Boston Blue premiere review: Blue Bloods spinoff struggles

SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Boston Blue Season 1, Episode 1.

When Boston Blue was announced, Blue Bloods fans were honestly confused as to why CBS ended Blue Bloods and then ordered a spinoff that seemed to be the exact opposite. Why would Danny Reagan leave New York? After watching the Boston Blue premiere, viewers technically have answers, but there’s still a lot to be confused about, too.

Boston Blue is essentially Blue Bloods repeating itself with a different family in a different city — which sets up a catch-22. On its merits, it would have made much more sense to market this as a standalone show. The Reagan connection isn’t great; Sean Reagan (now played by Mika Amonsen) is critically injured so that his father Danny has a reason to travel to, and stay in, Boston. Bridget Moynahan makes a guest appearance as Erin Reagan, and Frank Reagan is mentioned but not seen. But it never stops feeling like the Reagans are there just to get people interested in the new series. This show is really about the Silver family, and they’re interesting on their own.

The new characters are very well-cast. It’s fun to see Sonequa Martin-Green in a straightforward procedural role after her years doing genre work on Star Trek: Discovery and The Walking Dead. Anyone…