Len Cariou talks about the end of the show, The Last Family Dinner, Henry and Erin

(Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Blue blood Season 14 Episode 13 “From Bad to Worse”).

Henry (Len Cariou) surprises Erin (Bridget Moynahan) twice recently Blue blood episode.

First, she’s shocked to learn that he’s about to testify for the defense about the evolution of the NYPD’s chokehold policy during its case against a former cop who used it on a neighbor over a dispute over a fence. When she confronts him, he simply says that the case is important, expert testimony is needed, and he knows how to judge people. But then in court, on the stand, he says that the defendant is one of those police officers who made chokeholds illegal. He didn’t tell Erin because he didn’t want to ruin the surprise.

Below, Cariou talks about how much fun it was, his last days on set, and the end of the show.

Watching the courtroom scene, it looked like Henry was having fun on the stand, having the opportunity to surprise Erin.

Len Cariou: Yes, he was. The opportunity to deceive her in some sense gave Henry great pleasure.

I also loved the last scene with you and Bridget in Erin’s office and how’s Henry, okay, where’s the tape? In this episode we brought you two together.

I think the writers (wanted) to spend some screen time with the two of them because they had such a great history throughout the series and they were such big favorites, she was the only woman in the group and he I always told her : “My beloved granddaughter,” and she always answered: “You mean your only granddaughter, smart girl.” (Laughs)

What was your last day on set like?

I was thinking about this just a few minutes ago. It was quite bittersweet. The last scene, of course, was at a funeral, so we weren’t even home the day we finished it. I finished that day myself and several others, Tom (Selleck)A group of guys, Bridget and Steve (Scirripa), and others, they also finished that day before the rest of the episode was finished. So in that sense it was quite strange, just like any other day, any other week. And we’ve kind of gotten used to the fact that we said goodbye, if you will, without spending a lot of emotional time together. So we said, okay, we’re done with this and we’ll stay in touch if we can. And then, lo and behold, a couple of weeks ago we all got together for the wrap-up, the presentation of the last eight shows, and it was bittersweet. I just got used to the fact that we said goodbye and then everyone was back in the room, and it made it a little more difficult for me.

What was it like filming the last family dinner?

Emotional. Yes, it was quite emotional. It wasn’t the last thing we did, but in a way it was nice to be in the room together, but it was a tough day for us. And of course, not everyone on the show is present when we film it. Here is this fragment. But the interesting thing was that the very first scene we shot when we shot the pilot was the dinner scene. The first thing we shot on film was a scene from episode 101. It was quite interesting. We talked about this a little bit because when the show finally started there were a few cast changes. So it was quite emotional.

Having family dinners every week was so great because even if they fight, you can still feel the love.

Yes, it was Leonard Goldberg’s idea to do this in every episode because he wanted to show the world this aspect of family, police families, how they function outside of work. So that was kind of the core of it all. Mr. Goldberg thought it would be so—it was a gamble for him. He wanted it in every episode if it worked. And so when we all got together that first day, we said, “Why are we doing this in the first place, what are we filming? We hardly know each other. We must be a family, and one consisting of several generations.” But he said, “I have to make sure it works. If this doesn’t work, I’ll have to rethink everything.” But after he saw it, he said, “It works well. I can’t imagine it without family dinner. I don’t think it would be the same show at all.”

How was your farewell to the series and Henry? You talked about this a little earlier.

Hard. It was hard because it happened at the last eight launch party. It was the day before my birthday, so they made me a birthday cake at the party, so it was extra special.

I can’t wait to see how the show ends, but I would really like it to continue.

Yes, this is very bad. This doesn’t make any sense. I think our show is still the most watched show on Friday nights even though it was cancelled.

Blue blood consistently does well on Friday nights. This is impressive.

Yes, it has always been like this. And I think when they launched us there on a Friday night, think about 14-15 years ago – we weren’t excited about Friday night at 10. There was no Friday – at least at that moment it was not a very popular time, the first show over the weekend and we thought, well, this is not a good time. But because of Tom, and I think he has so many fans at CBS that when they saw the show they said, “No, it doesn’t matter. This is really good. So they’ll make it work on Fridays.” And then they thought about moving us to another night, and we said, I think Mr. Goldberg said, “No, Friday nights will be ours.” And, of course, we did it.

Blue bloodFriday, 9/10, CBS