TV recap: Frank's son is accused of police brutality on 'Blue Bloods'

Tom Selleck in "Blue Bloods." (CBS PHOTO by JOHN PAUL FILO. ©2010 CBS BROADCASTING INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

[Spoiler alert!  The following contains spoilers from "Blue Bloods"]

Don't tell Quentin Tarantino!  In an episode that seems ripped from the headlines, NYCPD Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) tries to help his son Jamie (Will Estes) after the policeman is accused of brutality at an anti-cop demonstration.

During the family ordeal, Frank must walk on eggshells with longtime adversaries, Reverend Darnell Potter (Ato Essandoh) and civil rights attorney Jerry Guerrero (Steven Bauer).

As the episode opens, protesters gather in the city to protest police tactics and demand justice. Jamie admits to his partner Eddie Janko (Vanessa Ray) that the leaders of the rally, the community leading African American Rev. Potter and Jerry, are no friends of his dad.

A scuffle ensues as Jamie tells the marchers that they need to be behind barricades.

Then he pushes a guy on a speeding bicycle to the ground, hurting him badly, because he was about to run into a woman and her young son.

Unfortunately for Jamie, the protesters take cell phone video only of the incident's aftermath, in which it looked like the policeman had used unnecessary force. And Eddie tells him she didn't see the woman and child, only that Jamie had sent the man crashing to the pavement.

Later, Rev. Potter tells the crowd that Jamie had put the bicyclist in the hospital, and Jerry compares the Reagans to a crime family.

When Frank's aides inform him of the situation, he fumes about the minister and attorney going after his family.

But Garrett Moore (Gregory Jbara) tells him the bicyclist suffered a skull fracture, and Frank sighs that Jamie's case must be sent to internal affairs.

At home, Jamie complains to his father that he's been put on modified assignment and taken off the streets.

"Do you want me to start pulling strings for you?" Frank asks.

His son says he doesn't want special treatment, but grouses, "This feels like I'm getting extra lashes for appearances sake."

Frank explains to Jamie he must be investigated just like any other cop.

Then Frank's other son, detective Danny Reagan, and his partner Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez), are thrown into the mess after a law student named Diana claims attorney Jerry gave her a roofie and raped her in his hotel room.

When Danny and Maria find date rape drugs and sex toys in Jerry's room, they arrest him. But Jerry charges that he had consensual sex with the woman and the arrest is merely Reagan retaliation because he had called out Jamie for police brutality.

Later, Rev. Potter visits Frank to complain that Jerry has been framed by scam artist Diana.

The minister offers to make witnesses available from the rally who could help Jamie if Frank exposes Jerry's accuser's lies.

Frank won't play ball, saying Potter is offering a quid pro quo to corrupt an investigation.

After Jerry gets out on bail, Rev. Potter fires up his demonstrators by shouting, "Commissioner Reagan must resign and take the rest of his corrupt kin with him."

He then leads the crowd in a chant of "Reagan must go!"

At internal affairs, Jamie is interrogated and the investigators tell him Eddie didn't back up his story.  They also make it clear that he won't be treated differently because he's a Reagan.

Later, Jamie expresses disappointment in Eddie and she's angry he doesn't trust her anymore.

Danny and Maria find Diana has skipped town before her Grand Jury testimony against Jerry. But Maria later traces her to a legal office.  The detectives soon find out that Diana has made up the rape to shake Jerry down.

At the Reagan family Sunday dinner, grandpa Henry tells Jamie he has to grin and bear it when it comes to being investigated. When saying grace, Jamie irks Frank by sarcastically thanking the Lord for making them all Reagans.

Then the commissioner boldly goes to Rev. Potter's office and says that he has a way to clear his attorney Jerry—and in return, Frank wants access to protesters who will tell the truth about Jamie.

Rev. Potter demands a civilian oversight position with the police, but Frank refuses, saying it isn't in his power to do that and leaves in disgust.

To the minister's fury, Danny later gets a warrant to seize videos at Potter's office that might prove Jamie's case—and they do show the policeman was right, allowing him to return to his beat with partner Eddie (who patches things up between them at yet another anti-cop protest).

Meanwhile, Frank forges a truce with Jerry over lunch, with the commissioner saying he was encouraging the press to get out the real story that the attorney's accuser lied about the rape.

But Frank also warns Jerry never to go after his family again.

"Blue Bloods" airs Friday on CBS.