Through The Looking Glass

A homeless man in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn is set on fire while he sleeps on a park bench, and he dies. A zealous reporter named Anne Farrell (played by Leslie Hope) covers the story, and also makes derogatory Tweets about how poorly the NYPD patrols neighborhoods like Brownsville. Franks asks to meet with Anne, but the meeting does not go well and she continues to take issue with the NYPD, and Frank in particular. Farrell then scores an interview with the murder suspect, who says while his face and voice are altered that he set the man on fire as part of a gang initiation, and that she can be certain it will happen again. Farrell claims First Amendment protection, but Erin is able to get a judge to compel Farrell to give up the information in order to prevent a future violent crime from being committed. Farrell refuses to testify and goes to jail, where Frank visits her. He says he has nothing to do with her being in jail, then tries to convince her that her information will save lives. Meanwhile, Danny and Maria are ordered by Lt. Carver to take a 16-year troublemaker named Charelle along with them for the Rescue Ride program. This happens just before the detectives have to investigate a drug-related homicide. Danny orders Charelle to stay in the car, but she ignores him and then vomits when she sees the body of one of the victims. Charelle later complicates a raid on a drug building by showing up after seeing the info posted on a board in the squad room, prompting Danny and Baez to throw her in jail after the incident. Carver asks if he thinks that's the right thing to do. Danny says yes, then relays a story about skipping school and his father letting him get sent to juvenile detention for it. He says he never skipped school again. Elsewhere, Erin has opened up a 20-year-old cold case that turns out to be the murder of McBride's mother. She tells McBride she really wants to help him solve it, but he says he has investigated every angle. Erin is certain that more modern DNA testing methods could be the key. She is right, but the DNA evidence implicates McBride's father, who left the home when McBride was very young. McBride then tells Erin that's why he stopped investigating the case...because he was afraid that his father might have done it, and he didn't want to be thought of as a murderer's son.