Every Blue Bloods Season, Ranked by How Good It Was

14. Season 14

Fittingly enough, the latest season takes the last place on our list. While it has already had some interesting and compelling plotlines, like Jamie’s undercover mission with Joe messing it up or Jackie’s return for a joint case with Danny and Baez, it just doesn’t hold up against the earlier seasons, and it shows.

13. Season 13

Finally introducing a new major antagonist, the psychiatrist who turns out to be a serial killer, Season 13 could’ve gone way stronger than it did. Lacking much else, it became the reason why more and more Blue Bloods fans started talking about ending the series in the first place, and why the cancellation wasn’t such a shocker.

12. Season 12

No, we’re not going to keep matching the list numbers with the season numbers. But this is the objective truth: the last few seasons have been kind of underwhelming, and Season 12 was not an exception. Between Frank’s controversial public arrest and the cartel storyline, it was still much better than the latest season, though.

11. Season 10

See, we jumped over one! Anyway, there’s little to say about Season 10 other than it was distinctly uneventful apart from the usual daily crimes. Notable only for a few changes in the Reagan family’s composition, with Nicky moving to San Francisco and an entirely new family member joining the table, it just sort of happened.

10. Season 11

Season 11 was honestly a breath of fresh air after the stale confinement of S10. Most of the series tackled the unavoidable issues of the relationship between the police and the people as police brutality protests shook Frank’s seemingly stable position. Joe Hill’s active presence also added quite some novelty to the TV show.

9. Season 7

The primary storyline of Season 7 continued upon the previous season: with Danny’s self-defense shooting case still going, a key witness is murdered before they can help him. Meanwhile, Frank Reagan is once again under fire from the mayoral office. Overall, this season wasn’t bad, but its focus felt a bit off after the great Season 6.

8. Season 9

If we do say so ourselves, Season 9 felt likely like one big, long filler episode. The reason being that in this season, little to nothing interesting was going on beyond… Life. We doubt many people can remember much about this season beyond Jamie and Eddie’s wedding preparations, and that tells you something. A lot, actually.

7. Season 8

The previous season was definitely quite a lot livelier and full of action. Between explosions, people getting shot, and other dramatic events, this adrenaline-fueled series struck the right balance with the personal plots. It’s in this season that Jamie first introduced Eddie to the family, marking the start of their official life together.

6. Season 4

Now, we’re getting places: Season 4 was filled with exactly the kinds of stories that kept fans hooked on Blue Bloods after the first brilliant seasons. With various different crimes, from lowly stuff to high-stakes situations, detectives’ deaths, and Danny being in trouble (as always), it didn’t have major storylines but was still good.

5. Season 3

Another great season, the third series did everything we could have asked it to do, from a major corruption case with the Bitterman Projects and Mayor Poole’s assassination to Danny’s adjusting to working with a new partner. But once again, this was a common trait of the earlier seasons, being action-filled and captivating.

4. Season 6

As a rule of thumb, we love all the seasons that have major conflicts, if you haven’t noticed already — and from what we’ve gathered, most fans do. The serial killer threatening Danny’s family just when he’s busy chasing escaped convicts and Nicky’s arrest, everything falls into place, making it a tense and thrilling season.

3. Season 2

Some fans tend to underestimate Season 2, but we can see why. While it was an objectively solid entry, it came immediately after S1 which, to be honest, just couldn’t have been topped by anything else (and perhaps hasn’t been, but keep reading to learn more). With its biological weapons and cold cases, S2 was still a strong one.

2. Season 5

The only post-premiere season that came even close to matching the excitement of S1, this entry did its job beautifully. With the Warrior King storyline, Linda getting shot at, and good ol’ Hector being less lucky than her, Season 5 just did things the way we like it around here. It rightfully stands as the second best Blue Bloods season.

1. Season 1

There was never any competition for the gold medal in this list as Season 1 is simply unmatched. Apart from the thrill of novelty, it had the juggernaut of the Blue Templar storyline going for it, and that can’t be replicated. The only bummer here is that the show didn’t make this plot longer — but we still got a truly iconic season out of it.