Jennifer Esposito left Blue Bloods in 2012 after playing the dynamic Jackie Curatola for three seasons. Her departure from the CBS police procedural was something of a dramatic affair as Esposito had been unceremoniously fired. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Esposito had been given doctor’s orders to take a week off work because of her celiac disease, but CBS had been convinced it was a scheme to get more money.
Considering those circumstances, most Blue Bloods viewers assumed they would never see Jackie again. But in a truly surprising turn of events, Esposito reprised her role as Jackie in Season 13 — over a decade after she departed. Jackie returned in Blue Bloods‘ Season 13 finale and with a new job title at that. This means Esposito was finally able to give the character she was so abruptly parted from the closure that Jackie and her fans have always deserved. With the series now over, though, how did the show say goodbye to Jackie?
Jackie Curatola was introduced as the partner of Donnie Wahlberg’s character, Danny Reagan, in the fourth episode of Blue Bloods ever, “Officer Down.” The pair had a strong rapport and a powerful friendship that was central to the first three seasons of Blue Bloods. Jennifer Esposito appeared in 46 episodes of Blue Bloods before her departure. In Season 2, Episode 11, “Mercy,” when Jackie’s car followed a suspect’s into a river, Danny attempted to save her by diving in. However, he couldn’t find her and assumed she had died. His devastated reaction to Jackie’s death highlighted her importance to him. Later in the episode, Danny discovers Jackie had actually been taken hostage and risks his own life in a standoff to save her. The two of them had the kind of partnership that every TV police procedural wants.A fascinating aspect of their partnership, though, was that Danny and Jackie clearly had a strong ROMANTIC chemistry, as well, which was a problem for the show from a narrative perspective, since Danny Reagan was, of course, also happily married to his wife, Linda Reagan (Amy Carlson), on the series. TV shows are desperate to find actors who have great chemistry together, so when they find them, it is frustrating for the producers to not be able to get them together due to the setup of the series.
The Jackie/Danny partnership ended in Blue Bloods Season 3, Episode 7, “Nightmares,” one of the saddest episodes of the series. Jackie was shot on the job and began to question her career as a detective. Her frustration with the bureaucratic nature of the NYPD fueled her uncertainty as she decided whether to continue with the job. When Danny visited Jackie in the hospital, she told him she had decided to resign. That farewell scene was brief and unsatisfying, especially for fans who had become attached to Jackie. While she may have had her ups and downs with the NYPD, she loved being a detective, so quitting did not feel true to her character. The only positive about it was that Blue Bloods didn’t have Jackie die as the show did with Danny’s wife, Linda, later in the series.
Clearly, the show felt that Wahlberg played well with a female partner, as the show remarkably paired him with THREE more female partners for the rest of Season 3 (and actually, before Esposito joined the show, Danny ALSO had a female partner. In fact, due to episodes airing out of order, Danny technically had a female partner, Yvonna Kopacz Wright’s Ava Hotchkiss, in the two episodes BEFORE Jackie joined the show, and one episode AFTER Jackie joined the show, as episode 5 presumably aired out of order). Finally, in episode 17, Danny was paired with Marisa Ramirez’s Maria Baez, who remained Danny’s partner for the rest of the series.
Blue Bloods Makes Up for Jackie’s Lackluster Send-Off
On April 13th, TVLine broke the news of Jennifer Esposito’s return to Blue Bloods, alongside another long-absent cast member. The reveal confirmed that Jackie had returned to police work — and showed her wearing a jacket that said “Chief of Police.” This promotion is much more appropriate for the character than a quick resignation. She was a skilled detective who put her all into police work, such as when Jackie went undercover to help stop a serial killer in Season 2, Episode 7, “Lonely Hearts Club.” Blue Bloods fans could feel better knowing that in her time off-screen, Jackie persevered with her career despite her previous misgivings and rose through the ranks.
