The Rookie Episode 9
The Rookie returned from winter break with a bang.
Quite a few bangs, actually.
This is bad.
The last episode, we left Tim Bradshaw’s wife with her cover blown. John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and Lucy Chen trapped with the brother of the perp Nolan killed. Then, the show ended with a gunshot. Like you do.
Weeks later, we return to find Isabel was dumped in an alley, alive but shot in the head and her shooter Vance was on the run. Nolan dazed on the ground of his home, Chen unable to get a clear line of sight and Kyle loomed over Nolan, bent on revenge.
The Rookie is on its freshman season, so everyone (except John Nolan) was at risk. There was a genuine moment we weren’t sure about Lucy Chen’s fate.
That’s a lie they could fire me for.
The gunshot ended up being a red herring; Nolan kicked Kyle causing Kyle’s gun to fire elsewhere. The fight ended with Kyle tossed through a glass door. Lucy panicked about being found in Nolan’s place with evidence they weren’t there’ hanging out at one in the morning.’ She left after he called in to report the attack.
It was déjà vu when Commander West arrived at the scene to investigate. John omitted the fact anyone was here with him. While West looked convinced, I can’t help but think the explanation wasn’t going to fly.
As long as you’ve been truthful, there shouldn’t be an issue.
Sure enough, the first investigation concluded the Montgomery shooting was justified homicide, but now another opens because of Kyle’s attack.
Nolan and Chen share an awkward moment afterwards where Chen dismissed what happened in the last episode as a ‘heat-of-the-moment’ thing. They needed to be sure it doesn’t happen again.
Anyone feeling like Chen just jinxed themselves?
Today is not the day to screw around.
Meanwhile, the hunt was on for Isabel’s shooter Vance. Thanks to our favorite detectives Wolfe and Vestri, we get a few leads on where Vance might be.
I’m just trying to roll with it.
The episode went back and forth from Nolan’s sedated hours at the front desk and the rest of the officers’ door to door search.
We got a chance to see Nolan’s paternal side when a boy was left at the station to wait to be handed off to his father. The father eventually staggered in and Nolan placed him in the drunk tank to sober up before he picks up his son.
We also got a chance to see the other officers (Bradford, Chen, Lopez and West) working as a unit on one goal rather than the anecdotal pieces we usually get on the first half of an episode.
A little extra shock and awe.
All goes awry (of course) and the officers were trapped in a building with no way to call out due to a jammer in the basement.
And oh, by the way, Vance’s girlfriend was living as a prisoner in one of the apartments. Cesiah’s baby was also on the way and very bad guys with way too many bullets stalked the hallways.
Then I’d say we’re at a stalemate.
Here, the episode returned to its back and forth format with each officer dealing with their own set of unique problems.
Chen and Bradshaw were in one unit with the girlfriend about to give birth.
Bishop, shot and cornered, rescued Vestri and Wolf but needed to render aid as they were shot when they charged in.
Lopez and West needed to get to the basement to disable the jammer.
Yet the overall thread of danger kept the episode from being formulaic and its usual format helped quickened the pace. It’s an ingenious move, taking advantage of their own template to ratchet up the tension.
Nolan was pulled off desk duty when the others managed to radio out thanks to Lopez and West. It’s all-hands-on-deck, including Commander West. Rather convenient, as Commander West was on the fence about Nolan, but after seeing him in action, cleared him for duty.
We’re trying to stay alive.
There were a lot of bullets flying in this episode. For once, Nolan wasn’t in the thick of it until the end. Chen was shot but saved by her armor plate aka the Bradford special. Bishop got to show off her chops, saving Wolf in the process while cool under fire. Lopez and West were proving to be quite a team as they solved the jammer problem by climbing down a walled up, forgotten shaft to the basement.
It was nice to see Sergeant Grey out of the bullpen as well. More and more he was slipping into the mentoring role of the experienced officer. He worked well in the action sequences along with the supportive scenes with Bradford and with Nolan in the previous episode. I hope Grey doesn’t get herded back into just doing roll call again in future episodes.
Are you lying to me, Officer Nolan?
Overall, this was an exciting episode juxtaposed with the quieter contemplative moments with Nolan on desk duty. Nolan’s personal morals about being honest about him and Lucy was an internal conflict I could see carry out throughout the season.
In the end, I thought the resolution to Nolan’s situation with the new investigation was a little too convenient. I had hoped with each lie he said to explain holes in his statement while covering for Lucy, the situation would turn interesting.
Don’t throw it all away for a false moral moment.
Instead, the investigation was resolved quickly. Even though Nolan debated whether to tell the truth or not—despite Chen’s arguments against it—it felt like the decision was made for him when West himself ended the investigation.
However, despite the rather clean-cut solution, we were left with the potential of the return of John and Lucy.
The episode ended with Isabel having survived brain surgery and Tim by her bedside. Nolan and Chen decided to return to be friends. However, that hint of something more was there. The show needs to be careful though: the on and off thing between them could potentially wreck the show’s pacing.
Officer Chen, you know me too well.
The show so far has been bucking the trend: using a procedural format but with a twist. It kept The Rookie fresh, but while Nolan and Chen are an exciting potential, too much of it could drag the show down to melodrama.
And would just be criminal.
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