Since the second season of "Blue Bloods," Reverend Darnell Potter (Ato Essandoh) has made himself known as an activist heavily critical of the New York Police Department. Naturally, this puts him in conflict with the Reagans. However, in the episode "Unbearable Loss," Potter finds himself having to set aside his differences due to a devastating death in his family. Potter's son, Michael (Leon Outlaw Jr.), is murdered on his way home from high school. Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) finds out it's the result of a gang initiation. Michael's senseless death is already tragic enough, as it's a promising young life extinguished for no good reason. The scene of the child dead at the crime scene is difficult to watch. But when we learn that the man behind the gang who murdered Michael was someone Reverend Potter previously mentored, the death sinks to another heartbreaking level.
This is horrific as Potter has lost his son. But instead of losing him to an enemy he thought would always endanger his family, the tragedy comes from someone he'd once tried to help. During that realization, Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) attempts to empathize with Potter, as he painfully reveals to him that a corrupt cop murdered his son Joe. "Unbearable Loss" is one of the saddest moments in Season 7, not only because a family unfairly losses their son, but it also reinforces the idea that sometimes the biggest threat comes from those we least expect.
