Donnie Wahlberg's favorite Blue Bloods episode will hit you in the feels

Donnie Wahlberg's fandom of Blue Bloods has been extensively covered. He's just as a big a fan of the show as people who aren't on it, and it shows in the way he interacts with fans and is constantly posting about the show on social media.

One might assume that Wahlberg would have a tough time whittling down his favorite Blue Bloods episode to just one single choice, but the actor actually had an answer ready when he was asked by the official Blue Bloods YouTube channel back in 2020.

Wahlberg still loves the Blue Bloods pilot

Wahlberg's favorite episode of Blue Bloods is the pilot. Nice, simple, and given that the show is slated to end after the current season, emotionally resonant.

When asked to elaborate on his choice, given how many excellent episodes the show has produced since, the actor singled out the chemistry between him and the other two leads:

"I see it every now and again on re-runs, and it still holds up after all of these years, you know, getting to work with Tom [Selleck] and Bridget [Moynahan] and the cast."

Wahlberg addressed the irony of the very first episode being his favorite by noting that the pilot episode had the added pressure of having to tell a compelling story while setting up the world and the characters that fans have since fallen in love with.

Wahlberg considers the pilot an 'unexpected treat'

In the actor's estimation, the sense of discovery between him, Selleck and Moynahan has been so crucial to the show and his career that it will always lean him towards the pilot:

"I just don't know if we'll ever be able to top it, I know we've come close because we've done some amazing episodes, but that one is an unexpected treat."

Selleck holds the pilot in a similarly high regard, and the same interview saw him recount a story in which he and Wahlberg bonded. He said that Wahlberg approached him and informed him that he's good at "'making scripts better", which led Selleck to assume that the actor would try offer to help him out.

Related: Donnie Wahlberg has a dream Blue Bloods cameo

Instead, Wahlberg praised Selleck, and commended the presence he brought to the episode, and the two actors have been so close they refer to each other as "dad" and "son" offscreen:

"I said, 'I’m there, man, I got your back.' And that’s been our relationship ever since."

As fans gear up for the Blue Bloods series finale, we can only hope that the actors bring the same level of commitment and passion they did to the pilot. We get the sense they will.