Critic’s Rating: 4 / 5.0
4
The hour spent most of its time putting many of The Rookie‘s relationships under the scope.
Of course, we also got some harrowing moments that leave us wondering if Seth will even make it to the end of the season after questionable decisions on The Rookie Season 7 Episode 7.
And there’s some solace in knowing that Celina Juarez has graduated, not only as a rookie but as a character who has evolved enough to become endearing across the board.
(Disney/Mike Taing)
Mickey is Too Sexy For His Shirt, And I’m Not Mad About It
Offhand, who knew there were so many female officers at the station? It seemed like every female cop in Los Angeles was behind the glass as a cocky Mickey charmed them during interrogation.
Ricky Whittle is absolutely delicious, and he didn’t seem to mind for a second that the hour took full advantage of his sexiness to objectify the heck out of him.
Mickey was a hoot for a bad guy. His flirting with Celina was amusing, and watching the trio of Lopez, Harper, and Celina thirsting over him while staking out the garage was one of the season’s funniest moments yet.
They’re right; it never hurts to look!
(Disney/Mike Taing)
Mickey and the Hammer Are Fun; Can We Keep Them?
From the accent and cracks about American culture to Mickey’s ability to weaponize his rizz in all situations, he was hilarious to watch, and he’s a character that The Rookie could definitely bring back again in some capacity.
They already did it with The Hammer, who is equally as hilarious. Nolan learning about the ring fiasco during their babysitting gig was funny. I still cannot get over the Hammer swinging Celina like a ragdoll and hurling her into Nolan.
The Hammer is such a mess of contradictions. It makes him one of The Rookie’s most memorable minor characters, which speaks volumes when they have so many.
The Hammer’s takedown of Mickey with a bone-crunching bear hug amused me. He was perfectly content with the deal he struck with the coppers.
Celina Earns Her Graduation on The Rookie Season 7 Episode 7
(Disney/Mike Taing)
It’s been the season for Celina Juarez, and as someone who has always enjoyed the character, I find it nice to know that the series has smoothed out enough of her edges to make her more endearing to the audience.
She’s someone many people had an issue with for a while, but she’s managed to thrive as a cop often despite working under Nolan’s wing. After all, he’s the reason criminals stole their shop again.
Seriously, the car department at the station must hate to see Nolan coming!
Celina handled the situation well by capturing Mickey and the Hammer, even gaining the upper hand on the latter when Nolan froze up.
She’s proven herself capable this season more than ever. It could lead to some exciting storylines for Celina down the road. I look forward to what those may be.
Can The Rookie Abort this Seth/Tamara Storyline ASAP? I Don’t Like It!
(Disney/Carlos Lopez-Calleja)
Celina is turning out okay, but Seth is the problematic rookie these days.
Understandably, Lucy doesn’t trust him at all. Oddly, he’s affronted by her distrust when he’s the reason she feels this way in the first place.
Do you know how horrible your behavior has to be to turn Lucy Chen off? She’s human sunshine who gives people the benefit of the doubt almost to a fault!
It’s bad enough that Seth is in this weird place where we don’t know if he’s lying about his cancer or anything else, but now he has his sights set on Tamara, and for unknown reasons, she’s ignoring Lucy’s warning signs and rolling with it.
(ABC/Raymond Liu)
Seth goes out of his way to prove himself. He never considers the dangers he brings upon himself and others.
He pushed the envelope when making that deal with the drug dealer, but instead of taking that in stride, he made the ultimate mistake of hopping into a car with a bunch of drug dealers while still carrying his weapon and having his badge and license on him.
Seth is Still Shady and a Liability
Everyone knows you never go with the perpetrators to a secondary location when you’re undercover like that, especially when it wasn’t a planned situation!
I hate that Seth’s recklessness could’ve put Tamara in harm’s way and nearly got him killed in the process. It also disrupted everyone else’s night as they scrambled to arrange something to save him.
(Disney/Raymond Liu)
The worst part is it doesn’t even seem like he learned a lesson. He’s still riding high off nabbing some drug dealers, thinks he has a new girlfriend in Tamara and feels his job is secure.
If he had any real interest in proving himself to Lucy, he wouldn’t defy her orders, ignore what she says, and initiate a relationship with someone close to her despite knowing how she feels about him.
Seth is a mess, but to what degree? We still haven’t even begun to figure it out!
Miles is the Best Rookie to Ever Rookie, Yes, Siree!
Meanwhile, who would’ve thought Miles would be the most lovable new rookie out of the bunch?
(Disney/Raymond Liu)
Miles continues to impress, and Augustine brings so much heart and layers to this character. He’s a real joy to watch.
Even though it was the right call, you can tell he’s still reeling from his breakup with Camilla, but then they had a horrific case involving a domestic violence situation, and that rattled him as well.
He brought up something about a case that resulted in dead children, but it also felt like the case was closer to home for him than he’d shared with Tim.
Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoy the burgeoning dynamic between him and Bradford and Miles in general.
He touched my heart when he offered to do security for the women’s shelter in his off time.
Chenford Lingers in an Indefinable Place, But There’s Some Surprising Progress
(Disney/Mike Taing)
It still irks my spirit that Lucy and Tim aren’t properly talking about anything.
Poor or zero communication is the hallmark of any struggling couple. Too many series rely on this trope to carry most of the conflict.
They can’t stop thinking about one another and the night they shared, and based on the conversations they’ve had with others, we know how much they love each other and want to be together.
The Chenford Breakup sprung out of Bradford having some personal issues and pushing Lucy away, and then we didn’t get much time to dig into that during The Rookie Season 6.
However, much of The Rookie Season 7 Episode 7 tries to address that by squeezing it all in this installment.
(Disney/Mike Taing)
We learned that Bradford has been attending group therapy sessions. He has a group leader who gives him sound advice.
She was on point when she mentioned that he doesn’t have the right to strip Lucy of her agency regarding her choices in their relationship.
The Rookie Season 7 Episode 7 Dumps Enlightened Bradford on Us
We saw that these group sessions have helped Tim as he spoke frequently about learning to be emotionally available, sharing his feelings with Nolan, and giving him romantic advice in an endearing bromantic moment.
(Disney/Mike Taing)
He also used those same tools when mentoring Miles, ensuring he was okay and supporting Lucy, whether saving Seth or offering help with Tamara.
I suppose these are the signs of a healed, enlightened, and evolved Tim Bradford that we needed to see for him to reach a place of reuniting with Lucy in the future.
On the one hand, I love that we’re seeing all of this throughout the hour. On the other, I wish it was a more prominent, fleshed-out story arc so it didn’t stand out that The Rookie dropped it into this single episode out of the blue.
It feels like The Rookie is cheating in the Chenford Reset, which they didn’t need to do in the first place.
Is Anyone Else Confused about Nyla and James?
(Disney/Raymond Liu)
Jayla is another pairing that The Rookie has screwed around with for no good reason, only to set them right without any proper buildup.
To this moment, I’m still confused about their tension in the first place.
James’ issues with Harper’s career are redundant. They covered this when they started dating.
Yet, despite us witnessing how this has taken a toll on Harper and James’ suspicious lack of presence and support when she needed it most, she got some sweet couple advice from Wopez and concluded that she somehow had to extend an olive branch to James and reassure him about parts of her job.
(Disney/Raymond Liu)
The onus was on Harper to acknowledge the flawed police system and hold a corrupt system to account.
She initiated a program that could have the bad seeds in the department living with her and placed her husband in charge of a community liaison position with the police.
Listen, I don’t freaking know. All I know is their friction was contrived, and this resolution is annoying, but at least Jayla isn’t headed to Splitsville.
The Rookie Season 7 Episode 7 Actually Does a Better Job with Bailey
(Disney/Raymond Liu)
And neither is Bailey and Nolan.
The hour does a better job of putting us into Bailey’s headspace. She had some powerful conversations with the woman she helped.
I appreciated The Rookie touching on how Bailey felt as a DV survivor whose experience didn’t look as cookie-cutter as people expect.
It makes sense that many women or any people who are victims of abuse feel unusual about their experience if their partner isn’t physically assaulting them regularly.
Jason abused Bailey, but throughout most of their marriage, he didn’t resort to beating her or all the other things that people typically expect, so it was difficult for her to reconcile the emotional abuse she experienced with what battered women endured.
Bailan’s Arc Is Well Intended But Poorly Executed
(Disney/Raymond Liu)
It’s little things like that where I wish The Rookie focused more on it than other matters. When it comes to an important story arc like this, the simpler angle is better, without all the flashiness or misplaced humor that often happened with Bailey’s story.
Her experience is important to depict, but I hate the angle they chose to explore it.
Regardless, she and Nolan are putting the Malvado of it all behind them as she used their week apart and her new perspective on her experiences to confide in Nolan.
The Rookie sweeps the issues it presents under the rug here. And because it’s enmeshed in this enlightening, meaningful bit about Bailey’s trauma and her making a huge breakthrough, it’s like we can’t really dissect the frustrating direction this takes without coming across as a dick.
So, long live Bailan, I guess.
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Over to you, Rookie Fanatics.
Did they resolve all the relationship drama too easily?
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