The Rookie has yet to meet a villain or antagonist it doesn’t love to bring back.
Seriously, this formula of theirs, well, it’s getting old.
Not only did we have Oscar and Monica wreaking havoc during The Rookie Season 6 Episode 10, but our big cliffhanger is that Jason, Bailey’s abusive ex, escaped prison and is seeking revenge.
Well, okay then.
The Rookie has had its fair share of complex villains. No one will say they don’t do a decent job at having memorable ones.
And sometimes, you do want to see those people return to shake things up a little bit.
But you want to avoid that becoming such a standard practice that it becomes predictable, or they stretch the bounds of credulity by bringing just about anyone back into the fold.
Son of a puta!
Angela
Jason’s potential return as a cliffhanger is so lackluster that I didn’t even bother saving this tidbit for later in the review.
Does anyone really care if Jason comes back?
He was awful the first time, and not even an interesting type of evil and wrong, just offputting and worth rotting away in prison.
Forgive the bluntness, but Jason escaping prison and going after a happy Bailey and Nolan is as ludicrous as uninspired.
If we must pull the “villain return” card AGAIN, as we’ve done this, what, four times now?
Jason isn’t even high on the list of people worth returning.
But alas, that’s where we are.
Not only is Jason out on the loose, but Oscar is as well.
Although, to Oscar’s credit, it doesn’t seem like he’s set out to come for Nolan, but then, his revenge was setting Jason loose to do the honors for him.
In that sense, by the end of the hour, three notable villains — Jason, Oscar, and Monica — were still unfathomably on the run.
And oddly enough, Elijah Stone didn’t make the cut.
While they’ve also beaten the Elijah Stone horse to death, he’d have at least been a sensible and intriguing choice for a prison break.
The hour was alright and fell in line with most of the season.
When we spoke about The Rookie Season 6 Episode 9, we speculated that it was setting us up for a truly epic finale.
The hour was serviceable, but it was far from “epic.”
But then, that’s been the summation of the season as a whole.
Tim: So I took your advice… went to therapy.
Lucy: And?
Tim: And my therapist turned out to be a blackmailing sociopath.
Lucy: You know that’s not normal, right? One bad experience shouldn’t tar the whole profession.
Tim: You want to know the irony?
Lucy: Yeah.
Tim: She was a good therapist.
Most of the episodes were decent as standalone installments, but when it came to connecting them for a full season with an overarching plot, it fell short.
Thus, we have reached the end of the season, and there is not much to say about what really happened.
It feels like things happened, but also, nothing did.
It’s a sentiment that became commonplace across the board with many series in this truncated television season.
And while I’ll reiterate for the umpteenth time that I’m in full support of the strikes, there’s also a blatant, unmistakable lack of energy and flow to the television season that can’t be ignored.
This season has felt like time spent with our favorite characters in between seasons.
I’m grateful for it, but it generally lacks cohesion.
Fortunately, this finale was less hamfisted and chaotic than the penultimate episode.
It didn’t feel as rushed and all over the place, likely because they had already built all that character and plot during the hour that preceded this one.
Some things still didn’t really jive, though.
Sure, it’s always great to see Lucy undercover, but one still wonders what the real point was in the end for this nanny gig and this half-baked storyline with Christian Bautista that didn’t result in anything exciting.
If it did nothing else, it just made us hold our breaths a few times in fear that Bautista would catch onto Lucy’s overt snooping.
All the precautions to ensure they weren’t dealing with more moles were entertaining.
It’s always a blast when a small group of trusted people goes off script and brings out the whiteboard in an undisclosed location for the sake of crime solving.
Smitty’s participation was especially amusing because, typically, he can’t hold water if you give him a cup.
Son of a puta!
Angela
Lopez put the fear of God in him, which likely helped.
But they could probably have surmised that Monica was involved in some of this before Celina came in with her information that she and Blair were connected.
Celina’s information was just confirmation.
We got the messiness of Monica’s Irish and non-verbal henchpeople killing Pierson before the title card even dropped.
You have to feel bad for Pierson, getting shot and tossed in his own trash bin, then disposed of like literal garbage.
Then again, that’s what he was, so maybe it’s befitting.
You don’t have the imagination to predict what I can do.
Monica
Blair’s snatch and grab was a bit extra, and that’s how we got on the path of trying to follow her and save her from her terrible relationship with Monica.
Monica exploited Blair after representing her, which is on brand.
Blair got more than she had signed up for working with Monica.
But was Blair even worth half the trouble of what transpired in Argentina?
Seeing The Rookie Feds‘ cast worked into the series was great.
After the cancelation, it was easy to believe we wouldn’t see them again, but Garza, Stensen, and Acres were worked in as a nice nod to the series and for some action.
It didn’t make that much sense that they were there to observe Monica but not do much.
If that were the case, Nolan and Harper were the wrong people to tag along.
Nolan going rogue when he was so far away and didn’t actually know what Monica was doing with Blair was annoying, badass, in the sense that he’s been kicking butt this season, but irritating all the same.
He even flipped a colleague over to break protocol.
And it led them into a gunfight with the baddies and caused needless chaos that almost got Harper killed and resulted in him getting shot in the ass.
Or, sorry, the leg.
They rescued Blair, which is great, but Monica got away.
As enjoyable as Monica can be as a villainess, the prospect of her waiting to return is already tiresome.
We’ve done this before.
You don’t have the imagination to predict what I can do.
Monica
The action wasn’t bad during that scene, but the more intriguing action sequences were the shootout at Gundo’s laundry mat and the Chenford car chase.
Monica turning on Gundo was on brand, especially since he was shaking her down for a couple of million dollars.
The problem with paying someone not to kill you is that there’s still a price on your head, and other people are coming to finish the job.
Taking out Gundo was still the most brilliant move, though.
However, Monica proved how diabolical she was by having them shoot up a laundry mat in the middle of the day.
There were freaking kids around, for goodness sake.
And Lopez took a bullet to the vest because of one of those guys.
Thorsen handled his own well inside as hellfire rained.
But, of course, Tim’s heroics and diving on the back of that truck upped the action ante.
Then, Lucy said, “Hold my beer,” when she had Angela take over steering so she could jump into the truck and choke out the driver who was kicking Tim’s ass.
Lucy is a badass, and I loved seeing her go to bat and do the absolutely insane to save the man she loves — maybe they can be a successful couple with a lot to teach others, after all.
Without that move, Tim would’ve been a goner.
It was definitely an exciting scene.
Those are the little nuggets they give Chenford shippers to hold them over while they continue to put this couple through the mill.
Of course, they would risk their lives for one another without a second thought, even if it meant taking extreme measures.
Their talk in the car was great in breaking the ice between them.
Tim: You probably saved my life.
Lucy: You had him.
It’s good to know that Tim was taking some valuable lessons away from his therapy sessions with Blair, even if she turned out to be unethical, among other things.
Maybe it’s being optimistic, but it sounded as if Tim wouldn’t rule out all therapy, which means there’s a chance he’ll continue with it.
His “freak in the sheets” line was so unexpected and specifically catered to Chenford shippers for the fun of it, not that I’m criticizing it.
But they had an honest talk that left the door open and maybe even put the ball in Lucy’s court later.
Lucy: Did you tell her anything revealing about me?
Tim: Uh, I believe the term I used was freak in the sheets.
Lucy: You’re the worst.
Tim knows he messed up and is keen on making things right; however, Lucy deems themself suitable.
It speaks volumes that he’s taking her lead on this, respecting her boundaries, and letting her decide the pace and direction of their relationship.
He’s hopeful — that much was clear, and you could see it all over his face.
The romantic leading man energy was strong with that one.
But he’s not going to push anything. He recognizes the error of his ways and the possibility of not achieving the desired results.
Things are looking up for Chenford, and they’ve left us in a good place regarding them.
It still doesn’t change that the Chenford Breakup was contrived in the first place, though.
The most unfortunate aspect of this finale isn’t that it was terrible, as it wasn’t — it’s that I can’t say I’ll remember most of what happened in no time because it lacked a “wow” factor.
Over to you, Rookie Fanatics.
Did you enjoy how we signed off for the season?
Let’s hear your thoughts on the finale and season as a whole below!
You can stream the entire series on Hulu.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You’ll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
