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

Henry (Len Cariou) surprises Erin (Bridget Moynahan) twice in the latter Blue Bloods episode.

First, she is shocked to learn that he will be testifying for the defense about the NYPD’s evolution on its chokehold policy during its case against a former cop who used one against a neighbor over a witch dispute. When she confronts him, he just says that the case is important and that expert testimony is needed and that he knows how to judge people. But then he says in the courtroom, on the stand, that the defendant is one of those police officers who is the reason why chokeholds are banned. He didn’t let Erin know because he didn’t want to ruin the surprise.

Below, Cariou talks about the pleasure of that, his last days on set and the end of the show.

Watching the scene in the courtroom, it almost looked like Henry was having fun on the stand and was able to surprise Erin.

Len Cariou: Yes, he was. It was a lot of fun for Henry to be able to fool her in a way.

CBS

I also liked the last scene with you and Bridget in Erin’s office and how Henry is like, okay, where’s the whiskey? We have quite a bit of you two together in this episode.

I think the writers (wanted) some screen time with the two of them, because they had had such a great history throughout the series, and they were such big favorites, since she was the only woman in the group, and he I always said to her, my favorite granddaughter, and she would always say, “You mean your only granddaughter, smartass.” (Laughs)

How was your last day on set?

I was thinking about that a few minutes ago. It was quite bittersweet. The last scene was at a funeral, of course, so we weren’t even in the house the day we finished it. I finished that day myself and a few others, Tom’s group of guys (Selleck), Bridget and Steve (Schirripa), and the others finished that day too before the rest of the episode was done. So in that sense it was a bit strange, just like any other day, any other week. And we had kind of gotten used to saying goodbye, if you will, without a lot of emotional moments together. So we said, okay, that’s over and we’ll keep in touch if we can. And then, a few weeks ago, we all came together for the closing, for the launch of the final eight shows, and that was bittersweet. I just got used to us saying goodbye and everyone being in the room together again, and that made it a little 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 hard day for us. And of course not everyone is on the show when we film that. So there’s that snippet of it. But the interesting thing about that was the very first scene we shot when we shot the pilot was the dinner scene. The first thing we put on film was that scene in episode 101. So that was quite interesting. We talked about that a little bit because there were a few cast changes when the show finally started. So it was quite emotional.

It was so great to have those family dinners every week because even though they fight, you can still feel the love.

Yeah, that was Leonard Goldberg’s idea, to have that in every episode, because he wanted to show the world that aspect of a family, of a police family, how they functioned outside of their job. So it was kind of the core of the whole thing. Mr. Goldberg thought this would be a gamble for him. He wanted it to be in every episode if it worked. And so when we all got together that first day, we said, ‘Why are we doing this as the first thing we film? We hardly know each other. We are supposed to be a family, yet multi-generational.” But he said, ‘I have to make it work. If it doesn’t work, I’ll have to reconsider things.” But after he saw it, he said, ‘It works well. I can’t imagine this without the family dinner. I don’t think it would have been the same show at all.

What has it been like saying goodbye to the show and Henry? You said something about it before.

Difficult. It was tough because it happened to be at the final eight launch wrap party. It was around my birthday, so I had a birthday cake for me at the party, so that was special.

I can’t wait to see how the show ends, but I wish it continued.

Yes, it’s a shame. It doesn’t make any sense. We’re still, I think, the most watched show on Friday nights, even though we’ve been canceled.

Blue Bloods always does well on Friday evenings. That’s impressive.

Yes, it has always been that way. And I think when they launched us there on a Friday night, think about 14, 15 years ago – we weren’t really happy with Friday night at 10 o’clock. Friday wasn’t – at least it wasn’t a very popular time at that time, the first show of the weekend, and we thought, this isn’t a good time. But because of Tom, and I think he has such a big following on CBS, as soon as they saw the show they said, ‘No, it doesn’t matter. It’s really good. So they will make it work on Friday. And then they thought about moving us to another night, and we said, I think Mr. Goldberg said, “No, we’ll have Friday nights.” And yes, we did.

Blue BloodsFriday, 10/9c, CBS