‘The Rookie’ Is Getting Stale as the Procedural Abandons Its Most Interesting Stories

Over the course of eight seasons, ABC’s The Rookie has become adept at providing viewers with fast-paced plots and characters that are easy to fall in love with. However, recently, the series has fallen into the trap of ending exciting storylines too quickly and resorting to falling back into familiar plots and characters that have worn out their welcome. We finally had some development with Bailey Nune (Jenna Dewan) relocating to the Pentagon for a new gig. Although this was pretty illogical, it at least allowed The Rookie a new avenue to work with the character. Now that Bailey has decided to stay in LA, I’m left wondering why the series seems so intent on rehashing the same storylines.

‘The Rookie’ Showcases Bailey’s Crime-Fighting Skills

Episode 13 follows Bailey’s first day back at work as an EMT. John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) says it’s his day off, so immediately, you know that he’s going to be drawn into some kind of drama. Bailey’s captain gives her a rookie named Oakley, a super-smart EMT who has received degrees in tons of impressive fields, but thought he should gain some real-life experience. Instead of allowing Bailey some space to train a rookie (which would be a fun twist on her character), the writers have her immediately call Nolan to come on her call with her. Not only does this make very little sense, it just feels cheesy. When they show up for a call about a man in distress, they quickly discover that the unconscious man has a gunshot wound. Several bad guys come onto the scene, take Bailey and Nolan’s phones and radios, and force them into the ambulance. It turns out that the victim is a man named Isaac, who stole money from these guys, and they need him to wake up to tell them where the money is.

They take the ambulance to an abandoned warehouse, where the boss shows up. In order to show he’s serious, he immediately shoots Oakley. Nolan is able to offer him some medical aid, but Oakley is gravely injured. When Isaac wakes up, instead of telling them where the money is stashed, he spits in his boss’ face (literally), which results in Isaac getting his arm cut off with an axe. Eventually, Nolan and Bailey are able to disarm the villains, and Oakley survives the ordeal. He decides that he’s much more of a thinker, than a doer, and is quitting the EMT life. This is a shame because this character could have offered something fresh to Bailey’s storyline. Instead, she’s still linked to Nolan in a way that prevents her from becoming an independent character and forces her into storylines that don’t really fit.

‘The Rookie’ Season 8, Episode 13 Brings Back a Familiar Character (Again)

At the beginning of the episode, Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) announces to the precinct that recruitment numbers are down, and retirement numbers are up. Right then, several of the members of the department get alerted that they’ve won the lottery. This ensures that the Mid-Wilshire precinct will be even more understaffed. Tim instructs several of the crew to set up a recruitment booth outside. We get a quick montage of all the weird candidates that show up, and then who should appear but that former cop that we can’t seem to get rid of. Seth Ridley (Patrick Keleher) has decided, once again, that he’d like to be a police officer. The cops are all reticent to give him another chance, even though Miles Penn (Deric Augustine) insists that his pal is a changed man from being a pathological liar.

Tim’s solution to Seth’s potential candidacy is to demand he take a polygraph. This sets up one of the most unrealistic parts of the episode, since Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) is the one who administers the test (even though she’s probably not a trained polygraph examiner) and asks some questions that would have no place in a real polygraph test. It’s clear right away that Seth is trying to be honest now, but that he’s lied about a whole host of things while he was a cop at Mid-Wilshire. Seth ends up passing the test, but it’s obvious that he’s burned way too many bridges to be hired back. He thanks them for the opportunity, but why do I feel like this character is just going to continue to come back over and over again?

There’s another storyline connected to the recruitment plot, which helps Nyla Harper (Mekia Cox) and Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) take down a former police captain-turned-drug lord, but it’s sort of a throwaway narrative designed just to bring these cops into the episode more. The only final takeaway is that Seth meets a woman who’s interested in him, so perhaps that will keep him busy and away from the precinct in future episodes.

Wesley’s DA Campaign Is DOA in ‘The Rookie’

One of the more exciting storylines this season has been Wesley Evers’ (Shawn Ashmore) campaign for District Attorney. After the last few episodes dug him into a hole, Episode 13 starts out with Wesley declaring that he knows he’s going to lose. Angela asks the gang for help throwing him a surprise party that night to lift his spirits. He asks James Murray (Arjay Smith) for help writing a concession speech so that he can share his final thoughts with the residents of Los Angeles. I kept thinking the whole episode that Wesley was going to pull off the election despite his worries.

But after this entire season of Wesley fighting to win, he officially loses the race. He decides he hasn’t accomplished much as a prosecutor, and tells Angela he’s going to go back to being a defense lawyer. This whole storyline allows the episode to gather the whole cast together and offers sweet support to Wesley, but I’m left wondering why we even went down this path in the first place if Wesley was always going to lose. It would have been fascinating to see Wesley in the role of DA, so I’m bummed that this is now a closed chapter for his character.

The episode does offer some resolution when it comes to Wade Grey (Richard T. Jones) and Luna’s (Angel Parker) conflict. After Wade has kidney stones and refuses to be treated by Luna’s hot doctor, they both realize that they want to work on their marriage. Celina Juarez (Lisseth Chavez) also gets a song written about her by her boyfriend, Rodge Bronson (Zander Hawley), and this allows them to grow closer. It’s nice to see these relationships working out, but I still wish The Rookie would have explored some more compelling storylines instead of shutting the door on possibilities regarding Bailey and Wesley’s journeys.

New episodes of The Rookie air on Monday nights on ABC, with episodes available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.