The first season of Boston Blue is over, and we have to say that we’re pleased with the way it played out. While some may say that Danny Reagan belongs in New York, we didn’t mind him being in Boston.
Living a new life.
Getting closer to his son.
Figuring himself out.
Gloria Reuben stars as Boston’s District Attorney Mae Silver in Boston Blue. Her character is the matriarch of a prominent, blended law enforcement family whose daughter is partnered with Donnie Wahlberg’s character, Danny Reagan.
As Zoom opened, there was a wonderful background behind Gloria. It looked like a forest and was very calming. It also reminded me of my Grandma’s house growing up. She had something similar on her walls. In interviews, I always seem to find something that puts me at ease. As many interviews as I have done in my life, you would think that I don’t get nervous.
But I do.
However, when Gloria starts to speak, her soft tone makes me feel calm. She’s like talking to your bestie. She’s like a calming force even from far away.
THE SHOW
I tell her how I am a New Kids on the Block fan and how I started watching Blue Bloods back in the day because of Donnie Wahlberg. Over time, I kept watching because of the entire cast. But now I watch Boston Blue because of the entire cast. Was I nervous for the new show? Yes. But I tell her how this cast makes the show feel like it honors the original and yet gives new life to the concept that started with Blue Bloods.
She smiles at me and says, “Oh, thank you, Erin. Thank you for sharing that. I could not be happier to hear that. I mean, I have to say, I agree. I’ve certainly been a fan of Blue Bloods for a long, long time, and Donnie as well, and we are doing something fresh. We are honoring the fundamentals of family, faith, and service. However, at the same time, there is this whole new dynamic. The family is very, very different, you know, we’re interracial, inter-religious.”
Before continuing, “And, you know, circled around the law, of course, but all of our stories, each character, is so unique, and each person is having such interesting stories going on that are cohesive and yet individual. It’s really magnificent.”
TABLE READ
Before finishing by saying, “The first time when we were all in the same room together, the first time before the first episode, you know, when we had all of us around the table, the Brandons, of course, were there, Brandon Margolis, Brandon Saunier, we had the Zoom with the Bruckheimer TV folks, reading through the first episode. And when we were all together in that room, it was palpable how just the synergy. Easy, cohesive, fun, loving. and positive. What a gift.”
It is a gift. There are times when I am nervous about a show and if the cast is really getting along. It shows in the episodes and in the way she speaks about it that you can tell that she has a genuine love for her co-stars.
Boston’s District Attorney Mae Silver is a force. She’s also very scary to me. She’s got a presence – an intimidating one, but she gets things done. That is part of the reason that I admire her character. She doesn’t back down from anything, and that is admirable.
I say, “She kinda scares me. She does, because she’s very put together, and she’s that silent but deadly type. Watching a recent episode, when the one lawyer defied her, and she gave him a tongue lashing, but you have to be smart to realize it’s a tongue lashing. I was like, ” Sir, keep up, keep up, she is scolding you.”
ALL ABOUT MAE
I want to know what Mae has taught her and what she’s brought to Mae.
We laugh and smile, before she says, “Well, I bring to May a couple of things. I don’t suffer fools anymore. Also, I don’t really like people who just assume certain things about me just because I look a certain way. So there’s that. I like the calm fierceness. That can be a little intimidating.”
We both laugh. I am laughing because I got nervous that I had said the wrong thing. After all, telling her that I am afraid of her character probably wasn’t smart. But we continue talking about Mae’s directness and boldness.
She says, “Mae has taught me it’s beautiful, it’s a beautiful thing. There’s a certain thing that I find that is transforming in terms of this… directness. I’m a pretty direct person to begin with. However. And it’s also not easy for me to watch my work. I can be very self-critical?”
“Sometimes I watch scenes, I’m like, okay, good, yeah, like, just, like, The directness of her, that whole…I don’t know, there’s just something about it that I’m implementing more in my own life. Like, things are becoming cohesive in this world as well. I love how, first of all,” she continues, “I certainly don’t cook like how Mae cooks. I think she has to have, like, some kind of chef or something.”
DINNERS
I agree with her, and she continues, “It’s Shabbat dinner, she’s busy, she’s the DA, she can’t be cooking all this food.”
“Exactly,” I say, “Where does she have the time? Like, that is legitimately a question I was gonna ask, and it’s next. Where does she have the time?”
Mae must be amazing at time management — something we can all learn to do better but I genuinely belly laugh when she says, “It’s like, that’s why we don’t see the kitchen, is because there are, like, 10 people working in that house.”
It’s a valid point to which I respond, “It just feels like she’s got her hand in everything, and, like, her kids’ lives are so chaotic, and she’s having to, like, clean up after them all the time, and then, like, cooking Shabbat… I was like, girl, teach me your time management skills.”
“You know, that is the wonderful thing, though. Mae has 3 adult children who are police officers, I mean, that in its own right would be extraordinarily difficult and challenging and stressful. And here, you know, knowing that they literally are putting their lives on the line every single day,” she answers.
THE KIDS DON’T LISTEN
There are moments in the show where Mae amazes me with her vulnerability with her children and also her strength with them. She doesn’t back down from what she believes to be right. She guides them in a way that only she can. She wants to make sure that they are safe, but that they are good people above all.
She says, “What’s happening personally in the family life with Mae, and, or rather, with Lena and her father. The whole history is coming up, and Mae needs to revisit decisions that she made a while ago that she still believes were the right decisions to be made at that time. Secrets and lies are just being eradicated. Just telling the truth, Mae learns the truth about how her mother died.”
And continues, “That secret was kept from her for decades. That being revealed, there’s a lot of cleansing going on with Mae. Personally, when it comes to her family, and these secrets that have been held for too long, and at the same time a certain level of respect and growth that she is allowing Lena to experience, and to take hold of.”
LENA
“Lena’s a grown woman now. There’s that scene that you have watched in this upcoming episode where, or the truth, it’s just, this is what happened. This is why I made the decision. This is what you and your father and I… rather, what your father and I decided would be the best way, this is why I did it, and in a way, I love that simplicity of that scene,” she adds, “She can do with that what she chooses.”
One of the best parts of the show is the dinners. It’s where they talk about everything, but they connect on a level that is deeper, and it keeps their family intact.
She says about the dinners, “Well, that’s the thing that you learn, is that, first of all, it is a great deal of fun, and I always kind of feel badly for the crew, because we’re talking, and we’re laughing, and, you know, we have a ton of work to do because of all those different angles, and the different takes, etc, etc. Yeah. I mean, it’s like, okay, we’re ready, let’s, you know, rolling, or, you know, sound, and we’re still, like, blah, blah, blah, oh yeah, and then, okay, an action, and then we’re in the scene.”
STEAK
And then adds, “Now, one does learn very quickly not to eat a lot, unless… like, I have to say, there’s a little anecdote here, Marcus, you know, he’s… he’s a young man. And really, like, he’s a young man, so he has a big appetite, and he’s… maybe, who knows, maybe he’s gonna grow another foot or whatever, but he learned quickly about, man, I can’t be eating this whole steak every single time.”
We talk about the dinners and how long they take, and how Maes’ kids aren’t paying attention to the things that she says. They pay her no mind, even though they love her.
My time is almost up, so I ask one more question: “What can we expect in season 2?”
She smiles, and I get so excited as she says, “Certainly, you know, the character’s growing, as they will always do. And… Well, like you say about Mae, you know, she’s been through a lot. So let’s just say…let’s just say more smiles next year.”
I am here for it.
