Boston Blue: Ben Silver's Real Killer, Explained
Contains spoilers for "Boston Blue" Season 1, Episode 10 — "Hard Truths"
The identity of the person who killed Judge Ben Silver has been obscured since the start of "Boston Blue," but the mystery finally comes to a head and is solved in Episode 10, "Hard Truths" — though not without the SIlver clan suffering some major pain along the way.
The culprit is corrupt business bigwig David Laughlin (Marc Kudisch), whose dirty dealings were about to be exposed by a case under Ben's review. Laughlin hired a member of the Red Saints criminal gang, Doyle O'Keefe (Brendan McMurtry-Howlett), to pull the trigger.
That means Ronan Flaherty (Jack Murray), who went to prison for the crime, is actually innocent. O'Keefe tells Ben's son and rookie cop Jonah (Marcus Scribner) that his motive wasn't personal at all — it was a business choice. The statement devastaes Jonah — but at least puts him on the road to finding closure.
The Silvers have closure -- and Danny has a new beginning
In a shockingly dark twist back in Episode 9, Jonah is accused of killing a newly-released Flaherty in revenge for his dad's death. At the beginning of "Hard Truths," Jonah is put on administrative leave while the crime is investigated. Jonah's partner, Sean Reagan (Mika Amonsen), tries to say he was there and that Jonah shot Ronan in self-defense, an obvious falsehood that infuriates Sean's dad, Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg).
The rest of the team gets to work solving the case. They get their big break when video of Judge Ben's shooting makes it onto the internet. It seems that the shooter was left-handed — and Ronan Flaherty was not. This inspires Jonah to confess that a mystery assailant shot Flaherty. The team manages to figure out that their perp is Doyle O'Keefe, thanks to a combination of evidence culled from stakeouts and a missing document of Ben's that Mae Silver (Gloria Reuben) hunts up.
In more pleasant news for the Reagan and Silver family trees, Danny officially becomes a member of the Boston Police Department and gets his new badge during this episode. It's a round of fresh beginnings for the whole gang, but don't expect the mean streets of Boston to get any kinder for Danny and his new friends.