience never hears the Reagan paterfamilias, Danny doesn’t hesitate to use his dad’s reputation to his benefit. He mentions to Lena (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her cop compatriots that Frank and the rest of his family are notorious in New York — and that Danny himself is known for being able to get the job done. He also calls his badge a “shield,” nodding toward the danger he has been through during his career and the Reagan clan’s position as protectors of New York. Those are just some of the ways in which “Boston Blue” tips its hat to its predecessor.
Boston Blue and Blue Bloods will continue to be linked according to Donnie Wahlberg
The Silver clan’s resemblance to the Reagans doesn’t end with their unifying family dinners — at the conclusion of “Faith and Family,” the Silvers attend Sunday service at the Baptist church of their family patriarch, Reverend Edwin Peters (Ernie Hudson). Lena, her siblings, and her mother are apparently regular attendees. This, plus the Jewish prayer the family recites over their shared meal with Danny and Erin, tells us that the Silvers are just as religious as the churchgoing Reagans were on “Blue Bloods,” but they’re a proud interfaith clan that celebrates multiple belief systems. In short: the many similarities which lie between the Silvers and the Reagans hint that the spin-off and its mothership show will be intermarried — and Donnie Wahlberg has admitted that he hopes to keep the two shows connected.
During a phone call he made to the “Billy & Lisa in the Morning” show, Wahlberg noted that it was important for him to keep a strong link between “Blue Bloods” and “Boston Blue” as the two shows strive to create their own individual but interlinked experiences. “The family and Tom Selleck and the entire cast were you know, my friends, and we’re very close and so this is a new world,” the actor said, adding that the new show is “going to stay connected with the old characters, and they’ll be popping up from time to time.” Who else will appear to make friends with the Silvers and get a taste of life in Boston? Watch “Boston Blue” to find out.