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Boston, MA
‘Boston Blue’: Ernie Hudson Teases the Truth About Lena’s Father After Pivotal Episode
What To Know
- The latest episode of Boston Blue featured Reverend Edwin Peters heroically saving lives during a church standoff after his biggest secret was revealed.
- The emotional fallout from this revelation highlighted generational differences in handling family trauma and secrets.
- Ernie Hudson discusses the pivotal episode, which guest-starred Blue Bloods‘ Len Cariou, and teases the secret of Lena’s father.
Reverend Edwin Peters (Ernie Hudson) saved the day in Boston Blue‘s return on Friday, April 3. The episode made a bit of an action hero of the 80-year-old Ghostbusters star, and powerful scenes with onscreen daughter Gloria Reuben made it Hudson’s biggest episode of the Blue Bloods spinoff so far. Peters family secrets came to light in Boston Blue Season 1 Episode 13, “Beautiful, Broken Things.” Warning: Spoilers for Boston Blue ahead.
A visit from Mae’s (Reuben) sister, Jill (Holly Robinson Peete), inadvertently led to the truth about the nature of their mother’s death being revealed. Edwin revealed earlier this season that his wife died by suicide when their daughters were young. All this time, Mae believed that her mom had died in a car accident when she was hit by a drunk driver. Episode 13 revealed that it was suicide, and even more tragically, that it was Jill who found her.
Edwin was shot through the shoulder in a drive-by shooting outside of his church at the beginning of the episode. The culprits were aiming for someone else, and that mystery led to another standoff at gunpoint in the church at the episode’s end. With his arm in a sling, Edwin put himself in front of a young woman being threatened by the attacker. He forced Edwin to play Russian Roulette with a pistol, but Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Edwin’s granddaughter, Lena (Sonequa Martin-Green), arrived just in time. The Reverend knocked the attacker out with a strong punch. When the dust settled, the Silvers and the Reagans welcomed Henry Reagan (Blue Bloods star Len Cariou) to dinner.
Here, Hudson breaks down the powerful episode, revealing how the reveal about Edwin’s late wife might force Mae to finally tell Lena the truth about her biological father.
Did you expect to have the secret of Edwin’s wife revealed to me so soon this season?
Ernie Hudson: No. It was a bit of a surprise the way it had to come out, the way it unfolded. As the actor, I knew we all have our family secrets, and I knew that at some point we’d get to it, but I didn’t expect it to happen the way it happened and so soon in the show.
Christos Kalohoridis / CBS
Edwin thought that he was protecting Mae by keeping the secret from her, but then he later admits that his generation doesn’t really talk about things because they didn’t have the words. How have the younger generations in his family helped him change that, if at all?
Yeah, a lot of things that we held on to, me being of the age I am, and working with this amazing cast who are so much younger, things are different. The world has changed. A lot of things we held on to, very firmly believing that this was the right way and the only way. And every day, I’m reminded by younger people that, no, a lot of those things we held on to were not healthy. I think the Reverend, being the person that he is, the idea of keeping a secret is foreign to him. But on the other hand, this is a way it’s always been done, and some of these things we don’t question. But having kids, young people will force you to review some of your beliefs, your ideas. I find now, even on the political horizon, people are holding on to stuff that is really time to let go and move on.
Talk about filming that scene with Gloria, where he explains why he kept the secret.
It was a hard scene to do, in a way, because she’s my baby girl, and you just don’t want to admit that you were wrong. He’s hoping that, if I just speak from the heart, if I just reveal my vulnerability, that she will take it better, and she’s still struggling with it, which kind of breaks his heart, because he wants her to understand that it’s not for any other reason other than I love you, and I really try to do what I believe was best for you, even though now I realize that it was a mistake. Sometimes you hope for understanding, but you don’t always get a free pass.
Do you think that he was planning to tell the truth soon, given that her mother’s death came up in the case earlier that season?
It was always there for him. It’s a weight that he’s been carrying, and he would love to let it go. He knows that it has to be revealed, trying to find the right time. There’s a lot going on in the family, them being in law enforcement, so there’s always a reason not to. There are always things coming up. And so he’s ultimately forced into doing it. I think he planned on it, but then he’s been planning on it for a long time, and probably would not have gotten around to it, looking for the right time. And certain family secrets, there is no ideal time. And then he’s forced to deal with it.
Interestingly, Mae keeps secrets about Lena’s dad from her, despite not knowing that her dad did the same. What do you make of that connection?
People sometimes can be very judgmental, and you look at them and say, “You know, you have your issues too, and I’m hoping that you can recognize.” The Reverend is hoping that maybe she’ll see that he had made this mistake, and maybe it will allow her to recognize that she’s not that far removed, and maybe encourage her to see things differently. I also think he believes she may go a little easier on judging him, but of course, it’s personal to her, and she doesn’t take it away. He’s hoping that she will.
Christos Kalohoridis / CBS
What can you tease about when Mae will tell Lena the truth?
Lena is going through a lot, being in the position that she is, as a detective. There’s a lot of stuff happening, and at some point, you need your complete self, and she needs that. She doesn’t have that, and I think Mae will eventually recognize it from a lot of prompting from me once I let go of that weight. The Reverend feels that it’s the best thing, and so he leans on her to reveal her secrets as well.
In the church standoff, Edwin says that no one is beyond redemption. Do you think he’s forgiven himself for keeping that secret from Mae?
I think so. You know, they say, “God knows your heart,” and you hope that there will be some grace shown for your own mistakes. He believes that’s for everyone, including himself. He’s tried to be an honest and just man. And like I said, we all have our secrets that are just painful to let go. The Bible said, “The truth will set you free.” This is what it has taken for him to let go, and he’s hoping the same thing for Mae.
Do you think that he’s forgiven himself for not being able to help his wife or to protect Jill from finding her?
With the wife, it’s a hard thing to forgive, because you feel the responsibility that somehow you’re the cause. But on the other hand, he can’t identify; he can’t say if I had done this or that. He knows it’s personal, and as much as you can forgive yourself, you can’t undo what happened. You hope [you would] if there was something you could do, and I think there’s a little bit of guilt because he wasn’t able to recognize it and identify how severe it was and do that thing. There’s a part of him that also knows that this was something that was out of his hands, and then he has to move on, ask God’s forgiveness, and if God can forgive him, then perhaps he can forgive himself.
CBS
How did you like having Gloria and Holly as your daughters?
I’ve known Holly for a long time. I don’t know if we’ve worked together over the years, but I’ve known her since she was a kid. I have four sons. I don’t have any daughters, so having two daughters on the show is really very, very cute. It’s so cute. And there’s one moment when I think they say, “Love you, Daddy” together. And it’s just so, so heartwarming and charming. I love working with Holly and Gloria as well.
You get a good punch in to save the day in the church scene, and with one arm in a sling at that. How was it being an action star in this episode?
I like the fact of the Reverend being well-rounded. If the situation calls for it, he can step up and do the Lord’s work, and in that case, throw a punch. It was funny, maybe at my age, they brought in a stuntman. And I thought, “Really? You paying this guy? All I gotta do is throw the punch! I mean, I can do that.” But it was fun to see him hold on to his Bible, yet resort to other sources to resolve the situation. It was fun for me to have a chance to be involved in some kind of action. What I love about Reverend Peters is that he’s very, very much involved in the community, and he’s very protective of his community. To protect the young lady there, he’s willing to do whatever God directs him to do. So throwing the bunch was a lot of fun.
Boston Blue, Fridays, 10/9c, CBS
Boston, MA
Chickadee, the popular Mediterranean restaurant in Seaport, is shutting down – The Boston Globe
An Instagram post that announced their closure on Tuesday evening did not point to any reason for the closure, and requests for comment were not immediately returned.
“Eight years ago, we opened our doors at the Innovation and Design Building with a simple hope: to bring you honest, delicious food and a warm place to share it,” read the post. “What we found instead was a community – regulars who became friends, first dates that turned into anniversaries, celebrations, quiet lunches, and everything in between. You made this restaurant so much more than a place to eat.”
Globe Food Critic Devra First awarded Chickadee 3.5 stars in October 2018, where she wrote how some meals “are magic, everything cooked perfectly, making you swoon.”
At the time, it was also considered one of the earliest restaurants to have opened in the still-industrial far reaches of the Seaport, which was home to ship-repair facilities and cutting-edge design firms, seafood wholesalers, and biotech companies. In terms of location, some said it was ahead of its time.
DaSilva, a three-time James Beard Best Chef: Northeast semifinalist, has led some of the top restaurants across the Greater Boston area. Aside from Barbara Lynch’s flagship No. 9 Park, he opened Spoke Wine Bar in Somerville in 2013. During his time at Spoke, he received a number of accolades and was named one of Zagat’s “30 Under 30” for Boston and earned the title “Rising Star Chef” from StarChefs.
Kilpatrick, who also left Lynch’s group in 2014, worked for the team behind O Ya to help open restaurants in New York. According to his LinkedIn, he started a new job as a regional operations manager for Lark, a boutique hotel management company, in April.
Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.
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🥵Very hot, with highs around 97 degrees. Sunset is at 8:19 p.m.
GBH’s Dan Murphy captured Abby Evangelista and her corgi, Rocko, at Sail250 this weekend. “Rocko gets dressed up for lots of occasions … sometimes just to go to the store, and he does so great with meeting people,” Evangelista said. Keep reading for more photos from the tall ships.
A year ago today firefighters were extinguishing flames at the Gabriel House, an assisted living facility in Fall River. Ten people died in the fire, a tragedy for their loved ones and a scary moment for about 18,000 people who live in assisted living facilities across the state.
Now state officials have created new regulations for fire safety in assisted living facilities, going into effect later this month. Fire departments will inspect these facilities once a year, and facilities will need to submit emergency plans and train their workers on what to do in case of a fire.
GBH’s Craig LeMoult found that neither the new regulations nor state or federal fire codes address checking sprinkler systems. Some of the sprinklers at the Gabriel House weren’t working the night of the fire, including the ones in the room where it started.
“Had the sprinklers functioned properly, we’re not having this conversation right now. It is maybe a single fatality fire, but certainly not more than that,” Fall River fire chief Jeffrey Bacon told LeMoult. “The good news is that some of the sprinklers did function. And had they not, we would be here talking about 20, 30, 40 victims.” You can read the full story here.
Four Things to Know
1. Colleagues and friends are remembering Louisa Gag, a Boston transportation planner killed last week when a truck driver hit her as she rode her bike near the Roxbury Crossing MBTA stop. Gag grew up in Roslindale and worked for the city on expanding the BlueBikes bike-share program. Before that, she worked for the LivableStreets Alliance, co-authoring a plan to help cities stop traffic deaths. You can see her talk about her work in this 2019 video.
“In moments like these, there is a tendency to reduce the person to the way they died and to their activism,” said Stacy Thompson, a former executive director of LivableStreets. “While we may know Louisa as a deep champion of the city and a close advocate, she’s also a Boston Latin [School] kid. She’s also, like, the most infectious, hilarious person you’ve ever met. She’s also a daughter. It’s so important to us right now for her life to not be reduced to how she stopped living.”
2. More than 4,000 nurses are back at work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. They went on a one-day strike last week, and hospital administrators kept them from returning to their jobs for another five days. The Massachusetts Nurses Association and Brigham management have been negotiating a contract for seven months, going back and forth over wages, health insurance premiums and staffing levels.
“It’s exciting, but also frightening,” said Christine Forgeron, a cardiac nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “I don’t know what to expect when we go back to our patients. What happens next, because we still don’t have a contract,is the most unsettling part.”
3. Michael Walsh, a Republican candidate for state attorney general, will be on the primary ballot in September despite what Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Karp called “substantial evidence in the record of voter fraud.” The case began when Adam Roof, executive director of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, submitted a complaint accusing a signature gatherer Walsh’s campaign hired of either falsifying or not meeting state requirements for 1,021 of the 10,677 signatures they submitted. Candidates for statewide office need 10,000 signatures to get onto the ballot.
Karp said that there was indeed evidence that the signatures came not from voters themselves but from a list of registered voters the state’s Republican party gave the signature gatherer. But the case fell on a technicality: state law required Roof, the Democratic party official, to submit his complaint by certified mail, and he did not do so. The state’s highest court still has to decide what will happen to Anne Manning Martin, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor who used the same signature gatherer.
4. Residents of towns around the Quabbin Reservoir flooded into the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority meeting last week to ask for a better deal. The Quabbin supplies clean drinking water for dozens of cities and towns in the eastern part of the state. Right now, the state requires towns like Shrewsbury, Belchertown, Orange and Pelham to keep their development in check to keep the Quabbin clean. Though those towns get some money in return, local officials said it’s not enough to cover their costs.
“We are protecting this watershed by foregoing any type of economic development, which is a cornerstone of providing the basics of education [and] public safety,” said state Rep. Aaron Saunders, of Belchertown. “It’s time for a change, and not an incremental one.”
Tall ships sail into Boston
Dan Murphy / GBH News
Tomorrow is the last full day of Sail Boston, the city’s tall ships celebration. The ships will leave our harbor Thursday morning. GBH photographer Dan Murphy was there over the weekend to capture the Parade of Sail.
Dan Murphy / GBH News
The Esmeralda, a ship from Chile, sailed by Castle Island.
Dan Murphy / GBH News
Carolyn Gustine carried her son, Patrick, on her shoulders.
You can see the full photo essay here.
Dig deeper:
–Spectators line Cape Cod Canal to see tall ships make their way to Sail250 in Boston
–The World Cup transformed Greater Boston. Will it last?
–Department of Agricultural Resources celebrates Ice Cream Trail program
GBH Daily
Your essential daily newsletter delivering trusted news, local insights, ways to connect, and can’t miss programs from Boston and beyond.
Local News
The customer, who was evaluated for “visible lacerations to the forehead,” was punched three times while being called racial slurs, prosecutors say.
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File
A Boston man is facing charges after he allegedly lunged at a Burger King employee, punched a customer, and then resisted arrest at a nearby MBTA station in East Boston, authorities announced Monday afternoon.
Patrick Donovan, 59, was charged July 1 with one count of assault and battery causing injury on an over 60 or disabled person, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, assault, and vandalism, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office said in a press release.
The charges stem from an incident shortly before 10 p.m. on June 30, when Boston police responded to a disturbance call from Burger King at 1 Maverick Square, Hayden’s office said.
A Burger King employee told officers that, after ordering his food and receiving it, Donovan yelled that he no longer wanted it and smacked a napkin holder off the counter. He then allegedly lunged at an employee and grabbed her by the arm, prosecutors said.
Donovan subsequently shoved a customer from behind and allegedly punched him in the face three times while calling him racial slurs, the DA’s office said.
Emergency medical services evaluated the customer for “visible lacerations to the forehead,” but the victim declined additional treatment, authorities said.
Donovan fled the restaurant following the assaults, and officers tracked him to the nearby MBTA Maverick Station, prosecutors said.
“While officers tried to detain Donovan inside the station, he swung at them with a closed fist but did not make contact,” Hayden’s office said, noting that Donovan made racial slurs towards the officers. “Donovan was placed into custody after a brief struggle.”
During his arraignment in the East Boston division of the Boston Municipal Court, Donovan pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance. Court records show he was also ordered to stay away from Maverick Square and Burger King.
He is scheduled to return to court Aug. 7 for a pre-trial hearing, prosecutors said.
Officers obtained security footage of both assaults. Authorities said the incident remains under investigation and could result in further charges.
“Our workers deserve to be safe in their workplaces and our consumers deserve to be safe in their shopping or dining places, without exception,” Hayden said in a statement. “Beyond that, none of our citizens or first responders should be subjected to racial slurs. These appalling words have no place in Suffolk County or anywhere else in our society.”
Attorney information for Donovan was not immediately available Monday afternoon.
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