Characters / Blue Bloods: The Reagan Family

Main Character Index | The Reagan Family | The NYPD | Recurring Characters

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General

From the far left to the far right: Jamie, Nicky, Erin, Frank, Linda, Danny, Jack, Sean and Henry.

The main family of the series.

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• Action Girl: The Reagan women do get kidnapped from time to time but they never go down without a fight.
• Always Gets His Man: A family variant. No matter who they're up against, they always get the bad guy.
• Badass Family: Henry's response to one of Danny's kids asking if a robber would target them says it all:
  Henry: Are you kiddin'? He'd get one look at this table and run the other way.
• Cartwright Curse: As of Season 8, every major cast member of the Reagan family is either widowed, divorced, or unwed. Jamie is setting out to see if he can break this curse, with Eddie.
• Crazy-Prepared: Three generations of Reagan kids have grown up learning that "Please don't hurt my family" is Reagan-code for "Hit the floor NOW, Daddy's gotta shoot the bad guy!"
• Drives Like Crazy: After Nicky bails from having Erin teach her to drive because she can't deal with her mom's, erm, style, Frank points out that almost everyone in the family is a bad driver: Henry gave up the keys after smacking his fender on the garage too many times, Erin rages at other drivers and leans on the horn, Frank is out of practice because as Commissioner he never drives himself, and Danny apparently once got a ticket for doing 80 mph in a 25 mph zone. It's Jamie who gets saddled with the job of Nicky's driving coach.
• Four-Philosophy Ensemble: Danny is the Cynic, Erin is the Idealist, Frank is the Realist, Jamie and Nicky are The Conflicted.
• Heroic Lineage: They've been serving the law for at least four generations.
• Officer O'Hara: Averted mostly, but they are Irish-Americans.
• Pride: It's a family trait; all of the Reagans always have to be right about everything even if it puts them in conflict with each other.
• Real Men Love Jesus: Everyone of them has a revered love of Christ.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Lampshaded by Henry who claims all his maternal line are stoics and all the paternal line Hot-Blooded.
• Semper Fi: Henry, Frank and Danny are all Marine Corps veterans from Korea, Vietnam and Iraq respectively. Henry mentions that his father was also a Marine when Jack expresses interest in enlisting before leaving high school.
• Two First Names: The family name "Reagan" can be used as a first name.

Commissioner Frank Reagan

Played by Tom Selleck

Dubbed by: Jacques Frantz (European French, 2010-2021), Michel Papineschi (European French, since 2021)

Head of the Reagan family and the NYPD. A stern but fair man, Francis Xavier "Frank" Reagan often has to deal with the complexities and social issues facing both New York and his family, especially now that he is a widower. He often consults his father for advice in particularly difficult situations.

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• Action Dad: He may be the police commissioner, but he was still a member of New York's Finest and is not averse to getting his hands dirty.
• All of the Other Reindeer: "Mercy" reveals that Frank felt like an outsider among his fellow officers since his father was the police commissioner at the time, a feeling that's only increased now that he's actually the commissioner himself.
• Always Gets His Man: Oh yes. If you've done wrong on his watch he will find a way to get you, and he'll do it by the book. If by some miracle the guilty party manages to slip out of getting caught, Frank is a patient man. The next time they slip up, he'll be waiting for them.
• Ancestral Weapon: Though he is fond of 1911s (as is Tom Selleck), Frank’s daily carry weapon is a Colt Official Police .38 revolver converted to a "Fitz Special" (shortened barrel and ejector rod, rounded butt, hammer spur and front half of trigger guard removed). Frank explains to Jamie that he carried it as his backup piece as a detective and as a patrol cop, that it was Henry’s duty weapon before that, and that Henry’s father carried it during his career. He's allowed to use it as his duty weapon instead of a semiautomatic because he joined the NYPD before 1994.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Invariably wears very snazzy three-piece suits while at work, and once kills a man for putting a gun to Erin's head while wearing it.
• Badass Pacifist: In "Family Business" he managed to get an officer to stop his suicide attempt with only a few words.
• Benevolent Boss: Frank is a fair boss. If his officers follow the rules, he will defend them. If they break the rules, he will give them a just consequence.
• Berserk Button: Frank loathes Dirty Cops. He considers them a disgrace to good police in general and the NYPD in particular, due to the damage they do to public trust, and then a group of them made it personal by murdering Joe. What's notable is how low-key he is about it. He doesn't raise his voice and his expression barely changes even though it's abundantly clear how furious he is. When he confronted the ones responsible for Joe's death at the end of the first season, it's almost terrifying how calm he looks during the entire exchange. He only loses his cool for a moment when he knocks some things off the top of a cabinet, which is also one of the few times he raises his voice. He's not shouting either, he raises it the way people do when they want to make sure they're heard.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Do NOT hurt a member of his family. He'll put you down without a word.
• By-the-Book Cop: Frank recognizes that cops have an enormous amount of power, authority, and leeway in how they do their job on a day to day basis and so he firmly keeps them following the rules and guidelines that they do have. If his cops break the rules, that freedom and leeway they're given can be taken away from the whole department, so he works to keep them well within the guide ropes that would cross the line. There are several occasions where he's seen reviewing methods and procedures with his lieutenants to see what's working and what needs to be overhauled. The book is there to help officers do their jobs correctly, and if something new will help with that then he makes sure the books are modified to incorporate it. On the other hand, he will fight tooth and nail against policies that he feels that will hinder his cops' ability to do their jobs safely or effectively, or whose costs will outweigh the benefits, but if he loses that argument and the policy becomes official, he won't countenance any half-ass compliance or grumbling.
• Can't Take Criticism: His main fault: Frank gets all defensive when anyone from from City Hall dares to criticize his department. It's one of the reasons why he's unpopular there, with the exception of Mayor Carter Poole. On the flip side, Frank is much more willing to take criticism from fellow NYPD personnel instead. Really, he just can't stand to be Monday-morning-quarterbacked by anyone who doesn’t have the experience to back it up. As a result, he will sometimes reject out of hand an argument that actually has some merit, though in these cases Garrett will usually get him to come around, eventually.
• Catchphrase: "Don't tell the commissioner," said when one of his family tells him something important in confidence that he might have to do something about if he was on the clock (or if one of his kids catches him smoking a cigar in public).
  • "I'm the commissioner, I know everything," when someone is surprised by information he produces that he shouldn't necessarily know.
• The Chains of Commanding: Being the Commissioner and having to deal with all of the political juggling and media attention it entails clearly takes it toll on Frank as the show progresses. It's implied in Season 6 that he wants out of the job, but his sense of public duty prevents him from actually resigning, but if the Mayor actually fired him he wouldn't be too upset.
• Change the Uncomfortable Subject: Virtually every time a family-dinner argument reaches the point where he's asked to take sides, Frank opts out of doing so by complimenting the food or asking someone to pass him a dish.
• Character Tics: According to Danny, his voice goes up a pitch whenever he's worried about one of his kids.
• Chick Magnet: Throughout the series, Frank has attracted a number of women (old and young).
• The Commissioner Gordon: He's essentially a combination of Jim Gordon and Theodore Roosevelt. The latter is openly acknowledged In-Universe multiple times.
• Cool Shades: Wears a black pair occasionally.
• Covert Pervert: Frank is a professional man and a loving Family Man who was Happily Married to his wife when she was alive. However, he also has a Friends with Benefits relationship with a reporter and one of his older friends stated that he and Frank would have sex with a number of women in hotels.
• Create Your Own Villain: He admits to Danny that the NYPD's inaction against Rev. Potter is partly why the man is so dangerous.
• Da Chief: One of the best you'll see on television, no less. Frank Reagan is the kind of authority figure that people wish was more common.
• Dad the Veteran: Served with the US Marines in Vietnam.
• Dead Partner: As a young cop, Frank worked with the NYPD's K9 unit until his dog was killed by the criminal he'd sent her after. When another canine officer is accused of biting a child, Frank makes a special effort to exonerate the dog, and Garrett suggests Frank does so to make it up to his fallen animal partner.
• Despair Event Horizon: The first episode of Season 8 reveals the death of Mary devastated Frank and the only thing that brought him out of it was finding a purpose to live through his kids.
• Doting Grandparent: Frank has a soft spot for his grandkids. He's especially close to his eldest grandchild and only granddaughter, Nicky.
• Experienced Protagonist: He has been a cop and detective for over 30 years and still knows all the ways to solve a case.
• Everyone Has Standards: As devout a Catholic he may be, he criticized the Church's stance on homosexuality.
• Fanboy: Frank has a deep respect and admiration for U.S. President, Theodore Roosevelt. He keeps a picture of the president in his office, spoke about him at his youngest grandson's field trip, and during difficult moments, he often wonders what Roosevelt would've done.
• A Father to His Men: Cares deeply about the NYPD and his children.
• Friends with Benefits: Has this relationship with reporter Melanie Maines; whenever she's in New York, they get together.
• The Good Chancellor: A commissioner variant. Frank Reagan is one of the best.
• Good Is Not Soft: He's personally killed a triple murderer-rapist who was trying to harm Erin. In the season five finale he uses a little Loophole Abuse to send an already-convicted Gang Banger to federal death row, which has the dual effects of removing his ability to control his gang from inside the joint (since he'll be transferred to Indiana for trial), and exacting justice for the murder of a police chief, his wife, and a witness, and the nonfatal shooting of Linda.
• Good Parents: Accounts from his children describe Frank as a good father to them, in both their childhood and adulthood. Specifically, he was always there to support his kids, but would also correctly discipline them when they stepped out of line. Garrett even lampshades Franks's excellent parenting in "In The Box".
• Guile Hero: Has run gambits on criminals before, as well as once maneuvering a diplomat whose son was a rapist into unintentionally giving him a DNA sample. His PR guy says he should run for mayor, because though he states he hates politics, he is very good at it.
• Hero Does Public Service: Before Mayor Poole takes office, he reveals to Frank that he wants to keep him on as police commissioner partly because, back when he was a kid, there was this certain white Irish beat cop who coached his basketball team.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Thanks to Rev. Potter's constant hate-mongering half of New York City is convinced that Frank is some sort of fascist dictator. As a whole, Frank is continually frustrated that cops as a whole don't get respect anymore from either average citizens or their fellow city officials. He was really furious at having to answer to a court appointed Inspector General in Season 4.
• Hypocrite:
  • He often bemoans the intolerance of left-winged people, yet never seems interested in what they have to say or their point of view; he's more interested in getting them to see his point of view. This causes a lot friction between him the Mayor's Office and City Council. It also unwillingly makes him an easy target for people like the Rev. Potter
  • For all his talk about cops being held responsible for their actions, he never seems too keen to notice Danny's borderline Dirty Cop actions.
  • Insists that his children be treated just like any other cops, yet he's used his position as commissioner to stop Jamie from getting a promotion, even though he deserves one to avoid any appearance of favoritism. So much for not giving his kids any special treatment, huh?
    • In "Secrets and Lies" he comes down hard on Jamie, for breaking protocol (no partner or radio-ing in) when going after a mugger who assaulted Henry, which resulted in the mugger nearly falling from off the roof; Jamie pulls him up (after being tempted to let him fall however briefly), but Frank chews him out for pursuing vengeance instead of justice. Jamie ruefully points out that he never gets on Danny's case for bending the rules. Frank scoffs at this, except two seasons later in "Art of War" Jamie is proven right. Linda is attacked and Danny naturally is out for blood. He pursues the crime boss pulling the shooter's strings onto a roof without any backup - and he uses the opportunity to exhort a confession from the guy. Instead of Frank chewing him out, he actually compliments him for catching the guy, while sadly noting that since the perp was hanging from a roof no judge will allow the confession into evidence.
  • Will absolutely not take any insubordination from anyone below yet his interactions with the various mayors (who can fire him at any time) often go beyond insubordination into outright insolence.
  • Blatantly violates the law by having Sid intimate a cop killer up for parole into withdrawing himself from consideration revealing his By-the-Book Cop to be nothing but a facade.
  • In season 9, he orders a 'blue flu' in response to Erin's new policy, after having suspended a cop for ordering one back in the season 4 premiere in response to the DA's office not charging a cop killer based on insufficient evidence and viewing it as shameful.
• Idiot Ball: Despite all the blatant illegal things Rev. Potter does, Frank never presses to have him arrested which just gives Potter the freedom to continue his witch hunt against the Reagan Family and NYPD.
• Informed Attribute: Despite him saying he's willing to comprise with city officials who disagree on certain policies it never actually happens onscreen.
• Insistent Terminology: He's technically not a police officer, the Police Commissioner is actually a civilian position and he had to resign from the NYPD rank and file before he took the job.^note The commissioner and his subordinate deputies are civilians under an oath of office and are not uniformed members of the force who are sworn officers of the law. However, a police commissioner who comes up from the uniformed ranks retains that status while serving as police commissioner. This has ramifications for their police pensions and the fact that any police commissioner who is considered sworn does not need a pistol permit to carry a firearm, and does retain the statutory powers of a police officer.
• It's All About Me: When push comes to shove, Frank will always have his way on police policy — going so far as to throw his own daughter under the bus in "Strange Bedfellows" because she's supporting a police bill he doesn't like.
• It's All My Fault: As Henry explains, he tends to blame himself if something goes wrong.
• Like Father, Like Son: Despite being able to adapt with the times, their scenes together show that Frank is very close to Henry.
• Love Makes You Stupid: Frank seems willfully blind to how Danny breaks every rule of policing in the book — he believes his son merely steps on the line despite evidence to the contrary — including how Danny tortured a suspect in the pilot to get a confession that was predictably thrown out.
• Manly Tears: Not actually seen, but heavily implied during a private moment. When his old partner dies from respiratory disease caused by exposure to toxic fumes on 9/11, the episode ends with Frank visiting the 9/11 Memorial (the first time it ever appeared in a TV show) by himself, and standing with his back to the camera, placing his hand on his friend's engraved name on the memorial: we purposely can't see his face, but his stance and the way his shoulders are moving clearly imply that Frank is crying.
• Mirror Character: Despite his By-the-Book Cop facade over the course of the show it's made abundantly clear he has way more in common with Cowboy Cop Danny than his more rule-obeying children Erin or Jamie — specially the conviction that when the law he's sworn to uphold contradict with his personal beliefs — the law takes the back burner. In "Strange Bedfellows" a cop killer is up for parole. Frank who believes that cop killers should under no circumstances ever get a second chance and not trusting the Parole Board's judgement sends Sid to intimate the killer to withdraw himself from consideration. Erin rightfully calls him out for interfering in what's supposed to be an impartial process, but Frank in a very Danny-like move is petulant and unrepentant.
• Missing Mom: On two fronts. His own mom, Betty, is deceased, and his wife Mary is also deceased. Unfortunately, it seems to be a family curse, because Danny's wife also ends up deceased.
• Nice Guy: Frank is the thoughtful one of the family and is always willing to stop disputes if they arise at Sunday dinners.
• Outliving One's Offspring: His son, Joe, was murdered prior to the series.
• Papa Wolf: To his family, naturally, and to the men and women of the New York Police Department. Perfectly summed up in a speech where he tells the NYPD rank-and-file, including Jamie and Danny, "I will ALWAYS have your back." He himself is backed up by his own Papa Wolf, Henry.
  Jamie: (to Eddie) When it comes to sticking up for his kids, my old man doesn't take prisoners.
• Parental Favoritism: Despite being a good parent, he seems to favor Erin and Danny over Jamie; Erin is of course Daddy's Girl, but Frank is a lot more a lenient and sympathetic to Danny, the Cowboy Cop is always bending or outright breaking rules and constantly getting reprimanded or investigated by Internal Affairs, than he is to Jamie, the By-the-Book Cop which Frank ostensibly considers the model cop, to whom he's often overtly harsh and distant towards — Jamieis perfectly aware of this, and on some level seems to resent Frank for this, but keeps it low key.
• Parental Substitute: Acted as the closest father figure to his only granddaughter, Nicky, since her biological (and still alive) father is a deadbeat.
• The Patriarch: The head figure of the Reagan family.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: A downplayed example but Frank really really doesn't have any patience for claims the NYPD is biased or engages in racial profiling or harassment against African-Americans. It's understandable when these claims come from somebody like Rev. Potter. It's less understandable when these claims come from people who can back them up like Mayor Poole or City Council Speaker Regina Thomas, and Frank still refuses to budge or at least concede their point.
• Poor Communication Kills: He's never able to effectively counter all the bad publicity that police get, and when coupled with things like the rise of social media and Rev. Potter's hate-mongering, by Season 6 his reputation is in shambles. It's so bad that Mayor Poole is actually reluctant to keep Frank as PC because he's a political liability.
• Real Men Love Jesus: To a point: he once publicly criticized the church's attitude to homosexuality during a press conference, drawing the ire of New York's cardinal (but endearing him to a lesbian nun who broke up with her partner when she took holy orders).
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Out of all the family members, you can usually count on Frank to be the one most likely to see and understand both sides of a debate. He's usually quite excellent at weighing both sides, and coming to a reasonable solution, and despite his pride, he's not shy about admitting when he himself makes a mistake. Some have compared him to an idealized Roman magistrate. Many have noted that he's the type of authority figure that people wish was more common.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: Frank continues to carry his old snubnose .38 Special revolver, despite his father telling him he should switch to a semiautomatic for more firepower (and having a security detail around him at all times). In one scene, Frank demonstrated he doesn't need to.
• Semper Fi: Was a Marine in Vietnam.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Became The Stoic due to this, having seen many terrible things in the line of duty and bottling it up to keep from spilling over onto his family.
• Smoking Is Cool: Is often seen smoking a cigar when he goes fishing.
• The Stoic: But it doesn't mean he's heartless. In one episode, he admits to his granddaughter Nicki that he has decades worth of tragedies he's seen and experienced, and instead of showing these emotions, "I sit on them." Occasionally, and mostly in private, these emotions do come out. When his old partner dies from respiratory disease caused by exposure to toxic fumes on 9/11, the episode ends with Frank visiting the 9/11 Memorial (the first time it ever appeared in a TV show) by himself, and standing with his back to the camera, placing his hand on his friend's engraved name on the memorial: we purposely can't see his face, but his stance and the way his shoulders are moving clearly imply that Frank is crying.
• Survivor's Guilt: In "The Job" Frank admits to feeling some over the fact that some of his other former cop friends became ill from chemical exposure experienced during and 9/11.
  "Why them and not me?"
• To Be Lawful or Good: A recurring plot is Frank being forced to choose between his legal responsibilities as police commissioner and his desire to do what is morally right. He's extremely good at finding the third option that allows him to do both.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: As the show goes on, Frank gets less patient and more ruthless as he feels that the NYPD and police generally are unfairly being treated by the public, and he's openly dismissive of civilian complaints about racial profiling and police brutality; and he gets more hostile to Garrett whom he feels doesn't sufficiently have his back. He's not above using the brunt force of the department to make his point. Best shown in "Handcuffs" where a viral vide surfaces of Eddie and her partner being taunted by some residents of a housing complex - Eddie and her partner refuse to be baited into retaliating, but Frank feels that such blatant disrespect should be punished - by launching two fully armed raids against the complex; Jamie (who believed that Eddie should've arrested her taunters or at least cited them) calls him out on this feeling he's using a sledgehammer to deal with minor fix, Frank responds that the NYPD's authority should not be questioned.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Garrett. The two spend most of their time disagreeing, but there is a great amount of respect between the two of them, and Frank respects Garrett's advice.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: His general view on policies that tend to disproportionately target racial minorities like "Stop and Frisk" and "Broken Windows" is they are necessary to keep the city safe and anyone innocent bystander who gets signaled out because of them is acceptable collateral damage.
• What Would X Do?: His go-to when it comes up is "What would Theodore Roosevelt do?" One of Roosevelt's many jobs in government before becoming President was NYC Police Commissioner.

Former Commissioner Henry Reagan

Played by Len Cariou

Great-grandpa of the Reagan family, and Frank's father. Was a hardbitten Da Chief in his day; now dispenses wisdom and advice.

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• Ambition Is Evil: Inverted. He fought tooth and nail to climb the ranks and become Commissioner, not for personal gain, but because he thought he was the best at the job. He has the respect of his fellow cops, but also made a fair number of enemies along the way. This in contrast to his son Frank, who simply kept getting promoted when those above him couldn't find anyone who could do the job better than he could and had to be talked into accepting the Commissioner post since it would take him away from "professional" policing.
• Berserk Button: Downplayed, but he has little tolerance for anyone who commits adultery.
• Cool Old Guy: Is this to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Also, due to being an honest cop and not taking any shit, has the eternal respect of the NYPD rank and file. He's also lost absolutely none of his toughness since his days as a cop.
• Cowboy Cop: Henry seems to indicate that he was this in his time. Of course back then there was more "flexibility" in what was allowed anyway. At one point, he is caught on video mouthing off (while drunk) to an old buddy about how he'd like to reintroduce some very heavy-handed tactics, resulting in a public controversy that causes both Frank and DCPI Garrett Moore to give him a What the Hell, Hero? speech, much to his chagrin.
• Da Chief: Henry is a former police commissioner, detective, and officer, who was known for being incorruptible.
• Dad the Veteran: Served with the Marines in Korea. A throwaway line hints he may have also been in the Pacific Theatre during WWII.
• Dirty Cop: Zigzagged. Henry loathed cops who worked for criminals but he himself and his pro Cowboy Cop attitude imply he wasn't as clean himself — He never had a problem with a beating a suspect and even doing actions to make said suspect appear crazy, even though they could've been innocent; holds no sympathy towards one of Jamie's fellow cops because she reported her partner did an illegal chokehold, which was actually illegal and wrong; was secretly videotaped approving of police brutality; usually holds an unrepentant attitude when it comes to his views, even though they are problematic; he almost always approves of Danny's Cowboy Cop actions, and his grandson is also a zigzagged version of this trope.
• Disappeared Dad: "Old Wounds" reveals that Henry's father was an alcoholic who deserted his family when Henry was 15. Henry didn't tell his own son about his father's misbehavior so that Frank could have a good relationship with his grandpa when the old man resumed contact years later.
• Drives Like Crazy: Since he's in his eighties and his eyesight isn't what it used to be. One subplot has him arguing with Frank about giving up the keys after he banged the fender on the garage door for (apparently) the umpteenth time. In the end he gives his car to Danny and Linda because their minivan caught fire due to an electrical fault earlier in the episode, and they can't afford a new one.
• Everybody Has Standards: While Henry believes in the "cops should be loyal to cops" philosophy, he will not honor a cop that had two families at the same time.
• Glory Days: Sometimes longs for the days when life was simpler and you could be a cowboy cop.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: Is known to occasionally talk on the phone and meet up with various mob bosses that he tried to bring down back in the day. But just as he's a retired cop, they are retired gangsters; they're all too old to go making a fuss nowadays and have long since let go of any grudges they might have had, so they'll go to lunch and reminisce and leave the torch carrying to the younger generations.
• Good Old Ways: Generally tends to be older fashioned, but with one subversion: he advises Frank to switch to an automatic instead of a revolver, for more firepower. In general, Henry tends to prefer the older Cowboy Cop methods from back in the day, which often causes him to clash with Frank and Jamie (though it definitely endears him to Danny). In one episode he refers to this trope almost word for word: in response to being chastised by Frank and Garrett for most of the episode (because of his bragging about heavy-handed methods from the old days causing a PR headache), he responds by growling "I still think the old ways are the best ways."
• Hollywood Heart Attack: Poor Henry is hit with one on Thanksgiving.
• Hypocrite: Claims to loathe corrupt cops just like Frank, yet when a cop from Jamie's precinct is being ostracized for testifying against her partner who illegally killed a suspect in a bathroom, he shows her no sympathy claiming "cops shouldn't go against cops". Which brings the question how he expected to clean up his corrupt department with such an attitude when he was commissioner.
• Jerkass Ball: Firmly grabs it in "Loose Lips" when his usual gentlemanly conduct goes out the window and he acts like a petulant teenager when Frank and Garret chastise him for his drunken remarks approving of police brutality that got leaked online.
• Mysterious Past: We know he served in Korea, but he apparently doesn't like to talk about it.
• Noble Bigot with a Badge: A rare example where the person is someone who is a former officer. He has some conservative views on gay individuals, but doesn't harbor any actual malice.
• Outliving One's Offspring: "Men in Black" reveals that Francis had a brother who died of leukemia before he was born.
• Papa Wolf: When Frank is shot, he's the one sitting up the whole night with his hand by his gun, guarding his family. In other words, he's the Papa Wolf to the Papa Wolf!
  Henry: Somebody tried to kill my son. If the sonofabitch comes back, I’ll kill him.
  • Even before he was commissioner, Henry was this trope. When one-year-old Frank started convulsing from a high fever, and the ambulance driver claimed he wasn't authorized to take the toddler to the better of two nearby hospitals, Henry pulled his service weapon on the guy and said: "Now you're authorized."
  • Henry also had the NYPD practically tear the city apart, back in the day, to hunt down a gangster who'd put a price on then-officer Francis's head. Do NOT mess with the Reagan family, a Badass Family protected by two suitably badass father figures.
  Henry: I'll tell you this... any monster who lays a finger on anybody at this table, they'd be fertilizer before the courts could get to 'em.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Longs for the days when cops could rough up suspects without fear of reprimand and prosecution and is very unrepentant about it, and casually admits to Jamie he would've let a mugger fall from a rooftop without any remorse, rather than take him into custody.
• Retired Badass: Henry is mugged while withdrawing cash from an ATM. That guy picked the wrong mark, because this old guy is a retired police officer. Henry is not letting this happen without a fight, and defends himself with a pistol hidden in his ankle holster. When the criminal struggles to prevent him from reaching it, Henry then resorts to Good Old Fisticuffs.
• Secret Test of Character: Sets one up for his son Frank while Frank was still a street cop. A detective had accused Frank of pocketing evidence, and rather than bringing it up with Frank directly, Henry set up a trap bust with planted money to see whether Frank would take the bait. He did not.
• Semper Fi: Was a Marine in Korea. A throwaway line implies he may have been in the Pacific theater of WWII as well.
• Toxic Friend Influence: It's implied that Danny gets his Cowboy Cop attitude from him —- since everyone else in the family is by-the-book through and through.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He formed the Blue Templar back when he was commissioner to clean up the department. When he left they became the very thing they were formed to combat —- and killed his grandson Joe who was getting close to shutting them down.
• War Is Hell: He's proud of his military service, but his reluctance to go into detail about his war experiences indicates that he probably saw a lot of things that still haunt him. The same may be true of some of his experiences as a police officer.
• When I Was Your Age...: Often gives the younger family members anecdotes and advice based on his experience.

Detective First Grade Danny Reagan

Daniel Fitzgerald "Danny" Reagan

Played by Donnie Wahlberg

Oldest sibling, Danny is a police detective assigned to Manhattan. He is Happily Married (and widowed as of Season 8) and has two sons.

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• Action Dad: A cop detective and father of two.
• Aesop Amnesia: Danny never learns the need to control his temper or stop his borderline illegal actions. Although he does mellow down after Linda's death he eventually slips back into his bad habits.
• Aloof Big Brother: Isn't very close to Jamie, due to their age differences. They're slowly getting better.
• Always Gets His Man: Danny has one of the highest case closure rates of any NYPD detective. Though not without controversy.
• Anti-Hero: Danny is by no means a Dirty Cop (or, at least a played straight example of one) and he genuinely wants to bring down bad guys, he also has done some outright malicious acts in order to get justice. For example, on two separate occasions he threatened to shoot an unarmed person; both times the two people had information about the real criminal, but his actions violated their rights and were morally wrong to an extent. He's also tortured information out of suspects repeatedly but the closest he ever gets to facing serious consequences for it is when charges against a child molester are thrown out by the judge in the pilot.
• Big Brother Bully: Downplayed. Danny makes insensitive remarks towards Jamie, but it's more of a way to prepare his little brother for the dangerous streets. His habit of hassling Jamie leads to serious tension once his brother is promoted to Sergeant and therefore outranks Danny.
• Big Brother Instinct: An asshole he may be to Jamie and Erin at times, there's no denying that Danny won't hurt someone who threatens his little brother and sister.
  That ADA's my sister and when it comes to family, all deals are off.
• Big Brother Mentor: Any opportunity he has to teach Jamie, he'll do it.
• Break the Haughty: The events of the Season 7 finale and the ripple effect they had resulted in his house being torched and his wife getting killed in an accident from being forced to work harder. After all this Danny has become a mass of self-loathing and needs regular therapy.
• Broken Ace: Danny is an ace detective...with anger management issues, horrifying memories of his time in Iraq, and is a borderline Dirty Cop at times.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Danny is a hot-blooded Cowboy Cop who commits borderline illegal actions. He's also a true family man.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: An example with the character not having a quirk that's Played for Laughs, Danny's quirk being his hotheadedness and disregard for the rules. As lampshaded by Renzuli in "Samaritan":
  He didn't look like a screw-up. Off the top of my head, he did three things you better never do: leave his partner; not tell anyone where he was going; not call in the open subway hatch or the blood. Danny's got skills, but he's got a lot of bad habits.
• Chick Magnet: Implied. Danny apparently had a lot of girlfriends before he married Linda.
• Cowboy Cop: He bends the rules in pursuit of justice. Although he's also been known to bend them the other direction (i.e. coaching an illegal immigrant on how to frame his confession to manslaughter for sympathy). Deconstructed in "Absolute Power"; Danny goes in solo after a Serial Killer instead of waiting for Baez and an ESU team. While he rescues the would-be victim, the killer puts him in the hospital with a broken forearm and gets away.
• The Cynic: Danny has a sour perspective in general, especially towards criminals.
• Dad the Veteran: Served in the Marines in Iraq.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Not his childhood, but his service in Iraq. While he doesn't talk about it, Danny offhandedly mentions having fought in the Battle of Fallujah and alludes to witnessing countless horrors, including being the Sole Survivor among his group.
• Deadpan Snarker: Always ready with the quips.
• Dirty Cop: Zigzagged. While Danny doesn't plant evidence or kill unarmed criminals, he has done illegal things and has faced little comeuppance for his behavior. Examples include intentionally stopping a medical tube for an old man because he thought he had information, threatening to put a bullet in the back of a robber's head — when the said robber was cuffed and unarmed, and putting a suspect in the trunk of his car and driving like crazy to get said suspect to talk. And the list goes on.
• Experienced Protagonist: By the series premiere, Danny is an experienced detective with a high percentage rate of solved cases.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Danny's inability to control his temper has strained his relationships with his family (to the point he got in a fight with Jamie) and he has gotten several reprimands because of it.
  • Tying into the above flaw, Danny's impatient nature in getting justice can often cause more harm than good.
  • Danny always thinks he’s right, and getting him to see otherwise is like pulling teeth from an angry alligator.
• Fighting Irish: He's from an Irish-American family and has a history as a Marine, a Cowboy Cop and a highly-competitive amateur sportsman.
• First-Person Smartass: Danny will snark anyone — His family, his partners, other cops/detectives, or civilians.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish to Erin and Jamie's responsible. While his siblings follow the rules set by them, Danny will often go into Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique in order to get a perp; needless to say, Danny has gotten a boatload of reprimands because of it.
• Former Teen Rebel: Implied. In "Secret Arrangements", one of the descriptions Frank gives about Danny was "rebellious teenager".
• Friend to All Children: As tough as he is with grown-ups, he's actually quite tender when talking with youngsters, reformed criminals, and troubled victims, to the point where at times he's the "good cop" instead of Jackie or Baez.
• Generation Xerox: Shares Grandpa Henry's preference for Cowboy Cop methods. Also, he, Jamie, Joe, and Frank all followed in Henry's footsteps in becoming cops (even if Danny's the only one who shares Henry's belief in the Cowboy Cop methods).
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: He is the resident Bad Cop at the 54.
• Good Is Not Nice: He is an honest cop, a skilled detective, and a devoted family man. He's also fond of being verbally abusive and insulting suspects and isn't above using the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique on occasion. In addition, he makes some borderline Islamophobic remarks in "Worst Case Scenario" (and is called out for it by his partner Maria Baez).
• Good Is Not Soft: Like all the Reagans he's no pushover. He was also the winner of a NYPD/FDNY boxing tournament two years in a row.
• Good Parents: Despite his jerkish nature to his siblings, civilians, and perps, Danny is a very good father to his boys.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Low key, but as of Season 9 Danny doesn't react well to the fact that Jamie now outranks him, despite the fact he's been on the force much longer than his baby brother.
• Guile Hero: Although subtlety doesn't seem like his strong suit, he can run a game on the bad guys when he puts his mind to it.
• Gun Nut: In keeping with his maverick attitude, he carries a noticeably different pistol in stainless steel finish rather than the black parkerized Glocks used by the rest of the NYPD cast (barring Frank's ancient Fitz Special). IMFDB identifies it as a Smith & Wesson 5946, a pragmatic choice by the props department considering that the weapon, though not standard issue, is still allowed by NYPD regs in real life. He switches to a Kahr K-9 in later seasons.
• Happily Married: To his wife, Linda. Unfortunately, she gets killed on May 28, 2017.
• Heartbroken Badass: As of the beginning of Season 8, Danny is struggling to avoid a complete emotional breakdown from losing Linda.
• Hidden Depths: "The Bogeyman" shows that Danny has a liking towards opera music.
• Hot-Blooded: His temper is very well-known around the NYPD and landed him in anger management therapy at one point. He channels it into his job and tries very hard to avoid bringing it home; he doesn't always succeed.
• Hypocrite:
  • Danny has no problem committing acts that go beyond the rules (making him a zigzagged version of a Dirty Cop). However, if another cop does the same thing he did, he'll call them out on it.
  • Related to the above, Danny believes everyone should get what they deserve, especially criminals. Except, when it comes to his own illegal actions, he will say he had no other choice and that he doesn't deserve to be investigated on.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: How he feels about Linda's death. He pins the blame squarely on his own shoulders and sinks into despair. In fact, he nearly flattens someone for mockingly bringing up the day she was killed just to piss him off.
• It's All About Me: Danny has a rather selfish attitude when it comes to solving his cases. For example, in "Ends and Means", he remained very upset with Linda throughout the episode for not letting him talk to an informant (who later died), even though Linda could've been in trouble had she done so.
• It's All My Fault: Linda dies in a medical helicopter crash between Seasons 7 & 8. Danny blames himself for it because they both had to work extra shifts after their house was torched as direct result of Danny's hot-headedness.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Not often, but on occasion. He waterboards a Serial Killer in the first episode for information. Although he does tend to bend the rules, this is the only time he uses torture in the entire first season, but the quickness with which he uses it in the pilot, you'd think this is a semi-regular thing for him. In a season four episode he does beat information out of a heroin dealer whose accidentally uncut load of heroin caused a couple dozen people to have fatal overdoses (and then uses him as a Human Shield), and when a preteen girl with a serious heart condition is kidnapped as collateral by an Irish Mob loan shark, Danny sends Baez out of the interrogation room and very loudly beats the living shit out of the loan shark's underling until he talks. All of this suggests the takeaway is that while it’s not usually his go-to option, he's not above torture when he views the situation to be serious enough.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Danny is brutal, blunt, and can be incredibly insufferable. But he makes points once in a while.
  • Danny gives two punches (at different times), to a criminal who hired hitmen to come and rescue him. Almost being shot at will make anyone pissed.
  • His lack of sympathy for Noble Sanfino nearly being gunned down may seem heartless, but he isn't wrong on how Noble chose to be in his family's life of crime. Even Erin agrees with Danny.
  • When he and Baez guard a witness (and criminal) from the people trying to kill in "Power of the Press". First, he calls out the head of the protection detail for not following through on the deal to protect the said criminal because it's their job. Later on, he tells the same criminal that it's his own fault for getting into a life of crime and that while he may be testifying against his criminal colleagues, he's no saint. On both accounts, he's right.
  • In "Through the Looking Glass", he becomes a mentor for an at-risk youth — something he's openly cynical towards. When the youth nearly gets herself killed, Danny arrests her. And when she protests, Danny retaliates that he can't be the one to save her, only she can save herself.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Danny is abrasive, rude, and can be a real jerk. Despite all that, he's still a good and fair cop, as well as someone who deeply treasures his family. If anything, Danny is such a prick because he cares so much; he hates seeing bad things happen to people, and the crimes he investigates every day piss him off to no end. He is rarely anything but compassionate with victims.
• Karma Houdini: Downplayed. Danny has never committed an outright heinous act and is not a straight example of a Dirty Cop. However, he has done many acts that are considered violations of protocol and the rights of a suspect, some of which defintely crosses the line into clear-cut Police Brutality, enough to the point that the NYPD would probably in real life have yanked his badge as early as the pilot.
• Karma Houdini Warranty:
  • His reckless actions finally catch up to him in the Season 7 finale, where after he purposefully botches a long-term DEA sting investigation for short-term justice results in his house being torched by a vengeful cartel, which forces Danny to finally face the consequences of his actions.
  • In season 9, he gets written up for disobedience, by his brother, no less, and that's assuming he's never had a mark on his record.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Generally sour towards the world in general, but gets up every morning to take criminals off the streets, due to his love of New York City.
• Ladykiller in Love: "After Hours" reveals that Danny was something of a ladies' man before he met, fell in love with, and married Linda.
• Limited Advancement Opportunities: Justified, Danny's a major case detective with years of experience but he's also a loose canon so he's not going to get any further up the police career ladder, something that's emphasized when Jamie finally manages to get a promotion and outranks his brother.
• Manchild: Downplayed. Danny is mature, but is the most immature when put alongside Erin and Jamie and refuses to let go of a topic if it personally offended him.
• Married to the Job: Primarily of the "The Job is That Important" type, but with shades of "Justified Workaholic". Much to his actual wife Linda's chagrin, and often a source of tension when Danny has to leave his family's side to go out on a mission. He also schedules himself for a lot of extra tours when he and Linda are going through financial difficulties.
  • Steers more towards the "The Job is That Important" subtype in Season 8. After their house burnt down at the end of Season 7 and Linda's death before the Season 8 debut, Danny's financial difficulties are bigger than ever. So much so that he begins looking for other work. He has a line on a job supervising private security for a millionaire and his family, with generous benefits and, when combined with his police pension, would give him an income of nearly a half million annually. He's this close to taking it, but after talking about it with his kids, they help him decide that he wouldn't be completely happy doing anything other than catching bad guys, and whatever money issues come up, they'll deal with it.
• Mysterious Past: Whatever happened to his Marine unit in Iraq has yet to be touched upon — mostly because Danny (understandably) refuses to talk about it.
• Never My Fault: Whenever he blames the DEA for letting a murderer walk, he doesn't take his responsibility in that it was his way of gathering evidence that are a factor in the criminals being let off. And when he gets angry for a being investigated by Internal Affairs and is angry at his father for not warning him, Danny doesn't take into account that the investigation was justified given his illegal, borderline Dirty Cop actions and that Frank couldn't do that just because Danny wanted him to. On rare moments does Danny admit his partial or full blame in something.
• Noble Bigot with a Badge: Against Muslims specifically. Danny makes some borderline Islamophobic remarks in "Worst Case Scenario", though in an earlier episode involving an apparent hate crime firebombing of a mosque, he comments that "the sign on the door [of America] says 'Everyone's Welcome' so we gotta back that up, partner."
• The Not-Love Interest: To Jackie, and to Baez. During the rare instances where Jackie and Linda are onscreen at the same time, it's quite clear Linda has no problem with her.
  • He and Baez are so much this that they're able to exchange "I love yous" that are as intense as any romantic moment while being strictly platonic. ^note  Or maybe not, as he brought her to the family dinner at the end of the Season 11 premier, implying that they might be undergoing a Relationship Upgrade
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Jackie lampshades this at the end of "Hall of Mirrors" when Danny was acting unlike himself throughout the episode when he was secretly investigating the attempted assassination of an undercover counter-terrorism agent for his father:
    Jackie: Well... when I mentioned 9/11, you didn't react. And then you tell me to get out of the Malik interrogation. And, uh, what really tipped it off is you stopped talking to me... like my stupid ex-husband used to do.
  • This is again directly lampshaded in "No Questions Asked" when Danny (initially) refuses to question a suspect possibly involved in a robbery because the cop who gave him and Jackie the information broke the rules to do so:
    Jackie: Did I miss something around here? Since when did we start following the rules?
    Danny: Jack, this is different. All right, it's the mayor and my old man and the Reverend Potter. It's just... It's political, all right? Just forget about it.
  • Danny is rarely ever afraid of criminals, even when they threaten vengeance. However, "Family Business" has him notably shaken up when a criminal comes to fulfill said promise.
• Papa Wolf: Anyone coming near his family is pretty much sealing their own death-wish. Danny even lampshades this in "The Job":
  Danny: (to Erin) Yeah, and you should know more than anyone that if someone takes a shot at my family, I'm taking him out. End of discussion.
• Parents as People: He loves his sons and wife more than his own life, but his love for the job often has him be away from them. His wife and siblings have even called him out for not spending enough time with his kids.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: His general MO. He can be absolutely vicious in the pursuit of justice (like when he beat a confession out of a child predator) and gets called on it on occasion by fellow cops and his more level-headed siblings.
• Red Oni: Again, to his partner Jackie.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Zigg-zagged. On the one hand he never tries to pull this, knowing that Frank would never stand for it. But on the other he gets away with a lot stuff that should get him reprimanded or fired — it's implied his last name is to thank for that.
• Semper Fi: Served as a Marine in Iraq — specifically Fallujah.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: He alludes in several episodes to having well-controlled PTSD over his service in the Iraq War.
• Shipper on Deck: He makes a few smartass comments about how Jamie and Eddie have the hots for each other.
• Smarter Than You Look: Danny appears to be a hot-blooded Cowboy Cop, but he can be surprisingly crafty when he wants to be.
• Sole Survivor: He was the only member of his Marine unit in Iraq to make it back home.
• Token Evil Teammate: Downplayed. While Danny is not a straight example of a Dirty Cop, he's the one who will do borderline illegal, malicious actions if it means getting justice. Case in point, in "Worse Case Scenario", Danny was all willing and ready to unplug a ventilator of a terrorist to get information out of him.
• Tough Love: Deconstructed with Jamie — Danny acts aloof and like a jerk to his brother because he wants him to know everything he needs to know. However, this (unsurprisingly) causes Jamie to resent his brother for "tearing me [him] down every chance" and only adds more tension to their already distant relationship.
• Trauma Conga Line: Undergoes one between the finale of Season 7 and premiere of Season 8, when his house is burned down in retalliation for seizing millions of dollars of Mexican cartel drug money and then his wife is killed in a hit made to look like a helicopter accident by the same cartel, which forms a large portion of Season 8's over-arching plot.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Gender-flipped and a husband variant. "Art of War" has him violently going after the man who shot Linda.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Danny's sons have never complained on-screen about his absence, but his siblings and wife have called him out on not spending time with his kids. At least one episode indicates he schedules himself for a lot of extra tours because he and Linda are having money problems (which makes sense: they're supporting two kids and a mortgage as a police detective and a nurse, neither of which pays well. Danny is also not the kind who would ask Frank to loan him money).

Officer / Sergeant Jamie Reagan

Officer / Sergeant Jamison "Jamie" Reagan

Played by Will Estes

The youngest of Frank Reagan's surviving children, and a rookie patrol cop at the start of the series. A Harvard Law graduate, he changed his mind about being a lawyer and joined the NYPD partly because of his dead brother Joe, and partly because he wanted to help people more than he wanted to make money.

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• All-Loving Hero: Jamie is always looking out for those he thinks need help and tries to sympathize with criminals.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Downplayed. Jamie isn't actively ostracized by his cop peers, but many of them think he's an Entitled Bastard because he's the police commissioner's son and will often accuse some of Jamie's actions as thinking he'll get away with it because of the relation.
• Almighty Janitor: Invoked. Jamie has been passed over for promotions both due to assumptions about nepotism and his own father's unwillingness to give his detractors an excuse to cry foul. However, Jamie actually likes where he is, believing that the cops are like a production facility with several members of his family standing watch on its various levels, but someone needs to be on the shop floor to keep an eye on things. Eventually deconstructed, as even Frank begins to think Jamie's wasting his potential and practically begs him to take the sergeant exam. Jamie finally becomes a Sergeant in Season 9.
• Amazon Chaser: As Erin states in "Partners", Jamie has always had a thing for "bossy, strong, and opinionated" women.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Like it stated earlier, Jamie is the youngest of Frank's children.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Jamie is much more even-tempered than Danny and tends to have better people skills, but when he does lose his temper, he can be in Danny's league.
  • In a season 5 episode, he goes for a tour with a cop who turned in her partner for killing a suspect with an illegal choke-hold (because she's being shunned for snitching). After Eddie and her current ride-along have to drive halfway across the precinct's patrol area to back them up in a shootout (because nobody else responded to the snitch's call for backup), Jamie lets every cop in the precinct have it with both barrels.
  • In another case, he tries to talk down a suicide bomber but as it becomes increasingly clear the man was too far gone, he coolly sneaks his finger onto the trigger of his already-leveled sidearm and headshots the man.
• Big Brother Worship: Implied. When Eddie asks who is the person he admires the most other than his parents, he responds that the said person would be his older brother, Joe.
• Black Sheep: Jamie stands out among his family for being the first man in generations not to join the military. He's also the most even-tempered, illustrated by the fact that he's the only one who doesn't suffer from road rage.
• Break the Cutie: His first confirmed kill was a Suicide by Cop case, not to mention that his second partner Vinny Cruz was killed right in front of him.
• By-the-Book Cop: Very much so; this is part of the tension between him and Danny.
• Character Development: Undergoes the most of any of the main characters, with a years-long arc tracking his development from New Meat into a seasoned beat cop bucking for detective.
• Chick Magnet: Put Jamie in the same room with almost any woman his age (minus Erin, naturally) and she'll be cooing over him before long.
  • He starts the series with Sydney, later attracts Laura (a witness he had to guard), then attracts Bianca, a Mafia Princess.
  • In the first few minutes of the pilot, Maria gives Jamie a slightly-more-than friendly hug. The whole Reagan clan notices. So does Sydney.
  • If Erin can be believed, he sets all the female paralegals in the DA's office a-twitter as well.
  • A deleted scene says that he was the source of much gossip among his female classmates at the academy.
  • In season's 3 and 4, he has an on again/ off again thing with Dana, an old Harvard classmate. (Dana and Eddie are immediately curious about each other's place in Jamie's life)
  • In Season 5, a quick inquiry about an EDP to a pretty doctor results in him getting a phone number, at least a few dates, and a jealous-despite-herself partner.
  • In season 7, Jamie impresses Tara with his kindness, although we're not led to believe anything romantic happened, and REALLY impresses Caroline when he and Eddie take down some bandits. Eddie's date is nowhere near as impressed. He doesn't always seem to capitalize on these opportunities though.
  • As of Seasons 4/5, his new female partner Edie Janko (nickname for Edit, a Hungarian name) is shown to be falling for him. Jamie himself seems to reciprocate, though both are still in denial about it, at least partially because admitting it would be mean that Sergeant Renzulli would be forced to reassign them to different partners. Eddie admits that she's never happy to see another woman in Jamie's life. Eddie and Jamie are are an official couple at the end of Season 8.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Any life insurance company that sells to him doesn't know it's job.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: As Jamie's feelings for Edie kept growing, so did his anger over another guy flirting with her. An episode from season 7 has Edie calling him out for getting jealous when another guy took an interest in her, but he pretended his feelings were out of concern for a partner.
• Drives Like Crazy: Averted, in contrast to the rest of his family, which leads to Erin arranging for him to teach Nicky how to drive.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?:
  • Jamie is a good cop with a strong moral compass and strong respect for the rules, and yet he is often shut down by other superior officers mainly because he's the commissioner's son, and they assume he's an Entitled Bastard as a result. The phrase "I don't care what your last name is" is something he's told a lot. And because he's Frank's son he's subject to enforced Limited Advancement Opportunities to avoid any appearance of favoritism. By Season 6, he's becoming bitter about this.
  • In Season 6, he's subject to an IA investigation due to an accusation of excessive force, and Rev. Potter uses it as an excuse to launch another attack on the Reagan Family. When he expresses frustration at being taken off duty Frank tells him he's being treated like any other cop according to protocol, Jaimie points he's not - he's being treated worse because of last name, something the Jerkass DA investigating the case makes perfectly clear. Frank and Henry telling him he need to just "grin and bare it" don't help his attitude.
• The Dulcinea Effect: Jamie cannot resist a Damsel in Distress.
• Extreme Omnivore: As a child, he had a habit of swallowing pretty much anything that could fit into his mouth, and his family laughingly reminisces the long list of things they needed to retrieve afterwards.
• Fair Cop: A cop and a resident Chick Magnet.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible (shared with Erin) to Danny's foolish. While he and Erin follow the rules set by them, their brother will often go into Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique in order to get a perp; needless to say, Danny has gotten a boatload of reprimands because of it.
• Forbidden Fruit: He becomes this to Eddie after Sgt. Renzulli informs them that they would be split up if they developed romantic feelings for each other. It's not true and by the end of season 8, they're engaged and can still work together.
• Friend to All Children: Jamie has a soft spot for children.
• Friends with Benefits: By season 4 he ends up in this relationship with a law school classmate.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Jamie's a very dedicated officer with a lot accomplishments and his reward for it all ... is being stuck as a humble patrolman because he's continually snubbed for promotion... until Season 9.
• Hero Does Public Service: As part of an NYPD initiative to boost their public involvement in the wake of the Bitterman Houses events at the close of season 3 during which Jamie's partner Vinny was killed, Jamie is shown coaching basketball in a poor neighborhood in "Growing Boys". He gets involved in the plot when two gangsters start pressuring one of his players to rejoin the gang and one of them is inadvertently hit by a car when Jamie goes after them.
• Hidden Depths: He can speak fluent Italian.
• Honor Before Reason: Is very idealistic.
• Humble Hero: He doesn't care about so much as doing the job right, and is very quick to tell off pompous jerks who think rank makes the cop.
• Hypocrite: In "Exiles", Jamie tries to persuade Edie to back off of a woman's personal issue. Note, this was after he tried to convince a woman to confess about her son not being her husband's biological child and trying to also convince Eddie to reconcile with her incarcerated father. Both moments that were someone else's personal problems and were none of his business.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Jamie has shades of this.
• The Infiltration: After he saved the life of mob heir Noble Sanfino while in plainclothes at the beginning of season 2, he has occasionally gone undercover in the Sanfino organization.
• Ivy League for Everyone: Jamie is a Harvard boy.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Again, the idealistic child — he was inspired to join the NYPD not just because of Joe, but because of the examples of his dad and grandfather.
• Limited Advancement Opportunities: Acknowledged In-Universe, because Frank is worried that any promotion Jamie receives will automatically be seen as nepotism, so for the moment he's still a beat cop, something he's not happy with especially since most of his Academy classmates have already made detective. He FINALLY gets promoted to Sergeant at the end of the Season 9 premiere.
• Love Cannot Overcome: Jamie's girlfriend left him because she couldn't stand loving a cop with Chronic Hero Syndrome.
• The McCoy—> The Kirk
• New Meat: Much of the focus on him is his professional and personal growth as a cop.
• Nice Guy: Is even called "the patient one" by the rest of his family. And none of the women who are drawn to him are interested because they're in the mood for a bad boy. Eddie even taunts him as a 'total Boy Scout' who's not her type (yet).
• Old Cop, Young Cop: He's the Young Cop with Renzulli, but as if to specifically highlight his Character Development, he's the Old Cop with his season 4 partner Eddie Janko, a rookie.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His full first name is apparently "Jamison".
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • When Henry is mugged by a criminal (which involved getting hit in the head), Jamie drops his usual by-the-book and calm attitude while looking, and later, pursuing said-criminal. This is lampshaded by Renzuli:
  Renzuli: I want you to explain to me how a cop who always goes by the book suddenly decides to go off on his own without telling anyone where he's going in order to settle a personal vendetta?
  • Jamie is adamant of Edie being his partner over anyone else. So, after she deliberately didn't go to an officer in distress, he threatened to get another partner if she ever did something like that again.
• Out-of-Character Moment: The episode that has him and Eddie meeting a woman whose father is doing in his power to keep her from marrying a man he disapproves of, the usual Jamie with Chronic Hero Syndrome decided not to get involved. He has no real reason behind it and he hypocritically tries to convince Eddie to not get involved.
• Papa Wolf: Inverted. He goes after the man responsible for mugging and assaulting his grandfather, even breaking the rule he would usually follow. He even admits to Renzuli, he came very close to letting the man die.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Jamie has no problem arguing with or outright disobeying superior officers if he feels it's the right thing to do. Unfortunately, this is why he has an undeserved reputation as Entitled Bastard.
• Swallow the Key: Frank Reagan didn't raise any fools. When confronted by some mob brokers, Jamie hastily swallows the thumbdrive he used to hack into their finances. And it's not the first time either, as the family reminisces later on about him swallowing random items as a kid growing up.
• These Hands Have Killed: After his first line-of-duty fatal shooting. He did everything right, but he's still in shock, which is only exacerbated by the revelation that the perp was committing Suicide by Cop.
• Took a Level in Badass: When the Sanfinos put out a hit on his alias and on Noble, he saved Noble's life again and coolly talked him into testifying.
• Took a Level in Cynic: By season 6, Jamie becomes more cynical over the whole "being treated as an Entitled Bastard" from his peers.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: By season 6, though it's justified and downplayed. For the former, anyone would start to become angry over being thought of as an Entitled Bastard and having Limited Advancement Opportunities because it may look like favoritism since your father is the commissioner; for the latter, while he does have more jerkass moments, Jamie does apologize for what he said to the person he hurt.
  • By necessity in season 9 once Jamie gets his Sergeant's promotion, now that he has the responsibility of giving orders to his command, and on more than one occasion pulls rank to get people in line.
• The Unfavorite: It's never been explicitly confirmed, but Frank is usually more distant and less affectionate with him than he is with either Erin or Danny; he also tends to be more harder on Jamie, a By-the-Book Cop who rarely breaks the rules than he is on Danny, a Cowboy Cop who plays fast and hard loose the rules which often make solving a case more difficult than necessary.
  • In "My Brother's Keeper" — Jamie is mad at Danny for ignoring his orders to wait and going in guns blazing during a hostage crisis, and the two spend most of the episode at each other throats. Henry takes them both to hand and the end of the episode — Danny did the right thing, but he crossed a line doing it, while Jamie made a bad call. The implications are obvious — even when Danny gets reprimanded he's still getting a nod of approval that sends the message that he shouldn't change his behavior; Jamie follows the book and is told he made a bad judgement call because of it.
• Walking Spoiler: It's all but impossible to talk about his and Eddie's respective storylines in Season 9 forward without spoiling the end of Season 8.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Jamie is always trying to make his father and (by some extent Danny) proud of him. However it never seems to be enough for Frank.

ADA Erin Reagan

Played by Bridget Moynahan

The third Reagan sibling. Frank's daughter and Danny's and Jamie's sister, she is an Assistant District Attorney for Manhattan. She was married to a defense attorney, but they divorced before the series began and she is now a single mom. Her daughter Nicky recently raised her ire by deciding she wants to be the first female Reagan to become a cop.

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• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Erin gets weak in the knees when she meets art aficionado "Frank Weller." And she gets even weaker when he turns out to be an art thief (albeit one who returns art stolen by the Nazis during World War II to its rightful owners) who is using a fake alias.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Many of her colleagues in the DA's office think that since she comes from a family of cops, she's biased in cases involving officer misconduct and corruption, to the point where the DA himself assigns her to oversee a case of cops fixing tickets just to test her loyalty (in Real Life that would never happen since legal ethics requires judges and lawyers to recuse themselves in cases where they might have a conflict of interest).
• Amicable Exes: Downplayed with her ex-husband Jack Boyle. They're reasonable but rather curt with each other, and the first time we meet him, Jack wonders why Erin still has her married name "Reagan-Boyle" on her door. She says it's the same reason people who have lost weight keep a "before" picture. Ouch. She eventually has the 'Boyle' removed. However, they still do care for each other.
• Berserk Button:
  • In "Protest Too Much" Erin becomes noticeably pissed at her father's possible decision to date one of her acquaintance who is around her age. She gets even more pissed when Jamie used their mom and Erin's acquaintance in the "same lifetime".
  • Don't question her parenting methods, even if you're Frank.
• Brainy Brunette: Very much so.
• Daddy's Girl: Frank and Erin make it a habit to meet for lunch every Wednesday, and often lean on each other for advice on whatever case is going on.
• Dating Catwoman: Erin has a habit of dating men who are morally forbidden.
• Drives Like Crazy: Couldn't teach her own daughter to drive because she gets frustrated, bulling her way through heavy city traffic and leaning on the horn at the slightest provocation.
• Dude Magnet: Almost every episode has a man commenting her on her good looks.
• Fanservice with a Smile: In her teens, Erin worked as a roller-bunny at a cocktail bar (specifically Roxy's). Frank was apparently aware of it (his mustache twitches in amusement at the memory) but he let it slide.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible (shared with Jamie) to Danny's foolish. While she and Jamie follow the rules set by them, their brother will often go into Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique in order to get a perp; needless to say, Danny has gotten a boatload of reprimands because of it.
• Former Teen Rebel: Many references to her teen years indicates that Erin would get into quite lot of trouble. It probably explains why she's so strict with Nicky.
• Fox News Liberal: Zigzagged. Early on, Danny calls her a "liberal" when she gets particularly testy about his methods in dealing with bad guys. Still, she's characterized well enough to avoid any Strawman Political tropes. She actually comes across more as a libertarian: holding many conservative viewpoints, and having a tough stance on crime while still being very concerned about civil liberties and sometimes skeptical towards law enforcement, a position that often brings her into conflict with Danny. (Indeed, many conservatives in Real Life often accuse libertarians of being "liberal" because of this stance, so this is probably intentionally reflected in Danny's arguments with Erin.)
• Glamorous Single Mother: Averted. Erin expertly juggles work and her teenage daughter, but has little time left for a social life.
• Guile Heroine: Her skill as a rather clever attorney has come in handy many times.
• Hello, Attorney!: Yes, she is hot.
• Hidden Depths:
  • "Risk and Reward" shows Erin to be great at playing pool.
  • "Nightmares" revealed that she absolutely adores Halloween.
• The Maiden Name Debate: After divorcing Jack, she kept the "Boyle" part of her last name for a while before deciding to back to her maiden name.
• Mama Bear: When a serial killer kidnaps Nicky, Erin doesn't hesitate to go with Danny to find her. Carrying her gun with her as well.
• Not So Above It All: Erin can be just as petty as Danny when they butt heads in a case.
• Overprotective Mom: To Nicky, as she scolds one of her brothers (at different times) for putting her in a unsafe environment.
• Principles Zealot: Is strongly committed to her principles and the law, and doesn't like Danny's Cowboy Cop tendencies. She has been known to bend on occasion, though.
• Sex with the Ex: The C-plot in "Knockout Game" opens with Jack Boyle, Erin's ex, turning up in her shower the morning after they apparently went out on a date and slept together afterwards. It doesn't go anywhere because she decides he hasn't really changed.
• Shipper on Deck: When Jamie brings up Renzuli's comment about him having feelings for Eddie, Erin points out a few important details from his and Eddie's relationship that show they have romantic feelings for one another.
• Taking the Kids: Erin got Nicky after divorcing her husband, a defense attorney.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Despite being a prosecutor, it's not uncommon for her to feel sympathy for defendants if they deserve it.
• Tough Love: She had Nicky thrown in an overnight holding cell who was naively protecting her friends from a drug possession charge (they were coming back from a concert got pulled over for a routine traffic stop and drugs were found. And the law assumes that everyone in the car is guilty of possession). Frank calls her out on this, noting she was once found with a half empty bottle of booze in her car when she was a teenager. Erin does not appreciate the comparison.
• Trademark Favorite Food: "Innocence" reveals her favorite food is Shepherd's pie.

Nicole "Nicky" Reagan-Boyle

Played by Marelne Lawston (pilot), Sami Gayle

Erin's daughter. She recently decided she wants to be the first female Reagan to join the NYPD. Her mom was thrilled. She later reconsiders, afraid that becoming a cop would lead her to become cynical about people's motives.

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• Adorably Precocious Child: She's in middle school when the series begins, but dresses and behaves like a thirty-two year old. She isn't cowed by any of the Reagans, regardless of age, and seems to view herself as the matriarch of the family.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Downplayed. While Nicky does have friends, she often feels like an outcast because whenever they hear she's a Reagan, they may want to do the "fun" stuff without her.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: She wants to be a cop and was eager to go on a ride along and from it sees her first dead body. She has many night terrors after that.
• Boyish Short Hair: For most of the series she has a pixie cut. She starts growing it out once she reaches college.
• Brainy Brunette: Brown hair + Honors student + Wise Beyond Her Years equals this trope.
• Daddy's Girl: Despite having an absent father thanks to a divorce, she is thankfully not lacking a male role model in her grandfather.
• Depending on the Writer: Even allowing for the fact that Nicky's the family 'bleeding heart liberal' on several occasions, she will either hold an attitude that's wildly out of step with her previously established characterization or will express a bizarre sort of surprise at her family's reaction to something - reactions which are totally consistent with what we know about her family. This attitude will only be present for an episode, and the next week we'll have our old Nicky back.
  • In 'The Road To Hell' Nicky is pulled over, and one of her passengers has drugs. Nicky hesitates on admitting who most likely had the drugs, and acts shocked that she'll have a criminal record if she continues to play dumb. When Erin scolds her on how such a record can have real-world consequences for her future, she acts appalled and says her mom is "scaring her" with such information. Erin's annoyed response? "Welcome to reality!"
  • In 'Erasing History' Nicky's stunned that her activist friend Chrissie's attack and desecration of an NYPD flag and statue is going to result in criminal charges. When Frank expresses his fury at her friend's actions, Nicky comments on how he seems to be taking it "personally". An aghast Frank reminds her that the same NYPD flag draped her uncle Joe's coffin, and asks Nicky point-blank 'Where are you?'
  • In 'The One That Got Away' Nicky (who has always been practically worshipful of her Uncle Jamie) doesn't seem to buy that Jamie is -or at least seriously thinks he is- immune to No Guy Wants an Amazon, and is convinced that there has to be some job that a woman could have that would turn him off. ('Undertaker. Sewer cleaner' Jamie allows)
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In the Pilot, she is portrayed as a typical Bratty Teenage Daughter, rolling her eyes a lot and trying to wear a skirt way too short to Jamie's graduation. After she gets recast, Sami Gayle we get the exceptionally intelligent and mature Adorably Precocious Child.
• Fox News Liberal: She's the most idealistic one of the Reagans and as such is usually the one to have liberal beliefs or at the very least have liberal friends in direct contrast to the rest of her family.... only to be repeatedly given a cold dose of reality, constantly be shut down or proven wrong by the rest of her family, or shown how her "friends" are really selfish jerks just using her.
• From the Mouths of Babes: In the early seasons. Around Seasons 4 and 5 she quite noticeably becomes more mature and outspoken.
• The Idealist: A fervent example. Nicky doesn't like injustice, and even tries to step in a few times and stop it. Sometimes, it works, but other times, life decides to kick her in the pants for being too hopeful for her own good. Most notably, in Season 7, she gets a harsh dose of reality when she meets a nuclear-level bitch who has resigned herself to being a victim of her abusive husband and would rather live with it than let someone take charge and decide what is best for her.
• Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: In Season 6, she's in a car with friends and gets pulled for a routine traffic stop and the cops find drugs in the car. She gets suspended from Columbia and nearly gets charged for possession until one of her friends cops to it.
• Like Parent, Like Child: Nicky browbeats Erin into letting her stay out until 11:00. Frank wryly observes that she "made a very convincing argument".
• The Matchmaker: Nicky is interested in pairing her mom off with her boss, DA Rossalini. She also lobbied for Erin to date the art thief.
• Mouthy Kid: She has her moments.
• Nice Girl: Often noted to be a well-behaved young lady.
• Nom de Mom: Justified and downplayed. For the former, it was because her mother divorced her father with the former taking main custody, and thus Nicky retained her mother's name. For the latter, she still keeps her father's surname.
• Ordinary High-School Student: She's very well-behaved and intelligent, but increasingly chafes at Erin's stern restrictions on her social life. Still manages to remain quite level-headed through it all.
• The Paragon: One of the smartest and most well-behaved students at her school, to the point where other kids' parents apparently have asked them why they can't be "more like that Nicky Reagan-Boyle." Nicky uses that fact to point out that she deserves the benefit of the doubt when she asks for more personal freedom.
• Raised by Grandparents: Downplayed. Nicky has both of her parents in her life with her mother having sole custody. However, her father is a flake and her maternal grandfather takes the role of her main paternal figure.
• Turn Out Like His Father: She intends to be a cop too. Erin is ambiguous about that.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Shows moments of being more intuitive than she appears.

Linda Reagan (née O'Shea)

Played by Amy Carlson

Wife of Danny and mother of their two grade-school boys (Jack and Sean), Linda works as a charge nurse at St. Vincent's Hospital. As the sole Reagan adult not professionally involved in law enforcement, her views sometimes contrast with those of her in-laws, but her loyalty to Danny and commitment to her patients and children are unquestionable.

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• Belated Injury Realization: When a key witness is shot in his hospital bed in the season 5 finale, Linda takes two in the abdomen, but she's so hopped-up on adrenaline she does a full round of CPR and doesn't even realize she was hit until after the witness has already flatlined.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Linda is a sweet woman — loving mother and caring wife. But, if she's angry about something, she won't hide it.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: At one point, Linda worried that Danny would have an affair with a bar waitress and doesn't hide her jealousy over Danny helping out his ex-girlfriend.
• Doesn't Like Guns: At least, she doesn't like that Danny dealt with Jack's fear after a shooting incident by teaching him how to safely handle his father's sidearm. She also, at one point, bought a revolver for self-defense after being mugged, but decided "it's not me."
• Dropped a Bridge on Her: She dies in a helicopter crash between Seasons Seven and Eight, on the job in the middle of an airlift gone wrong.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Her hair gets shorter after she resumes her work as a nurse.
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: An early episode features Linda's sister, a fashion designer, who she has a somewhat tense relationship with. Her sister appears on some level to believe that the rest of their family admire Linda's choice to be a nurse and a Staten Island family woman more than her decision to be a fashion designer.
• Good Parents: Linda is a devoted and caring mother to Jack and Sean.
• Go Through Me: Linda is tending to a patient who's about to testify against a violent street gang. A gunman enters and tells her to leave the room, but she won't abandon her patient and deliberately steps between them.
• Hospital Hottie: Linda is attractive and restarts her nursing career once Jack and Sean are old enough not to need her full attention.
• Mama Bear: Linda is very protective over her sons. In "Unfinished Business", she gives Danny a major What the Hell, Hero? moment when he took out his frustrations on Jack because the episode's case was very personal for him.
• Missing Mom: Becomes this to her sons due to dying in a helicopter crash by season 8.
• Nice Girl: Linda has shown to be a thoughtful, caring, and sensitive person.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: While Linda can get exasperated at Danny's workload and angry at his negative traits, she loves him because he's a "good man".
• Team Mom: The one first to offer support and has a gentle nature.

Jack and Sean Reagan

From left to right: Jack and Sean.

Played by Tony and Andrew Terraciano respectively

The two sons of Danny and Linda. Will typically only appear in the family dinner scenes.

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• The Baby of the Bunch: Sean is the youngest member of the entire Reagan family.
• Break the Cutie: Season 8 hits them right where it hurts. Both of them are not in good spirits after the death of their mom Linda, being very quiet and forlorn in the months following the accident. It seems to have provoked the beginning of their emergence into adulthood.
• Children Are Innocent: Whenever a particularly tough and/or complicated adult topic comes up, one of the older members will immediately tell the boys to go eat in the kitchen or go upstairs to play.
• Innocently Insensitive: Some of the questions they ask can be this, with them not understanding how certain topics can be painful and/or sensitive to the older members of the Reagan family.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Episodes often show the boys being kept in the dark about disturbing events, such as their mother's kidnapping (she was "at a spa") or the fact that a raid Frank once led on a mob-family christening ceremony resulted in the collateral death of the baby.
• Lovable Jock: Both are active hockey players (Jack even played soccer at one point) and are nice young men.
• Morality Pet: Danny will be his nicest when he's with either or both of them.
• Nice Guy: Both are well mannered and polite young men.
• Satellite Character: They often serve as the children on Danny and Linda who often ask questions regarding the current episode's topic, though as they've aged up they've been allowed to contribute to episode plots.
• Trademark Favorite Food: As "Growing Boys" revealed, their favorite meal are taco pies.

Detective Joe Reagan

Played by Unknown Actor

The 2nd youngest Reagan kid. A warrant squad detective who was killed in the line of duty before the show starts. A running arc in the first season is Jamie investigating his death.

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• Disappeared Dad: A one-night stand resulted in a son that he never knew about. His nephew Sean found out about him from a DNA network.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: A family variant and averted. His death is mentioned throughout the series on how it affected his family and his murder became a major plot point in season one.
• The Heart: Implied. A line from Linda reveals that Joe was the one to help Danny and Jame connect with each other; his death resulted in his brothers' relationship becoming strained and distant.
• He Knows Too Much: He was getting too close to discovering how dirty the Blue Templar was, and their leader decided to kill him.
• Hidden Depths: Joe loved poetry.
• The Informant: For the FBI, in regards to the Blue Templar.
• Nice Guy: His training officer Renzulli called him a 'real sweetheart'.
• Posthumous Character: He is dead by the start of the series.
• Present Absence: Joe is frequently mentioned throughout the series, most often when a cop is killed in the line of duty.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He had a thing for poetry.
• Vague Age: It isn't clear whether or not he's older or younger than Erin as episodes give conflicting information.

Margaret "Mary" Reagan

Frank's late wife. She was the matriarch to his patriarch, until the onset of cancer cut her life short at the age of 50 and left Frank the lone head of the family. Her birth date is given as April 28, 1955 and her death date is given as September 14, 2005.

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• Apron Matron: Mary held a lot a responsibility just like Frank did, and when she was still around, Frank was not as aged or wearied by his job because Mary helped balance the strain. Unfortunately, the stress of looking after her children and being concerned for their welfare wore on her even more than it did Frank, until she grew mortally ill without warning.
• Missing Mom: Her absence is very clear at the dinner table. Furthermore, losing Mary deeply affected Frank and caused him to become The Stoic he is now, but he continued on as police commissioner on his own, surrounded by his family and loved ones. The premiere of Season 8 brings about the first really major discussion on the show about how Frank suffered in the wake of her death, because now Danny is going through the exact same thing he is after losing Linda in a helicopter wreck.
• Posthumous Character: She died five years before the start of the series.
• Soap Opera Disease: It's strongly inferred that she had cancer, but most of the time we get vague details about how she passed.

Officer / Detective Second Grade Edit "Eddie" Reagan-Janko

Played by Vanessa Ray

Jamie's partner from Season Four through Season Eight. They get engaged in the final moments of Season Eight, and married at the end of Season Nine.

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• Action Girl: A trained female cop who's not afraid to use her fists or gun.
• Attempted Rape: Suffers an attempted date rape in "The Truth About Lying" and is brutally beaten. She lies to Jamie initially when he comes by to check on her after she called into work sick and sees her battered condition. He eventually works out what happened, talks her into coming forward, and she gets to arrest her own would-be rapist. In the middle of another date. (Which is a massive conflict of interest, but dang if it wasn't awesome.)
• Big Eater: Though we've never actually seen it, she apparently eats a lot, and half the jokes Jamie makes at her expense involve how long their lunch breaks take. Jamie even lampshades her eating habit in "Partners":
  Eddie: Why is it every time I'm eating... we get a job?
  Jamie: Maybe 'cause you're always eating.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: She tries to hide her jealousy when Jamie goes out with other women, but admits to him that it's hard to do so because of her feelings for him. (Not that Jamie is always thrilled about her dating guys, though.)
• Dark and Troubled Past: She grew up in a sheltered and wealthy upbringing, had loving parents and a great life... until her father got arrested and she found out their wealth was because he was running a Ponzi scheme and screwing good people over. Her father is serving 6-8 years at Fort Dix Correctional for his crimes. She later stated in season 4 episode 10 that long-time associates they knew had lost everything and she hasn't spoken to her father in 3 years. It's implied this rough patch of her life inspired her choice to become a cop. Because of her background and the fact that she is a woman in law enforcement, she has had to work harder to prove that she deserves to be a cop.
• Fair Cop: Cute little blonde officer, though don't mistake her for a Dumb Blonde—she's very competent, if inexperienced.
• Friendship as Courtship: Due to having already spent large amounts of time together while on the job most of the week for several years (and getting drinks or eating together afterward), she and Jamie skip dating and simply decide to get married when having a Love Epiphany. Her mother voices disapproval of her not having dated her fiance first when learning of the engagement, to which Eddie basically says that since they already know everything about each other, there wasn't a point to dating.
• Forbidden Fruit: She becomes this to Jamie after Sgt. Renzulli informs them that they would be split up if they developed romantic feelings for each other. The rule turns out to be utter nonsense and nowhere in the book (being more of a social rule if anything else). They're engaged by the end of season 8 and they can continue to work together, even sticking by his side after he gets promoted to Sergeant and transferred uptown.
• Gender-Blender Name: Her nickname is usually for males and this gets lampshaded a few times.
• Gut Feeling: In the last episode of season 8, Eddie gets this when Jamie is about to be shot at. She acts quickly, saves Jamie and shoots his assailant with badass accuracy. It's then that both of them know they're meant for each other and get engaged.
• Hypocrite: In "Forgive and Forget", Eddie is first seen trying to defend a thief who was stealing to support his family, but is disgusted (along with most of the precinct) of a cop who testified against her partner for use of an illegal chokehold. Note that "illegal chokehold" is a way more offensive crime than theft, especially since said illegal choke-hold ended up killing the suspect. Jamie actually calls her out on this.
• It's All About Me: She is so eager to get promoted to detective that she often dips into this attitude. One example was when she and Jamie were staking out a possible drug operation and a call came in that a cop was hurt. Since they were close, Jamie opted they take it, but Eddie said no since they were on a job and even took the keys to prevent Jamie from starting the car. And while no cop was actually hurt, Jamie rightfully calls out Eddie for caring more about her own promotion then another cop who may have been in danger.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Edie has let her anger and own self-interests get the better of her judgement at times. But, she's still a dedicated cop and a good person.
• The Maiden Name Debate: In the first episode of Season 10, she and Jamie have one of these. They ultimately decide that she'll still use her maiden name professionally, and hyphenate her surname legally. Her reasoning is that she doesn't want to get special treatment (or targeted by the likes of the Reverend Potter) right off the bat for being the Commissioner's daughter-in-law, and Jamie concedes the point.
• New Meat: Jamie, by now a seasoned patrolman, is assigned to be her Field Training Officer.
• Old Cop, Young Cop: She's the (relatively) young cop to Jamie's (relatively) old and seasoned. They might even be the same age.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Called "Eddie" 99% of the time. It's short for Edit (pronounced "Edeet"), the Hungarian equivalent of Edith. When her mother visits her and calls her by her actual first name, Eddie remarks that no one calls her Edit and implies it's how she prefers it.
• Second Love: To Jamie, since his fiance from season 1, Sidney Davenport, left him because she couldn't handle the hardships of being with a cop.
• Ship Tease: Her and Jamie. They're engaged by the end of season 8. Their wedding makes up the last couple minutes of Season 9.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She has a thing for the All-Loving Hero and Nice Guy Jamie. In the final moments of Season 9, she ends up marrying him.
• Uptown Girl: Has had a wealthy upbringing and, upon getting engaged to Jamie (who isn't rich), her mother disapproves because she doesn't believe he can give Eddie the life she is used to. (Never mind she's made it clear that money isn't important to her.)
• Walking Spoiler: It's all but impossible to talk about her and Jamie's respective storylines in Season 9 forward without spoiling the end of Season 8.

Detective Joseph "Joe" Hill

Played by Will Hochman

• Cousin Oliver: A rare adult version, but he appears at the end of Season 10 as the newest member of the Reagan family.
• Dead Guy Junior: He's named after his father.
• In the Blood: He became a cop just like his great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and two uncles.
• Tangled Family Tree: He's not that much younger than his Uncle Jamie.^note In real life, Will Estes is fourteen years older than Will Hochman