See how a subtle disagreement can make all the difference? Despite its procedural prowess, 'Boston Blue' has consistently lagged in this area, and for the first time in Episode 5, "Suffer the Children," the vibe feels a bit more fractious in a pleasing way. Don't get me wrong; there's still plenty of back-slapping camaraderie by the end, but it feels a touch more earned. Danny and Sean don't decide to live together after all; they simply agree that one of them should move out. Lena doesn't solve Boston's most famous art heist case, and Sarah is right about her suspicions that the case of the week's seemingly well-meaning parents were protecting a ticking time bomb. In being right, she and Mae are forced to swallow a harsher outcome. Even the family dinner is a little testy. This stuff really does make a difference.
The theme of parents being responsible for their children, not always in the way that suits, is effectively woven through all of the episode's different subplots, giving the entire outing a bit more coherence. I'd argue it comes through best in Sarah's story, which is about trying to determine whether the parents of a teenage psycho were equally culpable for his violent crimes. But if you're looking for it, you can see it everywhere.
Mae isn't exactly in total opposition to Sarah here, but she does demand that Sarah prove her theory. It isn't enough to have a hypothesis. The parents of Kyle claimed to be responsible, to have given him lessons in gun safety and kept firearms under lock and key. Does that mean they knowingly armed a killer, or that they did everything they could to teach their child how to handle a firearm appropriately, within his legal rights? It's an interesting – and sadly relevant – question for the show to be asking.
I thought 'Boston Blue' Episode 5 was going to contrive some kind of easy answer here, but the parents were culpable. They knew their son was off his meds and that he shouldn't have been anywhere near a firearm. They fell into a pattern of denial to protect him, which was presumably well-intentioned initially but quickly became indefensible. They're charged with involuntary manslaughter alongside him. Suffer the children indeed.
Danny and Sean don't have anything quite this complicated going on, but they are having issues. They're both living together, for one thing, which Sean is really struggling with since Danny's nice gestures – like making his bed and wanting to talk about his day in detail – are making him feel crowded. He doesn't want to insist that his dad, who just uprooted his entire life to spend more time with him, move out of the apartment, but both of them know it would be for the best.
Sean's case, as he typically collaborates with Jonah, revolves around an elderly man with dementia seeking to reconnect with his son. This journey helps Sean process his own emotions, and Jonah's suggestion that Sean move in with him while leaving Danny to fend in their current apartment presents a potential solution. I anticipated Sean would recognize his dad's good intentions and decide to stay, indulging in endless Marvel movie marathons, but instead, he learns to be honest and communicate, ultimately deciding to go their separate ways. This resolution works beautifully.
In the A-plot, Danny and Lena tackle a case that may be linked to the notorious unsolved heist from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a real-life incident from 1990 where 13 priceless pieces of art were stolen. Periodically, individuals claim a connection to the heist, but they are often delusional. "Suffer the Children" imagines a more direct connection that brings Danny and Lena closer to the original perpetrator.
The case also has a family component, with the supposed witness's family having him killed to keep the secret buried and the paintings missing. Lena is motivated to solve this long-standing case not only because it's a local legend but also because she has a passion for art, which she didn't pursue due to an assumption that it was inherited from her biological father, who abandoned her. This feels like a more natural way for Lena to address her complex feelings about her family background. I also appreciate that "Boston Blue" Episode 5 doesn't offer an easy resolution by allowing her to solve the original heist. That slight pang of disappointment feels appropriate and is what the show needs to do more often to feel more grounded and engaging. But this, at least for me, felt like the first real step in the right direction.
