During its current seven-year run, The Rookie has seen enormous success. In this last season, Tim struggled to accept the consequences of his actions and learned to trust people after being betrayed. Nolan and Bailey, played by Jenna Dewan, also experienced their own drama, with Bailey coming to terms with her abusive past relationship.
It was recently announced that The Rookie has been renewed by ABC. Viewers loved the seventh season, as evident by the high ratings on streaming services. Based on this, the network confirmed that John Nolan, Lucy Chen, and other cast members would be returning for an eighth season. Among the highlights of Season 7 was the Chenford reunion, which the show’s executive producer recently opened up about.
The Rookie Executive Producer Said He Didn’t Want To Make It Easy For Tim In This Crucial Episode
In one episode of The Rookie, a hitman with a connection to a couple of main characters was eliminated. The episode begins with Tim being surprised by a guy showing up at his home telling him about a hitman for hire. This causes the LAPD to find a website and a list of targets in Los Angeles, who they end up warning. However, they’re surprised to find the hitmen turning up dead after the site gets hacked. Body cam footage then reveals Malvado, an assassin they know. This is the same assassin Bailey used when she was trying to escape her abusive ex-husband. Nolan told Bailey, and she became worried that he would use that as leverage if caught by the LAPD.
Malvado gets caught by the LAPD when he’s going after the person who hired him, and a fight breaks out between Nolan and Tim. This is when Angela shoots Malvado. Many were wondering why Malvado was killed off. Some believe it was to eliminate the concern for Bailey and Nolan. For answers, TV Insider spoke to executive producer Alexi Hawley.
“To be honest, for me, the Malvado storyline really was there to show the trauma that Bailey had been through,” Alexi told the outlet. “It was really an emotional storyline for her about with Jason’s escape and him coming for her and having her have to face some things that she actually hadn’t admitted to herself about what Jason had put her through. And Malvado being sort of this sort of primal fear-based action that she took and the impact that that had on her storyline and her relationship with Nolan was the thing that was the most interesting about that to me. We purposely tried to keep what she revealed to Malvado as being ultimately just peripheral. He did find Jason on his own and all that kind of stuff.”
He added, “So that being said, yes, I think at the end of the day, the spark of fear that comes from him being back around again was important. But honestly for me, the story really just was about Bailey and Nolan for the most part.”
During the episode, Angela gets Tim to admit the truth about him and Lucy. “I don’t know” what’s going on, he tells her. “She’s taking the sergeant’s exam.” Angela says that the two of them can get back together. “No, it’s a good move for her career,” Tim says, but he also reveals, “It’s come up.” Angela decides to give him some advice. She tells him that Lucy is the best thing to happen to him. Should he be lucky enough to win her back after what he did to her, Angela said he had better thank God every night.
“I didn’t want to make it easy, partly because I felt like what Tim had done to her, the way he broke up with her, the way he punished himself by punishing her was fairly seismic. And I felt like it would be a disservice to the characters if we just had a couple of episodes of penalty box and then they were back together,” Alexi said regarding what Tim had been doing with Chenford.
“So I thought it was really important this season to dig into the real effects that it had on her, him doing some work because clearly what he did was not emotionally healthy, and then also just treat them as real flawed human beings who have a hookup, even though it’s probably not the smartest thing for their relationship, and then find distance again, and then have Lucy sort of make some choices that are emotionally complicated for her,” he continued.
“So all that said, I do think at their heart that there is an undeniable connection between the two of them, and part of it is just them sort of finding their way back towards each other whenever that happens.”
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When asked about the inevitable reunion, Alexi said, “Episode 15 has a few unexpected revelations as part of our true-crime documentary episode, some things said that a camera caught that maybe they weren’t supposed to, which I think is fun.”
Tim Didn’t Have It Easy During Season 6 Of The Rookie Either
If Tim Bradford, played by Eric Winter, was being given a hard time in Season 7, it wasn’t because he had it easy the previous season. In fact, during the show’s sixth season, Tim experienced several things that made him realize he needed to take responsibility for his own choices.
In Season 6, Tim meets up with a former military teammate, Ray. Their meeting was a catalyst for Tim to begin looking at his own personal demons. When Ray arrives in Los Angeles, he threatens to ruin Tim’s career. This leads Tim to hatch a plan to catch Ray breaking the law. Tim would end up losing both his job on Metro and his relationship with Lucy Chen. As a result, Tim decided to go to therapy. Tim’s therapist, Blair London, turned out to be sharing information from her sessions with LAPD members with criminals. Needless to say, Tim’s life ended up going downhill. On the bright side, Tim didn’t lose his badge. He was also back at Metro as a training officer when Season 7 began.
“I think in his heart he feels like he did what he had to do, and it was for the greater good,” Eric explained to Parade. “But you also need to follow the rules and that’s something that Tim’s a stickler with. So, I think he truly, in a way, regrets maybe the way he handled it. But I think, in the moment, he did what he thought was the best move. He struggles with it still.”
Tim struggled with the fact that he was still in love with Lucy. The problem is that she had a difficult time trusting him due to his actions. Tim really wants to get back together, and sees an opportunity when she is temporarily promoted to be a training officer for one of the two new rookies. In an effort to be playful, Tim makes a bet with her on which one of their rookies will be the first to mess up.
“Tim clearly cares about her,” Eric said. “He broke up with her because he cares about her. It was a true statement of, ‘It’s not you, it’s me, I’m not good enough for you and I don’t think you deserve the drama I could cause in your life with my past and all that.’ So, he, again, did what he thought was the best move, but probably regrets aspects of the way it went down and wishes he could have had the confidence or the smarts to be able to at least talk to her about it first, where he’s at, how he feels. But that’s just not Tim’s way. He had to learn the hard way, I guess, with his decision.'”
Even though he was betrayed by his previous therapist, Tim decided to return to therapy in Season 7. Blair London might have had ulterior motives, but she did get Tim to look at the man in the mirror. Tim believed he was improving as a result, so he wanted to continue bettering himself.
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“We actually get to see Tim in a support group trying to work through these difficulties,” Eric revealed. “Granted, the situation he’s in at the time we see that scene is very funny, or it makes it kind of funny. I won’t spoil it. But, yeah, he took it seriously after those sessions with a therapist and knows that he needs help, and he can work on himself, and he can be better.”
Malvado Was A Source Of Tension Between Bailey And Nolan In Season 7
Nolan and Bailey’s relationship has seen its share of bumps in the road during season seven. A big part of their troubles was Nolan’s discovery that Bailey, played by Jenna Dewan, hired Malvado to kill her abusive ex-husband Jason. After Jason died, Bailey met Diana, a woman running a shelter. She helped Bailey open up about the whole relationship and the aftermath.
“I think meeting Diana was a true catalyst for that recognition in herself,” Jenna revealed to TV Insider. “I think Diana is a mirror for her, and I believe that Bailey has spent her entire life fighting against wanting to look like a victim, and you see that it’s evident in her work, it’s evident in how she protected herself and relationships and never wanting to be vulnerable. And it’s because she is a true victim. And I think that the recognition through Diana, that you are a victim and accepting that you are a victim, ultimately is a catalyst for her to go deeper and to become more vulnerable and heal finally.”
In their talks, Baily revealed to Diana that she was struggling to label Jason’s treatment of her as abuse. Bailey eventually returned home and told Nolan that she had been in denial about everything. Through speaking with Diana, Bailey realized that Nolan was her closest ally. She explained that turning to Malvado was a desperate attempt at finding safety.
Nolan told Bailey that he regretted making it seem like he was judging her for what she had done. He told her that he was actually just afraid of the possible danger she could’ve put herself in. Nolan then apologized to Bailey and told her that she wasn’t alone. “You’ve loved,” Nolan told her.
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“I think that that coming together and reconnecting scene was really important because I think you have to be vulnerable and it’s so hard when everything feels like it’s on the line and admitting something that you’ve been burying deep down inside your entire life is so hard to do,” Jenna said.
The Rookie
- Release Date
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October 16, 2018
- Network
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ABC
- Showrunner
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Alexi Hawley
- Directors
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Tori Garrett, Chi-Yoon Chung, Michael Goi, Sylvain White, Lisa Demaine, Lanre Olabisi, Bill Johnson, David McWhirter, Liz Friedlander, Daniel Willis, Toa Fraser, Anne Renton, Jon Huertas, Cherie Nowlan, TK Shom, Rob Seidenglanz, Valerie Weiss, Barbara Brown, Charissa Sanjarernsuithikul, SJ Main Muñoz, Nelson McCormick, Marcus Stokes, Adam Davidson, Anna Mastro
- Writers
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Corey Miller, Bill Rinier, Zoe Cheng, Mary Trahan, Ally Seibert, Liz Alper, Nick Hurwitz, Racheal Seymour, Madeleine Coghlan, David Radcliff
