BLUE BLOODS: Hold Outs
Faith, prayer, justice, and biblical truth in a compelling police drama.
Should You Watch It?
“Hold Outs” is one of the better episodes of Blue Bloods in a couple of years. Its three storylines are compelling, fit together well, and include some nice twists. The episode also treats justice, service, protecting others, prayer, and doing what is right with unusual seriousness.
The Christian worldview is not incidental. Jesus, prayer, Bible study, and Christian family life receive positive treatment, while police work is presented as a call to protect life and change lives for the better. The episode does contain some foul language and references to immoral behavior, so younger viewers may need more parental guidance.
If your family includes older children and adults who can handle those concerns, this is a strong episode to watch together.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESOfficer Jamie Reagan and his partner investigate gang muggings targeting senior citizens in a neighborhood of apartment buildings.
Meanwhile, Prosecutor Erin Reagan takes another look at a carjacking and murder case after a hung jury. Their father, Police Commissioner Frank Reagan, faces questions about his future when the newly re-elected mayor has not yet asked him to remain police chief.
The three stories unfold together through questions of justice, duty, family, and faith.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this episode succeeds across the board. The writing, direction, editing, and acting are excellent, and the three separate stories are mixed together superbly.
The twists keep the episode engaging without overwhelming its moral center. The characters, including the minor ones, are well delineated. The good guys are heroic and appealing despite their flaws, and the performances are believable throughout.
The Worldview
“Hold Outs” presents a strong Christian and moral worldview in a Catholic context. It exalts justice, service to others, protecting life, changing lives for the better, paying good deeds forward, and doing the right thing even when duty becomes personally difficult.
The episode treats prayer and Scripture as meaningful sources of wisdom. A cardinal serves as a spiritual advisor, and biblical passages become a way to seek an answer to a problem at work. Christian faith is also woven into family life, including prayer and a celebration of new life.
The story presents American police and police work positively, emphasizing their responsibility to protect and serve. It also acknowledges that heroic characters can have flaws without making those flaws the final word about them.
The episode’s central vision of justice and faithful service aligns with Scripture’s call to “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Its confidence that moral choices matter is one of its strongest qualities.
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Very strong Christian, moral worldview in a Catholic context about depending on a cardinal as a spiritual advisor, who gives the lead hero of a family of heroes passages from Scripture to study regarding a problem at work involving the mayor, with an emphasis on doing the right thing, seeking justice, and protecting and serving other people, with a very strong Pro-American view of police and police work, including positive comments about protecting life, changing lives and paying good deeds forward, plus a politically correct line about Sarah Palin not being able to answer foreign policy questions very well; 10 obscenities (mostly “d” and “h” words) and three light profanities, including a comment using “Lord knows” in a light comment that can also be taken in a positive manner; light violence includes a foot chase, gang members pull knives on senior citizens, but police are there in two instances, a car is burning as a result of arson, talk about a murder during a supposed carjacking, talk about the murdered body of a female witness having been found; no depicted sex, but an adulterous affair is revealed during the investigation of two murders, a missing prostitute is being sought as a crime witness, and a widow passionately kisses her apparent lover; no nudity; no alcohol; no smoking or drugs; and, tension between two attorneys in the District Attorney’s office, and police chief is upset about being disrespected by the mayor who’s been re-elected but has yet to come to the chief to offer him to stay on the job.
Talk About It
Four questions for the couch, the commute, or the couple bingeing it together.
What does it mean for police officers to protect life and change lives for the better? How can you serve and protect people in your own community?
Mark 10:45 · Philippians 2:3–4When someone faces a difficult decision at work, how can prayer and Scripture help?
James 1:5 · Psalm 119:105Why does justice require looking carefully at evidence rather than accepting the first explanation?
Deuteronomy 19:15 · Proverbs 18:13What does it look like to do the right thing when you feel disrespected or overlooked?
Romans 12:17–21 · Colossians 3:23–24The Final Word
“Hold Outs” is a well-made, morally serious episode that treats Christian faith, prayer, justice, and police service positively. Its language and references to immoral behavior call for parental discernment, but older children and adults have good reason to watch. WORTH WATCHING — OLDER CHILDREN AND ADULTS.
