After its Season 6 renewal, The Rookie is back tonight with a packed hour of hilarity combined with just the right amount of drama. This episode brought back several familiar faces and with only two episodes left, set the stage for what will likely be an intense and action-packed finale.
Lucy and Tim are hopelessly in love, and the little moments they share during the adorable breakfast at Lucy's place couldn't be more beautiful. Tim's flirty joke about joining Lucy in the shower definitely made Chenford fans' collective hearts sing and I'm sure I'm not the only one who wishes we could have seen that shower scene instead of just hearing about it... but I digress. As much as everyone wants to continue to bask in the glow of their new love (see what I did there?, the reality is that happy couples don't make for good television and let's face it, love in real life isn't without its share of obstacles. Lucy's secret career was like a rain cloud that has been hanging over the couple for a few episodes now, hinting that the two will have to face this problem sooner rather than later.The return of Tim's ex-wife, Isabel, a former undercover narcotics cop who became addicted to the same drugs she tried to get rid of street, served to bring the issue of Lucy's undercover work to the fore for the couple. Isabel's return is prompted by the need to help a young girl, Dara, from a criminal family that Isabel took in while working undercover. Dara went missing and became a target due to his father's release from prison.
Isabel's return is sure to rekindle old feelings for her and Tim, especially since this is the first time they've seen each other since the divorce. Isabel recalled her time on long-term assignments at UC, reminding Tim how hard it was for him to be home waiting for her, worried about her well-being. No matter how much he insists that things will be different with Lucy, the facts are that work at UC is hard and incredibly stressful on relationships. Isabel's very honest words of wisdom to Lucy about the pressures that UC has placed on her entire life definitely raised doubts in Lucy. A conversation between Tim and Lucy about this issue absolutely needed to happen, and Isabel's return provided the perfect opportunity to do so. Unfortunately, there was no deep conversation. Instead, when Lucy confided in Tim that she was worried she wouldn't be able to handle her undercover work, he assured her that it would be just fine. His worried face as he held Lucy in his arms told viewers otherwise. This would be a great opportunity for Tim to share his real feelings with Lucy instead of telling her what she wants to hear. The best part of Isabel's return was how it became clear that Tim had moved on and was completely with Lucy. He was literally confronted with both his past and his future in the same room and even though memories of the past crept in, he remained focused on his relationship and future with Lucy. In the next episode, Lucy goes undercover and I hope that leads to a real conversation between the two of them not only about Lucy's career at the University, but also about where their relationship is going. It's clear that the two are hopelessly in love, it's time for them to have the necessary, difficult conversations. Hopefully, Lucy going undercover in the next episode will be the catalyst for that to happen.
Tonight's episode also saw the return of the hilarious "Skip Tracer Randy", played by the talented German actor, Flula Borg. When Randy finds himself in an interesting predicament, he turns to Nyla for advice and as he does so, he stumbles upon a dead body and falls into a pool of dead man's blood, just as the police burst into the house. This sets up a fun story full of non-stop shenanigans, which was to be expected with a character like Randy in the mix. Viewers will remember Randy as the bubbly and energetic Skip Tracer who was hired by Nyla and Nolan in Season 4 to dig up dirt on their partner's exes. Not much has changed with Randy since we last saw him. He was still the same jovial Randy whose awkward social skills continued to land him in uncertain situations. To help Randy, Nyla made a deal with the detective assigned to the case. She agreed to take the difficult investigation off his hands if he let her take on this one. The problem is we're talking about Randy and things are never easy when he's involved. Private Randy comes across another dead body and locks himself in the trunk of the suspect's car.
What at first seems like a complicated whodunnit case turns out to be incredibly simple. A friend with whom Randy was playing pickles sent him text messages threatening to kill him, but Randy, being naive, interpreted those messages as harmless fun. The return of Randy brought out Nyla's sarcastic, fun side that viewers love and it was nice to see her in a light story. Hopefully this won't be the last time we see Randy on the show. It's always good for a laugh, especially after a few intense episodes. This is a drama after all.
The fun continued with a fun story involving Angela and Aaron. Everyone knows that Angela is not someone to mess with, add in the fact that she's pregnant and you definitely don't want to get on her bad side. Although she is close to her deadline and extremely miserable, she is determined to keep working. Not wanting to poke the bear, Gray doesn't push the issue when Angela tells him she's not ready to start maternity leave, so he assigns Aaron to be at her service. Despite Aaron's help, things prove difficult for Angela when even the simplest tasks like picking up a pencil and climbing the station stairs prove to be a major challenge for her. She lets Angela use her pregnancy to extract a confession from the perpetrator, constantly interrupting her own questions to run to the bathroom to pee and pretend to have fallen asleep on the interrogation table. Angela might not have been ready to call it that, but Gray made the decision for her, ordering her to start her maternity leave immediately. Seeing Alyssa Diaz in a comedic light was refreshing and really highlighted how multifaceted she is. It was about time Angela took a break from all the stress and drama in her life. She certainly deserves it.
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The writing was on point tonight and it made for an hour of entertaining television. The only criticism is why showrunner/writer Alexi Hawley felt the need to include an absolutely pointless storyline involving Bailey and her friend, which served no purpose other than to make her character relevant. It would make more sense for her to plan her wedding to Nolan, since they've been engaged for what seems like forever. Hopefully season 6 will feature a lot less Bailey and a lot more characters that fans actually care about and want to see.
With only two episodes left in the season, it will be interesting to see where things end up. At least fans can relax a little with the season 6 renewal in the bag. For you Rookie fans! What was your favorite story tonight? Any predictions for the final two episodes? Share your thoughts below and follow me on Twitter @MiddleofCanada.