The police drama has had plenty of controversial characters.
Blue Bloods is definitely having a moment. The show is in the midst of its alleged final season, and doing a bit of a victory lap by bringing back characters we haven’t seen in years. It really feels like the showrunners and writers are taking time to make sure every thread is resolved.
Bringing back old characters did make us reflect on the different people who have passed through the show, however, and which ones irked us the most. There have been lots of unlikeable people that have been featured throughout the police drama, but these eight take the cake for us.
8. Maggie Gibson
Maggie Gibson (Callie Thorne) was a recurring presence on Blue Bloods between 2019 and 2022, and she was on the right side of the law. The thing that made her unlikeable, in the long run, was how little she meshed with the rest of a very grounded show.
Maggie was a psychic who worked with the likes of Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) on cases, which was just a bizarre development that made it seem as though Blue Bloods was throwing everything at the wall to see what stuck. Maggie was out of place from day one, so whenever she appeared, she hurt the immersive nature of the show.
7. Armin Janko
Armin Janko is the father of Eddie Janko (Vanessa Ray), and not a particularly pleasant one at that. He was a wealthy financial advisor who turned out to be an absolute fraud, using a Ponzi scheme to steal millions from unsuspecting people.
Armin was played by two actors, William Sadler and Michael Cullen, and while he’s tried to put his criminal life behind him, it’s still tough to not view him as someone who put his family at risk. The complicated relationship he has with his daughter is a testament to that.
6. Nicky Reagan-Boyle
Nicky Reagan-Boyle (Sami Gayle) is not a particularly loved character on Blue Bloods. In fact, the older she’s gotten, the more fans came to be disappointed whenever she had a decent chunk of screentime in a given episode.
It’s not a performance thing (Gayle is very good), but the writers have admittedly done a not-so-great job of incorporating the character into the rest of the show in an organic way. A Nicky subplot means the show is going to come to a screeching halt, so it’s tough to ignore that Pavlovian response.
5. Kimberly Crawford
Kimberly Crawford (Roslyn Ruff) was appointed District Attorney of New York in 2020, and has been a notable presence throughout seasons 11 and 12. From the start, though, Crawford had it out for Erin Reagan (Bridget Moynahan), and made the character feel unwelcome whenever she was around the office.
The tension between Crawford and Reagan made the former deeply unlikeable, especially as we knew Reagan was doing her best to make sure that justice was served. It feels like Crawford let her biases get in the way too often, and that’s a terrible trait to have when you’re in power.
4. Jack Boyle
Jack Boyle (Peter Hermann) is not a criminal, but he bugs a lot of fans. It’s easy to see why: he’s been an absent father at times, and he often makes things much harder for his ex-wife, Erin, than he needs to. Oh, did we mention that he cheated on Erin when they were still together?
Jack is pretty seriously flawed, and it’s been frustrating to see Erin go back and forth in terms of getting back together with him. Bridget Moynahan talked about the will they, won’t they arc during a recent interview, and she admitted it would be healthier if Erin find someone else. We agree.
3. Frank Russo
Frank Russo (Bruce Altman) was was Mayor of New York City during the first season. Well, kinda. He was credited as Frank Russo, but then later on his name was changed to Robert Levitt without any explanation. Go figure.
Regardless of what you want to call him, he was a guy who repeatedly took his frustration out on Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) in an unfair fashion. He couldn’t go one scene without debating Reagan on how to handle a given situation, and was made insufferable by the fact that he was blindly doing things to maximize his political reputation. We were pretty pleased to see him go.
2. Darnell Potter
Darnell Potter (Ato Essandoh) hated Danny Reagan from day one. The New York preacher made a point of targeting Reagan after it was implied that used excessive force on an African-American citizen, and later made a deal to ensure that Reagan was let go from the force.
Potter’s politics were outwardly understandable, but it was his hypocrisy that made him such an unlikeable character. Behind closed doors, he was willing to bribe people, lie to his followers, and utilize local tragedies to boost his profile. Not a stand-up guy by any measure.
1. Peter Chase
Peter Chase (Dylan Walsh) made it clear that he was a jerk from day one. He took over as Mayor of New York City, and one of the first things he did was cause a rift between the Reagan and Boyle sides of the family by urging Erin to run for District Attorney.
Chase is another political animal, but he repeatedly exerts his power over Frank Reagan in unfair ways. Chase felt like one of Reagan’s arrests made him look bad in season 12, and demanded the Commissioner issue a public apology. When Reagan refused, he was nearly fired.
Chase is the Russo trope on steroids, and we really would like to see him get what’s coming to him before Blue Bloods ends.
